Macarthur Girls High School
Encyclopedia
Macarthur Girls High School is situated on the Parramatta River
Parramatta River
The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers....

 next to Parramatta City, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The school was built in 1934 with later additions in 1955 and 1975. The school offers students a curriculum directed towards the Higher School Certificate with a combination of traditional and Vocational Education courses, ensuring that the needs and interests of all students are well met (excludes engineering, most languages and other scriptural needs). Across all of these courses the development and application of computer and other technologies are integrated, as they are in every other school.

Macarthur's 75th birthday was last year, 2009, which the SRC (circle of 15 representatives) celebrated by renovating the rose garden (work which was finished by year 12).

Basics

Macarthur Girls High School is a large comprehensive school, with more than 1200 students, situated 20 km west of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 and adjacent to the Parramatta River. Their purpose is to encourage young women to achieve their personal best and beyond, empowering them with the necessary skills to be successful citizens of Australia in an ever changing world.

School history

Macarthur is located on an area of land first granted to William Reid (a seaman-convict from the Sirius
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Seirios . The star has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris...

, the first ship of the First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

 to enter Sydney Harbour in 1788). Later the property was acquired by the Rev. Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...

 where he built a new home, Newlands. The property changed hands several times before it was acquired by the Education Department and the present school was built in 1933.

Changes in the name of the school reflect the changing educational trends of the times.
  • 1927-30 - The "Old School," originally located near Arthur Phillip High was known as Parramatta Commercial and Household Arts School.
  • 1931-37 - Parramatta Domestic Science School.
  • 1938-41 - Parramatta District and Home Science School.
  • 1942-45 - Parramatta Secondary Central Home High School.
  • 1946-52 - Parramatta Home Science School.
  • 1953-58 - Parramatta Secondary Home Science School.
  • 1959 - Macarthur Girls High School.
  • 2010 - Macarthur Center Of Excellence

Alumni

Counted amongst "The Old Girls" is the Olympic gold medal winning runner Betty Cuthbert
Betty Cuthbert
Elizabeth Cuthbert AM, MBE is an Australian athlete, and a fourfold Olympic champion....

,
renowned actress, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...


and Finance Minister Penny Wong
Penny Wong
Penelope "Penny" Ying-yen Wong , is an Australian Labor Party senator for South Australia and the Federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation. Wong was the first Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water. Her appointment was amended on 26 February 2010, by the Prime Minister, to the...


External links

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