Longerenong, since 1889
Established in 1889 by the Council of Agricultural Education with an enrolment of just 20 students, Longerenong College has seen some major changes in management since then. In just its first year, the College was taken over by the Department of Agriculture who ran it until it became part of the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture (VCAH) when it was established in 1983. The VCAH was created by the amalgamation of Longerenong and the Department’s five other colleges. In 1993 the VCAH became a school of the University of Melbourne but was still controlled by its own council and management. In mid 1997 the VCAH was formally amalgamated with the University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry to form the Institute of Land and Food Resources. The College remained a campus of the Institute of Land and Food Resources until the end of 2005 when the University of Melbourne withdrew and responsibility for delivering the courses and training was awarded to WORKCO Limited.
The original courses were aimed at the sons of farmers, required the equivalent of about second year of high school to enrol and exams were held on Saturday mornings. Farm work and classes were often held at night and on weekends. It was “lights out” at 10 pm, alcohol was not allowed and attendance at church was mandatory. This left students to eagerly await the monthly dances at college, when a bus load of girls would be brought out from Horsham for the evening.
In 1972, and not before a long fight, Longerenong became one of the first agricultural colleges to accept female students.
Despite the many changes, and the loss of the original buildings to a fire in 1940, life at the College has essentially remained the same. Students fondly remember the good times, the friends, the pranks, some of the nicknames and the farm and field work.
We are excited about the new era that started in 2006 under the auspices of our new provider WORKCO Limited and we continue to pride ourselves in delivering specialised agricultural, conservation and land management education and training, as we have for almost 120 years.
