Toowoomba East State School is a heritage-listed state school on the corner of Arthur and Mary Streets, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1935 to 1936 by the Queensland Department of Public Works. It was originally known as Queen's Park State School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2017.
History Toowoomba East State School (SS) opened in 1887, on its current site east of Queens Park, to service the population growth in East Toowoomba at the time. The school is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. The school retains a Depression-era brick school building (Block A, 1936); set in landscaped grounds, with sporting facilities and mature trees. The school has been in continuous operation since its establishment.
Traditional country of the Giabal and Jarowair people, European settlement of the Toowoomba area commenced in 1840 when squatters occupied pastoral runs on the Darling Downs. At the junction of two routes to Gorman's and Hodgson's gaps through the Main Range, the small settlement of Drayton evolved from 1842 as a stopping place for pastoralists and travellers. Six kilometres to its north-east was an area known as "The Swamp" – renamed Toowoomba by 1859 – which was first surveyed in 1849 as 12 suburban allotments of Drayton.
Toowoomba grew rapidly due to its superior land and water supply, support from squatters and land speculators, and, from 1855, providing an easier route to Brisbane via the Toll Bar Road. Toowoomba was declared a municipality (the Borough of Toowoomba) in July 1860, and by the 1861 census it was clear that Toowoomba had eclipsed Drayton. The Main Line railway arrived in 1867 (connecting to Brisbane in 1876), and Toowoomba's economy diversified to include numerous small-scale manufacturing outlets, while the majority of administrative, service and other government and education functions for the surrounding region were centred on the town. Toowoomba was also popular as a summer retreat for the colony's elite. It was declared a city (the City of Toowoomba) in 1904 and by 1911 had a population of 10,636.
Toowoomba was an early centre for education, with the area's first National School (later Toowoomba South State School) opening in 1865.QHR 602824 "Toowoomba South State School (former)". Toowoomba's second National School, opened in 1869 and later became Toowoomba North State School (QHR 650024, 'Toowoomba North State School'). The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early/new 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.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, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp. 91–2.
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.
Toowoomba East SS, opened on 17 January 1887, was established on a 2.5 acre (1ha) reserve for a National School at the corner of Mary Street and Margaret Street, which had been gazetted in 1872.Queensland State Archives Agency ID5768, 'Toowoomba East State School''Seat of learning. Toowoomba East State Schools. A record of progress', Daily Mail, 19 December 1922, p.11 (opening date). The reserve, gazetted 18 October 1872, consisted of allotments 14–18, Section 56, and replaced a reserve of the same size that had been gazetted the previous year, at the corner of Margaret Street and Lindsay Street, now the site of 'Bishop's House', [QHR 600845], (DNRM Survey Plan D1041, 1871Queensland Government Gazette, Vol 12, 1871, p. 1446Queensland Government Gazette, Vol 13, 1872, p. 1677). Although there was local pressure for a school in East Toowoomba from 1876, when fund raising by the community began, the population was not large enough to justify a state school. As a result of later population growth, the Queensland Government approved a school in East Toowoomba in October 1885. By this time the community had collected £200 of the £290 required as its one-fifth share of the £1433 construction cost, and the school was also initially referred to as Queen's Park State School. The school consisted of a timber building set on brick piers, with two classrooms, close to the corner of Mary Street and Arthur Street. It was designed to accommodate 250 students, and had admitted 235 students by February 1887.'Queen's Park Primary School', Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser, 31 March 1885, p. 2 (movement since 1876)'Toowoomba East State School', Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser, 13 August 1885, p. 2 (capacity and cost of school)'The Queen's Park State School', Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser, 17 October 1885, p. 7'East Toowoomba State School', Darling Downs Gazette, 19 October 1885, p.3 (school approved)'Country Mails, Southern and Western Districts', Brisbane Courier, 14 February 1887 (number of students admitted)Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser, 16 July 1887, p. 3 (school had been open for six months).
Growing student numbers – with 778 enrolled by 1927 – soon led to additions to Toowoomba East SS. By 1913 there were three timber buildings; a fourth (Infants) wing was added in 1928; and a fifth wing in 1932. A school residence, built in 1889, stood in the southeast corner of the reserve, fronting Mary Street; and a school bell on a stand was erected the same year.Project Services, "Toowoomba East State School", in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, January 2008 (student numbers in 1927, and school residence and bell 1889)Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser, 18 October 1913, p.4 (photograph of the three buildings)DPW Plan 235-15-13, "Toowoomba East State School, Addns & Impts to South Wing", September 1922 (extensions planned for the southern block)DPW Plan 499-50, "Toowoomba East State School, Infants new classrooms, partitions etc", February 1928 (location of fourth building and school residence)DPW Plan 33-18-2/2, "Toowoomba East S School, additional classrooms", July 1932 (fifth building). In 1931, the schools Earth Closets (ECs), on the west side of the original reserve, were replaced with Water Closets (WCS) - with the Boys WCs behind the school residence, and the Girls WCs under the 1928 Infants building (DPW Plan 97-22-6, "Toowoomba East SS, New WCs & Sewerage", 1931).
As well as more buildings, the school required larger grounds to cater for growing student numbers. In 1926, 1.25 acres (0.5ha) of land was added.DNRM Survey Plan D10135, 1925 (new reserve gazetted in 1926). The expanded grounds, the school's five teaching buildings, the school residence, and the Boys WCs are all visible in a 1933 aerial photograph (DNRM aerial photograph MAP2162-3149, 12 June 1933). A new school fence was constructed in 1949 (Project Services, "Toowoomba East State School", in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, January 2008).
The school was also beautified by tree plantings from 1888, including on the west side of the original school reserve and along its Arthur and Mary Street frontages. An important component of Queensland state schools was their grounds. The early and continuing commitment to play-based education, particularly in primary school, resulted in the provision of outdoor play space and sporting facilities, such as ovals and tennis courts. Also, trees and gardens were planted to shade and beautify schools. Arbor Day celebrations began in Queensland in 1890. Aesthetically designed gardens were encouraged by regional inspectors, and educators believed gardening and Arbor Days instilled in young minds the value of hard work and activity, improved classroom discipline, developed aesthetic tastes, and inspired people to stay on the land.Project Services, "Toowoomba East State School", in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, January 2008 (tree planting from 1888)Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.4, 48-9. Twelve camphor laurels were planted along the west fence in 1898, to provide shelter from westerly winds and by 1922 Toowoomba East SS had "large camphor and other ornamental and shade trees".'Local and General News', Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser, 5 May 1898, p. 2'Seat of learning. Toowoomba East State Schools. A record of progress', Daily Mail, 19 December 1922, p.11.
The school's timber buildings were still not sufficient for student numbers, and in the mid-1930s a new brick school building was approved for Toowoomba East SS. The Great Depression, commencing in 1929 and extending well into the 1930s, caused a dramatic reduction of public building work in Queensland and brought private building work to a standstill. In response, the Queensland Government provided relief work for unemployed Queenslanders, and also embarked on an ambitious and important building program to provide impetus to the economy.
Even before the October 1929 stock market crash, the Queensland Government initiated an Unemployment Relief Scheme, through a work program administered by the Department of Public Works (DPW). This included painting and repairs to school buildings.'Relief of unemployment: big programme contemplated', The Telegraph, 24 July 1929, p. 5'Unemployment: the relief scheme', The Telegraph, 26 July 1929, p. 5. By mid-1930 men were undertaking grounds improvement works to schools under the scheme.Department of Public Works, Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30 Jun 1930, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1930, p. 15.