When Robert Cook went to school, radio was a novelty, television hadn’t been invented, the children played marbles on a dusty courtyard and a ghost haunted Camp Hill Primary School.
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So when he watched his youngest grandson Charlie prepare to join brothers Alistar and Fraser in the same school grounds this week it wasn’t surprising that he was struck by how much things had changed. Yet some traditions remained unbroken.
“We’ve still got that ghost!” 11-year-old Alistar said as his grandfather reflected on old schoolyard anecdotes.
“Sometimes, when no one’s looking, something gets written on the board and all the little preppies think it’s the ghost!”
The Cooks have their own long-standing tradition with the Camp Hill Primary School.
Robert’s grandfather James was one of school’s first pupils when it rose from the goldfields during the 1870s.
Which makes for an unbroken chain of Cooks at Camp Hill spanning five generations.
And the Cooks’ connection to the school goes deeper than just attendance.
Robert was a member of the school council in the days when Camp Hill numbers dropped to below 100 pupils and its continued existence was in doubt.
His son, Sam, is the council president now and the school’s numbers have surged beyond 300.
“I even had my wedding photos taken in front of the school building… which seems now ridiculous,” Sam laughed.
“But I guess it shows you what a connection we have to the place!”
The Camp Hill ghost was also a fixture in Sam’s school days, but other traditions have fallen out of favour.
“We used to play brandy in my day, where you throw a ball at one another,” Sam said.
“These days, you’re struggling to run around a corner because of safety concerns.”
Then there is the school bell – in Robert’s day it was a physical object on a rope, in Sam’s it became electronic and now the children are warned about the end of lunchtime with music over the speakers.
And Alistar, Fraser and Charlie don’t have to raise the flag once a week and pledge their allegiance to Queen and country, like their father and grandfather did.
But Robert said the school had retained its most important element: quality education.
“Primary school is just such an important period in your life – you learn as much in three years as you do in 15 years when you are older,” he said.
“I was very fortunate to have some great teachers and experiences here.
“And that sticks with you.”