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Cowan Tent School in Muogamarra, 1927
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DetailsWhen the Great Northern Highway (later called the Pacific Highway) was being constructed in our local area between 1925 and 1930. During construction there were several depots and workers camps between Berowra and Brooklyn. It was said that Cowan even had two pubs to cater for the 800 workers engaged in that section of construction.
There were gangs of 30 to 60 workmen set up in camps along the route which were located one to three miles apart. Many had their families with them including school age children.
In September 1926, Ganger William Taylor wrote a historic letter to the Director of Education;
Dear Sir,
We are situated about three miles from Cowan railway Station and Berowra is the nearest school, a distance of over six miles. There are 16 children in age ranging from five to 12 years in these camps. Is there any possibility of getting a tent school for the benefit of those children as there is no possibility of them getting any schooling otherwise.
There was a precedent of “tent schools” which followed the fettlers families’ during construction of the railways in the late 1800s.
One of the workers at this camp was Viv Lawless, the grandson of Berowra’s first settler Mary Wall and who grew up on his grandmother's farm at Berowra. Lawless had three children and took them to school Berowra in his bus every weekday morning, along with other children from the Towers and Piggott families. However, there was no available transport to return to camp so these children had to make their way back covering the six miles on foot without shoes.
The Education Department approved Taylor’s request and a teacher was allocated with an eighteen foot marquee tent, sent to the camp along with other teaching material such as a blackboard and easel. Also sent were a teacher’s chair and table, and four trestle desks.
The school was erected on a flat rock near the workers camp which was beside the old road in the area, Peats Ferry Road. It was set up directly over a significant Aboriginal carving of a kangaroo with little regard given to the indigenous artwork. The positions of corners of the marquee were marked into the rock and holes drilled to motar the rope pegs.
The school opened on Monday 31st January 1927 with Frederick Christie as the teacher and 14 children enrolled. In the first month of the school operating it was reported that the six girl students had a 92% attendance rate and the eight boys had 82%.
However, it seems Hornsby Shire Council, who had the contract to construct the new road between Hornsby and Hawkesbury River, were not happy about not being consulted about the tent school proposal and the Shire Clerk was determined to close it. This was done when several of the workers with their families were transferred to a camp at Peats Ferry and their children enrolled at Brooklyn Public School. This dropped the student numbers at the tent school below the minimum (10) and by April 1927 the Cowan construction camp school was closed. Seven years later the tent school site, and road construction camp, became the boundary of Muogamarra Sanctuary.
The construction of the new road between Hornsby and Peats Ferry continued until 1930. The carriageway formation was constructed from 1925 to 1928. The concrete pavement was laid between 1929 and 1930. Two large depots and camps between Cowan and Peats Ferry were located at what later became Wedgewood and Oliver’s Garage.
CreatorNathan TilburyKeywords Pacific HighwaySchoolsMuogamarra Nature ReservePeats Ferry Road
There were gangs of 30 to 60 workmen set up in camps along the route which were located one to three miles apart. Many had their families with them including school age children.
In September 1926, Ganger William Taylor wrote a historic letter to the Director of Education;
Dear Sir,
We are situated about three miles from Cowan railway Station and Berowra is the nearest school, a distance of over six miles. There are 16 children in age ranging from five to 12 years in these camps. Is there any possibility of getting a tent school for the benefit of those children as there is no possibility of them getting any schooling otherwise.
There was a precedent of “tent schools” which followed the fettlers families’ during construction of the railways in the late 1800s.
One of the workers at this camp was Viv Lawless, the grandson of Berowra’s first settler Mary Wall and who grew up on his grandmother's farm at Berowra. Lawless had three children and took them to school Berowra in his bus every weekday morning, along with other children from the Towers and Piggott families. However, there was no available transport to return to camp so these children had to make their way back covering the six miles on foot without shoes.
The Education Department approved Taylor’s request and a teacher was allocated with an eighteen foot marquee tent, sent to the camp along with other teaching material such as a blackboard and easel. Also sent were a teacher’s chair and table, and four trestle desks.
The school was erected on a flat rock near the workers camp which was beside the old road in the area, Peats Ferry Road. It was set up directly over a significant Aboriginal carving of a kangaroo with little regard given to the indigenous artwork. The positions of corners of the marquee were marked into the rock and holes drilled to motar the rope pegs.
The school opened on Monday 31st January 1927 with Frederick Christie as the teacher and 14 children enrolled. In the first month of the school operating it was reported that the six girl students had a 92% attendance rate and the eight boys had 82%.
However, it seems Hornsby Shire Council, who had the contract to construct the new road between Hornsby and Hawkesbury River, were not happy about not being consulted about the tent school proposal and the Shire Clerk was determined to close it. This was done when several of the workers with their families were transferred to a camp at Peats Ferry and their children enrolled at Brooklyn Public School. This dropped the student numbers at the tent school below the minimum (10) and by April 1927 the Cowan construction camp school was closed. Seven years later the tent school site, and road construction camp, became the boundary of Muogamarra Sanctuary.
The construction of the new road between Hornsby and Peats Ferry continued until 1930. The carriageway formation was constructed from 1925 to 1928. The concrete pavement was laid between 1929 and 1930. Two large depots and camps between Cowan and Peats Ferry were located at what later became Wedgewood and Oliver’s Garage.
CreatorNathan TilburyKeywords Pacific HighwaySchoolsMuogamarra Nature ReservePeats Ferry RoadRelated
CollectionNathan Tilbury
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Nathan Tilbury, Cowan Tent School in Muogamarra, 1927. Hornsby Shire, accessed 15/07/2025, https://hornsbyshire.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/5088