Hallam - Part 3 - Hallam School, No.244

Aerial shot of Hallam, December 1963. The first stages of suburbanisation had commenced with the establishment of Princess Domain Drive, Windsor Street and Edinborough Street, ending in Regal Avenue. You can also see Spring Square and seven houses in Alexander Street. the new Primary School is surrounded by trees in Harmers Road (on the left of the picture). Click on image to enlarge it.

In our last two blog posts we have looked at the early landowners and settlers of Hallam. (Click here and here to read the previous two posts) In this post we present a short history of Hallam School, No.244. This School was established in 1858 and was known as the Eumemmerring Denominational School, it then became a State School, changed its name to Hallam’s Road in 1906 and to Hallam in 1923. In 1894 the School became an adjunct to the Dandenong State School. It wasn't until 1902 that the Education Department recommended that the School be separated from Dandenong. A new school building was erected and opened in November 1904. The original school was located next to the Hallam Hotel, on Andrew's family land.

Hallam School, No. 244 taken in 1924. Photograph from the collection of Jim Alexander, a copy of which has been donated to our Archive.

Due to increasing enrolments in the early 1960s, the Hallam Public Hall was used for classes. Unfortunately this involved children crossing the Princes Highway and a tragic accident resulted in a student losing his life in a car accident in October 1962. Community agitation saw the construction of a new school on its existing site in Harmers Road and this opened in November 1963. The earliest available Pupils registers for the School date from 1905 and early names appearing on the roll include Burton, Kane, Wyman, Battersby, Higgins, Watson, Savage, Johnstone, Hicks, Byron Moncrief, Kirkham, Knights, Kane , Lynn and Graham. All were from farming families except two and their parents worked on the Railways. The railway line from Oakleigh to Bunyip opened October 1877 and the Hallam Railway Station was opened in 1880.

Hallam School, February 1921, on the occasion of the opening of the second room. Photograph from the collection of Jim Alexander, a copy of which has been donated to our Archive.

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