Since 1870s and 1880s schooling has been compulsory for primary school aged children and the classroom setup in The Land of the Beardies Museum depicts the slate boards and pencils, blackboard, ink pots, and school desks of yore.
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Now with modern classrooms there are no longer tales of dead flies being mixed with the ink or plaits being dipped into inkwells.
![School 100 years ago. The Stonehenge class of 1924 are Back L-R: Cliff Smith, Alan Every, Jim Thompson, Arthur Goodwin, Percy Howarth (Teacher), Buster Smith, Mick Egan, Harry Sharman, Neville Madgwick, Rodney Fakes. Middle L-R: Jane Goodwin, Carmen McAlister, Phyllis McDonald, Topsy Egan, Cynthia Fakes, Verlie McAlister, Zelna Fakes, Cissy Croft, Sybil Madgwick. Front L-R: Bill Freeman, Gordon Smith, Lionel Ruming, Vene Smith, Joan Howarth, Geoffrey Howarth, Clive Egan, Ray Smith, Ron Smith, Lyall Howarth and Jock Smith. School 100 years ago. The Stonehenge class of 1924 are Back L-R: Cliff Smith, Alan Every, Jim Thompson, Arthur Goodwin, Percy Howarth (Teacher), Buster Smith, Mick Egan, Harry Sharman, Neville Madgwick, Rodney Fakes. Middle L-R: Jane Goodwin, Carmen McAlister, Phyllis McDonald, Topsy Egan, Cynthia Fakes, Verlie McAlister, Zelna Fakes, Cissy Croft, Sybil Madgwick. Front L-R: Bill Freeman, Gordon Smith, Lionel Ruming, Vene Smith, Joan Howarth, Geoffrey Howarth, Clive Egan, Ray Smith, Ron Smith, Lyall Howarth and Jock Smith.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Xn3KP2xbyFBWgTmsCMnW6P/3a815374-86c5-4b2e-acf8-bb3439417ee2.jpg/r0_78_1068_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
One of our early country schools was that at Stonehenge - sadly a building no longer marks the spot as the school was demolished when i would have impeded the progress of the New England Highway realignment in 1982.
Our roads of course started life tracks amongst the trees where horses once picked a pathway and as the type of horsepower changed in the type of conveyances using them, straighter roads were needed.
There had originally been agitation in 1876 when a meeting convened at Mr Hugh Hutchison's farm on the Stonehenge Road about eight miles south of the town of Glen Innes resulted in a petition from the parents of the thirty-three children living on that road, for a Provisional School.
Those signing the document were required to include their religion.
Alex Hutchison (Presbyterian), William Gould (Presbyterian), John B Smith (Church of England), HH Hutchison (Presbyterian), A McAlister (Presbyterian), Robert Brew (Presbyterian), John Pomroy (Church of England) Andrew McAlpin (Presbyterian), Alfred Watts, Church of England, Mrs McPherson (Presbyterian), John Winter (Presbyterian) and Alexander Wetherspoon, (Presbyterian).
Many descendants are still here.
The Government of the time wanted the benefits of education to stretch to the remotest and most sparsely settled districts of the state.
Geoffrey Burkhardt in his 2004 Researching Australian School Records says... 'Provisional Schools were established in some systems. These were small rural and remote schools in which there may not have been more than a dozen children and developed into larger Public Schools when attendance exceeded the minimum which varied between - 12 and 24 students.
When there were not enough children to form a Provisional School, the government established what were called half time schools, the teacher visiting them on alternate days.
In some very sparsely settled districts an itinerant teacher went from house to house within a specific radius. They were called 'Travelling Schools', the teachers travelling by horse drawn wagon.
My thanks to Graham Wilson OAM who thoroughly researched former schools of the Severn Shire.