Before our present school came into being, there existed in Melbourne a privately owned and operated school by the name of “University High School”. This institution was founded in 1893, and was, at first, located in the then disused Teachers’ College (now part of the Melbourne College of Advanced Education) on the corner of Swanston and Grattan Streets, Carlton. In 1900, the school was moved to a building opposite the Trades’ Hall in Victoria Street, and in 1912, it was closed.

The beginnings of our today’s The University High School. date from 1910, when The University Practising School opened in a former primary school at the corner of Lygon an Lytton Streets in Carlton. The special purpose of this new school was to provide a place where students of the recently established Diploma of Education course at Melbourne University could observe good teaching and practise their own skills. The school was co-educational from the beginning, and opened with an enrolment of forty boys and forty girls.

The first Principal of The University Practising School was Mr A. Wrigley, who resigned in 1914 to become an Inspector. It was during Mr Wrigley’s time, in 1913, that the school changed its name to The University High School. This was the name that many had wanted from the beginning, but could not be used while the older private school was still in existence.

The second Principal, Mr Matthew Stanton Sharman, was appointed in 1915. Sharman was a fine scholar, a capable musician, and a noted teacher of Mathematics and Science. Under his leadership, from 1915 to 1941, the School grew immensely in stature, and acquired much of its continuing tradition. Sharman himself wrote the music for the School Song, and established the original system of Houses, named after members of the school community who gave their lives in the First World War.

At the end of 1929, The University High School moved from Carlton to a new building – the present North wing – in Story Street, Parkville, and the new School was officially opened in May, 1930. Because construction took place during a time of severe economic depression, no additional facilities were provided and more than thirty years were to pass before assemblies could be held in the School’s own hall.

Mr L. R. Brookes was installed as Principal in 1941, and it fell to him to lead the School through the worst years of the Second World War. In 1942, the American Army set up a camp on the School oval, and in the same year 240 students from the Mac Robertson Girls’ High School were accommodated after their buildings were taken for military purposes. To make room for these girls, students of years 7 and 8 were moved from Story Street to Princes Hill, and for the next thirty years, The University High School was without junior classes.

Mr Brookes established the school newspaper “Ubique” in 1946, and saw the return of the oval to the School in 1947. Health problems, however, caused him to resign in 1951, and he died early in 1952. Mr E. Harrison, in fact, acted as Principal from September of 1950 and throughout 1951.

The fourth of the School’s Principals, Mr R.E. Chapman, took up his duties in 1952. He is remembered as a man of vigorous personality, and the School prospered greatly under his leadership. His love and encouragement of sport were particularly notable, and The University High School teams enjoyed a formidable reputation at this time. This was a period of high level immigration to Australia, and it was during these years that the School developed an increasingly cosmopolitan character.

Mr Chapman’s final year, 1960, marked the 50th anniversary of the School’s foundation, and suitable celebrations were held, not only to mark the end of an era, but to prepare for the years ahead. Plans for long-awaited building extensions, incorporating hall, gymnasium, cafeteria and other facilities, were drawn up, and a fund-raising organization established.

Mr G. S. Ellis took up the Principalship in 1961, and remained in office until 1968. It was his task to carry forward the building project, and to see the hall used officially for the first time in December 1965. Mr G. R. McRae Williamson took over the position of Principal in 1969, and the school was administered by Mr G. Hayter in 1970 and 1971.

During 1971, the Education Department, faced by a need to accommodate large numbers of year 7 students from the surrounding area, decreed that The University High School would, as a temporary measure, enrol a contingent of unselected junior students. This decision provided a challenge and posed many problems, and it was to this situation that Mr J. E. Clark came, as the new Principal in 1972.

Year 7 and 8 have now become an accepted part of The University High School, and the successful integration of these students into a school of academic tradition without facilities for practical subjects has been an achievement. Much of the success derives from Mr Clark’s institution of “Mini Schools” to monitor the work of junior students and cater for their pastoral needs. These “Mini Schools” bear the honoured names of Sharman, Brookes and Chapman.

Another feature of Mr Clark’s term of office was the growth of the The University High School Evening School. This organization, at first administered by The University High School, and subsequently by the Collingwood College of Technical and Further Education, provided secondary education for thousands of adult students, and enabled many items of equipment to be obtained on a co-operative basis. The name of Mr O. C. Ferris will always be associated with the development of the Evening School.

1982 marked another important stage in the history of the school with the opening of the Stella Langford Music Wing. This specially designed building was made possible by a generous provision in the will of the late Stella Langford, a former student and teacher. The design, construction and furnishing of the building was undertaken by the School through the agency of Mr J. Economo, a member both of the teaching staff and of the School Council.

The 75th Anniversary of the School’s Foundation was celebrated in 1985, and Mr Clark retired in November of that year. In the following month, Mr P.D.A. Bryce took up his duties as Principal. Mr Bryce was a student at the School, and also spent three years on the teaching staff in the 1960s. Mr Bryce retired in August 1996.

Many developments have occurred since 1985, the most obvious of which are the development of an underground car park (serving the adjacent hospital and the School) beneath the oval, and the construction of a handsome facility to house the School’s new endeavours in the area of Technology Studies.

In 1994 the drawings and estimates for the major refurbishment of the existing buildings were completed and work commenced in 1995 with the majority of work completed in 1996.

Mr Bryce retired as Principal in August 1996. His principalship saw both an extensive development of the facilities and the establishment of the VCE Sub School, subsequently named in his honour.

Ms Bronwyn Valente was appointed in 1997. During her tenure there was an expansion in the use of information and communication technologies, a review of the years 7 to 10 curriculum and the construction of the Gene Technology Access Centre building.

Mr Robert Newton was appointed in 2005.

There have been two accounts published of the history of the school – one taking the story to 1960, and the other covering the next twenty years. These volumes are both out of print, but are available for perusal in the library.