The first school at Pomona was a basic one-room tin shed, built from locally cut poles and covered with sheets of galvanised iron.
It had a dirt floor. The building materials were donated by Mr. Donald Ross McLeod from 'Kelso' Station as it was being shared by families from each side of the river. The building was approximately midway between the Kelso Homestead and Pomona Homestead which had been acquired by the Darling River Irrigation Company. The school opened in 1911 with an enrolment of eleven children; eight were from Pomona and three from Kelso. The teacher was Miss Kate McLeod (Mrs. Arthur Duncan) who was the daughter of Donald McLeod. The Rev. G. Dainty (Church of England, Wentworth) organised the furniture for the school, consisting of desks, blackboard, table and a chair which were donated by local families. The little school house was located under a large box tree approximately 50 metres from the west bank of the Darling River.
The school operated only for three years before closing, probably due to insufficient numbers.
The second school
In 1918 a school of nine children commenced under a box tree, north-east of the present hall. The teacher was Miss Maude Hamilton (later Mrs. Les Davidson). There was no building and the furniture was more basic. The teacher had a box to sit on and the children moved according to the weather, depending whether they wanted sun to keep warm or shade to keep cool. This school also lasted three years until numbers made a Departmental school possible.
The third school
The first Departmental School opened in 1921 in a building moved from 'Lethero' Station and located approximately 300 metres west of the hall on land provided by the Darling River Irrigation Company. Unfortunately it was low ground and a quagmire following heavy rain. Working bees carted sand from Wattle Hill and footpaths were made with sandbags.
The 'Minutes of a Settlers' meeting on the 2 November, 1921, showed that a quote was obtained for moving the school at Tolarno Station to Pomona to provide additional accommodation by joining it to the existing building. Mr. Burton's quote was one hundred and seventy five pounds, subject to it being transported by boat, and the chimney was excluded. No further action appears to have been taken.
The school again experienced difficulty during World War II. Mr Kinsmore opened the school at the beginning of the 1942 year, but left on the same day to join the 2nd A.I.F. The school was closed until the 3rd March 1942, when Mr Connell was appointed but he was called up on the 1st April. His replacement, Mr Chapman, arrived on the 18th May but only spent a few days before leaving, the reason unknown. Mr Brill arrived on the 16th June, 1942 but he enlisted in the R.A.A.F. on the 7th August. The next teacher was Miss Young who arrived on 23rd September, 1942 and remained until the end of 1945.
During this period in 1942 requests were made to the Department of Education to provide a bus to take children to Wentworth. A tender was accepted to provide a but for secondary children attending Wentworth Central School for the 1942 School year. The bus was a late 1920;s model Chevrolet one ton truck with a seat bolted on each side and was operated by Mr. W. James. After seven weeks this terminated due to insurance difficulties. Thereafter the children attending Wentworth Central School rode bides as they had done previously.
Unfortunately Parents and Citizens Association records are only available from 1940. The first recorded executive consisted or President - Mr Fred Turner, Vice President - Mr W. V. Whyte and Mr. R. Hamilton, Treasurer - Mrs. M. Whyte and Secretary - Mr. J. E. Lyell.
Beginning in 1941 the P & C Association made many requests to the Minister for Education to have the school building, which had deteriorated, replaced by a new school. In August, 1941 there were 33 children enrolled by only 28 could be seated in the school! As it was ware time and along way from Sydney nothing happened until the October, 1945 meeting of the P & C when an offer of a classroom from Buronga was accepted.
The Lethero building was moved to Darling View and officially opened on the 25th May, 1948 by the Member for Murray, Mr. J. A. Lawson. This school only remained open for five years and the Darling View children crossed the river to attend Pomona School.
The old school building was used as a temporary residence in 1956 by a family whose house had been flooded.
The school was closed during the 1956 flood for three months while the settlement was isolated by flood waters.
In 1956 the first of many requests to the Minister for Education was made to build a residence adjacent to the school, this come to fruition in 1963 when a brick home was built.
Six acres of land was acquired in 1956 from Mr. Peglar of Neilpo Pastoral Company on the western boundary of the settlement, to be planted for income to improve school conditions. Messrs. L. Webb, R. Bartlett and I. Lyell were appointed trustees to manage the affairs of the block. Three acres of Doradillo wine grape were planted in 1961, with Mildara Wines agreeing to accept the produce.
Application was made to Public Works Department in 1964 to have cooling installed in the school. This was rejected, but in June 1967 an application to install evaporative coolers at P&C Association expense was accepted. They were the first evaporative coolers installed in a school in New South Wales.
Our school today
Since the fire in 1998 we have had a new building built and then extended in 2007. We have since had a COLA added to the front of the school.
The fire
Newspaper cuttings of the fire that destroyed one of the schools buildings.
