Extract from ‘Fumes, Fleas, Fervour” Peter Webb 1987

 

"Secondary School education at Victor Harbor began in 1910 when a room at the Primary School was allocated to a class of twenty-eight students, wishing to extend their schooling beyond the primary years. Between 1910 and 1029, some 352 students were educated at the “Victor Harbour District School High School but it was not until 1930 when Victor Harbor was able to demonstrate that it had the capacity to maintain an enrolment of at least forty, that the Education Department deemed I necessary to open a High School as a separate entity.

The “school building” was the Wonderview Theatre on Flinders Parade.  Mr Reg. Cole was appointed Headmaster and his sole colleague was Miss Edith Pentelow. Sixty-one students were enrolled at the school for the 

opening on 4 February 1930.

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No one assembled that morning could foresee the monumental struggles ahead for the new school. Although the economy was already in recession, the full force of the Depression had not yet been felt. Within the next two years, the government was forced to limit its spending, and secondary education became a prime target at the time when most sections on the electorate regarded it as something of a luxury,

In such circumstances, even established schools had a struggle to survive, but for a school in its infancy, the early thirties were especially harsh. Ultimately, however, community spirit and professional dedication triumphed, each hard-won step forward laying a solid foundation for the future.

 

 

The Wonderview Theatre was originally a wool store, one of several such buildings along Flinders Parade constructed during the hey-day of Port Victor. It had direct access to the ocean in front of it and the railway yards at the rear.  The back of the building was open for ease of loading.

Later, when the port declined, the building was converted for other uses, including dancing and cinema. The rear was roughly closed up with timber and galvanised iron and a gaudy façade was added to the front of the building.

The arrival and departure of the train caused considerable inconvenience for the patrons inside with scarcely ruffled rumbles, hisses and screeches of steam locomotives shaking the whole building.”