Greenslopes State School & Mural

The development of Greenslopes occurred largely during the economic growth period of the 1880s. Early industry in the district included Thomas Blackett Stephens’ woolscour and fellmongery business, Baynes’ butchery and slaughterhouse, a blacksmith’s and a wheelwright’s shop. Small industry and the workers it attracted increased the number and population of settlements along Logan Road. Growth was also enhanced by Logan Road’s role as a key transport corridor to New South Wales. By 1890, businesses were providing private transport services to Greenslopes’ settlers from the Vanda Street terminus. Increased population soon led to calls from settlers for basic facilities to meet their needs. In a climate of economic prosperity, education was becoming accepted as a basic necessity. 

The Education Act 1875 had affirmed the principles of free education enabling the construction of many state schools during the 1870s and 1880s. Compulsory attendance clauses were written into the Act in 1890 and stretched resources to the limit. Schools built at this time were severely affected by the economic downturn. Building programmes were cut and teacher-pupil ratios increased dramatically as the 1890s depression took hold. 

It was at the beginning of this period of economic uncertainty that application to the Department of Public Instruction for the establishment of a school in Greenslopes was made. Approval was withheld initially on the basis that it was considered at that time to be ‘no pressing need for a … new provisional school at the Dunellan Estate’. The School Committee, however, persisted in its claim for a local school and in preparedness for a successful lodgement at a later date noted the sale of a five-roomed house on the corner of Cedar and Dunellan Streets. With restrictions on age limits attached, approval was finally given in 1890 for the opening of ‘Mt Pleasant Provisional School’: named after the Mt Pleasant Estate. However, to avoid confusion with Mt Pleasant Post Office in Dayboro the school was renamed Dunellan Provisional School shortly afterwards.

Provisional schools were a common feature in the smaller communities throughout rural Queensland. This school type was a cost-effective means for the government to establish schools in areas of low or transient population, as part of the building cost was borne by the community. Those that were established within the vicinity of Brisbane, however, soon acquired state school status. 

Within a year of opening the school on the corner of Cedar and Dunellan Streets, a lease was taken out on Dunellan House and the surrounding land by the Department of Public Instruction. The land was originally part of an estate owned by John Buhot, one of the first people to manufacture sugar in Queensland. The lot on which the house was situated was purchased by Edward Palmer in 1885. The sale of the land to the government was finalised in October 1892 and in 1893 Dunellan Provisional School became a State School. 

 

It was not until 1901 that economic conditions improved sufficiently to allow the construction of additional classrooms for the growing population of pupils, whose number had increased from 67 in 1890 to over 300 a decade later. Dunellan House itself was removed in 1906 and two wings were added to the new building at a cost of £915. The classrooms featured high ceilings, banks of large windows and full length verandahs. This provided a well lit and well ventilated learning environment for the school’s pupils.

During the following ten-year period, land on the boundary of the school was purchased by the Department of Public Instruction, as it became available. An Infants School was added to the complex in 1914 at a cost of £720 as well as additional teachers’ room costing £45.18s. In 1923, the house that separated the school buildings from the sports ground on the corner of Dunellan and Henry Streets was purchased and removed. It was this year, also, that the school was renamed Greenslopes State School. By 1926, a final purchase of land completed the extent of the school site as it is today. 

Installation of the swimming pool in 1930 invigorated the school’s swimming performances in the following decades. This was further enhanced by the appointment of Laurie Laurence, now AIS coach, as a first-year teacher in the 1950s. More recently, a wall mural on the Logan Road boundary, which depicts 100 years of the school’s history and involvement in the community - as well as the site’s Aboriginal and prehistory - was painted by Greenslopes State School students. This project was completed in 1990 as part of the school’s centenary celebrations.

Currently, the buildings continue to serve the Greenslopes local community as a State School. The original 1901 building, the 1906 wings and 1914 infants wing are substantially intact and provide a valuable example of state school design from the early 20th century. The social significance of the school to generations of pupils and their families and teachers is enhanced by items such as the World War I honour board of past pupils who enlisted and the war memorial plaque erected in the school yard in 1988.

Each building consists of a large transverse gable over a rectangular plan, corrugated iron roof cladding. Rows of windows emerge under the eaves and extend the length of the buildings. The steps to the buildings are centred at the front door and are positioned either parallel or at right angles to the buildings.

Although later additions have been made to the school, the buildings retain their original general appearance and integrity. The verandahs of the buildings have been enclosed and some original windows have been replaced. The current staff room located in the original building has been extended towards Logan Road and a post-1946 wing has been added near the corner of Logan Road and Dunellan Street.

1. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

2. Burmester, Paul, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy. Queensland Schools: A Heritage conservation Study, Brisbane: Department of Education, 1996

3. Department of Education. Greenslopes State School Centenary 1890-1990, Brisbane: Department of Education, 1990

4. Department of Education. Greenslopes (Dunellan) State School 1890-1950 Official Souvenir Diamond Jubilee Celebrations 1950, Brisbane: Department of Education, 1950

5. State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library, Estate Map Collection and photographic collection

6. Lawson, Ronald. Brisbane in the 1890s: a study of an Australian urban society ( St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1973)

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

8. Department of Natural Resources, Certificates of Title

9. Information kindly provided by Larissa Lambalot, Principal, visit to site 22 May 2002