St Michael's Anglican Church (former Moggill State School)

As with many of Brisbane’s schools, the Moggill State School was constructed as a result of a petition from the community to the Department of Public Instruction requesting the establishment of a school for the isolated rural district. This was supported and in 1865 the contract for the construction of a school and teacher’s residence at Moggill was signed by builders Batten and Francis. The estimated cost was £290. 

The newly erected school was opened on the 12 February 1866 with an enrolment of 53 students. The modest timber school building was built at a time when the Queensland Government was necessitating the establishment of primary schools. With the creation of the Education Act of 1860 an increase in school construction occurred throughout the state. Local communities were able to apply for a new school provided that a small portion of the construction funds were raised by the community and the design of the school followed the guidelines set down by the government. Under this act the new school at Moggill was constructed as a National School. 

In 1873 the school was described by the school inspector as such:

The school room is 34ft long by 17 ft wide with porch at each end… The walls are weatherboard with hardwood studding, no lining, floor hardwood, joists resting on courses of stone, stone steps to porches, roof shingles, no lining, no spouting.

The teacher’s residence was constructed to the west of the school and a split rail fence surrounded the teacher’s residence and garden. In 1888 Tenders were called by the Department of Public Instruction for the construction of a separate kitchen and a covered-way at the entrance to the school. In 1897 further improvements were made to the school with a new verandah, painting and general repairs carried out on the building. Further repairs were carried out in 1914.

In October, 1923 it was recognised by the community that the school building was in urgent need of further maintenance. In a letter sent to the Minister of Public Works, W. Forgan-Smith M.L.A it was stated that “Recommendations have been forwarded to you for repairs to the State School at Moggill. This building is in a very bad way, and it is many, many years since it has had any attention”1.  In response to the request for improved maintenance for the Moggill school the Department of Public Works reported:

This school building is 36’ x18’, with a 6’.6” wide veranda to front only and a 10’ x 8’ entrance porch to eastern end. The walls, which are unlined, are 11’.6” high from the floor to top of plate. The ceiling, which is coved is lined but not painted. 

The room is lighted by four (4) of six (6)ft. by two (2)ft. single casement sashes in front or s.wall, three (3) ditto in n.wall, and one (1) ditto in w wall, with a door to front and E end only.

The lighting and ventilation is by no means good as the unlined walls are age darkened, the ceiling age stained and the windows unsuitable and misplaced, inasmuch as the scholars are seated in their own light.

A considerable improvement would be effected were the walls lined, ceiling and external work painted, windows of the modern type placed in end walls and a verandah added.1

The estimated cost for the improvements was £283.90. Although deferred for a year the new work had been carried out by 1925.  The installation of large windows in the gabled walls at the north and the south ends was in accordance with the Department of Public Instruction’s principle of maximising the amount of natural southern light let into the classroom in this period. The addition of a verandah on the northern side of the building enlarged the school and played a role in cooling the building.

The teacher’s residence had had a history of being plagued by white ants. Several attempts had been made to repair the house. In September 1935, however, the house was destroyed by fire. The residence was never rebuilt as it was deemed that the poor enrolment numbers (25 for 1935) did not justify the outlay to construct another teacher’s residence. 

The original Moggill State School building served the Moggill community in an educational role until the 1960s. As enrolment numbers increased more educational facilities were constructed on the site. In 1966 the land adjacent to the school was purchased by the Anglican Church. The 1966 the school building was also bought and was shifted to the new site. The old school was converted into an Anglican Church. On the 14 July 1968 it was dedicated as St. Michaels and All Angel’s Anglican Church. A new wing was constructed to the east of the original building. As the first Anglican Church in the district, St. Michaels and All Angel’s Church has served the Moggill Anglican community since the 1960s and as such is important to many of the community. 

The interior and exterior of the 1866 building remains relatively intact and the history of the building can be easily read. The former Moggill State School is important to the Moggill community as it provided education to the children of the district for one-hundred years.

1. Letter to Minister of Public Works, 10 October, 1923

2. Cameron, Ian, A Green and Pleasant Land: An Account of the Pullenvale-Moggill District of South-East Queensland, Ian Cameron, Pullenvale, 1999

3. Wager, Libby. Mud-maps of Moggill, Pullenvale Field Study Centre, 1988

4. Queensland Places, Moggill and Bellbowrie, University of Queensland, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/home

5. Sugars, Bruce and Mabel Kelly, A Time to Remember: Descendants of Moggill Pioneers, Souvenir Booklet, 1988

6. Lawson, Ronald 1973, Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia

7. Historic Titles, Department of Environment and Resource Management

8. Queensland Post Office Directories

9. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Survey Maps

10. Brisbane City Council Building Register, October 1941

11. Moggill State School, Designs and Specifications, Queensland State Archives

12. Memo, Construction and Maintenance Branch, Department of Public Works, 6 November 1923

13. Government Gazette, 10 November 1881; 28 March 1888; 11 January 1897; 7 April 1910; 24 September 1914

14. Moggill State School, Inspector’s Report, 1873

15. The Queenslander, Saturday 2 July 1870, p2