01/09/2024
Some wonderful history here in our little town
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Snippets from our Bulletins
THE CLOSING OF A PAGE OF HISTORY
GORMANDALE SCHOOL 2482 - John Power, March 1996
On Saturday, 4th November, 1995, I attended my old school for what was probably the last reunion to be held in the building. I had attended previous reunions in 1950, 1962 and 1982 but this one was different because it was to mark the end of a school that had been in existence for 113 years. During that time, perhaps more than 1,000 children have passed through its doors. It is hard to be certain because the rolls for the period prior to 1915 are missing.
The original school was situated in a private house on a property owned by one of the early settlers, Mr. Phillip Gorman. There were problems in obtaining a teacher and the one appointed, Mr. Edwin Cox, stayed only a few months. The school opened in July 1882 and closed at the end of the year. It was to be another 2 years before the school re-opened.
This time, the children had their own building, made of bark and saplings and situated on a block of land that had been reserved some years before. Today, more than a century later, the present school which was the third to be built, still stands on that same block.
My aunt and uncle were among the first students at the original school and my father also attended it. The little building was erected by Mr. James Pearce, the selector of the property now owned by the Ripper family. Mr. and Mrs. Pearce, who had come from the Denison area, had a family of 18 children. Mrs. Pearce's sister, Mrs. Morley whose husband, Jesse, had selected a block further up Merriman's Creek, also had 18 children. With several other large families also living close by, the need for the school can easily be seen. Also coming from the Denison area to make his home at Gorman's Crossing (as it was then known) was the new teacher, Mr. John Davis Gilsenan. Mr. Gilsenan was to hold the position of teacher for the next 20 years. By the time he retired, many of his former pupils had children attending the school.
On Saturday, we re-lived all those days and the many that came after, as the great collection of photographs and memorabilia prepared by the teachers and school council was eagerly perused.
Those present represented several generations of students and people associated with the school. The oldest in attendance was 90-year-old, Ted Rouse, who now resides in Maffra. Many others from the rolls of the 1920s, 30s and 40s were present and it was great to meet with former school mates and acquaintances. Some of the teachers who returned were Mrs. Nancy Poulson (nee Arthur) who taught at the school in 1945-46 (she was my teacher) Alan Wilson, well known to our Society, Alan Young and Barry Switzer. There may have been others also.
Among those present were many representatives of the early Gormandale families. These included descendants of the Dove, Graham, Huffer, Milne, Missen, Morley, Pearce, Piera, Power, Thomas and Vivian families. From those who came later, the Faulkner, Giblett, Lane, Rouse, Scott, Onley and Wykes all had representatives present. All of these, together with the many who have come to make their homes in Gormandale over the last 50 or so years mingled happily throughout the afternoon and again later at the Football Club where many of the residents who attended the Gormandale East school joined in to further enhance the tradition of community spirit that has been a mark of the district ever since those first settlers crossed the creek almost 120 years ago. Now Gormandale looks to the next century. With one school and all of the town within the one Shire, its future looks more promising than it has been for many years.
