The police wanted to speak to the owners of a pocket knife found in the debris at Lyneham Primary School, where a deliberately set fire caused more than $750,000 of damage, the Times reported on this day 50 years ago.
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Police identified "possibilities of suspicion in the cause of the fire", which were set in the headmaster's office and in a corridor. ACT Chief Fire Officer J. Mundy said he had examined the school and found that someone had tried to set fire to the principal's desk and paper had been piled on it and against a wall.
Detectives visited more than 300 homes in Lyneham on the Sunday after the fire, questioning residents. A housewife living opposite the school told the Times she heard loud shouting and laughing in the school shortly before the fires broke out.
Despite the destruction to the uninsured school, the Parents and Citizens Association still managed a fundraiser, collecting $84 from sightseers who looked over the burnt-out buildings.
Students got an impromptu holiday because of the fire, but were soon back at school, transported from Lyneham in buses to classrooms in Turner, Ainslie, Hackett, Watson and Downer.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
