Sunshine Bay Public School celebrates 40 years, 15-9-2025, Bay Post

Bega District News

Former and current principals and teachers of Sunshine Bay Public School share their memories of the Eurobodalla primary school on the occasion of its 40th birthday

Transcript

00:00Sunshine Bay Public School has been blessed with many great leaders over the years, one

00:29of which was Robert Unwin. I have an email from his son that I'm going to read now.

00:34It's hard to believe it's been 40 years since my father Robert Unwin took on the role of founding

00:39principal at Sunshine Bay Public School. It was truly one of the highlights of his career.

00:45He was immensely proud to work with and lead the team of educators and staff in the creation of a

00:51brand new school from the ground up. For him it wasn't about the buildings or the hall or the

00:56playground, although that was part of the job. It was the opportunity to build a school community

01:02reflecting and supporting the local area. The brand new team of teachers and staff worked hard

01:07through that formation period together with the students and the parents to create a tremendous

01:12school culture with roots growing deep into the local community. He retired in 1996 after 11 years

01:20at Sunshine Bay Public School, having loved every moment of it. Hello everyone, my name is Roy Council.

01:28I was the second principal at Sunshine Bay Public School and I arrived there in 1995 from Lightning Ridge

01:38and my first impressions were what a fantastic school. It was in a lovely setting, we had terrific staff

01:47and of course about 400 grade students. Hi, I'm Louise Council and I came probably six months after Roy did

01:58because I did six months at Maria Primary School and then got a move to Sunshine Bay and I stayed for

02:05about 20 years but I'm not sure how long and I taught a mixture of classes from kinder to year six,

02:12six, gifted classes and special ed classes and I think I just liked everything about Sunshine Bay at that

02:20time. It was a happy place, it was beautiful, we used to go walking every day. We'd like to wish you all a

02:29happy 40th anniversary and I'm sure the day will go really really well and look forward to the big 50

02:36coming up. Happy Anniversary Sunshine Bay School, it was the best primary school in all of Australia.

02:44This is Mrs Dillman. Mrs Dillman, do you know the history of the school and how it's built?

02:50I know a little bit about the history of the school. So what happened was there didn't used to be a school

02:57here, there only used to be a school in Batemans Bay and that school was in the middle of town where

03:03the mall is now and then it grew and grew and grew and grew and there were two many kids there.

03:09So what they decided to do was build a new school. So lots of the community had been fighting very hard

03:16to get a new school here for all the kids that lived out this way. So they worked really hard to

03:23get Sunshine Bay School. So what happened was they appointed a principal and then they appointed some

03:32teachers. But what happened was the Batemans Bay School split a little bit and some of the Sunshine

03:39Bay kids were still there and the Batemans Bay kids were still at the main school in Batemans Bay

03:45while they built this school. This used to be the rugby fields. It used to be a big swamp

03:51and the rugby teams used to play here a long time ago. It took a couple of years to build the school

03:58and then all the kids moved over. They chose your uniform. Your uniform hasn't changed.

04:03What's your favourite memory of Sunshine Bay School?

04:09My favourite memory of Sunshine Bay was the very first day I came into this school and as I walked

04:16around all of the classrooms in the courtyard had their art displayed and I just could not believe

04:24the beautiful artmanship of both the teachers and the students. It is honestly next level the art

04:32that is at this school. And what do you like about Sunshine Bay? I love how at Sunshine Bay every single

04:42student can be known by every single staff member and that everybody can be greeted by their name and feel

04:52that they belong to us here at Sunshine Bay. And Maddie, this movie making assignment is really tough.

04:59How about we interview some foundation teachers and students next? Good idea.

05:05My name's Karen Plosky and I remember more than 40 years ago coming out to where Sunshine Bay School is

05:13now and it was a swamp and a group of parents led by Mr Parker came out with some teachers and said we

05:21need a new school. We're too crowded at Batemans Bay Public School. And after that we were on the news,

05:28on WIN TV news, and very soon after our school started to be built and it took over a year they

05:35brought truckloads, truckloads and truckloads of dirt in to cover up the swampy area and we moved into our

05:43beautiful, sparkling new school and we were so proud and excited to do that.

05:51Hello, my name is Linda Cole and I'm a foundation teacher here at Sunshine Bay School. During my very

05:58lengthy career here at Sunshine Bay, I have always loved helping our students develop skills, attitudes

06:05and values to assist them to reach their goals. Never forgetting that learning can be great fun.

06:13I'll always treasure the smiles and the laughs along the way. Singing, dancing, artworks, dressing up,

06:22book character parades, trivia fun along the way has made it such a joy to be here every day.

06:32And I hope that the students who are here now and from the past will remember those special times at

06:39a very special place. Hello Sunshine Bay. I'm Miss Allen and I was a foundation student at Sunshine Bay

06:47Public School when I was in Year 5. It was a very exciting experience to come to a brand new school that

06:54was so well equipped with beautiful equipment in the playgrounds and the classrooms were so bright and

07:01new. I was used to Batemans Bay Public School which was quite old and our equipment was very old so it

07:08was such an exciting time for all of our students to get to come to somewhere that had just been built

07:13and it was a very very happy and exciting time for all of us.

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