As The Wimmera Mail-Times celebrates 150 years of publishing, we're looking through the archives to reflect on some of the biggest stories in the region.
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As students go back to classes after along summer break, some may wish they didn't have a school to go back to; it almost happened in 2011.
On Good Friday, April 22, 2011, Horsham College lost its history collection after a fire destroyed the Claude Brand library building.
Detectives believed an electrical fault started a fire, confirmed by an attending arson chemist who ruled out arson.
The fire severely damaged the college's Claude Brand Library on the junior site in High Street.
The Horsham Fire Brigade attended the fire after alarms alerted them at 7.50am.
When Horsham police and security arrived at the school, the building was completely alight.
The damage was estimated at more than $1 million and was soon declared a building site and inaccessible.
The honour boards - featuring former principals and school council presidents, house captains and students who attended the former Horsham Technical School and served in the Vietnam War - were among the items lost.
Then-Principal Frank Spiel said it was important for the school looked towards recovery immediately, and thanked the Wimmera and college staff for their support since the fire.
Demolished buildings in "good condition"
Unfortunately, things did not go to plan.
Several weeks after the fire, the library was finally demolished; however, a replacement did not arrive immediately.
A 300 square metre temporary library was mooted and drew the ire of the school board as it was half the size of the original.
The Department of Education had slated a new library in the master plan, but the school was overlooked for several state budgets.
A local campaign for funding saw Mr Spiel take then-Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon and then-Member for Lowan Hugh Delahunty on a school tour in 2012.
In 2013, a bungled maintenance report that listed 13 demolished buildings, including the library, in good condition drew condemnation far and wide.
The "human error" saw the college receive $229,798 for maintenance that year, but again missed out on rebuild money in the State Budget.
The school lobbied for $20 million from the state government to upgrade facilities, and received $10 million in the 2014 budget.
Finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel, with works completed in late-2017.
Sheryl Lowe
Ben Fraser
Ben is the Editor with the Wimmera Mail-Times, Stawell Times-News and Ararat Advertiser. Ben is the former chief of staff at the Portland Observer, a qualified teacher, and an Leadership Great South Coast alumni (2019).
Ben is the Editor with the Wimmera Mail-Times, Stawell Times-News and Ararat Advertiser. Ben is the former chief of staff at the Portland Observer, a qualified teacher, and an Leadership Great South Coast alumni (2019).
