Celebrating 175 years of schooling at Bowning

Jane Southwell, Alastair Crombie & Peter Browning at the Bowning School's celebration of 175 years of public schooling

Bowning village community was out in force on Saturday 9th March to celebrate a very special event. Their village school has been operating for the past 175 years.

The Board of National Education was founded in 1848 and tasked with establishing a public education system in NSW. Prior to 1848, schools operated under a denominational system and were the responsibility of churches.

Bowning School was one of the first NSW schools to be opened - 1849 saw students attending classes.

One of the Centre's volunteers, Jane Southwell, lives in the Bowning district and along with Peter Browning they set up an interesting display about early education and some of the local bush schools that were operating in the district in the 19th and early 20th century.

Later in the year Wee Jasper school will be celebrating 125 years of continuous operation.