Whyalla High School was a high school located in the city of

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...

in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

catering for school years 8–10. It was the first high school built in Whyalla. It was built by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

in 1943, as a Technical school for BHP’s

Whyalla Steelworks The Whyalla Steelworks is a fully integrated steelworks and the only manufacturer of rail in Australia. Iron ore is mined in the Middleback Range to feed the steelworks, resulting in the distribution of finished steel products of over 90 different ...

apprentices to be educated at. The school catered for year 8 to

year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-compulsory educa ...

. There were 113 students who were originally enrolled at the school. In 1965-1966 temporary buildings (portables) were put up to hold the extra students, in 1966 there was 1,284 students at Whyalla Technical High School, in 1965 there was 1,480 students enrolled. Students were sent to Memorial Oval Primary School because there wasn't enough room to hold them all at the school. Soon after this Eyre Technical High School was opened as a year 8 to 12 school. In 1971, the school changed its name from Whyalla Technical High School to Whyalla High School. In the late 1980s, Whyalla High Schools student population was the largest of the three government high schools. However Eyre High Schools numbers had fallen and the school was expected to close. The state government however decided that Eyre High School should stay due to its proximity to the

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

and

UniSA The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

campus. A plan was created where Eyre High School would become the Year 11-12 school, and Stuart and Whyalla High Schools would cater for years 8 to 10. Despite great opposition from the Stuart High and Whyalla High parents and students, the plan went ahead and the last group of year 12 students finished in 1991. In 1991 the Whyalla Secondary College was established and the

portable building A portable, demountable or transportable building is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located. Smaller version of portable buildings are also known as portable cabins. Portable cabins are prefabricated structu ...

s were removed from Whyalla High School.

. In 1998-2001 the school had record low enrolments, only having around 180 students, in 1998 only 40 students enrolled at Whyalla High School. This brought up the question "Was Whyalla High School needed?". There was discussion of the school closing but because of the rise in enrolments the school was saved. Between 2002 and 2007 the school has gone from 180 enrolments to 400. In 2020, the school had 505 students enrolled. The original school building is listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

. Whyalla High School was officially closed on 17th December 2021 at an official closing ceremony where the school flags were lowered, a time capsule was buried at the front of the school and the front doors at the school entrance locked for the final time. Stuart High School and

Edward John Eyre High School Edward John Eyre High School is located in Whyalla Norrie, South Australia. It opened in 1968 as Eyre Technical High School. Built during the boom period, student enrolment reached around 1,500 in the 1970s. Today, Edward John Eyre High School, ...

also closed, and all three public schools merged to create Whyalla Secondary College. The new merged school opened in 2022, and is located on a new campus on Nicolson Avenue,

Whyalla Norrie Whyalla Norrie is a suburb of Whyalla on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It was gazetted as a distinct suburb in 1967, and had its boundaries altered in 1975 and 2000. It is bounded by Iron Knob Road, Norrie Avenue, Broadbent Terrace and ...

between the Whyalla campuses of the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

and

TAFE SA TAFE South Australia (TAFE SA) provides vocational education and training in South Australia. The acronym TAFE stands for Technical and Further Education and is used and recognised nationally throughout Australia. TAFE SA is a Registered train ...

. Whyalla High School 20210401.jpg, Whyalla High School Whyalla High School Main Building 20210401.jpg, Main Building Whyalla Secondary College Construction 20210401.jpg, new Whyalla Secondary College under construction

References

External links

Whyalla High School Official Website
{{coord, 33, 02, S, 137, 35, E, display=title, region:AU_type:landmark_source:GNS-enwiki Educational institutions established in 1943 High schools in South Australia Whyalla 1943 establishments in Australia