Australian National Museum of Education
Building 5, Level A, Room 5A4
University of Canberra
anme@canberra.edu.au
+61 02 6201 2473
01/09/2022 |
News Spring 2022
Annual excursion: connecting with our regional schools
On Saturday 10th September, participants in the Annual ANME Excursion visited four local regional NSW schools, all of which were established in the nineteenth century, being among the oldest established schools in the Monaro District. They are
- Queanbeyan Public School (est. 1864)
- Christ Church School Queanbeyan (est. 1843)
- Sutton Public School (est. 1871), and
- Gundaroo Public School (est. 1898).
A distinguishing feature of the Queanbeyan Public School is its oldest building, a stone structure erected by a local builder in 1877. Credit is due to the school and the NSW Department of Education over recent decades for conserving and restoring this Victorian-era heritage building. Its interior has been very well conserved and is currently used for specialist classes and for staff offices. It is one of the few fine surviving examples of a well-preserved and maintained natural local stone school building in NSW.
Queanbeyan Public School
Photos: Geoffrey Burkhardt
Queanbeyan Christ Church School, established in 1843, was the first school in the district. Like most early schools of that decade, it was established as a Church of England parish school. It is a single room building with thick composite material walls and originally with a shingle roof. It is located on the southern side of the present church in the spacious church grounds. Additions have been made to both the eastern and western ends of the original building.
Christ Church School. Photo: Roger Amos
The Sutton Public School, established in 1871, lost its early buildings in a fire in the 1920s, thus its earliest surviving buildings date from 1922. Now a school of over 200 students, which is large for such a small village, a notable feature is the number of families in the Sutton district which, for more than 100 years have continuously enrolled generation after generation of their children in the Sutton School. This is evident in the lists of names of local soldiers on the WWI and WWII War Memorial plaques on the School’s imposing War Memorial Gates. During our visit to Sutton School we were invited to inspect a most interesting display of historical items from the School’s archives which included Admission Registers, Class Rolls, historic photographs and Punishment Books.
Sutton Public School
Photos: Geoffrey Burkhardt
Gundaroo Public School was the fourth school of historical significance visited by our excursion group. The school was established in 1865 and its 150th Year Anniversary was celebrated on 21st March 2015. Its first teacher was Mr. Hugh McPhee. A feature of the school is the survival of its nineteenth-century building, constructed in 1892 and still being used. It consists of a comparatively large classroom, of red brick construction, a well-lit building with large double-hung windows, typical of many
NSW Department of Public Instruction public schools of the 1890s. We enjoyed a tour of the School, which now has a few more recent buildings
Gundaroo Public School. Photo: Roger Amos
Our thanks go to the principal and staff of each of the schools visited for their generous hospitality and tours through their respective school buildings. Also, we extend our thanks to Professor Barney Dalgarno, Executive Dean of Education at the University of Canberra and Val Fixter, for inviting our group to pre-dinner refreshments at their home prior to a fireside dinner at “Grazing” in Gundaroo.
Christ Church School. Photo: Roger Amos
