Our History
The White Horse
Timeline
Box Hill Technical School for Girls and Women welcomed its first 65 junior pupils on 31 March 1924. Another 161 seniors enrolled in April that year and on 4 September 1924 the Minister for Education, Mr John Lemmon, MLA, officially opened the school.
The subjects available reflected the education and training priorities of the early 20th century. Core subjects included Housewifery, Cooking, Dressmaking, and Millinery. Through these courses girls gained skills to equip them for the role of wife and mother. However some students chose vocational courses aimed at securing paid work, including bookkeeping, secretarial work and professional dressmaking.
On 2 February 1943, the Box Hill Boys’ welcomed 470 junior students seeking technical education. Subjects included Carpentry, Sheetmetal, Machine Shop Practice and Technical Drawing.
In the mid-1960s both technical schools expanded their subject range to include post-secondary options with offerings such as certificate courses in Business, Engineering, Electronics and Clothing Studies.
By the early 1970s the technical schools had been re-badged as technical colleges and their Technical and Further Education (TAFE) course enrolments grew rapidly. The original Girls’ Technical School was renamed Whitehorse Technical College in 1971 when its new building in Whitehorse Road was opened. Box Hill Technical College was one of the first of seven technical colleges to separate its TAFE programs from the secondary technical offerings. Box Hill College was officially re-named as a College of TAFE in October 1981 with Whitehorse Technical College declared as a TAFE in December 1981.
On 25 January 1984 the Whitehorse College of TAFE and Box Hill College of TAFE amalgamated to provide the most diverse range of programs in the TAFE system.
Box Hill Institute today delivers education and training and educational consultancy services to more than 40,000 students on four local campuses. Our programs and services are also offered nationally and internationally with campuses now established in Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and China. Our students also enjoy the convenience of industry-based campuses and home and work-based study programs.