sponsored by the Campbells. The schoolroom was surrounded by five other rooms and served as the schoolmaster's residence. The schoolhouse's rubble and bluestone were quarried locally, with a shingle roof and thick walls to shelter against the harsh Canberra climate. The first students arrived in 1845 and it was the only school on the Limestone Plains until 1880 when the first public school was opened. It was built to educate local settlers children, including the Blundell children who lived in nearby Blundell's Cottage, another surviving remnant of Canberra's past. The schoolhouse closed in 1907 and reopened in 1969 as a museum containing records and artifacts from Canberra's rural and recent past. These include schoolhouse artifacts, photographs, letters, newspaper cuttings and other heritage items, serving as tangible evidence of the lives of early European settlers in the region. Rectory The rectory, the residence of the rector of Canberra, lies in the southeastern corner of the church precinct, opening onto Anzac Parade. It was completed in 1923. The original rectory of St John's was built in 1873 in what is now Glebe Park in inner Canberra. The first occupant was the Revd Pierre Galliard Smith, who surrounded the rectory with poplars, elms, willows and hawthorns. The survivors and descendants of those trees remain in today's Glebe Park. From 1926 to early 1928 the old rectory was leased from the government by an Anglican religious order, the Community of the Sisters of the Church, or the Kilburn Sisters, to found St Gabriel's school which later became the Canberra Girls' Grammar School. Church hall Adjacent to St John's is the church hall. The hall has a mural painting at its southern end which depicts people and events from the life of the church and the region. Rendered in a simplistic style, the mural depicts subjects as diverse as a theodolite, a microscope, an Aboriginal Australian man, Bogong moths, Merino sheep, liturgical symbols, the Guides Australia logo and a girl in the uniform, a Boy Scout, Old Parliament House, early ministers of the church and settlers. Campbell and his nearby house, "Duntroon", are also depicted; Duntroon is now part of the Royal Military College, Duntroon. The church hall provides a facility for events and meetings and also houses the office of the parish of Canberra. Contemporary references Today, St John's holds both traditional and contemporary worship services. Traditional Book of Common Prayer (17th-century language) services