AE 1426 - The Goss: What Was High School Like in Australia? - Part 1
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What first impressions and uniforms do Australians remember from high school?
If I said Australian high school, what's the very first thing that pops into your head?
Blank. An Australian high school. Yes. One Australian high school or high school in Australia. Yeah. Choose your own adventure, Dad. Choose your own adventure. Well, for me, it's twofold, because obviously I went to high school. Well, it's threefold. I went to high school, I taught at high school, and then I had children at high school. So, you've got many different thoughts. I've got various versions of what high school means.
G'day, guys. Welcome to the Aussie English Podcast. Grab a cuppa, get comfy, and let's have a yarn. Alright guys, welcome back to the Aussie English Podcast. So, today we're talking about high school in Australia and Dad and I will probably have similar but different perspectives on this. Every country has its own version of high school and Australians often assume that our experience is normal, but there were so many tiny routines and traditions that made it uniquely Australian. Today, we're going to rebuild what it actually felt like to go to high school here. So, hopefully, it'll remind Australians of their own school days and give everyone else a bit of a glimpse into growing up here in Australia.
So, Dad, what do you remember about the moment you arrived at school each morning?
First morning of high school is still in my memory. And that was in 1970. So there you go. That's giving away my age. I think people already know that. Yeah, exactly. Back in those days, obviously it was the middle of, so just the end of summer. It's early February. So it was hot. But we had to wear a blazer. So a thick woolen coat, as you did when you were in school. A cap. A felt cap, woolen felt cap.
That sounds like cricket.
I know. In fact, it was green. It was like the Australian cricket. Yeah. And it was. It wasn't a baseball cap. It was like a baggy green cap that the cricketers wear. Not quite as baggy, but... So we phased out, though, those caps. I don't remember ever seeing them again. No, they disappeared after a couple of years of my school. By the mid-'70s, they were gone. Yeah. Certainly from my high school and most of the state high schools at the time. It's very not functional. No, so I went to a state high school. Yeah, wow. Okay, and you had a blazer as well. A blazer as well. Long socks, shorts. We couldn't wear long pants until we were in third form. Oh, okay. So year nine. of high school. And even then, everybody wore shorts in summer.
And even in winter we did. But yeah, first day of school. So I marched off to school in my blazer and my long socks and my brand new pants and grey short-sleeved shirt. You could take your blazer off once you got to school, but you had to wear it until you got into class. Were you going with a lot of friends that you already knew from primary school? Yes. I went to a local primary school, which was a very large school, nearly 1,000 kids. Back then? Back then. Wow, okay. Yeah. And then went to the local high school. We had two high schools nearby. One was a co-ed school, so boys and girls. The other one was just a purely girls school. So more than half the girls that I went to primary school with went to the girls only school.
And so there are a lot more boys at our high school than there were girls. But, yeah, arrived the first day. It was hot. I remember it distinctly. And we had the assembly outdoors. We didn't have a gym or an indoor stadium big enough. That was being built at the time, actually, the year I started. We didn't have a gym big enough to fit us all in to hold an indoor assembly. So we're standing outdoors, 200 and something kids in, you know, first form, year seven. And... Then they just called out names. So 7A, and they went through the 40 names of the people who were in 7A. And then 7B, and they went through the 40 names.
How did the first-day assembly and form system shape the start of high school?
And 7A marched off to their room with their form teacher. And I was in 7F, the sixth out of six. So an hour later, we're still standing out there in the now morning sun. Yeah. And then went off to our room. And I have no recollection whatsoever of what happened as soon as we got in the room.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What first impressions and uniforms do Australians remember from high school?
0:08β4:22
2
How did the first-day assembly and form system shape the start of high school?
4:22β25:47
3
What were typical morning routines and transport options for Australian students?
25:47β45:04
4
How did school buildings, portables and postβWWII construction affect school life?
45:04β50:48
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Aussie English
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