Oberon High School History
The name ‘Oberon’ was officially proclaimed in the ‘Sydney Gazette’ July 4 1863.
Oberon Half-Time School opened in April 1872 and operated in conjunction with the Fish River School but closed again in 1874 .
It was reopened in July 1876 with the new status of Oberon Public School. It was a neat slab structure with a shingle roof with a teacher’s residence attached.
A new brick building was erected about 1912.
In 1933 7th and 8th classes came into being and the first Intermediate Certificate candidates were presented in 1934.
The expansion in the timber industry and the commencement of the Fish River Dam after WWII saw in increase in student numbers and in 1944 Oberon Public School became Oberon Central School.
1954 saw the completion of 4 new classrooms and in 1958 they were extended and jointed.
During the 1950’s the school colours, the school badge and the school song were adopted.
A new classroom was opened in 1960 and a separate infants department was formed in 1961.
The 4th year course was added in 1962 and in 1963 the first leaving certificate candidates were presented.
In 1965 the school was reclassified as a Class 1 Central school with separate Secondary department and the newly completed secondary building was occupied on 26th April 1966.
A library was established in what was the original classroom and the canteen building went into service in October 1966.
The early 1970’s saw the addition of more building to accommodate the increasing enrolments. Student enrolments continued to increase and more buildings were erected, still with no adequate playground shelter from the harsh winter weather.
After much negotiation it was announced that a new high school department would be built on the site where the old ‘Town View’ house once stood. The move into the new complex took place in October 1981 and the upgrade of the old site was finalised in November 1982. The whole ‘new look; Oberon Central School was officially opened on 23rd April, 1983. This created the problem of one administration trying to care for two sites.
In October 1992 it was announced that it would become two separate schools in 1993. This announcement heralded the creation of Oberon Public School and Oberon High School and effectively closed the Oberon Central School era and the end of 120 years of public education under one banner in Oberon.
Oberon High School continues to thrive and in 2001 a major revamp of buildings was carried out to enable disabled access to all areas of the school.
