Southport State High School Buildings is a ground of heritage-listed state high school buildings at Southport State High School at 75 Smith Street, Southport, Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Southport State High School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 October 2016.
History Southport State High School (SHS) opened at its current 13.44ha (33.2ac) site on Smith Street, Gold Coast in 1955, separating from the Southport State School, which had included a secondary department (or 'high top') from 1916. Southport SHS demonstrates the growth in provision of secondary education across Queensland in the 1950s on new sites with increased facilities. The school retains one rare Hawksley prefabricated school building (Block E 1957–1958), covered walkways (1954–1961) that linked the 1950s buildings; retaining walls and railings; and assembly and sports areas; set within a generous landscaped site that exhibits organic site planning. The school has been in continuous operation since its establishment.
The township of Southport evolved after its survey as a marine resort on the Crown Reserve at Nerang Creek Heads in 1874. Its first allotments were sold in April 1875 and the first of its many boarding houses opened in the following year. The sale of 180 marine villa sites on 13 March 1878 further stimulated Southport's growth as a popular resort for Darling Downs pastoralists and the elite of Brisbane and Ipswich. From 1879 visitors could reach Southport via a daily Cobb & Co coach from Brisbane and Ipswich, or via the steamer Iris from Brisbane to Southport twice weekly, or by the steamers Albert or Leonie. By the 1880s Southport had a permanent population of about 230, sufficient to justify the establishment of a primary school, which opened on 17 February 1880.Robert Longhurst, Southport: Images of Yesteryear, The Gold Coast City Council, Gold Coast, 1994, pp. 8-11ABS, Census Data cited by Queensland Places. "Southport". <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016Malcolm M Rea, An Australian Post Office History: Southport. Australian Post Office Public Relations Section, Brisbane, 1968, p. 3
From 1860 the Queensland Government played an important role in the provision of schools in Queensland, providing an alternative to church schools and private schools. The provision of schools was linked to the location and development of communities, the number of children within reach of particular locations, community expectations, and changing government policies regarding the best way to provide for the education of Queensland children.Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Survey Part II Summary Report for Education Queensland, Project Services, January 2008, Section 1, n.p
Southport continued to develop as a beachside holiday resort throughout the 1880s and 1890s, becoming Queensland's principal seaside resort. Its popularity with the colonial elite was boosted when Queensland Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave (1883–8), established a holiday home there in 1884. Its popularity with all classes of Queenslanders multiplied after the opening of the railway extension to Southport from Beenleigh, in 1889, gave them easier access. By 1901, Southport's permanent population was 1230, which trebled in the peak holiday season.Project Services, Summary Report School Site No 21454, p. 4Michael Jones, Country of Five Rivers: Albert Shire 1788-1988. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1988, p. 169ABS, Census Data cited by Queensland Places, "Southport", <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016Jones, Country of Five Rivers, pp. 169-70
In Queensland, governments were slow to establish state secondary education, considering this to be of little relevance as Queensland's economy was based on the primary industries. The Grammar Schools Act 1860 provided scholarships for high-achieving students to attend elite grammar schools, although few were awarded. It was not until 1912 that the government instituted a high school system, whereby separate high schools were established in major towns or, where the student population was too small, a primary school was expanded to include a "high top". High tops were an economical measure that provided essentially the same education while utilising already established facilities.Thom Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev.2013 by EHP), pp. 9-11Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp. 32-5
By 1914, Southport's residents believed their town warranted a high school. On 21 April 1914, W Lather, the Secretary of the Southport State School Committee, requested that high school classes be established at Southport State School.John Elliott, Southport-Surfers Paradise: An illustrated history to commemorate the Centenary of the Southport SS, Southport SS, Southport, 19xx, p. 112 In the following year, a deputation called on the Minister for Education and in 1915 a public meeting was held, which elected a committee for promoting the establishment of a high school at Southport. The District Inspector visited the area at the end of 1915 and recommended that a high school be established at the Southport State School. Following an entrance test held on 25 February 1916, 30 pupils were approved for admission to a "High School Top" at Southport State School. High School classes commenced on 10 July 1916 in rented premises, but classes were conducted at the school from the beginning of the following year.Elliott, Southport-Surfers Paradise, p. 112
During the interwar period, Southport grew into a large town renowned as a popular resort and a fashionable residential and educational centre. With its population approaching 2000, Southport was proclaimed a separate town from Albert Shire in 1918.Queensland Places. "Southport". <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016 By 1921 it had a permanent population of 3550 people, increasing to over 6000 residents in 1925.Jones, Country of Five Rivers, p. 170Longhurst, Southport, p. 54 By the 1930s Southport had "many modern hotels, guest houses, flats ... water supply, septic sewerage systems and electric light".Southport Publicity Committee, Southport Q, Southport Publicity Committee, Southport, 1936, n.p
After World War II, Southport continued to expand as Australia's beach culture developed and tourism to the South Coast boomed. In 1949 the Southport municipality amalgamated with that of Coolangatta municipality and the Burleigh Heads area excised from the Shire of Nerang to form the Town of South Coast, consisting of a coastal strip from Labrador to Coolangatta. As the commercial and administrative centre of the South Coast (renamed the Gold Coast from 1958), Southport experienced steady residential and economic growth in the 1950s, but the coastal area south of the town experienced massive growth.Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p. 4 This development inevitably led to a demand for state schools in the region.
The Department of Public Instruction was largely unprepared for the enormous demand for state education that began in the late 1940s and continued well into the 1960s. This was a nation-wide occurrence resulting from immigration and the unprecedented population growth now termed the "baby boom". Queensland schools were overcrowded and, to cope, many new buildings were constructed and existing buildings were extended.Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, pp. 28-31 The overriding concern for the Department of Public Instruction was the need to build school buildings as expeditiously and economically as possible because the Queensland Government regarded education as a low priority and provided the department with only a small budget.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 70
The need for an adequate high school at Southport, to serve the whole South Coast, became a priority in the 1950s. In September 1953 there were 99 pupils attending the Secondary Department of the Southport State School. Of those, 62 resided outside Southport. As the school did not teach science subjects, students were unable to pursue any university study that required science as a prerequisite.'Southport SHS', South Coast Bulletin, 23 Sep 1953, p. 1: letter from G H Devries, Minister for Public Instruction to Mr E J Gaven, MLA, Member for Southport, 11 Sep 1953, Queensland State Archives [QSA], Item ID 13541 Schools files, Southport SHS, 1951-7
In response to this situation, the Minister for Public Instruction acted to provide adequate high school education on the South Coast. He approved the establishment of a sub-senior class at the Southport SHS from the beginning of 1955 and allocated £61,831 in the 1954–5 financial year for the erection of the new Southport State High School.'Southport SHS', South Coast Bulletin, 22 Sep 1954South Coast Bulletin, 1 Sep 1954 cited by Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, p. 28Department of Public Works (DPW), Annual Report of the Department of Public Works, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1955, p. 21
In Queensland, high schools remained few in number until after World War II, when secondary education became accepted as essential and was more widely provided. In the 1950s the number of high schools in Queensland increased significantly. The grounds were large, greater than 12 acres (4.8ha) providing ample room for sports facilities. The general classroom buildings were the same standard types as used for primary schools but high schools also included purpose-built science laboratories, domestic science buildings, workshops for woodwork and metal work, libraries, and gymnasiums. These were also built to standard plans but were specific to their use and not a continuation of previous designs.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 75 This reflected educationalists' rejection of the previous designs of school buildings, considering them outdated and their favouring of "lighter, loosely grouped, flexible" buildings.Department of Public Instruction, Annual Report of the Department of Public Instruction 1944, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1944, Appendix A
There was also a focus on the fit between the school and its neighbourhood, as well as site planning for expansion. In the early 1950s, architects developed master planning concepts that influenced the design and layout of the whole school. Initially, these plans were broadly based on regular and symmetrical plan forms around a central or prominent axis.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.73-4 A few years later there was a shift away from grid-like layouts to organic layouts which provided for growth and change. Classroom wings were connected to and fanned away from a central nucleus. Master planning schemes were focussed on the ideal solar orientation of buildings as well as their relationship to the natural contours and existing vegetation, resulting in building layouts that were more asymmetrical and open. The long, narrow buildings were positioned so that the spaces captured between them created playground areas and courtyards.