| Historical notes: | Built 1875
The building was entered in the Register of the National Estate. Since the masonry walls were commenced some time before August in 1873 and until Dec 1945, when the old school was closed -72 years later- there were many additions and alterations made to the building. Its subsequent history of community use and service as a residence for 2 families between c1947 and c1961 followed by years of neglect changed, when in 1973 the (then) Imlay and District Historical Society was granted rights of occupancy to use the building as a Museum. The Society carried out major conservation work on the building between 1973 and 1975 and again, as The Merimbula, Imlay Historical Society Inc. in 1995/1999.
EVOLUTION OF THE OLD SCHOOL BUILDING.
1873 to1875 The original building consisted of the schoolroom, two front rooms and front veranda only. A masonry wall originally divided the schoolroom into two rooms. There were no kitchen, bathroom or laundry facilities. Cooking was done in the fireplace using the iron kettles, pots and skillets (displayed in the museum) hanging on chains from bars across the inside of the chimney. Initially, there were no tanks and the teacher and his wife had to depend on neighbours for water. The only toilet was the pit toilet provided for the school, a long walk to the north end of the property. Probably baths were taken in a hipbath in front of the fire. These conditions sound primitive to us but at that time the teacher's accommodation was the best in town apart from Armstrong Munn's residence "Courunga".
1875 to 1879 The first permanent teacher in the new building, John Morrison, along with his wife, lived there from Aug 1875 to Oct 1879 without recording serious complaints about the building. This is hard to understand as later teachers complained continually about lack of ventilation, musty air, condensation on walls, mould on books and clothing, constant sore throats and colds and extreme cold in winter. The same complaints applied to the schoolroom. It took 50 years for the Council for Education to respond to these complaints by installing proper ventilation.
1877 Spouting was added to collect rainwater and two tanks were installed. In 1879 two further tankers were installed. Water for the school was a continuing saga. Salt air caused early corrosion of the tanks and it was always a major operation for the teacher to move the Council for Education into action (nothing changes!). A further problem was theft of school water by residents who were either unable or failed to provide for their own water supply. The school always had water and it was easy to access at night.
1875 to 1893 Sometime in this period, two back rooms of masonry construction were added to the building, possibly c.1890, for Henry Eggins, the second married teacher to live in the schoolhouse. By this time, the enrolments had increased to 40-50 scholars, too many for a single teacher to handle. Married teachers would no longer accept the inadequate living facilities.
1891 The veranda was added along the west wall of the schoolroom and extended along the north wall and enclosed on the north side and east end to provide cloakroom facilities and protection in extreme weather.
1892 The original shingle roof was overlaid with corrugated galvanized iron sheeting.
1893 A weatherboard kitchen was built at the rear (north side) separated from the building and accessed from the present back door.
1896 Two old tanks were removed and a 400-gallon tank installed.
1898 The room with the gable on the east end of the building was added as an extra bedroom, later used as a sitting room and now the office.
1903 The shingles and previous galv iron roof removed and a new galv iron roof installed.
1905 New 600-gallon tank installed.
1912 New concrete steps added to the schoolroom in two places. Bathroom and laundry added to the external kitchen. General maintenance and painting of the whole building. A separate girls toilet was built at the northwest corner of the grounds. Previously the girls and boys toilet was one building divided in the centre . It was situated towards the east end of the north boundary.
1918 Veranda added to the east side of the room built in 1898.
1919 Under floor ventilation added and complete maintenance of building.
1924 A covered way was constructed from the back door of the 1925 residence to the kitchen, bathroom and laundry block. The original raised gallery floor on the east side of the schoolroom (shown on plan of school in museum) was removed. There is no record of why this was done.
C1931 A masonry partition, which had initially been built across the schoolroom to isolate the youngest children, was removed, probably to make the space more flexible for the increased number of enrolled students and to improve the teacher's view of the class. The repairs to the floor show where the partition was removed. Better ventilation was provided in both the schoolroom and the residence. An area along the outside of the north veranda was roofed. Maintenance of all the masonry walls: on this and several other occasions. This tended to be done by inexpert tradesmen who left the walls with an unsightly mixture of mortar styles and colours. AII this was corrected during the 1995/99 conservation program.
1933 To accommodate growing numbers of scholars, a schoolroom from the closed Yarramie school was moved to Merimbula and erected on the north side of the schoolroom. It was connected to the main building by the roofed area built in 1931, forming a covered causeway between the buildings.
1940 The two back rooms were condemned and the teachers lived away from the school. The front veranda was glassed in and from then on the whole usable area was available for educational purposes.
1941 A letter dated 15th July 1999 from Joan Mc Donell (nee Kent) a teacher who commenced in 1941 reports that she taught a class in the east end room (now the office). There were six rows of two desks, one against each wall with a narrow aisle between. Blackboard to the left of the fireplace and teacher’s table to the right. Because the aisle was so narrow, children lined up in the aisle to have their work marked, going out through the side door to the east veranda and returning through the closed-in front veranda which was also used as the kindergarten area. The front veranda windows were decorated with the student’s artwork. The "Munn" room had one of the walls surfaced with blackboard paint for the children to write and draw on. Sewing and needlework was probably taught in the entrance room.
1941 to 1946 The temporary building used since 1933 was removed as the residential rooms became available for classes. Sometime during this period, as there were no resident teachers, the external kitchen, laundry and bathroom block was removed,.
1945 This is the last year the old school was used for educational purposes. The new school, further east along Munn St., was ready for classes from the beginning of 1946.
So we come to the end of an era of education in Merimbula; after 70 years of constant use the old building became inadequate but it still had a contribution to make to the community.
1946 to 1973 During this period a range of different community organizations hired the schoolroom separately. From c1947 to c1961 the residence was home to two families - JD Cousemacker-c1947 to c1955 and EG Hyland-c1957-c1961. During this period improvements were made to make the two back rooms habitable and a pan toilet was installed adjacent the north east corner of the building. The "mining" room became the bathroom and the other back room the kitchen. The east end room became the living room, the 2 front rooms, dining and bedroom. The closed front veranda was used as a bedroom by the first resident and an office by the last
1961 to 1973 Since there had been little or no maintenance on the building, it had fell into serious disrepair, helped by vandalism and over growth by creepers. The building was full of rubbish and the scouts used some of the rooms for storage of equipment.
1973 The Imlay Historical Society, formed in 1967 was granted permissive occupancy of the building by the Imlay Shire Council for use as a Museum. |