Boys and girls change places at Canberra High School, Acton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Abstract

Photograph of a teacher demonstrating the use of planes to eight girls in a woodwork classroom. The group stand around a workbench to which is attached a vice. Along the walls are shelves and boards from which hang various tools. The teacher, who has a short, back and sides haircut, wears a protective coat while the girls' school tunics are protected by aprons. Canberra High School, designed by Charles Whitley, opened in 1939 and was regarded as one of the most modern high schools in Australia. Over 300 students attended at the time the picture was taken. In the 1960s the school vacated the Acton site and occupied a new building in Macquarie. Over a number of years the old premises came to be used as an art school. In 1992 the Canberra Institute of the Arts, as it was now called, amalgamated with the Australian National University.This photograph is from an album that was held at the London office of the ANU over the period 1949 to 1952. The album was used to inform prospective staff about Canberra. These images are part of the series produced by the Department of Information and kept at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra. National Archives holdings in this series have gaps and some images may be held only at the ANU Archives.