Audio Excerpt

If you take a look across the road to the North, you'll see a building sure to conjure all sorts of past feelings and memories. The Central Public School was designed by architects Kennedy & McVittie and erected for $12,000.

 

It was opened in 1882, with eight principals and one teacher... wait... that's not right, that's the nightmare I always had when I was in school.. one principal and eight teachers, that's much better. The building's most outstanding Victorian feature is the multi-coloured, decorative brickwork.

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In the center of the roof, behind the chimneys you can see a large wooden bell cupola, which was replicated to scale in 2014. In architecture, a cupola is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building.

 

Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. Italianate features of the building include ornamental wood brackets at the eaves and grouped, round-headed windows.