Morningside State School is a heritage-listed state school at 67 Pashen Street, Morningside, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1925 to 1926. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 April 2018.
History Morningside State School opened in 1926, on its current site at 67 Pashen Street, Morningside, about northeast of the Brisbane CBD. The school is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains:
four connected sectional school buildings Block C, 1926 Blocks B, 1927, extended 1958 Blocks D, 1927, extended Block L, 1930 a Depression-era brick infants school building (Block A, 1937) two connected highset timber school buildings Block E, 1956 Block F, 1956, extended 1957
set in landscaped grounds, with:
a poured-concrete retaining wall (1939) to Pashen Street tennis courts (1939) a WWII memorial to The Rats of Tobruk
The school has a strong and ongoing association with the Morningside community.
Traditional country of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, the suburb of Morningside was once within the area of the local government areas of Bulimba Division, and later the Shire of Balmoral, before being absorbed into Greater Brisbane in 1925. Farming, dairying and related industries initially occurred in the district.'Rise of Morningside', Brisbane Courier, 20 December 1930, p.19'Morningside', http://queenslandplaces.com.au/morningside (accessed 11 January 2018). The school site was part of a farm surveyed in 1857 and subdivided into residential allotments in 1863.The 39 farm portions surveyed in 1857 lay between the Wynnum and Lytton Roads, and between Hawthorne Road and Queensport Road/Bulimba Creek (DNRM Survey Plan S151824, 1857). Portion 72, consisting of 37 acres and 2 roods (15.2ha) between today's Riding Road and Thynne Road, was granted to Robert Pashen in 1858. Pashen subdivided Portion 72 into 143 residential allotments in 1863, forming the Pashen Estate (from Pashen Street to south of Monmouth Street). (DNRM Certificate of Title 10020051, 1863DNRM Survey Plan RP12833, 1863). To the east, across Thynne Road, was the Morningside Estate of 300 acres (121.4ha), first advertised for sale in August 1885. ('Auction sales', Telegraph, 14 August 1885, p.7). Residential development in Morningside was facilitated by two transport improvements in particular:'The Cleveland railway. The official opening. Excursion and banquet', Brisbane Courier, 18 November 1889, p.5Map, 8 Chains to an inch, Brisbane and Suburbs, Sheet 9, 1907 (tram terminus east of Norman Creek)'Tram extension. Morningside Route Begun', Daily Standard, 20 May 1924, p.1Map, 20 Chain Brisbane and Suburbs, 1927 (tram terminus next to Barton Road)'Rise of Morningside', Brisbane Courier, 20 December 1930, p.19 (extension opened 1 May 1925).
the opening of the Cleveland railway line from South Brisbane to Cleveland in 1889 the extension of the electric tram line (from just east of Norman Creek) to Barton Road, Hawthorne, by May 1925
Local population growth (from 495 in 1911, to 1806 in 1921), prior to the tram line extension, led to pressure for a school at Morningside in the early 1920s. The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of new communities and integral to their success. 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.4-5P Burmester, M Pullar and M Kennedy Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp.87-8'Morningside', http://queenslandplaces.com.au/morningside (accessed 11 January 2018) (population figures).
In July 1922 a committee visited the Minister for Education, John Saunders Huxham, to ask for an infants school, given that children were walking long distances to existing schools such as Cannon Hill State School (est.1915), Norman Park State School (1900) and Bulimba State School (1866). A shortage of government funds meant that the Morningside masonic hall (actually a converted residence) on Agnes Street had to be rented as an interim measure, and the Morningside Provisional (Infants) School No.1803 opened there on 28 May 1923.'Proposed school at Morningside', Brisbane Courier, 19 July 1922, p.10'School wanted at Morningside, Accidents on Road', Telegraph, 21 December 1922, p.2'Morningside School', Daily Mail, 21 March 1923, p.13'Infant school for Morningside', Brisbane Courier, 7 April 1923, p.8'Morningside School opening ceremony', Brisbane Courier, 29 May 1923, p.13Queensland State Archives Agency ID11228, 'Morningside Provisional (Infants) School''Morningside State School, 1926-1976', Morningside, Morningside State School, 1976, pp.38-9. The official opening was on Saturday 26 May 1923.
By this time, a site for a state school for Morningside on Pashen Street had been chosen, and the community continued to push for the construction of a school.'Morningside Provisional School', Daily Mail, 13 June 1923, p.12'Request for school, Morningside delegation', Daily Mail, 4 June 1924, p.5'Morningside State School, 1926-1976', pp.33-5. The nine allotments which made up the original school grounds (consisting of ) between Pashen Street and Stephen Street, west of Howard Street, were obtained by the Secretary for Public Instruction in December 1924.DNRM Certificates of Title 10020051, 1863DNRM Certificates of Title 10045086, 1864DNRM Certificates of Title 10988201, 1901DNRM Certificates of Title 11607230 and 11607231, 1924DNRM Survey Plan SL1039, 1926 (Subdivisions 92, 93, 98, 99, 104, 109, 103, 108 and 113, totalling 2 acres and 2 perches)"Morningside School opening ceremony", Telegraph, 3 August 1926, p.7 (In 2018 the westernmost allotment of the original school grounds on Pashen Street (subdivision 113) is the site of the western half of Block M, and the east end of the swimming pool.)
In July 1925, the Department of Public Works was asked to prepare a plan and estimate costs for a school building (Block C in 2018) to accommodate 200 pupils.'New School for Morningside', Brisbane Courier, 29 July 1925, p.10. The new building was a sectional school type. Attention to improving light and ventilation to achieve an optimum classroom culminated in 1920 with the sectional school type, which proved very successful and was used unaltered until 1950. The sectional school type had only one verandah, typically on the north side, allowing the southern wall, with a maximum number of windows for natural light, to be unobstructed. The building was designed so that the blank western wall was removable. As the school grew, the western end wall could be detached and the building extended in sections (although no western extensions occurred to Morningside State School's sectional school buildings). This led to the construction of long narrow buildings of many classrooms - a distinctive feature of Queensland schools.Sectional School Buildings were known as Type D/T1 (Burmester et al., Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.42-45).
The construction of the new school was announced in October 1925, and its cost by the end of June 1926 was £3163. The infants school vacated the masonic hall shortly before the Morningside State School opened on 16 August 1926.'New State Schools, Morningside and Wilston', Brisbane Courier, 9 October 1925, p.12'Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1926', p.2'Morningside State School, 1926-1976', p.43 (closure of provisional school). Queensland State Archives Agency ID5512, "Morningside State School" (opening of new school). The Morningside State school had been officially opened by the Minister for Public Instruction, Thomas Wilson, on Saturday 31 July 1926 ('Morningside School opening ceremony', Telegraph, 3 August 1926, p.7).
There was immediately a need for additional accommodation at Morningside State School, which, although designed for 200 pupils, opened with an attendance of 350; rising to 475 by October 1926.'Morningside State School', Brisbane Courier, 30 October 1926, p.9'Morningside State School, rapid development', Daily Mail, 30 October 1926, p.6. The latter article noted the increase was due to the rapid development of the district. The school's history claims 382 children were enrolled on the first day ('Morningside State School, 1926-1976', p.47), but attendance figures were usually lower than the total enrolment. Part of the cause for the large enrolment was a greater influx of students from the New Farm State School than anticipated ('Morningside State School, 1926-1976', p.50). As an interim measure, 200 students were taught at the Morningside School of Arts hall in 1927.'Morningside State School, 1926-1976', p.51. Two new wings at Morningside State School, also sectional school buildings, were built by December 1927, east of Block C, at a cost of £4600: Block B (north wing) and Block D (south wing). They were officially opened on Saturday 25 February 1928. By this time, the school enrolment was 600, with the school's three buildings only designed for 440.'State School Morningside...' (photograph) The Telegraph, 31 December 1927, p.16'New wings, Morningside State school, opened by Governor', Brisbane Courier, 27 February 1928, p.21'The new wing of the Morningside State school...', (photograph) Brisbane Courier, 28 February 1928, p.7. By 1929, enrolment was 726, with an average daily attendance of 631 ('Morningside State School, 1926-1976', p.53).
The three teaching buildings were of similar construction: each was a highset timber-framed and -clad building with a Dutch-gable roof, and verandahs to the north, west and east sides. Block C also had two gabled teachers rooms, each , off its north verandah. All three buildings were higher set at their west ends, due to the slope of the ground. Classrooms (five in Block C, and three in each of Blocks B and D) were all , and were designed for 40 children, with double doors linking the classrooms. Each classroom had casement windows on the south side, blackboards to the west, double-hung windows and a double door to the front verandah, and a square vent in their coved ceilings. Block C originally had hatrooms in its northern verandah corners; whereas Block B had hatrooms in each verandah corner apart from the southwest, where the west verandah was linked to the north verandah of Block C. Block D had hatrooms at the southern ends of its east and west verandahs, and plans showed it was originally set at a higher elevation than the other two blocks, with steps from its north verandah leading down to the east verandah of Block C.DPW Plan barcode 16002382, "Morningside State school new building", August 1925'The New State school at Morningside, which is to be opened shortly' (photograph), Brisbane Courier, 27 July 1926, p.15 (photograph shows the ground slope. At this time there was a white picket fence to Pashen Street)DPW Plan barcode 16002404, "Morningside State School additions", June 1927, updated November 1929DPW Plan barcode 16002393, "Morningside State School additions", June 1927, updated November 1929. The area between Blocks B and D was later levelled, and in 2018 Block D sat at the same elevation as Blocks B and C, with all verandahs being linked. The school's 50th anniversary history claims that this levelling, and a concrete retaining wall [under Block B], occurred in the early 1930sit also claims that Block D, unlike in the plans, was given folding partitions between the classrooms ('Morningside State School, 1926-1976', p.53, 58).