Paddington Community Crèche & Kindergarten

The kindergarten movement had its origins in the late 19th century educational theories of Pestalozzi and the German educator Friedrich Froebel as well as the reforming zeal of the middle-classes (especially women) who wished to “rescue” working class children from slum housing and “unfit” parents. From 1897, Queensland younger than 6 were excluded from school entry. This age was lowered to 5 by 1930.  The introduction to Queensland of “kindergarten” teaching based on the Froebel’s theories filled the gap of education for children below school age.

The man who began the kindergarten movement in Queensland was the Reverend Loyal Lincoln Wirt, an American minister of the Congregational church. During his daily visitations between the Manse and the city church (then on Wharf street), he observed groups of children at play on the streets who after dark became ‘prowling predatory gangs’. In what was locally known as “Poverty Valley”, many women had to provide for families when menfolk had lost employment.

Inspired, Wirt saw the need for a place to house the Institute of Social Services, as well as a crèche and kindergarten. A disused tobacco factory at the corner of Brunswick and Ivory Street was the perfect location. After arranging to meet the Sydney owners, he feared that if a lease were granted it would be beyond what the church could afford.

However the owners were interested in Wirt ‘s social experiment, and the generous offer of rental at ‘one peppercorn per year’ was offered.

Other notable citizens had become attracted to Wirt’s ideas. Miss Celia Cooper, daughter of Chief Justice of Queensland, Sir Pope Cooper, invited the wives and daughters of prominent professionals to Hawstead in New Farm. There by voluntary action originated the idea of establishing a crèche and kindergarten for Brisbane. Early patrons of the kindergarten movement in Brisbane were Lady Gowrie, Lady Cilento and Lady Forster. Crèches were named after these women in St. Paul’s Terrace, the RNA Showgrounds and Paddington, respectively.

In 1907 the Brisbane Crèche and Kindergarten and Social Institute opened its doors, containing a crèche or day nursery, where mothers working in nearby factories could leave their babies. It included a kindergarten, reading room, gymnasium, swimming pool, evening classes, roof garden and a playground.

After three years, a disagreement over finances saw the two organisations split once the Rev Wirt returned to America in 1909. The organisation was not short of helpers or enthusiasm, and renamed itself the Crèche and Kindergarten Association. Support came from the Presbyterian Church, and the kindergarten found a  home in the Warner Street School building belonging to the Valley Presbyterian Church. 

A promise of a Government Grant of £150 per annum for every crèche established by the Association was looked upon as its salvation and signalled a period of expansion and development for the movement in Queensland after 1910. By 1910 the organisation was promoting kindergarten teaching as a career, and while early tuition was expensive and could be afforded only by the wealthy, families saw in it a means of impressing womanly virtues upon young women and providing a solid grounding in the nurturing aspects of all that was fine and good in motherhood. 

The Crèche and Kindergarten Association’s aims were stated in the Constitution, devised by the Reverend James Gibson, Minister of the Park Presbyterian Church. Its aims were;

To establish and maintain Day Nurseries and Free Kindergarten Schools for the children of the poor; To train teachers in the theory and practice of the kindergarten system, and to maintain an approved standard of work; and to create and foster an interest in kindergarten work.

The Brisbane Kindergarten Training College was established in 1911 by the Crèche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland (incorporated) and was the first formal institution to prepare teachers for any sector of teaching in Queensland. On completion of the course, students were awarded with the title; Diploma, Kindergarten Training College. Elements included infant feeding and nurture, practical toy making, activities, child study and a course in hygiene. 

In January 1914, a grant was made available through the Lands Department of half an acre in Paddington on the site of the old Baptist cemetery in Beatrice Street (as Charlotte Street was then named). This enabled the Association to proceed with plans for the Paddington kindergarten and crèche. An adjoining parcel of land was also set aside as a children’s playground. 

The first purpose designed kindergarten in Queensland was officially opened by Lady Goold-Adams in September 1916. The wife of the Governor and the Association’s Patroness, she stated that the crèche section should be built as soon as funds became available. Through generous donations the Paddington crèche was opened in August the following year, the Ithaca Shire Council providing the surrounding garden. Both structures first appear in the 1917-18 post office records under the single listing Crèche for small children.

During the Spanish Influenza outbreak in 1919, the Paddington kindergarten remained open 24 hours a day to care for children whose parents were ill with influenza, as patients and their immediate families had to be segregated. The first case had occurred in May, with 830 deaths occurring in Queensland alone from the virus.

In 1921 Beatrice Street was renamed Charlotte Street. That same year fire destroyed part of the Paddington building. Through generous donations it was quickly rebuilt, with the addition of a bath for staff and a hot water geyser for the children’s bathroom in 1923. In 1925 the death of Mrs George Marchant, Chairman of the Paddington Branch and a member of the Executive was noted with deep regret. In memory of his wife, Mr Marchant arranged for additions to the Paddington Crèche building to the value of £500. By 1929 the verandahs were enclosed and front entrance doors installed. Funds for this project were raised by mothers of the kindergarten in memory of Miss Clark, a former director. 

In February 1942 all kindergartens within a two-mile radius of the GPO were ordered to close due to the possibility of air raids. By December of the same year, after a plea from the Association to the Minister for Education, Cabinet decided they could reopen.

In 2001, the 1916 structure is still serving the Paddington community as a kindergarten, while the building to the left is a toy library.

The buildings are clad with timber boards and have six-paned casement windows.

The earlier building (approx 1916) sits on the corner of Charlotte St and Moreton St. This building has a timber boards street-facing gable and a separate hip-ended front awning, presently enclosed and used as the entry foyer to the school.  

The other adjacent building (approx 1917) has a similar street-facing gable but with a separate verandah roof encircling its four sides.

The large established trees in the school precinct make an important contribution to the Charlotte Street streetscape.

1. Banf, Peggy and Ross, Norma. “The Peppercorn Trail” The Story of the Creche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland and its People 1907-1997, Creche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland, Brisbane, 1997

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Byrnes, Matthew,  Stephens District Historical Overview, (Brisbane: Matthew Byrnes, 1995), p.7

4. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of title and other records.

5. McBride, Frank and Helen Taylor. Brisbane 100 Stories. Brisbane: BCC. 1997

6. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895