Bowen State School is a heritage-listed school at 29 Kennedy Street, Bowen, Whitsunday Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert Ferguson and the Department of Public Works (Queensland). It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 March 2013.
History Bowen State School was established in 1865 on a large, central site within the town of Bowen. It comprises a variety of education buildings and landscape elements constructed and altered over a long period. It has been an important place of education for the Bowen community since its establishment.
Port settlements were established along the Queensland coast to serve inland pastoral districts to their west. In 1859 a site for the (then) most northern settlement of Queensland was found on the excellent natural harbour, Port Denison, to service the growing Kennedy pastoral district. It was declared a Port of Entry and Clearance in March 1861 and settlers began arriving immediately. The town of Bowen was officially proclaimed in April 1861, but by the time the town was surveyed in 1862 settlers were already pushing further north and looking for new sites for settlements.
Bowen grew quickly into a thriving commercial port. Initially, optimism for Bowen's future was high and it was thought the town would be the "capital of the north". Its population grew from an estimated 120 in May 1862 to 1192 in October 1865. Rudimentary or temporary buildings were built quickly and important institutions were established, often for the first time in North Queensland. A temporary courthouse was built in late 1860, a Church of England and a Roman Catholic church in 1863 and 1864 respectively, a permanent jetty was begun in mid-1864, a Freemasons' Lodge was established in 1865, and stores and hotels were built to serve the populace. Bowen was the first North Queensland town to have a mayor and an alderman (1863).
By August 1862, one hectare of land was granted by the Department of Lands for the construction of Bowen National School. Several small private schools were already operating in the town. While the people of Bowen raised the construction cost and built the school, a temporary school operated within a local store from 3 April 1865. The school relocated to the new school building by the end of 1865. This was a brick building facing Poole Street and containing one large classroom.
Bowen's regional prominence ended in the 1870s when Townsville emerged as the principal settlement of North Queensland. Bowen's population decreased by a third between 1868 and 1871 and did not reach its former size for nearly 50 years. The decision to build the Great Northern railway line in 1877 from Townsville inland to service Charters Towers and the pastoral districts ensured the further decline of Bowen. Townsville became the premier business centre of North Queensland and the Northern Supreme Court was removed from Bowen to Townsville in 1889. Nevertheless, Bowen continued as a service town to its hinterland and retained its various civic facilities including its school.
Colonial governments played an important role in the provision of formal education. In 1848 the New South Wales Government established National Schools. This was continued by the Queensland Government after the colony's separation 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 that 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.
On 30 January 1884 a cyclone damaged the brick Bowen National School building so badly it had to be demolished. School resumed in temporary accommodation while new teaching buildings were built. Previously, boys, girls, and infants (children aged 4 and 5 years old) were taught within the same classroom, although they sat separately. For the new school it was decided to separate the students and create two new schools in two separate buildings – Bowen State Boys' School and Bowen State Girls' and Infants' School. The buildings were located either side of the remnant foundations of the former brick building. The girls and infants were to the east, the boys were to the west, and a fence ran through the grounds to separate them. The boys' school building survives on the site and in 2012 is named Block D.
The new buildings were to a standard design that had been introduced in 1880 and constructed across the colony until 1893. Employed by the Department of Public Instruction, Robert Ferguson was responsible for school building design between 1879 and 1885 and he was the first to give serious consideration to the ventilation of interiors. Into the low-set, timber-framed buildings Ferguson introduced a coved ceiling and vented the roof space, improving internal temperatures. The number of windows and their size was increased; however, they were few in number and sill heights were typically over above floor level, well above eye level of students. Modestly-decorative timber roof trusses were exposed within the space. Built to this standard design, the two new school buildings at Bowen were low-set, timber-framed structures with gable roofs, verandahs front and back, and modest "carpenter gothic" timber detailing. An undated but early site plan indicates they contained one large classroom each. The Girls' School was extended at some time to accommodate a separate room for infants and an additional classroom.
Dramatic reform of the Queensland Education system began around 1909 and continued until the beginning of World War I. During this period a high school system was introduced, technical education was expanded, the University of Queensland was inaugurated, the Queensland Teachers' Training College was established, the requirement for a local contribution of construction costs for new schools was abolished, and the leaving age was increased from 12 to 14 years. Although technically compulsory since 1875, school attendance was not enforced until 1900. Subsequently, student numbers rose across Queensland during the first 15 years of the twentieth century.
Control of building design was transferred to the Department of Public Works in 1893 and the department's architects trialled a number of technical innovations. Queensland's education architecture became markedly more advanced and the range of standard building types increased. The most noticeable change in Queensland school architecture was the introduction of high-set buildings. This provided better ventilation as well as further teaching space and a covered play space underneath. Also, windows were rearranged and enlarged and sills were lowered to approximately above floor level. By 1909 windows were altered so that the maximum amount of light came from one direction and desks were rearranged so that this light fell onto the left hand side of students. Since students were forcedly right-handed, no shadow would be cast onto the page. The wall supporting the blackboard had no windows. This often meant a complete transformation of the fenestration of existing older buildings. Dormers were sometimes added to the roof to provide better light and ventilation and the larger classrooms favoured in earlier designs were partitioned to create smaller ones with better lighting. Interiors became lighter and airier and met with immediate approval from educationalists. A technical innovation developed at this time was a continuous ventilation flap on the wall at floor level. This hinged board could be opened to increase air flow into the space and, combined with a ceiling vent and large roof fleche, improved internal air quality and decreased internal temperatures effectively. This type was introduced around 1909 and was constructed until approximately 1920. Significantly, Dr Eleanor Bourne was appointed the first Medical Inspector of Schools in 1911 and under her instruction the relationship between classroom environment and child health was given prominence. Accordingly, school architecture evolved through iteration and experimentation to improve interior light and ventilation.
Such design innovations were included in a new building for the Boys' School at Bowen, constructed in 1917 to the west of the 1884 boys' building. Called the Big Room, it was a high-set timber building with a gable roof and a northerly and southerly verandah. It had a large number of windows in the gable end walls with sill heights approximately from floor level. It incorporated a hinged board, ceiling vent, and large roof fleche for ventilation. The roof fleche was removed at some time prior to 2006. This building survives and in 2012 is named Block C.
In 1919 an Honour Board memorialising 70 past students who served in World War I was installed in the Big Room and unveiled by the mayor in the presence of a crowded audience. The board took the form of a Grecian temple facade decorated to represent marble. It was claimed to be the largest in a North Queensland school, measuring wide by high. This board was moved to the Bowen Historical Museum some time after its installation although no evidence has been discovered as to when or why it was moved.