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March 1850 - The Black Tiger
A gentleman who had very little education, but who had still managed to do well was the landlord of the Union Hotel in Waymouth Street. This was Mr. Creech who was the owner of a black tiger, which had caused so much excitement at the races in the previous month of January 1850. (Some unthinking person had started a rumour that the black tiger had escaped and this caused three ladies to jump into their gig and head for town. Unfortunately their horse bolted, the gig turned over and the three ladies were thrown out).

Displaying the tiger was proving to be a most lucrative business venture for Mr. Creech and as the Agricultural Show was only days away he often counted in his mind the number of sixpences likely to be taken at the show. The actual owner of the Union Hotel was a Mr. Herring, who was a keen fancier of pigeons and poultry and kept in the Hotel yard an assortment of ducks for market.

Unfortunately for Mr. Creech, there was a hole in the tigers cage and one of the ducks foolishly poked its head in. The subsequent feast resulted in Mr. Creech being imprisoned for duck stealing, as he steadfastly refused to pay Mr. Herring the 3/6d compensation. This obstinacy unhappily caused him to miss out on raking in the sixpences at the Show! (This story is taken from '1850 - A Very Good Year in The Colony of South Australia' by Russell Smith).

Tea Tree Gully School
The Local History Room holds some records of the Tea Tree Gully school. Here are some details from the School Journal.

The School Journal is an account of the more interesting days at the school, usually edited by the head teacher. At the rear of the earlier journals there is also usually an inventory of the school assets. Examples of information recorded in the journal follow:

teachers' absence and usually the reasons
any building work involving the school
visits from outside agencies including the Education Department, the local health and state health departments
the results of basketball and football matches -
the results of examinations and enrolment
notices of meetings
school excursions
injuries to children at the school.

School Journal, 1941 - 1980
Some of the more interesting extracts are:
6 Oct 1941          First wireless installed
28 Feb 1942 Working bee to dig trenches at the school.
31 July 1942 Basketball Court laid down at the school.
30 June 1944 School closed because the head teacher was ill
4 Aug 1944         Trenches filled in by student volunteers, took four days. 
27 March 1945 Meeting held to discuss the establishment library, 
22 July 1945 Flagpole installed by the children.
?? Feb 1948 The school year commenced two weeks late because of infantile paralysis.
10 April 1951 Inaugural meeting of the Mothers' Club. 
12 June 1951 First meeting of the Welfare Club.
9 March 1953 First free milk deliveries at the school.
15 March 1954 Mumps outbreak - many children absent form school.
7 April 1961 Religious instruction now given to the whole school. Classes are Church of England (2), non-conformist (3).
3 Aug 1962         Enrolments are increasing rapidly. Head teacher has applied for more assistants.

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