In December 1875 the Avoca Mail published the results of the annual competitive examinations for the state schools of the South Riding School District. These examinations, conducted by Inspector Bolam, tested pupils in dictation, arithmetic, grammar and geography, with prizes and certificates awarded to the highest performers in each age group.
The results provide a comparison of educational achievement across the district. Although Avoca State School entered by far the largest number of pupils, the smaller rural schools performed remarkably well. Bung Bong equalled Avoca’s total of nine prizes despite entering only nine competitors, while the special prizes in every class were won by pupils from outside Avoca. The newspaper regarded this as a disappointing outcome for the town’s principal school and did not hesitate to criticise the performance of its senior classes.
The article below has been transcribed in full because it records not only the prize winners but also the marks they obtained, the number of competitors from each school, and the newspaper’s candid commentary on the results. The children were from Avoca, Avoca Lead, Amphitheatre, Bung Bong, Homebush, Lamplough, Lillicur, Mountain Hut and Percydale.
Avoca Mail, Friday 24 December 1875, page 2
THE STATE SCHOOLS COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.
The results of the above examinations arrived from Mr Inspector Bolam yesterday morning, and we have been furnished with the Inspector's official list through the courtesy of the Board of Advice for the South Riding School District. From the statement of prize-winners which appears below it will be seen that notwithstanding the fact that Avoca has carried off nine out of the 36 prizes offered (counting certificates of merit in the prize-list), the local school comes out of the contest with very barren honors. Avoca competed in each of the four classes, and in each case sent about as many competitors as all the other schools put together. Notwithstanding this, however, the Bung Bong school, which only sent two competitors to three of the classes and three to the other one, carried off nine prizes also (two only being certificates) each child winning a prize. In the competition of the 6th class Avoca, with eight representatives out of a total of seventeen competing, was altogether left out in the cold. In the 5th class, with seventeen scholars against fourteen sent by all the other schools, Avoca managed to carry off a certificate only, but the winner of this may boast that he can show more marks than the winner of the 1st girl's prize in the same class. The members of the 4th class seem to have had better training than their schoolmates of the 5th and 6th, or else they made better effort for the honor of the town. They succeeded in pulling off five out of the ten prizes offered, eleven from Avoca meeting twelve from other schools. In the 3rd class eighteen of Avoca met seventeen from the suburbs, but only succeeded in taking three out of eight prizes, missing also the special and both of the first prizes. The special prizes have all gone to the outside schools, Master William McMahon having won it in the 6th class for Percydale: Master Thomas Sutters, in the 5th class, for Mountain Hut; Master Thomas Abbott, in the 4th class, for Bung Bong, with a special note of praise for "excellent work." having also reached within ten of the full number of marks obtainable; and Master William Rutter, in the 3rd class, for Homebush, with only five short of the total number of marks obtainable. It will also be observed that the boys have carried off the special prizes on this occasion and thus, although accomplished by other schools, retrieved the defeat of last year. We furnish below a table which we have compiled with the view of showing at a glance the number of prizes obtained by each school, with the number of scholars competing:一
| School | Competitors | Prizes | Certificates | Total Prizes |
| Avoca | 54 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Percydale | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Amphitheatre | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Lillicur | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Bung Bong | 9 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Mountain Hut | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Homebush | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Avoca Lead | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lamplough | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 106 | 28 | 8 | 36 |
Amphitheatre competed only in the 6th class: Lillicur, Mountain Hut, and Lamplough, in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th; Homebush in the 3rd, 5th, and 6th; while Avoca, Percydale, Bung Bong, and the Avoca Lead competed in all four classes.
We give below the complete list of prize-takers in the order of prizes and classes, with the name of the school which each prize-taker attends, and the total number of marks obtained at the examination. The subjects in which the children were examined were the same in all four classes, viz:-Dictation, Arithmetic, Grammar, and Geography. Only in one case, that of Master Christopher Abbott, of Bung Bong, does it appear that any marks have been given for writing, and in this instance the Inspector makes a note "five marks specially allowed for penmanship." The total number of marks obtainable in the 6th, 5th, and 4th classes was 350, the limit being extended to 400 in the 3rd class.
CLASS VI.— Under 15 years.— Special prize, William McMahon, Percydale, 240. Boys— 1st prize, William John Williamson, Avoca Lead, 237 ; 2nd prize, Thomas Quayle, Amphitheatre, 203 ; 3rd prize, William Loo Ching, Percydale, 181. Girls— 1st prize, Martha Rutter, Homebush, 196 ; 2nd prize, Emily Birkenshaw, Bung Bong, 176 ; 3rd prize, Lillie Sutherland, Bung Bong, 169. Certificates— Edward Bird, Amphitheatre, 170; Albert Scott, Amphitheatre, 165.
CLASS V.— Under 13 years. — Special prize. Thomas Sutters, Mountain Hut, 300. Boys— 1st prize, James Hughes, Mountain Hut, 261 ; 2nd prize. Thomas Geo. Butt, Lillicur, 254 ; 3rd prize, John Schmidt, Mountain Hut, 235. Girls— 1st prize, Hannah Chapman, Bung Bong, 194; 2nd prize, Mary Eliza Clark, Lillicur, 179; 3rd prize, Priscilla Cartwright, Lamplough, 167. Certificates— Joseph Nicholson, Bung Bong, 233; Philip Whalley, Avoca, 216.
CLASS IV. — Under 11½ years.— Special prize, Thomas Abbott, Bung Bong, 340. Boys— 1st prize, William Mathers, Avoca, 187; 2nd prize, Frederick Frey, Avoca, 180: 3rd prize, Edwin Miles, Avoca, 173. Girls— 1st prize, Emma Miller, Bung Bong, 244; 2nd prize, Margaret McMahon, Percydale, 222; 3rd prize, Anastasia Brennan, Avoca, 162. Certificates— William Henderson, Bung Bong, 156 ;Caroline Beata Butt, Lillicur, 150; Albert Wiltshire, Avoca, 139.
CLASS III.— Under 10½ years.— Special prize, William Rutter, Homebush, 395. Boys— 1st prize, Christopher G. Abbott, Bung Bong, 290; 2nd prize, Alfred Kelley, Avoca, 285; 3rd prize, George Macadam, Avoca, 225. Girls— 1st prize, Lucy Paddon, Mountain Hut, 333; 2nd prize, Flora Frey, Avoca, 215; 3rd prize, Maria Roberts, Bung Bong, 195. Certificate— Oliver Stevenson, Lillicur, 195.
The statement from which the above is taken, and which shows also the number of marks obtained by the winners in each separate subject, will remain at this office during the next few days for the inspection of parents, teachers, and scholars, or anyone else who may feel interested in the subject. Much surprise, we might even say indignation, has been expressed at the ignominious defeat suffered by the senior classes of the Avoca School, and the results show that not one day too soon has the competitive examination been instituted. It is certain that if our boys are not making the progress they should do it is better to know the worst at once, in order that efforts may be made for improvement. That an improvement may be speedily accomplished at this school is "a consummation devoutly to be wished."
Conclusion
The achievements of more than one hundred children are recorded and the schools they attended identified.
Although Avoca entered 54 pupils—more than half of all competitors—it won no more prizes than Bung Bong, which entered only nine pupils. This disparity explains the Avoca Mail‘s unusually critical assessment of the town’s school.
Looking back from the twenty-first century, these examination results reveal much more than academic success. They demonstrate that small rural schools with only a handful of pupils could compete successfully against the much larger Avoca School. Schools such as Bung Bong, Mountain Hut, Homebush and Percydale produced outstanding scholars despite their limited enrolments, testifying to the dedication of their teachers and pupils.
