Who, What, When

Table of Contents

Periods of Operation as a School

Early School Description - 1874

Cotta Walla:-Visited, 23rd April.

Numbers enrolled : Boys, 16; girls, 9; total, 25.

Numbers present: Boys, 11; girls, 5; total, 16.

The school building is a slab structure divided into two rooms-one for a school room, the other for a teacher's residence. Both are unfloored, and the former is not very well supplied with requisites. There are no out-offices. No lesson-register is kept.

The attendance is small for the locality, and the pupils are both unpunctual and irregular. Order and cleanliness have yet to he secured.

Singing, drawing, and Scripture are not taught. In the other branches their attainments average moderate. The population and resources of the locality are sufficient to support a public school. The committee keeps this circumstance in view. Since the inspection certain material improvements have been effected.

Teachers assigned to Cotta Walla school

Cotta Walla was only ever a one-teacher school although several teachers also had their families residing.

Note: years in [] are years when known to be in residence.

Mrs. Mary Ann Price 1869 [1872] - [1882] Died 1906 age 66

Mr. James J. Baxter [1882] - [1898] 1900:

• Family - Mrs. J. Baxter, Ada, Maud, William Thomas, Walter Joseph, Albert Sylvester, James Sydney

Mr. J. Watson [1900] - [1901] Relieving teacher

Mr. J. Nesetie [1901] - [1901] Relieving teacher

Mr. A. E. Thomas [1900] - [1901] Relieving teacher

Mr. George C. O'Brien [1901] - [1910]

School closed [Sep 1910] to [Oct 1912]

Mr. H. J. Ellesmore [1912] - 1917 (by deduction)

Mr. Lionel. J. Barber [1917] - [1925]

Mr. A. Minchin [1925] - [1926]

Mr F. H. Mortimer [1926] - [1936]

Mr P. D. Hogan [1936] - [1945]

Residents of the schoolhouse after closure

Francis Valentine Murphy JP - schoolteacher (assumed at Roslyn school) [1948], [1949]

Contracts for works

New South Wales Government Gazette - Fri 21 Sep 1888 [Issue No.603] - Page 6688

• Repairs and Improvements—Jas. Pinn, £34 15s

New South Wales Government Gazette - Fri 18 Nov 1898 [Issue No.990] - Page 9048

• Erection of Weathershed—J. P. Pinn, Crookwell, £30

Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales - Tue 21 Jan 1902 [Issue No.52] - Page 479

• Repairs and improvements to buildings, &c.—J. Pinn, Crookwell, £170 1|s.:
• The large cost suggests this could have included the new kitchen and wet areas.

Tender Advertisements

Painting and repairs Cotta Walla Public School - Dunn's Gazette July 24, 1913 - Page 2:

• This could have included repaires to windows as evidence, namely a fragment of a wooden box used to transport lamp oil, was found that suggests work was done on them some time after 1910. I.e. the American Snow Flake brand of oil was imported in the 1910's.

School Land

After the school closed for the last time in 1945, the building and land continued to be used by the Education Department as a residence for the teacher at the Roslyn school, presumably until that school also closed.

When the land officially ceased to be dedicated for a school - 1969

Use as a polling place

Only listing enough references to confirm use.

Council Elections

• 1953 December 5 - Cottawalla Public School used as polling place.

State Elections

• 1965 - Cottawalla school listed as polling place.

Federal Elections

• 1969 - Cottawalla [schoolhouse] listed as a polling place. We know that the property ceased being dedicated as a grant for a public school in 1969 (see the "School Land" section above).
• 1970 - Cottawalla [schoolhouse] abolished as a polling place.

Wise's New South Wales Post Office Directory 1927

These images are taken from the National Library of Australia Trove digital collection then processed to reduce their size.

Crookwell

Appears to include Cotta Walla and, I assume, Roslyn and Woodhouselee residents.

Street or road addresses are not included for any of these entries including those within the town itself, so presumably everyone came to the post office to collect their mail.

Laggan

Electricity Mains Supply

The Cotta Walla region was connected in 1952 or soon after.