1848. The First School/The Art Centre. John Sutherland, son of Col. John Sutherland who bought the Melkhoutkraal Farm from the estate of George Rex, founder of Knysna, laid out the village of Newhaven and built this school building. Bishop Robert Gray used the school decked out with flowers for the first Anglican Church service in Knysna on Sunday 17 September, 1848. The school was used as a licensed church for services including marriages, until the completion of the first St George’s church. The property was transferred to the Union Lodge of Free Masons at Knysna in 1874, to Charles McMaster in 1876, and was owned by the Newdigate family during the period 1890 to 1954. In later years it was the home of the Knysna Art Society.