Art Room

The art room at Macquarie Boys Technology High School holds the particular stillness of a space stripped bare. Disturbing peace sprawls across the blackboard in green and black paint, the largest mark in the room. A light blue desk occupies the centre, ringed by discarded folders and loose papers piled across the floor. An overturned green chair and a partially open blue door frame the space. Macquarie Boys Technology High School operated on a 10-hectare campus at the corner of Kissing Point Road and James Ruse Drive in Rydalmere, North Parramatta. The school's origins stretch back to 1920, when post-primary boys' classes were running on Macquarie Street, Parramatta. The campus at Rydalmere opened at the end of 1957, a purpose-built post-war government school designed within the tenure of NSW Government Architect Cobden Parkes, whose branch oversaw school construction across the state through the 1950s. The school became Macquarie Boys Technology High School in 1989 when "Technology" was added to the name, reflecting a shift in curriculum emphasis. By 2007, enrolments had fallen to 220 students, with only 6 Year 7 enrolments projected for the following year. NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca announced the closure on 23 August 2007. Years 7 to 10 did not return in 2008. The remaining Year 11 and 12 students stayed on to complete their HSC, and the school closed permanently at the end of 2009. The campus sat vacant from 2009 to 2018, nine years during which the buildings sustained damage from vandalism, graffiti, and three separate fires. The main hall was destroyed by fire in July 2016. A second fire followed in May 2017. All structures were demolished by November 2018. This photograph was made in 2015, six years into the vacancy and three years before the demolition. The art room recorded here no longer exists. What remains is this frame: a stripped room, papers across the floor, and the faint outline of a school that wound down across three years.