The Children's Rock Garden, Stony Creek School, Stony Creek

 

School children at work in the Stony Creek School garden (prior to 1916), Miss E. A. James (on the left), with assistant teacher Miss E. Bailey, all historic photos courtesy of the Talbot Historical Museum

In a small rural school, in the bushland of Stony Creek near Talbot, an inspired and energetic young school teacher, with the help of her young charges, transformed barren rough ground into a rock garden wonderland. The remnants of this innovative experiment can still be seen today. 

    The teacher was Miss Elizabeth (Annie) James, who taught at the Stony Creek school between 1905 and 1913. During her tenure as head teacher she created stone rockeries whose various shapes helped educate her students in geography and geometry. But importantly, besides the usual early 20th century curriculum, she taught her students practical horticulture, the appreciation of nature, and the value of directed physical activity. The result was a garden that won a first class certificate in 1906 (the previous year the school had won a second class certificate for Annie's decoration of the school building). In 1909 Education Department Inspector Saxton claimed it 'the best school I have met'. 

    Ballarat Star, 21 June 1906, page 6

    Who was Annie James and how did this talented teacher end up in such a backwater? In 1935, one of her students remembered her as a favourite with both boys and girls. 'She was good looking, with brown, curly hair, and always dressed in black silk' (The Age, Sat 13 Jul, 1935 Page 7). We know that she was born in 1872 in Clunes, the youngest of four daughters of Thomas James and Margaret Moynihan. She also had two brothers, one of whom, James Edwin (who, like Annie preferred to use his middle name), would go on to a successful career in New South Wales. It seems her father Thomas was a miner working in one of a number of the large mines which, in those days, dominated the skyline of Clunes. 

    Annie was remembered as personable and intelligent and so it was inevitable she was drawn to teaching as a career. In the late 19th century, Victoria was dotted with tiny settlements many boasting a small one-roomed school and Annie served her apprenticeship by making the rounds of these isolated communities. We know that for some years she taught at Kerrisdale State School about 17 km north west of Yea. When that school closed (a regular occurrence for such small rural schools) she was sent even further away. In 1897 she was transferred to a small school, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, between Glenrowan and Yarrawonga. This newspaper article published in the Yea Chronicle reveals she was highly regarded and, at the age of 25, had been teaching in the district for some time.

Yea Chronicle, Thursday 23 December 1897, page 3

    Sadly, a year later, in 1898, her father died as a result of falling down a shaft at the Iron Duke Mine in Kalgoorlie, WA (The Inquirer and Commercial News, Fri 17 Jun, 1898,  Page 2). Perhaps it was for that reason she sought a teaching position closer to Clunes where her mother lived. At any rate, by 1906 she was back in the Clunes district, albeit at another small isolated rural school. Here is a photo of Annie with her class at the Stony Creek State School, some 13 km north west of Clunes. At first glance it seems odd for the Education Department to erect such a substantial brick schoolhouse far from the nearest town, within, what to our modern eyes seems rugged dry bushland (now the Caralulup Nature Conservation Reserve). But while it's a very quiet locality now, save for the occasional fossicker with a gold detector, it was once a bustling place populated by timber workers and gold miners. There was even a Eucalyptus distillery nearby. And although the school site now borders a minor dirt track, this was once the main Melbourne to Amherst Road. 

     Note the pot plants on the window sills.  There's little doubt that Annie had a green thumb and a love of gardening would remain with her the rest of her life. As can be seen below, the main building was handsomely built, far superior to the more commonplace one-roomed rural timber schools.

    While the straw boater worn by the teacher suggests it's Annie James in the photo, it might well be Miss Ann Weir, who took over as head teacher in 1913 when Annie was finally posted to the much larger (and more prestigious) Clunes State School. At any rate the Stony Creek school had only another 3 years before it closed and the school building demolished. These days, all that remains of the original building are a few scattered bricks.

       So it's time for us to tour the remarkable gardens of the Stony Creek State School. Here's another photo of Annie (sporting her distinctive boater) supervising her hard working pupils.

    Apparently, each child was given their own small rock garden to tend to. Important questions come to mind. Given the poor rocky soil, who paid for the soil and plants? Where did the copious amounts of water come from, needed to keep such a large garden alive? David Bannear, a local Central Victorian historian and archaeologist, who was instrumental in ensuring this site was added to the Victorian Heritage Database in 2015, gives a clue when he says that around this time there was a substantial movement within the Education Department to encourage creative and healthy outdoor activities at Victorian schools. Annie happened to be in the right place at the right time. Her love for horticulture meshed perfectly with these new progressive policies. As for water, the Stony Creek State School was located next to a large dam which may well have been fed by the nearby Stewarts Race- a gravity fed water channel which provided Talbot's town supply. 

Stony Creek school grounds, 2024

    The above rock garden is called The Sundial. It likely once sported a post in its centre, the sun's movement marking out the passing hours. This was typical of Annie's innovative teaching methods. Physical activity in the pursuit of educational discovery.

    One of the most interesting features of the garden is a map of Australia marked out in rocks. David Bannear's report notes that in the early years of the 20th century a number of schools created a large map of Australia within their schoolgrounds. I wonder how many made sure their map was aligned with a compass, as Annie did here. Northern Australia is indeed pointing due north!

    Nevertheless it seems that changes to the map might have been made over the years. While the original Heritage Victoria submission remarked that Annie had omitted Tasmania (Tasmanians have long griped that their state is regularly omitted from simple logos of the Australian continent), in more recent times Tasmania has appeared, albeit marked out in smaller stones than the main map. 

Photo: Jason Lewis, date unknown

  By 2024, at the time of my visit, it seems that someone had beefed up the the outline of Tasmania with heavier rocks and redesigned it somewhat. It's now heart-shaped!

    For those interested in visiting the site of the remarkable Stony Creek School rock gardens, below is a Google Earth image showing its location in relation to the town of Talbot.

    While a little tricky to find (head north east from the Stony Creek Picnic area), the old school site is bordered by a post and rail fence similar to the original school fence.    

    Finally, at the age of 41, Annie was rewarded with a posting to a large school in her home town of Clunes. Whether she went to Clunes South Primary School or the North school isn't known but we know the South school was closed in 1922 so she would have finished her teaching career at the North school, 1 Canterbury Rd, Clunes. 

    In 1929, her brother Edwin died at the young age of 53. He had made a very successful career as an auctioneer in New South Wales. His base was Temora but the firm of Miller and James had branches in Gilgandra and West Wyalong. His funeral was one of the largest the district had ever seen.

Gilgandra Weekly, Thursday 6 June 1929, page 6

    The heading 'Late James Edward James' is a mistake. His full name is given correctly in the main text. Quite possibly, Annie received money from Edwin's estate, because in August 1933 she was able to buy a house at 13 Camp Street and was then able to resign her teaching post at Clunes Primary School (at the age of 61). Alternatively, with her mother's death, this might have simply been a transfer of ownership, the house having been built in the mid 1870's.

The front of Annie's house in Camp Street

       The current owner told me that Annie's English cottage garden survived right up to the Millenium Drought (1997 to 2009) and finally succumbed in the late 1990's when watering gardens was actively discouraged by water starved town authorities. However, some of the original trees and shrubs have managed to survive in the front garden while Annie's love of rock walls can still be discerned among the undergrowth.

     Upon her retirement in 1934, to mark the high esteem she was held in the community, she was given a civic reception in the Clunes Town Hall. 

    Argus, Thurs 15 March 1934, page 5

    Annie was now able to devote even more time to her garden which had become a local landmark in Clunes. She also created outstanding horticultural displays at various civic events.

    In 1936 she managed to visit and stay with her late brother's wife in Temora as well as visit some of the branches of her brother's auctioneering firm. 

   Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh, Thursday 8 October 1936, page 4

    Apparently she never married because as late as 1939, when she won an award for the best-kept garden in Clunes, she was still known as Miss E. James. In 1955 Annie passed away at the age of 82, having outlived all her siblings. She is buried in the Methodist section of the Clunes cemetery.

        'To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind is Not to Die'. A fitting epitaph for a teacher who touched the lives of so many people and whose extraordinary rock garden at Stony Creek survives to this day. 

 Miss E. A. James (Clunes Museum)