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Newcastle East School History

Newcastle East Public School began its life in a church vestry in 1816, under instructions from Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Its purpose was the provision of free education to all children in the fledgling town of Newcastle, whether they were children of convicts or free settlers, native-born, indigenous, or immigrants.

Modelled on the Scottish system of universal free education, it was a “charity school”, its lessons based around reading and maths, using the Bible as its source. For over two hundred years the school has maintained these traditions of quality, free, universal education, its survival rendering it Australia’s oldest continually-operational school.

This archival site, made possible with funding from the Department of Education New South Wales, can be used thematically, chronologically, or in its Full Archive section, by specific search terms. This archive was compiled by John Beach and Damien Linnane.