Merrimac State High School

Merrimac State High School is a public high school in Mermaid Waters (Queensland, Australia). The school falls within Division 12 of Gold Coast council.

Motto

The motto of the school is "Pride in Excellence", which is featured on the school's crest.

Administration Staff

As of 2025, the school has a teaching staff of 84 (Full-time equivalent: 79.7) and a non-teaching staff of 51 (Full-time equivalent of 41.8).

Principals

In 1979, the first principal of the school was Brian Hallewell. As of 2026, the current principal is Rachel Cutajar. Recent principals have included:

+ Principals of the School Principal Tenure Initial Year Final Year Rachel Cutajar Chris Tobin

Students

Years

In 2015, Anna Bligh's state-wide "Flying Start" program was officially implemented to align Queensland with the other states by transferring year 7 into the high school system, meaning that in 2015 Merrimac State High School started catering for years 7 – 12.

Student enrolments

In 2023, Merrimac State High School was reported to have a maximum student enrolment capacity of 1,492 students.

The trend in school enrolments (August figures) has been:-

+ Recent Student Enrolment StatisticsYearYearsGenderTotalRef 7 8 9 10 11 12 Boys Girls 2010 - - - - - - 679 613 1,292 2011 - - - - - - 640 590 1,230 2012 - - - - - - 690 618 1,308 2013 - - - - - - 662 651 1,313 2014 - - - - - - 660 619 1,279 Addition of year 7 2015 - - - - - - 699 700 1,399 2016 - - - - - - 636 622 1,258 2017 - - - - - - 628 579 1,207 2018 - - - - - - 605 595 1,200 2019 - - - - - - 605 624 1,229 2020 217 234 197 210 194 182 623 611 1,234 2021 250 220 235 183 192 143 623 600 1,223 2022 224 225 203 208 167 147 593 581 1,174 2023 165 203 210 191 199 115 557 526 1,083 2024 177 144 199 181 176 142 513 506 1,019 2025 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA 472 458 930 2026 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Sports Houses

The school's four sports houses dervied the name from various Australian native animals and the translation of the names of those animals into the local indigenous language.

+ Sports Houses House Name Mascot Colour Surnames Ref Pigin Turtles Turtle Red A - E Mibunn Eagles Eagle Yellow F - L Bowai Sharks Shark Blue M - Q Ngurun Dingoes Dingo White R - Z

Notable alumni Sports

+ Name Graduation Date Sport Achievement Ref Marcus Ashcroft 1988 Australian rules football Former professional Australian rules footballer for Brisbane Bears and Brisbane Lions, and Gold Coast football coaching panel member. The Marcus Ashcroft Medal is named after him. Caine Eckstein 2003 Surf lifesaving Ironman champion Grant Hackett 1997 Swimming Former professional Australian swimmer, gold medallist and world record holder, former "Regan Funds Management" Director, and current chief executive officer of "Generation Life". Trevor Hendy 1986 Surf lifesaving Ironman Champion and professional kayaker Steven McLuckie 1990 Australian rules football Former Australian rules footballer for Brisbane Bears, 1993 Queensland-Northern Territory State of Origin squad member, 2000 Joe Grant Medal winner, and Gold Coast school principal. Amber Pilley 2014 Australian rugby league footballer Center for both the Brisbane Broncos Women's Team and Indigenous All Stars. Ricky Petterd 2005 Australian rules football Former Australian rules football player Melbourne Football Club and Richmond Football Club.

Entertainment

+ Name Graduation date Achievement Ref Pete Evans 1990 Chef, author, and My Kitchen Rules judge

Merrimac State High School

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