New Farm State School is a heritage-listed state school on the corner of James & Heal Streets, New Farm, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Department of Public Works (Queensland) and built from 1901 to 1939. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 April 2017.
History Located two kilometres northeast of the Brisbane CBD, New Farm State School was established in 1901 to meet the educational needs of the growing suburban community. It retains an urban brick school building (1901, extended 1909, 1939); an open-air annexe (1919); and a World War I Memorial (1923); set in landscaped grounds, with sporting facilities; early retaining walls (pre-1940) and mature trees. The school has a strong and ongoing association with the New Farm community.
Originally the lands of the Turrbul and Jagera people, European settlement began at New Farm when a farm was established to supply the convict settlement founded on the present site of the Brisbane CBD in 1825. In October 1843, after the convict settlement closed, Government surveyor Henry Wade began surveying the land between Fortitude Valley and the Brisbane River into large allotments. Following their sale from 1844, residences were established. Subdivision into smaller allotments occurred in the 1880s when Brisbane's population more than doubled due to immigration.New Farm Library, BCC Library Service, A Short History of New Farm, p. 1'Proclamation', New South Wales Government Gazette (NSWGG), 30 Jan 1844, pp. 197-8;'Proclamation', NSWGG, 7 Nov 1848, Issue No 126, p. 1624'Proclamation', NSWGG, 30 Jan 1853, pp. 943Plan of the City and Environs of Brisbane, County of Stanley, Queensland, 1865John Laverty, The Making of a Metropolis: Brisbane 1823-1925, Boolarong Press and Brisbane History Group, 2009, pp. 18, 43. Eastern Suburban Allotment 58 on which New Farm State School stands was available for sale at the upset price of £1 10s per acre from November 1848. ['Proclamation', NSWGG, 7 Nov 1848, Issue No 126, p. 1624.]Ronald Lawson, Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 1973, p. 100.
The need for a state school at New Farm resulted from extensive urbanisation and population growth in the area in the final decades of the 19th century. Improved transportation with the opening of an electric tramline down Brunswick Street in 1897, and industrial development, such as the CSR Refinery) in 1893 and the first Teneriffe Wharf in 1907, made New Farm a popular residential area.New Farm Library, Brisbane City Council (BCC) Library Service, A Short History of New Farm, p. 3Laverty, The Making of a Metropolis, p. 45'Electric Tramways, New Farm Service', The Telegraph, 22 Sep 1897, p. 4.
The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of new 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, for Education Queensland, 2008, pp.4-5Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp.87-8.
In 1899, the Department of Public Instruction approved a request for the establishment of a school at New Farm, for which residents agreed to contribute one sixth of the cost of the erection of the new state school. Acting on the Department's behalf, the chairman of the New Farm State School Building Committee, businessman Thomas Welsby, secured land for the school site from a number of owners, at a cost of £1087.New Farm State School Parents and Citizens' Centenary Committee, New Farm State School 1901-2001, New Farm State School Parents and Citizens' Centenary Committee, Brisbane, 2001, p. 8
Plans were approved in 1900 and the contractor, Thomas Hirons, commenced work in May 1900. The foundation stone was laid on 7 July 1900 by the Minister for Public Instruction, the Hon. James Drake. The total cost of buildings, fencing and interest amounted to £3,571, of which parents contributed £634.'New Farm State School', The Brisbane Courier, 21 Jan 1901, p. 5'New State Schools', The Telegraph, 7 Jul 1900, p. 2Project Services, "New Farm State School" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, 2008, p. 6'Official Notifications...Public Works ', The Week, 12 Apr 1900, p. 2.
New Farm State School's site comprised eight allotments, giving an frontage to Heal Street and frontages to Hawthorne and James streets. From Hawthorne Street to James Street the site fell . Designed to accommodate 392 pupils, the urban brick school building (now called Block A) had a U-shaped layout; comprised three large classrooms, measuring with ceilings, and verandahs on all sides; with an adjacent cloakroom; and a room for the head teacher. The rolled, galvanised-iron roof incorporated Boyles patent roof ventilators with specially made external casings. The rooms were accessed via stairs on each side of the building. The undercroft, comprising buff-coloured bull-nosed brick pillars and semi-circular arches with an asphalted floor, provided wet-weather play space.Department of Public Works (DPW), Annual Report of the DPW for the year 1900-1901, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1901, p.4'New Farm State School', The Brisbane Courier, 21 Jan 1901, p. 5.
In the first decades of the 20th century the Queensland Government implemented a campaign of construction of large public buildings. This included substantial brick or timber school buildings. Brick school buildings were far less frequently built than those of timber - being only used in prosperous urban or suburban areas with stable or rapidly increasing populations. Like Queensland's private schools, technical colleges and schools of arts, all brick school buildings were individually designed with variation in style, size, and form. They were given generous budgets, resulting in impressive edifices. Light and ventilation was still a primary concern for the architects but, compared to contemporary standard education buildings, they had a grander character and greater landmark attributes.Burmester, et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.18, 99QSA, Item ID 13693, Deputy Govt Architect, "Preliminary Estimate of Modified Plan - New State School Ascot", 9 May 1919.
New Farm State School commenced on its current site in January 1901, with 582 pupils enrolled. It was officially opened on 21 January 1901 with: the Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Griffith; the Minister for Education, the Hon. James Drake; the Hon. John McMaster; the Under Secretary for Public Instruction, John G Anderson; Chief Inspector, David Ewart; Chairman of the school committee, Thomas Welsby; all committee members; Head Teacher, Arthur Outridge; and a large number of local children and parents in attendance.New Farm State School Parents and Citizens' Centenary Committee, New Farm State School 1901-2001, p. 8'New Farm State School', The Brisbane Courier, 25 Jan 1901, p. 4'New Farm School', The Telegraph, 21 Jan 1901, p. 3.
However, the school building was inadequate to accommodate the immediate school population, which reached 650 by 1903. Consequently, classes were held on the verandahs and under the school building. To address the need for larger play grounds, two adjoining 16-perch allotments were purchased in 1905. For some years this area was used as a rifle range by the school cadets.
An additional classroom was added to the eastern end of both the northeastern and southwestern wings of the building in 1909, at a cost of £1,189. These extensions were designed to match the existing structure, being red brick with stone and buff dressings. Each comprised a classroom with verandahs. A plan dated September 1912 detailed alterations to undercroft archway enclosures, including new sashes, six-light casements and part-glazed double doors, which were part of improvements, repairs and internal painting to "basement" classrooms.New Farm State School, 75 Years: New Farm State School, n.p.Project Services, "New Farm State School", p. 6Department of Public Works (DPW), aperture card, 56M-9-5, "New Farm State School Improvements etc.", 12 September 1912DPW, Annual Report of the DPW for the year ended 30 June 1913, p. 18.
As enrolments climbed sharply to 918 pupils in 1917, the need arose for a dedicated infants school to overcome overcrowding. This was achieved with the building of an open-air annexe (now called Block B) in 1918–19, after two adjacent allotments with residences were purchased for £1200 to provide sufficient grounds. The open-air annexe, constructed at a cost of £1,813, was opened on 15 February 1919 by the Minister for Education, Herbert Hardacre. The building was positioned to the southeast of the urban brick school building. Set on brick piers, the highset timber building contained two large classrooms, a verandah to the northwest and an attached teachers room. It had a Dutch gable roof of asbestos slates. Its southeastern, southwestern and northeastern sides were open above balustrade level, and the posts and valances to those elevations were of decorative timber.'New Farm Infants Annexe Opened', The Daily Mail. 17 Feb 1919, p. 2Queensland State Archives (QSA), ID 15668, "New Farm SS 1913-43", Letter Under Secretary and Government Architect to the Under Secretary, Department of Public Instruction, 24 April 1918Project Services, "New Farm State School", p. 7ePlan, DPW drawing 13135012, Brisbane, New Farm State School: New Open Air Annexe, 1918.
Open-air annexes were introduced as a standard design in 1913 by the Department of Public Works.Although experimentation with "open-air" buildings started as early as the 1890s. This design was developed in response to the contemporary medical belief that adequate ventilation and high levels of natural light were needed for health; coupled with the need to build cheap, portable schools. The open-air annexe type achieved maximum ventilation and natural light. It contained one large room with only one wall, the western verandah wall. The other sides were open, with only adjustable canvas blinds for enclosure. Ideally, they were high-set, thereby increasing the ventilation and providing further shelter underneath.Burmester, et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.24-26.
Many open-air annexes were constructed across Queensland, but they proved to be inadequate and were discontinued in 1923. The open sides provided limited weather protection and climate control, and the canvas blinds deteriorated quickly. All open-air annexes in Queensland were modified to provide better enclosure.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.41. Accordingly, the blinds of New Farm State School's open-air annexe were replaced by sliding sash windows in 1924.Project Services, New Farm State School, p. 8. Enclosure of the verandahs took place in 1924.