page_title: Mutdapilly State School
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mutdapilly State School / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Mutdapilly State School playshed (2014)
context_page_description: Mutdapilly State School is a heritage-listed state school at 4 Mutdapilly-Churchbank Weir Road, Mutdapilly, Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard George Suter and built from 1874 to 1880 by William Adams and Ben Denman. It is also known as Normanby National School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 10 October 2014.
context_section_description: Mutdapilly State School opened in 1874 as Normanby National School (Normanby State School from 1875), in a small timber building designed by architect Richard George Suter. It was built on a 2-acre (0.81 ha) site, at an intersection on the main road through the agricultural settlement of Mutdapilly, to service the sparse but growing rural population. The Suter building was extended in 1880, and the school grounds were also expanded and other structures and landscape elements were added, including a tennis court (1925); a new playshed (c. 1928), and shade trees. The school has been in continuous operation since its establishment and has been a focus for the local community as a place for important social and cultural activities.
  Traditionally the land of the Yuggera people, closer European settlement of the Mutdapilly area began in the early 1860s. Mutdapilly State School is located on the former Ipswich Agricultural Reserve, which was formed in 1860 from 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) of land resumed from pastoral runs either side of Warrill Creek. The land west of Warrill Creek was part of George Thorn's pastoral run "Normanby" (formerly "Rosebrook"). The first land sales in the reserve took place in April 1861, and a number of German settlers arrived in the district during the 1860s. Most selectors in the reserve during this decade grew cotton, although this industry faded in the 1870s. Other crops, grazing, and dairying then became the primary industries of the area. The Mutdapilly Divisional Board was established in 1879 and the Normanby Divisional Board (later Normanby Shire Council) was formed, out of part of the Mutdapilly Division, in 1890.
  Normanby National School was established at Mutdapilly as one of an expanding network of state-run primary schools. The provision of state-administered education was important to the colonial governments of Australia. In 1848 the New South Wales Government established National Schools. This was continued by the Queensland Government after the colony's separation in 1859. The Education Act 1860 established the Queensland Board of General Education and began to standardise curriculum, teacher training, and facilities. The State Education Act 1875 provided for the further key initiatives of free, compulsory and secular primary education and established the Department of Public Instruction to administer the Act. This move standardised the provision of education and, despite difficulties, colonial educators achieved a remarkable feat in bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children by 1900.
  The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early communities and integral to their success. Locals often donated land and labour for a school's construction and the school community contributed to maintenance and development. Schools became a major community focus for social interaction, a symbol of progress and a source of pride with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents and teachers. The inclusion of war memorials and halls used for community purposes reinforced these connections together with fetes, markets, public holiday celebrations, school break-up days, fundraisers, polling days, sporting events, reunions, and dances, all held within the schools' buildings and grounds.
  From the 1860s until the 1960s, Queensland school buildings were predominantly timber framed, taking advantage of the material's abundance in the state and the high number of builders skilled in its use. This also allowed for easy and economical construction and enabled the government to provide facilities in remote areas. Due to the standardisation of facilities, schools across the state were developed in distinctly similar ways and became complexes of typical components. These components included: the teaching building/s, the school yard, the sports oval, the head teacher's residence, and a variety of landscape elements such as sporting facilities or play equipment, playsheds, gardens and trees.
  In 1873, 2 acres (0.81 ha) of Portion 20 (originally 79 acres (32 ha)) 
caption: Playshed, 2014
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