IT’S the school that lies forgotten on a site valued at more than $10 million nearly a decade ago.
Amid overgrown weeds and deserted hallways, the trashed and empty classrooms of Macquarie Technology High School sit silently gathering dust in the darkness.
Since dwindling enrolments forced the state government to close the Western Sydney school in 2008, the building and its grounds on James Ruse Dr, have been abandoned to vandals and vagrants.
In 2007, the site was speculated to be worth more than $10 million.
Today, in crumbling labs where students once learned about science and maths, broken glass litters the floor and rusted lab equipment lies next to piles of discarded clipboards.
The burnt-out husk of an old dumped sedan sits on the edge of the former sports ground where children used to play at lunch and layers of graffiti cover the walls of the gymnasium.
Then-Education Minister John Della Bosca promised to open a new school for achievers in 2008 specialising in maths and science — but nothing happened.
The site has since been tipped to sell, prompting a backlash fronted by Parramatta Labor councillor Pierre Esber who has sought to retain the school for future use.
Cr Esber said that due to the influx of families moving into the area, the government should be holding onto infrastructure, not offloading it.
“The Camellia precinct will see massive redevelopment over the next decade with thousands of new apartments,” he said.
“We have to provide infrastructure and strategically the site is very important to the area.”
“It’s going to have to be reopened sooner or later, probably sooner,” he said.
Parramatta’s population is expected to double in the next two decades.
The school has a list of prominent old boys including homicide squad chief Geoff Beresford, journalist Chris Masters, former NSW minister and Parramatta mayor David Borger and radio star Ray Hadley.
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