Enoggera Memorial Hall

The Enoggera School of Arts was established in 6 December 1916, occupying the old Enoggera State School building when new accommodation was built for the school. The original school at Enoggera had been built in 1871 when the national school was established. A school inspector described the grounds and buildings of the new school in 1876. The school house, a hardwood weatherboard single room 40 feet by 20 feet, was roofed with hardwood shingles, and had verandahs front and back. Contractor E. Lewis of the Pimlico Shops in Brisbane (also known as the Duke of Pimlico, and known for his hoisting a teapot or gin bottle on this flagpole, depending on his state of sobriety) had quoted a total of £228 to construct the school house and a tiny 20 feet square teacher’s residence. In 1885 contractor Carl Bleck added another classroom 38 feet by 20 feet at right angles to the existing building. 

The School of Arts appeared here in the postal records from 1918/9 until 1925/6, to the east of the new school buildings. 

This building was then apparently dismantled and reassembled on the present site in 1925, under the supervision of architect Thomas Pye and constructed by A. Woollam & Son. The old school appears to have formed the back section of the hall, at the present Trundle Street entrance. The gables of this section resemble in size and proportion the end of the 1871 school building. When further funds have been raised via subscription the Memorial School of Arts Hall was constructed as a sizeable addition at the front of the original building. Further additions to the value of £60 were built by contractor A. Beck in late 1929 or early 1930. These additions may have comprised the small alcove added along the Wardell Street side boundary, built with matching weatherboards and roof joists. Parts of the school building are also visible internally, with some apparently original wall and ceiling linings in the storeroom and toilet of the hall. 

Providing a lending library and reading room for local residents was always one of the key activities of Schools of Arts, in addition to conducting technical education classes. During its first year of operation the Enoggera School of Arts library had acquired 358 books valued at a total of £34.  Seventy subscribers supported the library and reading room service. By 1934 the library had grown to over 2000 volumes valued at £250. However, the number of subscribers had only risen to 126. This still made the library one of the larger lending institutions in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. The building itself was valued at over £2200 in 1934. 

The Hall is still used for a variety of public purposes, and is headquarters for the Enoggera & District Historical Society. Parts of the 1871 Enoggera State School building are still visible outside the hall (gables and roof line) and inside.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plan 1402, nd

2. Statistics of Queensland, 1917. 1933-34

3. Allom Lovell Marquis-Kyle Architects, History of Schools of Arts

4. Brisbane City Council Building Register 1929

5. Education Department history files: Enoggera State School, School Inspector’s report on the grounds & buildings of the Enoggera School, 26 May 1876

6. Centenary: Enoggera State School 1871-1971, Enoggera State School Centenary Celebrations Committee

7. Architectural and building journal of Queensland, 3(36), 8 June 1925, p.76

8. Queensland Post Office Directories

9. Watson, Donald & Judith McKay 1994, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia