Our School History
The history of public education in the Congewai Valley spans over 140 years with Congewai Public School celebrating its centenary in 1988. We hope you enjoy this condensed version explaining how our school has adapted and changed over the decades.
(The information on this page has been adapted from the books, "Along The Congewai" and "Further Along The Congewai" researched and written by members of the community. The Committee for the first edition were; Jackie Williams, Sue Beckett, Olga Hurn, Lewis Hurn, Susan Caban and Annette Rees. The Committee for the revised edition were; Jill Crawford-Lane, Ann Greig, Vicki Baker, Susan Caban and Jenny Means. Photographs included have been digitally enhanced due to the quality of copies taken from these books and may not be 100% accurate)
Public Education in the Congewai Valley began with a petition from local residents to the NSW Department of Public Instruction dated 9th October, 1880. Prior to this date, children from the valley had to travel to Ellalong for their education.
The principal correspondent, Mr James Crawford argued that there were 20 students ready to enrol. Initially, the Department declined on the basis that the residents would not be able to erect the necessary buildings as required by the Act. Mr Crawford responded on 28th March 1882, advising that a school had now been erected on the "Brown Muir" estate, situated at the top end of the valley. As a result the Department agreed that a provisional school should be opened and arranged a lease with Mr Crawford for the 2 acres on which the school had been built.
The first teacher, Mr William Griffiths from Lambton, took up his appointment on 24th May 1882. In that same year following an annual inspection, the Department Inspector recommended that due to consistent attendance of over 20 pupils, the school status should be raised to that of Public School. Brown Muir Public School existed in various formats due to fluctuating enrolments until 1940, when the Department deemed it should close.
In 1886, a separate petition was lodged by the residents situated in the lower part of the Congewai Valley, approximately halfway between Ellalong and the Brown Muir Estate, arguing that the educational needs of their children were not being met by either the Brown Muir School or Ellalong School due to the distance students were required to travel. A prior request in 1880 had been denied by the Department. Mr Robert Crawford, a well connected local landholder took up the cause for the residents and over the next 2 years, argued the case with the Department who strongly defended their position, suggesting instead that the existing Brown Muir School should be relocated to a more central position.
Eventually, the Department was persuaded that there were enough potential enrolments to open a second school and in 1888, the school opened with the status of Provisional School and was named Eglinford School. The name was derived from the name of the estate on which it was built, Eglinton Estate as there was already a school in Bathurst named Eglinton.
In 1911, teacher Daniel Carter successfully argued for a new school building as the original was in very poor condition. The work went ahead and was completed on 23rd May, 1912 designed for an enrolment of 30 pupils.
Enrolments continued to increase until the 1930's when over 40 pupils were in attendance and the school building was bursting at the seams. Due to the Great Depression, a planned extension was deferred until 1934 when the building was extended by 10 feet.
In 1943, an unexplained catastrophic fire gutted the school building and immediate plans were put in place to rebuild. The new school was opened on 23rd May 1944, with 23 pupils in attendance taught by Ernest McIlveen. Enrolments continued to fluctuate, down to only 10 pupils in 1947/48 but up to 24 again in 1949.
The name Eglinford Public School remained unchanged until 13th September 1973, when it was finally changed to Congewai Public School. The local residents had argued unsuccessfully for this name change in the 1920's.
On 17th September, 1988 the school proudly celebrated its Centenary with a very successful family fun day held on school grounds and attended by many locals, previous pupils and local dignitaries including the then Minister for Education, Dr Terry Metherell who opened the event. An estimated crowd of 2000 people enjoyed a wonderful day.