History

On the 28th March 1987 Tathra Preschool opened.

Tathra Preschool Steering Committee was established in 1984 with the aim to establish a preschool for the Tathra community; many of the members were from Tathra Lions Club. In 1985 AV Jennings Housing gifted the lands sales building from the Tura Beach Development Project to the Bega Valley Council. Community organisations were invited to submit expressions of interest and Tathra Preschool Steering Committee was successful in their submission. Bega Valley Shire Council agreed to provide the land behind Lawrence Park Oval for this new preschool.
Volunteers took the building apart at Tura Beach and then carefully numbered each piece so it could be put back together at the new site. There was a EUREKA moment when plans for the building were found beneath a cement bag under the building, dusty and ‘a bit worse for wear’. This made the volunteers work of relocating and rebuilding easier.

The Steering Committee found ‘a man with a truck’ who helped to transport the building to its current site on Council land behind Lawrence Park Oval at 8 Tomigee Street. Local builders, plumbers and electricians all donated their time along with many volunteers, who helped to rebuild, install services and fencing, create a playground and obtain a license for the preschool to operate.

Tathra Preschool officially opened on 28th March 1987 with a staff of 2 and 19 children. The Preschool exists today because of the commitment of a group of dedicated community members who were keen to improve the services in their town.

Over the last 30 years the ethos of the community volunteerism has turned a demountable building not designed as a preschool into a beautiful well-resourced and high quality preschool for the Tathra community.