Class of 1902

Campbelltown Library was thrilled to recently receive a donation of a photograph of Ingleburn Public School taken around 1902. This wonderful gem was found in a Lifeline store in a northern Sydney suburb. Unfortunately, almost all of the children are unidentified. However, a name can be put to two of the students. Malcolm McInnes is identified as the boy 2nd from right in the back row and Alan Buchanan McInnes is the boy with the white-collar 2nd from right in the second back row. The photo was taken by A.R. Brown.

Some interesting features of the photo include the hats worn by the teachers in the back row, which were typical of the time. Some of the students also have their hats by their side or on the ground in front of them. A few of the younger children have moved as the photo was taken, resulting in the usual blur. How disappointed their parents must have been. However, the detail that attracted my attention the most was the gun that the young boy 7th from the right in the front row appears to be holding! I have blown the image up and I am convinced it's a gun. No wonder the boy to his left appears nervous! I will stand corrected on this.

The McInnes brothers Alan and Malcolm lived all or most of their lives at Ingleburn. A year before the photo was taken, 8-year-old Alan had suffered painful injuries when he fell from his father's cart. The wheel ran over his head, but he made a full recovery. Alan married Mary Asher in 1925 and died at his home "Iona" in 1967 aged 75. Malcolm died in 1961 aged 71. He appears to have lived most of his life in Chester Road. Both brothers are buried in Denham Court Cemetery.

Thank you to Maria Richards for this generous donation.

Written by Andrew Allen 

Update

My colleague assures me that it's definitely a toy gun!

Update 2

I have just become aware that Malcolm McInnes senior was an alderman on Ingleburn Council and built and lived in the well-known stone cottage on Chester Road, Ingleburn.

The stone cottage with an unidentified boy at the front (possibly one of the McInnes brothers) c. 1904

Alderman Malcolm McInnes, father of the boys in the photo. He died in 1917.

 

Did James Ruse Suicide Here?

The old stone cottage on Mercedes Road, Ingleburn has a mysterious past. In 1988, a descendant of Australia's pioneer farmer James Ruse made the sensational claim that his ancestor lived in the cottage and committed suicide by hanging himself there in 1837. He had been depressed by the recent death of his wife Elizabeth so took his own life. This claim was disputed however by a woman from northern Sydney suburb who explained that the cottage had no connection with Ruse and had been the home of the McInnes family. She was the granddaughter of master stonemason Malcolm McInnes who started building the cottage in 1890. The McInnes family moved into the cottage in 1892 when the woman's father was six weeks old. She lived in the house from her birth in 1926 until 1932. Her uncle occupied the home until the 1960s.

Supporting the woman's claims are details from the council's local heritage register. Although it finds it difficult to date, the stone outbuilding being of rusticated, not ashlar stone, denotes a later date. It describes the façade as not strictly symmetrical; windows have four panes, and the door four panels.

The suicide claims have never been substantiated and are dubious to say the least. Details of James Ruse's later years are scant. Most sources have him working as an overseer for Captain Brooks of Lower Minto in 1828. We do know he was living at Macquarie Fields in 1834 and died on September 5 1837. He was buried in St John's churchyard in Campbelltown. Ruse carved his own epitath on his tombstone which was removed from St John's in 1994 due to the threat of vandalism. It was relocated to a secure area in the grounds of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society's headquarters at Glenalvon.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Macarthur Advertiser January 13, 1988

Ruse, James Pamphlet File at local studies section, H.J. Daley Library