THE 50th anniversary of Newbery Park Primary School has been well and truly celebrated on Friday and Saturday with hundreds gathering to acknowledge the Millicent school’s achievements over the past half-century.
Dignitaries and staff mixed with old scholars and current students at the various events as many cast their minds back to the time in 1967 when it opened its doors as Millicent South Primary School.
Well-wishers came from the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.
The first part of the anniversary celebrations occurred on Friday morning with a symbolic reenactment of the events 50 years ago when students and staff walked from the original school buildings on Mount Gambier Road to their new facilities on Bridges Street.
The original school buildings now house the South East Family History Group Research Centre and the Millicent National Trust Living History Museum and they were toured by the students.
While there, students were given an old style lesson in one of the former classrooms by retired school support officer Colleen Hammat.
Ms Hammat spoke about pens and ink wells, a daily allocation of bottled milk and swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen.
“We had Noel Boyle beating a drum as the students lined up and then marched into class,” Ms Hammat said.
Friday afternoon’s highlight was an assembly with the cutting and sharing of a celebratory cake.
One of those to cut the cake was Megan Werchon who filled the same honour as a year seven student at the 25th anniversary in 1992.
The high point of the celebrations was the open day on Saturday at the school which included games, food stalls and a radio broadcast.
After speeches of welcome, the internment of a time capsule and planting of a tree, attention turned to inspecting the classrooms, photographs and memorabilia.
The positive and cheery vibe was obvious as well as the deep affection for the school.
Derek Jones was at the helm of the school from1984 to 1986 and said he thoroughly enjoyed his time in charge.
Tongue-in-cheek, Mr Jones said his greatest achievement as principal was defeating Millicent North Primary School for the best school entry in the annual Millicent Hospital Parade.
“I had great staff and the kids here were excellent,” Mr Jones said.
“In my last week as principal, my staff moved my office to the ladies staff toilets and installed a skeleton holding a bottle of port wine on the principal’s office chair”.
Among the other past principals present were Betty Burchard, Moira Neagle and Chris Prance.
Foundation scholar and St Martin’s Lutheran College Mount Gambier principal Dianne Eckermann recalled her only year at the school.
“I only did grade seven at Millicent South and I was dux of the school,” Ms Eckermann said.
“I remember my previous school was crowded with 700 crammed onto that site.
“My late father (Millicent jeweller Owen Kahl) was the president of the school committee and he worked hard to get Millicent South started.
“There were plenty of meetings and delegations.”
Another foundation student was Sandra Gurney who transferred from a farming area into the new Millicent school when she was grade two.
“My first school was Pompoon and it closed,” Ms Gurney said.
“So I went from a school with 12 students to one with a few hundred”.
There were three foundation staff members at the anniversary celebrations with reception teacher Nikki Meyers (nee Veitch) among them.
She had a class of 47 youngsters 50 years ago and this was in the days before school support officers were employed.
“I got married during the year and I got my hair cut during my honeymoon,” Ms Meyers said.
“This confused one of my students who recognised my shoes but not me.”
Her time at Millicent South lasted only one year as she moved to East Marden Primary School in Adelaide as her husband’s work was now in the capital city.
Former teachers Frances Clifford (nee Lanza) and Anne-Marie Fitzgerald (nee Seears) have remained friends since teaching together in the early 1970s in the flexible learning unit.
Known locally as “The Flex”, Ms Clifford said they shared the teaching of a combined class of 60 children.
Ms Clifford said team-teaching was uncommon in that era.
“It was a brand new building and we had a lot of visitors and even some from overseas to see what we were doing,” Ms Clifford said.
“We worked very hard with our planning and we even had 60 parent interviews to attend.”
Wattle Range Council Mayor Peter Gandolfi said he had fond memories of his time as a Millicent South student.
“My favourite teacher was Joan Shepherd and I formed life-long friendships with some of my fellow students,” Mr Gandolfi said.
Newbery Park principal Stuart Miller said the 50th anniversary celebrations served a number of purposes.
“We have the opportunity to look back, assess what we are doing now and then look ahead,” Mr Miller said.
“I would like to thank the committee who organised the celebrations as they put together an amazing program.
“The committee had past and present staff, parents and old scholars and they had a great work ethic and commitment.”
Celebrations concluded on Saturday night when 120 dined at the Millicent and District Community Club.
A celebratory cake was cut by Ada Gurney who managed the canteen in the school’s earliest years.
A 40-page commemorative booklet is available for sale at the school.
