Toowoomba South State School is a heritage-listed former school at 158 James Street, South Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Department of Public Works (Queensland). It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 2 December 2013.
Toowoomba South is one of the oldest primary schools in Queensland. It is the oldest State School in Toowoomba (although nearby Drayton State School is older). It was first opened in 1865, as school number 112. Initially the school was co-educational. It was closed in 2013.
History Toowoomba South State School was established as Toowoomba National School in 1865 on a large site in what was then the civic centre of Toowoomba. Over time it has acquired a number of buildings and landscape elements, including a playshed (1884), an open-air annexe (1913), a main, three-storey brick building (1941), a timber building called the Oslo Lunch Room (1945), a concrete, brick and timber classroom wing called the Wadley Wing (1959), and mature trees. It has been an important place of education since its establishment and a social and cultural focus for students, parents, teachers and members of the Toowoomba community.
European settlement of the Toowoomba area, traditional country of the Giabal and Jarowair people, commenced in 1840 when squatters first occupied pastoral runs on the Darling Downs. Near the boundaries of Westbrook, Gowrie and Eton Vale runs and at the junction of two routes to Gorman's and Hodgson's gaps through the Main Range, the small settlement of Drayton (originally known as "The Springs") evolved from 1842 as a stopping place servicing pastoralists and travellers. From the late 1840s, the Drayton Swamp Agricultural Area ("The Swamp" now Toowoomba), six kilometres to the north-east, began to be considered a more desirable location for settlement. Better land for market gardening, improved water supply, the support of squatters and land speculators, and, from 1855, a better route to Brisbane (the Toll Bar Road), were all advantages over Drayton.
In September 1853 a government survey reserved two blocks of land in Toowoomba for important civic functions. The blocks were bound by Ruthven, Lawrence, Hume and James streets, bisected by Neil Street. The reserves were for the Toowoomba Benevolent Asylum (later hospital), Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches and schools, Toowoomba Town Hall, a market reserve and a National School on the corner of Lawrence and Ruthven streets. The allocation of land for these purposes in this area occurred because James Street was developing as the main commercial street, the route used by people travelling to Ipswich or south and west.
The site was reserved for a National School in Toowoomba is the present-day site at the rear of the existing campus now occupied by the Toowoomba South State School Hall, and the basketball and tennis courts (the corner of Lawrence and Ruthven Streets). The site of the current buildings was the hospital.
The name "Toowoomba" had gradually taken over from "The Swamp" by 1857 and the settlement continued to expand. At the time of its incorporation into a municipality (the Borough of Toowoomba) in November 1860, Toowoomba was on the way to supplanting Drayton as the principal service centre for the upper Darling Downs. Prior to 1859, Toowoomba's population was around 1500. Five years later this figure had doubled. The rapid economic and social development of Toowoomba in the 1860s was influenced by local residents who strongly promoted the prospects of the town, and political representatives who successfully lobbied for government funding for civic improvements. By 1861 local residents were agitating for the establishment of a government school.
Colonial governments played an important role in the provision of formal education. In 1848 (before the separation of Queensland in 1859) the New South Wales Government established National Schools. This was continued by the Queensland Government after the colony's creation in 1859. The Education Act 1860 established the Queensland Board of General Education and began to standardise curriculum, teacher training and facilities. The Education Act 1875 provided a number of key initiatives for primary education; it was to be free, compulsory and secular. The Department of Public Instruction was established to administer the Act. This move standardised the provision of education and, despite difficulties, colonial educators achieved a remarkable feat in bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children by 1900.
The provision of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early Queensland communities. The formal education of Queensland children was seen as integral to the success of a town, the colony and the nation. Land and construction labour was often donated by the local people and schools frequently became a major focus within the community as a place symbolising progress, for social interaction, and as a source of pride. Also, the development and maintenance of schools frequently involved donations and work by teachers, parents, and pupils. Because of their significant connections with the local community, schools have occasionally incorporated other socially important elements such as war memorials and halls used for community purposes. They also typically retain a significant enduring connection with former pupils, their parents, and teachers. Social events involving a wide portion of the local community have often been held at schools, utilising the buildings and grounds - such as fetes, markets, public holiday celebrations, school break-up days, fundraisers, sporting events, reunions, and dances.
As in other Australian colonies, the Queensland Government developed standard plans for its school buildings. This helped to ensure consistency and economy. The standard designs were continually refined by government architects in response to changing needs and educational philosophy. Queensland school buildings were particularly innovative in their approach to climate control, lighting and ventilation. Until the 1960s school buildings were predominantly timber-framed, taking advantage of the material's abundance in the state and the high number of builders skilled in its use. This also allowed for easy and economical construction and enabled the government to provide facilities in remote areas. Due to the standardisation of facilities, schools across the state were developed in distinctly similar ways and became complexes of typical components. These components included: the teaching building/s, the school yard, the horse paddock which was often later configured into a sports oval, the teacher's residence, and a variety of features such as sporting facilities or play equipment, shade structures, gardens and trees.
While the school site had been reserved in 1853, it was continued lobbying a decade later that led to the opening of the Toowoomba's first state-run primary school. In August 1863, the Courier reported "great exertions" being made towards the establishment of a National School for Toowoomba. By the end of the year the "Local Patrons", the committee advocating for the school, were advised the Board of Education was intending to call immediately for tenders for the erection of a brick school at a cost of £300. On behalf of the town, the local patrons guaranteed the supply of £100 towards the school's construction.
On 25 January 1864 the Chairman of the Board of Education, Arthur Macalister, laid the foundation stone for the school. Construction of the school, designed by architect Benjamin Backhouse and built by Mr Young, continued through 1864, a year when other important buildings for Toowoomba, including the Post Office and the hospital, were in progress or completed.
The Toowoomba National School opened on 22 January 1865 on the school reserve, with James Hodgson appointed the first Head Teacher. As pupil attendance increased, the initial building soon became inadequate. Construction of a new building on the site to accommodate female and infant students was complete by October 1869. The school was remade into two separate departments, renamed Toowoomba South Boys' State School and Toowoomba South Girls' and Infants' State School. The Girls' and Infants' school began with 98 pupils enrolled with Mary Jane Roulston as the first Head Teacher.
In 1869, the school was separated into the Toowoomba South Boys School (number 109) and the Toowoomba South Girls School (number 112). This led to there being two campuses the original on Ruthven Street being the Girls School, the other one block northeast on Neil Street the new Boys School campus (adjacent to the Market Reserve (now Groom Park)). The two schools were separated by Neil Street and St Patrick's Church (Catholic). In 1878, the girls school became known as the Toowoomba Middle Girls State School and the Infants School was opened as Toowoomba Middle Infants (number 399).
During the 1870s Toowoomba consolidated its status as the main urban centre of the Darling Downs. The arrival of the Main Line railway in 1867 secured the town's development and subsequently made it the hub for the Southern and Western railways. The 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's progress was reflected in improvements to the physical environment. Important capital works were commenced or completed including the draining of the swamps, improved water supply, gasworks for lighting, extensive tree plantings and the initial development of Queen's Park. Earlier temporary structures were increasingly replaced with more permanent and impressive buildings.
In 1877 the hospital adjacent to the school was vacated after a new hospital was built on the outskirts of the town. The school expanded to incorporate the hospital site and occupied the two newly-vacant hospital buildings; the boys occupied the former men's ward and the girls and infants occupied the former women's ward.
A playshed was constructed to the rear of the former hospital buildings in January 1884. Playsheds were free-standing shelters that provided covered play space and were often used for unofficial teaching space when needed. They were timber-framed structures, generally open on all sides although were sometimes partially enclosed with timber boards or corrugated galvanised iron sheets. The hipped (or less frequently, gabled) roofs were clad with timber shingles or corrugated iron and they had an earth or decomposed granite floor. Fixed timber seating ran between the perimeter posts. Playsheds were a typical addition to state schools across Queensland between s and the 1950s. They were built to standard designs that ranged in size relative to student numbers. School sites were typically cleared of all vegetation and the provision of all-weather outdoor space was needed. After school buildings were high-set, allowing students to play in the understorey and playsheds were not frequently constructed. The playshed at Toowoomba was built to a standard design. The construction plans show it was with a hipped roof clad with corrugated iron sheets, generous eaves, and supported on 10 timber posts. It had timber perimeter seating and the floor was gravel (altered to asphalt in 1885). The playshed is the oldest structure on the school site.