Mount Tarampa State School is a heritage-listed state school at 9 Profkes Road, Mount Tarampa, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and built in 1906 by C Risdale. It was formerly known as Mount Tarampa Provisional School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 May 2015.
History Mount Tarampa State School opened in 1906 as Mount Tarampa Provisional School on a site within the small agricultural settlement of Mount Tarampa in the Brisbane Valley, to serve the sparse but growing rural population. As settlement increased, the provisional school building was extended () and a teacher's residence was built (1918). Other structures and landscape elements were added including a play shed (1912), a tennis court (pre-1925) and plantings. 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 activity.
European occupation of the Brisbane Valley dates from 1841. Charles Cameron established Tarampa station, a large pastoral lease stretching from the D'Aguilar Range to Glenmore Grove and from Prenzlau to Coominya, in the 1840s.Ruth S Kerr, Confidence and Tradition: A history of Esk Shire, Council of the Esk Shire, Esk, 1988, p. 11. Tarampa Station was later sold to James E England who developed the station before selling it to Kent and Wienholt. Settlement in the Mount Tarampa area occurred when the Tarampa Repurchased Estate, comprising divided into 144 properties, opened for selection in 1903.'Closer Settlement in Qld - the Opening-up of the Tarampa Estate by the Government', Town and Country Journal, 5 Aug 1903, p. 31-2. All of the blocks were occupied by 1909. Farmers in the area carried out mixed farming, dairying and grazing.Mount Tarampa State School Centenary Committee. Mount Tarampa State School 1906-2006. Mt Tarampa State School. Mt Tarampa, 2006, p. 25Kerr, Confidence and Tradition, pp. 74-5
Mount Tarampa Provisional School opened on 23 July 1906 with 22 children attending in the first year.Mount Tarampa State School. "Mount Tarampa State School", <https://mttarampss.eq.edu.au/Ourschool/Pages/Ourschool.aspx>, accessed 27 Oct 2014. Construction of the Department of Public Works-designed provisional school building, on a site purchased from James West, was undertaken by C Risdale for .Survey Plan CA31.10, 7 May 1867 and M333255, 31 Dec 1900 showing Sub 1 of Portion 34 Parish of England, County of Cavendish owned by James WestBrisbane Courier, 17 Feb 1906, p. 4.
The provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. Following the introduction of the Education Act 1860, which standardised curriculum, training and facilities, Queensland's national and public schools grew from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875.Thom Blake, Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, Chapter 9: Educating Queenslanders, 2007 (rev.2013 by EHP), p. 2. 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.Greg Logan and Eddie Clarke, State Education in Queensland: a brief history, a report for the Department of Education, Queensland, 1984, p. 2.
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.Project Services, "Mount Morgan State High School" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, 2008, pp. 4-5Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 87-8.
To help ensure consistency and economy, the Queensland Government developed standard plans for its school buildings. 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.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 84, 120-1.
In colonial Queensland, provisional schools were a convenient means of providing an elementary education for the small, scattered and often transient rural population and became an integral part of the educational landscape. A provisional school could be opened with as few as 15 (later 12) pupils. The Board of Public Instruction gave financial assistance to local committees to set up and maintain these schools. The local committee provided a building and found a teacher, while the Board paid the teacher's salary relative to the number of pupils. If the local population declined, the provisional school closed at little expense to the Board. If the district or town developed, the provisional school was raised to state school status and provided with purpose-designed school buildings.
By 1892 the condition of provisional school buildings, which formed almost half of the colony's schools, was an embarrassment to the Department of Public Instruction.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 14. A recommended plan was introduced in 1892 to try to improve matters. This standard type (B/T6) was for a small low-set timber framed and clad building with a gable roof. It accommodated one large classroom with a front verandah, although a rear verandah was sometimes provided. The building was of single-skin construction and lined externally with chamferboards. The building had few windows and ventilation was provided by a high-level louvred vent in the gable end wall. These were often a huge improvement over the previous provisional school buildings and were constructed until .Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, p. 14. The Mount Tarampa building was a typical provisional school building (type B/T6) similar to the standard plan introduced by the Department of Public Instruction. It was a single room, gable roofed structure of the above dimensions, with a front verandah, , and a central doorway. A water tank and outbuildings were also provided.Project Services, "Mount Tarampa State School, West Moreton District, Site No 21111" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report.
Mount Tarampa Provisional School was re-designated as a state school in 1909.'Transfer of Teachers', The Queenslander, 2 Jan 1909, p. 33'Mount Tarampa State School', Queensland Times, 2 Oct 1909, p. 4. In that year, the Department of Public Instruction upgraded the majority of provisional schools to state school status by lowering the required minimum average number of pupils for a state school from 30 to 12, gradually providing these schools with new buildings designed and constructed to government standards.Eddie Clarke, Provisional Schools in Queensland. A Brief History, a report for the Department of Education, Queensland, 1987, pp. 2-3. At Mount Tarampa, a rear verandah and a new central doorway were added to the school building, with partial corner enclosures for hat rooms. The school was also painted.
The Queensland education system recognised the importance of play in the school curriculum and, the need for all-weather outdoor space. Playsheds were designed as free-standing shelters, with fixed timber seating between posts and earth or decomposed granite floors that provided covered play space and doubled as teaching space when required. These structures were timber-framed and generally open sided, although some were partially enclosed with timber boards or corrugated galvanised iron sheets.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 16. The hipped (or less frequently, gabled) roofs were clad with timber shingles or corrugated iron. Playsheds were a typical addition to state schools across Queensland between s and the 1950s, although less frequently constructed after , with the introduction of highset school buildings with understorey play areas. Built to standard designs, playsheds ranged in size relative to student numbers.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 21, 97. A playshed, constructed at Mount Tarampa School by C Risdale, was completed by March 1912. The playshed was built to a standard 6-post design. It was , constructed of exposed timber framing and had a hipped roof.Department of Public Works Drawing, 1911 in Project Services, "Mount Tarampa State School, West Moreton District, Site No 21111" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report.
By 1914 there were 52 children attending Mount Tarampa State School, necessitating the use of the verandahs for teaching and prompting the School Committee to request an extension to the 1906 building. These extensions completed in July 1916 at a cost of £226 comprised: addition of a northern classroom, ; lining of the classrooms and rearrangement of windows reusing the original windows; centring the stairs at the front (east) and rear (west) of the extended building; and installing new wash basins at either end of the rear verandah. The tall, timber-framed casement windows from the eastern and western verandah walls were repositioned to the gable end walls. Sunshades protecting the gable end casement windows were extended from one to three bays wide to accommodate the additional windows. Two timber-framed casement windows were installed at a high level at the northern end of the western verandah wall, and two at the southern end of the eastern verandah wall. These alterations were designed to allow maximum natural light to enter from the left hand side of each student.Department of Public Works Drawing, 1914Mt Tarampa State School, Mt Tarampa State School 1906-2006, p. 18.
From 1893 the Department of Public Works greatly improved the natural ventilation and lighting of classroom interiors, experimenting with different combinations of roof ventilators, ceiling and wall vents, larger windows, dormer windows and ducting. Achieving an ideal or even adequate level of natural light in classrooms, without glare, was of critical importance to educators and became central to the design and layout of all school buildings. From around 1909 windows were rearranged and enlarged to provide a greater amount of gentle, southern light into the room and desks were rearranged so the light would fall onto students' left hand sides to avoid throwing shadows onto the pages; this presupposed that all students were right-handed. This often meant a complete transformation of the fenestration of existing buildings. Windows were larger and sills were lowered to let in more light generally. Smaller classrooms were preferred as they were easier to light correctly. Interiors became lighter and airier and met with immediate approval from educationalists.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 19-20.