Newcastle East Public School
Encyclopedia
Newcastle East Public School is a public school located in the New South Wales
town of Newcastle
, Australia
. It is the oldest continuously running school in Australia, established in 1816 by a convict
on conditional pardon, Henry Wrensford.
The current site of Newcastle East Public School has a long history dating back to 1878. The school is located in the suburb of Newcastle on the corner of Tyrrell and Brown Streets.
The school site overlooks the Newcastle CBD, only two blocks west of the Christ Church Cathedral
that housed the original school in its earliest years. This location provides students and teachers with ready access to the many services of the surrounding city such as museums and galleries, theatres, beaches and sporting fields, all of which are located within walking distance of the school. The school is surrounded by places of historical significance, such as the Lead Light Tower, the Obelisk
, Christ Church Cathedral and many terrace houses
.
The Tyrrell Street school is now a site of historical significance in Australian education. It is of itself a building of heritage value that has been restored
to its former glory, having housed education in many different guises. The Tyrrell Street school embodies a synthesis of the history of three of the most historically important schools in Newcastle; Newcastle East Public School, Newcastle Public School, Newcastle High School
and their offshoots. in 2006, 100 years of history was celebrated by past students of Newcastle High School on the front lawn of Newcastle East Public School.
The teachers, parents and children of Newcastle East Public School hold a colonial fair every two years to celebrate the history of the school and school site.
Newcastle East Public School is the oldest school in continuous operation in Australia. Eddie Braggett has validated this continuity since its formation in 1816 by Henry Wrensford, finding conclusively that the school has accepted pupils every year since its inception.
Henry Wrensford was a twenty-six year old convict when he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years’ transportation
. It was only two years later in 1814 that he was granted a conditional pardon
by Governor Lachlan Macquarie
, with his occupation recorded as “schoolmaster
”; perhaps owing more to his military connections than any such experience or aptitude. Wrensford started the school in May 1816 with eight girls and nine boys attending, aged from three to thirteen. Lessons took place in one of the government-owned slab huts that stretched along the bottom of the hill now occupied by Bolton Street and its whereabouts. At this time, the settlement consisted of no more than 400 people, mostly convicts, and the students were the children of these. Macquarie himself directed that the Commandant “give it every possible support and encouragement it being highly approved of by the governor as a most benevolent and praiseworthy institution”.
Captain James Wallis
, who presided over an expansive building programme in Newcastle, including the breakwater
from mainland to Nobbys Island, designed Christ Church which was completed in August 1818. Some time that year, Wrensford’s school was moved to a vestry
of the church, and the Newcastle School soon acquired the name “Christ Church School”.
Four years later in 1820 Wrensford became a free man and left the school, being replaced by another convict Samuel Dell. The control of the school was changed from the government to the church during 1826. As the school continued to grow there became a need for a new site and the school moved to the corner of Church and Bolton Streets.
In 1859 an additional school was opened to satisfy the needs of parents who wanted a government controlled school. Newcastle Public School was opened in Brown Street in the basement of the Congregational Church, after which it moved to a classroom opposite the current site. In 1878 the school moved to the current site in Tyrrell Street. The success of this new public school led the state government to take control of the church school in 1883 and name it Newcastle East Public School.
pitch roof
made of corrugated iron.
Its refined level of design and attention to detail indicate the degree of attention paid to the design of schools by the Council of Education. The theme of the building is set by lancet window
s; slim and pointed at the top as in the Gothic style
, they are complemented by arched borders that protrude from the brickwork. Decorative gables
and bargeboard
s fringe the pitched slate roof on all sides of the building. A tall spire
, two chimneys and numerous decorative finial
s once lined the top of the roof but have been damaged or lost over the years and were not included in the restorations. The rooms are large with high pitched ceilings that show solid timber rafter
s.
The Foundation Stone for the building was laid by Mr. Clarence Hannell, who was at the time the president of the local school board, on the Prince of Wales' birthday, Saturday, 9 November 1878. The ceremony was performed at midday by placing a glass jar beneath the stone. The jar contained four newspapers and a document inscribed with details of the ceremony and the names of relevant dignitaries such as the headmaster, Mr. M. Willis, Jr.
On the 20 November 1879, Hannell officially opened the building as Newcastle Public School before a “very large and fashionable audience in the large schoolroom of the building”. The man responsible for the design was the celebrated architect George Allen Mansfield, who was architect to the Council of Education from 1867-1879, building a series of single storey suburban schools in that time, all in the Gothic Revival style
. The final cost of this construction was 10 000 pounds.
The original purpose for this newly built building was to house the Newcastle Public School, a school that was established in 1859 in nearby Brown Street. At this time the school consisted of boys’, girls’, infants’, and babies’ rooms and accommodated over eight hundred students.
In 1880, the school became a Superior Public School, reaching a peak of over 1000 students in 1884. The school on Bolton Street was enlarged soon after and other schools opened, causing a drop in enrolments.
In 1906 and within the same confines, the Hill High School was established in the western-most classroom. As the only high school in Newcastle at the time, it continued after Newcastle Public School was closed in 1911. The high school enrolled over 300 students by 1912. In 1929, Newcastle Girls' High School began its separate existence at Hamilton
and the Hill High School became Newcastle Boys' High School
. In 1934, they moved to a site in Waratah
, and the site housed Newcastle Boys' Junior High School until 1973 when it was closed.
From 1974–1981 the site was used by the Society of Artists and other small groups to hold workshops. Renovations then commenced, as the building was in a state of disrepair. Newcastle East Primary School, at the time located down the hill in Bolton Street, was to be the new tenant. The school’s first day of teaching at the site was on 13 September 1982.
The architect responsible for renovations conducted during the 1980s was heritage architect John Carr. The original building, and the school, has won several architectural awards for its outstanding renovations, including a national award for the refurbishment of an historic building and is listed by the National Trust
as a building of cultural significance.
To ensure authenticity the tradesmen involved strived to learn new skills that hadn’t been used since in generations. Old bricks, salvaged from demolished buildings in the area, were used in the restoration of two sets of windows. The building originally had four arched windows; however these were replaced in 1914 by large inharmonious windows. The reconstruction of these windows was part of the restoration project. Deteriorated samples of the paintwork were studied in order to duplicate the original colours. The roof was restored to its original state using tools that had been used for the original construction. 21 000 fibrous cement
slate
tiles were laid on the steep roof.
Other modification included the inclusion of more modern facilities that were missing from the schools original design but necessary for the site to function as a modern school. These facilities included a large playground, an activities area, an audiovisual room and a library, carpets, heating and modern furniture.
The school has a ceiling of 195 enrolments in 2007 as compared to numbers close to 70 in 1994. With this expansion has come the need to install demountables. These detract from the historic value of the site and although meant as a temporary measure there is currently no plans in place for a new building.
There are some obvious differences between the original construction of the building and its restoration, probably owing to cost. The large chimneys were not kept for the restoration and the spire
is no longer on the building. According to current members of the school community it may have fallen off the building in 1967. There are also some ornamental differences, such as the decorative finial
s that once lined the top of the roof and were not included in the restorations. Another significant difference is the verandah on the north side that has replaced an enclosed entry with a parapet
, a row of eight lancet window
s and the insignia of the school above a large arched front door.
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
town of Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is the oldest continuously running school in Australia, established in 1816 by a convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
on conditional pardon, Henry Wrensford.
The current site of Newcastle East Public School has a long history dating back to 1878. The school is located in the suburb of Newcastle on the corner of Tyrrell and Brown Streets.
The school site overlooks the Newcastle CBD, only two blocks west of the Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral (Newcastle, New South Wales)
The Cathedral Church of Christ the King or Christ Church Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in Newcastle, New South Wales Australia. The church, in the Gothic Revival style, is located on a hill at the city's eastern end in the suburb called The Hill....
that housed the original school in its earliest years. This location provides students and teachers with ready access to the many services of the surrounding city such as museums and galleries, theatres, beaches and sporting fields, all of which are located within walking distance of the school. The school is surrounded by places of historical significance, such as the Lead Light Tower, the Obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
, Christ Church Cathedral and many terrace houses
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
.
The Tyrrell Street school is now a site of historical significance in Australian education. It is of itself a building of heritage value that has been restored
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
to its former glory, having housed education in many different guises. The Tyrrell Street school embodies a synthesis of the history of three of the most historically important schools in Newcastle; Newcastle East Public School, Newcastle Public School, Newcastle High School
Newcastle High School (Australia)
Newcastle High School is a state run high school located in Newcastle West—a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia–with an enrolment of approximately 1,000 students....
and their offshoots. in 2006, 100 years of history was celebrated by past students of Newcastle High School on the front lawn of Newcastle East Public School.
The teachers, parents and children of Newcastle East Public School hold a colonial fair every two years to celebrate the history of the school and school site.
History of Newcastle East Public School
Henry Wrensford was a twenty-six year old convict when he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years’ transportation
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
. It was only two years later in 1814 that he was granted a conditional pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
by Governor Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...
, with his occupation recorded as “schoolmaster
Schoolmaster
A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...
”; perhaps owing more to his military connections than any such experience or aptitude. Wrensford started the school in May 1816 with eight girls and nine boys attending, aged from three to thirteen. Lessons took place in one of the government-owned slab huts that stretched along the bottom of the hill now occupied by Bolton Street and its whereabouts. At this time, the settlement consisted of no more than 400 people, mostly convicts, and the students were the children of these. Macquarie himself directed that the Commandant “give it every possible support and encouragement it being highly approved of by the governor as a most benevolent and praiseworthy institution”.
Captain James Wallis
James Wallis
James Wallis may refer to:*James Wallis , writer, games designer and publisher*James Wallis , New Zealand politician*Jim Wallis, Christian writer and activist*Jimmy Wallis, English field hockey player...
, who presided over an expansive building programme in Newcastle, including the breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
from mainland to Nobbys Island, designed Christ Church which was completed in August 1818. Some time that year, Wrensford’s school was moved to a vestry
Vestry
A vestry is a room in or attached to a church or synagogue in which the vestments, vessels, records, etc., are kept , and in which the clergy and choir robe or don their vestments for divine service....
of the church, and the Newcastle School soon acquired the name “Christ Church School”.
Four years later in 1820 Wrensford became a free man and left the school, being replaced by another convict Samuel Dell. The control of the school was changed from the government to the church during 1826. As the school continued to grow there became a need for a new site and the school moved to the corner of Church and Bolton Streets.
In 1859 an additional school was opened to satisfy the needs of parents who wanted a government controlled school. Newcastle Public School was opened in Brown Street in the basement of the Congregational Church, after which it moved to a classroom opposite the current site. In 1878 the school moved to the current site in Tyrrell Street. The success of this new public school led the state government to take control of the church school in 1883 and name it Newcastle East Public School.
The school house
The predominant feature of the site is the original school house, which has undergone renovations since its development but remains true almost to its original design. This impressive edifice was built in 1878 by architect George Mansfield and is listed by the State Heritage Register. The one storey building is built from brick with stone cellar and a GothicGothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
pitch roof
Pitched roof
A pitched roof is a roof for which one or more roof surfaces is pitched more than 10 degrees, and alternately a roof with two slopes that meet at a central ridge. Some definitions are even more general, including any roof with a sloping surface or surfaces....
made of corrugated iron.
Its refined level of design and attention to detail indicate the degree of attention paid to the design of schools by the Council of Education. The theme of the building is set by lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
s; slim and pointed at the top as in the Gothic style
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, they are complemented by arched borders that protrude from the brickwork. Decorative gables
Gables
Gables may refer to:* Gables, portion of walls between the lines of sloping roofs* Ken Gables , Major League Baseball pitcher* Gables, Nebraska, an unincorporated community in the United States...
and bargeboard
Bargeboard
Bargeboard is a board fastened to the projecting gables of a roof to give them strength and to mask, hide and protect the otherwise exposed end of the horizontal timbers or purlins of the roof to which they were attached...
s fringe the pitched slate roof on all sides of the building. A tall spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
, two chimneys and numerous decorative finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s once lined the top of the roof but have been damaged or lost over the years and were not included in the restorations. The rooms are large with high pitched ceilings that show solid timber rafter
Rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members , that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.-Design:...
s.
History of the school site
On the 20 November 1879, Hannell officially opened the building as Newcastle Public School before a “very large and fashionable audience in the large schoolroom of the building”. The man responsible for the design was the celebrated architect George Allen Mansfield, who was architect to the Council of Education from 1867-1879, building a series of single storey suburban schools in that time, all in the Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
. The final cost of this construction was 10 000 pounds.
The original purpose for this newly built building was to house the Newcastle Public School, a school that was established in 1859 in nearby Brown Street. At this time the school consisted of boys’, girls’, infants’, and babies’ rooms and accommodated over eight hundred students.
In 1880, the school became a Superior Public School, reaching a peak of over 1000 students in 1884. The school on Bolton Street was enlarged soon after and other schools opened, causing a drop in enrolments.
In 1906 and within the same confines, the Hill High School was established in the western-most classroom. As the only high school in Newcastle at the time, it continued after Newcastle Public School was closed in 1911. The high school enrolled over 300 students by 1912. In 1929, Newcastle Girls' High School began its separate existence at Hamilton
Hamilton, New South Wales
Hamilton is a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district. The main commercial centre is located around Beaumont Street and boasts a vibrant multicultural atmosphere providing an array of restaurants, retail, fashion and commercial outlets...
and the Hill High School became Newcastle Boys' High School
Newcastle Boys' High School
Newcastle Boys High School was a selective high school located in Waratah—a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.- History :Newcastle Boys High School was established in 1929 when the Hill High School was split into two selective single-sex schools, the other being Newcastle Girls High...
. In 1934, they moved to a site in Waratah
Waratah, New South Wales
Waratah is a north-western residential suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district and bounded on the north by the Main North line. Waratah station was opened in 1858 and is served by CityRail's Hunter line.- History :Waratah was once a major...
, and the site housed Newcastle Boys' Junior High School until 1973 when it was closed.
From 1974–1981 the site was used by the Society of Artists and other small groups to hold workshops. Renovations then commenced, as the building was in a state of disrepair. Newcastle East Primary School, at the time located down the hill in Bolton Street, was to be the new tenant. The school’s first day of teaching at the site was on 13 September 1982.
The architect responsible for renovations conducted during the 1980s was heritage architect John Carr. The original building, and the school, has won several architectural awards for its outstanding renovations, including a national award for the refurbishment of an historic building and is listed by the National Trust
National Trust of Australia
The Australian Council of National Trusts is the peak body for community-based, non-government organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage....
as a building of cultural significance.
Modifications to the site
Since the Tyrrell Street school originally opened as Newcastle Public School in 1878, it had endured over one hundred years of alterations and patchwork of different style that detracted from its original grandeur. The result was a building featuring many different architectural styles. Before it could be reopened as Newcastle East Public school in 1982, major renovations were conducted to restore the building to as near its original glory as money would allow. The architect in charge of the project was Mr. John Carr, who worked with the philosophy that it was better to repair than replace. A restoration project by the Public Works Department was conducted in mid-1981. Worth around $850,000, it saw the demolition of unsympathetic additions and the uncovering of the building’s fine brickwork.To ensure authenticity the tradesmen involved strived to learn new skills that hadn’t been used since in generations. Old bricks, salvaged from demolished buildings in the area, were used in the restoration of two sets of windows. The building originally had four arched windows; however these were replaced in 1914 by large inharmonious windows. The reconstruction of these windows was part of the restoration project. Deteriorated samples of the paintwork were studied in order to duplicate the original colours. The roof was restored to its original state using tools that had been used for the original construction. 21 000 fibrous cement
Fibro
Fibro, the shortened form of "Fibrous Cement" - or "Fibrous Asbestos Cement", FAC, is a building material made of compressed fibres cemented into rigid sheets....
slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
tiles were laid on the steep roof.
Other modification included the inclusion of more modern facilities that were missing from the schools original design but necessary for the site to function as a modern school. These facilities included a large playground, an activities area, an audiovisual room and a library, carpets, heating and modern furniture.
The school has a ceiling of 195 enrolments in 2007 as compared to numbers close to 70 in 1994. With this expansion has come the need to install demountables. These detract from the historic value of the site and although meant as a temporary measure there is currently no plans in place for a new building.
There are some obvious differences between the original construction of the building and its restoration, probably owing to cost. The large chimneys were not kept for the restoration and the spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
is no longer on the building. According to current members of the school community it may have fallen off the building in 1967. There are also some ornamental differences, such as the decorative finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s that once lined the top of the roof and were not included in the restorations. Another significant difference is the verandah on the north side that has replaced an enclosed entry with a parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
, a row of eight lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
s and the insignia of the school above a large arched front door.
See also
- Newcastle, New South WalesNewcastle, New South WalesThe Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
- Newcastle High SchoolNewcastle High School (Australia)Newcastle High School is a state run high school located in Newcastle West—a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia–with an enrolment of approximately 1,000 students....
- List of Government schools in New South Wales