Times Past: March 3, 1970

But this was not the case on this day in 1970. It had been recommended at a meeting attended by parents of senior students at Daramalan College, who believed students in fifth and sixth form should be allowed to smoke. At the time, Daramalan College was an all-boys school, and the meeting had come about after some boys made the request to smoke in the senior common room. The headmaster, Father J McCowage, said he believed the boys had put forward a reasonable case, and hosted the meeting seeking opinions of parents. "I thought it was rational that we should test the feelings of parents", he said.

The meeting resulted in the overall recommendation that students be allowed to smoke at school social functions. It was recommended by a smaller percentage of parents that the boys be allowed to smoke on the school grounds during regular school time. The main objection to the request to smoke in the common room was that some boys would be excluded from that area if it became a smoking place. Father McCowage said the meeting was well attended with a healthy exchange of opinion, but the school would ultimately be in charge of the decision.

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/11676566