The Memorial Building is the original school building built in 1924 as Dimboola's war memorial to those who served and died in the First World War.

It is located on the top of a hill overlooking the town and forms the focal point for the memorial precinct which is the site for the town's annual Anzac Day march and wreath laying ceremony.

The front of the building along with the gardens and lawn area forms a tranquil courtyard which is the entrance to the veranda. It is under this veranda that the granite tablets engraved with the names of the district residents who responded to the call to defend the empire during both World Wars and Korea are housed.

This building is currently home to the school library/study centre, one classroom, the Year 12 Common Room and the IT office.

Article written in 2014 for 90th Anniversary of Memorial Building Official Opening

Our school memorial building, the current library, was opened ninety years ago, on the 2nd December 1924. After a number of years of discussion, the townspeople of Dimboola chose to create a living memorial in the form of a higher elementary school to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice made by local residents.

Previously untouched crown land was selected as the location for our school, as it was on a hill overlooking the town. The community saw it as important to suitably honour the huge sacrifice made by locals who left their families, friends and employment in order to fight for our nation overseas.

Ten years after the outbreak of war the school building was complete. The school was occupied in May 1924 and officially opened in December. A large crowd of locals and officials gathered to witness the opening.

An important aspect of this opening was the unveiling of the large stone tablets listing those who served in the First World War.

There were nearly 300 names on the memorial tablets... Those names had been cut in imperishable granite... Being a memorial school those names would stand for all times, and by and by children would be acquiring what those names meant.

- Dimboola Chronicle, 4th December 1924

Many hundreds of local students have since received their secondary education in this building and those which followed. Still today this building, almost one century old, plays an important role in the day-to-day life of the school.

2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of World War I, and April 2015 will see the commemoration of one hundred years since the first Australian and New Zealand troops, ANZACs, landed on the now infamous Gallipoli Peninsula.

We would like to invite all members of our community to visit our memorials and to appreciate the large number of locals who have served in past conflicts. The tablets on the memorial building commemorate those who served in World Wars I and II as well as Korea, and the memorial drive recognises each of those individuals who did not return with a tree.

Written by Andrew King.

A tribute to a man on the home front

Below the World War I honour rolls at the front of our memorial building is a small plaque, made of the same stone as the memorials on the wall above it. It bears the inscription:

IN MEMORY
OF OUR FRIEND
ROBERT MARTINDALE

ERECTED
BY THE DIMBOOLA
RETURNED SOLDIERS LEAGUE

You can read more about Martindale and his contribution to the establishment of our school on the Robert Martindale Plaque page.