Our History.

The new Richmond High School celebrates the return of a much missed local comprehensive co-education secondary school to Richmond. The school joins with Melbourne Girl’s College – on our former site – and Lynall Hall Community School in the provision of secondary education to our local community.

Richmond High School.

Richmond is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east of Melbourne’s Central Business District in the local government area of the City of Yarra.

The Wurundjeri-willam people of the Kulin Nation are the Traditional Owners. We recognise them as the custodians of the cultural heritage of this land. We acknowledge that these Traditional Owners have not ceded their sovereignty.

Following colonial settlement in 1835 Richmond was incorporated as a municipality in 1855, having split from the City of Melbourne on the same day as the neighbouring City of Collingwood. It became a town in 1872 and a city in 1882. Richmond was named after Richmond Hill, London.

Richmond has been integral to the development of Melbourne through many stages, colonial, post-colonial, industrial, two world wars, political machinations and various immigration waves. It has shared in Melbourne’s highs and lows. The suburb has always been diverse and has been the subject of gentrification since the mid 1970s and now contains an eclectic mix of expensively converted warehouse residences and apartments, public housing high-rise flats and beautiful homes from the Victorian-era.

Richmond has been served by a number of schools, from all sectors. The original Richmond High School opened its doors in 1967. The new Richmond High School opened in 2018. It is the view of the school and the community that this is the reopening of the school.

The original school had sixty-one boys and thirty-one girls and they were housed in four portable classrooms in the grounds of Brighton Street State Primary School. This is now Richmond Primary School. The new school had fifty boys and twenty-five girls and were in the ‘pop-up’ school at the Gleadell Campus.

Here is a photo of our Original Founders. We celebrate them.

Our Heritage Schools.

Richmond Central State (Primary) School

Richmond Central State School opened in 1872 in rooms in the Richmond Town Hall. By 1877 the new building in Gleadell St was ready. Over 750 children were then attending. The school closed in 1987. Richmond High School Griffiths Campus is on their former grounds. We are pleased to reclaim this historic site for education.

Richmond Girl’s High School

Richmond Girl’s High School opened in 1926 as Richmond Domestic Arts School in Gleadell Street. The building was eventually deemed unsafe and a new building was erected in 1954. It was renamed Richmond Girls High School in 1969. Closed in 1993, the school buildings are now part of Lynall Hall Community School.

Some former students made their way to a new entity: Melbourne Girls’ College. This is one of the heritage schools of Melbourne Girls’ College.

Richmond High School – No. 8269

Richmond High School opened in temporary accommodation in 1967, moving to a new building on the Yarra Boulevard (near Bridge Road) in 1969. In 1988 it was merged with Richmond Technical School to form the dual campus Richmond Secondary College. This was short-lived however, as the College was closed in 1992. Melbourne Girls’ College, was opened on the site in 1994.

Richmond Technical School

Richmond Technical School opened in 1926 on Church Street, behind the Richmond Town Hall. From the beginning the school specialised in training motor mechanics, and became integral to the growth of the automotive industry. In 1988 it was merged with Richmond High School to form the dual campus Richmond Secondary College. This was short-lived however, as the College was closed in 1992. The Technical School site was cleared to make way for a police station and a McDonald’s restaurant and became the local car park until our Gleadell Campus was built. The Richmond High School Gleadell Campus is on the grounds of the former Richmond Technical School. We are pleased to reclaim this historic site for education.

Richmond High School will celebrate its heritage schools through a plaque and written history in its Atrium.