THE OLD SCHOOL, MUNDARING
The Mundaring Primary School was built in 1908, on 5 acres of land on the north side of York Road (Great Eastern Highway), local students were taught in the 1901 Mundaring Agricultural Hall (Site 40). In July 1908, the tender for the standard design weatherboard and iron school and quarters was let to Mr. A. Nelson for £688. The school opened on 10th November 1908, and the first Headmaster and later local MLA was Philip Turvey.
By June 1909, there were 44 students, and with increasing enrolments, a new classroom, almost identical in design to the 1908 room, was built on its eastern end. Because of delays in the arrival of desks, the new room was not used until May 1913, four months after the contract had been let to Mr. W.E. Hayes for £347/12/-. By then the school had 70 students, some of whom, until the new room was built, had been taught in the school's shelter shed. Various other buildings were added to the site in the 1920's and 1950's.
In 1990, the Mundaring Primary School moved to a new location in Stevens Street, and the site was sold to a private developer for a shopping centre which opened in late 1997. The 1908 and 1913 classrooms remain in their original position in the shopping centre precinct.
The buildings were restored by the Shire of Mundaring in 1997, for use by the Mundaring Tourism Association (now Mundaring Visitors Centre) and the Mundaring & Hills Historical Society's district museum.
Image from: SOM
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