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Yangan School of Arts is a heritage-listed school of arts at King Street, Yangan, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1912. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == Formed in 1897, the Yangan School of Arts erected their second building in 1912 on land acquired from the Railways Department on the southern side of King Street, Yangan. At that time Yangan was one of a number of small but prosperous Darling Downs towns.〔 The Yangan and Swanfels area (then named Loganvale) was explored by Allan Cunningham in 1827. In 1840 the Leslie brothers established Canning Downs, one of the station outposts being Heifer Creek whose first hut and stockyard were established at what became Yangan. The town developed to serve the surrounding industries of the Swanfels Valley: timber getting, sandstone quarrying, dairying, and mixed farming. Although a settlement (including a school, church, and police station) existed prior to 1884, it was the opening of the first stage of the Warwick to Killarney railway (including a station at Yangan) on 2 June of that year which provided the real impetus for further development. The Warwick to Killarney line was one of the earliest of the state's branch lines built to service short distance traffic generated by farmers rather than squatters.〔 By 1900 Yangan had become ''"one of the most thriving centres on the Warwick-to-Killarney line. Here there are two cheese factories which have done an inestimable amount of good for the whole district. The township which is growing larger every year, has several stores, a couple of black-smith shops, a hall, ... and two boarding-houses. There was also a very natty little School of Arts and reading room."''〔 The first School of Arts in Queensland was established in Brisbane in 1849. The Schools of Arts grew out of the Mechanics Institutes first established in Great Britain in the early 19th century as part of the popular education movement to train working men for Britain's industrial expansion. In Australia, Schools of Arts were often the only cultural and educational facility in newly established towns providing meeting rooms, halls, libraries, and technical education. Later as government assumed some of these responsibilities, the focus of the Schools of Arts became more recreational.〔 In Yangan, the School of Arts provided to subscribers a lending library and reading room (stocked with current journals and newspapers); its rooms were regularly rented to other local organisations. The School also provided a social focus for the district with (fundraising) entertainments regularly organised by the committee.〔 The first Yangan School of Arts building (erected ) was located on the northern (high) side of King Street. In 1912 it was acquired by the local Masonic Lodge becoming the Yangan Masonic Hall. As early as 1899, plans were afoot to enlarge the single storeyed building to twice its existing size. In 1901 this work was undertaken by which time the School of Arts included a library room and smoke room. Further expansion including a billiard room was soon planned. In 1909 the committee approached the Railway Department with regard to providing a new site for the School of Arts. At this time it was apparently envisaged that the existing building would be removed.〔 However, in June 1912, tenders were called for a new School of Arts building. The site chosen formed part of some 8 acres of Yangan land acquired by the Commissioner for Railways in 1884 to enable the building of the railway line from Warwick to Killarney. Resub 1 of sub 1 of portion 205 containing 18.5 perches (now lot 1) was acquired by Trustees, Redmond Brewer, Alexander Kemp jnr, and Thomas Kirkland on behalf of the School of Arts in September 1911. The adjoining resub 2 (now lot 2) was acquired by the School of Arts in December 1914.〔 The plans prepared for the new School of Arts by W Kemp to the specification of the School of Arts Committee provided for a three roomed (reading room, library, and committee room) single skinned timber building with latticed verandah set flush with the foot-path. The tender of Sam Fagg for the sum of £264 was accepted.〔 Hitching posts were erected outside the building and "SCHOOL OF ARTS" was painted on the front of the building which was opened on 19 October 1912 by the Minister for Railways on the occasion of a visit by a Parliamentary party to the district. A short article in the Warwick Argus described the School of Arts as ''"a well-found little institution of high public utility ... on Saturday night 80 books issued from the library."''〔 In April 1919, a World War I roll of honour was unveiled and a further roll of honour to World War II in 1949. During the post war period many such institutions were in decline. At the Annual General Meeting of the Yangan School of Arts in 1946 it was noted that support by the public was lacking but still, although the war had hampered the institution and owing to radio and pictures having their effect, (were ) still able to carry on. In 1947, a general meeting was held to consider the future of the institution.〔 Nearly fifty years later, despite the decline of the town's fortunes epitomised by the closure of the Warwick to Killarney railway on 1 May 1964, the Yangan School of Arts, unlike many of its sister institutions, lives on. Although with the recent introduction of a council mobile library service, the future of the School of Arts library is uncertain, the Yangan School of Arts remains a valuable local institution overseen by its Secretary of 43 years, Mr Gus Mauch with its facilities used by more than a dozen local groups including the local play group, Ladies Guild, Queensland Country Women's Association, Queensland Dairymen's Organisation, National Party, Returned and Services League, Graingrowers, Bush Firebrigade, and Sports Association.〔 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「Yangan School of Arts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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