Canberra's oldest school attempts to capture a bit of history - The Canberra Times

Canberra may be celebrating its centenary, but Telopea Park School is not far behind.

On Wednesday, the school celebrates its 90th anniversary – maintaining the proud title of being Canberra's oldest operating school – and marking the occasion with the logistical feat of capturing an entire school photograph including 1200 students and 100 staff.

The school is proud of its history, encouraging students to connect with the past with numerous permanent historical displays and photographs around the buildings.

And it has proudly educated some formidable success stories along the way – former Labor leaders Gough Whitlam and Kim Beazley among them.

Another local success story is Pamela Burton, who was one of the first women in Canberra to establish a law firm, having received a sound academic grounding at Telopea where she began in the early 1950s.

She will give an address at the school recalling her early memories of a white line painted down the quadrangle segregating the boys from girls during recess and lunch.

"Of course we all congregated on our respective sides of the line so we could talk to the boys," she said.

"So it really had the opposite effect."

Deciding she was no good at French – Telopea became Canberra's first bilingual school 30 years ago – and worse at maths, Ms Burton opted for law.

She completed a degree at the Australian National University and her various appointments have included Senior Member, Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Chair of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, member of the ACT Parole Board, and ACT Mental Health Official Visitor.

But it was the inspiration she received from her English teacher, Ms Maiden, while she was at university, which encouraged her to eventually take writing seriously.

Now she is an accomplished full-time writer, having published in 2010 an unauthorised biography of Australia's first woman High Court Justice Mary Gaudron "From Moree to Mabo" and last year, "The Waterlow Killings: A Portrait of a Family Tragedy." "The fact that I am now busy writing books is really thanks to the encouragement of Mrs Maiden who kept an interest in my life, invited me to her home while I was at university, wrote me a list of books I should read and assured me I was a good story-teller." She said in that sense Telopea had encouraged her in two separate but fulfilling careers.

Deputy principal Kate Sutherland said the school community had been proud to reach the proud age of 90, with a school concert and cook book being launched as part of a full day of festivities.