This sandstone schoolhouse was built in 1858 by local builders James Houison and Nathanial Payten, replacing an original timber building erected in 1810. The school was later known as St. John's Grammar School. It closed in 1900 and the building was demolished c1924-1925. [ref: Shylie & Ken Brown
Parramatta, a town caught in time, 1870 Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1995, pp.27, 118]
The photographer Beaufoy Merlin and his American and Australasian Photographic Company arrived in Sydney from Victoria around July 1870, via several country towns in New South Wales. In an advertisement placed in the Sydney Morning Herald on 21 September 1870 he announced that they had "now just completed taking nearly 800 views of Parramatta alone". This photograph must be one of those views.