Empowering students since 1874

Classrooms have certainly changed.

Celebrating 150 years, Toorak College honours its past while advancing towards the future. A pervading theme spanning its lifetime, the Mount Eliza boarding and day school has always maintained contemporary relevance while simultaneously respecting its heritage.

Toorak College now educates the leaders, innovators and changemakers of tomorrow, empowering young women to explore their passions, voice their opinions and pursue their dreams without limitations. Exciting events are planned in 2024 to commemorate Toorak College’s milestone.

The 1908 tennis team.

The college’s name pays homage to its first location in Toorak, beginning there as a boys’ school in 1874. Converting to the education of female students exclusively in 1897, the school moved to Mount Eliza in 1928 after its tenure at two other Toorak sites, with the new beachside position providing the space for desired expansions.

The first building erected at Mount Eliza was created by the same architects who designed Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. Nowadays the Hamilton Building, a large grey structure, is affectionately known as The Elephant. Its bricks transported from the original site, the reconstruction of the Hamilton Building at Mount Eliza was the inspiration for the new school song Brick by Brick – a nod to the past and a call to the future. Composed in 2023 by current students, staff and alumnae, it includes original poetry from the first day the school set foot in Mount Eliza, featuring the lyrics: “We built it brick by brick, rising proudly by the bay; Now the new is in the making, our adventure has begun, and there’s a bond that we all share within these walls.”

Notable alumnae whose own adventures began at the school include Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gumtree songwriter Marion Sinclair; pioneering aviator Freda Thompson; trailblazing medical practitioner Vera Scantlebury Brown; novelist, screenwriter and playwright Joanna Murray-Smith; writer and comedian Jean Kittson; Olympic rower Jane Robinson; and Australian Rules footballers Jess and Sarah Hosking.

Toorak College recognises the transformative power of education, particularly within the context of an all-girls environment, and has expanded to include modern buildings dedicated to visual and performing arts, music and STEM – a sign of its aptitude for moving with the times. Classrooms and sports zones are designed with today’s student in mind. Returning for class reunions sometimes decades after completing their secondary education, Toorak College alumnae are awe-struck by the changes. Imagine the amazement of its earliest students if they could see the school now.

A calendar of special events has been curated to celebrate 150 years of Toorak College. For details, go to www.toorakcollege.vic.edu.au or phone the school on 9788 7200.