Opened in 1912 in temporary accommodation, Coburg was the first post primary school in Victoria. In 1916 the rebadged Coburg High School moved into a new building on Bell Street. In 1994 it was merged with Preston Secondary College to form the short-lived Coburg-Preston Secondary College on the Bell Street site. This entity only lasted until 1997 before it was merged with Coburg East Primary to form Moreland City P-12 College and relocated to a recently vacated RMIT site in Alma Grove. The original Bell Street building was sold to developers and demolished in 2001. It has been on-sold four times since then and remains a weed-infested eyesore, with no plaque or acknowledgement of its history.
Then
Now
Furthermore
Moreland City College was a hybrid entity, comprising students from the recently closed Coburg East Primary School students as well as those from Coburg-Preston Secondary College. It opened in 1997 and closed in 2004. Today, it is home to the new Coburg High School. Our Case Study goes into more detail.
And as for the vacant lot on Bell Street, the weeds keep growing on what might be a retirement village one day.
Links
Coburg High School Historical Group
Coburg High School – public Facebook group
Coburg High School 100th Anniversary Reunion – public Facebook group