Kiama Superior Public School
This article showcases the original Kiama Public School (now the Dunstan Room and the Assembly Hall function rooms at the Sebel Harbourside Kiama) ...
In 1865, two lots in Minnamurra Street, Kiama, were granted as a school site, and later a house and a half-acre adjoining the school site were purchased. The foundation stone of the school was laid on 21 April 1870, and the one-room building was opened on 5 April 1871. Originally, the main entrance to the school faced onto Hindmarsh Park. However, when the railway was extended into Kiama, in 1888, this main entrance was lost.
The first teacher at the school was Mr John Gordon Stewart, and later a pupil teacher was appointed, Miss Mary Kohne. The initial enrollment was 120 pupils. In May 1874, a verandah on the north side of the schoolroom was added as the heat affected the concentration of the children. An infants school was added in 1879. The two-storey section of the school building was added 14 years later and opened in May 1893. Originally the building was divided into three sections over both floors, but later it was changed to two rooms on each floor. The school population at this time was 380 pupils.
The Kiama P&C Association began in 1907, and continues to raise money and provide equipment to Kiama Public School to this day.
In 1926, the Council wanted to establish a High School, but this proposal was rejected by the Education Department. Therefore, a 'superior' post-primary course was run for students who did not want to travel to Wollongong High School. By 1950, there were 109 secondary pupils and six teachers, and some classes were held in the local church halls.
In 1948, Bombo Primary School was closed and the school building was transported to the Kiama Public School site.
By the 1960s, accommodation was becoming a problem at KPS, so a separate block of land was acquired on the present site of the school, in Collins Street, and four classrooms were opened in 1965 for the 5th and 6th grades. In 1968, the Infants section of KPS became entirely separate from the remainder of the school, with the infants remaining at the original Minnamurra Street site.
When Minnamurra Public School (to the north of Kiama) was opened in 1976, many pupils transferred and numbers at KPS started to decline. In 2001, the KPS Infants School amalgamated with the rest of the school on the current Collins Street site. The Minnamurra Street site was subsequently sold and redeveloped as a hotel complex.
Kiama Public School not long after it was built, c. mid-1870s
Sport's Day, 1971. Girls playing Captain Ball on the Showground field
The new primary school, 1968
