Harristown State High School Buildings is a heritage-listed collection of state high school buildings at Harristown State High School at 341–367 South Street, Harristown, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1954, Block B. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 19 August 2016.
History Harristown State High School (SHS) opened on its present site in 1955, due to post-World War II (WWII) growth in the population of Toowoomba and its suburb of Harristown. As at 2016, Harristown SHS retains seven buildings initially constructed during 1954–1961, some with later extensions. These include: Block B (timber school building with timber floor trusses, 1954) Block L (former manual training timber vocational building, 1955, extended , 1959) Block K (former domestic science timber vocational building, 1955, extended 1963, 1972) the northern section of the administration block (1957–1958) Block C (timber school building with open web steel floor trusses, 1959–1960) an Oslo lunch canteen (1959) Block D (timber school building with open web steel floor trusses, 1961) The school also retains its: 1950s site planning covered links between the administration block and Blocks B and C, and between Blocks B, K and L early brick or concrete flower boxes adjacent to the administration block, and Blocks B, C and K curved driveway from South Street and pedestrian gates from Hennessy Street sports oval; tennis courts; northern playing fields; and mature trees. The school has been in continuous operation since establishment.
The establishment and growth of Harristown SHS is a direct result of the growth of Toowoomba, Queensland's largest inland city. European settlement of the Toowoomba area, traditional country of the Giabal and Jarowair people, commenced in 1840 when squatters occupied pastoral runs on the Darling Downs. At the junction of two routes to Gorman's and Hodgson's gaps through the Main Range, the small settlement of Drayton evolved from 1842 as a stopping place for pastoralists and travellers. Six kilometres to its north-east was an area known as "The Swamp" – renamed Toowoomba by 1859 – which was first surveyed in 1849 as 12 suburban allotments of Drayton.QHR 650024,'Toowoomba North State School'
Toowoomba grew rapidly, due to its superior land and water supply, support from squatters and land speculators, and, from 1855, an easier route to Brisbane via the Toll Bar Road. Toowoomba was declared a municipality (the Borough of Toowoomba) in July 1860, and by the 1861 census it was clear that Toowoomba had eclipsed Drayton.QHR 602718, "Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery". The Main Line railway arrived in 1867 (connecting to Brisbane in 1876), and Toowoomba's economy diversified to include numerous small-scale manufacturing outlets, while the majority of administrative, service and other government and education functions for the surrounding region were centred on the town. Toowoomba was also popular as a summer retreat for the colony's elite. It was declared the City of Toowoomba in 1904.
Toowoomba was an early centre for education, with the first National School (later known as Toowoomba South State School) opening in 1865.QHR 602824 "Toowoomba South State School (former)". National schools, established in 1848 in New South Wales, were continued in Queensland following the colony's separation in 1859. Following the introduction of the Education Act 1860, Queensland's national and public schools grew from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875.Thom Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev. 2013 by EHP), p. 2. The State Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and established the Department of Public Instruction. 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.91-2.
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.
The first school in Harristown was a state school, located about southwest of the centre of Toowoomba, opened in 1911, south of South Street (just southeast of the later SHS site).N Gillam, Harristown State School 1911-2011: Centenary Book, Harristown State School Centenary Committee, Drayton North, 2011, pp.12-15'Harristown State School' Darling Downs Gazette, 29 September 1911, p.5. At this time Toowoomba's population was 10,636.'Toowoomba', http://queenslandplaces.com.au/toowoomba (accessed 7.6.2016). Harristown had been established when subdivisions from the Harristown Estate were sold from 1902.Gillam, Harristown State School 1911-2011: p.12. Harristown Estate, once the land of WB Taylor and located south of South Street and west of Drayton Road (southeast of the later SHS site), was sold between 1902 and 1910. Mrs Taylor donated one acre of land from Harristown No.2 Estate for Harristown State School, and another acre was added (Gillam, Harristown State School 1911-2011: pp.12, 50DNRM Survey Plan RP17116, 1903DNRM Survey Plan 17109, 1903'The Harristown Estate', Darling Downs Gazette 12 July 1902, p.4'Important Property Sale', Darling Downs Gazette, 1 June 1908, p.7'Coming auction sales', Darling Downs Gazette, 3 September 1910, p.5'State school at Harristown', Darling Downs Gazette 9 September 1910, p.5. Overcrowding at Harristown State School soon led to the opening of an open air annex building at the school in 1915, and the school was increased to five acres in size in 1919.Gillam, Harristown State School 1911-2011: pp.24, 26.
Harristown State School's enrolment continued to rise after WWII, increasing from 237 in 1947, when the school was already overcrowded, to 630 in 1960.Gillam, Harristown State School 1911-2011: pp.38-39, 41. This reflected Toowoomba's post-war population, which rose by 30% between 1947 and 1957, from 35,194 to 45,900. Toowoomba's municipal boundaries expanded; suburbs developed, and amenities and services increased. Growth in its primary and secondary industries also increased, construction projects provided a boom for the local building industry, and tourist numbers grew. Improvements to the Toowoomba central business district (CBD), delayed by WWII, began in earnest in the 1950s.Reported Place 602858, 'Lennons Hotel, Toowoomba (former)'
The Department of Public Instruction was largely unprepared for the enormous demand for state education that began in the late 1940s and continued well into the 1960s. This was a nationwide occurrence resulting from immigration and the unprecedented population growth now termed the "baby boom". Queensland schools were overcrowded and, to cope, many new buildings were constructed and existing buildings were extended.Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, January 2008, pp.28-31.
In 1953, the Acting Head Teacher at Harristown State School reported to the Department of Public Instruction (renamed the Department of Education in 1957) that there was considerable building activity in the Harristown area; that more families were moving into the "Stephen St Hut area", as previous families moved out; and that "the greater part of the Harristown population consists of young families".Gillam, Harristown State School 1911-2011: p.40
The Stephen Street Hut area was a former military camp. During WWII, two Australian defence facilities, 3 Advanced Ordnance Depot (AOD) and 6 Advanced Workshop (AEME), were established just east of the Gore Highway, to the northwest of the later site of Harristown SHS. The camp for 3 AOD (west of the Gore Highway) was occupied by squatters by 1947, while the Workshop camp's buildings (north of Stephens Street, northeast of the school site) were leased to the Queensland Housing Commission from about 1949 to 1954..
Post-war population growth, including the construction of Housing Commission homes in Harristown, not only impacted on the Harristown State School, but also led to a state high school being established opposite, to the north of South Street.
In Queensland, governments were slow to establish state secondary education, considering this to be of little relevance to Queensland's economy which was based on the primary industries. The Grammar Schools Act 1860 provided scholarships for high-achieving students to attend elite grammar schools, although few were awarded. It was not until 1912 that the government instituted a high school system, whereby separate high schools were established in major towns or, where the student population was too small, a primary school was expanded to include a "high top". High tops were an economical measure that provided essentially the same education while utilising already established facilities. In Queensland generally, high schools remained few in number until after WWII when secondary education was generally accepted as essential and was more widely provided for.Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, pp.9-11Burmester et al., Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.32-35.
In the 1950s the number of high schools in Queensland increased significantly. In 1954 it was reported that high school enrolments had almost doubled since 1948, from 4500 to nearly 11,000. About 50 sites had been acquired, most with an area of , and by 1954 there were 30 state high schools.'Big expansion is planned. New high school buildings now on priority list', Sunday Mail, 14 November 1954, p.7.
Toowoomba State High School (est. 1919) was no longer sufficient for the city's secondary student population. In late 1954 Queensland's Education Minister, George Devries, noted that state high schools would open at Innisfail, Harristown, and Southport in 1955, as the "pressure of enrolments had made the establishment of high schools necessary at these three centres". At Toowoomba, "the technical and high school was now so large that it was necessary to establish a separate high school".'3 new high schools', Courier Mail, 9 December 1954, p.8.
Reflecting the growth of suburbanisation and a move towards a decentralised population in urban centres, new high schools were located in suburban areas rather than the centre of town. The grounds were large, providing ample room for sports facilities. The general classroom buildings were the same standard types as used for primary schools but high schools also included purpose-built science laboratories, domestic science buildings, workshops for woodwork and metal work, libraries, and gymnasiums. These were also built to standard plans but were specific to their use and not a continuation of previous designs.Burmester et al., Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.75.