Tarampa State School is a heritage-listed state school at 18 Manthey Road, Tarampa, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Robert and John Ferguson, Queensland Department of Public Works and built from 1886 to 1897 by J G (George) Schlecht. It is also known as Tarampa Provisional School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 May 2015.
History Tarampa State School opened in 1880 as Tarampa Provisional School on a four-acre (1.62ha) site within the small agricultural settlement in the Brisbane Valley, to serve the sparse but growing rural population. As settlement increased, the provisional school building was replaced by a Ferguson-designed teaching building (1886) and other structures and landscape elements were built, including a playshed (1897) and a new teacher's residence (1934). 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 Brisbane Valley dates from 1841. Tarampa Station, a large pastoral lease stretching from the D'Aguilar Range to Glenmore Grove and from Prenzlau to Coominya, was established by Charles Cameron in the 1840s.Ruth S Kerr, Confidence and Tradition: A history of Esk Shire, Council of the Esk Shire, Esk, 1988, p. 11. Tarampa Station was later sold to James E England who developed the station before selling to Kent and Wienholt. Agricultural settlement followed in the early 1860s on the Tarampa Agricultural Reserve, created under the Agricultural Reserves Act 1861. The settlers around Tarampa were predominantly of German origin. Primarily subsistence farmers, they raised livestock and grew mixed crops.Kerr, Confidence and Tradition, p. 41.
Tarampa Provisional School opened in a private house on 1 April 1880 with 20 children attending on the first day.Tarampa State School Book Committee, Tarampa State Primary School Centenary, Tarampa State School, Tarampa, 1980, p. 11. Construction of a school building on Lot 374, a four-acre (1.62ha) site purchased from Michael Kerlin, was undertaken by Mr Graff in 1880 for £60.Tarampa State School, Tarampa State Primary School Centenary, pp. 11-2
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, Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, Chapter 9: Educating Queenslanders, 2007 (rev. 2013 by EHP), p. 2. The State 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. 4-5Paul 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.
Tarampa benefitted from the extension of the Brisbane Valley railway line to nearby Lowood in 1884, which provided local farmers with improved access to markets for their produce and stimulated the timber industry in the area.
Due to increased enrolments, Tarampa's provisional school was upgraded to a state school in 1886.'Official Notifications', The Queenslander, 18 July 1885, p. 108. The land was reserved for school purposes (R73) in 1888. Queensland Government Gazette, 1888, p. 80. In colonial Queensland, provisional schools were a convenient means of providing an elementary education for the small, scattered and often transient rural population and became an integral part of the educational landscape. A provisional school could be opened with as few as 15 (later 12) pupils. The Board of Public Instruction gave financial assistance to local committees to set up and maintain these schools. The local committee provided a building and found a teacher, while the Board paid the teacher's salary relative to the number of pupils. If the local population declined, the provisional school closed at little expense to the Board. If the district or town developed, as Tarampa did, the provisional school was raised to state school status and provided with purpose-designed school buildings. A tender by JG (George) Schlecht for £500 was accepted in 1886 for the building of a standard, Ferguson-designed teaching building. The old teaching building was converted for use as the teacher's residence on the site.Tarampa State School, Tarampa State Primary School Centenary, p. 14. In the same year, Schlecht was also contracted to fence the school for £37, as wandering stock were damaging the paintwork and water tanks.
The new building at Tarampa State School was built to a standard design that was introduced in 1880 and constructed across the colony until 1893. Employed by the Department of Public Instruction as its first Superintendent of Buildings, builder-architect Robert Ferguson was responsible for school building design between 1879 and 1885, and he was the first to give serious consideration to the ventilation of interiors.Burmester, et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 13. Into the lowset, timber-framed buildings Ferguson introduced a coved ceiling and vented the roof space, improving internal temperatures. The number of windows and their size was increased; however, they were few in number and sill heights were typically over above floor level, well above the eye level of students. Modestly-decorative timber roof trusses were exposed within the space. In 1885 Robert Ferguson was replaced as Superintendent of Buildings by his brother John Ferguson who continued to implement his brother's designs until John's death in 1893, when responsibility for school buildings passed back to the Department of Public Works. Built to this standard design, the new school building at Tarampa State School was a low-set, timber-framed structure with gable roofs, verandahs front and back, and modest "carpenter gothic" timber detailing.Burmester, et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 16.
In 1897 plans for additions to the school and residence were drawn.Project Services, "Tarampa State School: site no 20271" in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II, 22 June 2006, p. 5. It is likely that the school was extended to the north at this time, increasing its length from to approximately . At some time a central timber partition was added, dividing the building into two classrooms. The proposed residence was not built, but additions, improvements, repairs and painting of the Ferguson building were advertised for tender.'Official Notifications', Qld Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 29 June 1897, p. 4.
In 1897 a 10-post timber playshed with a hipped roof was built at the school by F Williams for £59 10s.'Official Notifications', Brisbane Courier, 15 March 1897, p. 3. The Queensland education system recognised the importance of play in the school curriculum and, the need for all-weather outdoor space. Playsheds were designed as free-standing shelters, with fixed timber seating between posts and earth or decomposed granite floors that provided covered play space and doubled as teaching space when needed. These structures were timber-framed and generally open sided, although some were partially enclosed with timber boards or corrugated galvanised iron sheets.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 16. The hipped (or less frequently, gabled) roofs were clad with timber shingles or corrugated iron. Playsheds were a typical addition to state schools across Queensland between s and the 1950s, although less frequently constructed after , with the introduction of highset school buildings with understorey play areas. Built to standard designs, playsheds that ranged in size relative to student numbers.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 21, 97.
The turn of the century brought growth in the area. Tarampa run was repurchased by the Queensland Government and opened for selection by small farmers in 1903. A cream depot had been established at Tarampa in the 1890s, and in September 1903 the Lowood butter factory opened, providing a local facility for dairy providers.Kerr, Confidence and Tradition, pp. 74-5Tarampa State School, Tarampa State Primary School Centenary, p. 7'Closer Settlement in Queensland - The Opening-Up of the Tarampa Estate by the Government', The Town and Country Journal, 5 August 1903, pp. 29-32. Tarampa's population rose to a peak of a little over 500 in 1911Census information cited by "Queensland Places: Tarampa", <http://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/tarampa>, accessed 29 October 2014. and enrolments at its school increased accordingly. In 1919 the two-roomed Ferguson building accommodated 117 children.Project Services, "Tarampa State School: site no 20271", p. 5.
Repairs and improvements to the Ferguson building were carried out in August 1928 after the Head Teacher, George Oxley Anderson, complained to the Department of Public Instruction about its inadequate lighting conditions and lack of ventilation. Subsequently, it was lined and painted, and general repairs undertaken.Tarampa State School, Tarampa State Primary School Centenary, p. 18'Tarampa', Queensland Times, 6 August 1928, p. 10.
Further alterations to the Ferguson building to improve the lighting and ventilation were made in 1933. These were to a standard design by the Department of Public Works. They included a new door from the north classroom to the back verandah and cost £5 2s 6p. Also at this time, the windows in the gable end walls may have been widened and lowered. From 1893 the Department of Public Works greatly improved the natural ventilation and lighting of classroom interiors, experimenting with different combinations of roof ventilators, ceiling and wall vents, larger windows, dormer windows and ducting.