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Boolboonda State School is a heritage-listed former state school at Boolboonda Tunnel Road, Boolboonda, Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by the Department of Public Works and built from 1896 to 1911. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 August 2000. == History == A school had been established with the construction of the Mount Perry railway line in the period of 1879-1884 to service the educational needs of children of railway workers employed by the contractors O'Rourke & McSharry. The original school closed with the completion of the Bundaberg-Mount Perry railway line in 1884. In 1896 a local committee proposed that the Department of Public Instruction establish a school for local children of the Boolboonda area. The school opened in 1897 and in 1909 was declared a State School. It was closed for enrolments in 1973.〔 The Mount Perry railway (originally known as the Bundaberg Railway) was built by the Queensland Government to service the Mount Perry copper mines. The construction of the railway line to Mount Perry opened up the district to large scale commerce whereby freighting of grain increased from 197 tons in 1882 to 766 tons in 1886 and timber from the nearby Watawa area grew from three tons in 1883 to 3,753 tons in 1884. With the advent of the railway, a growing number of families settled in the area, especially those associated with the maintenance of the Mount Perry railway line. It was these local families that agitated for the establishment of a school. Enrolments were received from the farming component of the community, railway workers, and also with miners associated with the exploitation of wolfram and molybdenite in the Boolboonda area.〔 The first letter of application for the establishment of a school at Boolboonda was sent on behalf of four residents with twenty children aged between five and thirteen, all living within a ten kilometre radius of the proposed school location. The nearest school maintained by the Queensland Government was at Drummer's Creek (Dingle Dell) some eight kilometres distant. A building committee was elected on 16 May 1896, consisting of William Wormington, Peter Campbell and Henry McDade.〔 The original proposed site was to be on ten acres of land, to the north of the Mount Perry railway line. The Department of Public Instructionapplied for the use of this land which was part of the railway reserve. The Railway Department rejected this request, and instead selected a second location on the southern side of the railway line, all being part of a forfeited mineral lease. Construction of the building took place between October 1896 and January 1897, although surveying of the proposed school reserve still had yet to be undertaken.〔 The school was completed on 23 January 1897, and was inspected by the head teacher at Mount Perry State School. Cost of the building totalled £97.14.0. The school was opened as a provisional school on 22 March 1897, the first teacher appointed was Kate Ruddy, and some twenty-four children were enrolled in first year.〔 The concept of a provisional school was developed to cope with increase in the number of new settlements and townships in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The government developed a criterion whereby a minimum of 30 children was required in an area before a school would be erected. In areas such as Boolboonda, where this criteria could not be met, the government gave financial assistance to local committees to establish provisional schools. Provisional schools were regarded as an interim measure until a state school could be built and were often hastily erected by voluntary labour using basic materials. These schools were seen as a convenient means of providing elementary education throughout the colony and soon became an integral part of the educational landscape.〔 In 1909 the school changed in status from a Provisional to a State School, Class 10. Some two years later with the increasing number of enrolments (38 in 1911), the school committee requested that an additional verandah be constructed. The work was carried out in September for a cost of £29.15.0.〔 The Boolboonda State School in the period of 1916-23 experienced a great deal of tension and conflict between some of the school committee members and the head teachers (themselves local people). An inquiry was conducted in 1922, a result of which was the transfer of a local teacher and the appointment of one from outside of the district.〔 The average number of children who attended the Boolboonda State School varied from 16 children in 1897 to a high of 25 children in 1903, and again in 1922. Attendances climbed at the end of the 1940s and remained high until the middle of the 1950s. Numbers then averaged at around 16 until the middle of the 1960s but experienced a decline post 1966. With a declining attendance of local children of around seven in the period of 1967 -1972, the decision was taken to close the Boolboonda Sate School in February 1973.〔 From 1897 until its closure in 1973 some eighteen teachers taught at the Boolboonda State School. The longest serving of these was Margaret Campbell who was teacher at Boolboonda from 1926 until 1958.〔 After closure the Boolboonda State School grounds and building were then held in trust by local residents and used as a community meeting area until the Kolan Shire Council became trustee in the early 1980's. The land is now a Reserve for Park and Recreation with the Kolan Shire Council as Trustee of the reserve and building.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Boolboonda State School」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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