Our ‘Memorial’ Legacy
When Kadina Primary School and Kadina Memorial High School amalgamated the community was overwhelmingly in favour of retaining our historical links to the district’s former service men and women who served the Nation.
ANZAC Day, Vietnam Veteran’s Day and Remembrance Day are significant events on our annual school community calendar.
It is a time for us as a school to pause, reflect, pay tribute to those who served and make strong peaceful choices for the future.
We are proud to be a ‘Memorial’ school – one of few such schools in Australia.
Below is how Kadina Memorial School inherited its name and heritage.
In April 1919 the Mayor of Kadina, Mr Paul Roach, and a committee of concerned citizens, held an appeal to raise money for a War Memorial to local men and women who served in World War I. At that time secondary education in the district was available at the Wallaroo Mines District High School. Even then however, the future of the Mines was in doubt and as the facilities and space for secondary education were limited at Wallaroo Mines, sections of both Kadina and Wallaroo communities began planning for a new high school in their towns.
Mr Roach and his committee pledged to the Government of South Australia the sum of one thousand pounds towards the building of a High School at Kadina, and the corporation and rate-payers agreed to grant a site of 8 acres of parklands near the already established Kadina Primary School. The Government accepted both offers, and plans were drawn up for the new Kadina High School to be known as the Kadina Memorial High School, as it was to be a memorial to ex-service men and women of World War I.
Armed service personnel from subsequent conflicts have also been acknowledged on the Memorial Wall.
The amalgamation committee decided to continue this tradition, with post 1972 overseas armed services commitments considered for inclusion on the wall. It’s a legacy the school community is keen to uphold for future generations.