For many years, the bell at Invermay Primary School tolled loud and clear over the city, calling pupils to their lessons – but it was silenced sometime in the 1960s, and has never rung since.
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First built in 1889, the school’s heritage have given it a unique and beautiful atmosphere, with a new effort underway to bring back a key part of its history.
Until sometime in the 1960s, a fine old slate-covered bell tower stood proud above the school.
But the tower was taken down, leaving just a small porch over the school’s main entrance, and the bell placed in the school’s reception area, silenced.
Now a community-led campaign to restore the bell to its rightful place, by constructing a new tower and allowing it to sing free over the school, is underway.
Seeking to fundraise $85,000 for the fully-costed and designed restoration project, Invermay Primary Parents and Friends president Carleen Edwards said the project would help restore a major part of the school’s history.
Through community fundraising, Ms Edwards said they hoped to see the bell tower fully restored and operational, with plans to restore an accurate replica of the original tower already drawn up and engineered.
Jim Anderson, OAM, and Merle Sanders, both attended the school when they were young, and have remained closely involved in its growth and history ever since.
“I remember the bell ringing … all over Invermay, you could hear it, right down to the river you’d hear it,” Mrs Sanders said.
Mr Anderson said he remembered pupils would scramble through an old hawthorn hedge at the front of the school once they heard the morning bell.
During the floods of the late 1920s, the bell rang across the suburb as people evacuated to Invermay Primary to avoid the rising waters.
Principal Tony Brazendale said he hopes to see Mr Anderson and Mrs Sanders ring the bell together once it is back in its proper place.
“It’s a community-based project, even though we’re Invermay Primary School,” he said.
To make a donation toward the community bell tower fund, call Invermay Primary School on (03) 6331 8371.