AGY-3728 | Myall River Lower Half-Time School (1869-1874) Markwell Public School (1874-1962)

Full description

Lower Myall River Half-Time School in County Gloucester opened in 1869 and was a Half-Time School with Upper Myall Half-Time School. (1) Lower Myall River Half-Time School became a Public School in September 1874 and was also renamed Markwell Public School. The School remained a Public School until its closure in September 1962. (2)

Half-Time Schools were elementary schools which emerged in 1867 to cater for children in areas of scattered population. A teacher visited two schools of at least 10 students each. In 1898 the required attendance was reduced to 16, and by 1908 no fixed number was required. (3)

A Public School had a minimum attendance of thirty children prior to 1867, twenty-five children until 1880 when the number was reduced to twenty. From 1957, the minimum number was reduced to nine. (4)

Endnotes
1. Government Schools of New South Wales 1848 to 2003, NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003, p.86.
2. loc. cit.
3. ibid., p.16.
4. ibid., p.18.