A Blackboard in the Bush

Pudman Creek School & public education in NSW.

In opening a window on the history of Pudman School, its teachers and students, this book does four things. 

First, it looks briefly at the history of education in the colony of New South Wales and the internecine battles that arose between the competing religious interests that sought to rule.

Second, it captures from archival material what it took to get a school at Pudman Creek.

Third, it tells what it was like to teach at Pudman, a sole-teacher school, against the backdrop of a growing bureaucracy and a powerful inspectorial system.

Fourth it draws on first-hand accounts, derived from interviewing former pupils, to discover what it was like to attend a small rural school.

This mix illustrates the bond between community, teacher and school, a drama played out in scores of similar small rural communities across NSW as education was brought to the people who asked for it.