Gibbs home c.1950
A privately run school, so named because (apparently) families could send their children there at the cost of one penny (less than one cent) per week.
The Gibbs’ mud brick house was constructed with stone at the bottom five courses and corners and resisted erosion very well until the shingle roof collapsed about 30 years ago.
Rumour has it that the house once served as a Penny School with Richard Gibbs as teacher. However, other authorities claim this is not so and that the Penny School was a wooden structure in the adjacent paddock owned by John Gibbs .
Indeed this block was always referred to as the “School Paddock” by Andrew Sturni who bought the land long after the building had been demolished.
These small private schools all closed when the State introduced free education in 1871.