Hamilton State School is a heritage-listed state school at Oxford Street, Hamilton, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1907. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 November 2018.
History Hamilton State School, opened in 1907, is located in the riverside residential suburb of Hamilton, north-east of Brisbane's central business district (CBD). The school is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It comprises an attractive urban brick school building (1907), set in landscaped grounds with mature trees, assembly and play areas, and sporting facilities. The school has a strong and ongoing association with the Hamilton community.
Located within the traditional lands of the Turrbal people, the school site was part of more than purchased from the New South Wales government in 1843 by Captain John Clements Wickham, the Government Resident in Brisbane until 1859. Subsequent to his death in 1864, his trustees subdivided the land and a "monster land sale" of the Wickham Estate at Hamilton was announced in the press in April 1885.Telegraph, 8 Apr 1885, p. 8. Between December 1886 and March 1889, the 20 residential allotments that later formed the school site, totalling , were purchased by Henry Charles Cleeve, a commission agent. He was declared insolvent in 1891 and the property was transferred to Mary Jane Hampstead in 1892.Telegraph, 18 Apr 1891, p. 2Land purchases: #19549007, #19549004,(to JC Wickham, 1843), Certificates of Title: #86000, #86001, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME), Certificates of Titles: #10636060, #10575241, #10743171, #10743168North Queensland Register, 13 Jul 1898, p. 21.
The suburb of Hamilton, initially accessed via Eagle Farm Road (later Hamilton Road and now Kingsford Smith Drive) from the convict-built Breakfast Creek Bridge, was noted by the 1860s for its fine villas and gentlemen's estates sited on elevated land.John Kerr, Triumph of Narrow Gauge, A History of Queensland Railways, Brisbane: Boolarong Publications, 1990, p. 75. The Queensland Turf Club established its racecourse nearby from 1863, and the Hamilton Hotel, which gave its name to the suburb, opened around that time.
The availability of transport from the city made the area attractive for residential development, with much of it subdivided by 1895. The railway to Eagle Farm Racecourse opened on 3 September 1882. Horse-drawn bus and tram services to the city were also available, and in 1899 were replaced by an electric tram service terminating at the end of Racecourse Road.A.R. McKellar, McKellar's Official Map of Brisbane & suburbs, Surveyor-General's Office, Brisbane, 1895, sheet 3Kerr, Triumph of Narrow Gauge, p. 75 Hamilton was managed by the Toombul Divisional Board from 1883, but by 1890 became a separate division. With a population of 2660 by 1891, it became the Town of Hamilton by 1904.Daily Mail, 3 Feb 1925, p. 12
The closest state school for Hamilton residents was the Eagle Farm State School on Nudgee Road, which had operated since 1864. It was considered too distant from the growing population in the new subdivisions, and in poor condition. A request for a new school in the Eagle Farm-Hamilton area was made in 1899. Hampstead's land was purchased by the Department of Public Instruction in January 1900. Representatives of the Eagle Farm School Committee met with the Minister for Education to request a new school be built on this Hamilton property, financed by the sale of the existing Eagle Farm School. However, the Education Act 1875 required the community to provide one fifth of the cost of the school. By 1905, the committee had raised the required funds and plans for a brick building had been produced by the Department of Public Works (DPW); but construction did not proceed. In 1906, the head teacher at Eagle Farm State School advised that 70 per cent of students lived on the south side of the railway line and were walking long distances to school. When the government finally agreed to proceed with a school at Hamilton in May 1906, it was on the proviso that the Eagle Farm State School be closed. This did not occur and the latter remains operational as the Hendra State School, having been renamed in 1908.DNRME, Certificate of Tile 86000, #10636060Brisbane Courier: 23 Jan 1900, p. 4'Eagle Farm State School', Telegraph, 25 Jan 1902, p. 8Telegraph, 9 Nov 1905, p. 4Telegraph, 1 May 1906, p. 6Telegraph, 31 May 1906, p. 4Telegraph, 8 Nov 1924, p. 7.
Tenders were called for a new brick school at Hamilton in July 1906. The successful tenderer was Alfred Henry Barltrop, a local builder who was on the Eagle Farm State School committee and had recently repaired that school. Barltrop's tender was for £1531. His brother William, also a builder, was secretary of the Hamilton School Committee, which organised local member Andrew Petrie, M.L.A. to officially open the new school and hoist the Union Jack on the school flagpole on 16 March 1907.Brisbane Courier, 9 Jul 1906, p. 5Telegraph: 15 Jul 1904, p. 16Telegraph, 25 Jan 1902, p.8Brisbane Courier, 8 Sep 1906, p. 4Brisbane Courier, 14 Mar 1907, p. 2Brisbane Courier, 18 March 1907, p. 9Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp. 18, 99
The urban brick school building (now called Block A) constructed at Hamilton State School was individually designed by the DPW. Brick school buildings were built far less frequently than timber ones, only being provided in prosperous urban or suburban areas with stable or rapidly increasing populations. All brick school buildings were individually designed with variations in style, size, and form, but generally retained similar classroom sizes, layouts and window arrangements to timber schools, to facilitate natural light and ventilation. However, compared to contemporary standard education buildings, these buildings had a grander character and greater landmark attributes.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 103.
Block A provided accommodation for 243 pupils in two classrooms. The building was and built above the ground, with the area under the school asphalted as a play space. The brick walls were arched on the lower level allowing access to the undercroft. Verandahs on the east and west sides of the building were wide. Exterior walls were rough-cast rendered on the upper level, and plastered internally. The classrooms were separated by a glazed partition. The school grounds were fenced and there were four water tanks, one located beneath each corner of the building. The design of the school was described as combining the latest ideas in state schools and responding to the climate better than any other school in the state. It had an excellent system of lighting and ventilation, incorporating dormer windows and a prominent ventilation fleche.Brisbane Courier: 18 Mar 1907, p. 9, 25 Mar 1907, p. 4Department of Public Works (DPW) Annual Report to 30 Jun 1907, p. 4DPW plan, barcode 13149114, "Hamilton State School", site plan and first floor plan, (incorrectly dated 1944)DPW plan, barcode 13149147, "Hamilton State School", elevations and sections, (incorrectly dated 1926).
Teaching commenced at Hamilton State School on 19 March 1907 with 190 students enrolled. However, an inspection in 1916 showed that it was overcrowded, with children being taught on the verandahs and underneath the school building in a makeshift classroom. This was due to population growth. In the Hamilton Town Council area, the population increased by 81 per cent between 1911 and 1921. The school inspector suggested that the temporary classroom be converted into a permanent one by inserting windows into the walls to allow more light and provide shelter from westerly winds. Subsequently, in 1917 the southern end of the undercroft was partially enclosed to create a classroom for infants. Plans for an extension to the school were made, but never executed.Newitt, Hamilton State School Centenary, p. 8Project Services, p. 6DPW plan, barcode 13149092, "Proposed windows and flooring in basement", (incorrectly dated 1942). Prior to 1940 the north end of the east verandah was enclosed to create a teachers room. Evidence for this teachers room is on a plan dated 1940, which shows that a partition to the "existing Teachers Room" in this location was to be removed to create a new hat room.DPW plan, barcode 13149136, "Remodelling and sewerage installation", Sheet no. 1, July 1940.
Toilet blocks had been added to the site by 1930 with a girls block on the northern boundary and a boys block on the southern boundary.BCC, Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, Detail Plan No 473, 1930.
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 playing fields 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.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 4, 48-9.
Arbor Day was celebrated at Hamilton State School from at least 1912. By 1925 there were 39 trees planted in the school grounds including: Weeping figs (Ficus benjamina), Moreton Bay chestnuts (Castanospermum australe), Cocos or queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana), Macadamia nut trees (Macadamia integrifolia), Camphor laurels (Cinnamomum camphora) and Candlenut trees (Aleurites moluccanus).Newitt, Hamilton SS Centenary, p. 9. Aerial photography dating from 1936 shows extensive tree planting along all boundary fences, except along the eastern half of the southern boundary.QImagery, aerial photograph, Apr 1936, QAPADA00055725. In July 1941 a pergola over the front steps of the school building was completed at a cost of £4.Newitt, Hamilton State School Centenary, p. 8. (since demolished)
The commencement of the Pacific theatre of World War II (WWII) in December 1941, with its threat to Australia, resulted in the Queensland Government closing all coastal state schools in January 1942. Most schools, including Hamilton State School, reopened on 2 March 1942, but student attendance was optional until the war ended.Ronald Wood, Civil Defence In Queensland During World War II, 1993, p. 79'Schools reopen some await shelter survey', The Courier Mail, 2 March 1942, p. 3
Typically, schools were a focus for civilian duty during wartime. Students and staff members grew produce and flowers for donation to local hospitals and organised fundraising and the donation of useful items to Australian soldiers on active service.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 64-5. During 1943, male pupils at Hamilton State School cultivated vegetables and flowers in the school grounds, which were sold to raise money for the war effort, while female pupils knitted socks, mittens, and rugs for the Red Cross.Brisbane Courier, 5 Oct 1927, p. 20Brisbane Courier, 16 Dec 1929, p. 15Courier Mail, 10 Jun 1943, p. 4.