The final two years of Pompoon Swamp Rural School in the 1960s have been recently fondly recalled by retired educator Sam Vaughan.

Located near Lake Bonney and with an enrolment of nine students from year one to seven, it was the first teaching appointment for the 19-year-old, straight out of Wattle Park Teachers College in Adelaide.

With the Kent, Whitehead, Gurney and Cory families filling the sole classroom, it marked the start of a teaching career which was to last 35 years.

“It was not easy to find the location on a map, even more difficult to find the school itself,” Mr Vaughan recalled.

“Upon my arrival in the area in January 1965, Colin Whitehead, chairman of the School Committee, met me at the Millicent Post Office and showed me the way to the school by driving to the end of Burkhills Lane, turning right, entering a property through a farm gate and following a dirt track to the school.

“Attached to the weatherboard classroom was an old residence, unoccupied for some time and in a state of disrepair.

“In the years leading up to my appointment the teachers had been single men who boarded with local families.

“Along with two other lads, a stock agent and a mill worker, I boarded with Ada Gurney in Millicent during my two years at Pompoon Swamp.

“Ada also had four children of her own to look after and, while we referred to her as “The Warden”, the care and love she extended to us was much appreciated”.

Following a warm reception, Mr Vaughan opted to play football and cricket at Tantanoola.

“The Pompoon Swamp Rural School itself was very basically equipped and had no electrical power,” he said.

“The classroom had a small fireplace.

“I lit the fire each morning in the cold winter months.

“This provided warmth for the nine students and a means of toasting the sandwiches I’d been provided for my lunch.

“On more than one occasion, in the depths of winter, it became so dark in the classroom that it was impossible for the children to carry on with their work.

“And if the rain was coming in from a certain direction, we needed to move desks away from the windows that were far from waterproof.”

During the lunch break, Mr Vaughan would listen to Mount Gambier’s Radio 5SE (now Triple M) on the school radio, powered by a 12-volt car battery.

“Looking back, I guess it was a somewhat lonely existence in a one teacher school, without any adult company during the day and never having lived away from home before,” he said.

“I was comforted on more than one occasion when announcer Graeme Gilbertson, an old mate of mine from Wattle Park sent out a cheerio to me.

“Our school participated in the Millicent Districts Sports Days.

“With only nine children we struggled in individual events but we practised regularly and excelled in team games with our Grade 1’s holding their own against much older children from the larger schools.

“Each year people from the community, including aunts, uncles and grandparents, would gather for the school picnic at South End.

“It was great to have a day off from teaching and learning and I thoroughly enjoyed playing cricket and other beach games with the children.

“The other adults excused themselves from the physical activities around mid-day.

“At the time I thought they were heading off to prepare lunch, but later discovered they were congregated around a radio to listen to the latest episode of the Blue Hills serial.

“Our annual and well attended Christmas Concert was held in the Wyrie Hall.

“Goodness knows how everyone fitted into the small building but, apart from singing and recitations, space was made for the children to put on a display of gymnastics.”

Towards the end of 1966, Mr Vaughan and the local community were advised that Pompoon Swamp Rural School would close at the end of that year and the children would attend Millicent Primary School from the commencement of the 1967 school year.

“I look back on my two years at Pompoon Swamp with fondness and a sense of nostalgia,” he said.

“There was the excitement of it being my first appointment but, on a sad note, I was the final Head Teacher of the school and the one to oversee its closure.”

His subsequent career took him to small and large primary schools at Keilira, Dublin, Price, Loxton and his home town of Mount Barker.

Mr Vaughan took early retirement from the Education Department in 2001 but continued to work for several years as a bus driver and in a golf pro shop.

Now fully retired at Mount Barker, Mr Vaughan spends his time with family, church and community activities.

He is organising a reunion of Wattle Park trainee teachers of his era.