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One of Melbourne’s most prominent schools is planning to spend $400,000 securing its heritage-listed gates to deter local pet owners using the South Yarra campus as an unofficial dog park.
Frustrated teachers at Melbourne High School have long been grappling with unauthorised public use of its landmark riverside school grounds, with the oval proving popular among dog walkers and as a shortcut for local pedestrians.
Melbourne High School principal Tony Mordini at the Alexandra Avenue gates. Credit: Jason South
With many using the school grounds as a shortcut between the Yarra River and the Chapel Street shopping precinct, the school says things have gotten worse as more high-rise apartment buildings go up and heap pressure on its limited open space.
According to the school’s principal, Tony Mordini, dog walkers visit the oval most days, using the wide open space as an unofficial off-lead area for their furry friends.
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But as Mordini points out, “It’s a cricket pitch, it’s turf. So by having people running all over it and dogs all over it, it could destroy it.”
Another sticky situation for students and teachers is the dog poo being left behind, which disrupts after-school sports and makes a mess of the grounds of the state’s oldest government secondary school.
“It’s not really designed to be a dog park. We don’t want to be then picking up dog poo or have to deal with holes that have been scratched out by a dog,” Mordini said.
When members of the public are confronted, he says they often suggest they should be able to use the grounds if it is outside of school hours and there are no students present.
“I get their point, but still, technically, they’re trespassing. It’s on a school ground,” he says. “And there is no guarantee there is no child here. Because of the nature of this school, it’s not as if every day we finish at 3.30pm.”
The select entry school, which enrols 1400 boys, holds activities outside of school hours most days, such as robotics classes, cadets and sports – and has students on the grounds who are simply studying.
Some trespassers have even gone as far as cutting through a lock the school installed on its gates in a bid to prevent the increase in foot traffic.
“The tensions that we’re having – and sometimes it’s just people walking through the school and saying they just want to get to the shops – well, you have to go around, you can’t go through the school,” Mordini said. “Most newer schools would be more fenced than we are.”
The school’s iron railing fence and gates are heritage-protected and were relocated from the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton in 1928.
As part of a wider effort to bolster security following several break-ins and an imperative to improve protection of students, staff and the buildings, the school will roll out the upgrades in stages, which is estimated to cost $400,000.
Already, new paving has been laid and utilities for lighting and surveillance has been installed, while landscaping works are under way at the Forrest Hill entrance. There are plans for new secure gates at its entrances, stationed off Forrest Hill, Claremont Street and Alexandra Avenue, which would be behind and set back from the historic gates.
Stonnington Council is aware of the school’s concerns and that dog walkers from the Forrest Hill area – a precinct bound by Chapel Street, Toorak Road, the railway line and Alexandra Avenue – have been using the oval, a spokesperson said.
“There are several dog walking options available locally, including nine designated off-leash reserves across Prahran, Windsor and South Yarra. All are within easy walking distance of Forrest Hill and are well-used by the community,” they said.
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The Victorian Education Department’s policy is that schools should be able to be used for community use, including informal access to grounds such as for using playgrounds or kicking a football.
Out of Victoria’s 1580 government schools, two-thirds share their ovals for casual and informal use by the community. Schools also have formal arrangements to share ovals for organised sport and community events.
Melbourne High School’s hockey and basketball courts can be hired by community groups, and Mordini said the school was open to wider opportunities to share facilities when not otherwise in use. But, he said, this had to be balanced with the security of the students, staff and the school buildings.
However, the level of access is a school decision, and some schools have security measures and signage to prohibit and discourage informal use of school grounds due to security and or antisocial behaviour.
Victoria’s trespass policy states there is no general right for the public to enter school land at any time.
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