Newsworthy Events

Mr J J Baxter, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Sat 21 Apr 1894

Page 6

Cotta Walla School, Ball, Crookwell Orchestra

Crookwell Gazette

Wed 9 Oct 1895

Page 2

Mr G O'Brien, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Herald

Mon 9 Mar 1903

Page 2

The ball at Cotta Walla - 1895

Confidently assumed to be the Cotta Walla Schoolhouse because Mrs Baxter (resident there) provided the catering.

The classroom is 8m x 6m and thirty couples including orchestra members would have been a tight squeeze. I assume the piano was an upright.

The schoolhouse at this time was still as originally built, with the original small kitchen with open fire for cooking and barely room for a small table. It would have been an occupational health and safety nightmare just preparing a family meal, and so catering for 60 people with those facilities and to do it without injury would have been a major organisational achievement. To alleviate just a little of the catering effort, not take up space that could be used for dancing, and protect the crockery and glassware from any overly enthusiastic activities at the other end of the verandah I posit that the parlour, which was between the kitchen and the verandah, was used to arrange and present the "excellent" offerings coming out of the kitchen. Attendees would have been able to mingle under the verandah with direct access to both the classroom (ballroom) and the parlour (catering).

The evening of Friday the 4th of October was only one day after the full moon and the grounds would have been naturally and sublimely illuminated. That month is still fairly cold in the evenings so, with the doors wide open, the fireplaces in both the classroom and the parlour would have been raging.

No doubt throughout the evening there would have been regular visits to the outhouses of which there were two, quite attractive little buildings in bluestone with limestone quoins to match the schoolhouse, one for females approximately 30m away on the near side of the playground and one for males approximately 70m away on the far side of the playground. Both well stocked with suitably divided past editions of the Crookwell Gazette.

Mr G O'Brien, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Thu 5 May 1910

Page 4

Ellesmore, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Sat 14 Nov 1914

Page 5

Mrs L Barber, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Thu 26 Apr 1917

Page 4

Mrs L Barber, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Thu 10 Jan 1918

Page 2

Schradt, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Tue 6 May 1919

Page 4

Mrs L Barber, Egg, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Thu 18 Jan 1923

Page 4

Mrs L Barber, Egg, Cotta Walla School

Daily Herald (Adelaide, SA )

Wed 24 Jan 1923

Page 4

Mrs L Barber, Egg, Cotta Walla School

Geraldton Guardian (WA)

  • Tue 6 Feb 1923
  • Page 2

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Sat 9 May 1925

Page 8

Prell, Pasture Improvement Lecture, Cotta Walla School

Taralga Echo

Fri 14 Oct 1927

Page 2

Scott Dairy Science Lecture, Cotta Walla School

Taralga Echo

Fri 28 Oct 1927

Page 3

Victory Celebration, Cotta Walla School

Goulburn Evening Penny Post

Thu 10 Nov 1932

Page 1