Carlingford Public School in Operation

During the period of the site determination, Pennant Hills South Public School continued to operate in spite of the overcrowded conditions. The situation was alleviated somewhat by teaching children in the playground. From 1884, when the average attendance passed 110, the school should have had an assistant teacher and a pupil teacher, but it only had an assistant teacher. With the attendance up to 135 in 1886 three teachers were clearly needed, and since no pupil teacher could be appointed because of Gow's classification, the Department reluctantly gave the school two assistant teachers. This was not only irregular but expensive: pupil teachers were paid between 24 pounds and 72 pounds a year, while the assistant teachers' range was from 114 pounds to 150 pounds per year.

All anxiously awaited the completion of the new school buildings, including the members of the local school board, Frederick Cox (Chairman), Edwin Harris (Secretary), Hugh Taylor M.P., Charles Byrnes, George Hunt, Thomas Barnett and Robert Richie.

On 29 April 1887 the school was renamed Carlingford Public School. This was Gow's suggestion, in order to avoid confusion with Pennant Hills Public School and to conform with the name of the local Post Office. Two months later, Carlingford Public School crossed the road and moved to its permanent buildings at last. The lease of the Church of England premises was subsequently terminated. The new school comprised a 16 metre by 7.6 metre schoolroom, with four blocks of five long desks and forms arranged on stepped platforms. At the standard of .8 square metres per child the room accommodated 165 pupils. There was also a classroom measuring 5.5 metres by 5 metres and containing five long forms. This smaller room was designed for religious instruction and for the withdrawal of small groups of pupils. This original building stands today, though altered and added to over the years. Further additions to the school in this period were two weathersheds which were built in the centenary year of British colonisation, 1888, at a cost of 65 pounds.

The school residence, too, was ready for occupation, so Gow and his wife moved in about the same time as the new buildings were first used. This residence stands today and has similarly been altered. Originally the residence comprised six rooms, including a kitchen.

Between 1889 and 1891 there was a burst of innovation in education in New South Wales, which came to a sudden end with the great economic depression of the 1890's. Many of the changes related to technical education in its very broad sense, including kindergarten activities and practical work in subjects like manual training and cookery which were introduced in some schools. The Minister during this period was particularly enthusiastic about the enlargement and beautification of school sites, the formation of children's gardens and experimental agricultural plots, and about Arbor Day. At Carlingford nine trees were planted on Arbor Day in 1891, with trenching, fertilising and fencing being done beforehand and a large quantity of refreshments being provided for the pupils on the day itself. Cox reported that 12 pounds had been raised by concerts and 4 pounds contributed by the local school board, and the Department provided 8 pounds ten shillings as well.

In 1892, the facilities at the school residence were improved by the construction of a detached kitchen and washhouse. The old kitchen was divided into a passage and an optional storeroom or servant's room. It was recommended in the same year that the bare, external brick walls of the school and residence be painted in order to prevent the penetration of damp. Being depression years the "need for strict economy" stopped this work until 1896.

In 1890 Gow had been absent on sick leave for three months, and he was in poor health during 1892 and 1893. A recurring lung complaint worsened in 1894, and after three months leave he died on Christmas Day that year. He was mourned by the people of Carlingford whose teacher he had been for nearly 18 years. At the time of his death he owned over 11 hectares of land in various parts of the district. The school's enrolment of 170 to 180 in the early 1890's had fallen to 147 in 1893 and to only 126 when Gow died. Some of this decline was due to the opening in January 1894 of May Villa Public School (demolished 1909), which had 61 pupils at the end of the year. Carlingford's enrolment was over 170 again in 1895, and it stayed at this level before jumping past 200 in 1898.

William Kennedy, headmaster from 1895 to 1901, was a very efficient teacher and the school flourished under his management. It was during his time that the first member of the large Mobbs family became a teacher at the school. This was the 14 year old Myrtle Mobbs, who became a pupil teacher in 1899; she remained at Carlingford as a pupil teacher until 1905; and returned as an assistant teacher in 1911, only to resign in 1912. Mildred Mobbs joined the Department at 18 in 1900, and was a pupil teacher at Carlingford from 1901 to 1904; she too returned as an assistant teacher from 1908 to 1910, and she remained in the service until 1946. Leslie Mobbs began his career in 1904 aged 17, and was a pupil teacher at Carlingford from 1906 to 1907; he retired in 1944. Annie Mobbs was also a teacher from 1909 to 1937, but she was never at Carlingford. The presence of at least one member of the Mobbs family on the staff every year from 1899 to 1912 caused some problems, since they were all ex-pupils and were related to many current pupils.

However, this was not uncommon since the Department accepted the desirability of young pupil teachers and women assistant teachers living at home if possible.

Frederick Kilpatrick, an assistant teacher at Carlingford from 1898 until early 1899, had a special claim to be remembered. He obtained leave in 1899 to fight in the Boer War, and in January 1900 he was killed in South Africa. Kennedy told the Department:

"The late Mr. Kilpatrick being the first native born New South Welshman as well as the first Officer of the Education Department, who, having responded to his country's call to fight in defence of the Empire, has had the honor to forfeit his life in the enterprise, makes the circumstances entirely unique in the annals of Australian History and hence calls for some special mark of recognition".

The leading residents of Carlingford wished to perpetuate the memory of Corporal Kilpatrick, and Kennedy suggested a memorial tablet on the wall of the school, to be paid for by voluntary subscriptions by the pupils and their friends. In the special circumstances the Department approved the project, provided no collection was taken up in the school itself. This memorial exists today in the position marked on the school plan.

At the turn of the 19th century, the enrolment at Carlingford Public School was 245. With one class being accommodated in a weathershed, Kennedy, the headmaster, requested additions to the school. To add weight to his concern, he predicted that the opening of the Rose Hill to Carlingford railway line in 1901 would result in a marked increase in residential and industrial development in the district. The Department hesitated about approval of such additions since it had decided to close Eastwood Public School and replace it by a school more central to the population. This new school, Epping Public School, was to open in July 1901 and thus would relieve the overcrowding by drawing some 30 pupils away from Carlingford. Only a slight offset was expected by an intake from Eastwood. However, in 1900 the Department agreed to build a 58 metre square extension. It wasn't until after Federation and the beginning of the new century that Carlingford was to get its new room. Ironically, by this time, July 1902, enrolments had fallen to 200 and by 1904 they were down to 150.