THE small but proud Myall farming community clings to its historic past and proudly shares its story.
Dwindling enrolments meant that its school closed 23 years ago, just three years shy of providing a century of education.
Despite no longer having a local school, Myall celebrated the 120th anniversary of the opening of the school with weekend celebrations.
The school building now stands as part of the museum at Koondrook, but the adjoining public hall and former Baptist Church are treasure troves of Myall life since farming settlement began.
Myall Heritage Centre co-ordinator, Marianne Cockroft and her team displayed a myriad of memorabilia about the school and about other aspects of life involving local people.
There was a Remembrance Day feature, a collection of photographs taken by Frank Hall during the early 1900s and a memorabilia display of Colin Waldron’s service during the Vietnam War.
Marjorie Rayner [nee Cockroft], now residing at Walla Walla, New South Wales, was educated at Myall between 1945 and 1950, then graduated to Kerang High School, before studying to become a school teacher.
Her mother was the youngest member of the Watson family, depicted in a photograph of local families travelling in horse-drawn vehicles along the dry bed of the Murray River in 1915, which is replicated in colour on a large mural on the wall of the heritage centre.
Mrs Rayner and her brother Graham were born at Nurse Rosen’s midwifery centre at Koondrook. Their parents were John and Ann Watson.
Elizabeth Speechly was the daughter of William and Frances Manners. She returned from Numurkah for the celebrations.
“I had many happy times at Myall,” she said.
Graham Cockroft said that the Hein family had four generations of children educated at Myall and a number of families had three generations.
