Timeline

1924

Box Hill Technical School for Girls and Women opened on 31 March with 65 junior students and Miss Ruth Evans as Principal. Mr E.W. Greenwood MLA was the first President of School Council. The school was housed in the original Box Hill State School No. 2838 and was opened officially on 4 September. On 28 April 1924, 151 students commenced.

1936
The first of many new buildings for the Box Hill Girl’s Technical School was opened by the Minister for Public Instruction, Dr. John Harris on 7th October. There were now 328 students.

1943
Box Hill Boys’ Technical School admitted 470 students on 2 February. The school, with 17 staff, was opened officially on 25 May 1943.

1963
A fifth form class in commercial subjects began at the Box Hill Girls’ Technical School. A Leaving Technical Certificate was introduced in 1964.

1967
Post-secondary classes commenced at both technical schools. The first of these was the Certificate in Business at Box Hill Girls’ Technical College. This was quickly followed by Certificate courses in Engineering and Electronics at Box Hill Boys’ Technical School.

1971
On 30 March Box Hill Girls’ Technical School become Whitehorse Technical College. On 17 September the new building was officially opened by the Hon. L.H.S. Thompson MP, Minister for Education.

1974
It was recommended that the Box Hill Gas Works site in Elgar Road be purchased and developed as a multi-storey campus exclusively for TAFE courses at Box Hill Technical School.

1981
Technical and Further Education (TAFE) was established as a tertiary entity, separate from secondary technical education. On 1October, seven colleges including Box Hill Technical College were declared Colleges of TAFE reporting to the TAFE Board. On 1 December, Whitehorse College of TAFE was established.

1984
Box Hill Girls’ Technical School and Box Hill Boys’ Technical School amalgamated to become Box Hill Technical School. By an Order in Council, on 25 January 1984, Box Hill College of TAFE and the Whitehorse College of TAFE amalgamated to form Box Hill College of TAFE.

1991
Doncaster Campus opened. This new campus allowed the college to provide more courses to meet demand. Since the late 1980s, most of the college’s local students came from the north-eastern corridor, taking in Doncaster, Templestowe and Eltham. By 1994, nearly 2000 students were undertaking courses at Doncaster, including Library & Information Studies and Health & Community Studies.

1994
The college bought a site in Nelson Road, formerly the Holeproof factory, and work began to establish another local campus of Box Hill College of TAFE. The Box Hill College of TAFE has an enrolment of 26,000 students on five main campuses. The college also offers on-site courses to industry, both nationally and internationally.

1995
On 1 October 1995 the college’s name was changed to Box Hill Institute of TAFE.