Heritage - Tamborine Mountain College

Robert James Nicholls

Foundation Principal & Foundation Chairman of TMC Board
(1995 - 2001)

Mr. Robert Nicholls started the College at the Tamborine Mountain Showgrounds in 1995 with only 16 students. The College relocated to the Convention Centre in 1996 and finally the College campus was officially established at the present location of 80 Beacon Road, North Tamborine in 1997. Mr. Nicholls was a Science teacher who had a vision for a small, independent, non-denominational, coeducational College, serving the community of Tamborine Mountain. His philosophy was to create a personal, caring, safe learning environment. The College uniform and logo were specially designed for the College by his supportive wife, Mrs. Maureen Nicholls. Mr. Nicholls retired as Principal in 2001 and continued in his role as Chairman until his passing in May 2011.

June Melbourne

Principal (2002 - 2022)

June Melbourne was Tamborine Mountain College Principal from 2002 to 2022. Prior to this, she was Deputy Principal in 2001, and Head of English from 1998-2000.

During her time as Principal, June led the introduction of the Primary School, and the Early Learning Centre. She oversaw the construction of the Robert Nicholls Science Centre, the Jack Walton Resource Centre, the Michael Kyle Learning Centre, the Maureen Nicholls Learning Centre, and the Platypus, Echidna, Kookaburra, and Koala Learning Centres.

June introduced the Lion mascots of Victory and Valour which are now part of the TMC uniform and our Form class names.

College Timeline

1995

Mr Nicholls started the College at the Showgrounds in 1995, with only 16 students in Year 8. Mr Nicholls was the main teacher with Prof. Jack Walton as History teacher, and Mrs Rita Street-Davies as Drama teacher. It was an interesting beginning with the classroom packed up each week for the Showground's weekend markets.

1996

The College is relocated to the Convention Centre with Year 8 and Year 9 students. The first teacher was employed - Ms Zoe-Emma Lackey and Italian was introduced into the curriculum.

1997

Finally, the College campus is officially established at the present location of 80 Beacon Road, North Tamborine. Mr Christopher Gabbett and Yr 8, 9 and 10 commenced on this site of 1.6 hectares.

1999

The first Year 12 class graduates, and first College Captains were Alicia Haynes and Matthew Brown. The College uniform was specially designed for the College by Mrs. Maureen Nicholls. The uniform originally had a tartan skirt, which later became grey from 2015. The College logo was created from a concept by student Tia Haynes.

Tamborine Mountain College began its success story. It was involved in performances, debating, public speaking, academic competitions and sporting events. It was a wonderful achievement when the Yr 10 Debating Team, coached by Mr Nicholls, became The Gold Coast Champions 1999!

1999 saw the College's first trip overseas to Italy, the first of many more to follow.

2000-2002

Mr. Nicholls retires and Mrs. June Melbourne takes over leadership of the College as Principal. Mr. Nicholls remains as Chairman of the Board until his death in 2011.

Two TMC students ran alongside Olympians carrying the torch bound for Sydney at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Teacher Zoe Lackey was part of the Equestrian Opening Performance of the Olympic Games, she also started equastrian at the College.

Miss Fiona Miller was employed in 2002. Later in 2006 she was promoted to Assistant Principal as Mrs Fiona Stevens and Head of Secondary in 2015.

Prime Minister, Mr. John Howard, meets College Captains.

2006

The College had many successes over the coming years: OP 1 Achievers, Vice Chanellor's Scholarships, university entrants, Lions Youth of the Year winner, Dorothea Mackellar Poetry regional winner.

Eduquest is launched as a challenge day in 2006 for Primary students to win prizes and TMC Scholarships.

2007

Construction of our stage area is completed.

2008

TMC's motto is "Victory & Valour", symbolised by our two lions and the classes named Vic and Val.

2009

Mr. Nicholls was instrumental in championing the College’s Masterplan, which saw the official opening of stage one, The Robert Nicholls Science Centre, in 2010.

2010

2010 saw the official opening of Stage one, The Robert Nicholls Science Centre.

The Robert Nicholls Science Centre boasts a range of features such as teaching areas, extended experimental investigation areas, preparation rooms and more.

2011

Tamborine Mountain College celebrated its first official Reunion and Heritage Event in April 2011. The Heritage DVD and Photobook were presented to Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls in appreciation and recognition of the College’s beginnings and their valuable contribution to our community – thus the history of the College has been recorded for posterity.

A month later, in May 2011, our beloved Foundation Principal sadly passed away. His vision for the College carried on by Principal Mrs. June Melbourne and new College Chairman Mr. Michael Kyle OAM.

2012

In honour of one of our Foundation Directors, 2012 saw the completion of Stage 2, Professor Jack Walton Resource Centre. Professor Walton passed away aged 90 in 2014.

This state of the art wireless centre boasts international reference collections, six classrooms, top floor multipurpose room, interactive white boards for all classrooms and a touch board for the central hub. The Professor Jack Walton Resource Centre, like the entire College, has wireless and laptop facilities to ensure campus wide connectivity.

2014

Stage 3 of the Secondary building plan was the construction of The Michael Kyle Learning Centre.

2015

TMC Primary is established and so the College is now Prep to Year 12.

This same year the College uniform underwent some changes with the introduction of Primary. The most significant change being the replacement of the tartan skirt with grey, in keeping with the boys' uniform.

2017

Our Platypus and Kookaburra purpose-built buildings are completed for Prep & Year 1 classes. Another property next door was purchased for TMC Early Learning Centre planning.

The Year 6 Sydney-Canberra Trip becomes an annual event.

In November we also opened the Maureen Nicholls Learning Centre.

2018

Our Administration building was officially opened on Friday 7th September. CC, the College Cat, joined the College.

We included a Time Capsule to be opened in 25 years - 2043.

2019

The Early Learning Centre opened in 2019 for Pre-Prep students, aged 3 – 4 years.

Tamborine Mountain College's Early Learning Centre aims to ensure children have a safe and nurturing environment to develop all of the skills essential for a smooth transition to Prep, with priority placement for our Pre-Prep students into TMC Prep the following year.

This year also saw the purchase of another property - an acquisition for the College's future, and the launch of ArtsFest.

Also in 2019 our College Captain meets the Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison.

2020

Our 25 Year Anniversary under the leadership of Principal, Mrs. June Melbourne and Heads of School, Mrs. Fiona Stevens and Mr. Mark Stevens.

The Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) had a significant impact on health, the economy and education, not only here, but world-wide. TMC introduced a program of Home- Based Learning which was well received by our students and families and was successfully implemented. A difficult year of isolation and social distancing which affected sport, co-curricular events, camps and trips. Our students, families and staff maintained resilience and stayed positive and committed as usual.

Michael Adams, Maintenance Manager, retired after 20 years of faithful service to the College. A small bridge, which had been built by him, was named in his honour ADAMS ARCH.

2022

The carpark and Primary building construction began.

The first phase of this project was the beginning of the construction of the carpark to link the current carpark with our Early Learning Centre (ELC), and phase two the construction of the the two Primary buildings.

Mrs. June Melbourne retired after 21 Years.

2023

Mrs. Fiona Stevens began her rein as College Principal.

The completion of the new carpark provided our families with many more spaces and safe access to the ELC. The two new Primary buildings, Echidna and Koala are now completed and standing proudly at the rear of the grassed area behind the ELC.