Woods Point State School, No 789
Item Number: 3052
Woods Point State School, No 789 opened July 1865 with an enrolment of forty and head teacher William Onslow. Messrs Tonkin, Harrison and Elliot were among some of the head teachers who followed. When some of the small mines in the area closed down during the period 1910-1920 attendance declined. Raging bushfires in 1939 burnt down a considerable part of the Woods point township; the school being one of the buildings that didn’t escape. A new school was built to accommodate the three teachers and the enormous enrolment of 200. By 1969 enrolments were down to twelve, largely as a result of the closure of the Morning Star Mine in 1962. After completing grade six, the pupils either had to go from the district to attend a secondary school or work with the Correspondence School, supplemented by a twice weekly visit from a Mansfield High School teacher. One of the outstanding pupils was Eric Shade. He was born in Woods Point and taught for twenty-three years with the department. He jointed the R.A.N. in 1940, and in 1960 became the Director of Prisons in the Social Welfare Department. Woods Point State School 758 lived only a short life, beginning in March 1864 and closing on May, 1865. Mr James Butler was head teacher when it opened with an enrolment of twenty-seven.