The school grounds at the old Bodalla Public School was filled with students once again on Friday as the new school celebrated the old school’s 150th anniversary.
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There were also lots of old memories shared as former students and even a former principal joined the students for the celebration, which continues on Friday evening with a dinner dance at the new school featuring the Nashberries band.
Bodalla Public School moved to its new location on Potato Point Road in 1999, and the old school building on Eurobodalla Road has now been taken over by the Narooma Woodies woodworking group.
The celebration saw former former Bodalla Public School principal Max Wallace and current principal Lynne Takacs cutting a birthday cake, after which the current school children played old-style ball games on the school sporting ground.
Mr Wallace and his wife Liz moved to Bodalla in 1984 when he was appointed the principal teacher and she was the school administration officer. They have lots of fond memories from the old school.
The Wallaces oversaw the moving of the school to the new location in 1999 and did all the moving in the school holidays so it was ready to go at the start of the new school year.
They still live in Bodalla today just down the road where they purchased Thomas Sutcliffe Mort’s old cheese factory making it into their current home.
Also there for the celebration were former students such as brother and sister Peter Amato and Roma Jenkins, whose father moved to Moruya to help cut stone for the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction.
In 1933, the family moved their home building from the stone quarry to Bodalla and the children when old enough enrolled in the school. Their mother Mary Magill also attended the school.
Mrs Jenkins started at the school in 1938 and her brother Mr Amato a few years later. They both have fond memories but not so much of the “punishment book.”
“I was in there for telling lies and throwing stones at my sister, which was three cuts with the cane,” she said, while her brother was in the book for “breaking pen nibs and smoking”.
“There were about 50 children at the school and about 60 per cent of them smelled of cow manure coming from the many share farms in the area,” he said.
Now residents of Canberra, they also attended the “wake” of the old school building when the school moved in 1999 and the old punishment books were still around then, but they are not sure where they are now.
Also present at Friday’s celebration was Narooma resident John Burbidge, who attended the old school from 1937 to 1944, when he was forced to leave to attend high school at Bega, back then the only high school south of Nowra.
He too had fond memories of the old Bodalla school, and also the school grounds and walking track from town to the school where he and his fellow students were often distracted.
“They were good years, wonderful years,” Mr Burbidge said. “It was wartime so there were no toys or sporting equipment but we made our own fun with our own games.”
Another Narooma resident and now also a member of the Woodies woodworking group at the school is Colin Boxsell. Friday’s 150th celebration was a chance to swap stories and remember who the school was back then and how it had changed.
Eurobodalla councillor Rob Pollock was present and explained his daughters attended the school after they moved to the Bodalla area in 1983, about the same time as Mr Wallace started as principal.
“When I saw the school, I knew my kids had to go there and they ended up getting the best primary schooling you could ever ask for,” Mr Pollock said, also singing the praises of Mr Wallace and his staff.