Blackburn High School
school in Melbourne, Australia
Blackburn High School is a co-educational public secondary school for children from years 7 to 12 in Blackburn North, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, founded in 1956. The school is notable for its music curriculum and extracurriculars, particularly for its early adoption of music education in government schooling.
History
The land for Blackburn High School was acquired from the Pearce Family, who grew peaches and cherries. In 1955 (five years before opening) the site was described "still in the cherry orchard state", however the Lilydale Express reported that a "Mr. Percy" from Lilydale High School would be promoted to head-master of Blackburn.
Blackburn High School's instrumental music program began in 1965 under the guidance of teacher Renee Maddocks and principal Arthur Beaumont.
Extracurricular activities
Music
The school has performed in outside events such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Floriade, International Society for Music Education Conference, Victorian School Music Festival, the 71st Annual Midwest Clinic, and the local Whitehorse Christmas Carols.
It has also competed in the Echuca-Moama School Bands Festival, Royal South Street Eisteddfod, Generations in Jazz Competition, and the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival.
The school has released three albums, one in 1977, and two from the Midwest Clinic in 2017.
SBA Division 4+ Nick Mulder Memorial Award - 2025
James Morrison Golden Mouthpiece Award - 2014
Notable alumni
Christos Tsiolkas – Novelist
Ross Irwin – Trumpet player in Melbourne based band 'The Cat Empire'.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4922688. Authority coordinates are -37.811, 145.150. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1955, 1965 and 1977.
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This entry incorporates text from “Blackburn High School” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.