Chapter 1. First 28 Years (1892-1920)

1892-1899

The school opened on Monday 25th April, 1892 as Hurstville West Public School with Mr William Crawford as teacher.

By 30th April 1892, five days after the school opened, there was an average attendance of 50.3 pupils at the school, and Miss Gertrude Rembert was appointed to the school as a pupil teacher. She was sixteen and a half years old at the time.

By 17th May 1892, the average attendance was 53.4. The school was soon judged to be too small by the residents and, on the 9th September, they petitioned the minister for additions to the school. It wasn't until 1894 that additions,(in brick), were made to the school, and a weathershed was erected. These additions were occupied on 9th July. At this stage, the enrolment of pupils was 93, and the ordinary attendance was 75.

The school was growing so rapidly that the inspector reported in May 1895 that, the population in the neighbourhood is increasing rapidly and a considerable addition to the schoolroom is necessary.

By July 1895 the water main passed the school (along Belmore Road) and approval was given by the Department to have water laid on to the school. Until then the water had come from two tanks which had run out at this time and the pupils had to bring water from home.

In 1897 the Department sanctioned swimming classes for the Hurstville West boys who would leave the school at 2.30 p.m. to catch the train from Hurstville to Rockdale.

PROBLEMS WITH W.C..

Parents blamed the school's cesspits for a case of diphtheria among the pupils in May 1897, and as a result they were changed. Until this was done there were only 2 closets which each had two seats for 176 children. Crawford had requested better WC accommodation in 1894 without result. In addition, the parents had sent a petition to the Department in 1896 on the matter.

1900 - 1910

In March 1900 the average attendance was over 140.

In May 1901 the school cleaner, Mrs Chester, who had been cleaning the school for over 12 months, complained that she was not being paid enough. She had been required to do extra work, for which she had been paid, during the plague time. Her request for more pay was not successful.

The school's annual school concert was held in the Hurstville hall on 5th December 1901.

Crawford was frequently called upon to explain why his pupils had not performed better at inspections of the school, (this was a common thing for teachers to have to do). In 1901, among other reasons, he wrote: The very great number of holidays during the Commonwealth celebrations quite unsettled the children.

Dumbleton (Hurstville West) Public School, had the dubious honour of being mentioned in Question Time in the Legislative Assembly in 1906, over the alleged cruel treatment by some pupils of a boy named Cook, by placing him on an anthill. This was followed up by a police report after several articles in the newspapers.

Crawford was transferred from the school in 1906 (after 14 years) and was replaced by Mr James Massey who occupied the house owned by Mrs Crawford in which the Crawford family had been living.

In 1906 the local School Board was agitating again for additions to the school as it was overcrowded. By March, 1908 the addition had not been made and the local School Board went on a deputation to the Minister. The Department then decided to build two extra classrooms instead of one.

The additions, costing 1,012 pounds, were in progress by December 1909. They consisted of two rooms, each seating 48 pupils. In the existing building there was now an infants room, and two partitions had been made in the building. Dual desks were to have been provided to replace the old desks and forms, but in fact, by May 1920 the school still had long desks in one classroom.

1910-1920

The school's sanitary accommodation was increased again in 1910 after Hurstville Council wrote to the Department, that complaint has been made regarding the sanitary accommodation at the Hurstville West Public School. Separate accommodation is not provided for male and female teachers and taken as a whole there is every reason for very strong comment from the Local Authority at the present arrangements. As well as the need for more sanitary accommodation, an officer of the Department of Public Works had noted in May 1905 that, a dividing fence between male and female outhouses is a necessity for privacy and to encourage a garden now under formation.

MEMORIES FROM 1911

Recollections of childhood at Beverly Hills P.S. by Mr and Mrs Ovens - started school 1911. (Excerpts from tape recording).

Staff at the school :

• Infants - Miss Mallet
• 2nd class - Miss Keith
• 3rd class - Miss Bright
• 4th class - Mr Wilson
• 5th class - Mr Lewis
• 6th class - Mr Kable (Head Teacher)

Junior and senior classes assembled separately on the playground. Each teacher would take their classes into school and when seated the roll was called. There were about 50 children to a class.

The children sat on long forms and had long desks. Later, double desk and seat arrangements were introduced.

A paling fence separated the girls' and boys' playgrounds. There was always a teacher on duty and boys who ran into the girls' playground received punishment by cane.

There was a big shed out in the playground with seats attached to the walls and in wet weather lunch was eaten in the shed. The washroom was attached to the end of the shed.

There was a motor bus that ran from Hurstville, along Gloucester Road and into Stoney Creek Road. The fare from Hurstville was tuppence. At one stage the motor bus was taken off the run and replaced by a double decker horse bus. There were stables near Lees Street for the horses.

All the roads in the area were dirt roads and the best section of road was King Georges Road between Stoney Creek Road and the railway line. This road had been built up by convicts using red bricks.

MR KABLE

In September 1911 Mr Percy Kable took over the school, after James Massey had been gone for some time to be an acting inspector.

The school was fenced in 1912 by Mr Charles Rochfort of Penshurst. (This was the first of many jobs Rochfort did at the school.) The inspector had recommended Kable's request to have the work done, noting that, the teacher does not live in the neighbourhood, the children's gardens are insecure. He also noted that, the site contains 4 3/4 acres of which 8,530 square yards are under cultivation. The property is valued at 2,000 pounds.

The inspector noted the very good results of Hurstville West pupils in the Qualifying Certificate examination of 1912. (The Qualifying Certificate determined whether pupils proceeded to high school or post-primary education, and was introduced in 1911. The inspector noted that out of 20 pupils, 18 had secured a place in the published list of successful candidates, one boy had been awarded a bursary and two were awarded scholarships. He suggested that Percy Kable's success at this and the previous QC examination be kept in mind for his promotion.

In April 1913 Kable successfully sought an interview at the Department's head office to discuss problems, particularly the need for another assistant teacher. Also in that month Kable applied for two new classrooms. He wrote that, 140 new pupils have been admitted this year; the present enrolment is 398, the ordinary attendance 330, yesterday the attendance was 346.5, today 347. Seating accommodation is provided for 276 children, so I confidently ask that you will treat this as an urgent application. The majority of the newcomers are children of parents who have erected their homes in the locality, so that the permanency of the increase is assured.

A double portable classroom, built by Mr H.G. Craven of Sans Souci was completed by November 1913. This meant that the Dumbleton Mission Church hall, owned by the Presbyterian Church (this hall was opposite the school), which had been used for classes until 7th November, was then vacated.

The school was continuing to grow. In August 1915 Kable successfully asked for six forms to be supplied. He wrote: The enrolment is 501, the attendance today 430.5. Classrooms contain seating accommodation for 369 children. There are 8 classrooms and 9 classes, so one class is either in the shed or in a suitable position in the playground. If these forms be supplied seating accommodation for present requirements will be met. In March 1916 the contract for the erection of two new classrooms went to Parkinson Brothers for 1,247 pounds which was later increased to 1,304 pounds. The work was completed by 1st September 1916. The rooms were to be used by 6A and 6B classes.

THE NEW NAME OF "DUMBLETON"

In September 1915 the Department asked Kable for his opinion on whether the school's name should be changed. The school had been most frequently referred to locally as Dumbleton, the name of its post town.

The school's name then (in September 1915) became Dumbleton.

MEMORIES - "DUMBLETON UNIVERSITY"

Some Memories of "Dumbleton `University'" by George Parker (started school 1915).

Staff at the school:

• 1st class - Miss Christie
• 2nd class - Miss Eggins
• 3rd class - Miss Heiny
• 4th class - Mr 'Bug Whiskers' Sullivan
• 5th class - Miss Pryor
• 6th class - Mr Bennett (Head Teacher).

Cricket at Redfern

A game of cricket was arranged for class 6 to be held in Redfern. The team walked to Redfern Oval and after the match they "scaled" home in the train.(This was slang for fare evasion).

The School Concert

George has fond memories of being 'Prince Charming' in the concert and of realising on the morning of the concert that he had not received the costume. He somehow managed to find Miss Pryor, (the teacher in charge), who lived at Mortdale, who instructed him to contact Mrs Rochfort who was the contract cleaner in order to gain access to the school, wherein the costume could be found. The costume found, it was still up to Mum to fashion a suitable green paper hat and then George decided to catch their champion white Leghorn rooster to relieve him of a few feathers that he required to decorate the hat. The show, at the Masonic Hall in Hurstville, was a great success.

MR BENNETT

In May 1917 the new head teacher, Mr Patrick Bennett, successfully applied to have the school's bell-post, which had just fallen over, re-erected. This work was again done by Charles Rochfort of Penshurst.

White ants were a continuing problem at the school and in June 1917 Bennett wrote that, white ants have attacked the school premises only recently erected at the above address. The repair work was done by Mr Charles Rochfort. Early in 1919 the sanitary accommodation was repaired after the local MP reported that, white ants have got into the woodwork and the structure may fall at a time least expected. (The inspector did not agree that there was a danger of the structure falling.) Again in August 1919 Bennett reported that, in doing repairs... the carpenters came upon strong colonies of white ants. White ants were to continue as a problem at the school for decades after this.

The school bought itself a second-hand piano in 1917.

From the beginning of the 1918 school year the school had a separate infants' department. Applying for this in December 1917, Bennett who drew a plan of the school showing where the infants' department could be accommodated within the existing buildings, had written: The present quarterly enrolment is 525 and these pupils make up 10 classes....Infant school work is becoming more the work of specialists ....... Dumbleton School is in a large valley surrounded by hills and cannot fail to continue to grow. Hundreds of unoccupied acres lie in the immediate vicinity of the school. Miss Mary Heney was the first infants mistress at the school, being there from 1918 until March 1922.

FIRST ANZAC DAY

In March 1918 Bennett successfully applied to borrow from the Department, a Maypole in order to teach a dance in connection with Anzac Day.

This was to be a big day - Bennett wrote that, it is our intention to celebrate that day by inviting the parents and others to see displays by the pupils and hear patriotic songs and short speeches.

Soon after, in May 1918, Bennett successfully sought permission to hold a bazaar at the school on the afternoon of Empire Day.

On 23rd January 1919 Mrs Madeline Everett, a teacher at the school, was granted a day's leave to meet her husband who returned from the war that day on the transport ship "Leicestershire".

Betty De Gunst, Parent
Publication Committee

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