THE SCHOOL AN EARLY HISTORY

The first request for a school at Labertouche was a petition presented by John Medley, of Buln Buln on 17 April 1880 and signed by Alex McDonald (8 children), James McDonald (5), Richard Boyd (2), John McLure (1), R.A. Bunning (6), David Devenny (4), Francis Robinson (4) and Patrick Gleeson (6). “We have been resident here for some years and our children have consequently had no opportunity of receiving education. ”

On 16 September 1880 the district inspector, Mr. C. Tynan, reported, “I attempted to reach the Labertouche Creek. The whole country was under water and it was simply a physical impossibility 1 will not be in the district for at least six months ”

Inspector Hepburn reported 21 February 1881. The population were all selectors and it was doubtful if it would be permanent. About 13 children of school age lived within two miles of the proposed site and about io (Robinsons, Gleesons and Devennys) Within 2% miles. A school would have a probable average attendance of 20, none of whom could attend existing schools. He recommended a site of five acres in the north-west corner of Bunning’s selection, which was a high piece of ground suitable in every respect. Distance from existing schools was:~ 8 miles north-east of Bunyip; ll miles west of Jindivick and 10 miles north-west of Drouin West. He recommended a fulltime school in a portable building with teacher’s quarters and listed probable pupils as: Boyd. (2), McNab (4), Shaw (2), McClure (l), Robinson (3), Bunning (4), Gleeson (4), Devenny (3).

Comparing this with the list on the petition makes us wonder what happened to the McDonalds. Shaw and McNab were newcomers, and some of the others had apparently included children to young or too old on the petition.

Two months later McNab brought the Department a note from Mr. T,C. Mason, M,L.A. asking what progress was being made for a school at “Cherry Tree Hill” and Mr. Gibson of Dwyer- stead Estate, Buln Buln, urged speed.

The Department applied for the site recommended by Inspector Hepbum, south of Boyd’s (formerly T. Wilkinson’s) selection, but there was a delay until a surveyor could mark it out.

Notes on the file were:- Do you consider this school be one of the 10 which are now available? – J_P.H. No ~ There are more urgent cases. It might be

included in the next batch of portables. At all events it will be advisable to wait until after survey. – J.H. (7) Francis Robinson tried to hurry things on with a letter to Mr. Mason On 23 May l88l:~

Dear Sir,

Your letter to hand the site of our school his in about the senter of the nabours the inspector of School as been hear and says it his u very suitable Place hear his a liste of children.

Yours truely Francis Robinson

Francis Robinson (4), Donald McNub (5), Richard

Boyd (2), Edward Shaw (4), John McClure (1),

Robert Bunning (6), James McDonald (6), Alexander McDonald (8), John T oban (2), Patrick

Gleeson (6), Davbl Devany (5). Total 49.

Eight months later the Department Was notified that 5 acres had been reserved for school purposes.

Someone cautiously added a note:- ‘Before sending a building I think it would be advisable to obtain a report as to number of children at _present available and probably a.a.

Mr Hepburn could probably supply this information at once without visiting. ”

Mr. Hepburn must have been encouraging, or higher authority did not think it necessary to ask, because the next letter on the school’s file was from William McCullough & Co. Ltd., who had a contract to take the building to Labertouche:- “Your application no. 3412 and our tender for Labertouche School building £31/10/, Kindly say what decision has been arrived at in this matter as unless the material goes forward soon our contract must be cancelled our agent though whom it will be sent says the roads will be almost impassable should rain set in. ”

These were, unlike modem portables, a set of materials cut to size and sent to be put together on the chosen site. Labertouche school materials weighed 10 tons. Building materials cost £21/l/6 paint etc, £2/13/3;foin1s, desks and seats £4/17/6.

Hood and Kells, 55 Richmond Terrace, Richmond built the school for 5:35, completing the work early in July 1882. The building had one class- room, with two small rooms attached for the teacher.

Teachers were charged rent of £4 a year for the quarters, but few used them. They preferred to board with one of the farmers. Alice Devlin, the first teacher who opened the school on 12th

September 1882, was given permission to sublet the two rooms in 1883. Alice Devlin boarded with

McDonalds and it is amazing she could find enough room for a bed. Mr. J. McCarthy used them to store some spare timber which might be useful for repairs, then Sinclair Rogers built himself a two-roomed house in the school grounds, and the only teacher to occupy the quarters was James Fry and his wife, in 1905. Attendances apparently declined. J. Mc~

Carthy wrote in June 1889 that it was not likely to maintain an average attendance of 20. Another school about the same size was to be opened soon at Fraser’s Mill, four miles away, and he asked if the two were to be combined on a part-time basis.

This was news to the Department and it asked what new school he referred to as “Fraser’s Mill”. A note on his letter was:~ AA. March 21; April 2O;May 21. On roll 35.

When he left for Chepstowe the following year the new teacher, Emily Allen, was shocked at the state of the school, particularly the outhouses, as one had lost its door. McCarthy was asked to explain and he wrote back that the walls of the school had an old appearance because they had not been painted since it was built.

‘At my own expense I made sundry small repairs  more than was provided for by the maintenance – and I left everything in far better state than I received it twelve months previously. Church of England service was held in the school room once a month and if the place was as bad as represented someone af the congregation would have remarked so to me. Instead of that one of them said to me that it was never before kept in such good order”

A few months later Sinclair Rogers took charge and reported its dilapidated condition, Out- houses were decaying, one door off hinges and a pan door missing, floor rotting. School needs painting inside and out, porches need flooring, lower weatherboards decayed and it is impossible to clean spouting until a ladder is provided. “The school is surrounded by logs which l am trying to burn off with the help of the children, but I fear we shall not be able to clear them all,”

In February he suggested necessary repairs be made before winter. The building inspector agreed and Shillinglaw & Son, of Drouin did them at a cost of £17/18/. Another £4 was spent on clearing the grounds and the following year £9/4/8 on fencing. Rogers asked for more desks because of increasing attendance, Rogers settled in comfortably, built himself a two-roomed house, fenced a garden and part of the school ground for his horse. He also cleared the ground and sowed grass, but – naughty man – he had not asked permission.

He was in a panic in 1895. There were rumours he would be transferred, so he asked the

Department to reimburse his expenditure. The Department said “No.” because he had done all that for his own convenience and without permission. Also, he could not remove the house without permission.

Nothing happened, so on 13 February 1896 he asked the Board of Advice to cut scrub around the school. It was growing high and was dangerous because it had snakes. One had been killed near the school. Four months later the scrub had been cleared.

F IRES

Gippsland was becoming well settled, many selectors were burning off and as forests were removed the land was becoming so dry that bush fires were likely. They were particularly bad in

1898, and Labertouche did not escape.

28 February 1898

Sir,

I have the honor to inform you that a bush

fire swept through the School grounds on Friday,

25th last and burnt one of the outhouses (closets).

I may add that but for the efforts of Messrs

Alcorn and Middleton (2) this school would not now be standing.

I also have the honor to report that l had to close the school for the afternoon to get the children to assist in fighting the fire. As many trees have had to be felled to save the school and are now Lying in close proximity to same, I beg to apply for same to he cleared and burnt off or a future fire may do some damage

I have the honor to be

Your obedient servant,

Sinclair Rogers

The next year Rogers was given permission to remove his house before a new teacher took over. He took up farming on a grazing leasehold in the district and continued to be interested in

the school.

There were soon problems because of small attendances in district schools, and in 1903 Labertouche was combined with Jindivick North (also known as Maisey’s Mill). Mr, Fry taught at

Labertouche three days and Jindivick North two days a week.

Labertouche was not happy about this. A. McDonald, W. Bissett, S. Rogers, J. Kydd, Wm. Ferris, W. Proctor and W.H. Collins signed a letter asking that Labertouche school be again full-time. Someone in the Department wrote on the letter:-

Average Attendance Labertouche Jindivick Nth

Jan 12 1 1

Feb 18 ll

Mar 20 7

Apr 19 6

May 21 7

More letters passed back and forth. The Department was reluctant to close Jindivick North, but it was so far from other schools it could be combined only with Labertouche. It tried, by shifting the school three miles further from Labertouche, to pick up enough children to qualify for a full-time teacher. That attempt failed. It was closed 6 June 1905 and Labertouche became full-time again.

Then, in February 1906 4 Disaster.

State School No 2471

Labertouche

21/2/06

Sir,

I have the honor to report, I am sorry to say, that a fire occurred at the school yesterday and it was burned to the ground. I saved all the school furniture. rolls etc I don’t know how the fire originated, but the only way I can account for it is that there must have been a hole in the chimeney, which is an iron one, and that a spark must have flown out of it and dropped on the side as it caught fire up near the roof on the outside. I did all in my power to save the place, but finding that impossible I saved the furniture and also three windows.

I have the honor to be,

Sir,

Yours obedient servant,

John A. Hill

Apparently some of the children had lit a small fire in the teacher’s quarters, which explains why they had a fire in February. School had to go on. A building, 20 ft by 10 ft was leased from John Alcorn for £4 a year.

Sinclair Rogers wrote almost at once about a new building. ‘Yn the winter time several of the children will be unable to attend the present school as they have to travel across the bush and their route (for path they have none) will be too weft There was also a petition of the same date asking for a new school, but the Department note on it was:- ‘Arranged to carry on as part-tone school with Jindivick North as present attendance does not warrant the Department in consulering the ques- tion of providing a new State building at present”.

So Labertouche’s misfortune had been Jindivick North’s opportunity. Meanwhile the

Inspector of Works tried to find a buyer for material which could be salvaged. There was only an iron chimney and some twisted roofing iron, worth perhaps 62. A local resident offered 12/6 and the Department was told it was not likely to get a better offer because of the distance from

Drouin and state of the roads. It dithered and finally got nothing.

LET’S GET SOME ACTION

John Alcorn tried to get some action in May by saying the lease could be only until the end of

August. The Board of Advice asked the Department to help with a new building and Mr. Hill reported there was no other building available,

The same day a petition with 23 signatures was presented to the Department. Newcomers among the signatures were:~ E. Mack, Eliza Peters, V. Sleep, E. English and John Bodey.

On its way through the Department the petition collected a note:-

Jindivick North 15-22 A.A. Labertouche 14

It seems Sinclair Rogers knew the people and district well when we wrote about Alcorn’s building, but how did they manage to get 23 signatures when only 14 attended the school?

Perhaps they had “rung in” every possible signature, even of people with no children at school.

The Board of Advice, rather surprisingly, came in strongly. These Boards were usually in effectual. They were elected locally to supervise schools of their district in an honorary capacity. As the Education Department’s inspectors regularly reported on teachers, conditions and…

Pages 17 to 21 of LABERTOUCHE NOW AND THEN

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Historical Building Events (1983 – Present)

• 1983 Pine trees removed from the front of the school.
• 1984 Third classroom arrived (Artroom) at the Nth East of Main building.
• 1994 Library Built
• 1995 Senior Classroom added to the west of main building. Along side new Library.
• 2001-2007 Air-conditioners added to all rooms.
• 2003 New Office added and indoor toilet (Disabled/Staff/First Aid)
• 2005 New Toilet Block built.
• 2006 Adventure Playground built.
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009 Snake-head trail and dry river bed, created as part of bushfire recovery.
• 2010 Main building rebuilt, renovated and extended as part of the Building the Educational Revolution ($250,000)
• 2010 Pizza oven built with funds for DEECD.
• 2010 Art room demolished and newer Mod5 lifted into place.
• 2011  Mod5 building refurbished with administration and student kitchen, as well as covered walkway, decking, pathways and a tank.