By Algernon
After the Federal budget (where the government sees it fair to allow Universities to deregulate their charges as well as upping interest on loan schemes), I noticed the following article in the Sydney Morning Herald which talks about the lack of classroom space in the eastern suburbs and it would appear Paddington in particular. Apparently it will become critical by 2018 with space running out by 2026. Of course the real problem can be traced back to the Liberal Greiner Government where Terry Metherell, closed public schools down and merged others around the state for supposed low attendance rates. This left gaping holes in many school catchments.
(1) Read the article here:
In my local area two High schools, Ryde High and Peter Board High were closed down with Malvina becoming part selective. The surrounding High schools had to take up the slack. An attempt was made to close down Hunters Hill High however a local campaign managed to keep the school open. Our local state member to his credit is looking at ways to have Ryde High reopened as the buildings are still used educationally.
Two sites were highlighted in the article; Victoria Barracks with buildings constructed between 1841 and 1847and the other was the National Art School (NAS) which started its life as Darlinghurst Gaol. Building commenced there in 1820 with some of the cellblocks completed in 1840. The Goal was transferred to the department of Education and used as East Sydney Tech in 1923. The National Art School has been resident there since that time.
(2) Some history of Darlinghurst Goal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlinghurst_Gaol
(3) Some history of Victoria Barracks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Barracks,_Sydney
(4) Read about NAS history here:
http://www.nas.edu.au/about/our-history
(5) NAS Alumni here:
http://www.nas.edu.au/about/Alumni
Some parents told the review that NAS was an ideal site as it’s large and has open spaces. It already has a hall, offices and classrooms. They claim it to be an orphan institution owned by the Department of Education. Also the art school could be moved to a government owned site in the western suburbs.
The hall was interesting, the cell block theatre is narrower than a railway tunnel, the open space, well, much of it is car park for the staff. As for the classrooms, with desks they’d hold about a dozen students. The line that got me was to move it to the Western Suburbs, which for me was code for we don’t really want art schools in Paddington move it somewhere else. Little Tarquin and Saarah need a place to go to school.
To the best of my knowledge there has never been a state High School in Paddington. Furthermore NAS has an annual intake of around 180 students into their undergraduate program. Allowing for honours and Masters Degrees perhaps 650 students overall. Most modern High Schools have around 1000 to 1300 students. Realistically this site with historical and cultural significance has no chance of holding that number.
I understand finding a greenfield site in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney would be difficult, yet a few kilometres south a brand new housing development is taking shape. Twelve storey unit complexes and no schools planned.
The National Art School I will admit holds a special place for us. Mrs Algernon was a student there in the late 1980’s. Algenonina the Younger undertook a course there as part of her HSC and at this stage hopes to be part of the intake of students in 2015. NAS has also been the Institution that has educated many of Australia’s significant Artists since its inception, including the producer of the Pig’s arms Coat of Arms.
It also saddens me that Fine Arts politically is not considered worthwhile and where the State Government chooses not to fund it at a Tertiary level, this robs many rural communities of the opportunity to study. Recent blow-ins to communities like Paddington and Darlinghurst can just thumb their noses at the area’s cultural and artistic heritage.
The conversation in the Letters has gone on for four days. As a regular reader of the Letters that is unusual.
(6) The Letters
Art of the community
Darlinghurst Gaol, and the National Arts School which now resides within it, are some of the last remnants of the artistic legacy Darlinghurst has given this city (‘‘City parents line up old jail in search for learning space’’, May 27). From Tim Storrier to Reg Mombassa to Max Dupain, those sufficiently talented came to the NAS and made this suburb more vibrant for their presence. Even Henry Lawson attended (albeit he predated the art school by many years and was incarcerated at the time).
Turning the NAS into a public school would strip away the dwindling vestiges of the creative spirit which animates this beautiful suburb.
CG
New school of thought
Turning the National Art School into a public high school would hardly strip away the dwindling vestiges of creativity in Darlinghurst. CG (Letters, May 28) merely needs to walk 700 metres from the NAS and he will be at the College of Fine Arts. That’s right, two tertiary art institutions and no public high school in the area. Times change, so can Darlo Gaol.
JD
Art of unsuitability
Perhaps JD (Letters, May 29) chooses to ignore the context of ”Darlo Jail”. The complex hasn’t been used as a jail for 100 years.
The National Art School, on the other hand, has occupied the site since 1923. The buildings themselves are of Georgian or Victorian construction. Is this really appropriate for a modern high school with its small rooms and narrow and steep staircases? How would access be available for the mobility challenged? Where will the children play? Surely the question should be asked why wasn’t a high school considered a priority in housing developments such as Victoria Park. A modern high school needs a modern construction, not an adaptation of a building for which it isn’t designed for.
Why should this Sydney institution have to move to the ”western suburbs” as some find the art school irrelevant? Maybe the College of Fine Arts COFA could move as well and then ”Paddo” could rid itself of its artistic heritage.
Algernon
Look outside the frame
Algernon (Letters, May 30) raises some valid points regarding locating a new high school on the site of the old “Darlo Jail”. I attended Sydney Technical High School in the 1950s, then located on what is now the COFA in Paddington. Briefly we walked to the old jail for some high school classes because the STHS site was overcrowded.
With some imagination a new multi-storey school building(s) could be built on the old “Darlo Jail” site and the existing National Art School maintained. The two uses would not be incompatible and the various nooks and crannies between the building would make ideal recreational spaces for all the students.
PF
Acknowledgments:
(1) Sydney Morning Herald 27 May 2014
(2) Darlinghurst Goal – Wikipedia
(3) Victoria Barracks – Wikipedia
(4) History of National Art School – NAS website
(5) National Art School Alumni – NAS website
(6) Sydney Morning Herald – Letters -28 to 31 May 2014
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Dear Algernon and hello piglets and visitors to our pub all
I dropped in primarily to say hello and let you all know piglets who know my circumstances that I am in the land of the living. Much love to you all.
Algy, I was straight off brought to a stop in my tracks. The National Art School you’re kidding me. Let not anyone touch a hair on its head other than to make creative use of its culture and adapt its use … perhaps in some way as you have suggested to a neighbouring project that can draw on its concentration of a wealth of education but it as a draw card for us all. Friends and acquaintances who have meant for me a wealth of important education in my growing up era in the late 60s were educated at the National Art School so my immediate interest is sentiment.
I feel bereft though at the concept we cannot keep its site for all the reasons we keep iconic cultural places as sacred ‘monuments’ if blood was literally shed on its ground in the name of national advancement and freedom. I guess it depends on whether we accord value to art equally for its use to decorate a wall or to galvanise meeting and discussion. My perspective is we all need to know where we go for that meeting. That all said it figures satellite attachments might be developed with the central hub left in place as we develop for Universities eg in Cairns there was no university education once such as began with a fledgling office set up there auspiced by the James Cook University in Townsville. That is my thruppence. Your article Algy stirs the blood for sure.
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I was thinking about you this morning Shoe. You must have got the message. Glad you are still with us and not gone under with the flea plague.
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It’s a battle. I recalled today to do some visiting rounds. Thank you, Vivienne.
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At this stage its an option that is being put forward by the community because its seen as public land. For me its about as practical is using Hyde Park as a site or maybe Sydney University. It’s a vexed question I suppose where do they put the new school.The probable option is a high rise as I don’t think they find any appropriate greenfield sites.
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Lady Macquarie’s Chair… ? 🙂
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Pinchgut? :p
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HA HA!
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Our mutual friend, James Barnet, was responsible for most of the gaol and certainly anything after 1862, though he is also noted as designing various buildings on the site earlier than that.
Another doom laden portal beetling over all who enter.
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And i read that article you sent me. Very interesting.
It seems that even heritage can be privatised. Another example of socialised costs and privatised profits.
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I know the Surveyors are not impressed and concerned. What ever they do will butcher it like the Treasury building nearby.
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Yes I was aware of the Barnet connection Waz. Some of it goes back to the 1820’s. solid beautiful buildings.
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Our Balmain neighbours were art teachers there, we had many friends who were studying art at the place, some of them are well known artists now, one of them had a major exhibition in Sydney a couple of weeks ago.
I loved having a coffee or a lunch at the cafeteria, good memories of the place.
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Mrs A had a photography exhibition in Wooloomooloo when she was a student, Margaret Whitlam opened it, goodness knows how they managed to get her to open it. Mrs A didn’t go on with the Art. The younger would like to give it a go complementing it with other things. Time will tell. We’re becoming reacquainted with the place with her.
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It had a good canteen as well. Cheap food and nourishing fare. One day, fresh oysters with salad on the menu. My mate George ordered the oysters and salad. He pretended to sneeze just after he put an oyster in his hanky. After the sneeze, he opened the hanky with the green oyster for all to see. This joke did not go down very well but it still brings a smile to my face. I mean, the ingenuity and quickness of a fertile mind!.
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Still does Gez, the younger tells me there’s a good coffee shop across the road as well.
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Very interesting and good work Algy. It is interesting to note that not too many decades ago rural areas such as mine had more schools than they do now. Often they were single teacher schools with a residence attached. They were closed and sold off some years later as private property – they were delightful. Similar fate fell to police stations. There are buses and buses going around picking the kids up and taking them on one hour journeys to a school instead. Being a school bus driver is a thriving employment area.
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Thanks Vivienne, Yes there was a lot of that going on and there are still a few one teacher schools around the place. It does tend to kill off the town when they start stripping the teachers and the coppers from the place. Don’t quite get the rationale about that. surely easier to keep the kids close rather than travel. On the other hand getting teachers to go there could be part of the problem too, I don’t know.
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Teachers used to go to Teachers’ College, or a CAE and did a Diploma in Teaching (two years), in NSW they received bonded scholarships, and were bound to teach in the country for a period. Many stayed five to fifty years! Likewise coppers could get ahead by volunteering to go to the country for a stint, often returning to the big smoke with plenty of experience under their belts.
I could harp on about engineers doing TAFE courses at night whilst they learned how to weld, solder, turn metal on a lathe, stress concrete, etc, etc during the day. Nurses learned in hospitals whilst there were arses to wipe, IVs to manage and plenty of hands to hold. the bloody list goes on and on. All of these university educated kids who can’t do primary school maths, and don’t know year eight science.
My pet hate!!
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A friend of mine went to Hillston as a music teacher for 12 months so as to get a look in teaching somewhere else. It was an eye opener for her, she had difficulty getting through to the HSC students that they were competing with the whole state. They idea was competing with the kids in Griffith 100 kms away.
Father in Law took is job at Margaret River for a year to get a city job. Ended up retiring there becoming part of the community.
I’m with you on the training of a few years ago. I had one of the interns at work suggesting to me that it might be best if she filled in a spreadsheet with particular data because it might be difficult. I pointed out that her that I understood what the information she required to be populated where she didn’t. Actually she was a good kid, just needed to learn that others might actually be experts in what they do.
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The schools I refer to are in my neck of the woods. There was no village or town, it was just a locality. There was no problem with getting staff. The Ed Dept just decided they weren’t needed. Many of these kids then travelled by bus to my actual local school which then had extra transportables dumped on to the tiny site. An eight year battle finally succeeded and we had a new school built near by.
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I look at a lot of old maps the there is the land gazetted for a school. Middle of nowhere there they are. They were all over the place and around the 1870’s and 1880’s. It might have something to do with Sir Henry Parkes push for public education.
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Quite likely but more likely it was the foresight of the surveyor. Original town surveys are fascinating to study as are old property maps which were put out by the (I think) Valuer General. You could see the way the country was 50 or more years ago and then see what subdivision did. In some areas where a school site was allocated and a school actually built, the area did become more developed. One such locality (Thurgoona) had a new school built a bit further away – the old site was not suitable for expansion (a creek) etc.
If they hadn’t built these little schools in rural area the kids would never have had an education other than home schooling. Only so far they can ride their horses.
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Not the middle of nowhere if you lived there! The farmers and their families and hired help amounted to a fair number in a ten mile radius. My local village back in those times had a lot fewer people in the village itself but there were 5 pubs. Only one pub now. The road towards town had some of those pubs – like staging posts for the thirsty.
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Surveyors may have had some say in the location of these school sites but it would have come under instruction from the Government of the day. Surveyors in the 1870’s and 80’s were employed by the Lands Department, It wasn’t until the mid 1890’s that private surveyors emerged.
That being said look on any old parish map there are 2 acre school sites dotted all over the place. The expansion of public schools came from Sir Henry Parkes who had agitated for public schooling for around 20 years, culminating in the Public Instruction Act 1880, where he wanted education to be available secular and free. Before that time Education was generally provided by the Church generally Anglican and Catholic or privately. He wanted the churches to hand over their schools to the state. The Anglicans did, the Catholics didn’t.
I was doing some work looking to register interests on a particular title, the site was a state forest. It showed on the title that the owner was “The Minister for Education” On checking the old title it was for a different site, yet the portion number and Parish name were correct.. The title was still current dated 1876. A bit of forensic work found that school site was now in a different parish and The land had been granted to someone else. The site had never been used as a school, but the title remains current and the parcel is held by two different owners. I had to go back to 1906 edition of the parish maps to solve it.
Parish maps were prepared by the Lands Department, the Valuer Generals, Water resources, Register General and other government departments etc used these base maps for their own use.
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Good work Algy. We are saying the same thing. The location was probably determined by the surveyors who had instructions to provide for school sites. Are you sure the title is still the same as way way back. The Parish may will show how things were at the time. Were you able to trace it to the present via The Valuer General. It can’t actually have moved. There are mistakes in the records (at least I know there are errors in Victoria). I did an analysis work in Victoria for research purposes and found errors in data entry. All the original Parish Maps and Lands Dept stuff is fascinating. My own road was a Crown Lane and a subdivision led to the construction of part of it to ensure official access. I discovered when working at the Shire Council that it had never been officially declared a public road (the Clerk – the CEO – hated all the paper work) – I set about getting the record straight. Turned out there were nearly 100 road realignments and some other conversions of Crown Lanes which had never been registered – a backlog of up to 20 years.
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It is the Gazettal at times that may make roads public roads. Any of the crown road or reserve roads became public crown roads under the Roads Act 1993. Your circumstance is not unusual regarding the road. Often roads and the like are created but the Gazettal never happened.
On the school site I’m sure I’m right and will need to deal with the LPI to correct the titles so that the interest can be registered. The school site was Portion 150 in a particular parish. The boundary of the parish moved in the 1920’s and it became Portion 181 in another parish. Portion 150 was allotted to the portion we have an interest in. Being state forest title was never issued for the new Portion 150. During the process of converting titles to Torrens thus creating a limited and qualified title They found that there was already a title for portion 150. Problem was they didn’t check the location of the old portion 150. They realised that the title had been created in error. and cancelled it for the new portion 150 thus compounding the error.
For the Portion 181 (old 150) there was still a current title albeit now showing the old portion and parish. The surrounding land was a crown special lease. the school site was revoked in 1922 however the title remained in the name of The Minister for Education and was never cancelled that parcel. Somehow the consolidated the land into the surrounding and Granted the land. The Department of Education still holds title to the land even though they have no interest in it. Adverse possession doesn’t apply here either. My guess is that the LPI will have to sort it out with the DEP relinquishing any interest in it.
Instances like this are not that common nowadays but they exist.
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I could add that that historical records for the old Parish maps are now publicly available where they once weren’t. They make solving some of these conundrums a lot easier.
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Yep – it was indeed the paper work and the Gazettal. Trouble was the Clerk at the time had not compensated owners for land taken for road widening, sight distances and so forth. The calculations were mind boggling as the land had to be valued and years of interest added and the owner had to agree with the amount offered. In the interim a new planning order had been made and that meant the owners felt their land was worth more. In the end most were just relieved to have the darn thing sorted. Those crown lanes are now mostly leased except for ours which is used as a short cut by those with four wheel drives and it is also a horse rider’s dream. our gravel road is well fertilised! Algy, fascinating that we are both so interested in parish maps and legal documents.
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Well its one of my areas of expertise vivienne. Where I work I was called upon to assist someone with the property portfolio. 18 months on where still solving the problems and dealing with the LPI as part of it. It’s a project I’ve found very satisfying.
You might say Its something I enjoy doing and I get paid to do it
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I love solving things too. A few years ago I had a solution to a situation which four university well qualified and creative people could not crack. Satisfying.
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It brings back memories. I went there some years ago and did a certficate print-making course. I am with Algy and Big M. Build a separate school and keep the present side for art. It is ideal. Many public high schools are in old buildings and don’t conform to what a modern school should have in ammenities. The idea of a mixture of residential, school, shops in the one building is what can be done in many places. Did I read somewhere that Sydney needs to use space more economically for smaller more compact housing near work and public transport?
Great article Algy and great photo.
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Thanks Gerard, its an important place for our family. The staircases in the place are steep and narrow. I think the balustrades might very well be cedar. Most the rooms would be lucky to hold a dozen students. Its perfect for art but not high school students.
One story that Mrs A and I like telling is when Brett Whiteley (he went there) turned up to open a student art exhibition. Off his tree he was, drunk or stoned, probably both. Mumbled through whatever he was saying, but did manage to point us to the wine and cheese, he didn’t mumble that.
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The closure of public schools has been enthusiastically pursued in Sydney by both Labor and Liberal governments for at least 20 years – that’s when I noticed it because of my own kids.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-schools-face-queues-as-selloff-scheme-backfires-20140215-32so0.html
It was only ever a money grab. Near me they seized on the excuse of low enrollment to shut down a local primary school even though the local kids to fill it in a few years time had already been born. I can’t remember who was in government at the time but that’s when I checked and found out that whoever the opposite Party was had been doing the same.
I was absolutely stunned at the time they could get away with it. Everything in Sydney seems to work by divide and conquer – the leafy North Shore gets hit, ha ha ha, the trendy inner City gets hit, ha ha ha, the wealthy Eastern Suburbs get hit, ha ha ha, the bogan Western Suburbs get hit … who even notices that matters?
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Voice in the case of Hunters Hill, your right, it was a Labor government who tried to close it. Though that had more to do with falling enrolments and Local neglect. Its been kept open but it’s not a school of choice form many in this area. The balance is out 3 boys for each girl. For the other two in this article it was the Greiner government that closed it. Gladys the Deputy Premier got into politics because of it as she went to one of them.
Really as you say these closures were nothing more than land grabs.
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Great research, Algernon. I think that St Andrews Cathedral school sets the precedent for a school within a high rise…why can’t the same be done here, a mixture of residential units and a school, perhaps with commercial areas, say shops, etc, within a ten to twelve story building (if they are intending to build a high rise anyway.
We have a similar building in Hunter St, Newcastle. Originally Newcastle technical College, was taken over by TAFE, currently Newcastle Arts School, now a part of TAFE, but able to grant certificates, diplomas and degrees, but, like much of education in NSW, slowly being ground down!
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Strange I was going to bring St Andrews up as an example of a school in a high rise with play areas on the roof. My point about Victoria Park which is about 3 kms away from Darlinghurst is curious. This huge unit development an not one school being built. In Eastwood they built a new housing development in the brick pits as well as the channel 7 site. The local primary school at West Epping is overloaded and all the local primary schools have 15% more students enrolled to that of two years ago.
Thee hard thing with the TAFE’s so much the starting points for young artists around the state is that O’Farrell chose not to fund Fine Arts so a diploma course went from $1600 a year to $8100. Cheaper to do it at uni. Not much of a choice for the country though and the TAFEs shut the courses down.
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Every time I drive through Sydney, I see another row of Federation houses replaced by units/apartments. Where are the shops/gyms/bottlos/bars?…no life at all. Why don’t the councils mandate that the bottom floor of each new unit block contains one of the above. Perhaps the roof could be a garden. Eventually there would be a little village!
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Don’t get me started on the units Big. We’ve got them going up down the road from us. A lovely collection of 12 storey units with a 22 storey block on the corner. The developers are only selling off the plan to the Chinese. There might be a shop in one of them. The blocks down the road don’t have any.
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If you have to have large complexes of flats, that’s the way to do it. Include local shops, child care, and some other community facilities (such as the gym), cycling access, garden/grass area at ground level, plenty of car parking space.
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Agree totally. I’m not against them, but develop them properly.Better to have them then houses going out to the boondocks without any services.
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