While much of the early schooling in the City of Busselton area was conducted in homes, my research conducted for the publication of Busselton Life in Snips & Snaps led to the inclusion of the history of Busselton's earliest public school.
Named for Sir James, Mitchell Park on the north-western corner of Queen and Prince Streets is a leafy refuge which has a convoluted history.
David Earnshaw, Captain Molloy's first policeman and gaoler, constructed a small stone lock-up on the site in 1856.
The State Government bought it but it was deemed inadequate for the purpose, so the Courthouse complex at the beach end of Queen Street evolved.
The Committee of Education required the building to be enlarged and converted into the first Government schoolhouse which opened in the 1860s on the Queen Street side of the site running northwards from the south-east corner.
The school closed in 1904 when a new school was built further west down Prince Street and part of the building was used to accommodate the fire station keeper.
From 1910 fire-fighting equipment was stored there when a tin shed was built for a Fire Station on the corner of Prince Street, before the brick Fire Station was built further along Queen Street in 1936.
The old stone school was also home to the Busselton Brass Band.
The building was demolished to make way for the park.
In an interview with the Busselton Oral History Group (Inc) Allan Scott said he remembered attending school in a state school, where Mitchell Park is now.
"There were two main rooms and the infants, where I was attending, was a separate room off from the two main rooms, and my school mistress was a daughter of the headmaster, a Mr Smith," he said.
"From there I attended the new school which was erected farther west in the same block, but between Prince Street and Kent Street where the present school is at the moment.
"I attended school there for a while and then my father took me from there and sent me to the convent which was carried on in what was known as Bay View House, right down the beach end of West Street.
"Miss Smith was my first school mistress, really.
"She was a daughter of the headmaster when I first attended school at Mitchell Park. Mr Alf Smith [71 Gale Street] started a dairy right opposite where I'm living.
"Well he was a son of the Smith that was the headmaster [of the State School when it was carried on in Queen Street] and he had only a small shed and a cow yard.
"He lived in Prince Street, almost opposite the State School."
In an interview conducted by Margaret Dawson, Jean Hastwell was asked about the Oslo Lunch Committee.
"There was Peg Melville and Molly Young and myself and there were a few other ladies, like Mrs Cuthbert," she said.
"But, anyway, we started Oslo meals in the little old school which was on Mitchell Park (long since demolished) and there we served the real Oslo lunch [Norwegian-inspired healthy lunch of milk, a piece of fruit and a salad sandwich made with wholemeal bread.]
