Shakif Shakur, of year 12, last Wednesday took a petition with 6600 signatures to Parliament House in Macquarie Street.

Shakif is one of many who want the Rees Government to keep the school's farm under the control of the school itself and now allow it to be controlled by the Department of Education, which had proposed selling the school.

Shakif said he gave piles of signed papers to Greens MP John Kaye.

``The boarding school and farm is an integral part of the Hurlstone school,'' he said.

``The farm lands are all fully used for education at Hurlstone. They're an integral part of the school.''

Shakif said the boarding school and farm operations should stay in the school's control.

He said it was wrong for the Government to control the boarding school and farm when it had tried to sell it on three occasions in the past 30 years.

Dr Kaye said the signatures demonstrated the depth of public anxiety after the results of the inquiry were released.

``The people have spoken on the need to protect Hurlstone's land from developers,'' he said.

``Every one of these signatories wants NSW Education Minister Verity Firth to keep Hurlstone intact.

``Any move by the Rees Government to split Hurlstone up will be seen for what it is.

``Hurlstone is too important to south-west Sydney and NSW to let this matter become a cash cow for Treasury.''