Virginia State School is a heritage-listed state school at 1690 Sandgate Road, Virginia, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and built from 1920 to 1933. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 August 2015.
History Virginia State School opened in 1920 in the northern Brisbane suburb of Virginia to serve the growing population in the area. Due to suburban development during the interwar period and after World War II, extensions were made and buildings added to the site to serve the school's growing pupil numbers. Virginia State School has a highly intact three-wing sectional school building (Blocks B, C and D) that was constructed in five stages between 1920 and 1933, and is set in landscaped grounds with mature shade trees, forestry plots and sporting facilities. 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 activities.
The provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. National schools, established in 1848 in New South Wales were continued in Queensland following the colony's creation in 1859. After the introduction of the Education Act 1860, which established the Board of General Education and began standardising curriculum, training and facilities, Queensland's national and public schools grew from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875. The State Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and established 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.Thom Blake and Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev. 2013), 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 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 Project Services, 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, 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.
Originally the land of the Turrbul people, the land in the vicinity of the later Virginia State School was surveyed in 1864 and country portions sold by 1878. The area became known as "Virginia" after the opening of the Virginia railway station on the North Coast railway line in 1888. The railway made the area more accessible and stimulated growth. The Virginia Brick Company was established nearby about 1892. Between the 1890s and 1910s a small village formed around the railway station and by 1911 the area's population was 167.Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), Plan S3135 "Plan of 59 Portions, Parish Kedron, County Stanley" and Plan 3134'Virginia', <www.queenslandplaces.com.au/virginia>, accessed 29 Oct 20141911 census cited by "Virginia", <www.queenslandplaces.com.au/virginia>, accessed 29 Oct 2014.
The community petitioned the Department of Public Instruction in 1909–10 for the opening of a state school at Virginia and by 1915 a plan of the area showed a school reserve on the site of a former recreation reserve. In 1918 the Minister for Public Instruction advised that the new school at Virginia would proceed and that its estimated cost was £3000. The Queensland Government subsequently approved expenditure of £1,784 on establishing the school. In January 1920 The Queenslander reported that the new state school at Virginia was nearing completion. The previously gazetted school reserve (R1066) was increased in size to 8 acres 31.5 perches (3.37ha) through the inclusion of land to the south and west of the initial reserve, after closure of a road leading to the adjacent Virginia Brickworks.'Virginia State School', The Telegraph, 27 Nov 1918, p.7'Virginia School', The Telegraph, 30 May 1919, p.3'The New State School at Virginia', The Queenslander, 3 Jan 1920, p.28DNRM, Plan SL852, 5 May 1921.
The school was opened by the Minister for Public Instruction on 31 January 1920 and teaching commenced on 2 February. It consisted of a highset, three-classroom, sectional school building running approximately east–west, with a north-facing verandah and a teachers room centrally positioned off the verandah (this building is the eastern end of the current Block B). Stairs to the east of the teachers room gave access to the verandah, and the base of the verandah wall had operable ventilation boards. The final cost according to the Department of Public Works was £2276 2 shillings (s) 10 pence (p).J D Dale, Virginia SS: the first fifteen years 1920-1934, John Dale, Northgate, 1978, n.pphotograph, The Queenslander, 3 Jan 1920, p. 28'Northgate-Virginia School', The Telegraph, 28 Jan 1920, p.7DPW, Report of the Department of Public Works for the Year Ended 30 June 1920, Qld Government Printer, Brisbane, 1920, p.12.
Attention to improving light and ventilation to achieve an optimum classroom culminated in 1920 with the Sectional School (type DT/1), a high-set timber structure. This fundamentally new design combined all the best features of previous types and implemented theories of an ideal education environment. It proved very successful and was used unaltered until 1950. This type was practical, economical, satisfied educational requirements and climatic needs and allowed for the orderly expansion of schools over time.School types are detailed in the following study: Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, A Heritage Conservation Study, p.30.
Before the sectional school, all school buildings were generally aligned with street and property boundaries, regardless of aspect. By late 1914, after acceptance of the principles and virtues of providing natural light into classrooms advocated by Eleanor Bourne, (appointed as the first Medical Inspector of Schools in 1911), buildings were being preferably orientated to receive maximum indirect southern light. The sectional school type was designed to have an unobstructed wall of windows on its southern elevation and verandahs, typically to the north but sometimes to the end elevations, allowing for linkages to other and future buildings. Its blank end walls were also detailed to be removable, so that as the school grew, the building could be easily extended in sections, hence the name. This led to the construction of long narrow buildings of many classrooms - a distinctive feature of Queensland schools.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.38-40.
At Virginia State School, rapid growth in student numbers over the next 12 years resulted in four additions, constructed to the west of the original sectional school building, and ultimately forming three connected wings. Pupil numbers in the first two years grew from 165 at opening to 252 by December 1921 resulting in the first enlargement of the school in 1922. Two classrooms were added to the western end of the sectional school building (the classrooms now form the western end of Block B) at a cost of £1,271 9s. However, by June 1923 a deputation from Virginia State School was requesting the Minister for Public Instruction to duplicate the existing accommodation, provide a retiring room for the female teachers, and to board-in parts of the school's understorey.'Virginia SS', Brisbane Courier, 19 Dec 1921, p.9Dale, Virginia State School, n.p.DPW, Report of the Department of Public works for the Year Ended 30 June 1922, Qld Government Printer, Brisbane, 1922, p.9'Virginia School Requirements', Brisbane Courier, 19 Jul 1923, p.10.
Before any action was taken, disaster struck in January 1924 when a severe storm blew the school building off its brick piers and almost split it in half. The Department of Public Works dismantled, re-erected and enlarged the building at a cost of £4110 12s 3p. The reconstructed and extended building was re-positioned away from the boundaries and did not address the street. Instead, its verandahs were oriented to the northeast. The additions consisted of a three-classroom wing (now forming the eastern end of Block C) attached via a verandah from the western side of the earlier wing, and linked to the northeastern verandah of the new wing. A second teachers room was also added to the 1922 classroom wing and a stairway added beside it. The verandah corners were enclosed to form hat rooms.'Virginia School Damaged', Brisbane Courier, 28 Jan 1924, p.5'Virginia School' The Telegraph, 30 Jan 1924, p.3'Education Department's Smart Work', The Telegraph, 6 Feb 1924, p. 10'Virginia School Fete', Brisbane Courier, 20 Apr 1925, p.15DPW, Report of the Department of Public Works for the Year Ended 30 June 1924, Qld Government Printer, Brisbane, 1924, p.15Project Services, "Virginia SS" in Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, 2008, p.7
The student population at Virginia State School continued to grow and further additions were made to the school. In May 1926 the School Committee approached the Department of Public Instruction for increased accommodation, but additions to the school were not approved until August 1927. By then the school's enrolment figure was 530 and there was only accommodation for 320 pupils. In the meantime children were taught on the verandahs and under the school building. The then western wing (current Block C) was extended by three classrooms and an additional staircase in 1927–28. The new classrooms were separated by timber partitions.'Virginia State School', Brisbane Courier, 13 May 1926, p.13'Insufficient Room', Brisbane Courier, 16 Feb 1927, p.24'School conditions', The Telegraph, 16 Sep 1926 p.12Project Services, "Virginia State School", n.p.Dale, Virginia State School, n.pePlan, DPW Drawing 16022094, "Virginia SS, additions alterations etc", 1926.