Sutton Street 2
| Place type: | Building |
|---|---|
| Also known as: | Former Sunny Bank School |
| Address: | 2 Sutton Street |
| Town or Locality: | Gawler |
Contemporary address 2 Sutton Street, is part of Allotment 132 as laid out in the original Gawler Town Plan. Initially the road was named Bishop Street, but the name was changed to Sutton Street and later the numbering also changed (it used to be 1 Sutton Street). Prior to 1899 this site and the adjoining 14 Queen Street were one property .[1]
Mrs Sarah Helmore purchased the property in 1858, early on the site had a 2 room cottage and a 3 room skilley (flat roofed building), but by 1862 there was a cottage where Mrs Helmore resided (likely the cottage that stands at contemporary address 14 Queen Street) and a Schoolroom (likely the taller heritage building at contemporary 2 Sutton Street), from which she ran her private school 'Sunny Bank'. Mrs Helmore (nee Sarah Ratsey) was a widow, she and husband Porter Helmore had arrived in Gawler in the early 1850s and he took up teaching at St George's School. However, his time there was short-lived as he died of asthma in November 1852, aged just 38 (he was buried at Pioneer Park). It was after this that Mrs Helmore purchased the Queen Street/Sutton Street property and opened her own school.
In the Bunyip (25 Jan 1868) Mrs Helmore advertised that she has conducted her establishment "Sunny Bank Ladies School" for fifteen years, could refer parents and guardians to many "who will gladly testify to her long-standing character for Imparting a sound English Education" and invited "inspection of her Large Schoolroom, which will be found well adapted for promoting the comfort of her pupils."[2] In 1877 she advertised she was going to open Sunny Bank as an Infant School.[3] Eliza Pendlebury Jones (daughter of Mayor John Jones and later wife of William Dawkins), was a student of Mrs Helmore's and she recalled Bruce Rudall and his sisters Julia, Fanny and Bryce also attended.[4] In 1881 former student Fanny Rudall along with Miss H Gordon (Annie Gordon) took over Sunny Bank;[5] Charles C Deland was one of of their pupils and in he vividly recalled "being stood with a dunce's cap at the end of the class room for all to see."[6]
Mrs Helmore ended up returning to England, where she died in 1906, aged 93.[7]
The property changed hands multiple times, before being purchased in 1924 by Martin Cork, contractor, and later passed to his widow Elizabeth Cork, then his married daughter Myrtle Hilda Atyeo in 1932.[1] Mrytle's son mentions the properties in his memoirs, see Bryce Mervyn Atyeo.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Certificates of Title 648/85 & 2821/51
- ↑ (Bunyip 25 Jan 1868) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130962682
- ↑ (Bunyip 19 Jan 1877) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97217606
- ↑ (Bunyip 19 Aug 1932) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/96681443
- ↑ (Bunyip 14 Jan 1881) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/99827315
- ↑ 'Story of Gawler's Early Days - written by Mr Chas C Deland' (Bunyip 27 Aug 1954) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/96903758
- ↑ (Evening Journal 8 May 1906) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/200843529
Memories of Sutton Street 2
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