Boys School

[[img/boysschool4689B308.jpg|]]

The Fremantle Boys School (1854) is in [[../streets/adelaide.html|Adelaide Street]] on what is now the [[../parks/princessmay.html|Princess May Reserve]]. The school was designed by [[../people/sanfordwilliamayshford.html|William Ayshford Sanford]] and was built by convict labour between February 1853 and 1854, with additions in 1910. It was upgraded to a high school in 1947, and closed as a school in 1958, when John Curtin High School opened. The Headmaster 1863-1889 was [[../people/humble.html|George Bland Humble]] (1839-1930), who also served as Clerk of Works of the [[../council/towncouncil.html|Town Council]] 1874-1883 and [[../council/townclerks.html|Town Clerk]] 1883-1904.

[[../people/davisjohnhtml|John Okey Davis]] Jnr was schoolmaster in Fremantle [not known where] in 1841, & was later a clerk at the Convict Establishment ([[../books/erickson.html|Erickson]]).

The Film and Television Institute, FTI, including its [[../cinemas/fti.html|cinema]], was the tenant from 1971. (It was formerly PIFT, the Perth Institute for Film and Television.) In 2014 the building was closed for renovations, and FTI moved to the Arts Precinct in Perth. The building has been let to DADAA, together with the Fremantle Foundation, and was reopened as such 3 November 2016. DADAA is an acronym for Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts + A (Australia?). DADAA was previously at 21 Beach St (next to The Kiosk) in a building which was demolished in 2023.

This 1910 photo from the Fremantle Library, taken before 1910, shows the school buildings with sheet roofing. [[img/FBSmag1936.jpg|]] In 2015 the roof was replaced with galvanised iron sheeting, tho the material before that looked like slate shingles. Fremantle Local History Collection photo #1771, from a postcard produced for the Fremantle News Agents Association. This photograph was taken before the additions in 1911 of a science room and office. Taken before 1910.

Cover of a School magazine from 1936, showing the crest and motto: PLAY THE GAME. Motto and Crest also appeared on top of a commemorative plaque (which was stolen around 2020) under the [[../streets/proclamation.html|Proclamation Tree]] in the [[../parks/mayors.html|Mayor's Park]], because it had been made by boys at the school in 1930. (SLWA) >

Crib board (for scoring in the game cribbage) made by 13-yr-old Fremantle Boys student Bob Allan in 1926. The board was recovered from a charity shop in Tamworth, Staffs by Tony Armstrong, who kindly sent the photo.

References and Links

Hutchison, David, [[../fremantlewalks/index.html|Fremantle Walks]].

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 16 December, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/schools/boysschool.html (it was last updated on 23 October, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.