Crows Nest Boys High School

Crows Nest Boys High School (abbreviation CNBHS) is a former high school located at 365 Pacific Highway in the Sydney suburb of Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia. It was a boys high school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education with students from years 7 to 12. The school was first established in 1883 as St Leonards North Public School. However the school was declared surplus to the needs of the department and officially closed in 1992. The school and its heritage-listed buildings are now the campus of North Sydney Girls High School.

Crows Nest Boys High School
Location
Crows Nest
,
New South Wales

Australia
Coordinates33°49′49″S 151°12′12″E
Information
TypePublic, single-sex, secondary school
MottoHonour before Honours
EstablishedJanuary 1883 (SLNPS)
July 1910 (CNPS)
January 1936 (CNCJTS)
January 1959 (CNBHS)[1][2]
StatusClosed
ClosedDecember 1992[2]
Sister schoolCremorne Girls High School
OversightNSW Department of Education
Campus365 Pacific Highway
Colour(s)Maroon and gold   
Crows Nest Boys High School

History

The school was first established in 1883 as St Leonards North Public School, with Jeremiah Crowley as the first Head Teacher. Crowley's term was so well-regarded that by the time of his retirement in 1900, the school was often referred to as "Crowley's School".[3][4] In July 1910, owing to confusion over the "St Leonards" name as three public schools in the area possessed it (St Leonards East and St Leonards Superior), the school was renamed Crows Nest Public School.[5] In 1912, a new two-storey building in the Federation Free style which formed the main building of the school along the Pacific Highway was opened.[6] Further extensions to this building designed by Government Architect, Richard Wells, were completed in 1924 and officially opened by the Minister for Education, Albert Bruntnell.[7] A Roll of Honour commemorating the service of students in the First World War was unveiled in February 1917.[8][9]

In January 1936, as part of an effort by the NSW Government to expand vocational education, converted the school into Crows Nest Central Junior Technical School so that it now provided secondary technical education.[10][11] The school was renamed Crows Nest Boys High School in January 1959.[11] An Army Cadet unit was formed in 1946, which was disbanded 1975 with the withdrawal of Commonwealth Government support for school-based cadet units; the unit re-formed in 1980 as a joint unit with North Sydney Boys High School which lasted until disbanding in 1990.[12]

By the early 1990s, the school was targeted for closure by the Department of Education as part of a plan to expand the size of North Sydney Girls High School. This was a fate recently shared by the sister school, Cremorne Girls High School, and Milson Point Public School in 1987. The school staff and community attempted to retain the school in some form as a TAFE NSW college, but in March 1992 the Minister for Education, Virginia Chadwick announced the decision the close Crows Nest Boys and move North Sydney Girls from their campus across the road to its location (the old North Sydney Girls to become Bradfield College for vocational education).[13] Crows Nest Boys finally closed in December 1992, with the decision to close noted by one teacher: "There was no political will to save our school ... it was seen as expendable. We’d done all this work, taken the consultation process seriously, and we lost the school anyway".[11][14] The controversy continued after the closure when the last Headmaster, Don Weir, was refused several appointments and only offered a new but lower position by the Department.[15]

The buildings of the former Crows Nest Boys High School are heritage items listed under the North Sydney Local Environment Plan 2013.[16] In 2014, when the Department of Education resolved to create a new public high school in the North Sydney area (on the site of Bradfield College which would move to St Leonards), the first new public school in the area since 1961, some former alumni of Crows Nest Boys campaigned to restore the "Crows Nest High" name, colours and motto to the new school.[17] However the Department eventually decided on "Cammeraygal High School", which opened in January 2015.

Headmasters
The original buildings of the former Crows Nest Boys High, 2015.
YearsSLNPS
1883–1900Jeremiah Crowley (Head Teacher)[18][19]
1900–1910William Roberts (Head Teacher)
YearsCNPS
1910–1912William Roberts (Head Teacher)
1912–1920Theo Sheehy (Head Teacher)
1920–1921Bede Keough (Head Teacher)
1921–1926J. H. Hopman (Head Teacher)
1926–1927Henry Hepburn
1927–1935Arthur Knight
YearsCNCJTS[20]
1936–1942Frederick Charles Derham
1943–1946William Arthur Morris
1947–1949Arthur Herbert Cooper
1950–1958Alexander G. Robertson
YearsCNBHS[21]
1959–1963Edward Thomas Wallace B.Sc. Dip.Ed.[22]
1964–1970Harold James Hamnett B.Sc. Dip.Ed.[23]
Jan–Dec 1971John Holme B.A. Dip.Ed.[24]
1972–1974William John Cooke B.A. Dip.Ed.[25]
1975–1986Leonard Harvey B.A.
1987–1992Donald James Weir B.A.[26]

Notable alumni
  • Ray Beattie – rugby league player and official for North Sydney
  • Alan Burns – rugby league player for North Sydney
  • Peter Carson – rugby union player for Northern Suburbs, NSW and Australia
  • Teo Gebert – actor
  • Mark Hartill – rugby union player for Northern Suburbs, Gordon, NSW and Australia
  • Mick Healey – rugby league player for North Sydney
  • Levon Khachigian – medical research scientist and Professor of Medicine at UNSW[27]
  • Jaimie Leonarder – musician and radio DJ
  • Brian Norton – rugby league player for North Sydney, North Tamworth, St George and Country Firsts. Coach of North Sydney [28]
  • Norm Provan – rugby league player for St George, Sydney, NSW and Australia
  • Marty Rhone – singer and actor
  • Bob Sullivan – rugby league player for North Sydney, NSW and Australia
  • Charlie Sheard - Contemporary artist[29]
  • Brett Weymark - conductor, Music Director of The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.
  • John Vandenburg – rugby league player for North Sydney

See also

Further reading
  • Grahame, Rachel; Crows Nest Boys' High School (1992), Honour before honours : a history of education at Crows Nest 1883-1992, Crows Nest Boys' High School, ISBN 978-0-646-11388-3

References
  1. "Crows Nest - Cumberland". History of New South Wales government schools. NSW Department of Education. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  2. "Crows Nest Boys - Cumberland". History of New South Wales government schools. NSW Department of Education. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  3. "RETIREMENT OF MR. J. CROWLEY". Freeman's Journal (3192). New South Wales, Australia. 10 March 1900. p. 10. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "DEATH OF MR. J. CROWLEY". The Sydney Morning Herald (24, 535). New South Wales, Australia. 25 August 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "NORTH SHORE SCHOOLS". Evening News (13, 405). New South Wales, Australia. 27 May 1910. p. 9. Retrieved 3 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "IMPROVED SCHOOL BUILDINGS". The Daily Telegraph (10, 247). New South Wales, Australia. 29 March 1912. p. 7. Retrieved 3 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "CROW'S NEST SCHOOL". The Daily Telegraph (13, 813). New South Wales, Australia. 17 March 1924. p. 3. Retrieved 3 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "CROW'S NEST PUBLIC SCHOOL". Evening News (15, 497). New South Wales, Australia. 10 February 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 3 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Crow's Nest Public School Roll of Honour". New South Wales Government War Memorials Register. New South Wales Government. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  10. "IMPORTANT MOVES IN EDUCATION". The Newcastle Sun (5624). New South Wales, Australia. 21 December 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "AGY-6713: Crows Nest Central Junior Technical School (1936-1958), Crows Nest Boys High School (1959-1992)". NSW State Archives & Records. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  12. Grahame, Rachel (1992). Honour before honours: a history of education at Crows Nest 1883-1992. Crows Nest: Crows Nest Boys' High School. pp. 131–132. ISBN 978-0-646-11388-3.
  13. "Crows Nest Boys High School Selective Schools Expanded", Education: Journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation, 73 (4): Page 16, 30 March 1992, ISSN 0013-1156
  14. Dovey, Ceridwen (February 2015). "Schoolyard crush". The Monthly. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  15. "PRINCIPALS UNDER ATTACK", Education: Journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation, 74 (2): Page 20, 1 March 1993, ISSN 0013-1156
  16. "North Sydney Girls' High School – Formerly Crows Nest Boys High School (I0165)". NSW Heritage Inventory. NSW Government. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  17. Herbertson, Lisa (7 February 2014). "Crowie boys push for school name". North Shore Times. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  18. "THE LATE MR. JEREMIAH CROWLEY". Freeman's Journal. LXIII (4049). New South Wales, Australia. 31 August 1916. p. 25. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "DEATH OF MR. JEREMIAH CROWLEY". The Catholic Press (1080). New South Wales, Australia. 7 September 1916. p. 19. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. Crows Nest Boys High School Honour Roll - Headmasters
  21. Grahame (1992). Honour before honours. pp. 146–163.
  22. First Headmaster of Blacktown High School 1956–1958.
  23. First Principal of Mosman High School 1961–1964.
  24. Principal of Cabramatta High School 1968–1970.
  25. Principal of Kandos High School 1969–1971, Inspector of Schools 1974–1975, Principal of Mosman High School 1976–1979.
  26. "Crows Nest Support", Education: Journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation, 74 (2): Page 21, 1 March 1993, ISSN 0013-1156
  27. "Tall Poppies in Flight: Australian Institute of Policy and Science" (PDF). AIPS.net.au.
  28. "Vale – Brian 'Chicka' Norton". Men of League. Men of League Foundation. 23 April 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  29. "Charlie Sheard". charliesheard.com. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
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