Copy of Self Portrait by John Aston courtesy of the family.

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

THIS school is located on the Great Western Highway at Mt Druitt beginning in 1861 in Simpson Hill Road. In 1864 the school was transferred to another building and in 1883 the location of the school was moved to its present site. In 1900 the school received a new Principal named John Aston (Jnr). John was born at Bilston, Staffordshire in England in 1862. He married Jane Elizabeth Gutteridge in 1884 in Yorkshire and together with Ann Aston John’s mother they came to Australia on the “Abergeldie” arriving in Sydney where he entered the Department of Education and started to teach at Cobbora and a few years later at Coolah. Next posting was Ourimbah and his last was as Principal of Colyton Public School. In April 1894 Mr S. E. Lees officially opened a library in connection with the Colyton Public School. Those present included eighty or ninety scholars, Reverend A. C. Corlette, John King Lethbridge and a number of parents and friends of the scholars. Short addresses were given by Mr Lees, Reverend Corlette and Mr Lethbridge, each referring to the benefits to be derived from reading good and useful books and congratulating the scholars and Mr Miller the teacher for possessing such a splendid collection. Colyton being the first public school to establish a library in the Nepean District. There were some forty or fifty good useful books with the promise of Mr Miller for many more. In 1907 at the Rooty Hill School of Arts, John was presented with a handsome silver inkstand and pen and a razor strop by the residents of the district with the presentation made by James Angus. John was a talented painter who painted a portrait of a resident Mr L H Witts that he entered in the Archibald prize in 1938 but was unsuccessful, the winner being Nora Heysen the daughter of Sir Hans and Lady Selma Heysen.  She was the  youngest person to be awarded the Archibald Prize. John was also an inventor and built the first X-ray machine in the district that Dr Day used in his surgery on the highway in St Marys. He also developed his own photos in his dark room and had a “magic lantern” that entertained the local children with his glass slides.  He dabbled with innovations using electricity and he made a machine to test local children’s reactions. In July 1908 Diphtheria reared its ugly head and a meeting of the Blacktown Shire Council saw several cases of diphtheria among the children attending the school and considered a recommendation that the school to be thoroughly disinfected and whitewashed. Also, in December that year, Collet Baker the son of Thomas Baker of Wentworthville met with a serious accident on the Western Road near the school when he was found lying unconscious by Miss Aston, daughter of John and taken to the Aston family home where everything possible was done for him.  The doctor sent for and because of the serious nature of his condition, the doctor paid two home visits during the early hours of the morning. Messrs H Aston and W Page rode on their bicycles to Wentworthville to inform his parents of the accident. They were also informed his father was only three miles from St Marys with some cattle and this is where his son was riding to at the time he met with his accident. John and Mac Learmonth drove to find his father who was staying for the night with his brother, and while he was proceeding towards Colyton, Thomas Baker’s horse fell but he escaped with only slight injuries. Mrs and Miss Aston and Mac Learmonth remained with Collet through the night where he recovered consciousness during the following day and was deemed fit to travel so he was moved to his parents’ residence where their Dr Bowman was waiting for him. It was said that he was progressing “very favourably”. In May 1909 a well-attended meeting of residents was held at the school for the purpose of forming a Committee to carry out celebrations in connection with Empire Day. Mr George Innes presided, and among those present were Mesdames Fuller and Davis, Misses Emmert, Page, Frost, Innes, Messrs T Dixon (secretary), John Aston, J Lix, J E Dodds, C Davison, J J Methven, J Dunne, H Talbot, W Adamson, R Methven and W Evans. It being resolved that these members should form the Committee. On the day patriotic songs were sung and exhibitions of physical exercises under the direction of Headmaster John. Patriotic addresses were delivered by several speakers. At eleven o’clock the children were marched to the flagpole where the union jack was hoisted and everyone singing “God Save the King” then the children marched to the picnic grounds for refreshments after which sporting games continued. In May 1913 the Centenary Celebrations for the crossing of the Blue Mountains proposed a chain of bonfires linked from the Canoblas at Orange to Prospect Hill and the proposal was being considered favourably by the head teachers and pupils of schools and had been asked to co-operate, and in reply to the first batch of requests were Mount Druitt and Colyton public schools who would be about the last link in the chain having signified their intention to set their end of the chain going. John retired from the school in 1925 and it was common in those days that an “illuminated address” was presented at the retirement of prominent people. In John’s case a group of  citizens from  the district arranged the address, together with a wallet of bank notes. This address is currently held by his grand-daughter Mrs Betty Trist. The signatories on the address  are – John Angus, W H Cruse, T Dixon, James Dunne, E Fuller, V Wainwright, G. Turner, J. Methven, R Methven, K Smith, J Smith and W Wallace. John attended St Mary Magdalene church and used shorthand to record the sermons so that he could study them at his leisure. John moved from the school residence on the Highway at Colyton with his wife Jane and their three children Harold, Nance and Nell to “Kimberworth” in Melbourne Street, Colyton/St Marys. The two-story home on Ropes Creek had a studio for his painting and photography interests where he painted the portraits of many local citizens for their family records. He died in St Marys in 1953 aged 91 years.

I wish to thank David and Betty Trist (Nee Cobcroft) for their generous loan of the family history from where most of this history page information comes from. Copy of Self Portrait by John Aston courtesy of the family.

Sources: Blacktown Memories website, Sydney Morning Herald, Evening News, Nepean Times, Lithgow Mercury.