Centenary of State Secondary EducationPrint Page

The Frank Tait portrait was a gift of MHSOBA (Melbourne High School Old Boys Association ) to the school to mark the centenary of state secondary education. The portrait was unveiled by Premier Steve Bracks on Friday 20th May 2005. It now hangs at the foot of the northern staircase under the stained glass window where Frank Tate is represented with the school.

The first state secondary school, the Melbourne Continuation School (later renamed Melbourne High School), opened in 1905. It offered a two-year teacher preparation course to pupils aged 14 and above. But from the beginning the school had a dual purpose, as recipients of state scholarships for secondary tuition were also accepted. It was obligatory for these students to receive instruction that would enable them to sit for the university's examinations, and within a short time similar tuition was offered to many of the trainee teachers. Once this curricular change had occurred, the school could no longer pretend to be other than a 'secondary school' in the sense accepted today.

Frank Tate CMG (18 June 1864 – 28 June 1939) was an Australian educationist who is best remembered for his efforts in expanding secondary education in Victoria, Australia. In March 1902 he was appointed the first Director of Education in Victoria at the age of 38. When Tate retired from the education department in 1928 no fewer than 128 higher elementary schools and 36 high schools had been established in Victoria, and there had been an increase of 50 per cent in the number of technical schools. 

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