NSW Department of Education selling former site of Bodalla Public School

The site at 9 Eurobodalla Road, Bodalla was constructed in 1878 and was the original site of Bodalla Public School.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, a successful Sydney businessman and owner of Bodalla Estate put aside a section of land for a school to be built.

It was designed by the Council of Education's George Allen Mansfield - at the time, one of NSW's most prominent architects - featuring jerkinhead gables to projecting windows and symmetrical facades off the verandah. The weatherboard, stone and timber building has elements of Victorian Italianate and Gothic Revival architecture.

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Students were originally taught in the two classrooms on site. However, when new classrooms were constructed in 1921, the house became the headmaster's residence.

In 1999, when the school moved to its new location on Potato Point Road, the property was vacated.

Bodalla resident Peter Collett started at the school as a kindergarten student in 1952.

He remembers sitting in the classrooms that have been used by Narooma Woodies since 2012 and looking at the residence up on the hill during art class.

"Quite a lot of the students would draw the house with its eaves and chimneys," he said.

"I always felt the school house was special."

He walked through the residence during a recent open home and was pleased to see something was happening at the house.

"It had been in limbo for so long, with all the locals wondering what on earth was going to happen to it," he said.

"It needs a new owner to get it in good order."

Max Wallace was headmaster at the school from 1984 to 1993 and was the final headmaster to live in the house.

He remembers chasing possums through the ceiling late at night, his child stepping on a funnel web spider in the hallway and, most importantly, having a wonderful time with all the students who were such great friends.

Mr Wallace also recently walked through the property.

"We were really saddened to see the state it is in," he said.

He had been calling for the Department of Education to sell the property and reinvest the money back into education and was pleased to see action finally being taken.

Nearly every window is broken, and graffiti is sprayed throughout the house. Despite that, he was pleased to see a camellia from Ms Mort's property in Sydney planted more than 100 years ago was still flourishing in the front yard - a reminder of the history of the building.

LJ Hooker Moruya agent Janet Donnelly said the property had been attracting a lot of buyer interest from both locals and people across the state.

She said some of the people coming to look through the heritage listed property had talked about transforming it into an Airbnb, a residence or even a wedding venue.

"It is such an icon," she said.

She expects the price to exceed $900,000 when the property goes to auction on February 18.