Covering 100 years of a school's history is no easy feat, but historian Pauline Curby took to the project with a passion for sharing stories of education. The Cronulla historian has written a book that details St George Girls High School’s history, ahead of its centenary celebrations this year. The book depicts the Kogarah school’s past, complete with historical photographs and interviews with former students and teachers. Ms Curby, a former teacher, has worked as a freelance professional historian since the early 1990s, and has undertaken consultancies in heritage and oral and environmental history. She received a NSW Premier’s Award in regional and community history in 2010. Her latest assignment illustrates the days of the old and memories held in the present. Ms Curby gathered information from the school’s on-site register of records, public school records, and libraries. Her daughter, also a historian, helped with the book, and together they interviewed the school’s ‘old girls’. “The oldest woman I interviewed attended the school from 1935-39 and there were quite a few from the 1940s,” Ms Curby said. “People wrote to me and told me their stories – their memoirs are invaluable.” She said there was plenty of material to work with. “The school’s archives are excellent – they go right back to the beginning,” she said. “This was a project I took on with lots of interest and love because it’s a positive story about public education.” The selective school is the best performing academic school in St George and Sutherland Shire – a far cry from the early beginnings when young women were encouraged to pursue domestic life instead of furthering their education. “The book says a lot of girls’ education,” Ms Curby said. “You can see that in the first 50 years lots of clever girls weren’t getting the full range of educational experiences. “Maths and physics weren’t well-regarded for girls. “It was a school for working-class families, and parents would say ‘get a job’. “Families who did value education were migrants, who insisted on their daughters going to school. “Despite many of the girls having done well in life, they didn’t get a full education, whereas now, horizons have expanded enormously.” What students share in common however, are friendships, she says. “A selective environment affects people in different ways, but students loved that place – they thrived on it,” Ms Curby said. “It’s amazing to see the long-lasting friendships that came out of this school. “One group of women I spoke with regularly meet for lunch.” The school is hosting several community events in 2016, including an open day on June 8. The book will be launched in November.