Gwabegar Public School had 100 reasons to celebrate, marking its centenary with two days of festivities on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9.
Past and present members of the school’s community were warmly welcomed through the gates for a special centenary assembly along with cake-cutting and tree planting ceremonies.
“It was just fantastic,” said Gwabegar Public School principal Tracy McGlashan.
“We’ve only had positive feedback about the weekend.
“I think it just hit so many marks for so many people – it was so good to see everyone coming together and catching up with people who they had not seen for so many years.
“The Gwabegar community just bands together in everything it does.
“The school is the heart of the town, but it’s not only just the parents and the students that have positive outcomes for the school, it’s the whole community. So, when we had our centenary, it was for everyone.
“It was about bringing people back into the community to make those connections with people that they had not seen or heard of for many, many years.
“And I think the Gwabegar community is just so special that it doesn’t matter what it is, in a time of need, they all come together and support everyone.
“It was just amazing. The smiles on everyone’s faces, catching up with people who they didn’t even think they were going to see there that weekend – it was fantastic.”
Official proceedings opened with a Welcome to Country performed by some of the students with a connection to the Ruttley/Dunn families.
There was a smoking ceremony that was held by Baradine Lands Council and a highlight was listening to the speeches from past principals.
Speakers included: current principal Tracy McGlashan; previous principal (1991 until 1997) and current director of educational leadership Ruythe Dufty; previous principal Katie Sullivan (2017 until 2021), previous principal Helen Gray (2012 until 2016); previous principal Kerry Parkinson (1985 until 1986); previous school teacher Jenelle Eastburn (1985 full time and casually until 2012); former student Daphne Shaw (nee Hogden), who attended Gwabegar school from Year 1 – Year 3 and impressively went on to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in lawn bowls.
Daphne was able to give the attendees an interesting insight into life at Gwabegar School in 1949 and also shared the perspective of a daughter of the manager of Cliffdale Sawmill during that time.
Daphne recalled two teachers from that period – Mr Sharpe and Mr Max Marsh.
Another name was Mr Chilstone, who taught the lower classes of the school at that time and would ride a bike along the dirt, corrugated road from Kenebri to Gwabegar where he stayed through the weekdays and then rode home again to Kenebri on Friday.
The principals listed in the Gwabegar Public School archives at these times are Maxwell Marsh, from 1952 until 1954, and Albert Sharpe, from 1955 until 1957.
Daphne and her brothers Ross and Colin would ride their bicycles or their horse to school, repairing their bike tyres every weekend.
Daphne vividly recalls the very basic and perhaps unsanitary dental practices that were provided at the school through that time that caused a fright amongst the students at school.
Daphne remembered long trips to sporting events in the back of trucks and using this transport to be taken to Narrabri for their polio vaccination.
The centenary celebrations were also a chance for familiar faces, old and new friends to catch up and share stories about their memories of the great Gwabegar community and public school.
The memorabilia exhibition was very popular, NDCAS set-up a craft stations and there was plenty of fun and games along with a sheep shearing demonstration.
“There was a sleeper cutter demonstration as well by Brenton Collison, and he’s kindly donated the sleepers that he’s cut and we’re going to make a yarning circle out of them next year for the students,” added Gwabegar Public School principal Tracy McGlashan.
“He was very kind in demonstrating how that was done because I’d personally never seen it and others were the same – that was a major highlight on the Saturday morning.”
Gwabegar is often referred to as the ‘heart of the Pilliga Forest’ and the timber industry is an important part of its history.
The village was once the home of 12 sawmills and was known as ‘a bustling hub for timber trade’.
In the early 1900s, Gwabegar played a vital role in the sleeper cutting process, creating railway sleepers used to support the tracks of railways across the country.
The centenary weekend celebrated many aspects of the village’s history.
To make it even more memorable, the school community was invited to purchase a paver with their name on it leading up to the event.
Gwabegar Public School said it was extremely pleased to have assistance from the local Bowling family to have these installed and ready for visitors to see in place over the weekend.
The pavers are still available to order, this offer will close when we return to school next year in February.
Thank you to the school, school community and Joeanne Bowling, Therese Wilkins, Susanne Rose, Kelly Whau Whau, and Pat Williams for providing these photos and capturing such memorable moments.
