PHOTOS: (L to R and down) : John Bracken, Kindergarten 1980's, 1988 The Bicentenary - on the tall ships

The 1983 school year opened with a record enrolment and no classroom to accommodate this increase. My first contact with parents was the delegation led by P&C President Barbara Hoy and Margaret Blissett ready to do battle with the department because the promised demountable classroom had obviously not arrived. Witnessing a telephone conversation between these ladies and Regional Office was the first and only time I have felt sorry for the bureaucracy. The ladies made very clear their contempt for the inaction of those involved with siting and transporting of demountables. The conversation was followed by a call to the local newspaper. Next the then local member of parliament who was told to “get yourself up to the school quick smart”. Unfortunately this scenario was to be repeated regularly over the years ahead. The bureaucracy was always slow to appreciate the situation even when confronted with self-evident numbers (enrolments).
At times we had the situation where demountables from local schools such as Tweed High were being sent south passing Bilambil’s future classroom coming north.

The school’s first library building (demountable) was obtained by stealth. For some unaccountable reason Bilambil found itself with a spare classroom, which was quickly converted into a library. We were soon informed that we were not entitled to this building. At the same time the Hunter Region had been providing schools smaller than Bilambil with demountables for this purpose. With some help along the official line of departmental communications our replies to this demand continued to go astray. One would like to go into details about the contributions made by various parents, staff and students, but the fear of missing someone prevents one from doing so. This is especially so with the students of whom many are making their way in life with notable success.

The eighties presented many difficulties for the teaching staff (and clerical) with the department continuously demanding change in curriculum and administration policies, also teachers’ professional duties. All this with a continual industrial dispute over salaries which was not settled until the end of the decade. We now find we have travelled the full circle in some curriculum areas (e.g. English). This atmosphere did not help Bilambil with its daily battle to obtain a fair share of departmental resources. But thanks to the sympathetic and moral support of students and parents the school was successful in most spheres of educational endeavour.