Edge Hill State School

The school is located along Pease Street on low-lying land immediately backing on to remnant Cairns central swamp, first reserved by the State of Queensland to be a State School on 17 December 1938 The school was built to service school aged children then living in a small, newly emergent rural township that had been forming along the higher edges of low lying, swampy lands progressively being transformed into market gardens, dairy paddocks and cane fields The emergent township was locally known as Edge Hill, and this, then, became the name of the new 'Edge Hill' state school. It started as a single classroom, three verandahs, two earth toilets, eight school desks, 40 hat and coat hooks, 31 students, and a single "Acting Head Teacher". • multiple buildings and facilities (including shops, covered assembly, library, internet technology facilities, music rooms, environmental interpretive centre, swimming pool, swimming club, after school care, plus dental centre); • 37 class room teachers, plus 6 specialist teachers (including teachers in the fields of Music, Health & Physical Education, Resource Education, Languages other than English, Enhanced Learning, plus Special Education); and • a full-time administration consisting of one Principal, two Deputy Principals, a Business Services manager, and 3 permanent administrative staff. ==School Environment==

Swampy Golf Course (1930s) The slightly raised area within the Cairns central swamps reserved for a school, upon which the Edge Hill State School was built, had originally been used by local Edge Hill residents as a golf course (since abandoned because of constant flooding and inundation),. The area was identified as a prospective site for a school by District Inspector of Schools, Mr C Walton who in 1938 reported to a Department of Public Instruction Advisory Committee identifying three possible sites for a school, making the following comments about the site and its environs: On rainy days the school grounds would become inundated, and the creek to the immediate south (Saltwater Creek) would flood. One of the teachers, Daphne Jewell, recalled. "..after rain [we] had to paddle across a creek between the bus stop and the school, much to the delight of the kiddies who paddled across with us." Some classes were held under the school, and once, during such a wet period, Mr Edward Gordon, the Head Teacher at the time wrote: "All of the verandahs are soaking wet from the driving rain, and the water is lying in pools under the school, where the children are sitting at their desks...A good percentage of the children are suffering from colds which, I consider, are caused by the damp concrete they have underfoot" The grounds reserved for the school were not fully fenced and were, in fact, more paddock than school yard: at night cows and horses 'camped' in the school grounds; each school morning teachers cleaned up after the cows and horses; and during the days the pupils' horses would join the others, often while classes were being conducted in the shade of some large trees that've long since been removed and cleared away for cricket pitches and sports fields and there were "lovely waterlillies" in what is now a large drain. Bushland (1960s) At the beginning of the 1960s, Mr Kevin Whouley, starting his first term as Principal, moved into a Principal's residence within the Edge Hill School grounds. Whouley described the School environs at the time, as follows: "The school .. gave the appearance of being out in the bushland as it was bordered by scrub and swamp on the northern and eastern boundaries. To the south was the creek and to the west, across Pease Street, was a tangle of ti-trees, stunted growth and thick blady grass.. At night the curlews called incessantly and in the early morning scrub wallabies came in to graze on the sports field." "In the dry weather a lone Jabiru came yearly to stand motionless for hours in the lower paddock. Snakes including death adders were plentiful. A dairy farm adjoined the school. The cows in search of pasture, made tracks along the school's fence. At certain times of the year the areas where cows had been, produced enormous crops of delicious mushrooms" ==School Community==

School Building Committee (1930s) Local parents and residents were concerned about their children having to walk or more from home to school, crossing the then busy (and dangerous) Kuranda railway line each day. They ultimately secured State Government agreement and assistance to build a State school at Edge Hill. One of the teachers at the time, Mona Lavery, recalls how mothers and parents came to the school's rescue when, in 1951: Parents Committee and Ladies Auxiliary (1960s) By the beginning of the 1960s the school was still bordered with "scrub and swamp" to its north, "scrub and swamp" to its east, a dirt drain (or creek) to the south, plus a tangle of ti-trees, stunted growths, and blady grass across the road, to the west "Edge Hill, in those days, was mainly occupied by professional and business folk ... The school was [thus] blessed .. by a very active committee of parents led by Jim Lyons with the assistance of Norma Alexander who was President of the Ladies Auxiliary. Jim and Norma were determined that the school would want for nothing and their efforts were crowned with success" The parents at this time built a model train capable of carrying about 40 children, which the Parent's Committee transported all around the region to offer rides and raise money sufficient to build two concrete tennis courts. == School facilities==

Original building (1939) Following original agreement from the Queensland Director of Education to build a school at Edge Hill a notice was placed in the Queensland Government Gazette on 22 July 1939 calling for tenders to build the school, and by September 1939 it was announced that Mr V. A. Mazlin had won the tender. The school was classed by the then Department of Public Works as a "Sectional Type School, One (1) class room", lifted off the ground on stilts, with front entry steps leading up into a verandah running along three sides of the building (2.44 m wide) and a single doorway into a single classroom (6.39 m long x 5.49 m wide). Bicycle shelter (1960s) The Parents Committee and Ladies Auxiliary of the early 1960s worked to raise the monies necessary to build a covered bicycle shelter where students attending the school parked their bikes almost 50 years (finally pulled down in 2009). Concrete tennis courts (1960s) During the early 1960s two concrete tennis courts were built on the school grounds for the school students (since been replaced with basketball courts). The monies to pay for the construction of these tennis courts was raised by parents, primarily by building a model train on which children (or their parents) could pay for rides. Cricket pitches (1960s) Two concrete cricket pitches were laid the school's oval during the 1960s, the costs of construction of which were almost exclusively funded by the parents Committee and Ladies Auxiliary of the day. ==School fundraising and fetes==

Garden party (1950s) It was during the 1950–1960 decade that the school held its first fund raising fetes, with the very first being in the form a 'Garden Party' held one Friday afternoon in 1951. This first fetes has been captured and recorded in an early film made about the school and school life at that time One account of the 'Garden Party' ete (the first of many to follow is as follows "Mr Hagen [the Head Teacher] .. let us, the teachers, hold a garden party to raise some funds. He was most sceptical and doubtful of any success but as he felt the school badly needed a wheelbarrow he grudgingly gave his consent to an afternoon garden party, a Friday it was .. "..there was an iced cake raffle at 6d. a ticket, we had a folk dancing display, a parade of decorated bicylcles, we had cautiously ordered a dozen bottles of softdrink.. and that completed the party. I can picture Mr Hagen . .counting the spoils gleefully - 48 pounds. He had enough for a wheelbarrow, and a small radio costing 34 pounds was purchased for the grade ones.." Annual flower show (1960s) During the 1960s, the parents and citizens arranged and held an annual flower show and fete for Edge Hill School, on the Edge Hill School grounds. This flower show and fete was one of the parent and citizen's best fund raisers. Parent contribution envelopes (1960s-1970s) Through the 1960s and 1970s the parents and citizen's committee worked with the school to distribute to (and collect from) students small yellow envelopes into which parents were expected to place cash contributions. == School Principals==

Principals (1940s) "When I first arrived at Edge Hill it was a one room building with approximately 20 children but as the town of Edge Hill grew, the attendance grew .. I would say Edge Hill, my first school, was the happiest period of my teaching career as a principal" Mr Edward GORDON (1941–1949) The School's first 'Head Teachers' were, in order: • Alexander Lennox SEATON (5 February – 14 June 1940) • Michael FRAWLEY (Acting) (18 June – 7 October 1940) • James Fredrick BROCON (8 October 1940 – 20 April 1941) • Edward Albert GORDON (2 June 1941 – 30 June 1949) Principals (1950s) "I must say that I enjoyed being there [Edge Hill State School], and found the children and parents a very pleasant lot...I can remember .. attendance increased while I was there, and I finished up teaching my classes under the school which wasn't very satisfactory." Mr George HAGAN (1949–1952) During the decade 1950 to 1960, the School had two principals as follows The Schools principals during the decade, 1960 to 1970, were as follows: School Principals for the decade, 1970–1980, were as follows: From 2000 to the present, School Principals include: • Susan DARBY • Paul CAMPBELL • Jane TERMAAT ==See also==