Dutton Park State School is located in the suburb of Dutton Park, approximately south of the
Brisbane central business district (CBD). It was established in 1884 as Woolloongabba State School on the northern side of a large school reserve. In 1886 the school was divided into Woolloongabba Girls and Infants State School, using the existing buildings, and the Woolloongabba Boys State School, established on the current Dutton Park State School site. Renamed Dutton Park Boys State School and Dutton Park Girls and Infants State School in 1910, the schools amalgamated in 1935 as Dutton Park State School, on the boys school site. The school is important in demonstrating the
evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains a rare open-air annexe (1916, now called Block B) and two intact
interwar concrete toilet blocks (1936); set in landscaped grounds with mature trees, play areas and sporting facilities. Dutton Park State School has a strong and ongoing association with the Dutton Park community. Consequently, it was decided to separate the school into a Girls and Infants school, and a Boys school. In 1884, the school reserve was extended by to the south to accommodate the new boys school building. Work commenced on the Woolloongabba Boys School, sited on the southern portion of the school reserve, in 1885. It opened on 5 July 1886 with 353 boys enrolled. Although experimentation with "open-air" buildings started as early as the 1890s, open-air annexes were introduced as a standard design in 1913 by the
Department of Public Works (DPW) in conjunction with the
Department of Public Instruction. This design was developed in response to contemporary medical thought related to the need for adequate ventilation and high levels of natural light for health, coupled with the need to build cheap, portable schools.
Dr Eleanor Bourne had been appointed the first Medical Inspector of Schools in 1911 and under her instruction the relationship between classroom environment and child health was given prominence. Subsequently, school architecture evolved through iteration and experimentation to improve interior light and ventilation. The open-air annexe type achieved maximum ventilation and natural light; it comprised one large room and had only one wall, the western verandah wall. The other sides were open with only adjustable canvas blinds for enclosure. Ideally, they were high-set, thereby increasing the ventilation and providing further shelter underneath. The design was praised by educationalists as conducive to the good health of students. The building was with a west-facing verandah; while a gangway along one side of the Annexe connected it to another building. The open-air annexe, a highset timber building on brick piers, had a
Dutch-gable, iron roof, and a verandah with decorative timber brackets to its six-bay of perimeter posts. The interior had a coved ceiling lined with
pressed metal. The building accommodated 140 students. Constructed by day labour, the open-air annexe cost £969 19s 3d, including its embanked site and furniture. In 1927, the school reserve was extended to the south, through resumption of a triangular portion of the jail reserve. In 1930, nine Depression relief workers employed under the Queensland Government's Unemployment Relief Scheme, administered by the DPW during the
Great Depression (1929–1930s), were improving the playing grounds and preparing a playing field. The Girls and Infants school site, north of the railway line became an
opportunity school. Toilets were added to the understorey in 1936. To provide up-to-date amenities to the newly combined school, two sewered interwar concrete toilet blocks were added to the site in 1936 at a cost of £1637. Detached brick or concrete toilet blocks were an uncommon addition to schools at this time, as detached toilet blocks were more likely constructed using timber, and most Depression-era brick school buildings included toilets in their understorey. Toilets were located underneath brick school buildings at:
Norman Park State School,
Ascot State School, and
Wooloowin State School, while other schools such as
Kangaroo Point State School had detached timber toilet blocks. Similar designs were produced in the same year for
Babinda State School and
Southport State School. They were lowset, single-storey structures, with concrete entry stairs. The elevations were well composed, comprising concrete plinths, in-situ concrete walls with high openings with timber batten screens, and hipped roofs. The interiors comprised VJ timber-lined and -panelled partitions, and timber batten screens and doors. The second initiative was the Queensland Government's Works Programme from 1932 to revive the building trade during the Great Depression, which included £250,000 allocated for the construction of new buildings throughout the State, including sewerage installations at schools. Other schools that received upgrades toilet facilities include
Junction Park State School and
Coorparoo State School. A former student stated in 1984 that these palms were the original palms planted in 1908. In November 1942, Dutton Park State School children were collecting aluminium as part of the school's war effort. Students had already supplied 10 tons of rubber for salvage and grown 20,000 lettuce and cabbage seedlings in the school grounds. The fully grown vegetables were collected by the
Red Cross. However, after Intermediate Schools for Year 6 and 7 students in Queensland closed in 1953, the Dutton Park State School's enrolment increased to 571 students by 1955. A land exchange with the Boggo Road Gaol in 1971 swopped a portion of land on the southeast of the site, adjacent to the railway reserve, for a portion to the south of the school. By this time, the understorey toilets had been modified and a groundsman's quarters added. The school's 50th Anniversary Jubilee was commemorated in 1935, with celebrations and a school reunion, held in conjunction with the official opening ceremony of the re-amalgamated schools. In 1984, the school's centenary was marked with school open days, a reunion dinner, a school fete and the publication of a school history. Another school history was published in 2009 to commemorate the school's 125th anniversary. In 2018, Dutton Park State School continues to operate from its early site and has an enrolment of about 340 students. It retains a rare open-air annexe and two intact interwar concrete toilet blocks, set in landscaped grounds with assembly and play areas, sporting facilities, and mature trees. The school is important as a key social focus for the Dutton Park community as generations of students have been taught there and many social events held in the school's grounds and buildings since its establishment. == Description ==