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The building Governor of New South Wales, Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, considered that visits by the Lieutenant-Governor and himself were ‘essentially necessary for the improvement of the country in general and the encouragement of the Settlers in their Agricultural pursuits in particular’. He had stepped ashore in the colony on 31 December, 1809, but it was some time before he was able to follow up this pronouncement and set out on his tour of the interior. During his first months he had been engaged in straightening out the effects of the Bligh rebellion, and formulating a programme of administrat ion that the Colonial Office in England did not always appreciate.
One of Macquarie’s concerns in visiting the Hawkesbury and Nepean settlements was to mark out towns on high ground whereby the settlers would have a refuge from the devastating floods that swept the valley, causing disastrous loss of life, of livestock and also of the grain crops.
Each settler was to be given a site for a dwelling house, which was to be built of brick or weatherboard, with brick chimneys and shingled roof. There was to be sufficient land for offices, garden cornyard and stockyard, the area to be in proportion to the size of the farm held within the influence of the floods. These town allotments could not be sold or alienated but must always be considered as forming an inseparable part of the said farm. In 1817, Macquarie, writing to Lord Bathurst, complained that the settlers had not, nor did they wish to avail themselves of these town allotments.
The Governor also sought to establish regular religious worship and the means of education in these districts. With this in view a tract of land was to be set aside in each township for a building that could serve as church and school until such time as a separate church be erected.
Governor King, during his term of office (1800-1806), had built a church and schoolhouse at the Hawkesbury. The building, 100ft long by 24ft wide, had been intended for a male orphan school; instead it became a school for the children of the district. Missionary John Harris, one of those who had left Tahiti, was the schoolmaster until 1808 when he resigned.
It was on 6 December, 1810, having crossed the Hawkesbury at Green Hills (Windsor) and proceeding past the farms on its northern banks that Governor Macquarie decided on the situation for a township in the district of Philip, which at dinner that day was named Wilberforce. At the same time the Governor toasted the newly-named Windsor, Richmond, Castlereagh and Pitt Town.
William Wilberforce whom Macquarie Sought to honour, was an English politician and philanthropist and a leader in the anti slavery movement. He was responsible for seeing that a clergyman accompanied the First Fleet.
On 11 January, 1811, having again proceeded to the Hawkesbury, the indefatigable Governor and his party, which included Mr. Meehan, the surveyor, crossed the river at ‘Blighton’, the farm belonging to the former Governor, Captain Bligh. The area for Wilberforce was surveyed, allowance being made for a Great Square, a burying ground and the main streets marked out. Macquarie had the name Wilberforce painted on a board and erected on a high post in the middle of the site for the square. The settlers from the surrounding farms gathered to observe the ceremony.
Here an explanation about ‘Blighton’ is perhaps necessary. Governor Bligh, in 1807, purchased two grants from Thomas Tyler. Shortly after, he bought an adjoining farm from James Simpson. These farms were on the banks of the Hawkesbury in Mulgrave Place, in that area of it later known as Pitt Town.
Prior to Governor Macquarie the land on both sides of the Hawkesbury from Richmond Hill to Pitt Town, was known as Mulgrave Place.
The Macquarie Schoolhouse
Governor Macquarie, during the 12 years of his administration, paid several visits to Windsor and the surrounding countryside. His journal states that on Friday 21st May, 1813, he travelled to Wilberforce to mark out the ‘site’ for the new intended schoolhouse. The previous week he had ?inspected the schoolhouse at Richmond now nearly finished to be used as temporary chapel until a proper church is built ?(8).
In the accounts for the Police Fund for the quarter ending 30 September, 1813, there is an entry ‘To Government Allowance towards building a Government temporary Chapel and Schoolhouse in the Township of Wilberforce’. Research has revealed no information as to what amount the inhabitants of the district contributed or if they were expected to do so. That the building was carried out is confirmed by Macquarie’s dispatch to Lord Bathurst of 28 April, 1814, in which he stated that ‘A Schoolhouse at Castlereagh will be immediately erected at the expense of the settlers themselves, with a Small Assistance from Government’ and he goes on ‘Schoolhouses which serve as chapels, have already been erected in the Townships of Liverpool, Windsor, Richmond and Wilberforce, where Divine Service is regularly performed on Sundays, and the Instruction of the Children has for some time been attended to during the weekdays’ .
Whether this first schoolhouse and chapel was adjacent to the present Macquarie Schoolhouse is not known, but the choice of site for the latter was a happy one, for from the upper windows of the building one commands an expansive view of the rich river flats to Windsor, to the mountains and also towards Dural.
The temporary site of the building erected in 1813 may have rendered it unserviceable by 1819, for in that year a new schoolhouse, again to serve as a church, was built. Macquarie had a large building program, and the Police Fund was called upon to finance public works, the police force and gaols. The revenue for this was gathered from customs duties and licensing fees. It was from this fund that the cost of the schoolhouse was derived. Today, the amount paid for it would not cover the cost of a garage!
The contractor responsible for the building was Captain John Brabyn. He was appointed to the New South Wales Corps in 1795, and was posted to Norfolk Island. He returned to Sydney in 1801 and was stationed at Parramatta. In that year he received a grant of 200 acres at the Eastern Farms (Kissing Point) which he named York Place. To this he added, by purchase, a further 100 acres. Being actively connected with the Rum Rebellion he was sent Home with the Corps in 1811. He was allowed to return however, having joined the newly formed New South Wales Veteran Company.
Brabyn applied for and was granted permission to become a settler on 12 December, 1817. In 1819, being already in possession of land by grant and purchase, he took up a further grant of 1,200 acres near Prospect. In 1816 his wife had received a grant of 500 acres in the district of Evan (Castlereagh). Brabyn was appointed a magistrate at Windsor on 31 January, 1818, and he retained that position until his resignation in 1829. He lived at York Lodge in Windsor and took an active interest in several charitable and other organisations. His activities, it seemed, extended to building contracts. Capt. Brabyn was a pew-holder in St. Mathew’s Church and when he died in 1835 at the age of 76, was buried in the churchyard.
The year 1970 saw the 150th Anniversary of the Macquarie Schoolhouse completed in 1820. It is a building that should be preserved and treasured since it is the only one remaining of the four ordered by the Governor. A simple two-storied building with skillion, it is of adobe construction that is of clay bricks dried in the sun, with stone quoins at the front corners and originally a shingle roof. To protect the bricks, which were if a soft nature, the building would be white-washed with lime, to which fat was added. The last ingredient rendered the bricks impervious to water. This treatment may eventually have been neglected, causing the bricks to fret, because in 1911 the outside of the main building was cement-rendered, and later the skillion was treated in the same manner.
The structure had to serve a triple purpose. The lower floor was the schoolmaster’s residence whilst the large upstairs room constituted the schoolroom on weekdays and church services were held in it on Sundays. It was reached by a very steep staircase which was replaced in 1966 by one that provides an easier ascent. The roof is of open timber construction with three tie-beams. The narrow northern end contains a fireplace and despite the size of the room this provides ample warmth. Over the hearth hangs a photographed copy of the original painting of a portrait of William Wilberforce, the original having been presented in 1933 on the 100th anniversary of his death. The portrait was the work of the late Thomas Fleming Campbell who was the schoolmaster at Wilberforce Public School from 1927 to 1935. The original painting was destroyed in the fire of August 1985.
Also in this room was an interesting cedar desk and several cedar forms with handforged iron legs, which had been restored by Mr. Keith Cobcroft. Report states that this furniture had long been associated with the Schoolhouse. Unfortunately these were destroyed by fire in August 1985.
The cost of the building was paid in two amounts, 200 in the quarter ending 30 September, 1819 (16) and in a letter to D’Arcy Wentworth, the treasurer of the Police Fund, on 27 May, 1820, Governor Macquarie asks him to pay ?85-16-1d to John Brabyn, Esq., ‘being the balance of his account of Disbursements made by him in enlarging and completing the Schoolhouse, with enclosures etc. for the same at Wilberforce, as per vouchers delivered to the Governor, charging the same to the Police Fund’. The only way to enlarge the building without destroying its symmetry would be by the addition of a skillion.
Here we would note the skillion is now of two rooms. Of the first room containing the fireplace, the walls and the fireplace are bonded into the main structure, i.e. it was erected at the same time, and is so placed as to preserve the balance of the design.
The conjuncture is that the building was originally to be a two-storied structure of two rooms on the ground floor and one above. But between the estimate of ‘200 given for that plan and the beginning of the work, it was probably realised that two rooms provided only the bones of a dwelling for a schoolmaster and his family. So it was decided to add the skillion, the cost of this extra work, together with the enclosures (fencing) etc. amounting to £85-16-1d. The second room is a later addition.
The long front of the building faces west, with a wide central door, two windows on each side and five more above. The windows, as shown by the old photograph were finished with shutters which have long since disappeared. The upstairs windows again have the charming small panes that the two downstairs rooms retained. A later addition was a verandah running round the west, south and part of the east side to meet the skillion. The photo also shows this verandah with a shingle roof. Now the entire roof area is of galvanised iron.
The building remained in use for educational uses until 1880 when it succumbed to the challenge of the public school established that year. The Schoolhouse is now used by the Sunday School and for other Parish activities.
With the exception, perhaps, of some of the missionaries who had fled from Tahiti and sought refuge in Sydney, and commenced schools there, the early teachers in the colony were not qualified. They may have had sufficient knowledge and a certain aptitude for teaching the children the three ‘R’s. Both Governors King and Macquarie had written to England asking for qualified teachers to be sent out. Indeed, the latter had written again and again with no response until 1820, and then the Home Government sent out one! He was the Rev. Thomas Reddall, who had actually been appointed Assistant Chaplain, but he had studied Dr. Bell’s National System of Education in London. So Earl Bathurst appointed him schoolmaster as well, for a certain period, so that he might train others in this method. Macquarie placed him in charge of the Male Orphan School at a salary of £250 a year (18).
The first qualified teacher to come to the colony had been John Hosking. He was the master of a Methodist day school in London when the Rev. Samuel Marsden invited him and his family to come to New South Wales, and had obtained an appointment for him and his wife to manage the Female Orphan School. They arrived on 29 January, 1809 and during their stay took an active part in the NSW Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Benevolence. They returned to England in 1819 (19).
Wilberforce Parochial School was fortunate in having men of fine character to guide the children in their spiritual needs as well as their schooling. Three of these men, parish clerks as well as teachers, were in charge of the school for 51 years. They were William Gow (1820-1842) whose beautiful writing in the Parish Registers is a delight to see. He was followed by John Wenban (1842-1859) who is mentioned in connection with the church, and Edward Hinder (1860-1870).
Despite Macquarie’s efforts to advance education in the colony, he did not have the successful results one would expect from such zeal. It was through no fault of his but was caused by lack of teachers, the incapacity of those available and the irregular attendance of the children.
In 1864 Inspector McCredie reported to the Council of Education that the Schoolhouse was very much in need of repair, particularly the walls. At his inspection in 1865 he stated that the building had been repaired at a cost of £80. Edward Hinder was succeeded by Joseph Nash (1871-1874), followed by Samuel Russell, who came to Wilberforce on 23 April, 1874, and was transferred to Windsor on 13 January, 1877.
In January, 1877, Thomas Rooke applied to be appointed to the school. The Inspector however, on 1 February 1877, recommended John Banfield who received the appointment. On 24 February, the Local Committee, headed by Alexander Simpson, petitioned for a Public School to be established at Wilberforce, claiming there were sufficient children to warrant such a request. They stated that the only school, the Parochial School, was held in a very old building, well over 50 years old (its exact age at that date was 56) and, according to Inspector McCredie it needed replacing (20). After another 50 years it is still standing.
John Banfield applied for and was granted a transfer in July, 1880. James Beacroft, who was teaching at St. Mary’s, was sent to take temporary charge on 27 July. He reported to Inspector McCredie in August, that the average attendance was only ten children, in September it had fallen to seven, so the school was closed on 2 October 1880. Mr Beacroft was then transferred to the recently opened Wilberforce Public School until an assistant schoolmistress could be appointed. Later, Miss Clara Turnbull became the assistant.
The Public School was officially opened on 6 July 1880, but as Mr. Thomas Taylor did not receive his instructions to proceed to Wilberforce as Master, until 15 July, the school would not have commenced until after that date. There were 100 children in attendance (21).
So after 60 years of service to children, the Parochial School in the Macquarie Schoolhouse came to an end.
The receipt pictured here, is for school fees and materials in connection with the Macquarie Schoolhouse. The teachers in those days received by no means a generous salary, which they were permitted to augment by any school fees they might collect from the parents. The receipt (30.6.1866), due and paid to E R Hinder, is made out to Mr Benjamin Dunstan for his two sons, the fees being 8d each per week.
The Tombstone
The story of the Howorth family is a tragic one. Apparently John Howorth came out as a convict, but was emancipated in 1798. He and his wife worked their grant on the banks of the Hawkesbury with great diligence, but, together with so many others, the successive floods in 1800, 1801 and 1806 caused them severe loss.
The floods in March 1806 according to the report made following an inspection by the Rev Samuel Marsden, Dr Arndell and others, caused a loss to the settlers of the Hawkesbury of £35,248-3-0d as against damage by the floods in January, February and March in 1801 of £22,762-0-0d. The total loss of life in 1806 was seven persons (22).
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