Crows Nest Boys High School
Crows Nest Boys High School is a former high school located at 365 Pacific Highway in the Sydney suburb of Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia. It was a boys high school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education with students from years 7 to 12. The school was first established in 1883 as St Leonards North Public School. However the school was declared surplus to the needs of the department and officially closed in 1992. The school and its heritage-listed buildings are now the campus of North Sydney Girls High School.
History
The school was first established in 1883 as St Leonards North Public School, with Jeremiah Crowley as the first Head Teacher. Crowley's term was so well-regarded that by the time of his retirement in 1900, the school was often referred to as "Crowley's School". In July 1910, owing to confusion over the "St Leonards" name as three public schools in the area possessed it, the school was renamed Crows Nest Public School. In 1912, a new two-storey building in the Federation Free style which formed the main building of the school along the Pacific Highway was opened. Further extensions to this building designed by Government Architect, Richard Wells, were completed in 1924 and officially opened by the Minister for Education, Albert Bruntnell. A Roll of Honour commemorating the service of students in the First World War was unveiled in February 1917.In January 1936, as part of an effort by the NSW Government to expand vocational education, converted the school into Crows Nest Central Junior Technical School so that it now provided secondary technical education. The school was renamed Crows Nest Boys High School in January 1959. An Army Cadet unit was formed in 1946, which was disbanded 1975 with the withdrawal of Commonwealth Government support for school-based cadet units; the unit re-formed in 1980 as a joint unit with North Sydney Boys High School which lasted until disbanding in 1990.
By the early 1990s, the school was targeted for closure by the Department of Education as part of a plan to expand the size of North Sydney Girls High School. This was a fate recently shared by the sister school, Cremorne Girls High School, and Milson Point Public School in 1987. The school staff and community attempted to retain the school in some form as a TAFE NSW college, but in March 1992 the Minister for Education, Virginia Chadwick announced the decision the close Crows Nest Boys and move North Sydney Girls from their campus across the road to its location. Crows Nest Boys finally closed in December 1992, with the decision to close noted by one teacher: "There was no political will to save our school... it was seen as expendable. We’d done all this work, taken the consultation process seriously, and we lost the school anyway". The controversy continued after the closure when the last Headmaster, Don Weir, was refused several appointments and only offered a new but lower position by the Department.
The buildings of the former Crows Nest Boys High School are heritage items listed under the North Sydney Local Environment Plan 2013. In 2014, when the Department of Education resolved to create a new public high school in the North Sydney area, the first new public school in the area since 1961, some former alumni of Crows Nest Boys campaigned to restore the "Crows Nest High" name, colours and motto to the new school. However the Department eventually decided on "Cammeraygal High School", which opened in January 2015.
Headmasters
| Years | SLNPS |
| 1883–1900 | Jeremiah Crowley |
| 1900–1910 | William Roberts |
| Years | CNPS |
| 1910–1912 | William Roberts |
| 1912–1920 | Theo Sheehy |
| 1920–1921 | Bede Keough |
| 1921–1926 | J. H. Hopman |
| 1926–1927 | Henry Hepburn |
| 1927–1935 | Arthur Knight |
| Years | CNCJTS |
| 1936–1942 | Frederick Charles Derham |
| 1943–1946 | William Arthur Morris |
| 1947–1949 | Arthur Herbert Cooper |
| 1950–1958 | Alexander G. Robertson |
| Years | CNBHS |
| 1959–1963 | Edward Thomas Wallace B.Sc. Dip.Ed. |
| 1964–1970 | Harold James Hamnett B.Sc. Dip.Ed. |
| Jan–Dec 1971 | John Holme B.A. Dip.Ed. |
| 1972–1974 | William John Cooke B.A. Dip.Ed. |
| 1975–1986 | Leonard Harvey B.A. |
| 1987–1992 | Donald James Weir B.A. |
Notable alumni
- Ray Beattie – rugby league player and official for North Sydney
- Alan Burns – rugby league player for North Sydney
- Peter Carson – rugby union player for Northern Suburbs, NSW and Australia
- Teo Gebert – actor
- Mark Hartill – rugby union player for Northern Suburbs, Gordon, NSW and Australia
- Mick Healey – rugby league player for North Sydney
- Levon Khachigian – medical research scientist and Professor of Medicine at UNSW
- Jaimie Leonarder – musician and radio DJ
- Brian Norton – rugby league player for North Sydney, North Tamworth, St George and Country Firsts. Coach of North Sydney
- Norm Provan – rugby league player for St George, Sydney, NSW and Australia
- Marty Rhone – singer and actor
- Bob Sullivan – rugby league player for North Sydney, NSW and Australia
- Charlie Sheard - Contemporary artist
- Brett Weymark - conductor, Music Director of The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.
- John Vandenburg – rugby league player for North Sydney