West Wyalong school records
Schools are often the centre of a town and reflect the good times and bad times but also the fun times like days off for the local show. They reflect the culture and location of the town – early finishes so the children can help with the milking or more pupils attending while the railway is built nearby. Teachers move from school to school frequently and struggle to find accommodation in growing towns. Teachers study and take exams to progress in their careers. Their leave requests provide many details about their lives.
Explore the town of West Wyalong through the school records in the State Archives Collection.
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School Files, 1876-1979
What are they?
The school files [NRS-3829] were created by bringing together all of the correspondence about each school. The correspondence is from teachers, parents, the Education Department and District Offices, other Government Departments, Local Members and Education Ministers. Some school files are up to 15 boxes of papers; some are only a few centimetres thick.
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What can these records tell you about your town?
There are similarities between all of the school files through content and purpose. They reflect their times. The files cover both wars but particularly reflect the many impacts of World War 1. The files cover waves of illnesses – measles, typhoid, influenza, diphtheria. Women resign when they marry or from 1932 have their employment terminated when they marry as the employment of married women as lecturers and teachers was restricted. School buildings require repair, extension or replacement. Schools very strongly reflect the growth or decline of towns.
West Wyalong and Wyalong
The school files show the growth of the government school system in these two towns. The schools in West Wyalong and Wyalong started in 1894 a month apart. An attempt in 1892 to establish a House to House school that included Wyalong was not successful as was the application for a Provisional school near Wyalong No. # Homestead (7 miles from Barmedman) in 1899. The two schools are close together. Wyalong Public School was a Super Primary in the first half of the 1920s. West Wyalong grew faster than Wyalong and became the larger town. West Wyalong Public School became a District School in 1926 and an Intermediate High School from 1942 before returning to a public school when the high school opened. West Wyalong High School opened in 1963.
Evening Schools ran in West Wyalong in 1897 - 1899 and 1911 with an unsuccessful application 1908. An Evening College was started in 1972 in the High School buildings.
New public school buildings were approved and built from the 1890s onwards. School buildings and fences and school residences needed repairs very regularly over the years.
Schools closed for repairs, the local show, the annual school picnic day, a combined Wyalong - West Wyalong sports day and Belgian Day in 1915 and more seriously for influenza, flood, the death of a teacher and a teacher’s funeral. Closing was not permitted for races or a novelty sports afternoon. Swimming classes weren’t approved in 1927 but were in 1937 (in the newly constructed town baths). Schools marked Arbor Day, Empire Day, Anzac Day and Commonwealth Day with suitable activities. Regular visits to Temora in the 1920s and later Ungarie for sporting competitions took place. Pupils learnt and teachers taught in weather sheds and rented halls.
Teachers enlisted during World War 1 and on return took up teaching again. They applied for leave to meet family members returning from war. Teachers requested leave to be with dying family members and when ill; applied for rent allowances and reimbursement of travelling expenses; struggled to find suitable accommodation; assisted with testing for diphtheria and typhoid and managed school banking.
Parents and Citizens groups (formal and informal) made representations in support of the schools in numerous matters – additional teachers, new buildings, provision of secondary education. They raised funds including by Euchre nights at the school and spent them on having electric light put on at the school residence, purchasing a movie projector for visual education and organised a Back to West Wyalong school day.
Digitised school files
Photographic collection
What are they?
The History Unit of the Department of School Education collected these photographs (from around 1963 to around 1991) when preparing school histories, research for public relations, or giving presentations.
Many photographs in this series [NRS-15051] are not official photographs, so they vary in subject, titling and image quality. There are no photographs for some schools.
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Wyalong Public School
The photographs of Wyalong Public School show the school, also from 1906. The class or grade group in the other photograph is taken between the twin water tanks seen at the end of the school building.
West Wyalong Public School
The photographs of West Wyalong Public School include three photographs of Sports Day 1906. This is likely to be the combined Wyalong - West Wyalong sports day approved in a letter in NRS-3829-[5/18215B]. Other images show the school in 1906 and a range of class or grade photographs.
West Wyalong High School
The May 1973 photographs of West Wyalong High School show the entry, a cadet display and agricultural equipment.
Teacher career cards, 1908-1987
What are they?
These cards [NRS-15320] detail each teacher’s appointments during their career in NSW government schools and/or the Department of Education. They also have some personal information like date of birth and date and details of marriage.
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What can these records tell you about your town?
The career cards show how frequently teachers moved (generally every 3-5 years). Many career cards show the teacher enlisting during one of the world wars or trying to enlist and being rejected. Lancelot Threlkeld an assistant teacher at Wyalong Public School enlisted in 1915 and returned to teaching after the war. Doris Osbourne (later Helyar) began teaching in 1929 and had a successful career across NSW. Her appointment to West Wyalong High School as principal in 1966 made history as the first female principal of a co-educational high school. Doris Osborne made numerous contributions to the profession in addition to her teaching career.
Digitised teacher career cards
Follow the links below to browse cards for Wyalong, West Wyalong and West Wyalong High School.
Wyalong
Walter Atkins NRS-15320-1-2-[2]
Charles Bensley NRS-15320-1-4-[5]
Nelson Boxall NRS-15320-1-6-[12]
Margaret Connors (nee Crooks) NRS-15320-1-11-[8]
Norman Drummond NRS-15320-1-16-[12]
Jess Zelma Forsythe NRS-15320-1-19-[5]
Julia Ireland NRS-15320-1-28-[11]
Joseph Learmonth NRS-15320-1-32-[10]
Andrew McNutt NRS-15320-1-37-[6]
William Moffatt NRS-15320-1-40-[3]
Edith Pearce NRS-15320-1-45-[13]
Hilda Pearson NRS-15320-1-45-[14]
Frank Purnell NRS-15320-1-47-[9]
Violet Robinson NRS-15320-1-49-[7]
Lancelot Threlkeld NRS-15320-1-57-[9]
West Wyalong
Rebecca Aston (nee Douglas) NRS-15320-1-2-[5]
Patrick Bennett NRS-15320-1-4-[4]
Geoffrey Carter NRS-15320-1-9-[9]
Phyllis Cohen (nee Goldman) NRS-15320-1-11-[9]
Ellen Flanagan NRS-15320-1-19-[4]
John Frank NRS-15320-1-20-[8]
Frank Gordon Franklin NRS-15320-1-20-[9]
Elizabeth Fraser NRS-15320-1-20-[10]
James Fryer NRS-15320-1-20-[5]
Martin Gibbons NRS-15320-1-21-[7]
Morton Hagan NRS-15320-1-23-[10]
Harry Heath NRS-15320-1-25-[8]
Leonard Kaye NRS-15320-1-30-[9]
Edwin Larcombe NRS-15320-1-32-[9]
Gertrude McInnes NRS-15320-1-36-[8]
Aileen May Patterson NRS-15320-1-45-[12]
Dolce Priddle NRS-15320-1-47-[7]
John J Prior NRS-15320-1-47-[8]
Claudia Richards NRS-15320-1-48-[7]
Ambrose Roddy NRS-15320-1-49-[8]
Charles Percy Smith NRS-15320-1-53-[7]
John J Williams NRS-15320-1-61-[7]
Herbert Yapp NRS-15320-1-63-[3]
Gostwyck Yates NRS-15320-1-63-[4]
West Wyalong High School
Doris Helyar (nee Osborne) NRS-15320-1-25-[5]
Site register cards, 1930
What are they?
These cards [NRS-3988] were compiled in the Department of Education and its successor agencies from approximately 1930, and record details of school sites purchased and subsequently disposed of since the early nineteenth century.
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What can these records tell you about your town?
Bellarwi Provisional School existed between 1920 and 1948 outside West Wyalong. The site card shows the site and how and when it was disposed of. It is also a reminder of the many small schools that existed across New School Wales
Bellarwi site register card [AF00188274]
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West Wyalong school records
In this webinar recording explore the town of West Wyalong through the school records State Archives Collection