Our School History

Mount Hunter is one of the oldest districts in Australia.  At the time of white settlement in 1788, it was inhabited by the Tharawal and Gundungurra peoples.

The first visit by officials from the new Sydney colony was in 1796 when Governor John Hunter "ascended a hill which, from every point of view, appeared the highest in the neighbourhood."  He called it Mount Hunter, a peak situated one kilometre east of the modern Calf Farm Road.

In 1848 Governor Fitzroy appointed a Board of National Education to establish schools in rural districts, using a combination of government and private funding. Previously schooling in the colony had been under the control of the three churches (Anglican, Presbyterian and Catholic), supported by limited amounts of state aid. Fitzroy's policy produced a steady increase in the number of NSW schools, with 259 operating by 1866. Mount Hunter was one of these new schools.

Getting Started

The driving force for establishing the school was the Macarthur family, pioneers of the Australian wool industry and doyens of Camden society. An application was lodged in 1857 and construction work on the school building commenced the following year. It is not clear from the records if a separate teacher's residence was built at this time. The first reference to the construction of a residence was in 1884. Most likely, the school started with a single building, a traditional schoolhouse, accommodating both the teacher's family and a classroom. Other buildings came later.

In November 1858, James Macarthur (the fourth son of John Macarthur) wrote to the Education Board, informing it that the building would be completed by the beginning of the following year. He estimated the likely number of students as between 40 and 60, with perhaps as many as 80 attending. He also referred to the school as being at Mount Hunter Bridge.

In these early days of public education in NSW, the local residents of a district were expected to provide one-third of the cost of school buildings by subscription, with the Board providing the remaining two-thirds. Macarthur gave a personal contribution of 20 pounds. For this era, it was a significant donation, pointing to the early financial success of the Macarthurs and the general prosperity of the Mount Hunter district. The settlement was large enough to warrant a school, ranking third behind Camden and Cawdor in population. The school became Mount Hunter's first public facility – the Westbrook (Mount Hunter) Anglican Church followed in 1875.

On 12 February 1859, Macarthur again wrote to the Board, noting that the building was ready and requesting that the school's first teacher depart from Sydney on Monday 21 February. This was Cornelius Traveller, a 27-year-old who had received one month's training at the Fort Street Model School. He arrived in Camden with his wife and three children on 22 February. Heavy rain hit the district, however, delaying the opening of the school until the following day. This was an occasion of great significance and celebration for the young farming community.

A Family and Community School

Our school continues to provide a quality education for its students.  In a dynamic and challenging world, size is not always an asset. Mount Hunter has always been a relatively small school (over the years, fluctuating between eight and 88 students). This has fostered a more personalised and caring approach to education, with committed families, teachers and staff. When James Macarthur established the school he was acting in the great Macarthur tradition of enterprise, self-improvement and community effort. Today, after 160 years of achievement, producing fine scholars and citizens who have contributed much to our society, these values live on at Mount Hunter Public School. This has always been a family and community school, proud of its past and confident about the education of the next generation.