Yanco Agricultural High School

Yanco Agricultural High School
School Crest
General information
Location	Yanco, NSW

Yanco Agricultural High School is a co-educational agricultural secondary school located in Yanco in the local government area of Leeton in south western New South Wales. The school is one of four agricultural high schools in New South Wales which include Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School in Tamworth in northern New South Wales, James Ruse Agricultural High School in western Sydney and Hurlstone Agricultural High School in south-western Sydney. The school was officially opened in March 1922 and is the only residential boarding school in New South Wales to have no day students. The school serves the south of New South Wales and Victoria with the other schools serving the other regions of the state. Yanco Agricultural High School is located approximately 10 kilometres from the Leeton CBD along Euroley Road. YAHS has many traditions it follows. It also enjoys sport and plays around the district in school competitions, and in intertown competitions.

Buildings and capacity

It has an enrolment of over 370 students in 2012 and has reached its accommodation capacity. It has a class block (known as "the Old Class block") because of its age. The classblock has eight classrooms, a science lab, a computer lab, the English staffroom, and the Maths staffroom. There is a Technical and Applied Studies block which contains a TAS staffroom, three classrooms, a cooking room, a computer lab, and at the end (a demountable) an ex-science lab, now used as a classroom. There are woodwork and metalwork rooms in a building known as "the Hackey". There is another class block (known as "the New Classblock" or the "Brian Roberts Classblock"), which contains an Art/Music staffroom, HSIE staffroom, three classrooms, a music room, art rooms, and soon to be computer lab. There are offices in the historic McCaughey house.

There are five dormitory buildings (Mutch, Gardiner, Breakwell, Hindmarsh, Mason) where students sleep; girls and boys are separated from access after certain times.

History

A BRIEF HISTORY OF YANCO AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL 1922-2012

Establishing a residential State high school at Yanco in 1922 was the product of several important developments in NSW education and agriculture. In 1900, the pastoralist Samuel McCaughey purchased North Yanco station. He constructed a red brick homestead and some 200 miles (320 kilometres) of irrigation channels to irrigate some 40,000 acres (16,660 hectares) of property stretching northwest from the Murrumbidgee River. Some of these channels are still in use today.

After a nine year drought and much political argument, the NSW government decided to create an irrigation area north of the Murrumbidgee River in 1906 which would be supplied with water from Burrinjuck Dam. The North Yanco property was resumed from McCaughey in 1910. McCaughey retained a small area of some 700 acres (290 hectares) for his personal use under a rental arrangement with the state government. McCaughey’s Will made no provision for the use of his wealth or remaining land for a school. His death in 1919 saw this last parcel of his former lands revert to government control in 1920 after a clearing sale had been organised by family members.

Leeton, a town barely a decade old, had limited educational facilities in the early 1920s. A group of Leeton citizens approached the NSW government, seeking a high school that would serve to train future farmers. At this time, the concept of agricultural education was hardly new: several European countries already had agricultural schools in operation. NSW also had its first specialist agricultural high school, Hurlstone, set up in 1907. The state government decided to act on the Leeton delegation’s request.

The residual McCaughey lands had a cash book value of £28,200 ($56,400). It was transferred in 1921 from the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission to the Department of Education, realising local hopes for the state’s second agricultural high school at last.

Under the active and personal interest of Tom Mutch, Labor Minister of Education, Yanco Agricultural High School opened in February 1922 after statewide advertising of available boarding places. Seventy residential and twelve day students were enrolled. Tom Mutch would continue his close involvement in Yanco’s development during the formative 1920s.

The school initially offered three years of residential junior high school, leading to the Intermediate Certificate. Thereafter, students could leave to work on the land or transfer to Hawkesbury Agricultural College to complete Leaving Certificate studies and then matriculate to Sydney University.

Staff and students were to find living conditions at Yanco quite difficult during the first few years. The property had been allowed to run down after McCaughey’s death, there was no electricity and insufficient bedding was available. McCaughey’s red brick homestead provided the accommodation, a kitchen and dining room, while his shearers’ quarters, some distance from the homestead, were converted into classrooms. Hurricane lamps gave light and meals were cooked on an open fire in the yard during the first months. As farm equipment was limited, students cleared overgrown fields with spades and hoes.

Despite many limitations, Ernest Breakwell, the first principal, oversaw the beginning of an initial building program at Yanco. A purpose-built dormitory block, Mutch House, a school hall and a principal’s residence were completed in 1927. Sporting areas were developed between the school and Euroley Road to the west.

The depression of the 1930s saw a fall in enrolments as parents chose to keep their sons at home on farms. With the gradual return of prosperity, however, the school’s size was increased with the introduction of senior students in 1934 under principal, Oliver Gardiner. A sporting house system was introduced and an annual Beach Carnival inaugurated by Jack Woods, a teacher and former Sydney surf lifesaver. The first Leaving Certificate group graduated in 1935 with several students matriculating to University.

By the late 1930s a further developmental phase under principal, Percival Hindmarsh, resulted in the building of a new classblock. This replaced McCaughey’s former shearing quarters, which had served as teaching spaces for over fifteen years. McCaughey’s forge room, on the site of today’s Maintenance complex, was demolished and replaced by a new industrial arts teaching area further south. The ‘Hackey,’ intended as a temporary structure, remains in use today.

The advent of war in 1939 led to further difficulties for principal, James McEwen King. King had created a cadet unit in 1939 and saw many of its former members including his own two sons, volunteer for war service. At school assembles, King had the occasional sad duty to announce the death of former students some of whom were known by those still at school. Students from the time also vividly recall the day in 1942 when King announced the death of one his sons, and the considerable dignity and inner strength he was able to draw upon at such a tragic family time.

King found his teaching and farm staff significantly depleted as the armed forces sought recruits. Taking the attitude that ‘making the best of the situation’ was a significant school and personal contribution to the war effort, the Kings threw themselves into ensuring the school weathered wartime restrictions and rationing.

In 1940 the school’s name was changed by the state government. The name ‘Yanco’ was replaced by ‘McCaughey Memorial’ in a move that Country Party Minister for Education, David Drummond, saw as ‘more gracious and fitting’. The name change was considerably unpopular and ultimately short lived. With a change of state government in 1941, the new name was abandoned.

The end of war in 1945 brought new hopes for school development. Under principal, Tom Mason, an annual Gala Day and fireworks was commenced in March 1947 to raise funds to build a War Memorial swimming pool. This became a reality in 1961 though the costs of construction would concern numerous School Council committees through the 1960s.

Other sporting facilities including the development of basketball and tennis courts and the construction of a sports hall became the focus for School Councils and the Old Yanconians’ Union over the next thirty years. Old Yanconians raised funds to construct a war memorial by the 1960s. At the same time, working bees were organised by principal, Richard Giltinan, to develop new sporting fields between the principal’s residence and the front gates. Giltinan also inaugurated an annual school excursion to James Ruse Agricultural High at Carlingford. Year 9 students from James Ruse would visit Yanco for a week of social, cultural and sporting activities and use the student accommodation of Year 10s who had gone to Sydney to be billeted by James Ruse families.

Increased federal and state funding for education from the 1960s also saw considerable expansion in facilities in a third building phase. A sick bay, a residential staff common room and two additional dormitory areas, Gardiner and Breakwell Houses, were completed by 1964. The new dormitories eased considerable overcrowding of rooms and corridors in McCaughey and Mutch houses. Later in the decade, a Library and Science block was built. Hindmarsh House was opened in 1976, initially providing single room study facilities for Year 12 students. The School Council funded construction of the Giltinan sports hall in 1975.

Although school enrolments reached a peak of 342 in 1969 this was not sustained over the next three decades. Student numbers fluctuated between 250 and 340 at times. During the 1970s the Department of Education also recognized the need to provide additional staff facilities and accommodation on campus. This led to the appointment of a mix of married and single staff to the school and a less dramatic turnover of staff each year.

The first permanent female teacher was appointed in 1970. Previous to this, the wives of principals and subject masters had occasionally taught subjects but women had not been appointed substantively to the teaching staff. Successive principals’ wives had also taken on the role of school matron until 1986 when, at last, a qualified nurse was appointed. With the considerable and continuing financial investment being made at Yanco and changes in society’s attitudes to single-sex education, the issue of coeducation also emerged for the first time in 1977.

Where Hurlstone experienced the trauma of rapid transition to coeducation in 1979, Yanco was afforded time to consider the consequences and importantly, to plan for its eventual introduction in 1993. Already, a new dining room and kitchen that could accommodate up to 400 students had been completed in 1988. The construction of this facility signalled future departmental intentions for school expansion.

A government media release in September 1991 ended any further speculation about the likelihood of coeducation. Principal, Brian Roberts and the school community, including Old Yanconians, had come to accept the inevitability of change. The announcement of coeducation necessitated extensive building and refurbishment plans totalling $4.2 million for the campus. A fourth phase of school building saw the construction of a Technology and Applied Studies block, an additional class block incorporating specialist art and music spaces and Mason House, to accommodate ninety female students. The sick bay, now Health Centre, was extended and existing boys’ dormitories upgraded.

In January 1993, fifteen girls were enrolled in each of Years 7 and 11. As dormitory construction was still underway, they were accommodated in converted demountable classrooms. Further girls were enrolled in successive years until full coeducation was achieved in 1996.

The development of school resources was also a priority for the wider school community. The Old Yanconians’ Union provided funds to construct a barbecue facility to mark Australia’s bicentennial in 1988. A new widened school entrance, incorporating the school’s original gates forged in the mid-1930s was funded by the P&C. As well as making regular, substantial financial contributions to school resources, the P&C assisted in funding an upgrade to the school tennis courts including a synthetic surface for tennis and netball. Later, it contributed to construction of a weights room at the Giltinan sports hall. Currently, the P&C is putting considerable funds into the construction of a change room facility at the swimming pool.

Issues of pollution in Guise’s Creek from the old piggery and the uncertainty about regular milk collection led to the closure of the school dairy and the old piggery in the early 1990s. Funds obtained from the sale of the dairy herd and its accompanying milk quota were invested in a new piggery and breeding complex to the west of the campus. A major refurbishment of the swimming pool and school hall were carried out in the late 1990s. Airconditioning in dormitories was carried out from 2000.

Seeking to increase school enrolments, principal Colin McIntyre Brown, introduced Equine studies from 2003.  Students were able to study horse management and gain TAFE certificate recognition for senior study.  This move was part of a deliberate school focus on practical agriculture and led to a Director-General’s Award for Excellence  and the opening of an Equine and show stock centre in 2007.  

Student participation in local and interstate shows increased during this time and the school developed the Uroly Murray Grey and McCaughey Limousin cattle studs and the McCaughey White Suffolk sheep stud. Equine students represented the school at gymkhanas throughout the state and took on ceremonial honour guard roles for vice-regal and important occasions in the life of the school.

From the 1990s the school advertised its surrounding River Red Gum forests as environmental study areas for schools. These areas continued to be recreation areas for students, too. It hosted an annual school visit from Hurlstone Agricultural High and from 2005 developed a series of overseas excursions to widen the learning and cultural experiences of its students.

Through its ninety years, Yanco has continued to offer a comprehensive, coeducational experience to its students. It remains the only fully boarding state high school in NSW. While the principal drawing area for students remained the isolated and rural areas of NSW, by 2012, students were being drawn from almost all Australian states. The appointment of a Deputy Principal (Residential) in 2005 led to the development of a focused system of pastoral care and structured out-of-school-hours residential programs for students. By 2012, enrolments had reached 370.

The academic, agricultural and sporting traditions of the school have been long and extensive. Many students have entered the worlds of academia, medicine, law, education and agriculture. Its sporting teams have excelled in rugby union, winning the Buchan Shield, and rugby league, winning the University Shield six times. It continues developing a link with the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste and the people of the rural village of Luro.

W H Barwick

Student, 1965-1970;

Teacher, 1983-1987;

Head Teacher, English and History, 1988-2006

Secretary, Old Yanconians’ Union

SOURCES: Barwick, WH, ‘A History of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas 1884-1918,’ Unpublished M.Litt dissertation, University of New England, 1978

Barwick, WH, ‘School History Supplement, Yanco Agricultural High School’, Murrumbidgee Irrigator, March 1988

DEET, Children in Coeducational Change: A study of a residential school, AGPS 1994

Llewellyn, JG ‘Hurlstone: An Agricultural High School, 1907-1926,’ Unpublished LittB dissertation, University of New England, 1981

School archives and admissions registers, YAHS, 1922 to present

Smith, AF, YAHS: Its History 1922-1975, YAHS publication, 1975

Spencer, JD, Principals and Principles in Agricultural Education, Scanlan, Toowoomba, 2000

The Yanconian, School Magazine, various issues since 1929

Principals of Yanco Agricultural High School since 1922

1922-1928 Ernest BREAKWELL

1928-1933 Oliver GARDINER

1934-1937 Percival HINDMARSH

1938-1945 James McEwan KING

1946-1947 Tom MASON

1948-1958 Richard JANE

1959-1973 Richard GILTINAN

1974-1985 Ian BOND

1986-1998 Brian ROBERTS

1999-2001 Peter SHEARGOLD

2002-2009 Colin McIntyre BROWN

since 2009 Daryl FINCH

See also

• List of Government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales
• List of boarding schools

External links

• Yanco Agricultural High School website
• NSW Department of Education and Training: Yanco Agricultural High School

34.635415°S 146.383424°E / -34.635415; 146.383424