Public schools attended by First Nations students in New South Wales (NSW), 1840-current

In the making of this map, we acknowledge that First Nations children succeeded in an effective education system for thousands of years before the colonial invasion of Australia.   

This map gives the locations/information of public schools with First Nations enrolments which were managed by the then Department of Public Instruction, later the Department of Education (DoE). 

Under colonisation, the Public Instruction Act (1880) created a state-wide system where every family was obliged to send their child to school. Since then, there have been several iterations of policy on the education of First Nations children into the western system of education. Initially, separate schools for First Nations students were established. During the Protectionist era (c.1870s-1930s) the movement of Aboriginal people was controlled by the Aborigines Protection/Welfare Board. Aboriginal Schools provided basic education for First Nations students usually with the white reserve manager (or his wife) also acting in the role of schoolteacher.  

After 1940, during the Assimilation era (c.1930s-1960s), Aboriginal schools were merged into local public (government) schools and managed by the Department of Public Instruction. This transition occurred over the years and in 1968, the title ‘Aboriginal School’ was abolished, and the few surviving schools were given public school status. 

The documentation of the education of First Nations students in NSW has, at times, been scant or ambiguous. If you would like to contribute or update any information, please contact purai@newcastle.edu.au 

*End date: In order for the timeline feature to operate on the TLCMap system an end date needed to be set. However, most public schools are still in operation at the time this information was published in 2025. 

BOOKS: 

Fletcher, J., (1989a) Clean, clad and courteous: A history of Aboriginal education in New South Wales, Southwood Press Pty. Ltd., Marrickville, NSW.  

Fletcher, J., (1989b) Documents in the history of Aboriginal education in New South Wales, Southwood Press Pty. Ltd., Marrickville, NSW.   

NSW Department of Education and Training. Government Schools in NSW 1848-2003 (6th Ed.), NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003.  

DATA SETS: 

NSW Government - Education. Master dataset: NSW government school locations and student enrolment numbers. https://data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/nsw-education-nsw-public-schools-master-dataset" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/nsw-education-nsw-public-schools-master-dataset. Accessed 31/1/25. 

NSW Government - Education. Historical information about NSW government schools (1848-2019). https://data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/nsw-education-historical-information-of-nsw-government-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/nsw-education-historical-information-of-nsw-government-schools. Accessed 31/1/25.  

ARCHIVES: 

The original records are available to view in the reading room at the Western Sydney Records Centre (WSRC). If you find an entry for a school that you are interested in you can pre-order the record for viewing at the WSRC. Pre-ordering your records in advance gives the archival team time to process requests and have the records ready ahead of arrival at the centre. 

https://mhnsw.au/guides/pre-order-records-your-visit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://mhnsw.au/guides/pre-order-records-your-visit/ 

Schools & Related Records 1876-1979 AND List of Aboriginal School Files, 1876–1979: 

The school files were created by bringing together all of the correspondence about each school. The correspondence is from teachers, parents, the Education department and district offices, other government departments, local members and Education ministers. Some school files are up to 15 boxes of papers; some are only a few centimetres thick. These files contain petitions for schools including details of possible pupils; teacher appointments, teacher’s leave and transfer requests and teacher’s examinations; occasional complaints about teachers by parents and inspectors and occasional complaints about children and/or parents by teachers; plans of school buildings and plans of school sites, including proposals that did not proceed; detail about how schools worked and detail about how schools interacted with the community. 

Museums of History New South Wales (MHNSW) - State Archives Collection (StAC): Department of Education; NRS 3829 School Files. Schools & Related Records 1876-1979. https://mhnsw.au/indexes/schools-and-education/schools-and-related-records/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://mhnsw.au/indexes/schools-and-education/schools-and-related-records/. Accessed 31/1/25. 

Photographic Collection: 

The History Unit of the Dept of School Education collected these photographs when preparing school histories, research for public relations, or giving presentations.  

Museums of History New South Wales (MHNSW) - State Archives Collection (StAC): Department of Education; NRS-15051. https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/search?query=any,contains,nrs-15051&tab=default_tab&search_scope=Everything&vid=61SRA&facet=tlevel,include,Digitally_Available&offset=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">List of school photographs. Accessed 31/1/25 

We are indebted to the members of Local Aboriginal Land Councils for their assistance in verifying information relating to their local history. 

Please contact purai@newcastle.edu.au if you would like to reproduce this material.