Ryan, Edward

Nothing is known of Edward D Ryan other than he ran a Catholic school in Berrima between 1840 and sometime in 1842, when he was succeeded by Edward Browne.

The Returns of the Colony show a steady rise in the number of pupils in the school during his tenure:

• 1840 27 pupils, 17 boys and 10 girls.
• 1841 28 pupils, 16 boys and 12 girls
• 1842 35 pupils, 19 boys and 16 girls

The school had been founded in 1840 using two huts from the convict stockade, purchased and donated by Charles Throsby, a Protestant landowner who had played a leading role in the district for many years. How suitable they were for a school can only be guessed at but the Returns show that in 1841 £41/16/- was expended by the government on improvements, compared with £15/4/- in 1840 and £12/7/- in 1842. The Catholic school was still operating in 1844 but has not been researched further.

The only other mention of Edward is that he was present at a meeting in October of that year to establish an Auxiliary Catholic Institute and Auxiliary Society for The Propagation of the Faith.[1] Where Berrima’s Edward Ryan came from and went to, remains unknown.

[1] Australasian Chronicle, 8 October 1840