Otago Girls' High School
Encyclopedia
Otago Girls' High School (OGHS) is a secondary school in Dunedin
, Otago
, New Zealand. It was opened 6 February 1871, after a long campaign by educationalist Learmonth Whyte Dalrymple. It is reputedly the oldest girls state-run secondary school in Australasia and the sixth oldest of its type in the world.
(1874–1948) and the old building on Tennyson Street was demolished. Anscombe's conception of a rouge-brick Elizabethan mansion, dreaming in the sun, was slowly extended. Temporary structures were replaced in the 1970s by Ministry of Education blocks, contextualised by the use of brick to the Anscombe building. In the 1980s the main block was scheduled for demolition. After protest it was restored and extended by a sympathetic addition designed by E.J.Ted McCoy
, and in 1987 was listed as a Category I Historic Place. The school has since acquired part of the old King Edward Technical School site. It has erected structures there accessible by way of a pedestrian underpass beneath Smith Street.
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
, Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
, New Zealand. It was opened 6 February 1871, after a long campaign by educationalist Learmonth Whyte Dalrymple. It is reputedly the oldest girls state-run secondary school in Australasia and the sixth oldest of its type in the world.
Building History
At its foundation the school occupied a neo-classical building on its present site which it shared with Otago Boys High School. A new building on another site was built for the boys which they marched away to occupy in 1885. In 1910 the present main block was opened, designed by Edmund AnscombeEdmund Anscombe
Edmund Anscombe was one of the most important figures to shape the architectural and urban fabric of New Zealand. He was important, not only because of the prolific nature of his practice and the quality of his work, but also because of the range and the scale of his built and speculative projects...
(1874–1948) and the old building on Tennyson Street was demolished. Anscombe's conception of a rouge-brick Elizabethan mansion, dreaming in the sun, was slowly extended. Temporary structures were replaced in the 1970s by Ministry of Education blocks, contextualised by the use of brick to the Anscombe building. In the 1980s the main block was scheduled for demolition. After protest it was restored and extended by a sympathetic addition designed by E.J.Ted McCoy
Ted McCoy
Edward John "Ted" McCoy ONZM is a retired Dunedin, New Zealand architect. He designed the sanctuary of St Pauls Cathedral, completed in 1970 and the Richardson Building of the University of Otago, completed in 1979, among many others...
, and in 1987 was listed as a Category I Historic Place. The school has since acquired part of the old King Edward Technical School site. It has erected structures there accessible by way of a pedestrian underpass beneath Smith Street.
Notable alumnae
- Ethel BenjaminEthel BenjaminEthel Rebecca Benjamin was New Zealand’s first female lawyer. On 17 September 1897, she became the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court, representing a client for the recovery of a debt...
- New Zealand's first female lawyerhttp://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=2B18 - Kelly BrazierKelly BrazierKelly Brazier is a female New Zealand rugby union player. She plays flyhalf, centre or fullback in New Zealand, Otago Spirit and Alhambra Union....
- rugby union player - Sylvia Cartwright - former Governor General of New Zealand
- Mai ChenMai ChenMai Chen is a prominent constitutional lawyer in Wellington, New Zealand.She is a founding partner of the law firm Chen Palmer, alongside former New Zealand Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer.-Early life:...
- constitutional lawyer - Constance ClydeConstance ClydeConstance Clyde was a New Zealand writer.Clyde came to New Zealand as a child, and was educated at Otago Girls' High School. She moved to Sydney in 1898, and wrote for the Sydney Bulletin. In an essay entitled 'The Literary Woman', she urged women to continue "to make brilliant discoveries in the...
- writer - Margaret CruickshankMargaret CruickshankDr Margaret Barnett Cruickshank was the first registered female doctor in New Zealand.-Biography:Cruickshank attended the University of Otago Dunedin School of Medicine and was the second woman, following Emily Siedeberg, in New Zealand to complete medical school. During World War I she organised...
- New Zealand's first female medical doctor - Elizabeth GunnElizabeth Gunn (paediatrician)Dr. Elizabeth Catherine Gunn was a pioneer in the field of children's health in New Zealand.Gunn was born in Dunedin, the daughter of an ironmonger whose interests in medicine led him to change career initially to pharmacy and then to dentistry. She attended Timaru and Otago Girls' High Schools,...
- paediatrician - Alison HolstAlison HolstDame Alison Margaret Holst, DNZM, CBE, QSM is a best-selling New Zealand food writer and television chef. Her first television programme premiered in 1965. The following year she published the first of around 90 cookbooks...
- cook - Grace Joel - painter
- Juliet MarillierJuliet MarillierJuliet Marillier is a New Zealand-born writer of fantasy, especially historical fantasy. She currently lives in Western Australia. While Marillier writes mostly for adults, her recent books have included Cybele's Secret, a sequel to her novel for young adults Wildwood Dancing. Cybele's Secret won...
- author - Shona McFarlaneShona McFarlaneShona Graham McFarlane CBE was a New Zealand artist, journalist and broadcaster.McFarlane was born in Gore and educated at Otago Girls' High School, and studied teaching at Dunedin Teachers' College...
- artist, journalist and broadcaster - Emily Hancock SiedebergEmily Hancock SiedebergEmily Hancock Siedeberg-McKinnon, CBE, MB, ChB, BSc was New Zealand's first female medical graduate....
- New Zealand's first female medical graduate - Olga StringfellowOlga StringfellowOlga Stringfellow was a New Zealand journalist and author of romantic and historical fiction.-History:Stringfellow was born in Auckland as Olga Elizabeth Brown. She was educated at the Otago Girls' High School in Dunedin, and the Elam School of Fine Arts.In 1943 she was married and moved to the...
- writer - Nancy Tichborne - watercolour artist
- Yvette WilliamsYvette WilliamsYvette Winifred Williams, CNZM, MBE is a retired athlete from New Zealand, the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal. She won her Olympic gold medal in the Long Jump event in 1952 held at Helsinki.Williams was inducted into the New Zealand Hall of Fame in 1990...
- first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal