Lismore High School has finally released its centenary edition book called 'The Lens', looking at 100 years of education at Lismore's first high school.

I say finally because the book was written and the first run printed before the catastrophic flood of February 28 destroyed 349 copies with only 1 copy surviving that was on the guillotine and served as a template for the new print run. Thankfully, The Lens' content was saved to the cloud allowing for a smooth transition for the new print run.

That was on top of postponing a weekend of centenary celebrations in September 2020 at the Lismore Regional Gallery (which was the old science block) due to COVID-19. The date was moved to September 2021 where they were postponed once again due to COVID lockdowns to March 2022. Finally, the celebrations were cancelled altogether due to the megaflood.

While the centenary celebrations didn't go ahead, the printing of The Lens did and as they say, all good things come to those who wait. That is certainly the case for the people that were involved in this magnificent publication.

Editor Prue Regan (nee Page) sat down with the Lismore App to tell The Lens' story along with long time friend, Lens committee member and ex-Lismore High student Brownyn Gowing.

"We did have had a small, simple launch (of the book) in someone's garden on July 10," Prue said, "We couldn't have our dinner because our biggest venue, the Workers Club, got washed away, this is where it was booked."

"It's ironic that this is bookended with two global pandemics," Bronwyn said, "There was the Spanish flu in 1920 and then COVID in 2020, so 100 years later."

How did the idea for a centenary book come about?

"A teacher at the school (who went to Lismore High at the same time as Prue and Brownyn) on the science staff pulled us all together and said maybe what we should do is produce these magazines and have a celebration."

That was April 2019 so it took three years for the book to be published once the concept was established.

"There were two editions of The Lens that were printed each year from the very first year of operation," Prue explained, "And at the end of the year when they left, school students were given a copy of the magazine."

As you can imagine the process to collate one hundred years of The Lens was a big task that involved scanning each issue of the magazines. Prue, Brownyn and Ken Arnett did the first 50 years while Helen George, Cheryl Griffin and Toni Ledgerwood looked after the last 50 years. Helen has spent over 40 years at Lismore High (6 as a student and 36 as a staff member) while Cheryl had been the school librarian for over 30 years.

Throughout its 102-year history, Lismore High School has produced some outstanding people that contributed a great deal to society like Rear Admiral Peter Briggs who is still giving current advice on submarines and Major General Peter Arnison who rose to be Australian Defence Force's Land Commander Australia and became the 23rd Governor of Queensland.

Professor Russell Strong performed the first live liver transplant in the world in Queensland, Adam Pine became an Olympian, Miriam Corowa an ABC personality, Jim Sneesby a sugar industry tycoon, local members Bruce Duncan and Bill Rixon and Nerida Cohen who was Lismore High's first female lawyer and barrister.

There are so many more scattered throughout The Lens as the book makes its way through 10 decades to 2020.

For those that are relatively new to the area, Lismore High was first built on the site where Richmond River High School now occupies (or for the time being) before being moved to what is now The Quad at Magellan and Keen Street not due to flooding but because it had outgrown its original site.

In 1965, the current Dalley Street, East Lismore site was chosen as the next site for Lismore High School as it was a flood-free site compared to the CBD location. The building was complete in 1969 and officially opened by Prince Philip in 1973 during a Royal visit to Australia.

(Photo: Peter Derrett)

Lismore High started with 15 staff with the first headmaster, Mr Robert Harvey, who came from North Sydney Boys High and 328 students. It was only the second high school north of Newcastle to the Queensland border, the first being Grafton in 1912. As you can imagine students came from all over the Northern Rivers to attend Lismore High and in the 1950's student numbers swelled to over 1400 making it the largest high school in the Commonwealth.

The advent of new high schools in the Northern Rivers from 1955 to 1958 (Kyogle (1955), Mullumbimby (1955), Ballina (1956) and Richmond River (1958)) saw numbers decline as students no longer needed to travel vast distances for their education. In 2020, Lismore High had just over 400 enrolments.

The Lens is an incredible book that takes you on a historic journey through Lismore's education. You can purchase a copy for $30 from The Bookwarehouse on Keen Street.