Newmarket State School is a heritage-listed state school at 320 Enoggera Road, Newmarket, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and Boulton & Paul Ltd and built from 1910 to 1960. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 February 2016.
History Newmarket State School (established 1904), located in the Brisbane suburb of Newmarket, approximately five kilometres northwest of the Brisbane central business district (CBD), is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains an early Depression-era brick school building (1934, extended 1947) and a Boulton & Paul building (1954, extended 1955, 1956) set within landscaped grounds including a playing field, assembly and play areas, paths, and mature trees. The school has a strong and ongoing association with the Newmarket community.
By 1900, the Queensland Government had achieved the remarkable feat of bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children. Beginning with National schools and the introduction of the Education Act 1860, which established the Board of General Education, Queensland's national and public schools had grown from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875. Further standardisation of curriculum, training and facilities occurred when the State Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and established the Department of Public Instruction.Thom Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev. 2013 by EHP), p. 2Greg 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. School facilities also provided a venue for a wide range of community events.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.
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, and standard designs were continually refined in response to changing needs and educational philosophy. Queensland school buildings were particularly innovative in climate control, lighting, and ventilation.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 84, 120-1.
Newmarket State School opened on 4 July 1904 with 135 children enrolled, four years after its school committee had formed and 40 years after the site was reserved for school purposes.Jan Veacock and Dorothy Jeffrey, "And a School was Opened at Newmarket, near Brisbane": A history of the Newmarket State School, 1904 to 2004, Newmarket State School P&C Committee, Newmarket, 2004, p. 20DNRM, Survey Plan S3121. The school comprised a timber school building and a teachers residence on on the corner of Banks Street and Enoggera Road. The occupations of the pupils' parents in the enrolment register show the rural nature of the area - timber-cutter, dairyman, farmer, grazier, drover, horse-dealer and tanner.Newmarket SS, Newmarket State School 1904-1979, n.p.
European settlement of Newmarket commenced when country allotments were sold as farmland in the 1860s. In 1877 the Newmarket cattle saleyards, bounded by Enoggera, Newmarket and Wilston roads and Alderson Street, commenced operations. Two years later the Newmarket Hotel opened opposite, on the (southeast) corner of Enoggera and Newmarket roads. A post office to serve the district opened in 1888. The opening of the Enoggera railway line from Mayne Junction to Enoggera in 1899, with a station at Newmarket, boosted suburban development.'Enoggera Railway Branch Line Completed', The Telegraph, 1 Feb 1899, p. 6. A police reserve of one acre was excised from the School Reserve in 1900,DNRM, M33.3209GG1900.2.1274. signalling growth of the area.
Newmarket State School continued to grow in conjunction with suburban expansion in the surrounding area and suffered serious overcrowding in the early 20th century. The Kelvin Grove tram along Enoggera Road reached Newmarket Road by 1904, promoting suburban and industrial development. Local employment was offered at sawmills and the Newmarket brickworks (1912-). In 1911 Newmarket's population was 721 people but two years later there were 419 children enrolled at the school. Further extension of the tram line along Enoggera Road, to a terminus at Banks Street in 1926, brought it right to the school and a shopping centre developed adjacent to the tram terminus.'The Erneton Estate', The Brisbane Courier, 30 Jan 1904, p. 8Veacock and Jeffrey, A History of the Newmarket State School, p. 40Project Services, "Newmarket State School", p. 4
In 1929, the suburb of Newmarket was described by The Sunday Mail newspaper as resembling:'Do You Know Your Brisbane? Newmarket - Suburban and Rural', Sunday Mail, 9 Jun 1929, p. 24."a prosperous country district [with] scrub-covered spaces, large residential properties, industries, cattle saleyards, and railway [giving] it the appearance of a country township of quiet importance.... [It] comprised undulating country, gentle slopes rising from rich, high-level flats, making the district admirably suited for home-building. The breeze-swept ridges command[ed] delightful views of the outlying purple-shrouded ranges to the north and west, the picturesque Enoggera Creek flow[ed] quietly through the greater part of the district".The population of the suburb was estimated at 4000 and attendance at the Newmarket State School was about 500 children.
The 1930s brought changes to Newmarket and its school. Further residential subdivision was promoted by the closure of the Newmarket Saleyards when they relocated to Cannon Hill in 1931.
The Great Depression, commencing in 1929 and extending well into the 1930s, caused a dramatic reduction of building work in Queensland and brought private building work to a standstill. In response, the Queensland Government provided relief work for unemployed Queenslanders and also embarked on an ambitious and important building programme using day labour and Queensland materials, to provide impetus to the economy.DPW, Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1934, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1934, pp, 6-8DPW, Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1935, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1935, p. 2Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1936, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1936, p. 2'State will spend over £460,000: big building plans', The Courier-Mail, 28 Dec 1933, p. 9.
Even before the October 1929 stock market crash, the Queensland Government initiated an Unemployment Relief Scheme, through a work programme by the Department of Public Works (DPW). This included painting and repairs to school buildings.'Relief of unemployment: big programme contemplated', The Telegraph, 24 July 1929, p. 5'Unemployment: the relief scheme', The Telegraph, 26 July 1929, p. 5. By mid-1930 men were undertaking grounds improvement works to schools under the scheme.'Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30 Jun 1930', p. 15. Extensive funding was given for improvements to school grounds, including fencing and levelling ground for play areas, involving terracing and retaining walls. This work created many large school ovals, which prior to this period were mostly cleared of trees but not landscaped. These play areas became a standard inclusion within Queensland state schools and a characteristic element.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 58.
The levelling and clearing of Newmarket State School's grounds was an ongoing project during the 1930s. Past students recalled that men were employed on the excavation of the Newmarket State School oval and filling the gully, under the Unemployment Relief Scheme. In 1932, three men were given two days' relief work clearing lantana and stumps from the school grounds.Veacock and Jeffrey, A History of the Newmarket State School, pp. 47, 52. A concrete cricket pitch was completed in 1932, laid down entirely by voluntary labour and was subsequently available for hire to the public.'School Welfare Association', Brisbane Courier, 13 September 1932, p. 5'Prepaid Advrts', The Telegraph, 13 September 1932, p. 16. Fundraising fetes and balls for the beautification of the school surroundings took place.'Newmarket State School Fete', Brisbane Courier, 23 Oct 1932, p. 16'Annual Ball', Brisbane Courier, 7 Aug 1933, p. 19. During 1933 the School Welfare Association raised for school improvements.'New School at Newmarket £600 Raised by Committee', Sunday Mail, 1 Jul 1934, p. 5. In 1939 two new tennis courts were opened.Veacock and Jeffrey, A history of the Newmarket State School, p. 52.
However, it was the decision by the Department of Public Instruction to address the inadequacies of the school and its need for additional accommodation, by erecting an entirely new building, which transformed the school.Veacock and Jeffrey, A history of the Newmarket State School, p. 47. Subsequently, between 1933 and 1934 a new brick building was constructed at Newmarket State School, facing Banks Street.
In June 1932, the Forgan Smith Labor Government came to power from a campaign that advocated increased government spending to counter the effects of the Depression. The government embarked on a large public works building programme designed to promote the employment of local skilled workers, the purchase of local building materials and the production of commodious, low maintenance buildings which would be a long-term asset to the state. This building programme included: government offices, schools and colleges; university buildings; court houses and police stations; hospitals and asylums; and gaols.'Labor at the Helm', The Worker, 20 Jul 1932, p. 8'Queensland Parliament', The Northern Miner, 17 Aug 1932, p.2'Public Buildings', Daily Mercury, 19 Oct 1933, p. 7'State will spend over £460,000: big building plans', The Courier-Mail, 28 Dec 1933, p. 9Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1939, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1939, p. 2.
Many of the programmes have had lasting beneficial effects for the citizens of Queensland, including the construction of masonry brick school buildings across the state. Most were designed in a Classical idiom as this projects the sense of stability and optimism which the government sought to convey through the architecture of its public buildings.
The construction of substantial brick school buildings in prosperous or growing suburban areas and regional centres during the 1930s provided tangible proof of the government's commitment to remedy the unemployment situation.Building type E/B1, according to Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.111-12. The Department of Public Works and Department of Public Instruction were extremely enthusiastic about the Depression-era brick school buildings. They were considered monuments to progress embodying the most modern principles of the ideal education environment.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 59.