Page 234 - J Delaney - City of Cessnock Education and Schools

257.

MU L B R I NG S C H 0 0 L

days; 14th, 15th and 16th June 1876. Mr. Stephen Wellard, Chairman of the
local School Board, reported the incident to the Department of Public Instruct-
ion and requested that the teacher supply a written explanation. Mr. J.
Dwyer advised his Department that he had attended an Army training night at
Louth Park, Maitland, on Tuesday 13th June 1876. He had left on horseback
at about 10 p.m. to return by the track to his accommodation at Mulbring.
The horse had been skittish and took fright and bolted up a wrong track and
he, John Dwyer, had become lost in an area unknown to him. He had walked
along several fences to try and find his way back. The horse, as it was being
led, took further fright, pulled off the bridle and disappeared into the night.
As he wandered through some paddocks, Dwyer said he fell into a creek or swamp
and his clothes became very wet. To use Dwyer's words:-

"As a matter of course, I caught cold. This cold
and my explanation was the reasons for my being
absent. No one more grieved than myself".

When shown a copy of Mr. Dwyer's reply, Mr. Wellard said it was the Board's
opinion and likewise that of the public, that Dwyer's absence and sickness
was due to his indulging too freely in the cup of intemperance which was the
only truthful answer. Inspector J. Jones made enquiries himself in the area
about the matter. Mr. Taylor, Licensee of Oakvale Inn advised Inspector Jones
that he considered Mr. Dwyer to be slightly drunk on the night in question.
As a result of his investigations, Inspector Jones suspended John Dwyer for
one month. Following a further absence from school in October 1876, and
another doubtful explanation, Inspector Jones dismissed Mr. Dwyer from the
teaching service.

In November 1876, with the arrival of a new teacher George Forsyth,
Mr. James Rae, Secretary of the local School Board, wrote to the Department
of Public Instruction drawing its attention to the poor condition of the
teacher's residence. Mr. Rae advised that the residence consisted of two
buildings, each of two rooms. Both were of slab walls and shingle roof
construction, but one building was very old.