| Stories of the 99-year lease of the school's grounds which the Department holds with the Park
Trust have been surfacing again recently (June 2001). Many of us have been concerned that the school could be evicted when ownership returns to Parramatta Park in 2012. But no! All we had to do was read Tommy's account of the school's history, as written in 1916. To wit: |
| "...Meanwhile (1913) negotiations had been going on to acquire a site for the permanent building and the area in the Park now occupied by our fine new school was agreed upon. At first it was to be leased from the Park Trustees, but difficulties to that course being carried out led to it being resumed ..." (my emphasis) |
Mr Paul Taylor, our Ancient Historian, took on the challenge to discover the facts.
A document search at the Land Titles Office yielded the following:
| This is the full text of the Notification of Resumption, as published in the
Government Gazette No. 163, 15th October, 1913. The actual text of the Proclamation may be read here. (70k) Campbell Carmichael, the Minister for Public Instruction, certified the Proclamation in his own hand. This was back in the days when Ministers for Public Instruction opened schools, rather than closing them. The Proclamation was then duly received by the Deputy Registrar on the 31st of December 1913. |
| So there you are. The "lease" never even existed - it has always been apocryphal. There is nothing to prevent Parramatta High School remaining on its present site for many decades to come. |
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