Sale College was the focal point of major announcements last week, with Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien declaring an initial $10-million allocation to consolidate the Guthridge and Macalister campuses onto a new site on Cobains Road, Sale.
Last Tuesday, Mr O’Brien was joined by The Nationals leader Peter Walsh, Wellington Shire Council Mayor Ian Bye, and Committee for Wellington chair David Anderson to announce the second multi-million-dollar investment to develop a new Sale College on Cobains Road.
In 2017, The Nationals Member for Gippsland South began a campaign to consolidate Sale College campuses onto one site to improve educational resources for public secondary school students, working closely with the Sale College community, the Committee of Wellington and the Wellington Shire Council.
Last year’s budget secured $3 million for early works and master planning for a new Sale College. On Tuesday, October 25, Mr O’Brien said The Nationals in government would begin construction of a new site on Cobains Road with an initial $10-million allocation to purchase land and begin early works on stage one of the new school build.
“It is great to be here with leader of The Nationals, Peter Walsh, to announce The Nationals will build a new Sale College here on this site on Cobains Road,” Mr O’Brien said.
“This has been a campaign we have been fighting for a long time to consolidate the two campuses of Sale College. It has been an issue of making education difficult for the school, having two different campuses, but also those campuses are pretty old and run down.
“We were pleased to get $3 million in last year’s budget to begin the master planning, and now we are going to deliver a new school,” he said.
“This will be great for the education of secondary students in the Sale region, we’ve seen some great developments in the private schools here in town, but the Sale College needs to be kept up to scratch too.”
Sale College was formed in 1996 with the merger of two of Victoria’s oldest country secondary schools, Macalister Secondary College, established in 1885 and Sale High School, established in 1907, today, educating more than 800 students from years 7 through 12.
Mr O’Brien says the consolidation of Sale College’s Macalister and Guthridge campuses allows for the school’s future expansion and gives local students the opportunities they deserve.
“I am very proud to announce this funding today. $10 million to get it started that will purchase the land here, which is currently owned by council and do the early works,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We look forward to delivering a brand new school in the next few years for the students and families of Sale and district.”
While the final master plan has yet to be finalised, Mr O’Brien anticipates that the earliest stages of the Sale College consolidation would see the senior campus relocated from the Macalister site in Sale’s CBD to the new site on Cobains Road.
“Once we get the final master plan, we will have more clarity on that [the first stages of the consollidation], but my understanding is that likely we would be moving the senior campus out sooner rather than later, so closing the Macalister campus in the middle of the CBD,” Mr O’Brien said.
“That provides some great opportunities for the township of Sale as well, and I am sure Council will be keen to look at what alternative uses there are for that site; then we will follow on with the junior campus and stage that over time.”
Wellington Shire Mayor Ian Bye said the Wellington Shire had long advocated with the state government for upgrading and merging the two Sale College sites.
“What it means moving to a greenfield site is it will help with one of our major problems, which is traffic management; we can do that a lot better by moving to a new site and providing a new campus for the students,” Cr Bye said.
“Having the greenfield site, if they choose this site, next to GRSC (Gippsland Regional Sporting Complex), there is already great sporting infrastructure, it makes a lot of sense to have the site here.
“We can use the land better for education and utilise the great sporting precinct.”
