I came across the following information indirectly from the “We Grew up in Thornbury”, Facebook page. A post was made about Joe Fogg and a comment was made that the information was stollen from another web site:
https://northcotehistory.weebly.com/
To which I made a rebuttal.
According to the above web site, the site of Northcote High school was originally occupied by Dr McCarthy’s Inebriate’s retreat.
From Googles definition:
“inebriate FORMAL•HUMOROUS verb /ɪˈniːbrɪeɪt/ make (someone) drunk; intoxicate”
So the site of Northcote High school was originally that of some form of a hospital for alcoholics. What today would be called a rehab facility.
The source of this is Alexander Sutherlands item, The Northcote Article 1884. Which has been PDFd as can be obtained from this link:
https://northcotehistory.weebly.com/uploads/8/3/1/7/8317304/northcote_overview_1884.pdf
The PDF of Alexander Sutherlands item is well worthwhile reading because he describes the thoughts of Dr McCarthy’s on drinking.
Like, in relation to alcoholics “They imagine they see rats, mice or snakes, and particularly rats” and “patients trace their drunken habits to hospitals” and “This is the first Retreat in the world having legal authority under Act of Parliament to detain inebriates for curative treatment, and is the only one in Victoria that has that power”
In retrospect it's amazing how things have changed.
According to thisDr McCarthys Inebriated retreat, because of a legal dispute about ownership, was taken over by the government and because of reducing numbers was demolished in 1892. In 1926 it became the site of Northcote High School.
Wonder what it was used for in those intervening years?
Like me ,I'm sure all the boys that went to Northcote High School over the years, and at some stage had the first experience with alcohol, we're not aware that the site was originally the home of an alcoholics retreat.
More information hear from Local and Family History Librarian at Yarra Plenty Regional Library