A meeting of about 300 parents, students and staff of Watson High School resolved late in the night to send a six-member delegation to then-prime minister, Bob Hawke, to discuss the future of the school, the story read.

The meeting, which followed a decision by the ACT Schools Authority to close the school, unanimously adopted resolutions to establish a fight-back working group, to seek guarantees from the authority and to express publicly its profound concern at the decision.

Copies of the resolutions were to be sent to senator Margaret Reid, Fraser MP John Langmore, the minister for education, Susan Ryan, and the authority. Mr Langmore told the meeting it was an ironic tragedy that the decision to close the school came within three days of the completion of asbestos removal there.

The removal work had disrupted school life for three years.

The cost of running the school had been more than the ACT average. But he would have preferred to see the school attempt reconstruction for two years before its future was considered.

The P&C associations' president, Elsa Story, said the authority's decision had been made without community consultation.

"If the authority is doing the right thing, why did it not consult the community?" she asked.

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118269407/13031563