Images from the Parramatta High School Magazines

The registers remained at the school until the 1960s when they were given to Parramatta City Council. Thankfully, they were returned and have proved to be a most valuable resource for our school history.

Here is an account of one such student. We were most fortunate, in this instance, to find some mention of the young lass in the school magazines.

Here are some pages from our school magazines charting the course of Miss Phyllis Jackson. Phyllis enrolled at Parramatta High School on 5 February, 1924 having previously attended North Auburn Primary School.

Phyllis performed well in her first year (1924), receiving the prize for first in her class - 1D. Click here to see the results as they appeared in the school magazine of June 1925 - (image size 71kb).

1926 was another good year for Phyllis and she achieved very good results in the Intermediate Certificate (the equivalent of our School Certificate examination today).

View her results here - (image size 63kb).

For her efforts, Phyllis was awarded the prize for Prox.Acc.⁽¹⁾, Best Intermediate Certificate Pass from Parramatta High School in 1926. She was presented with £1/1/-, by Dr R.A.P. Waugh - roughly the equivalent of $150 today. A substantial prize indeed. Phyllis also earned a place on the school honour rolls. View the honour board here.

See the school magazine entry recording Phyllis' prize here - (image size 43kb).

She was also acknowledged for her achievements in Life Saving. See those results here - (image size 32kb and 50kb). It is interesting to note that by fourth year, Phyllis was now in the A Class.

Phyllis continued to build on her academic achievements and her Leaving Certificate results (the equivalent to the Higher School Certifcate) were creditable. She attained an A in English and Latin, Second Class Honours in French and German, a B in Mathematics I and an A in Mathematics II. She was successful in gaining a scholarship for admission to the Teachers' Training College.

You can see the school magazine page with Phyllis' Leaving Certificate results here - (image size 38kb).

Sadly, the Speech Day information and prize list for the 1928 results were not published in the school magazine so we don't know at this stage what prizes, if any, Phyllis may have received. The results were usually published in the Cumberland Argus, the local newspaper but perhaps the financial constrictions of the Depression were a factor.

For many years, the school keenly followed the progress of its former students, recording their university/college examination results as well as their careers. In June 1930, the school reported that Phyllis Jackson attained a Credit in the March Honours Examinations for German I. View the magazine entry here - (image size 34kb).