The Scots School celebrated its 75th anniversary school reunion on Thursday, September 7, with eight of the original 19 students from the Scots College in attendance.
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The foundation students toured the school, attended a school assembly, had lunch and visited classrooms on the day.
Bill Morton, who was one of the original students that travelled from Sydney to Bathurst in 1942, said the school has changed dramatically in the past 75 years.
“We were brought up in a steam train and stopped in Lithgow and Katoomba for more water,” he said.
“Nothing was here but the Karralee building and the stables, which were being converted into classrooms.
“19 students come up here from the junior school at Bellevue Hill. Being near the [Sydney] harbour, it was considered more in danger.
“It’s brilliant, magnificent to see how much the school has changed.”
Scots at Bathurst began when the Scots College, in Sydney, evacuated its primary students after the Japanese submarines came into Sydney Harbour.
The old fellows who were in Bathurst for the day were a part of the original group that come to Sydney to Bathurst between 1942 and 1945.
Mr Morton said it was “bloody great” when he and his fellow classmates made the move out to the Central West.
“I was a city boy and all we saw was bush. It was brilliant,” he said.
During the war, students were often required to partake in air raid shelter drills.
Even during the worrying times, the students made the most of it.
“We would play communities down there,” Mr Morton said.
“Someone would play the doctor, the butcher and the baker.
“There was no room for teachers in the shelter.”
Fellow old boy and Bathurst resident Tim Horton said the proposed merge between The Scots School and All Saints’ College has the potential to be great for education in Bathurst.
“It can end up being fantastic for both schools if it is done right,” he said.