This Day in History: 1868-05-25

Rev. Charles Harper laid the first corner post of the new Wicklow Hills Government School at Nunyle. Francis Whitfield Jnr. gave the plot of land on which his workman John McCluney erected the schoolhouse, not far from the site of the original schoolhouse (an old farm building used for a private school) on Whitfield’s property. The first teacher was expiree John Vernon Warren. Sabina Hale (nee Molloy), Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale’s second wife, was present at the opening. The school was completed in July.

Sources:
Perth gazette, 29 May 1868, p.2; 3 July 1868, p.2.
Education Dept. of WA, Letter, 20 Aug. 2001.
Rica Erickson. Old Toodyay and Newcastle. Toodyay Shire Council, 1974, pp. 212-213.
Rica Erickson. The brand on his coat. Hesperian Press, 2009 (c1983), p.297.