Sandstone footings locally quarried

Posted on in General, North Ryde PS History

Exterior of 1877 classroom at NSW Schoolhouse Museum

Did you know that when North Ryde PS was built in 1877 the area was orchards and farmland and contained several sandstone quarries? The stone footings were quarried locally for the single North Ryde PS schoolroom, now the NSW Schoolhouse Museum. An advertisement appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 30th November 1878 advertising a 51 acre farm close to the ‘near new public school’ containing an orchard and ‘a fine grey-stone quarry …. from which the Public school stone was quarried’. The location of the farm was bounded by Field of Mars Common, Twin St, Quarry Rd and Mrs Folkyard’s Farm and was adjacent to the orangeries of Messres Cox, Hicks, Heard, Benson, Jupp and Allen. Source: Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/

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