Memories of going to a bush school

by Marje Prior

I grew up on Freemantle Road at ‘Hillside’, now known as Milkers Flat, on a grazing property where four generations of my family lived.

One of my earliest memories was waking up to hear my mother’s parents arrive from Queensland In my excitement I stepped on a broken glass while opening the spring gate to collect firewood

My grandfather had to turn around and drive me into the Bathurst hospital while my mother held my foot together to stop the bleeding. It was an injur y that took a long time to heal aided by the crutches that my great grandmother, Laura Prior, made for me

When I was big enough to walk the distance to school I was enrolled to keep the numbers up! It was 1955 and I was four!

My first school memories were counting bottle tops on the verandah and licking off the phosphorous coloured numbers from the black counting cards while the students were taught their lessons When the school closed my brother, sister and I were home schooled by our mother until we moved into town in 1961.

I will always cherish my childhood as I had a freedom that most city children didn’t experience. Exploring the river, rescuing trapped rabbits, collecting Autumn mushrooms and listening to Smoky Dawson on the radio I believe that children who grow up in the countr y are exceptionally lucky, surrounded by the wonders of nature, our enter taining wildlife and a close-knit rural community.

The Milkers Flat school was the heart of the Freemantle Road community in the late 1940s and 50s. Built by the local families it was also used for church ser vices, christenings, and a meeting place A tennis court was constructed nearby and became a popular social event

The first public school in the Freemantle district was established at Chambers Creek in 1872 during the height of its gold rush with student enrolments reaching 29 before it closed in 1876

The next school was at ‘Hillside’, Milkers Flat. The subsidised school ran from 1897 to 1917 The community raised funds to pay for the teacher, Miss R Richardson, who was given “suitable and comfortable lodgings at Mr Henr y Prior’s ” From school records held in the NSW State Archives, Milkers Flat was described by the District Inspector as “ a small grazing and farming district. It has a population of about 50 persons all I believe are permanently settled A small building for a Union Church has been erected on the right bank of the river and within a radius of two miles there are 18 children who will attend the school if established I recommend that the applicants be granted 10 pound for the provision of two suitable out offices and the under mention articles for school furniture: 2 desks - each 10ft long; 3 forms - each 10ft long; 1 bookpress;

1 table 4ft x 2ft 6in; and 1 chair ”

The inspector noted that William Murnane’s three children had to cross the river in a boat!

Later, other subsidised schools in the district were opened at Freemantle Station, ‘Warra Creek’, Killongbutta, and Rock Forest. In 1948, the local community moved the school building from Freemantle Station to its present location at Milkers Flat.

The teachers were boarded with the local families who took turns in accommodating them.

In 1953, it was finally reclassified as a public school and renamed Milkers Flat to avoid any confusion with Freemantle WA where the mail was regularly sent

The Class of 1955

The relocation of the building wasn’t that simple. The work was carried out on weekends by the families and on at least one occasion part of the building fell down during construction Those involved were from both sides of the river and included Dan Sprouster, Donald McIntosh, Allan Webb, Jack and Len Howarth, Ernie and Jim Prior The building was constructed on three courses of concrete bricks which were used to raise the building to the regulation height of nine foot ceilings.

The building had a small classroom with an open fireplace and a smaller storeroom where the sports gear and bags were stored on pegs with the student’s name The verandah was a later addition and eventually concreted

The pit toilet enclosures would fall over with a strong gust of wind until posts were installed on either side to hold them up. But it didn’t stop Ernie Prior’s bull from trapping his daughter B everley inside when it rubbed itself up against the back of the loo, knocking it for ward onto its door. B everley, thankful that she hadn’t fallen into the pit, was rescued when the students noticed that she was missing from class.

The same bull trapped the students inside the school one afternoon as it menacingly patrolled around the building

‘“Going was like going to heaven as we ran on grass instead of the stoney thistle covered ground that we trained barefoot on around the school We were the smallest country school participating with the most winners!”

Collett

L:Beverley Prior, Pam and Helen Webb from Watton, were the only students when the river f looded. Students competing in the annual spor ts carnival

R: The school without the verandah. Presbyterian Minister, Peter Bowes, with students from L-R: Jerr y Sprouster, Pam Webb, Beverley Prior and Tony McIntosh Front: Fred Howar th, Wendy Prior, Ian McIntosh and Helen Webb

(Photos cour tesy of Fred and John Howar th and Bev Kerr )

“When we didn’t arrive home my brother came looking for us and got us out of the school because it had us bluffed. Why dad would put the bull in that paddock I don’t really know” B everley (Prior) Kerr

In the 1950 flood, with the teacher boarding with a family on the wrong side of the river, it took eight days before school reopened.

Mr JB Creagh was appointed the first public school teacher and soon had a fence erected around the front and side of the building so the children could have a garden. His prized crop was a magnificent display of ‘Seventh Heaven’ sweet peas that were raised along the eastern wall

“ The ground was hard and unsuitable so we dug a trench which we filled with fresh sheep manure. This was covered with about two centimetres of soil and the seed sown By all the rules the seedlings should have burnt off as soon as the roots reached the fresh manure but we were rewarded with a terrific crop of blooms, the like of which I have not grown since ” JB Creagh.

The school enrolments peaked at 13 before they started dropping off when the older students left. Mr Creagh was remembered for his school excursions where the children carted the garden soil from the riverbank and collected rocks from Smiths Hill to build a rock wall along the school’s driveway Hoeing the thistles from around the building was seen as a form of punishment

Mr Creagh was impressed by how the students were used to working quietly by themselves and noted that most wrote neatly. “ The high standard of their work and the application of these children became the standards I expected from all children I taught after wards, ” Mr Creagh recalled. Drinking water was scarce and caught in a 100 gallon honey tank until the school purchased a 1000 gallon rain water tank Tongala dehydrated milk, made up by adding water, was supplied to the children which they hated drinking until cocoa was added to it.

The countr y schools’ sports day at the Bathurst Sports Ground was an exciting day out with students looking for ward to wearing their white sports uniforms and tartan ribbons Tony and Ian Mcintosh, Joyce Howarth and B everley Prior were the school champions bringing home the cups for their particular events that included athletics, potato, sack, three-legged races and ball games

Visits by the school inspector were infrequent, and pastoral visits ‘spasmodic’. while the religious instructions were held in the school, students from other denominations were taught outside.

“Our class was visited by a red belly black snake that came through the door and went down a small knot hole in the floor that we used for tipping out our ink We all watched it for a while A couple of days later it reappeared through the hole and went back outside. ”

Wendy (Prior) Brown

The highlight of the year was the school concert where ever y child was involved in more than one item. Mr Creagh recalled a segment on the North American Indians Students spent many hours making costumes and learning an Indian dance performed in front of a packed house with parents supplying a tea party for the children and visitors

In 1955, he was replaced by Fred Hodgson, a keen photographer who brought many of his photos of the school to its reunion in 1988.

In 1957, enrolments dropped dramatically after the older students left and the school reverted back to being subsidised with Blackfriars Correspondence school super vised by B everley Prior and later, B er yl Davis It finally closed in 1958

Above: a community Christmas par ty with Pat Sullivan as Santa. Many of the children pictured were home schooled

Below : the school playground

M i l k e r s F l a t t e a c h e r s :

1948 Miss McKillop

1949 Patsy McGrath

1950 Irene Chamberlain

1951 Mrs Taylor, term one

May 1951–1952 Anne Richardson

1952 Jean Mitchell

1953-54 JB Creagh*

Feb 1954-1957 Fred Hodgson*

1957 B everley Prior

1958 B er yl Constant Davis

*public school teachers

By Phillipa Jarrett Captain