As the oldest surviving ex-student of the school — I am in my 102nd year — I am delighted that this grand 87-year-old school will at last have a record made of its existence and achievements.

No school could have had worse beginnings.

We were set up in the old Albury District Hospital buildings, a complex which had been condemned for the treatment of sick and injured, but passed as fit for the education of teenage boys and girls.

No doubt the author will have dealt with the early difficulties, accentuated by the depression and the Second World War, and then some of the triumphs.

Now housed in those fine quarters in Kiewa Street, the school has produced students who have become leaders of commerce and industry, of medicine, science, teaching, engineering, legal affairs, and some honest-to-God worthy citizens.

The Albury High school has been a triumph of which the city of Albury, the Southern Riverina and the North East of Victoria can be proud, and I wish it continued success.

I congratulate those responsible for the publication in choosing its author, Keith Crossley.

He was principal of the school for 15 years and none would be in a better position than he to narrate the school’s history.

No doubt names of past students and events will be recalled and the recollection of these will bring back many memories of a grand old school.

I trust the book will have a wide and proud readership.

— KEITH WELSH,

Hobart