A School is Established

Albury Public School was the first school in the town. It was established on a one acre block on the corner of Dean and Kiewa Streets in 1850, following a submission from Charles Lockhart stating the need for a National School in Albury. Henry Wyse’s tender of 155 pounds and 10 shillings to build the school was accepted.

It opened on July 25, 1850, and the first teacher was Henry Rich. The school catered for students aged from 3 to 18. In May 1851Rich was replaced by James Hanrahan, whose wife was able to teach needlework to the girls. Hanrahan was finally dismissed in June 1852 after he became involved in several brawls. His successor, G.H. Loveday, led the school during the height of the gold rush when enrolments declined dramatically.

Thomas Keenan, the next headmaster, presided over increasing enrolments as the village grew and the gold rush eased. Numbers reached around 100 until, in 1855, St Patrick’s Parish School was opened. More than half the students left to enroll at the Catholic school. Records show that enrolments increased steadily again - in 1858 it reached 114 students. The settlement itself was growing steadily and this probably contributed to improving enrolments. In the 1850’s school was not compulsory but was open for 292 days a year with two vacations of two weeks at Christmas and one at Easter. Children attended for an average of 12 months.

 A New Site
In 1859 the Local Patrons (local Board of Management) called for improved premises. The site in Dean Street was sold and two blocks were purchased in the quieter Olive Street. The school remains on this site today, occupying the entire block bounded by Olive, Smollett and David Streets. The new school was designed to accommodate 300 students and was completed in 1861 at a cost of 2017 pounds.

The Albury Banner reported

“ The National School was opened on Monday, January 13, by the Patrons without any pomp or show usual on such interesting occasions. The fact was that the children could no longer be pent up in the old house any longer, the present heat rendering the place insufferable. Another fact, the times are dull and no one seemed to be in humour to enjoy the holiday. The new building … is an ornamental addition to the town …” (Albury Banner, 15/01/1862)

The curriculum consisted of Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Dictation, Grammar and Geography. Later, Drill and Drawing, French, Latin and German, Algebra, Mensuration and Bookkeeping were added. Infants, primary and secondary students were catered for.

In 1864 the National School became a Model School, which gave it added prestige. It was hoped to encourage families to educate their children locally rather than sending them to boarding schools in the cities. This change also gained recognition by the National Board of the standard of education being offered. Catering for secondary students continued to be an issue that vexed the community and Local Patrons throughout this period.

 Continued disputes between the headmaster in the 1870’s, Joseph Thompson, and the Local Board finally led to the resignation of all Board members. Numbers dropped and the school lost some of its good reputation. The opening of the Church of England Grammar School also attracted boys from the more affluent families. This was an unsettled period for education in the town. Debate about the merits of boys and girls mixing in class raged in this decade with opinion ranging from that of the Local Board secretary who argued

“… contact of this description has a tendency to bring about a state of freedom and familiarity among the classes which … should be suppressed by all possible means” and

“… the separation of classes will have a tendency to increase the moral well being of the school …”

to the headmaster Charles Hookins who stated

“… I find the presence of girls in a class acts most favourably on the conduct of boys, exercising a softening and controlling influence upon their more boisterous natures while girls lose that prudish shyness so common among the pupils of ‘Ladies Colleges’ in this colony …”

The Inspector was not convinced. He ordered that Hookins to ensure girls and boys left the buildings by separate doors, to maintain strict vigilance in the playground and to dismiss girls seven or eight minutes earlier than boys at lunch time and hometime.

Public Education Act
In 1880 the Public Education Act, which stated that it was “obligatory upon the parents of all
children between the ages of six and fourteen years … to cause such children to attend school for a
period of not less than 70 days in every half year.” (Education Act, 1880) was passed by the
parliament in Sydney.

The result of this was that the enrolment increased substantially with numbers topping 300
in 1880. Extensions were approved and the building of two classrooms and enlargement of the Infants’ school occurred. At this time boys and girls were separated into individual departments. Girls occupied the new buildings and boys the 1862 structure. This separation continued until 1964.

In 1888 the school was reclassified as a Superior School which enabled senior students to sit examinations qualifying them for the Public Service or University. An Honour Board from the decade is on display in the foyer of the Administration block of today’s school.

More land was purchased in 1892, extending the grounds to the corner of Smollett and David Streets. On this site a new, ornate two storey building was erected to house the Boy’s School, as a report by the Government Medical Officer in 1890 severely criticized the condition of the existing boy’s school. This building is known as ‘The Castle’ today. Additional blocks facing David Street were purchased progressively in the early decades of the twentieth century, bringing the school site up to its present size.

In this era schools were constructed with a large ‘schoolroom’ and smaller classrooms. The headmaster taught in the schoolroom and supervised a number of pupil-teachers or assistant teachers who were learning their craft on the job. Statistics from 1893 show enrolments to be:

            Boys:    189 accommodated in 1 schoolroom and 2 classrooms

            Girls:    205 accommodated in 1 schoolroom and 1 classroom

            Infants: 235 accommodated in 1 schoolroom and 1 classroom     

A New Century                                                                                                                            Top

The Albury Parents and Citizens’ Association was established in1909, following a meeting in the Town Hall chaired by the Mayor, Ald. AG Daniel. Arthur Andrews, the Board chairman, was elected as the first president. The P & C charter was to assist all government educational institutions in conjunction with the principals. The role of Boards declined as P & C’s took over many of their roles. Efforts to have the school raised to the status of a District School were unsuccessful; however in 1912 an Evening Technical School was established.

Thus in 1912 the educational facilities consisted of:

            Superior Public School – elementary schooling plus some post primary education

            Evening School - commercial interests

            Technical Classes – industrial classes for boys

The number of secondary students was placing increasing pressure on accommodation and a new kindergarten class had to be housed in a weather shed and hat room. Finally, in 1913 the school was reclassified as a District School. This did nothing to alleviate the problem as all students, including secondary, continued to be taught on the one site. The announcement in 1917 by the Christian Brothers that they would establish a boys’ High School in the town only added to the frustration felt by the P & C.

Finally, in 1920, the secondary section moved out to alternative accommodation, even though the official buildings for the high school were not approved until 1926. The school reverted to being a public school until, in 1923, it was reclassified as a Rural School. In addition to the programs for primary aged students it provided agricultural, technical and scientific subjects catering for post primary boys who did not wish to follow an academic path. In 1925 a girls’ Domestic Science Department was added. Continuing growth caused accommodation problems once again and finally, in 1930, the domestic and rural departments were transferred to the high school. The school reverted to Albury Public School and has remained so ever since.

The site of the ‘wine shades’ in Smollett St was acquired in 1925. In 1941 a new two storey Infants School, facing David St, was constructed. This added significantly to the enrolment capacity of the school. More recent building additions include the hall (1964), library and administration block (1973) and the canteen and gymnasium (1975).

Enrolment continued to expand. A 1954 report noted that enrolment exceeded 1200. Into the 1960’s enrolments necessitated the organisation of different recess and lunch times for infant and primary students. The Principal in the mid seventies, Fred Larkin, organised the school into four ‘mini schools’ with classes from Kindergarten to Year 6 located in each of the classroom blocks. The names currently used for each of these buildings – Castle, Manor, West and Annexe – have their origins in this time. Numbers at Albury declined and from the 1990’s to the present enrolment has remained around 600 students.

The reorganisation of schools across the state into ‘clusters’ in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s saw the renovation of the downstairs Castle rooms into the Education Resource Centre. The Cluster Directors and curriculum support staff operated from these offices and professional learning courses for teachers were conducted in the conference room. This reform also saw the introduction of School Councils and Albury’s first met in 1990. In the mid 1990’s the ERC disappeared and the headquarters for the new District structure was opened in a building in Macauley Street. The Castle once again became classrooms. The rooms have been used as a computer laboratory, a specialist languages classroom and special education facilities.

 

                                                                    

 

 

A Third Century
As Albury Public School moves into third century of continuous operation it offers learning experiences for around 600 students from Kindergarten to Year 6 organised into 23 classes. Students have access to three computer laboratories and to a Languages Other Than English program which has introduced both French and Italian languages.

The Annexe – the original school building on this site – is scheduled for refurbishment in early 2006. This change will provide more comfortable accommodation for five classes, a computer laboratory and an indoor ‘wet area’.

Sources: Back to Albury Public School 1991
              Albury Public School Sesquicentenary: History 2000                                                                      Top

Principals 1850 – 2005

Dates	Principal	Dates	Principal
7/1850	Henry Rich	2/1920	William Elston
5/1851	James Hanrahan	6/1921	A.G. Morgan
10/1852	G.H.Loveday	4/1925	William Morris
8/1854	Thomas Kennan	5/1927	Frank Purnell
8/1856	William Dwyer	12/1929	Richard Willock
2/1862	John McCredie	12/1931	William Lowe
2/1867	J.P.Meenan (Temp)	11/1935	Rupert Smith
6/1867	Charles Hookins	11/1940	Adam Schuemaker
5/1876	William Bax	1/1944	Oliver Wallace
1/1877	Joseph Thompson	11/1945	H. Hunt
4/1881	William Bax	1/1948	Michael McGee
9/1887	Frank Gardiner	1/1964	Cecil Chad
9/1892	James Crosby	2/1972	H. G. Ward
5/1895	William Radford	1/1975	Fred Larkin
7/1902	A. Roberts	1/1979	Mal Thompson
6/1904	Herbert Langley	2/1983	Barry Petersen
1/1917	J.G. Monaghan	1/1987	Malcolm Evans
		1/1999	Allan McMaster

School Captains 1971 – 2006

Year	Girl	Boy	Year	Girl	Boy
1971	K. L. Royal	D. J. Allen	1989	J. Hickey	A. Vine
1972	J. L. Lighton	A. N. Gould	1990	A. Norman	D. Cox
1973	S. L Cain	P. H. Schnelle	1991	K. Milliken	J. LaNauze
1974	R. J. Mitchell	C. Burdack	1992	A. Travis	D. Burbidge
1975	F. J. Morley	D. R. Gould	1993	L. Travis	G. Parry
1976	R. J. Gorman	J. M. Gould	1994	E. Sawyer	L. Barrett
1977	A. Huxtable	G. Burdack	1995	K. Boyd	W. Schwarz
1978	S. Croker	R. Lange	1996	M. Hogan	T. Paton
1979	P. Stephens	S. Burdack	1997	Z. Schwarz	S. Hogan
1980	V.Waterson	T. Roach	1998	E. McNeil	R. Yerbury
1981	V. Lemke	B. Kelly	1999	E. Schnelle	M. Gabriel
1982	T. Burdack	C. Huxley	2000	A. Allen	H. Kulatunga
1983	K. Barber	P. Baker	2001	A. Schnelle	S. Devlin
1984	N. Todd	J. Graham	2002	J. Bartram	J. McNeil
1985	D. Allerdice	M. Harris	2003	M. Schnelle	M. Copley
1986	N. Nilsson	R. Burdack	2004	N. Fogarty	R. Hall
1987	P. Stevenson	C. Sewell	2005	S. Veneris	H. Chapman
1988	N. Douglas	D. Biggin	2006	C. Vassart	L. Stewart

Boys and Girls Department Dux 1959 - 2005

Year	Boys Department	Girls Department
1952	Barry Doland	Carolyn Adams
1953	William Kell	Joy Young
1954	David Ramsden	Denise Adams
1955	Ken Procter	Joan Chegwyn
1956	Graeme Dennett	Louise Sennett
1957	Robert Wyllie	Jane Steele
1958	Graeme Berry	Sandra Bryson
1959	Peter Sago	Robyn Thiel
1960	Barry Temple	Helen Hicks
1961	Gary Cook	Elizabeth Webb
1962	Brian Royal	Nardia Reid
1963	Garth Harrison	Robyn Rowe

Primary Department Dux 1964 – 2005

Year	Student	Year	Student
1964	Geoffrey Britt	1986	Toryn Chapman
1965	Lynne Banbrook	1987	Susanna Ots
1966	Julie Brand	1988	Naomi Douglas
1967	Veronica Hope	1989	Andrew Thompson
1968	Murray Scholz	1990	Julia Stratton (aeq)
1969	Peter Moore		Joshua Douglas (aeq)
1970	Andrew Goddard	1991	Jonathon LaNauze
1971	Anne Haines	1992	Stephen Gordon
1972	Sandra Godson	1993	Michael Smith
1973	Peter Copeland	1994	Erin Horsley
1974	Timothy Stephens	1995	Matilda Smith
1975	Peter Mulheron	1996	Michael Schnelle
1976	Kathryn Stevenson	1997	Jessie Mayo
1977	Katrina Stephens	1998	Katie Skillington
1978	Alan Dyason	1999	Jessica Purcell
1979	Simone Harrison	2000	Hemanga Kulatunga
1980	Wendy Morey	2001	Rudolph Spennemann
1981	Kate Hunter	2002	Sophie Westland
1982	Natasha Brown	2003	Milly McLeod
1983	Katherine Barber	2004	Trine Wardius Nielsen
1984	John Graham	2005	Sanne Norden
1985	Michael Harris	2006

 

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