Toowong State School is a heritage-listed state school at 50 Quinn Street (37 St Osyth Street), Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert and John Ferguson and Queensland Department of Public Works and built in 1880 by NB Headland. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 November 2014.
As of 2019, the school enrolled about 270 students, enrolled based on geographical area. It also enrolls deaf and hard of hearing children, their siblings, and children of deaf adults who do not live outside of the geographic area as part of the co-enrollment program located there.
History
Toowong State School opened on 22 January 1880, but moved to its present site between Quinn and St Osyth Streets in 1910. The original building was an 1880 Ferguson building with an 1887 addition. At its new site, a Department of Public Works designed classroom (1910), an open-air annexe (1917), and two Sectional School buildings (1924 and 1927) were added. Retaining walls were constructed as relief work in the 1930s; and mature plantings stand along the southern boundary. The school has been in continuous operation since establishment and has been a focus for the local community as a place for important social and cultural activities.
Traditionally the land of the Turrbal people, European settlement of the Toowong area began with the sale of land in the 1850s. By the 1860s the area, within three miles of Brisbane city, was noted for its detached villas on large suburban allotments along the river and on its ridges, and was favoured as a residential area by Brisbane's elite. With the extension of the railway line to Ipswich via Toowong in 1875, the settlement grew rapidly. Subdivision of large properties for residential development began and the area's growth led to the proclamation of Toowong Shire in 1880.
With Toowong's rising population came demand for education in the area. A site in Aston Street was offered for sale to the Toowong State School Committee by architect Richard Gailey for £300 with a donation of £150. The remaining money required for the construction of a school building and a teacher's residence was raised by the local community. The new school (buildings and land), costing a total of £1162 14s, was constructed by contractor NB Headland and opened on the 22 January 1880. Pupils came from great distances, including from Indooroopilly, Milton, and across the river from West End.
The provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. National schools were established in 1848 in New South Wales and continued in Queensland following the colony's creation in 1859. After the introduction of the Education Act 1860, Queensland's public schools grew from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875. The State Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and the establishment of the Department of Public Instruction. This further standardised the provision of education, and despite difficulties, achieved the remarkable feat of bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children by 1900.
The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early communities and integral to their success. Locals often donated land and labour for a school's construction and the school community contributed to maintenance and development. Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers. The inclusion of war memorials and community halls reinforced these connections and provided a venue for a wide range of community events in schools across Queensland.
The first building at Toowong State School was built to a standard plan supplied by the Queensland Government. From the 1860s until the 1960s, Queensland school buildings were predominantly timber-framed, an easy and cost-effective approach that also enabled the government to provide facilities in remote areas. Standard designs were continually refined in response to changing needs and educational philosophy and Queensland school buildings were particularly innovative in climate control, lighting, and ventilation. Standardisation produced distinctly similar schools across Queensland with complexes of typical components.
In 1879 the Department of Public Instruction appointed its own Superintendent of Buildings to be responsible for the design of all government schools, the first appointee being the builder-architect Robert Ferguson. Ferguson immediately revised the design of schools to address deficiencies in ventilation and lighting and this period of school design was pivotal in this regard. Ferguson introduced tall and decorative ventilation spires to the roof and louvred panels to the gable apex to vent the classrooms. Additional and larger windows were incorporated with high sill heights that did not allow draughts and sunlight to enter the room. The overall form was lowset on brick piers and in larger schools multiple classrooms were arranged symmetrically around a parade ground. The designs remained single-skin to eliminate "receptacles for germs and vermin" but were lined externally rather than internally to address the previous weathering problem. Importantly, Ferguson's buildings were decoratively-treated with a variety of elaborate timber work and were heralded by educationalists as 'far superior in design, material and workmanship to any we have before built.
In 1885 Robert Ferguson was replaced as Superintendent of Buildings by his brother John Ferguson who continued to implement his brother's designs until John's death in 1893, when responsibility for school buildings passed back to the Department of Public Works. The Ferguson period (1879–1893) is distinct and marked by extensive redesign of school buildings including associated structures and furniture. The Ferguson brothers' designs were reflective of education requirements of the time, responsive to criticism of previous designs, revolutionary in terms of internal environmental quality, technically innovative, popular and successful and provided a long-lasting legacy of good educational design.
The school building at Toowong State School was built to a standard Ferguson design. It was constructed to accommodate 154 children, but could comfortably seat 200. An article published in the Brisbane Courier at the time praised it as a model for future school buildings in the colony.
The lowset teaching building was described as being , with a cross wing at one end, and wide verandas. Ventilation and light was provided by windows in the side and gable end walls. Ventilators at the apex of each gable encouraged airflow. The exposed internal framework, made from ironbark, was dressed and stop chamfered to give the interiors a "neat and finished appearance in the absence of lining". The wall cladding was beech chamferboards, which were wrought and beaded on the inside. Floors, platforms and the infants' gallery, which was located in the cross wing, were constructed of white-ant resistant beech wood, supported on ironbark joists and bearers. The roof was clad in ironbark shingles, which were expected to last 25 years.
The school was extended in 1887 with the addition of another large classroom of a similar Ferguson design. It had the additional feature of a washroom attached to the verandah, which was later altered and enlarged to become the Principal's office. The tender of £406 for the construction of the new building was won by contractors Bromaby and Bowden in October 1886. The new classroom darkened the interior of the earlier classrooms, but this was alleviated when dormer windows were added in 1907.
Toowong experienced sustained growth into the twentieth century. On 19 August 1903 Toowong was declared to be the Town of Toowong under the provision of the Local Authorities Act 1902. In the same year, the tram service extended to the Toowong Cemetery and later along Dean Street and Woodstock Road to a terminus. By 1911 the population of the Toowong municipality was 6286, up 45% from 1891.
The growth of Toowong State School and the need for a more conveniently placed school for Toowong pupils, after the opening of schools at Milton and Indooroopilly, led to the suggestion that the school be moved. In 1909 an elevated 2-acre site (0.81ha) in a more central location, between Quinn and St Osyth streets, was proposed as suitable for increased facilities and to accommodate 450 pupils. Subsequently, in June 1910, a tender by J Macarthur for £1565 was accepted by the government for the re-erection of the school on its new site and for the construction of an additional teaching building.
The building constructed on the new site in 1910 was a standard design (Type C/T2) by the Department of Public Works, which retained responsibility for schools until 2013. Under the Department's stewardship, and through the involvement of some of Queensland's most innovative architects, school buildings became more advanced and diverse. A period of marked experimentation in school design occurred between 1893 and 1914, with a primary focus on improving the natural light and ventilation of classroom interiors. Various combinations of roof ventilators and ducting; ceiling and wall vents; and larger windows of varying sill heights and dormer windows were trialled. For timber-framed buildings, single-skin construction was favoured for its heat dissipation ability and economy. Often the building was lined on the interior rather than exterior, providing a smooth, cleanable surface that provided better interior light. The resulting externally-exposed stud framing was protected from the weather by wide verandahs, which had the added benefit of shading the building and providing makeshift teaching space. The introduction of highset buildings began in the late 1890s, providing better ventilation and additional teaching and covered play space underneath. This was a noticeable new direction and this form became a characteristic of Queensland schools.
The 1910 Department of Public Works building constructed at Toowong incorporated many of these new design features. It was highset with space beneath the building for a lavatory and water tank, as well as play space. It had a roof ridge ventilator and wider windows with lower sills to provide better light and ventilation. The width of the building was greater than the Ferguson buildings, , and hat enclosures were provided at the ends of the verandahs.
The school began operating from its new site in September 1910 and all works were completed in the following year. The Hon. EH Macartney, Minister for Lands, in the absence of the Minister for Education, officially opened the school in May 1911. Additional land on the corner of Quinn Street and Sylvan Road was purchased in 1912, intended for playing fields, however few improvements were made to the site until the early 1950s when tennis courts were constructed.
During World War I two additions were made to the school. A cedar honour board commemorating 115 former pupils and teachers who served during World War I was unveiled at the school in 1917 by EH Macartney MLA. For the total cost of £30, Messrs Patterson constructed the board and H Barker completed the writing. Now housed in the library (the 1880 Ferguson building), the honour board was the site of wreath laying at ANZAC Day commemorations.