One-hundred years of public secondary schooling in Benalla was celebrated in style at the weekend, with the renewing of old friendships and the return of more than 300 people to town.
The event began with an official launch at Benalla Art Gallery on Friday night with about 200 people attending.
Ron Ramsey, a former art teacher at the high school, was master of ceremonies. Mr Ramsey has led an interesting life following his passion for the creative and is now director of Newcastle Art Gallery.
Peter Batey almost forgot to open the art exhibition because he was having so much fun entertaining the audience with his school tales.
Mr Batey collaborated with Barry Humphries on the creation of Dame Edna Everage, but is probably most well known for his creation of the Bald Archy Prize — the spoof of the Archibald Prize, which he would like to bring to Benalla next year.
Mr Batey’s parting suggestion was that the school war cry be renewed as a “haka” for the Benalla Saints.
John Lidgerwood attended Benalla High School until 1957 and began his music career in the town with Light Opera Co. He has had an exciting career nationally and internationally, and entertained the crowd with his rendition of Man of La Mancha¸ accompanied on the piano by Elaine Heywood.
Benalla College principal Cathy Pianta said the entire weekend was a resounding success, with a lot of reconnections made after many years.
She said a number of significant items relating to the history of the school had been found including “things under stairs and items dragged out of cupboards”.
The book, Our Schools 1912-2012: Celebrating the first hundred years of public secondary education in Benalla was launched on the Friday, with Ms Pianta saying a “very small but very willing band of volunteers” got it off the ground.
“I think this (centenary event) has been a wonderful testament to the government education,” she said.
“It’s all around providing strong, rich, highest education for every young person.”
At the unveiling of the memorial gate plaques at the Dunlop Campus on Sunday, Mary Lou Keogh gave a brief history of the plaques, which eventually came to fruition in the late 1950s.
However, changes in the early 1980s saw the gates pulled down and the plaques thrown out. It was simply luck that they were spotted in the dumpster by a student and rescued.
“The lesson is we don’t always appreciate the historical significance of things around us,” Mrs Keogh said.
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