Lower Homebush State School Historic Reserve [J22], was used as a school camp for Mount Waverley Secondary College from 1996 until 2011.
The school is centered around the last vestige of the gold mining village known as Lower Homebush [10,000 strong in its heyday]. The campus is located about eight kms. northeast of Avoca [ 170 kms. from Mt. Waverley]. The solid brick, two room school house [State School #2258] was built in 1887 and closed in 1967. This site was declared a Historic Reserve in 1989 when the College took out a lease from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in order to establish the camp.
The Lower Homebush School Association Inc. held the lease for the site. This body was composed of representatives from Mount Waverley Secondary College, the local Guides and residents of the area. They in turn elected a Committee of Management, which manages the site.
The College held a reopening ceremony for the Lower Homebush School in October of 1995 to honour the efforts of Mrs. Silvia Greenwood, who laboured long and hard to preserve the site for future generations. Sadly, she passed away in late 1996 having lived her whole life in the area of Lower Homebush.
Facilities at the camp included the Mt. Lonarch State School #1197 [a wooden, one room schoolhouse] that has been remodeled into a kitchen/dining room. Dormitories were converted shearer’s quarters with 27 bunk beds in various bedrooms all named after former families associated with the Lower Homebush School. A shower room is located on the end of one of the dorm building with a separate toilet block built adjacent to the showers. The kitchen and bedrooms were fitted with a state of the art electronic smoke detector system. Verandahs were built to link the various dining, sleeping and toilet blocks to provide shelter from rain or sun. There was a storage shed for camping and outdoor education equipment. The camp is connected to the local electricity grid for mains power, gas hot water a telephone with answering machine and has storage tanks for a water supply.
There are facilities for volleyball, basketball, table tennis, a pool table, with an initiative and ropes course on site. A fire pit has been built for outdoor campfires. A local reserve 1 km. from the camp provides an area for orienteering and bush craft activities. All Year 8 students are given the opportunity of attending a 4-day camp with their home group. Usually the home group teacher accompanies the group that is led by a trained outdoor education instructor. Activities include initiative activities, campfire activities, caving, bush walking, games, camping and campfire cooking
A typical camp program could include the following activities:
- Tuesday – Head for the camp with a wild life park tour in Ballarat on the way
- Wednesday – A bush walk in Kooyoora National Park, bouldering and a campout.
- Thursday – Initiative activities, visit to the local forest reserve, campfire cooking, a night walk.
- Friday – Pack tents, clean up the site and buildings, initiative activities and home.
The program varied from camp to camp depending on the weather and other variables.
