Forest Hill State School is a state school with a heritage-listed teacher's residence at 15 Church Street, Forest Hill, Lockyer Valley Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and built from 1892 to 1906 by Luder. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 May 2015.
History Forest Hill Provisional School opened in January 1893 in a small timber teaching building which was built to a standard government design. The provisional school building was constructed during 1892 on a site in Church Street, in the agricultural settlement of Forest Hill. When a new state school building was constructed in 1898, the provisional school building was converted, with additions, into a teacher's residence, with further additions constructed . Although the state school teaching buildings (1898 and ) have since been replaced, the former provisional school building is still used as a teacher's residence, and two mature bunya trees (Araucaria bidwillii) mark the former entrance to the 1898 state school building.
The small town of Forest Hill was once one of the busiest agricultural loading points in Queensland. Traditionally the land of the Yuggera people, from the early 1840s the area around Forest Hill was part of the "Rosewood" pastoral station. Rosewood station was briefly held by David McConnel, but was leased to Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior by 1844.Fox, MJ, 1919-23. History of Queensland: its people and industries, Volume 1. Adelaide: Hussey & Gillingham for the States Publishing Co., Brisbane, p.151Forest Hill State School, 1993. Celebrating 100 years, Forest Hill District. Forest Hill State School Centenary Committee, Forest Hill, p.10. Some Rosewood land was later resumed by the Queensland Government as part of the West Moreton Agricultural Reserve, to enable closer settlement, and was offered for sale in the 1860s.Queensland Government Gazette, 1867. pp.180, 449, 554"Crown lands sale", The Brisbane Courier, 22 May 1867, p.3. In 1868 a number of farm portions in the area around Forest Hill, including Portion 47, were purchased from Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior by Jondaryan Estates. The land was subdivided into farm and town blocks in 1886 as the Laidley Plains Estate, and Portion 47 was subdivided into town blocks.Celebrating 100 years, pp.9, 12-13"Local and General News", Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 18 December 1886, p.7"Lockyer progress. Forest Hill changes", Queensland Times, 10 September 1927, p.6Survey Plan RP7805, DNRM. Jondaryan Estates was formed by the partnership of William Kent and Edward Wienholt (from 1858), who had purchased multiple stations over time, including Rosewood, Tarampa and Jondaryan.
The main reason for the subdivision of Portion 47 was the presence of the Southern and Western Railway along its northern boundary. The railway had been built westwards from Ipswich to serve the pastoralists of the Darling Downs. The section between Grandchester and Gatton was formally opened on 31 May 1866.'Opening of the railway to Gatton', The Brisbane Courier, 19 June 1866, p.2. The first agriculturalist in the Forest Hill area, Major AJ Boyd, purchased land south of the railway in 1880, and requested a siding on the line to the west of Laidley. Boyd obtained his rank in the Queensland Permanent Artillery, and has a park named after him in Nundah, Brisbane. He was editor of the Queensland Agricultural Journal from 1897 to 1921, and served in the Queensland Public Service for c.40 years."Major AJ Boyd, death in Sydney", The Brisbane Courier, 21 May 1928, p.15. Initially known as Boyd's siding, this was renamed after his property "Forest Hill" by 1881, and in 1886 the siding was moved about a kilometre west, to the site of the current Forest Hill railway station.Celebrating 100 years, pp.12-13, 67-68"Forest Hill Hotel", Queensland Heritage Register 600652"Forest Hill and its development", The Brisbane Courier, 10 July 1909, p.13. Jondaryan Estates put more freehold land up for sale in 1889, and by 1890 there was a produce business and blacksmith in Forest Hill.Celebrating 100 years, pp.13-14. A hotel, The Pioneer Hotel on William Street, also operated briefly at Forest Hill between 1889 and 1891.Celebrating 100 years, p.7.
The growing town soon required a school. The provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early communities and integral to their success. Locals often donated land and labour for a school's construction and the school community contributed to maintenance and development. Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers.Project Services, "Mount Morgan State High School" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, January 2008, for Education Queensland, pp.4-5Burmester, P, Pullar, M, and Kennedy, M, 1996. Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, pp.87-88.
From 1869, in rural areas where there would be less than 30 pupils attending, provisional schools could be established. A provisional school could be opened with as few as 15 (later 12) pupils. Local committees provided a building and found a teacher, and the Board of General Education (established 1860) paid the teacher's salary relative to the number of pupils. Provisional schools were regarded as interim measures until state schools were built and were often hastily erected by voluntary labour using basic materials. By 1908, 640 provisional schools were operating compared with 461 state schools.Blake, T, 2007 (rev.2013 by EHP) Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, Chapter 9: educating Queenslanders, pp.2-3.
In August 1890, the Forest Hill community investigated the possibility of obtaining a provisional school, and a committee was formed in September that year.Celebrating 100 years, p.185. Fundraising for the construction of a school was underway by this time.'Country News (Laidley)', The Queenslander, 27 September 1890, pp.582-83. Jondaryan Estates set aside of land on Portion 47, and in September 1890 this was given to the school committee.Celebrating 100 years, p.185 Jondaryan Estates initially set aside subdivision 75, but was persuaded to donate subdivisions 65 and 66 instead. Subdivision 67 had already been set aside for the Church of England. An application for a provisional school was made after WR Burton became secretary of the school committee in August 1891, and the school was built for by Mr Luder, with a government grant of .
The Forest Hill Provisional School was based on a standard government plan. To help ensure consistency and economy, the Queensland Government developed standard plans for its school buildings. From the 1860s until the 1960s, Queensland school buildings were predominantly timber-framed, an easy and cost-effective approach that also enabled the government to provide facilities in remote areas. Standardisation produced distinctly similar schools across Queensland with complexes of typical components.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.84, 120-121.
However, early provisional school buildings were not built to standard plans and many were of poor quality. Under regulations introduced in 1892 to address this situation, if a provisional school was built according to government specifications, the government would provide up to half the cost of the building and its furniture. The recommended government plan for provisional schools was for a small low-set timber framed and clad building with a gable roof (type B/T6). It accommodated one large classroom with a front verandah, although a rear verandah was sometimes provided.See Type B/T6 plan in Burmester, P, Pullar, M, and Kennedy, M, November 1996. Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, Conservation Management, a report for the Department of Education, p.15. The building was single-skin construction, lined externally with chamferboards. The building had few windows and ventilation was provided by a high-level louvred vent in the gable end wall. These were often a huge improvement over the previous provisional school buildings and were constructed until .Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.14.
In June 1893, it was reported that:'The West Moreton State Schools', Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 10 June 1893, p.7."The year... saw the beginning of a new practice in regard to provisional schools, the Department now... contributing, on certain conditions, towards the cost of their erection... Examples of this are afforded by the new schools at... and Forest Hill, which have been erected in accordance with departmental plans and specifications".The Forest Hill provisional school building consisted of a classroom , with a front verandah, and an back verandah. The building was inspected in December 1892, and Provisional School No.697 opened on 23 January 1893.
Forest Hill Provisional School became a state school in 1899, due to local population growth. The Queensland government's 1896 repurchase of of the Rosewood Estate, comprising fertile black soil land on the northern side of the Forest Hill railway station accelerated development of the town – and that same year the Queensland Agricultural College was constructed northwest of Forest Hill.'Forest Hill Hotel', QHR 600652"Agricultural Land Repurchase Act: Rosewood estate, 6000 odd acres repurchased", Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 28 November 1895, p.5Celebrating 100 years, p.103 (Agricultural College). Between 1898 and 1906 three hotels were built in Forest Hill – the Station Hotel (1898) now the Forest Hill Hotel; the Crown Hotel (1902) burnt down in 1909; and the Lockyer Hotel (1906). The town's first bank opened in 1901 and the first police station in 1902.Celebrating 100 years, p.9
While a provisional school only required , state schools required a minimum of .Celebrating 100 years, p.186. The Department of Public Instruction paid 4/5ths of the required to purchase an additional to the northwest and southwest of the provisional school grounds, from Jondaryan Estates, in early 1898, making a total of .Celebrating 100 years, p.186Certificate of Title 10931123, DNRM. This land included subdivisions 63, 64, and 74-77. Tenders were called in mid-1898 for a new state school, conversion of the existing provisional school into a teacher's residence, and fencing.Queensland Government Gazette, 1898, Vol. 69, p.1683. In October 1898, the establishment of the state school was authorised by the Governor, and the tender of R Hodges for a new state school at Forest Hill () was accepted.Queensland Government Gazette, 1898, Vol. 70, p.896.The successful tender price presumably included the conversion of the residence.
Most Queensland state schools incorporated a teacher's residence on the site, particularly in rural areas. In Australia, only Queensland offered free accommodation to teachers, the government policy applying to male teachers (only) from as early as 1864. This was partial recompense for a low wage, an incentive for teacher recruitment in rural areas and provided onsite caretakers. Refinement of the standard residence design occurred over time, with each modification responding to teacher complaints and Teachers' Union agitation.