By Cara Kemp and Renee Powell The Canowindra community came together over the weekend to celebrate an incredible milestone, 150 years of education, with events that brought generations of families back through the school gates. From cocktail parties to fetes and tree dedications, the celebrations were filled with joy, reflection and a deep appreciation for the town’s rich educational history. The festivities began on Friday night with a welcome cocktail party at Perennialle, attended by more than 100 people, including ex students and visitors from as far as Queensland and northern New South Wales. “It was a wonderful weekend, everything was great,” said Miriam ‘Mim’ Loomes, a member of the Canowindra Historical Society and a teacher at Canowindra Central and High Schools for more than 30 years. “Starting Friday night, there were over 100 people at the Welcome cocktail party.” “We had music by ex students and current students and the food was absolutely fantastic,” Ms Loomes said. Ms Loomes said the organisers were thrilled with how smoothly the evening ran. “I think they were very happy with it and there were some nice presentations made to people.” Saturday saw crowds pour into Canowindra Public School, where the day kicked off with a student assembly that featured music, dance and smiles all around. “At 11 o’clock when it opened, the primary school had a student assembly,” Ms Loomes said. “The kids did a wonderful job, they sang the school song and ‘Home Among the Gum Trees,’ and they danced.” “It was just absolutely brilliant.” The crowd, she said, was enormous. “Someone said there were over 1,000 people there.” Following the assembly, a bottle tree dedication took place, a tradition at the school since the 1950s. “It’s been traditional at the primary school since probably 1950 and they planted another one,” Ms Loomes said. Canowindra Public School principal Sharon Hawker extended a big thank you to the community for coming together for the celebrations. Ms Hawker thanked the school communities, the P and C committees and school families, for their outstanding efforts in putting together the event. Canowindra Public School children proudly wore their uniform on Saturday so they could help show visitors their school. Saturday evening featured a dinner at the Old Viking, dedicated to Betty Robinson, a pioneer of public education in Canowindra. “That was a celebration for Betty Robinson, she was the original instigator of public education in Canowindra back in the 1870s,” Ms Loomes said. “There were a lot of her family members there, which was wonderful.” “All the people who had travelled from far away turned up again and we even had the original writer of the first book there, the 1975 book, Dorothy Balcombe.” The celebrations wrapped up on Sunday morning at Canowindra High School, with students serving egg and bacon rolls and guiding visitors through the campus. “They took visitors on escorted tours around the high school and showed them the new facilities,” Ms Loomes said. “A lot of ex teachers came back, and the ex students and teachers had a great catch up under one of the big trees in the quadrangle, it was excellent.” She said it was particularly special to reconnect with people she had taught during her three decades at the school. “I was 30 years at the high school, I came in 1960 and left in 1990 to do other things in education.” “It was really good to see them again,” she said. Among the many attendees were families with deep connections to the school. Marion Wilson OAM (née Scoble), who started kindergarten in 1946, travelled from Brisbane to be part of the milestone. Robert Grimshaw also brought along his school photos, starting with his kindergarten class in 1947. His mother, children and grandchildren all attended Canowindra Public School, making it a truly generational celebration. By Sunday evening, the weekend had come to an emotional close, with book sales booming and the Canowindra Museum drawing a steady stream of visitors. Reflecting on the weekend, Ms Loomes said it was one she’ll never forget. “I had a wonderful time,” she said. “It was lovely from a personal point of view and it was so good to see the effort everyone made to come back.” “It really showed how strong our community still is even 150 years later.”
