Some memories

I have many memories of Petersham Public School.

When I attended the school they had a very crude incinerator near the Hunter Street entry gate which was lit every day to burn school rubbish, lunch scraps and all those fallen leaves from the numerous trees. I can remember the pungent smell that came from the incinerator. Of course these days this activity is banned.

Running in the school grounds was strictly forbidden. One day I was caught doing this and was sent to the head master's office where Mr Cummings administered three heavy cuts of the cane to my hands. I didn't run in the grounds after that!

I remember in the higher classes we did all our writing with steel nibs and ink supplied by the school which was contained in a small well in the center of the student's desk. There was great emphasis placed on being able to write and spell correctly.

Even though it was long ago there was very heavy traffic passing the front of the school along Livingstone Road. There was no forty kilometer per hour speed restriction like today and there were no 'Lolly Pop ladies' on duty at opening and closing times. Never-the-less in all the years I was at the school I can't remember any student being hurt in a traffic incident.

Apart from the very first day of school students walked to school by themselves or with siblings and were not driven to school. Parents were rarely seen. A part of a child's equipment was a raincoat and hat in case it rained when they were walking to or from school which it did frequently in the Sydney winters.

Classrooms had a combustion heater which burned coke and they were used most of the time in winter.

Fresh milk was delivered to the school every day and each child received a small bottle of plain milk free of charge to drink at the morning break.

There was no school canteen but there was a shop close by in Hunter Street where food and lollies were sold.

However, very few students had any money to spend.