Drayton State School is a heritage-listed state school at 71–89 Brisbane Street, Drayton, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by the Department of Public Works (Queensland) and built in 1912. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 February 2020.
History Drayton State School (established 1851 as Drayton National School) is located in Drayton, a locality on the south-western fringe of Toowoomba, on the Darling Downs in southeast Queensland. It is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. The school retains its Department of Public Works (DPW) timber school with two clerestory lights (Block A: 1912), set in landscaped grounds with a school bell (1852, installed ), date palms (1932) and a Cape chestnut (1956).
Drayton State School is sited within the traditional lands of the Western Wakka Wakka people. Pastoral settlement of the Darling Downs commenced in 1840, and Drayton (initially called "The Springs") began as a camping site near the intersection of Eton Vale, Westbrook and Gowrie pastoral stations, for those travelling from the northern Darling Downs to Brisbane. The settlement became the district's social and commercial centre. The area was known as Drayton by 1849, being the name of early settler Thomas Alford's house, store and post office, in commemoration of his birthplace in Drayton, Somerset.Town allotments were surveyed in May 1849 and land on Darling Street (allotments 9 and 10 of section 4) was set aside for a national school.Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships. "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Heritage Map", <https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home>, accessed 8 Aug 2019QSA, Item ID714266, 'Design for the Town of Drayton, County of Aubigny, District of Darling Downs, Surveyor McLean, May 1849'Government Land Sale', Moreton Bay Courier, 8 July 1850, p. 1Queensland Government Gazette, 1871, pp. 1358 & 1661Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME), Survey Plan D13363
In pre-separation Queensland (then part of New South Wales), education was provided initially by fee-charging religious schools and private academies. The standard of education varied and most of these early schools were short-lived. They catered principally for children in the main population centres of Brisbane and Ipswich.Thom Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev. 2013 by EHP), pp. 1-2Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, "Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education", 1996, p. 1. A more organised approach to education commenced with Governor Fitzroy's appointment of a National Board of Education in 1848. Modelled on the Irish system, the purpose of the Board was to provide state-assisted secular, elementary education for as many children as possible, particularly in isolated areas. The Board established and administered schools where parents contributed one-third of the building costs and guaranteed an average attendance of at least 30 pupils.Hector Holthouse, "Looking Back. The first 150 years of Queensland schools, a report for the Department of Education, Queensland", 1975, pp. 10-3.
Drayton townsfolk met at the Bull's Head Inn in 1848 to initiate the establishment of such a school. A school committee was elected and fund-raising for a building commenced. Application was made for a suitable site and a "mixed school", to cost £150. Drayton National School opened, on a one acre (0.41ha) site within its current grounds, on 16 August 1851, with 15 girls and 9 boys enrolled. It was the second of two National Schools opened in pre-separation Queensland. The school operated throughout the 1850s with enrolments ranging between 24 and 65 pupils; except in 1855 when it lacked a teacher and temporarily closed. In 1871, the one-acre reserve for a national school in Drayton was proclaimed.Holthouse, "Looking Back. The first 150 years of Queensland schools", pp. 14-5H A Frawley and R Lees (comp.), Drayton State School: centenary celebrations 1860-1960, Drayton State School, Drayton, 1960, pp. 7, 10Queensland Government Gazette, 1871 p. 135Darling Downs Gazette & General Advertiser, 30 September 1871, p. 4.
Following separation of the Colony of Queensland from New South Wales on 10 December 1859, the Queensland Government introduced the Education Act 1860, which created a Board of General Education to oversee the development and administration of all schools in the colony. Assuming control of existing national schools, the Board aimed to establish a system of national schools similar to the New South Wales model.Greg Logan and Eddie Clarke, "State Education in Queensland: a brief history, a report for the Department of Education, Queensland", 1984, p. 1. Despite minimal resources and a shortage of teachers, the number of public or national schools increased from four schools in 1860 to 230 by 1875.Thom Blake, "Educating Queenslanders" in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev. 2013 by EHP), p. 2.
The settlement of Toowoomba, which had been surveyed as the Drayton Agricultural Reserve in 1849, overtook Drayton as the principal urban centre of the northern Darling Downs by 1859. Nonetheless, Drayton was a centre for the sittings of the Circuit Court, and the Church of England had established a church in the town before 1859 and Drayton continued to grow. It formed a municipal council in 1862 and became the administrative centre of Drayton Shire in 1887. The town's population rose from 321 in1861 to 983 in 1891.Theophilus Pugh, Pugh's Moreton Bay Almanac for the Year 1859, Theophilus P Pugh, Brisbane, 1859, p. 89'Census and Stock Returns', The Courier, 3 June 1861, p. 2Pugh's Queensland Almanac, Law Calendar, Directory, Coast Guide and Gazetteer for 1877, Thorne and Greenwell, Brisbane, 1877, p. 409Pugh's Queensland Almanac, Law Calendar, Directory, Coast Guide and Gazetteer for 1884, p. 414Drayton State School, Drayton State School 150 Years, 1851-2001, Drayton State School, Toowoomba, 2001, p. 3
Consequently, Drayton State School's enrolments also increased, to about 200 pupils in 1878, requiring more accommodation and facilities, and enlargement of the school grounds for a head teacher's residence. The original school building was reused as the head teacher's residence until 1867 when it was demolished and replaced with a new residence. In 1873, the schoolhouse was extended with the addition of an infants' wing. The teachers residence was replaced three times: in 1867, 1877 and 1907. In 1877, the teacher's residence was replaced on the newly purchased Lots 21–24 of section 1, opposite the school on Darling Street. A play shed was erected within the school grounds in November 1878. A room was added on the western side of the schoolhouse in 1900. The teacher's residence was replaced in 1907."Drayton National School", Toowoomba Chronicle and Queensland Advertiser, 3 March 1864, p. 3Darling Downs Gazette & General Advertiser, 9 May 1877, p. 3'Public Works in Progress', Brisbane Courier, 9 July 1877, p. 3Drayton State School, Drayton State School 150 Years: 1851-2001, pp. 24-5Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Advertiser, 7 May 1878, p. 3. By 1880, the school bell, reportedly donated by the local St Matthew's Church of England (1859) and dating from 1852 when it was installed at the parsonage, had been hung at the school. The bell was donated to the Church of England at Drayton by Mr Watson on 27 January 1852 and was temporarily hung on the verandah of the parsonage, which from November 1851 was used for services until a church was built.State Library of Queensland, 'Reverend Benjamin Glennie's diary, 1848-60': 14 November 1851, 27, 29 January, and 1 February 1852Drayton State School, Drayton State School 150 Years, 1851-2001, p. 158.
In 1908, one acre (0.41ha) of adjacent land was purchased for the school and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) decided to construct a modern school building on this more level site.Lots 7 and 8 of section 4. QSA Item ID14228, Drayton State School correspondence 1873-1922: "Letter from Mr John McPhail to DPI", 26 October 1908, Memo from DPI, stamped Chief Clerk, 29 September 1908, "Letter from Under Sec, Department Public Lands to Under Sec, Department Public Instruction", 31 August 1909Queensland Government Gazette: 29 August 1908, p. 421, 18 December 1909, p. 1456Drayton State School, Drayton State School 150 Years, 1851-2001, p. 25. The head teacher's residence and the land on which it stood was sold in 1908.: DRNME, Certificate of Title (CoT) 11106034, 1908Project Services, "Report on Drayton State School", p. 4.
The new school building (known as Block A in 2019) was constructed by contractor, A Barr, for £866 and completed in 1912.'Public Notices', The Week, 27 October 1911, p. 36 The design was a standard plan by the Department of Public Works.Building Type C/T3 - DPW Timber School with Two Clerestory Lights. See: Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, "Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, Conservation Management: a report for the Department of Education", November 1996, p 20. The building was highset on timber stumps and comprised two open verandahs (10 ft / 3.1m wide) on either side of a single classroom (24 x 50 ft / 7.32 x 15.24m). Its gable roof, sheeted with corrugated iron, had two ridge ventilators and two centrally located clerestory (skillion dormer) windows, facing opposing directions. The external gable end walls were clad in weatherboards and contained large areas of windows arranged in three rows of eight narrow sashes, shaded by timber hoods. The verandahs had hat room enclosures at the southwest end and the verandah walls were left unclad, with framing and bracing exposed. The verandah walls featured centrally located double doors with fanlights, high-level windows, and hinged ventilation boards along the base of the walls.Department of Public Works (DPW) Annual Report of the DPW for the year ending 30 June 1912, Qld Government Printer, Brisbane, 1912, p. 7, 16, and photographsProject Services, Report on Drayton State School, p. 4Original plans show the verandah hat rooms located at the northeast ends of the verandahs, however early photographs and physical evidence show that they were never constructed there and have always been located at the southwest endsQSA item ID 588811, DPW plan, "Drayton State School Toowoomba", 1911.
Access was via sets of timber stairs to the centre of each verandah, with the front (southeast) steps running parallel to the verandah and the rear (northwest) steps arranged perpendicularly, comprising a walkway and short flight of steps to the higher ground at the rear. A spoon drain ran around the rear and sides of the building and the ground beneath the building was concreted.Department of Public Works (DPW). Annual Report of the DPW for the year ending 30 June 1912, Qld Government Printer, Brisbane, 1912, photographs
The classroom had high coved ceilings lined with pressed metal, and timber tie rods were exposed. Walls were lined with vertical jointed (VJ), tongue and groove (T&G) boards which were originally left unpainted. Dual desks sufficient for 120 scholars were provided, and an early photograph shows a stove standing against one wall.DPW, Annual Report of the DPW for the Year ending 30 June 1912, Qld Government Printer, Brisbane, 1912, pp. 7, 16.