Schools emerged in Araluen in the 1850s to cater for the growing population of miners’ children.1Roslyn Maddrell and Paris Silvester. Present Sir! Araluen Public School Register 1898-1968. Braidwood & District Historical Society & Museum Inc. 2017. p 10. Based on history by Desmond Mulchahy, B.A., Division Research and Planning Department of Education, compiled from records held in the Department, the Mitchell Library, and the NSW State Archives. 1970. Records show that since then, the valley boasted five public schools, five private schools and three evening schools for miners and dredge operators who had left school without literacy skills. Compulsory attendance was introduced into NSW schools under the Public Instruction Act 18802https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/history-of-nsw-government-schools/government-schools/public-instruction-act-1880. Accessed 30 October 2023. meaning parents of school-aged children (6 to 14 years of age) had to ensure that their children attended school for a period of no less than seventy days every half-year. After the age of 14, most children left school to enter the world of work, or to stay at home and help look after younger siblings. The Araluen Public School was the last in the valley to close in 1971.
School houses were usually erected of a wood or stone foundation with slabs or weatherboard walls and the roofs made from galvanised corrugated iron, shingles or bark. Overtime, the school buildings disappeared – destroyed by fire or termites, relocated or like the church buildings, demolished and the materials repurposed.
Children made their way to and from school by walking, riding their bicycles or those living a distance from the school, rode their horses. The school day started at 9.00am and finished at 3.30pm. Those with bicycles rode home for lunch while the other children ate their jam sandwiches in the playground. At one school, a teacher erected a wooden platform so any uneaten crusts could be put there to feed the birds – nothing went to waste.
Teaching was by rote – ‘chalk and talk’. In the classroom, the younger children used pencils and the older ones wrote in an exercise book using a ‘post office nib’ and ink well. The desks and chairs were made of wood and lined up in rows – the younger children on the left and the older ones on the right. While there was an emphasis on the three Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic – the older girls were also taught how to sew and knit while the boys were instructed on how to garden, growing produce such as turnips and pumpkins. Each morning there was a ‘fingernail’ inspection, with one of the Valley’s older residents4Personal reflections of school life in the Valley, Clem Wilson, 2023. remembering that he was sent home from school as a very young boy with a message from the teacher – ‘tell your mother you’ve got dirty fingernails’. Discipline in school was strict. Anyone deemed to have misbehaved could expect the cane – a quince tree rod. Typically, the children played all together and participated in games such as marbles, skipping (with rhyming songs), hopscotch, rounders, cricket, football and tennis. Outside school hours, those children that did not have to help on the farm or look after their younger siblings enjoyed playing games, catching rabbits and tadpoles or going ‘eeling’ in the creek.
Evening schools
Evening public schools5https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/history-of-nsw-government-schools/government-schools/public-instruction-act-1880. Accessed 30 October 2023. were designed for young people who had little primary education and wanted to learn the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. These schools required the attendance of at least 10 pupils aged 14 or over.
Evening public schools operated in the buildings of the local public school and were normally under the charge of that school’s teacher. Evening public schools required students to attend two hours a night, three times a week – discouraging many pupils from attending. After the introduction of compulsory education and the extension of government schools into most parts of the colony, there were very few areas where children did not receive some minimal literacy education.
Timeline of schools in the valley
To cater for educational needs of the children of Araluen, a non-vested National School was opened on 20 September 1858. It had an enrolment of 49 and average weekly attendance of 28. However, when the attendance declined the school was closed on 16 April 1859. Several denominational schools then assumed responsibility for education in the district.6Maddrell and Silvester. Present Sir! Araluen Public School Register 1898-1968. Braidwood & District Historical Society & Museum Inc. 2017. p 5.
Evening public schools were designed for young people who had little primary education and wanted to learn the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. These schools required the attendance of at least 10 pupils aged 14 or over.
Evening public schools operated in the buildings of the local public school, and were normally under the charge of that school’s teacher. Evening public schools required students to attend two hours a night, three times a week – discouraging many pupils from attending. After the introduction of compulsory education and the extension of government schools into most parts of the colony, there were very few areas where children did not receive some minimal literacy education.
Araluen Non-vested National School operated from 20 September 1858 and operated until 16 April 1859. While the exact location is unknown it was situated on a half acre block of land on the property of Henry Clay Burnell in Newtown. The school building was constructed of slabs and had a shingle roof.
Araluen Public School operated from January 1870 until December 1971. Location was at Portion 7, 5894 Araluen Road beside the Old Court House at Redbank.
Araluen Evening School operated from 1880-81. The evening school was part of the Araluen Public School located in Redbank.
Araluen Upper School operated from October 1872 until December 1888. Location was at Portion 521, which was a 2 acre block (in the Parish of Araluen), about 120 miles north of the Church of England Cemetery.
Burketown Public School operated from 1867 until 1869 and was located in Araluen West. In 1869 the school changed it’s name to Araluen West Public School.
Araluen West Public School operated from 1869 until June 1919. Location was south of the Roman Catholic Cemetery on a hill overlooking East Bourketown. (Lots 4 to 7 and Lots 11 to 14, section 5 in the Village of Araluen West. This section was bounded by Albert, Church, Alexandra and Camp Streets.)
Araluen West Evening School operated in from 1880-1886 when it was closed, and was then re-established at the end of 1890 where it continued from 1891-92 at the site of Araluen West Public School.
Redbank Araluen Presbyterian School operated from 1866 until 1870. Location was at Crown Flat.
Araluen Church of England School operated from c 1866 until 1869. Location was on Henry Clay Burnell’s property at Newtown. Half an acre was given by Mr Burnell. (Exact location unknown but a little distance from Redbank about 100 yards from the main thoroughfare.)
Wesleyan Denomination School operated c 1869. Location unknown.
Roman Catholic Denominational School operated from c 1860. Location was at the corner of the Police Paddock nearest the crossing place below Sweeney’s Cornstalk Inn. The School was moved to Newtown after the 1960s flood and then to Redbank between the present St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church and Hogan’s Creek.
St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Convent School operated from c 1886 until its closure in 1928. During that period, at least fourteen (14) Sisters had served in the convent school.