Following the leads

The North Sandhurst State School was not the only local school to have suffered from having its buildings partially or completely destroyed by fire.
A year earlier in 1899 the Specimen Hill State School was burnt, it had been determined the cause of that fire was as a result of a burning log having rolled out of the fireplace onto the wooden floor, thus the building caught alight and was destroyed.
This particular Specimen Hill is the one in West Bendigo, as readers will be aware from my past articles, that there were at least three other Specimen Hill names featured in the Bendigo locality.
Last week I mentioned that suspicion was initially focused on four swagmen, who were reputed to be near the North Sandhurst State School on Saturday, July 12, 1890, the day before the fire, which destroyed about half of the weatherboard building.
The detectives, after asking many questions in and around Irishtown, found that the swagmen had made for the Murray Road.
At the Shamrock Hotel in Huntly one of the attendants told them that the men had tramped past the hotel on the Sunday.
The problem was to know if the swagmen had continued along the same road, or if they had decided to cut across along the country track going east and make their way to Axedale.
However, the investigators found that some farmers in Bagshot had seen the swagmen, this information was confirmed by the railway gatekeeper who lived along side the Bagshot Railway Station.
Enthused by the information received, the detectives decided to catch the next available passing train and go on as far as Goornong.
Goornong in 1890 was a much more populated place than it is today, the passenger trains stopped there before going further on to Elmore, Rochester and eventually Echuca.
On arrival in Goornong the detectives immediately went to the Goornong Police Station and sought the assistance of the local police officer.
This officer knew the likely places to look for the four swagmen in question.
Not many hours had passed and through the combined efforts of the investigative team their object was realised.
The four swagmen were located between Goornong and Elmore. A correspondent for the Elmore Standard was able to record that this small drama was played out in their locality.
The four men were taken by the police to Elmore Police Station, where the swagmen were questioned intensely by the officers.
It became patently clear that the swagmen had no knowledge of the fire, in fact, they were not even near the school, so those on who suspicion was at first cast were deemed and declared to be totally innocent.
The men were thanked for their co-operation with the police and were allowed to leave.
As a result of this positive outcome for these itinerant laborers, some locals who had heard of the whole affair offered the swagmen short term employment in digging drains and grubbing out tree stumps.
In the meantime, Mr J M Henry, the head teacher of the school, had written to the Secretary of the Education Department explaining the predicament of the North Sandhurst State School at Irishtown following the fire.
The section of building that had been left standing was damaged and one whole wing was just a pile of ashes.
What was he to do with the children under his care? A reply was received that the school would be re-erected
and it would be done in a more permanent character.
Headmaster Henry assumed naturally that any works to be done at the school would be in brick, and his spirits lifted considerably.
The reply from the department had come in only four days following the fire.
Local parliamentary representative A S Bailes MLA interviewed the departmental secretary, and his reply was a little different to what was to become the reality.

The destroyed room was to be rebuilt and pupils were to be catered for at other schools.

 

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