Edge Hill State School (EHSS) is a government primary school in Pease Street, Edge Hill, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately from the Cairns CBD and provides public education to children living within the suburbs of Edge Hill, Manunda and Cairns North.

Overview

The school is located along Pease Street on low-lying land immediately backing on to remnant Cairns central swamp, first reserved by the State of Queensland to be a State School on 17 December 1938Edge Hill State School (1990) Golden Jubilee 1940-1990 Edge Hill State School. Cairns

The school was built to service school aged children then living in a small, newly emergent rural township that had been forming along the higher edges of low lying, swampy lands progressively being transformed into market gardens, dairy paddocks and cane fieldsEHSS(2008) History, Edge Hill State School Webpage Accessed 2 April 2008

The emergent township was locally known as Edge Hill, and this, then, became the name of the new 'Edge Hill' state school. It started as a single classroom, three verandahs, two earth toilets, eight school desks, 40 hat and coat hooks, 31 students, and a single "Acting Head Teacher".

Seventy years on from its beginnings as land reserved for a State school, it still immediately backs on to remnant Cairns central swamp, but is now located next to a large water drain, within the suburbs of Cairns, with student numbers capped by the Queensland Department of Education at just over 900.

It has:Edge Hill State School Annual Report 2006-2007 PDF Accessed 31 March 2007

multiple buildings and facilities (including shops, covered assembly, library, internet technology facilities, music rooms, environmental interpretive centre, swimming pool, swimming club, after school care, plus dental centre); 37 class room teachers, plus 6 specialist teachers (including teachers in the fields of Music, Health & Physical Education, Resource Education, Languages other than English, Enhanced Learning, plus Special Education); and a full-time administration consisting of one Principal, two Deputy Principals, a Business Services manager, and 3 permanent administrative staff.

School Environment

Swampy Golf Course (1930s)

The slightly raised area within the Cairns central swamps reserved for a school, upon which the Edge Hill State School was built, had originally been used by local Edge Hill residents as a golf course (since abandoned because of constant flooding and inundation),.Edge Hill State School (1990) "History of Edge Hill State School" in EHSS Golden Jubilee. EHSS, Cairns. Pages 1- 17

The area was identified as a prospective site for a school by District Inspector of Schools, Mr C Walton who in 1938 reported to a Department of Public Instruction Advisory Committee identifying three possible sites for a school, making the following comments about the site and its environs:

".. a swamp extends along the western side of Pease Street, and ..[to the immediate east] .. is a swamp. These two swamps are connected by a water-course which passes ..[to the immediate south]. Thus this area has low-lying land on the east, south and west..."

"Mosquitoes breed prolifically in the stagnant water of the swamps and the land mentioned is approximately three (3) feet only above swamp water level"

The Department of Public Instruction reserved the site for the school on the understanding the then Cairns City Council had plans to drain the swampy areas, and because it was the only one of the three possible sites identified that could be procured for school purposes "..without the expenditure of a considerable sum [of money]..".

Horse paddock (1940s)

During the early 1940s teachers would catch a bus from Cairns City to a small shop, then, on most days, walk along a sandy, unsealed road to school. Pupils would walk, ride bicycles, or take horses along tracks through the surrounding 'bush'BROOKE, Celia (1990) "The La Spina Family Memories" in Edge Hill State School's Golden Jubilee. EHSS. Cairns.

On rainy days the school grounds would become inundated, and the creek to the immediate south (Saltwater Creek) would flood. One of the teachers, Daphne Jewell, recalled.JEWELL, Daphne (1990) "Recollections of Past teachers" in Edge Hill State School's Golden Jubilee. EHSS, Cairns

"..after rain [we] had to paddle across a creek between the bus stop and the school, much to the delight of the kiddies who paddled across with us."

Some classes were held under the school, and once, during such a wet period, Mr Edward Gordon, the Head Teacher at the time wrote:GORDON, Edward (1948) "Extra Accommodation", Letter to the Director General of Education, 23 February 1948, copied in Edge Hill State School's Golden Jubilee, EHSS, Cairns

"All of the verandahs are soaking wet from the driving rain, and the water is lying in pools under the school, where the children are sitting at their desks...A good percentage of the children are suffering from colds which, I consider, are caused by the damp concrete they have underfoot"

The grounds reserved for the school were not fully fenced and were, in fact, more paddock than school yard: at night cows and horses 'camped' in the school grounds; each school morning teachers cleaned up after the cows and horses; and during the days the pupils' horses would join the others, often while classes were being conducted in the shade of some large trees that've long since been removed and cleared away for cricket pitches and sports fields

Snakes, trees, and waterlillies (1950s)

By the 1950s the school grounds were emerging as a 'cared for' social space amidst a lot of surrounding 'uncared for' space.

"I recall the many snakes which frequented the playground. Greenslopes Street was an uncared for space adjoining the school hemmed in by Pease Street and the swamp. There was always an effort to beautify the school grounds and a number of trees were planted to do just that"

The street on to which the school fronted (Pease Street) was a sandy, unsealed road, and the street that theoretically ran along the school's northern border (Russell Street) was no more than a name on a map and didn't exist.

Huge old trees were growing where there is now a 'swamp' fence(under which the pupils 'parked' their bicycles); there was an old tree by Saltwater Creek on Pease Street where pupils feuded and played,JOHNSON, Marilyn (1990) "Now and Then" in Edge Hill State School's Golden Jubilee. EHSS. Cairns. Pages 26-27. and there were "lovely waterlillies" in what is now a large drain.HILL, Robyn (1990) "1954-1960 Bits and Pieces I Remember" in Edge Hill State School's Golden Jubilee. EHSS. Cairns. Page 26.

Bushland (1960s)

At the beginning of the 1960s, Mr Kevin Whouley, starting his first term as Principal, moved into a Principal's residence within the Edge Hill School grounds.

Whouley described the School environs at the time, as follows:

"The school .. gave the appearance of being out in the bushland as it was bordered by scrub and swamp on the northern and eastern boundaries. To the south was the creek and to the west, across Pease Street, was a tangle of ti-trees, stunted growth and thick blady grass.. At night the curlews called incessantly and in the early morning scrub wallabies came in to graze on the sports field."

"In the dry weather a lone Jabiru came yearly to stand motionless for hours in the lower paddock. Snakes including death adders were plentiful. A dairy farm adjoined the school. The cows in search of pasture, made tracks along the school's fence. At certain times of the year the areas where cows had been, produced enormous crops of delicious mushrooms"

School Community

School Building Committee (1930s)

Local parents and residents were concerned about their children having to walk or more from home to school, crossing the then busy (and dangerous) Kuranda railway line each day. They ultimately secured State Government agreement and assistance to build a State school at Edge Hill.

Working through the Edge Hill Progress Association, their Secretary (Mr C.K.V Edwards) on 18 September 1937, wrote to the local member of parliament, Mr J. O'Keefe, asking for assistance to establish a State school.

On 6 December 1937, their President (Mr E. H. D. Hawkins) convened a meeting of all interested parents and local residents to form a school building committee to oversee and coordinate their efforts to obtain the desired State school.

With the strong support and assistance of the local member of Parliament, this School Building Committee:

on 1 March 1938 made formal application to the then Director of Public Instruction for a State School to be built at Edge Hill; on 14 May 1938 successfully arranged a meeting at the Edge Hill Town Hall between a Department of Public Instruction District Inspector (Mr C. Walton) and prospective pupils plus their parents; by 1939 obtained formal advice and confirmation from then Director of Education to the effect that:

i. it had been agreed a state school should be established at Edge Hill, preferably on an otherwise swampy portion of land the City of Cairns planned to drain

ii. an area of 5 acres, 3 roods, 12 perches (2.357 hectares) fronting on to Pease Street had been reserved for the purpose of building the Edge Hill State School.

Having achieved its purpose the School Building Committee was by July 1940 dissolved, having seen the School built and opened; secured a permanent Head Teacher for the school; arranged for flood prone depressions to be filled; and obtained Department of Public Works approval to fence and prevent cattle and horses wandering the school grounds.

World War II School Committee (1940s)

With the dissolution of the original School Building Committee (above), the Department of Public Instruction directed the Head Teacher to form a new school committee.

Two years after the start of the school, in April 1942 the Department of Public Instruction also directed the Head Teacher to close the school to all pupils below grade 6. This direction was given as, by this time, in the ongoing war that had started in 1939, Japan had almost totally conquered South-East Asia and was rapidly moving southward towards Australia, already flying planes over Australian waters and bombing naval bases around Darwin.

The Edge Hill parents and citizens objected to the directed school closure, and through their School Committee (Chaired by Mr A. Loveland) wrote in protest to the Minister of Public Instruction giving reasons why Edge Hill State School should NOT be closed as directed.

The parents and citizens also arranged a working bee which was held on 10 April 1942 to construct over 61 m of timber-lined trenches within the school yard, and, with these trenches in place, they kept the school open. The School Committee preferred to keep children safe at school (where they did lessons by correspondence) rather than have them roaming freely and unsupervised around Edge Hill and surrounds.

One of the Edge Hill State School pupils at the time (Nola Downey) recalled:

"In those days we were only able to attend school for half a day... The greatest excitement .. was the Air-raid practices which we had very often. The siren would whine loudly and threateningly and we would all scuttle off to our slit trenches and stand huddled together with a cork between our teeth and cotton wool in our ears" (Page 24)

By keeping the school open the total number of pupils attending the school in 1942 leapt upwards to about 230, with the school picking up pupils from the nearby, closed North Cairns and Good Counsel Convent Schools. All 230 pupils had to share the one single classroom, which was achieved by staggering the times pupils were required to attend.

Garden Party Parents Committee (1950s)