Headmaster from 1953–1957
A graduate of the Melbourne Teachers’ College, Mr Ebbels taught at many schools including Collingwood Junior Technical School, Swan Hill High School and Coburg High. He was promoted to headmaster at Wangaratta High School before he came to CHS, leaving in 1957 to become a temporary teacher at Burwood until he retired at age 70.
1957 PROSPICE VALEDICTORY
Five years ago, a stranger to most of us came to take charge of our school. He came to us with a reputation for efficiency and with a long record of experience. He assumed control in an unobtrusive manner, and within a short time the school, under the stimulus of this new energetic personality, was making further progress on the foundations laid by its two previous headmasters. Now, no longer a stranger to even the newest arrival, but having reached the statutory age for retirement, Mr Ebbels relinquishes his post and enters upon a period of retirement which we know will be full of activity in some cherished direction. It is to wish him happiness and true satisfaction in the years ahead, commensurate with the hard work and enthusiasm of the years behind, that this valedictory is written.
Much could be said of the growing complexity of the task of running a school in these post-war days, of coping with a rapidly-growing school population in more or less static accommodation, of constant staff changes, of the problems presented by the enrolment of Asian and other migrant students. There is so constant a strain from many directions that the effects on health are considerable. Yet, remembering all these factors, the most enduring impression of Mr Ebbels will leave with us will be that of a man of sympathy, understanding and humanity. Efficiency alone can be a cold quality: tact can be a mask: but to a man of goodwill there cannot fail to be a warm response. Through the years he has shared with us, rather than merely directed the manifold activities of this school, he has indeed displayed qualities of a man of good will, and from staff and pupils alike there has been that warm response which culminates in this expression of appreciation and the very best of good wishes. Included in these we should like to include Mrs Ebbels who, as a headmaster’s wife and behind the scenes, has shared the burdens imposed by her husband’s position. We hope that, with him, she will be long spared to enjoy the rewards that are now at hand.