Indigenous History of the Land.

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The Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School stands on the traditional lands of the Bunurong peoples, and we acknowledge that sovereignty of their Country was never ceded. They have lived here for at least 35,000 years, and continue to care for Country today. There are currently seven known Bunurong clan groups, and the school is located on the lands of the Yalukit Willam peoples. They are the custodians of a vast stretch of Bunurong Country, from Wirribi Yaluk (Werribee River) in the west, to Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) in the east, including Albert Park and the nearby salt waters of Naarrm (Port Phillip Bay).

For hundreds of generations, Bunurong Yalukit Willam peoples navigated the wetlands, climbed the sand dunes, crossed the salt marshes, and walked among the thick, heathy woodlands of the lands between Birrarung (the mouth of Yarra River), Albert Park, and Naarrm. They are known as “people of the river” for their connection to this part of Bunurong Country that was influenced by seasonal river flooding, and the floodplains, lagoons, and marshes that are now mostly gone.

Yalukit Willam Bunurong peoples camped on Country here, close to where the school is located, including at what was then a lagoon at Albert Park Lake. Here Bunurong peoples made bark shelters, collected water plants for weaving, gathered freshwater shellfish, snared yuuk (eel), and hunted fish, frog, turtle, duck, and swan. Bunurong peoples also hosted other members of the wider Kulin Nation in gatherings and corroborees where they exchanged goods and information, organised marriages, shared food, and made weapons and baskets.

Bunurong peoples also visited Naarrm to catch fish with long spears, collect shellfish from the rocky platforms, and harvest coastal edible foods such as Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) and Pigface (Carpobrotus glaucescens). Women collected kelp and seagrasses, which continues to be a significant part of Bunurong women's culture. Today, the shell middens scattered along the Naarrm coastline are all that physically remain of the meals Bunurong peoples shared with their families.

For Bunurong women, the waters of Naarrm are especially important as they are home to the dreaming creator being Parbayin Betayil, the great Mother Whale. As Bunurong Elder Aunty Gail Kunwarra Dawson explains, thanks to the great Mother Whale, “these waters of Nerrm [sic] were Sea Country now, and it was the solemn duty of Bunurong women to honour and care for them.”

The colonisation of Australia led to a succession of quick, significant, and devastating changes to Country. Prior to the displacement, theft, disease, violence, and destruction that it wrought, peoples of the Yalukit Willam clan were able to live on Country, in an area that was rich with resources that supported their subsistence, as well as their social, cultural, spiritual, and economic needs. This loss of language, biocultural knowledge, stories, practices, and songlines has been incalculable, and by the mid-nineteenth century, the Bunurong peoples who survived this destruction have been forced permanently from their homes, including the Country of the Yalukit Willam peoples.

In 2017, Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation was granted Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) status by the Aboriginal Heritage Council. This means that Bunurong peoples, for the first time in generations, were now being included in discussions about what takes place on Bunurong Country. Bunurong peoples today, the ancestors of the people who survived colonisation, continue to foster a strong connection to Country and strive to reclaim the knowledge that was taken.

1905 - Present Day.

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In contrast to the land's extensive history, the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School traces its origin to the first Victorian State Secondary School - the Melbourne Continuation School - which opened in Spring Street in 1905, on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples.

The Melbourne Continuation School allowed young people to continue their education beyond Year 8. It was originally a co-education school until a new school for the male students was opened at Forrest Hill in 1927, also on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. This was the beginning of Melbourne High School. The girls remained in the original Spring Street building, which was renamed as Melbourne Girls' High School. When this building was condemned in 1930, the students were moved to Government House at Ripponlea, on Bunurong Country, until they moved again, in 1933, to State School No.1689 in King Street, again on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.

In 1934, Sir MacPherson Robertson, a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and inventor of the Freddo Frog and Cherry Ripe, made a gift of £100,000 pounds in honour of Victoria’s centenary, £40,000 pounds of which was to be spent providing a new girls' high school. The present building, designed by architect Norman Seabrook, was officially opened as the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School on November 7th, 1934.

Funding in the 1980s enabled Mac.Rob to expand, adding two further buildings - the Lakeside and Lakeside West Buildings - which accommodate the Learning Resource Centre, dedicated Music, Visual Arts, and Theatre learning areas, and a well-equipped Gymnasium.

In 1987, the school’s striking main building was deemed worthy of conserving and protecting for future generations, and given a National Trust Classification.

In 2022, a renovation of the Lakeside Building was undertaken to provide the school’s 1200 students with a state-of-the-art Learning Resource Centre, dynamic new classroom spaces, and integrated outdoor performance and recreation areas. This renovation was officially opened at the start of the 2023 school year.

When you visit Mac.Robertson Girls' High School, tread lightly, as you walk on Bunurong Country. As you care for Country, Country will care for you.

The indigenous history of the land Mac.Rob is built upon was prepared by Dr Caroline Hubschmann of the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC).

Acknowledgement of Country.

Mac.Rob acknowledges, respects and expresses our gratitude to the Bunurong people, the Traditional Custodians on whose ancestral lands our school was founded.

We acknowledge the deep relationship of First Nations peoples to Country and their continued care of the lands, waterways and skies.

We commit to building a community through better relationships and greater understanding with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and by actively working towards reconciliation to make a better future for us all.

We pay our respects to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging.

We acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' sovereignty was never ceded and the land on which we gather today always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Albert Park and St. Kilda, Robert Russell, 1878; State Library Victoria.