EAGLE POINT PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 3215
A BRIEF HISTORY
In 1889 the opening of the permanent Entrance
at Cunninghame (now known as Lakes Entrance), enabled a general penetration by
settlers around parts of the Gippsland
Lakes. The area known as the Silt Jetty at Eagle
Point was the main centre of early settlement and it is not surprising that the
first school was also located along the Silt Jetty. Prior to being the first Eagle Point School, the building had served for SS2487 Mitchell
River, also previously known as the Broadlands
School. It was apparently a school with residence
attached and when the present Eagle
Point School
was built, it remained for many years the teacher’s residence, the teacher
having to travel between two and three miles to the new school. The first Eagle Point
School on the Silt Jetty
was opened on 1st October 1894 with Mr. Thomas Pedlow as Head Teacher.
While some of these early pioneers evidently followed
farming pursuits, most worked in the fishing industry. As the neighbouring port of Paynesville
had ice-works and facilities for marketing the fish, most of the Eagle Point fishermen
found it more convenient to live at Paynesville and moved there.
The wharf at Eagle Point was visited regularly by such ships
as ‘J.C.D.’ and ‘Gippsland’ both pleasure boats, plus the ‘Burrabogie’, a cargo
vessel. This had the effect of encouraging
greater settlement where Eagle Point stands today.
In 1921 the Education Department decided that a school on
the present site, on the Paynesville
Road (now known as the Old Paynesville Road), would be more
centrally situated. The wisdom of this
has been borne out by the further development over the last few years.
On 1st October 1994, we celebrated 100 years of the Eagle Point
School with a reunion for
past students, a BBQ lunch and a firework display in the evening. Plaques were also unveiled at both the Silt
Jetty site and the present school, commemorating the Centenary.
(Drawing of original Silt Jetty School courtesy of Neta White)