Photo Courtesy of Christmas Warehouse Penrith

By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc.

AS early as 1892 the Penrith Superior Public School was being written about in the Nepean Times with a cadet parade under the charge of Lieutenant Milne, headed by the Cadet Drum and Fife Band under the conductorship of bandmaster George White, when they visited Parramatta along with five other schools for a parade through some of the principal streets to the “merry strains of the band from the Penrith school” who were the only school represented by a band. In 1893 a daughter of the Headmaster Mr J H Smith came down with Diphtheria, the epidemic was raging in the town and it was touch and go before she was out of danger. In 1916 Millie Wynne (Ausburn) a former student of the school passed away at the age of 23 from a severe illness and was buried at Kingswood General Cemetery. Also, in 1916 the school commemorated the anniversary of the death of  Private Fred Messer a former student of the school who was killed at Gallipoli in May1915 “while nobly fighting for his King and country”. Memorial bouquets were taken by the children of the school to his bereaved parents. One hundred years ago this month on the 23rd of December 1921, the students of the school were looking forward to six weeks holidays. On the morning of the breakup a Christmas tree was erected for the benefit of the children, including those who were enrolled at the school, plus a number who had not yet enrolled, also the adults who were privileged to attend to take part in the joyous Christmas ceremony. Santa Claus arrived in a motor car and distributed prizes to all the children present. The Ladies Committee of the Parents and Citizens Association assisted in the distribution. Needless to say, the hearts of the youngsters were much gladdened by this treat. In the afternoon the other children of the school held their breakup in the large classroom on the ground floor and members of the P & C Association and other townspeople attended and were treated to a very pleasant entertainment with programs of songs, renditions, and pianofortes rendered by Master Russell Upton, Miss M Barlow, Miss M Pickles, Miss M Fitch, Miss T Matthews, Miss G Uren and Miss Gladys Upton. The chairman of the P & C Association spoke in appreciation of the great work the teachers at the school had done in educating the children, who all liked their teachers and felt they were doing their best for the welfare of each child. Master Ray Tingcombe on behalf of the scholars said that they should do their share by taking an interest in their work and should not be contented until they had placed Penrith school on such a high educational plain that it would be the envy of every other school. He said, “Let our slogan for the new year be work” and added that they had derived much pleasure from their spoils,  although they had been beaten rather badly at cricket by Sydney teams on several occasions. Still, they hoped to do better. It was the thanks of the boys especially due to Mr Potts and Mr Marks and of the girls to Miss Campbell for the interest they had shown in the scholar’s sports. Master Ray went on saying that he hoped they would start the new year with an enrolment of at least 100 pupils for the Commercial and Domestic Science school and he wished to thank the Parents and Citizens Association, especially Mr Cameron the Secretary for the good work they were doing for the school.  Dr Higgins, in a happy speech, put the children and parents in a merry mood and it was a hard thing he said to know what to talk about to a lot of “nippers” whom one loved when the first thing that entered the children’s minds at this time of the year was “Santa Claus” who came to the school that morning. At the mention of that name the children were cheerful and laughing heartily.  Mr H J F Neale in the course of his remarks expressed appreciation of the nice little speech given by Master Tingcombe on behalf of the pupils, saying when he went to school in Penrith, the school was not even as good as the old building in Henry Street. It was an old weatherboard building, enough to roast you. He had  left school young and had lived in Penrith all his life. He liked the place and did not think they could look for a nicer place because it was adjacent to the mountains and had a beautiful river that was sadly neglected. He congratulated the scholars in having such a teacher as Mr Peek who had made progress since he came to Penrith. He was confident that now that Mr Peek had to stay in Penrith they were going to have more progress. The chairman then presented a gold medal each to Rita Brell and Marie Cooper who had tied in the vote for the most popular girl in the school, and to Leo Morris the most popular boy. Bessie Richardson was awarded a book for the most progress made by any child in the school. Reverend Hatfield Hall speaking about the vacation said to the children, ‘’It is a long holiday, isn’t it?” But the youngsters yelled out “No.” He said that on behalf of himself and his wife, he wished them all an enjoyable holiday, and hoped  that in the new year the younger ones would get through their Q.C. with flying colours. It seems that the reason Mr Neale was talking about the state of the Nepean River came up in the new year of 1922 in the title of the Nepean Times “Penrith’s Neglected Asset – Re-discovering a Beauty Spot – The Mayor’s Commendable Action”.  Alderman J Adams (Mayor) said that among the new year’s resolutions, one was to spare no effort to make the Nepean River popular with the locals and outside tourists visiting Penrith and to revitalise the long neglected road and reserve at the river adjoining “Ravenspur” and he hoped that his action would be followed by a general awakening to a too long neglected opportunity for popularising that part of the river that is within the vicinity of the town of Penrith.

Source: Nepean Times.  (ED: I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of our members to thank you for visiting our Website and Facebook page and to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. We will be closed from Wednesday 15th December and re-open on the first Wednesday in February 2022)