Media Pitch:
Calrossy House is a building like no other. Its red brick exterior, exquisite stained glass windows and marble floors have been a quintessential image within the city of Tamworth from its origins in the late nineteenth century. Although initially a tourist site, Calrossy House has had a much greater history within Tamworth as a home and school for young women. Calrossy House was initially sold to The Church of England Girls’ School (now named Calrossy Anglican School) in 1923. Despite this building becoming an integral feature representing the expansion and development of Calrossy Anglican School for nearly a century, no history has yet been written. Thousands of girls have lived or studied in Calrossy House and yet they remain disconnected from its history. I have been given the wonderful opportunity to complete a visual history of Calrossy House within my university ‘History Beyond The Classroom’ course. I was instructed to compile a number of photographs tracking the development of Calrossy House and how its changes are representative of the wider societal changes facing Calrossy Anglican School. This history, in the form of a physical booklet, will be displayed within the Calrossy library so that students may be able to reconnect with their past. Still today, the girls of Calrossy Anglican School eat in the same dining hall, sleep in the same dormitories and even sign their names in at the same front office as students of decades past. It is essential that these students may be able to realise how fundamental Calrossy House has been in shaping Calrossy Anglican School so that they can appreciate that this building has a lot more to offer than aesthetic beauty.
A Note to Future Students:
This project has been a lot of fun to complete, and I believe that I have been successful so far. The key to success is to organise with your institution early, so that you can allow for many contact hours in the initial stages. Things can go wrong, and the nature of your project may change, so it is best to get started early so that you have enough time to overcome any unforeseen struggles.
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