Dimboola Memorial Secondary College

The original badge of red, peacock blue and gold was unobtainable during World War Two and a new badge was needed to change Higher Elementary School to Memorial High School. Many designs were submitted and it was decided to delete the motto Facta Non Verba - as making the badge too bulky, and a sword was incorporated instead.

This sword was a Crusader's double handed sword, reversed and was placed in the centre of the design. The Crusader of old used the sword with all his might, with both hands, in defence of the fight, and in attacking the forces of evil, as he saw it.

But the sword is reverse, as was the Crusader's when he came to lean on it in sorrow as fallen comrades were laid to rest. And in this position the sword with its cross piece forms a cross. The sword is on a red background that colour of sacrifice so fully revealed by the names on the granite at the front of the school.

At the lower centre of the badge there is a ripe ear of wheat, the fruit of the careful cultivation and hopeful sowing which had first to be done. We must all cultivate the seeds of honour, loyalty, service to others and courage, as well as those of learning, so that they will come to abundant harvest. So shall we earn the emblem which surrounds the badge - the victor's laurel wreath. The initial D.M.H.S. were also added.

Mr T D Stewart, an art teacher at the school, was responsible for the completed design of the new badge.

The badge was updated when the school became a secondary college, with the initials DMSC replacing DMHS, and the background becoming white, but the red being retained on the blade of the sword.

Timeline

Background
1914 to 1918	World War I sees hundreds of local men and women enlist to serve their country. Unfortunately 55 did not return.
1919	Dimboola Rowing Club undertakes to stimulate interest in a War memorial.
1920	Public meetings called to arrange fund raising.
1921	Dimboola R.S.L. and public agree that the War Memorial should take the form of a Higher Elementary School.
1921 - May	"The Mallee Site" was chosen as the site for the new school building, ahead of "The Police Paddock" and the existing state school site. Although the Returned Soldiers representatives on the committee favoured the existing school site, the site on the hill east of the railway was deemed to be the most appropriate. The Dimboola Chronicle on 23rd June 1921 reported: If they put the new School on the School site they would go on all right for a while, but they must remember the district was growing, and before very long the site would be dotted with buildings and the whole character of the Memorial would be lost.
The First Few Years - 1921 to 1924
1921 - July 1	The school is proclaimed.
1922	Series of meetings to discuss site, raise money, etc.
Dimboola Higher Elementary School - 1924 to 1945
1924	Teachers and pupils move in to new school in May.
1924 - Dec 2	The school was officially opened. A banquet was held in the evening.
1929	Last meeting of committee involved in establishing school.
1934	Improvement Committee formed - continued until 1949.
1936	Survey of oval proposed - local community promise 16 horse teams for grading of oval.
1937	Front oval graded and levelled.
1938	Oval planted with couch grass and pig face.
1942	First bus route from Jeparit.
1945	School is raised to the status of a second class High School. First High School Leaving (Form 5) class. Advisory Council was formed on September 9, 1945 and continued until November 8, 1976.
1946	Women's Auxiliary formed. School buses running from Kiata and Jeparit. Antwerp bus route began. "Hilltop News" published. Citizens working bees began.
1947	Commercial course established.
	Pimpinio and Dimboola East bus routes established.
	Malthoid wicket laid down on oval. Installation of Public Address system.
	Circular drive around oval laid down.
	On December 10, 1947, official permission received to change school name to Dimboola Memorial High School.
Dimboola Memorial High School - 1945 to 1986
1948	Third hut (gymnasium and shelter shed) arrived from Nhill. Lochiel School building removed from its site to the school grounds. Quadrangle asphalted.
1949	Unveiling of Matron Paschke Sundial Memorial on May 1, 1949, by Colonel W.S. Kent-Hughes.
	New Memorial Avenue of trees planted.
1950	Memorial Gates and cattle pit purchased.
	One pre-fabricated unit of two classrooms erected.
	School magazine "Outlook" published.
	First choir trip to Melbourne.
1951	Students Representative Council began.
	One classroom (old Lochiel School) converted for Library purposes.
	Four Bristol classrooms built.
	GSSSA Athletic Meeting held in Dimboola.
1952	New sports oval developed under the guidance of Mr. L. Busbhy.
1953	Wrought iron gates erected at the main entrance.
1954	Two new tennis courts, one new basketball court erected.
	Students visit Ballarat to see Royal Tour.
1955	Official opening of entrance gates by Colonel Leggatt, the Minister for Education.
	World War Two Memorial tablets unveiled.
1956	Trip to Olympic Games in Melbourne by some students.
1957	Domestic and Manual Arts buildings completed. Mother's Auxiliary supplied an honour roll for recording the School Dux.
1958	Second bus from Jeparit. Manual and Domestic Arts block opened by Mr J Bloomfield, the Minister for Education.
1959	Mother's Auxiliary donates Grand Aggregate Shield for GSSSA Competition which was held in Dimboola this year.
1962	Canteen began operating. Remedial teaching in a greater scale under Mr R Schuller.
1963	First television set installed by Mother's Auxiliary. Official opening of Canteen on November 4, 1963.
1964	Construction of 4 basketball and tennis courts. First of annual exchange visits with Casterton High School. First athletic meeting of the newly formed Wimmera Secondary Schools Sports Association held in Dimboola. An LTC (Light Timber Construction) building of 4 classrooms erected.
1965	Blackout curtains for Room 18 (Science room near Admin) provided by Mother's Auxiliary. Fencing of new basketball courts.
1966	Westerfield Motors provide the school with a new Holden for student driving program - teachers acted as instructors. Dimboola was the second school in the state to be provided with a Holden under this scheme.
1967	Dimboola Community Library - incorporating the school library - was opened by Cr Eric Avery on October 5, 1967. A seedling from the Lone Pine battlefield of World War I was planted in front of the school on Anzac Day. Bob Matlack, first American exchange student (AFS) arrives.
1968	School granted permission to conduct internal Leaving exams. Doreen Jones, first DMHS pupil to go overseas (Oregon, USA) on student exchange (Rotary). West Wimmera Complex (Kaniva, Nhill, Dimboola) began. Principal's residence built. Two German guns captured by Australian troops in World War One and donated to the Dimboola RSL by Mr L H Smith were placed in the school grounds at the main entrance.
1969	Girls take part in Yard Duty. Swimming Sports held at the new town pool instead of in the river. School trip to Sydney and Canberra.
1970	Formation of a co-operative society to provide the balance of finance necessary for the Assembly Hall. Star of Stars Dances.
1971	Assembly Hall opened and used for Speech Night. School trip to Tasmania. First contract teacher arrives. Library moved to old Assembly Hall in original Memorial Building.
1972	Student Council replaces Prefect System. Kyoko Kono, a Japanese exchange student, arrives.
1974	Celebrations for the Fiftieth Jubilee of the school. Sealing of the drive and area around the Assembly Hall. A new hockey field constructed. Arrival and occupation of four teacher flats. Staff residence in Ellerman Street built. Science block built (at north end of school, replaced by Science and Language Centre 2010s)
1975	School trip to Tasmania.
1977	School Council commenced.
1978	Fully authorised Pre-Driver Education Course put into school curriculum under the instruction of Mr B Hildebrand. Cars were borrowed from Westerfield Motors for this program. Northern Territory Schoolboy Football Team again visits the school and are billeted with our students.
1979	Pre-Driver Education Practice Course Track laid down by the Dimboola Rotary Club. Student David Lord goes to America on student exchange (AFS) and the Rotary Club sponsors American student Jill Fields.
1980	New administration block completed. Library temporarily housed in portable classroom. Principal, Ray Welsford, absent on Education Department scholarship travelling overseas. First Year 8 Exchange trip - with Upfild High School. Library and Canteen and Dining Room completed and in use. First adult HSC students.
1981	Official opening of new buildings on March 20, 1981, by Mr Alan Hunt, the Minister for Education.
1987	The school became a Secondary College.
Dimboola Memorial Secondary College - 1987 to present
1999	75th Jubilee celebrated over weekend of Friday 3rd to 5th December, with over 1000 former students present.
2012	Official opening of the new Science and Language Centre and the Dimboola Health and Fitness Centre with synthetic hockey pitch/tennis courts.
2014	Opening of new commercial kitchen and Hospitality Centre in the old canteen and dining room adjoining the Assembly Hall by Suzanne Thomas, Jeannette Walsgott and Mandy Pitt.
2016	Stage 1 of the Avenue of Honour rejuvenation project begins with the felling and replanting of trees along the inside of the Avenue of Honuour. The old trees were nearing the end of their life and were replaced with a more suitable species for the conditions.
2017	Four new trees planted and dedicated in the Avenue of Honour to acknowledge servicemen who had previously been omitted or incorrectly recorded on the town's memorial. The new trees are for Walter Alexander Brown, John Glatz, Leslie Parker, and William Roy Smith. A plaque was unveiled for Alfred Gerhard Kuhne, who was killed in action in 1917 but was not originally allocated a tree. His tree is alongside the existing World War I section of the drive.
2019	The project to rejuvenate the Avenue of Honour at the front of the school reaches completion.

History

History

Jump to Section

The School Badge

Timeline