Marburg State School is a heritage-listed state school at Louisa Street, Marburg, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and built in 1922. It is also known as Marburg Rural School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 October 2015.
History Marburg State School opened in 1879 as Frederick State School (renamed Marburg State School in 1888) on a small site within the small agricultural settlement of Frederick, to serve its growing rural population. In February 1920, Marburg Rural School commenced in rented buildings until the rural school and primary school moved to the current school site in June 1922. The school has been in continuous operation since establishment and has been a focus for the local community as a place for important social and cultural activity.
European occupation of the Rosewood Scrub and nearby Sally Owens Plains for pastoral purposes dates from the early 1840s.Marburg School Committee, Marburg State School 125th Anniversary, Marburg State School, Marburg, 2004, p. 4. Frederick's (Marburg's) establishment, as an agricultural settlement, dates from the 1860s when the area was settled, primarily by German immigrants.Marburg Centenary Committee. Marburg School Centenary 1879-1979 Marburg: A History of The Marburg [Frederick] State School and The Marburg District, Marburg State School, Marburg, 1979, pp. 1-5.
The original state school opened on a small sloping site in Edmond Street on 18 March 1879. The school, comprising a classroom and residence, was constructed by J Byers and had an average daily attendance during the first year was 31.8 pupils.Marburg Centenary Committee. Marburg School Centenary 1879-1979, pp. 5, 6, 8.
The provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. Following the introduction of Queensland's Education Act 1860, which established the Board of General Education and began standardising curriculum, training and facilities, Queensland's public schools grew from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875.Thom Blake, "Chapter 9: Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev. 2013 by EHP), p. 2. The Queensland Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and the establishment of the Department of Public Instruction. This further standardised the provision of education, and despite difficulties, achieved the remarkable feat of bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children by 1900.Greg Logan and Eddie Clarke, State Education in Queensland: a brief history, a report for the Department of Education, Queensland, 1984, p. 2.
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. The inclusion of war memorials and community halls reinforced these connections and provided a venue for a wide range of community events in schools across Queensland.Project Services, "Mount Morgan State High School" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, 2008, pp. 4-5; Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar, Michael Kennedy Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp. 87-8.
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. Standard designs were continually refined in response to changing needs and educational philosophy and Queensland school buildings were particularly innovative in climate control, lighting, and ventilation. Standardisation produced distinctly similar schools across Queensland with complexes of typical components.Burmester, et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 84, 120-1.
During the 1880s Marburg grew as a commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural area and as an administrative centre for Walloon Division (1879–1903).Project Services, "Marburg State School" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, p. 3. In 1888 the school was renamed Marburg State School to reflect the town's change of name, and it continued to grow - with additions in 1888, reroofing in 1904, and repairs and improvements in 1908.Marburg Centenary Committee. Marburg School Centenary 1879-1979, p. 6.
Growth of the town continued in the new century. Marburg gained rail connection to Ipswich and Brisbane when the Marburg branch railway was extended from Rosewood on the Main Line railway in 1911, but the siting of the Marburg railway station reduced the grounds of the school.Officially opened on 26 January 1912. Marburg Community Centre and First World War Memorial, QHR 600733. Additional land on the western side of the school reserve was added but was steep and unsuitable for a playground.Marburg Centenary Committee. Marburg School Centenary 1879-1979, p. 7.
The idea of rural schools, to educate country children in practical subjects, arose in the early 20th century following the establishment in 1897 of the Queensland Agricultural College at Lawes near Gatton to train young men in agriculture and related sciences.Moreton Bay Courier, 6 Jul 1850. Hector Holthouse, Looking Back. The first 150 years of Queensland schools, a report for the Department of Education, Queensland, 1975, p. 128. The college, administered by the Department of Agriculture and Stock, was part of a wider scheme of introducing "scientific agriculture" to the colony, which included experimental farms and travelling model dairies.Greg Logan, "American Prophet among Queensland Farmers: the troubled career of EM Shelton, 1890-98" in Educational Historian, 3:1, 1990, pp. i-iv. Within the school system, a limited form of rural instruction was introduced in syllabus changes made in 1905 and 1915.
John Douglas Story, Under-Secretary of Public Instruction from 1905, believed like many others, that Queensland's future depended on agricultural development. Between 1914 and 1916 he finalised a plan for three tiers of agricultural education - rural schools, state high schools, and University Agricultural Department. In 1910, to provide expert guidance from within the Department of Public Instruction, Story appointed James Clement Stubbin as Queensland's Teacher of Agriculture. Stubbin promoted the notion of a scientific approach to agriculture by writing a textbook on the school garden, agricultural bulletins, and constantly touring schools to give lessons on topics such as milk and cream testing, planting and pruning. In 1917 Queensland's first rural school was established as an adjunct to the Nambour State School.Brady, The Rural School Experiment, p. 4; Blake "Chapter 9: Educating Queenslanders", p. 12.
With the success of the Nambour Rural School, the Department of Public Instruction decided to open three more rural schools in 1920, one of which was at Marburg.The others were at Boonah and Gracemere. Source: Brady, The Rural School Experiment, p. 152. Consequently, a 10-acre (approximately ) lot in Louisa Street, about to the northwest of the first school site but close to the Marburg town centre with its railway station, was purchased from A Beutel for £250 on 30 August 1920 as the future site of the Marburg Rural School.QSA, Item ID 16763, 20/42249. 'Crown Solicitor's Office, Brisbane: Marburg Rural', 30 Aug 1920 cited by Brady, The Rural School Experiment, p. 170. This proximity to the railway station was important because "pupils aged between 12 and 14 years and ex-pupils to 17 years were eligible for free rail travel and free tuition at a Rural School one day per week".Brady, The Rural School Experiment, p. 189, 249, 263-4; Marburg Centenary Committee. Marburg School Centenary 1879-1979, p. 12. Pupils from Rosewood, Minden, Tallegalla, Lark Hill. Glamorgan Vale, Haigslea and Walloon were allotted a day for attendance at Marburg Rural School.Marburg Centenary Committee. Marburg School Centenary 1879-1979, p. 12.
Rural school classes were held in rented buildings in the Marburg Show grounds until 1922, when the former school buildings were transported to the new site and repurposed as vocational classrooms.Marburg School Committee, Marburg State School 125th Anniversary, p. 18.
The purpose of rural schools was to educate children to enable them to develop rural areas and to provide a means of extending country children's education beyond the compulsory years with an additional year of agricultural and domestic studies.Tony James Brady, The Rural School Experiment: Creating a Queensland Yeoman, QUT, doctoral thesis, 2013, p. 167; 'Nambour's Rural School', Nambour Chronicle, 29 Oct 1915, p. 5 cited by Brady, The Rural School Experiment, p. 10. Altogether 30 rural schools opened in Queensland between 1917 and 1939. Each was located in prime fruit-growing, dairying or agricultural areas and functioned "as a central school for the surrounding district schools, teaching domestic, commercial, agricultural and vocational classes".Brady, The Rural School Experience, p. ii.
The new sectional school building at Marburg State School was built to a Department of Public Works (DPW) standard design (D/T1), with some modifications, for £2990 and was ready for use on 29 January 1922.DPW drawing 1921; Project Services, "Mount Morgan State High School" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, p. 6. A 1921 plan of the sectional school building shows it as a long, weatherboard-clad structure, highset on tall stumps, with a Dutch-gable roof and two circular roof vents. A teachers annexe was attached to the verandah on the northern side, and included one space for the head teacher and another for the assistant teachers. Stairs either side of the teachers' annexe provided access to the verandah, which was enclosed at the western end for hat and coat racks, and at the eastern end for use as a store room. Large banks of windows spanned the southern wall. The interior was divided into five wide classrooms of varying lengths, and a science room was located at the eastern end. Three western classrooms were connected via folding glass doors and each classroom featured a ceiling vent.ePlan, QLD Government Architect Drawing 25-15-3-1, "Marburg Rural School", 1921.
Two vocational training buildings were constructed from the former school building, which was cut in half and moved to the site. Reconstruction and fitting out of the vocational building was supervised by a Mr Ash, for £215/10s, and was completed by 5 March 1923.'Marburg', Qld Times, 17 Jan 1923, p. 7 "Marburg State Rural School", Qld Times, 19 Feb 1923, p. 6. This included enclosing under the buildings with sheet metal. Its total cost was £718.Project Services, Marburg State School' in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, p. 6.