By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
JUST before it closed down in 2008 Chris Holland walked through his old stomping ground at Doveton Technical School and felt nostalgia wash over him.
It was only a matter of time before the Cranbourne resident started organising a reunion for the former students of Doveton Tech, later known as Doveton Secondary College, to be held later this year.
“About eight years ago, when Doveton Tech was going away, they had an open day and they had all the photos on the board of Doveton Tech from different years,” Chris said.
“I’d seen a few photos that I’d wanted. It’s (the reunion) been on my mind for a while.
“Greta from Dandy High has all the archives there and she has the records for Doveton Tech, so I went to Dandy High and went through the photos and I took away the photos I liked.”
With the help of Greta Jungwirth, a member of the Dandenong High School Ex-student Association, Chris and other past Doveton Tech students have begun planning for the reunion which will take place in October, having gone through a myriad of photographs of the school from when it opened in 1963, through to the 1980s.
Doveton Tech began as a technical school for boys before welcoming its first group of female students in 1967.
More than 10,000 students attended the school over 45 years but a decline in numbers led to the school council’s decision to close the facility in 2008 and relocate it students through a partnership with Dandenong High School and Cleeland Secondary College.
Chris said the reunion coincided with what would have been the schools 50th anniversary and urged former students, particularly students who were at Doveton Tech from the beginning, to come along.
“I’m going to be at the door, it’ll be $5 a head to get in,” he said.
“Trouble is, you can tell as many people but they’ve got to show up.”
Chris also said he hoped the reunion could lead to bigger and better things, including the potential formation of a Doveton Technical School Chapter, or sub-group, of the Dandenong High School Ex-students Association.
The Doveton Tech reunion will be held on 12 October at the Dandenong Workers Club and for more information contact Chris on 5996 1264 or 0422 294 781.
