Practical work in a workshop at Canberra High School, Acton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Abstract

Photograph of a high school student in a woodwork class feeding a plank of wood through an electric bench saw. The saw's brand name is: OLIVER. The model number is possibly:158. The boy wears an apron over his clothes, which include a vest and tie. Visible in the background is another workbench that holds lathe-worked timber cylinders and a mallet.Canberra High School, designed by Charles Whitley, opened in 1939 and was regarded as one of the most modern high schools in Australia. Over 300 students attended at the time the picture was taken. In the 1960s the school vacated the Acton site and occupied a new building in Macquarie. Over a number of years the old premises came to be used as an art school. In 1992 the Canberra Institute of the Arts, as it was now called, amalgamated with the Australian National University.This photograph is from an album that was held at the London office of the ANU over the period 1949 to 1952. The album was used to inform prospective staff about Canberra. These images are part of the series produced by the Department of Information and kept at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra. National Archives holdings in this series have gaps and some images may be held only at the ANU Archives.