Wood

Woodworking

Woodwork and carpentry classes at Sturt were run from 1941 by O.E. Southerden and his son, Jack. The first wood workshop was built in 1947 and another in 1965. Harry Lloyd and John O'Neill taught there, while Tony Fulford was appointed teacher in 1960, remaining until 1987. Into the 1960s, they also made some of the furniture for Frensham, and for Sturt itself. Many more commissions were undertaken for public buildings and churches. Others who worked there through the 1970s and 1980s included Toby Muir Wilson, Norman Stocks, Peter Adams and Richard Raffan. 

Sturt School for Wood

The Sturt School for Wood opened in 1985, with founding director, Alan Wale, and evolved as an annual one-year course for around 12 students, many seeking time out from previous professional occupations. When Wale retired in 1992, he was followed until 2009 by Tom Harrington, who was successful in having the course accredited as a Certificate IV in Furniture Design and Technology.

A second workshop space originally built for woodwork residents in 1975 was to accommodate a 10-week intensive fine woodworking course.