Advanced School for Girls in Adelaide in 1879 Australia's first public secondary girls school – 40 years before boys'

The former Advanced School for Girls building in Grote Street, Adelaide city. Until 1898, all Adelaide University female graduates were former Advanced School students.

Building on health reformer Dr Allan Campbell's initial proposal, Catherine Helen Spence and John Anderson Hartley were among South Australian education prime movers in creating the Advanced School for Girls in Adelaide city in 1879.

This first public secondary school in South Australia – for girls only – was nearly 40 years ahead of the first public secondary school for boys in 1908. Before 1879, boys could get a secondary education at private school, but there was none for girls. It was the first public school for girls teaching an academic curriculum leading to matriculation for university .

The Education Act 1875, making education compulsory for all, acknowledged women’s changing role. But there was also the pressing need for well-educated teachers – a role that women had filled in the dames private schools since settlement. (Nursing was women’s other main workplace occupation.)

The Advanced School for Girls originally operated in a two-storey home in Franklin Street, Adelaide city, from 1879 but moved to a new building in Grote Street, Adelaide city, in 1892. 

The school, which did charge a fee, broadened from catering mainly to middle-class students to admitting a few bursary winners from state elementary schools. The bursary winners increased and the middle-class students drifted away to private schools. These private schools often had teachers who were Advanced School graduates with university degrees and offering a more academic strand than before. Until 1898, all Adelaide University female graduates were former Advanced School students.

Among Advanced School graduates was Ellen Benham, who gained a  bachelor of science (honours) in 1892. She taught at the Advanced School and various private girls schools and lectured in botany at Adelaide University. In 1914, she bought Walford House School.

Madeline Rees George, highly regarded headmistress of the Advanced School for 22 years, also had a major effect on shaping the wider education system.

In 1908, the Advanced High School merged with the boys Adelaide Continuation School to form Adelaide High School on Grote Street, Adelaide city. An Adelaide Girls High School remained in Grote Street during the 1950s when the boys section of Adelaide High School moved to West Terrace, Adelaide city.