Library

The bookshelves are empty. The desks are still arranged in rows, each one filmed with dust, as though the last person to leave simply walked out and did not come back. Which is, more or less, what happened. Macquarie Boys Technology High School occupied a purpose-built campus on the corner of Kissing Point Road and James Ruse Drive in North Parramatta from 1957. The school itself traced its origins further back, to post-primary boys' classes on Macquarie Street, Parramatta, that had been operating since 1920 under a succession of names. By 1955 it was known as Macquarie Boys' High School. The Rydalmere campus was built under the NSW Government Architect's Branch to the standard postwar institutional typology of the period: brick and concrete classroom blocks, covered walkways, assembly hall. In 1989 the word "Technology" was added to the name, reflecting a shift in curriculum. The school closed at the end of 2009. At the time of the closure announcement in August 2007, enrolments had fallen to 220 students, with a projected intake of 180 for the following year. The NSW Education Minister cited declining numbers and persistent reputation concerns. Parents organised. Petitions were tabled in Parliament. A replacement college was proposed for the site, with $3 million in government funding allocated. None of it came to pass. The University of Western Sydney confirmed it would not take up the lease in 2015, the same year this photograph was made. By 2015, the campus had been vacant for six years. The library recorded here shows the particular quality of a room that has not been disturbed so much as abandoned. No debris, no graffiti, no sign of the vandalism and arson that would later accelerate the building's deterioration. Just dust on desks, and empty shelves where the books used to be. All structures on the site were demolished between August and November 2018. The land is now cleared.