There is a sinking circular depression in the grass on the low side of the museum’s wooden building. Each year it seems to descend a bit lower. This building stands on the site of the school’s original schoolmaster’s residence, a brick four-room cottage (shown below), which, sadly, was demolished in the1960s. We think the circular […]
Mr Crew was appointed as the first teacher at North Ryde Public School, originally called City View PS, in 1878, having previously taught at Goulburn Church of England School. A total of 45 pupils were enrolled and increased to 53 in the first week. There were, however, frequent absences because farming families were dependant on […]
Year 1 classes from North Ryde PS visited the Schoolhouse Museum as part of their class family heritage studies and walked the hallways many generations of North Ryde students had walked before them. See photos of their visit from the school’s newsletter.
Imagine time travelling back to the early 1900s in North Ryde. If you strolled down Cox’s Road from the school and turned right into Wicks Road you would have walked beside paddocks and orchards and had views across to the city. It is claimed that with binoculars you would have been able to read the […]
Last week the 1970s fluorescent lights in the museum’s 1910 room were replaced with twelve beautiful original school lights. This has been a project on the museum’s wish list for many years. Also installed were two heritage style fans centrally mounted in each room and next week the hall lights are to be replaced. When […]
State Records NSW has a comprehensive digital collection of early school photos which is being added to constantly. They are digitising images collected by the DEC’s former history unit. These images are a great primary source for class history studies, in preparation for a visit to the Schoolhouse Museum or for family history research. Photo […]
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 […]
Fairfield Public School celebrates their 125 year anniversary on 25th February 2014. The image is picnic games held at the school, probably around 1900. Imagine running in those outfits! Image source: Government School of NSW from 1848 Image Gallery Search the history of your school at Government Schools of NSW from 1848 and State Records […]
At school in the 1880s, all students learnt Copperplate handwriting. Starting from their first day where they practised their alphabet on slates perched on their knees, students had writing instruction. Being the main form of communication at the time, it was considered to be of great importance. This page from an 1887 writing instruction book […]
Recently, we had a visit from ex-student Bill Dudley. Bill started school at North Ryde PS in 1954 and he would walk to school with bare feet and no uniform. Bill said he would often bring Strawberry the family cow with him across Lane Cove Road, which was a dirt road in those days, and […]