Point Pearce Aboriginal School (GA2820)

Point Pearce is a small town on the Yorke Peninsula 16 km south west of Maitland. Narungga (or Narangga) people have lived and travelled throughout the Point Pearce area long before the arrival of Europeans. To them it was known as Bookooyanna. (1)

The Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission was established in 1868 by Moravian missionary Julius Kuhn. During the early years of the Mission, children were taught in the church building. In 1881 a Provisional School was established, known as Point Pierce. In 1915, the Mission was taken over by the State Government and became known as the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station. The spelling of the school was then altered to Point Pearce. (2)

In 1918 the school became a Public School. (3) As the population in the area grew, the small classroom became overcrowded and in 1925 a new school was built. During the 1950s over 100 children attended the school annually before attendance dropped below 100 in the 1960s and beyond.

The Aboriginal people of Point Pearce were finally given control of the land in 1972, when 5,777 hectares was transferred to the ownership of the Point Pearce Community Council under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act. (4)

In 2017, the school amalgamated with Maitland Area School and the Maitland Children's Centre to form Central Yorke School. The school campus is now known as Central Yorke School - Point Pearce Campus and provides education to Aboriginal children and students from Birth to Year 2. (5)


Sources:
(1) https://yorke.sa.gov.au/discover/local-history-and-heritage/indigenous-culture/the-move-to-point-pearce/, accessed 12/03/2019
(2) GRG18/170, South Australian Education Gazette 1916
(3) GRG18/170, South Australian Education Gazette 1919
(4) http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1241, accessed 12/03/2019
(5) http://centralyorkeschool.sa.edu.au/information/point-pearce-campus/, accessed 12/03/2019