Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School, Yanco Agricultural High School and Hurlstone Agricultural High School are the state's only public selective and agricultural schools that also include a co-educational boarding school. The 112-hectare (277-acre) Hurlstone Agricultural campus includes classroom blocks, an operational farm, sporting facilities and student accommodation.[2]
History
Manual training class, 1913
Hurlstone was established as a boys-only school in 1907 in Hurlstone Park, approximately ten kilometres south west of Sydney, at the present site of Trinity Grammar School. The original owner of the land was a teacher, John Kinloch, one of the first graduates of the University of Sydney. He named the land 'Hurlstone Estate', after his mother's maiden name and set up his own school on it in 1878 which he called the Hurlstone School and College.[3]
In those days most students completed their schooling after primary school and students at 'Hurlstone Agricultural Continuation School' (as it was known at the time) studied there for only two years. In 1926 the school moved to its present site in Glenfield, approximately 42 km south-west of Sydney (between Liverpool and Campbelltown) and adjacent to Glenfield railway station. By then its student numbers had grown from 30 in 1907, to 148.[3] The school supported government policy to promote productivity in the agricultural sector through the training of boys in all aspects of agricultural sciences and farm management.
For a brief period in the early 1940s it was known as 'Macarthur Agricultural High School' in honour of wool-grower John Macarthur, but it soon reverted to its previous name.
Hurlstone was a boys' school until 1979, when the decision was made to become co-educational.[3]
In 2008, the New South Wales Government declared 140 hectares of Hurlstone's farmland 'surplus' and proposed the sale of the land, leaving the school with just 20 hectares.[4] The announcement was met with immediate public protest[5] and the formation of a local community group Save Hurlstone Educational and Agricultural Property (SHEAP)[6] eventuating in a government inquiry into the proposed sale and proceeds of the sale.[7] There was further pressure against the plans when the National Trust heritage listed the school in late 2009.[8] The government inquiry resulted in a recommendation of the sale of a small parcel of school land with the proceeds intended to help upgrade school facilities.[7]
On 18 November 2015, there was another proposal to sell the land the school and its farm operated on.[9]
Principals
Collectable school cigarette card featuring the Hurlstone colours & crest, c. 1910s
The following individuals have served as principal of the Hurlstone Agricultural High School:
Ordinal
Officeholder
Term start
Term end
Time in office
Notes
1
Frank McMullen
1907
1916
8–9 years
2
George Longmuir
1917
1938
20–21 years
3
Percival Hindmarsh
1939
1945
5–6 years
4
James McEwan King
1946
1953
6–7 years
5
Clarence G. James
1954
1967
12–13 years
6
Reginald W. Clarke
1968
1978
9–10 years
7
James F. White
1979
1982
2–3 years
8
G. K. Wilson
1983
1987
3–4 years
9
R. M. Kidd
1988
2003
14–15 years
10
John Norris
2003
2010
6–7 years
11
Kerrie Wratten
2011
2013
1–2 years
12
Daryl Currie
2014
2018
3–4 years
13
Christine Castle
2018
incumbent
5–6 years
Population
The boarding school at sunset. Several dormitories, a kitchen, and dining room are visible.
Enrolment at the school is dependent on selective examinations of Year 6 students from across the state. New students coming in later grades have to sit a similar exam.[10]
Campus
The school maintains a dairy with a milking herd of 38-45 cows and approximately 60 heifers, dry cows and calves.
Hurlstone features a fully functional farm and a commercial dairy. Animals on the farm include: beef and dairy cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and chickens.[11] Clarke House is a heritage listed building which houses Hurlstone's memorabilia museum.[12]
The school also hosts a memorial forest and cairn on Roy Watts Road, past the boarding school. Established in 1950, it is believed to be Australia's first living war memorial, with a gum tree dedicated to each of the 600 students from the school who served in WWI and II.[13] Currently, ANZAC and Remembrance Day ceremonies are held at the memorial forest.
As part of the 2008 mini-budget, the New South Wales Government declared 140 hectares of the school to be surplus to educational needs and the land will be sold in 2011.[4] However, due to a strong public protest against this action,[5] an inquiry was led into process of selling approximately seven-eighths of the school.[7] As a result, Mal Peters, the Inquiry Chair, recommended the school's agricultural sector to be upgraded in order to reflect current industry practice and standards due to it being an economic, wise and important public investment for the people of NSW as it supplies young scientists with the knowledge for the ever declining, but demanding agricultural sector of the world.[14]
In 2020 a new school called Hurlstone Agricultural High School was to open at Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury.[15] The existing school in Glenfield would be renamed Roy Watts High School (after Hurlstone alumnus Roy Watts) and would remain fully selective but would no longer be an agricultural school.[16] However, this decision was cancelled in December 2019. The farm land would have been converted to a new public school as well as housing and a shopping centre.[17]
Notable alumni
Phil Burton – Australian musician, member of the Australian pop vocal band Human Nature
Alan O. Trounson (1958–1962) – biologist, stem cell researcher and IVF pioneer[18]
^p. 45 "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2012.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Hurlstone Inquiry.
^Grant, Ian (1996). "Edmondson, John Hurst (1914 - 1941)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14 (Online ed.). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. p. 80. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
