Our Heritage
In January 1901 the first Headmistress, Miss Mabel Fidler, commenced classes in a schoolroom erected on the block adjacent to her home, ‘Ravenswood’, in Henry Street, Gordon. Its location was very convenient: only a short walk to Gordon railway station and a block away from the main road – just as it is today, over 100 years later.
Mabel Fidler, along with her older sister Isabel, had been a student at the highly esteemed Argyle School, which had earned a strong academic reputation. The Argyle School was the alma mater of many notable women of the day, and with its advanced ideas on the status and education of women, contributed in no small way to the future careers of Isabel and Mabel Fidler and to the foundation of Ravenswood.
Ravenswood continued to be a school that focused on educating girls. In 1925 the Methodist Church purchased the school ensuring its future and reinforcing the Christian philosophy which has characterized the nature of Ravenswood since its foundation. With the enrolment of the first two boarders in 1935, the numbers throughout the school began to rise considerably. It has been a Uniting Church School since 1977.
Ravenswood is a member of the Alliance of Girls’ Schools (Australasia), which has a membership of independent, public, day and boarding schools across Australia and New Zealand with affiliates in the U.S.A.
In its Centenary Year in 2001, the School’s History : Ravenswood – Educating Girls 1901-2001 by Marj Binns was launched by His Excellency the Honourable Sir William Deane, AC, KBE, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.