page_title: Willandra, Ryde
section_title: Ellen Pye
hierarchical_section_title: Willandra, Ryde / History / Ellen Pye
caption_attribution_description: English: Miss Ellen Pye, Principal of school at Willandra, Ryde
context_page_description: Willandra is a heritage-listed former service station and homestead and now community facility located at 782 Victoria Road, Ryde in the City of Ryde local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Its design is attributed to William Weaver and built from 1841 to 1844 by James Devlin. It is also known as the Ryde House. The property is owned by the City of Ryde Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
  The house is completed in the Colonial Georgian architectural style. During the 1970s the house was in danger of being demolished but it was purchased by the City of Ryde Council with the assistance of the Australian Government and has been restored. It is now used by local community groups.
context_section_description: Ellen Pye rented Willandra from Caroline Manning from 1894 to 1899. The house became a Boarding and Day School for Girls called Rydalmount. The advertisement for the school (shown in picture below) appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald in June 1894 and gave a colourful description of Willandra as follows:
  “The house is situated on a magnificent site of 30 acres, 200 feet above the sea level and commands extensive and picturespue views, embracing a wide and beautiful sweep of the Parramatta River. There are spacious playgrounds, ornamental gardens, and a lawn tennis court, a large orchard and vineyard. The rooms are lofty and well ventilated, thoroughly adapted for school purposes.
  Ellen Blundell Pye was born in 1860 in Lathom, a small village in Lancashire, England. Her parents were Edward and Ellen Pye. and they owned a farm in the village. She was part of a large family of six children, two boys and four girls. When Ellen was still a child her father died and the family moved to North Meols where her mother ran a boarding house. In 1883 at the age of 22 Ellen immigrated to Australia with her mother and some of her siblings on the ship Orient.
  By 1890 Ellen had become Principal of St Anne's School in Ryde. and in 1894 she decided to run her own school at Willandra. The Sydney Morning Herald in October of that year gives a brief description of a fete organised by the pupils at Miss Pye's school Willandra, Ryde in aid of the Children's Hospital. The newspaper says that there were “stalls for fancy work and toys, refreshments, flowers and bouquets.” The article also lists the young ladies who were pupils at the school.
  Ellen ran the school at Willandra until 1899 at which time she moved to Victoria to become Principal of Toorak College. She remained there until 1907 but due to ill health she retired. Some time later she returned to England and lived in Wimbledon for many years. She died there in 1948 at the age of 88 years.
  Miss Ellen Blundell Pye rented Willandra from 1894 to 1899 and operated the Rydalmount Boarding and Day School for Girls. Other tenants followed.
  The estate subdivisions in 1921 and 1925 used the name "Willandra Estate" and it is perhaps this usage that gave the name popular currency in the locality, especially with the naming of Willandra Street in 1925.
  The property was subdivided in 1926 and the house passed to descendants of the Small family in 1932.
caption: Miss Ellen Pye, Principal of the school at Willandra from 1894 to 1899
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