Wynnum State High School Block A is a heritage-listed building at Wynnum State High School, Peel Street, Wynnum, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1943. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 June 2018.
History Located approximately 15 km east of the Brisbane central business district (CBD), Wynnum State High School (SHS) was established in 1942 as Wynnum State High and Intermediate School. It retains a suburban brick school building (Block A, built in 1943), set within landscaped grounds including a stone retaining wall (built in 1955), mature trees, and a World War I (WWI) Memorial Avenue (built in 1919). The school has a strong and ongoing association with its surrounding community.
Originally part of the lands of the Turrbal people, British settlement of the Wynnum-Manly district occurred in the 1860s when two sugar mills, called Lota and Wyvernleigh, were established. Agriculture became the principal occupation of the district, while the Wynnum foreshore became popular with holiday makers and holiday homes were constructed along the bay.n.a., The Jubilee History of Queensland, illustrated. Muir & Morcom Publishers, Brisbane, 1889, p. 539.
The site of the future Wynnum SHS was sold as the Portion 77 in 1864. Its subdivision into housing allotments quickly followed the construction of the Cleveland railway line, which reached Wynnum and Manly in 1888 (and reached Cleveland in November 1889) and provided a major impetus to closer settlement.Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME), Deed of Grant (DoG) 10044178DNRME, DoG 10044178 (9666)DNRME, Certificate of Title (CoT) 10738248. In 1889, local government for the area became centred on Wynnum when Kianawah Division was excised from Bulimba Division.Pugh's Almanac and Queensland Directory, 1889, Gordon & Gotch, Brisbane, 1889, p. 139. The district expanded rapidly over the next 20 years, leading to the establishment of the Town of Wynnum in 1913. The area became known as a seaside resort and the Wynnum and Manly foreshore area became increasingly popular with day visitors and holiday-makers. It was incorporated into Greater Brisbane in 1925.Pugh's for 1920, Powells & Pughs Limited, Brisbane, 1920, p. 415.
Wynnum Memorial Park, originally a reserve located between Wynnum and Manly, was set aside for showgrounds in 1918. First known as Russell Park after the then mayor, Richard Russell, it was renamed Memorial Park when the memorial avenue, accessed from Peel Street, was planted in 1919. Sir Hamilton John Goold-Adams, Governor of Queensland, opened the Memorial Avenue and planted its first tree on 27 July 1919. Around 60 trees were planted by the families of soldiers who died in the war.'Soldiers Memorials', The Brisbane Courier, 28 July 1919, p. 8. The Wynnum Town Council purchased the park land in 1923, and the reserve was used as a showground, sportsground and recreation area for residents in the Wynnum-Manly area.The Wynnum Memorial Park was created from Resubdivision 182 of Subdivision 25 of Resubdivision C of Subdivision 2 of Portion 77. See: DNRME, CoT 281419, 1923.
Primary schools were established in the growing district: at Wynnum North (1882), Wynnum Central (1896), Manly (1910), and Wynnum West (1922), but the Queensland Government was slow to establish state secondary education, considering secondary education to be of little relevance to Queensland's economy which was based on agriculture, forestry and mining. 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.Thom Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev.2013 by EHP), pp. 9-11Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp. 32-5.
In Wynnum, a high top, called Wynnum SHS, operated at the Wynnum Central School between 1918 and 1921, drawing students from a wide catchment. The first qualifying examination for entrance to the high school, which entitled the successful scholars to two years' free higher education, were held in 1917."Wynnum High School", The Telegraph, 9 January 1918, p. 2 Wynnum State High School students sat the University of Queensland's Junior Public Examination in 1919 and 1920."The Junior University Exams", Daily Standard, 21 January 1920, p. 5'The Junior', Daily Standard, 10 January 1921, p. 6.) However, the high top closed in June 1921 due to insufficient enrolments, forcing students to travel to Brisbane State High School.'Wynnum High School', The Telegraph, 23 June 1921, p. 3.
Community advocacy for a high school in the Wynnum-Manly area continued. Land was purchased in 1929 for an intermediate school, for which a building was designed by 1933, but construction did not proceed. Finally, in March 1938 the Minister for Public Instruction (Frank Cooper) announced an Intermediate School would be built at Wynnum as soon as a suitable site was obtained. It was to be followed by a high school.DPW drawing Wynnum Intermediate School, 28 October 1929, QSA, Item ID 128158, Box 150Copy of Minute made by DPI re Wynnum, Yeronga and Norman Park Intermediate Schools, 20 November 1933, Queensland State Archives (QSA), Item ID128158, Box 150'New Intermediate School for Wynnum as soon as site can be obtained', The Telegraph, 10 March 1938, p. 7.
The idea of creating an intermediate level of schooling emerged in Queensland during the late 1920s. This was intended to be a transition between primary and secondary schooling. Intermediate schools catered for years 6 and 7, and offered vocational subjects: manual training for boys and domestic science for girls.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 50. The first intermediate schools were established within existing school facilities at Warwick, Charters Towers, Mount Morgan and South Brisbane from 1928. By 1937 there were 11 intermediate schools in Queensland, most were accommodated through re-use or remodeling of existing buildings.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 50, 53Warwick Daily News, 9 February 1929, p.7The Week, 13 July 1928, p.13The Brisbane Courier, 2 December 1929, p.19Education Office Gazette, 3 March 1930, p.48. Intermediate schools included: Brisbane South Girls and Infants School (1929), Mount Morgan State High School (1929), Roma (1929), Charters Towers (1929), Gatton (1933), Gympie (1933), Bundaberg (1933), Mackay Central State School (1933), Brisbane North (Kelvin Grove) (1935), Maryborough State High School (1936), and Ayr State High School (1936).
In 1939, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) completed negotiations with the Brisbane City Council (BCC) to exchange Primrose Park for a portion of Wynnum Memorial Park as the site of the new school. One of the deciding factors in the choice of location was the memorial park's proximity to the Manly railway station. For many years, the Memorial Park had been used by the Wynnum Horticultural and Industrial Society, but more recently had been used exclusively as a sports venue.Wynnum SHS, Wynnum SHS 50 years, 1942-92, p. 6'Park Site for Wynnum Intermediate School', Courier-Mail, 18 November 1939, p. 16'Park land Bought at Wynnum. Intermediate School', Courier-Mail, 5 December 1939, p. 8.
Between the announcement of the intermediate school in 1938 and its plans being drawn in April 1939, the government decided that both intermediate and high school functions would proceed together. The school would be Brisbane's first suburban state high and intermediate school.Wynnum SHS, Wynnum SHS 50 years, 1942-92, p. 28.
Although not constructed as part of the Depression-era program, the Wynnum Intermediate and High School's suburban brick school building reflected the design influences of many of the buildings from that program. Most were designed in a classical idiom to project the sense of stability and optimism which the government sought to convey through the architecture of its public buildings. Frequently, they were two storeys above an open understorey and built to accommodate up to 1.000 students. They adopted a symmetrical plan form and often exhibited a prominent central entry. The plan arrangement was similar to that of timber buildings, being only one classroom deep and accessed by a long straight verandah or corridor. Classrooms were commonly divided by folding timber partitions and the understorey was used for covered play space, storage, ablutions and other functions.Burmester et al., Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp. 59-60.
By the end of 1939, preparations were in place for the construction of Wynnum State High and Intermediate School on a site of just over excised from the Wynnum Memorial Park, which included most of the memorial avenue. The remainder of the site continued as Wynnum Memorial Park, providing a reserve, play facilities and sporting grounds for the local community.DNRME, SL1567, 1940Queensland Government Gazette (QGG), 1940, vol. 2, p. 1215. The Wynnum High and Intermediate School building was to be sited at the east end of the Memorial Park.QSA, Item ID 128158, "Memorandum from DPW to PDI re Wynnum High and Intermediate School", 16 May 1939 cited by Wynnum SHS, Wynnum SHS 50 years, 1942-92, p. 8. The school's narrow road frontage to Peel Street meant the school building could not face the street, which was the standard position for a suburban brick school building. Instead, the Wynnum building spanned the widest part of its allotment and faced the Memorial Park, enabling unobstructed views of the impressive, classically inspired building from the park, and vice versa.DNRME, Survey Plan SL1567.
The Queensland Department of Public Works (DPW) was responsible for the design of high school buildings from their introduction in 1912. The first high schools were established within existing technical colleges, utilising their buildings. Purpose-built high school buildings were constructed from 1917 and were large elaborate buildings, which were variations of a standard design introduced in 1914, as well as vocational buildings built to standard designs.Building Type: (C/T8). Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, 1996, pp. 32-5. Queensland high schools also included purpose-built science laboratories, domestic science buildings, workshops for woodwork and metal work, libraries, and gymnasiums.Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p. 75.