THE long-term future of Tantanoola Primary School is of great concern to one of its “oldest” old scholars.
Lifelong Tantanoola resident Bruce Carthew spent his schooling there from 1944-51.
Five generations of the Carthew family went to school at Tantanoola comprising his grandfather, father ,two daughters and grandchildren.
“It was still wartime when I first started at Tantanoola and we had air raid drills,” Mr Carthew said,
“The school bell would be rung and we would file out of the class and go into the trenches dug in the yard.
“Back in those days, we lived a few miles (5km) out of town and I would come into town by a horse and cart.
“My grandmother Osman lived right next door to the school and so my horse would stay in her yard all day.”
Mr Carthew said discipline was maintained by the teacher wielding a cane.
“If the teacher ever sent you outside the classroom and onto the porch, you knew you were going to cop it.”
Mr Carthew said Tantanoola had a student population of around 80 in his day and the staff comprised a headmaster and a teacher.
He said the school was divided into upper and lower grades.
The decline in enrolments is down to two factors in the eyes of Mr Carthew.
“There are just not the young families around,” he said.
“I reckon there are about 20 houses in Tantanoola which have just one person living in them.
“There are also many people aged 60 and above and they do not have children.
“I am also disappointed that buses are allowed to stop in Tantanoola and take children away to school in Millicent and Mount Gambier.”
Founded in 1883, Tantanoola is one of the oldest schools in the region to still be located on its original site.
The school’s most prominent ex-student was former State Premier, the late Des Corcoran.
