The restored 152-year-old Young Public School bell, cast by PN Russell & Co in Sydney in 1874. Photo: Jane Caldow.
There was an audible “whoa” from one student when a 152-year-old brass school bell was unveiled at Young Public School (YPS) this week.
Its return after six months of painstaking restoration was celebrated at a Monday assembly of students, parents and staff marking the start of Education Week.
Few were more pleased to see the bell returned than the school’s office manager Jane Caldow, who had spent years trying to ensure one of the school’s oldest surviving features was preserved.
For more than a century, the bell had marked the school day while tracing the school’s own journey, surviving each move and becoming a tangible link between its beginnings and the generations that followed.
Each time Mrs Caldow walked past it, she would remind herself that something needed to be done.
That concern sharpened several years ago when her daughter Lucy, a former Australian Army aircraft technician and former pupil, pointed out the bell’s deteriorating condition while walking through the school grounds.
“Lucy could see that the weather would eventually destroy it,” Mrs Caldow said. “It had been painted several times with lead paint and that was not a good thing.
“I thank her for explaining what happens to metal.”
From there, preserving the bell became something of a mission for Mrs Caldow as she searched for someone to restore it properly.
Mrs Caldow eventually found the right person for the job close to home – former YPS student Josh Rendell, of family-run Integrity Metal Solutions.
But returning the bell to anything like its original condition was no simple job.
Mr Rendell spent weeks removing five layers of paint, including coats of red and the school’s trademark green, to reveal the original brass beneath.
Only when the layers came away did it become clear how timely the intervention had been, with the metal already pitted and cracked.
He then turned his attention to how the bell should be rung.
Josh said he wanted it to work as it would have originally, with a swinging clapper rather than being struck by hand from inside.
To achieve that, Mr Rendell designed and built an entirely new hanging system.
The restored bell now stands prominently in the quadrangle at the centre of the school, between its ceremonial flagpoles.
Its story stretches back to 1874, when it was presented to Young’s first government school, the Young National School, by Mrs Thomas Watson as a parting gift from the family as they prepared to leave Young.
Young Public School office manager Jane Caldow (right) with former student Josh Rendell, who carried out the bell’s restoration. Photo: Jane Caldow.
The timing was fitting.
The school opened in 1861, when the fledgling goldfields settlement was still known as Lambing Flat.
By 1874, its original timber building had been replaced by a new brick school, with the Watson bell arriving just as the school entered a new chapter of its own.
It then moved with the school to Campbell Street, where a new Young Public School – with an imposing 28-foot bell tower – opened in August 1884.
Generations of former students still remember the privilege of ringing the bell – and, in some cases, being lifted off their feet by the rope.
The school and its bell moved for the final time in 1976, when Young Public School relocated to its present Bruce Street site.
It also has an important connection to Australia’s industrial history, having been cast in 1874 by PN Russell & Co in Sydney, one of the country’s largest engineering works and a manufacturer of railway rolling stock, bridges, mining equipment, engines and architectural ironwork.
The 152-year-old piece remains a rare surviving relic from the company’s final year of full production before the Darling Harbour works closed in June 1875, following years of industrial unrest and growing competition.
Its maker was significant, but so too was the family behind the gift.
By 1874, the Watson family was already well established locally.
Thomas Watson was one of four brothers from Northern Ireland who had come to Lambing Flat during the gold rush and become prominent figures in the town’s early development.
George, William John, James and Thomas Watson established Watson Bros, which grew to include a large general store and flour mill.
James later served as Colonial Treasurer of NSW, while both he and William represented Young in the NSW Legislative Assembly.
Thomas left Young with his immediate family in 1874 as he prepared to enter the ministry, while other members of the family remained in the district.
Their connection with the school also continued, with Watson descendants among its pupils for generations.
Edwina and James Watson, both former students, took part in this week’s unveiling, and James’s children also attended the school.
At the ceremony this week, Edwina thanked Mrs Caldow and Mr Rendell for their care and persistence in preserving the bell and returning it to the school.
“What began as a parting gift from our family more than 150 years ago was intended to call generations of Young children to learn and grow,” she said.
“After all those years and all those moves, it is wonderful to see it still holding its place at the heart of the school.”
And if the reaction at its unveiling was any indication, a new generation is already discovering why it matters.
Disclosure: Edwina Mason and Edwina Watson are one and the same – the author is a descendant of the Watson family who presented the bell to the Young National School in 1874.
