History Notes - Tarpoly School

History Notes -  Tarpoly School

 In January, 1941, a Subsidised School was opened in a cottage at Tarpoly Woolshed, the first teacher being a Miss McNeill.
About two years later, enlarged enrolments enabled a full Government School to be established in these premises.
In 1944, part of the Stock Route at Tarpoly Creek was taken for a school site and a building was moved from Keepit, near Manilla and erected on this block as Tarpoly Public School.
It continued until 1955 and after closure for some time was moved to the McIntyre area, used for some years and is now in Barraba School.

 Memories of Tarpoly School - David Eames (1938 -1948)

The first school at “Tarpoly” was held in a tack-shed at the “Tarpoly” station homestead.  The owner, Mr. Bowman, made the shed available to the education department until a school house could be shifted from an area where it wasn’t used anymore.

The first bush school David and Harry Eames attended was an unused tack shed at George Bowman’s property “Tarpoly”.
I was kept in one afternoon, I hadn’t finished my homework. When you run your rabbit traps after school, reset the traps, and skin the rabbits it doesn’t leave a lot of time for homework, besides, I found it hard to see with the kero lamps in the smoke blackened bush kitchen.  Harry was let out with the other kids at our makeshift school.  We had arrived doubled up on old Snowy as usual, and now it was time to go home, he had to wait for me.
Under the watchful eye of the schoolmistress, I concentrated on my work, thinking of the rabbits to be caught, Dandy, my constant companion, running alongside.  My mind wandered. A loud “bang” broke the silence.  The teacher jumped to her feet, ran to the door and out on to the verandah.  On the opposite side of the room came a gentle knock on the window. A head of tussled blond hair appeared, a face with a grin from ear to ear.  Harry had Snowy saddled and was under the window.   “Hurry up Davie the old bat will be back any minute, we can get out of here before the penny drops, did you hear the noise?”
I dropped the books and made a beeline for the open window.  “What the bloody hell was it you belted; I nearly jumped out of my skin”.  I slipped out the window onto Snowy’s back.

“That old empty water tank.  I whacked ‘er with a lump of old plough I found on the ground, sounded like a bomb going  off didn’t it”.

Harry dug his heels into our old nag as we raced down the dusty road towards Tarpoly creek. Glancing behind I could see our teacher was unhappy, waving her arms about in an agitated, threatening gesture.  Snowy’s tail swung in a wide circle showing his “freckle” to the disgusted “wolloper”.  It seemed he wanted to get home and put his nosebag on.  I couldn’t blame him.  With two apprenticed outlaws clinging on like grim death, we raced for the stock route and home.