Page 54 - J Delaney - City of Cessnock Education and Schools

61.

BROKENBACK SCHOOL
LATER BRUNKERVILLE SCHOOL

Travellers to the Lake Macquarie region, or to and from
Sydney via the Freeman's Waterhole Road, generally know the very pretty
hamlet nestling under the 'Gap' as Brunkerville. This area at a time
in its early days was known as 'Mount Pleasant' or the 'Brush'.

During the latter part of 1869, a committee of the local
residents petitioned the Council of Education, formed under the "Public
Schools Act of 1866", for the establishment of a school in the Mount
Pleasant district and asked for the school to be called the Mount
Pleasant School. This petition indicated that there were over seventy
(70) children within two (2) miles of the suggested school, all of
whom were in need of education facilities.

The Council of 2ducation agreed to provide a school, if
the local residents, (thirty-one (31) families), cor::.ributed one third
of the cost of the building . The following Local Sc~ool Board was
appointed:-

Mr. Henry Strong
Mr. Matthew Stevenson
Mr. Thomas Blissett
Mr. George Gill
Mr. William Hcmard

The Council of Education decreed that the school na~e was to be '2rokenback'.

The school opened on 23rd January 1870, with Mr. Martin
Steinbech of West Maitland as the first teacher. Sixty-three (63)
pupils were enrolled. The first school was a combined residence end
schoolhouse. It was thirty (30) feet by eighteen (18) feet and . twelve
(12) feet high. It ~as cf split slab construction and shingled-r~sfed.
Its cost had been £155.J.J ($310.00).

On 8th August 1388, the local residents pe:itioned the 2sucation
Department for a new sc:1c0l and residence. The pet::ion stated tr.at