When the group of students arrived for their first day at Prospect High School in 1966, it was not only a first for them.
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The long awaited school was slated to help ease the post-war population pressure on the then-Launceston State High School.
Those who made up that formative group - the first to graduate in 1969 - gathered on Saturday to reflect and reconnect after 50 years.
More than 50 attended the event at Launceston's Boatshed on Saturday afternoon, following a tour of their former school - now almost unrecognisable in its size.
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One of those, Jennifer Crosswell, said though the site was "all clay" when they started, the students saw it grow over their years there thanks to the tireless work of staff and parent groups.
"There was nothing there [initially]," recalled Wayne Harris, another of the initial class. "A hill with a big eagle on it."
But the group speak fondly of the time. They would not have had it any other way.
This is not the first time the cohort have partially regrouped since graduation either. Reunions were held to mark both 15 and 30 years.
But this, Ms Crosswell said, was the big one. And they came from almost every state. "It was really hard work," she said of the efforts of the many organisers to track down classmates.
A special cake, memorabilia and slideshows marked the occasion. As did an album to pay tribute to those who had passed away.
But they also looked to the future, organising a perpetual trophy to be awarded each year for the next 50, to a student who projects the school's positive image to the community.
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