page_title: Newmarket State School
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Newmarket State School / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Northern (rear) elevation of Block A (2015)
context_page_description: Newmarket State School is a heritage-listed state school at 320 Enoggera Road, Newmarket, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Queensland Department of Public Works and Boulton & Paul Ltd and built from 1910 to 1960. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 February 2016.
context_section_description: Newmarket State School (established 1904), located in the Brisbane suburb of Newmarket, approximately five kilometres northwest of the Brisbane central business district (CBD), is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains an early Depression-era brick school building (1934, extended 1947) and a Boulton & Paul building (1954, extended 1955, 1956) set within landscaped grounds including a playing field, assembly and play areas, paths, and mature trees. The school has a strong and ongoing association with the Newmarket community.
  By 1900, the Queensland Government had achieved the remarkable feat of bringing basic literacy to most Queensland children. Beginning with National schools and the introduction of the Education Act 1860, which established the Board of General Education, Queensland's national and public schools had grown from four in 1860 to 230 by 1875. Further standardisation of curriculum, training and facilities occurred when the State Education Act 1875 provided for free, compulsory and secular primary education and established the Department of Public Instruction.
  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 community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers. School facilities also provided a venue for a wide range of community events.
  To help ensure consistency and economy, the Queensland Government developed standard plans for its school buildings. From the 1860s until the 1960s, Queensland school buildings were predominantly timber-framed, and standard designs were continually refined in response to changing needs and educational philosophy. Queensland school buildings were particularly innovative in climate control, lighting, and ventilation.
  Newmarket State School opened on 4 July 1904 with 135 children enrolled, four years after its school committee had formed and 40 years after the site was reserved for school purposes. The school comprised a timber school building and a teachers residence on 9 acres (3.6 ha) on the corner of Banks Street and Enoggera Road. The occupations of the pupils' parents in the enrolment register show the rural nature of the area - timber-cutter, dairyman, farmer, grazier, drover, horse-dealer and tanner.
  European settlement of Newmarket commenced when country allotments were sold as farmland in the 1860s. In 1877 the Newmarket cattle saleyards, bounded by Enoggera, Newmarket and Wilston roads and Alderson Street, commenced operations. Two years later the Newmarket Hotel opened opposite, on the (southeast) corner of Enoggera and Newmarket roads. A post office to serve the district opened in 1888. The opening of the Enoggera railway line from Mayne Junction to Enoggera in 1899, with a station at Newmarket, boosted suburban development. A police reserve of one acre was excised from the School Reserve in 1900, signalling growth of the area.
  Newmarket State School continued to grow in conjunction with suburban expansion in the surrounding area and suffered serious overcrowding in the early 20th century. The Kelvin Grove tram along Enoggera Road reached Newmarket Road by 1904, promoting suburban and industrial development. Local employment was offered at sawmills and the Newmarket brickworks (1912-c. 1985). In 1911 Newmarket's population was 721 people but two years later there were 419 children enrolled at the school. Further extension of the tram line along Enoggera Road, to a terminus at Banks Street in 1926, brought it right to the school and a shopping centre developed adjacent to the tram terminus.
  
  In 1929, the suburb of Newmarket was described by The Sunday Mail newspaper as resembling:
  "a prosperous country district [with] scrub-covered spaces, large residential properties, industries, cattle sale
caption: Rear view of Block A, 2015
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