Natalie Leung

A sample of Natalie Leung, Changing Spaces, Changing Places: An Early History of Cammeraygal High School, (2015).

Behind every public space and institution lies a unique story of its creation, establishment, and vision; a reflection of the way places are inextricably intertwined within forces of tradition and change, and oriented around peoples and communities. This piece is situated around an exploration of the early history of Cammeraygal High School, a government, comprehensive, coeducational high school established in Sydney’s Lower North Shore in 2015. It considers the individuals, groups, and places which have been formative in the development of the school, and contextualises it within its formative – and contested – social and political dynamics.

As the piece argues, Cammeraygal High School can – and should – be considered as a place informed by various manifestations of history: whilst overtly, this may not seem immediately apparent, like all places and spaces, ideas of history permeate its values and identity. Specifically, it will contend that two central parts of its institutional ‘identity’ are incontestably historical. First, the decisions leading up to its naming as ‘Cammeraygal High School’, in respect of the traditional custodians of the land on which it is situated; and secondly, the physical place it occupies, as a site previously home to North Sydney Girls’ High School (1914 – 1993), and Bradfield college (1994 – 2015). Through engaging with the individuals and groups central to this decision-making, it will argue that both aspects may be interpreted as embodiments of the evolution of social and political ideas. Furthermore, in positing that Cammeraygal High School can be viewed as a ‘symbolic landscape’ in itself, the school will be posited as a microcosm of surrounding social debates, especially surrounding the ideas of reconciliation and public education.

In doing so, this piece attempts to bridge the distance between what is academically referred to as a “historical consciousness”, and the way this notion is manifest in many everyday institutions. In engaging with various individuals involved in Cammeraygal’s beginnings, it was highlight that their individual attitudes towards the legacy and vision of Cammeraygal High School were constantly informed by a view by how it would be conceptualised historically. This therefore provides a broader reflection of the need to expand a historical vision to include places outside the traditional ‘historical’ realm, in order that a more holistic concept of history emerges.

This project is oriented around the conduct of five oral histories, combining these views together to form a reflective feature regarding the role of place and space in Cammeraygal High School’s early history. These five individuals are: Stephanie Croft, Vice-President of the Northern Sydney Council of P&C Associations and key lobbyist in the establishment of CHS; Dr Christine Evans, President of the Metropolitan North Regional Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG); Professor Dennis Foley, a descendant of the Cammeraygal Peoples and traditional owner/custodian of the land; Dr Ian Hoskins, North Sydney Council Historians; and Kathy Melky, current Principal of Cammeryagal High School. Each of these individuals have held very different roles – at very different stages – of Cammeraygal’s development, and together, were able to offer a range of insights regarding the Indigenous connections, historical connections, and community connections embodied by the school in its form today. These oral histories are supplicated by archival research in the North Shore Heritage Centre, and by examples of school histories undertaken by historians Barbara Storey and Greg Dening.

Whilst the written format chosen for this project does, admittedly, provide limitations to the appeal and accessibility of forms of history, this form of media was specifically requested by my partner organisation, in the interests of archiving and potential publication of the work. In many ways, this does represent a somewhat ‘traditional’ means of writing history, although the subject matter has already been utilised in a number of forms. For example, a distinctly shortened version of this will be put in the school’s inaugural School Magazine, and Kathy Melky is currently discussing the potential of putting a condensed version on the school website. If public history is to continue to evolve in becoming an accessible means of conveying knowledge, an increase in the availability of different mediums through which audiences are able to engage and access such work would prove beneficial.

On a public level, both Dr Christine Evans from the AECG, and Kathy Melky, Principal of Cammeraygal High School, have suggested the potential of publishing edited versions of this work in their respective organisations’ publications, in the area of Aboriginal and public education. This, to me, represents the value behind engaging with places with limited ‘historical’ resources, and the ubiquity of historical enquiries and positions in such places and spaces. With reflections regarding the hugely significant and inextricable role of community and cultural connections in the inception and development of Cammeraygal High School, it is hoped that this work will similarly continue to be built upon – and revised – beyond the framework of this unit. Writing a history of a site just ten months after it is started formal operation has proven to be a very new experience, and it is my hope that future years will continue on this tradition in documenting the evolution to which Cammeraygal provides a reflection, a response, and a challenge.

Finally, I would also like to thank Stephanie Croft, Dr Christine Evans, Professor Dennis Foley, Dr Ian Hoskins, and Kathy Melky, for their generosity in sharing their time, their stories and expertise with me. In this spirit of this work, I would also like to acknowledge and pay respect to the Cammeraygal Peoples of the Guringai Nation, on whose land this piece was written and researched. As our teaching, learning, and knowledge is shared within this university and Cammeraygal High School, may we also acknowledge the knowledge embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of Country.

— NATALIE LEUNG 

Natalie Leung, "Schools and History: A Literal Take on 'History Beyond the Classroom,'" History Matters, (10 November 2015)