Assembly Hall

The barrel-vaulted ceiling of the assembly hall at Macquarie Boys Technology High School, Rydalmere, is held by a series of steel truss ribs that span the full width of the room. Below them, graffiti tags cover the backdrop and the left wall, layered over what would have been the standard institutional finish of a postwar NSW government school. At the far end a large timber beam has come away from the stage structure, leaning at a sharp angle across the boards. 2 red wooden boxes and a blue chair remain on the floor below, and piles of ash near the stage edge mark earlier attempts to ignite the space. The school had its origins in post-primary classes in Parramatta dating to 1920, operating first as Parramatta Intermediate High School, then Parramatta Junior High School from January 1944, then Macquarie Boys High School from 1955. The campus was purpose-built and occupied by the end of 1957. The buildings were constructed under the NSW Government Architect's Branch during the tenure of Cobden Parkes, Government Architect from 1935 to 1958, as part of the postwar expansion of secondary education across western Sydney. In 1989 the word "Technology" was added to the name, reflecting a curriculum shift toward trade and technical skills. By 2007 enrolments had fallen to 220 students, with a projection of 180 for the following year. NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca announced the school's closure on 23 August 2007. The last students graduated at the end of 2009. The site sat vacant for nearly a decade. A proposed replacement college never eventuated. Three separate fires damaged the buildings between 2016 and 2018. The NSW Department of Education approved demolition in late April 2018, and all structures on the campus were cleared by November of that year. This photograph was made in 2015, before the fires, when the hall still stood intact. The steel ribs remain. The stage remains. Everything that gave the room its purpose has gone.