The National Trust and Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park was officially opened in October 2005 on the site of the Old Berwick Primary school. This was the third Primary School in Berwick. The first school in Berwick was established in a hut on Robert Gardiner’s run in the 1850s (south of High Street). A new school was constructed in 1861 in Peel Street, opposite St Michael’s Catholic Church. The School re-located to the Pioneer Park site in 1869.The earliest part of the existing building dates to 1876, the 1869 room being demolished for an extension in 1914. The picture (above) shows the school c.1880. The School population moved to a new building in 2003 and the Community raised funds to purchase the site. Pioneer Park is an attractive park with a very rare steam clock, one of only three in the world, designed and built by Peter Weare. The old School building is now the Head Quarters of the Casey Cardinia branch of The National Trust, one of the Heritage groups in Casey and Cardinia. They run a gift shop, staffed by volunteers, which sells many unusual and interesting gifts, plus National Trust publications. By supporting the gift shop you are supporting the work of the National Trust in their endeavours to preserve the history of the region.
This is a National Trust Christmas card, available from the gift shop, which is a reproduction of a card originally printed in Sydney , by Gibbs, Shallard and Company in 1882. The gift shop is open 11.00am until 3.00pm , everyday except Tuesdays. For more information on the National Trust go to their website www.nattrust.com.au