Balmain Public School
Balmain Public School is a state primary school in the suburb of Balmain, Sydney, Australia. It is also known as "Pigeon Ground" or "Pigeon Park" due to the former pigeon-shooting pastime in adjacent Gladstone Park.
History[edit]
The school began as a one-teacher school in a small wooden building, and became a National School in 1860, with an enrolment of 138 students. In 1861, plans were drawn up for a brick building next to the Catholic Church on the edge of Gladstone Park, which was completed and occupied in November 1862, complemented by new rooms in 1864 to accommodate the 350 students and five teachers. The school was accorded secondary classes in 1864.
In 1876 a two-storey building was built for a girls' and an infants' department. 1,269 children were enrolled by 1883. A new infants' building was built in 1892, and by 1912 the school was separated from Gladstone Park.
A three-storey building was completed in 1915 and became known as the Girls' Building. The boys moved into the 1876 building and the 1862 building was sold to the Catholic Church for their extensions in 1920. An evening school was established in 1899. In 1901 special classes were begun for what were referred to as "retarded children", perhaps the earliest case of special-needs classes in New South Wales.
Girls' secondary classes ceased in 1950 and boys' in 1959.
The 1876 building was devastated by fire in 1959 and subsequently refurbished.
References[edit]
Coordinates: 33°51′S 151°10′E / 33.850°S 151.167°E
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