Bermagui Public School pupils with the mural they painted this year. Photos: Supplied.
Bermagui Public School pupils’ creative talent will be on show amid smiles and laughter as memories flood back when the school celebrates 150 years.
Some families have attended the school for four generations or more, their names synonymous with Bermagui’s history of fishing, timber and wattle-bark trade.
The celebrations start at 5 pm on Friday 11 September, with the school’s Kaleidoscope art show and pupils dancing, supported by Bega Valley dance organisation Fling.
Saturday’s main event features a historical museum, speeches, screening of films the school made years earlier, games, stalls with craft, food and memorabilia, a barbecue and live music.
In early 1876 the area’s only public school was in Cobargo. That year the communities of Bermagui-Wallaga Lake and Tilba Tilba jointly applied for a half-time school. Bermagui had eight families with 23 children who would attend the school, while Tilba Tilba’s six families could guarantee 15 children.
Michael Doyle, the schools’ first teacher, was appointed in October 1876. He faced a 20-mile ride between the two schools or a dangerous crossing of Wallaga Lake that was only possible at low tide in specific weather conditions.
Fortunately, the Coolagolite community also successfully applied for a half-time school. Mr Doyle ‘s journey became much easier from July 1877.
By 1879 Bermagui’s pupils had dropped from 19 to 11. The gold rush at nearby Montreal Goldfield saw Bermagui school close between January and August 1882. Things picked up from there. Bermagui became a provisional school in April 1883 and a public school six months later.
Today the school has 155 students and continues to thrive.
Bermagui Public School pupils make mosaic art.
For the two-day celebrations the school will be decorated with the children’s art. The hall will have an art exhibition themed around the school’s big tree with contributions from the broader community.
Previous staff members are assembling collections of photos and other memorabilia for an “historical museum” in the old hall. The celebrations will end with a historical quiz, with all the answers somewhere in the museum.
The memorabilia stall will sell tea towels, mugs, bookmarks, postcards, history books, and totes and T-shirts with designs the schoolchildren have made.
Activities for children include a colouring competition based on drawings done by a former pupil, quoits, tug-of-war, pony rides and an old-fashioned dunking machine. Current principal Henry George will be first to be dunked.
Food stalls include Bermagui Gelati Clinic, Eastwoods , Valiant Coffee, Nutty’s Pizza and Nancy’s Deli, plus a cake stall, while Bermagui Men’s Shed will run the barbecue.
Several former gifted pupils will perform live music, adding to the picnic atmosphere.
Bermagui Public School children enjoy activities at a day based around learning Dhurga in 2021.
One of the school’s longstanding teachers is Jillian Taylor. She taught the Kindergarten class for 21 years until retiring in 2007.
Her 40-year career started at Yanco Public School in the Riverina in 1967.
“The principal was very firm on what women were allowed to wear,” Mrs Taylor said. “Trousers were completely out and it was freezing there. We had to light the wood-burning stoves every morning.”
As far as teaching posts were concerned, married females were given preference over single females. Female teachers did not receive equal pay with male teachers until 1969.
There were big playgrounds, mostly asphalt, and no protective surfaces under the climbing frames. Hats were not compulsory and sunscreen was unknown.
Teaching methods have changed from a lot of rote learning when Mrs Taylor started work, to approaches such as whole language learning that did not explicitly teach grammar and punctuation.
Before photocopiers arrived, teachers sent notes to parents through “jelly pads”, also known as gelatine hectographs, the fordigraph which involved turning a handle, and the Gestetner with gunky black ink.
Gay Days was a vintage Year 1 reading book about a family visiting a zoo. Years later Mrs Taylor lent the book to a very advanced Kindergarten pupil.
“The parents were up at the principal’s office the next day saying how dare I send their daughter home with that book,” she said. “I didn’t even think about it.”
When Billy Connolly visited Bermagui in 2001 to film The Man Who Sued God, one scene needed a lot of children. Bermagui School pupils joined him on the set.
“When Billy Connolly was on the radio, he said I don’t know what is in the water, but they are the best kids I have met,” Mrs Taylor said.
School administrative manager Roslyn Jubb said Saturday would be a fun day, with everyone invited from 10 am to 2 pm.
