In 1840 blocks of land were being offered for sale in the Page Village. Thomas Haydon returned from a trip to Byron Plains to find a letter from the chief secretary asking him to advise and select suitable land for a School.
Various ideas and schemes for denominational schools were debated and it was not until 1849 that the school was opened. The first teachers were Alexander Brodie and his sister Mary Reid. They had travelled out to N.S.W. together, Mary marrying before they sailed. Her husband was to follow but he never arrived. It was believed that he went down in a ship which was lost at about that time.
There were 86 boys and 69 girls with an attendance record of about 60. Small fees were payable. Patrons of the school were Peter Brodie (Glenavon). John Gill (Doughboy Hollow Station.) L. B. Rundle (Storekeeper), Donald Donaldson (Poundkeeper), Thomas Haydon, Secretary, (Bloomfield) and Robert Walsh.
By the end of the year, Gill and Rundle resigned and were replaced by James Juchau and Lewis Cohen, proprietor of the Woolpack Inn (now Bobadil). Alexander and Mary resigned, as he was buying Foxton's Store. On 14-1-1850, George Lindsey and his sister were appointed to take Alexander and Mary's place.
Tenders were accepted for a brick school from a Muswellbrook builder to be erected at a cost of £165. It was finished in July, 1851 in practically the same position as the school today. Mr Lindsey resigned to take up the post of C.P.S. and as no one could be found to take his job, the school lapsed, so Rev. Black opened a private school for boys and Miss Lindsey opened one for girls.
James Harrison and his wife were appointed next and re-opened the school on July 10, 1852. Although he had no previous experience at teaching, he was a very well educated man and had been a sea captain. He had an Aunt on the Patterson River who promised to make him her heir if he would come to N.S.W. and do her business for her. Harrison came, but the Aunt did not fulfil part of the bargain.
She was blind and had evidently been persuaded against the nephew, and that is why he had to seek other work.
He was schoolmaster for 26 years and when he got too old to manage the Murrurundi School, he went to Doughboy Hollow. William Thomas conducted a private school for boys. He ill-treated the boys and the Brodie, Haydon and Abbott boys wore several pairs of trousers to minimise the whacks. The school did not last long. Then Thomas Haydon appointed a tutor for his own sons, one David Thomas Kemp. The Frernlim girls conducted a private school for girls at Ethelstone, Pearl Haydon being among their pupils. She drove the six miles every day with her brother Fred. A generation later, Fred's children did the same, driving or riding to the public school.Back to the contents