Scotch College

Historic Plaques

As part of our sesquicentenary celebrations, three new commemorative plaques are being produced to mark the first three sites of Scotch College, before the school moved to Hawthorn in 1925.

The school's first site in 1851 was in Spring Street, Melbourne, between Lonsdale Street and La Trobe Street. In 1852, the school moved south along Spring Street to near the corner of Little Collins Street. But the school was soon on the move again and in 1854 it re-located to the corner of Lansdowne Street and Cathedral Place, East Melbourne, where it remained until the move to Hawthorn.

To celebrate the school's centenary in 1951, commemorative tablets were placed in the pavements in front of these three sites. The tablet from outside the first site was retrieved when it was threatened with destruction during the construction of the current Casselden Place building on the corner of Spring and Lonsdale Streets.

After a time residing in the school's archives, the tablet was returned to its original location in the footpath in Spring Street. The other two footpath tablets are still in place.

The new plaques will be installed on the walls of the buildings, beside the pavement tablets, and will thus highlight the locations.

They will depict the buildings as they were when the school was located at each site and will include some relevant historical notes.

On 18 February 2001 the Torch Relay and Heritage Walk will visit these first three sites of the School, and appropriate ceremonies will be held at each.