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History

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A detailed history of Bolinda (Click this link)

Thanks to Angela Cook-Lee for her dedication and hard work to produce this wonderful document.

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In 1868, Captain Gardiner donated a half acre of land at the site for a school. The Church of England and the Presbyterian Church jointly established a non-vested school on this site at the junction of the Melbourne-Lancefield road on the road to Kerrie.

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At cost of 180 pounds ($360), an American Pine school room 20 feet by 60 feet, with an attached residence 16 feet by 16 feet complete with timber shingle roof, was erected. 

 

At this time, the school was locally called “Havelock”, but within the Education Department it was noted as State School No. 88, Bolinda Vale.

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The non-vested school was closed on 31st October 1870 and opened the next day as the State controlled State School No. 1070 – same building, same pupils, but by then, the teacher was John A. Scott. So the story of Bolinda State School No. 1070 started on 1st of November 1870.

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Subsequently a new timber school was built in 1882 and the old building was converted into a four room teacher’s residence. On 13th December 1873 the school was permitted as a place of worship for the local Church of England and Presbyterians on the Christian Sabbath.

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This arrangement continued until the churches were able to use the adjacent Mechanics Institute. In 1874 the school teacher, Mr. Thomas Fairley, became the subject of much public protest in the Bolinda community when he expelled a boy from the school. A public meeting was held, at which the parents of the 33 students threatened to withdraw their children.

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The education Department transferred Mr. Fairley and promoted the legendary Miss Grace A Caldwell to the head teachership. Little did the community know that this Head Teacher would remain at Bolinda for the next 24 years! Throughout the school’s long history there have been many Head Teachers.

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The records show…

  • John A. Scott (1870 – 1873)

  • Thomas B. Fairly (1874 – 1874)

  • Miss Grace A. Caldwell (1874 – 1898)

  • Thomas Philips (1898 – 1909)

  • A. McLeish Parratt (1909 – 1914)

  • Reginald Coles (1916 – 1926)

  • Miss Ross (1927 – 1929)

  • Matilda A. Garner (1930 – 1935)

  • Arthur J. Simpson (1935 – 1939)

  • Robert Pywell (1940)

  • Harold R. Griffiths (1945 – 1947)

  • Jack Walters (1948 – 1950)

  • Jim McQualter (1950 – 1954)

  • Graham Collacott (1958 – 1962)

  • A. W. Gleeson (1963 – 1963)

  • Frank Ryan (1964 – 1966)

  • Frank Burtonclay (1967 – 1969)

  • Roger Cobcroft (1970 – 1973)

  • Peter Kendry (1974 – 1976)

  • Wally Holod (1977 – 1978)

  • Rosalind Darby (1979 – 1981)

  • Lado Kuret (1982)

  • Paul Bain (1983 – 1986)

  • Maureen Winter (1987 – 1992)

  • Pam Lenders (1993)

  • Keith Jenkins (1994 – 2006)

  • John Mackintosh (2007-2016)

  • Stuart Telford (2017)

  • Greg Clement (2018 – 2019)

  • Jayden Andrea (2020 - 2022)

  • Jordan Chamerski (2023 - Present)

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