STORIES FROM THE ARCHIVES

Interestingly in 1930, former PLC Sydney assistant teacher, Miss Gurney, opened a school in the same Church Hall in Beecroft and called it Ardern. It still stands there today.

During World War II PLC Croydon campus was used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), who requestioned the College to house a RADAR unit. In the meantime, PLC Sydney students occupied Lauriston, Welbeck, and Lingwood Houses in Strathfield. Lauriston and Welbeck were disposed of by the Council in 1946, but Lingwood was retained as the Junior School.

History of the Junior School

When PLC Sydney opened its doors for the first time in 1888, the entire school consisted of 39 girls, 21 of which were boarders. It was the first school in NSW to be established by the Presbyterian Church.

Over a long history, the College has grown and transformed.

The Junior School has always been a significant part of PLC Sydney life, and it has undergone many stages, all contributing to what it is today. Let’s take a brief look into the history of the Junior School and the many changes it has experienced in PLC Sydney’s 135-year story.

The College’s first classes began at Fernlea, a ‘gentlemen’s residence’ in Ashfield, where Senior and Junior students were taught. In 1891, PLC Sydney moved to its present site at Croydon, where all the girls shared facilities. In 1906, the Rugby House (also known as the Red House), which stood where the primary school stands today, was purchased by the College Council for £1200. This was the first time the Junior School students were taught in a separate building from the Senior School girls.

Ten years later, in 1916, the building was redesigned and became the residency of the Vice Principal at the time, Dr E. Neil McQueen. This became the principal’s residency until the start of World War II.

During the 1920s, the PLC Sydney Preparatory School was housed in a Church Hall in Beecroft for the rental cost of £1 per week. By 1929 PLC Sydney was making continuing losses on the Beecroft campus, and the Council decided to close this campus in June 1929, returning these students to the Croydon campus.

When the College returned after the war, in 1946, boarders occupied the Rugby House. During the boarder’s occupation, the house was renamed ‘Hamilton House’, in honour of PLC Sydney’s first female Principal, Miss Mary Hamilton, who served as principal from 1932-1941.

In 1946, negotiations were entered into with Miss Margaret Thompson, the owner and principal of “Branxton”, a private school on Homebush Road, Strathfield. Subsequently, it was agreed that Miss Thompson close the Homebush Road site, and move her school to Lingwood where it would retain the name “Branxton” and from 1946 would come under the control of the PLC Sydney Council.

Branxton was a highly successful undertaking, and the enrolment of Junior School students grew exponentially. This came with the challenge of space. The overcrowding in the Junior School was becoming an increasingly serious matter. Eventually, Council resolved to demolish Hamilton House and erect a new self-contained primary section on the Croydon site. The boarders who were housed in Hamilton House would be temporarily housed in Pickard House.

The new Junior School building was officially opened on Friday 20 March 1964, by Dr. H. S. Wyndham, Director of General Education for New South Wales. The Junior School cost £45,000 and accommodated 150 students. At the time, Miss Whitlam was the Principal and Mr F. L. Thompson was the Chairman of College Council.

The architects, Laurie & Heath, planned the school “as a compact group of buildings, integrated with a grassed playground, a paved games area, and a courtyard recreation space.” Facilities included five classrooms, a junior library, an assembly hall that could be used for art, drama and music lessons, a cloakroom, and modern toilets. Each classroom boasted a blackboard that could be rolled up or down as required, a large map of Australia and a public address system. And thanks to Ex-Students’ Union, there was a television in the Junior Library!

The Junior School facilities that were “state-of-the-art” in 1964 became outmoded and the Primary Branch –Hamilton – was demolished in 2015 to make way for the “new” Hamilton that opened in 2018. It includes facilities for Years 3-6: 14 classrooms, 4 breakout spaces, specialist STEM rooms, amphitheatre, turtle pond, bee hotel, vegetable gardens, Invertebrate House, Multipurpose Centre and play equipment.

The 2018 Junior School Captain reported that:

“One of our biggest highlights was the opening of our new Junior School. The two years of construction, which we experienced first-hand, were long but worth it. We are now enjoying the new spacious classrooms with many superb facilities. We also had the privilege of welcoming the Honourable Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of NSW, as our special guest to this memorable event.”