Ironside State School, established in 1870, (as Toowong Provisional School and later renamed Toowong State School, Indooroopilly State School, and Indooroopilly Pocket State School) is located in the
Brisbane suburb of St Lucia, about 4.5 km southwest of the
Brisbane central business district (CBD). It is important in demonstrating the
evolution of state education and its associated architecture. The school retains a
Depression-era brick school building (1935–59) designed by the
Queensland Department of Public Works (DPW), with landscaped front entrance forecourt (1953–54) and mature trees (pre-1946, pre-1955). The school has a strong and ongoing association with its surrounding community. In 1871 a sugar mill and refinery were established in St Lucia Pocket, with local farmers supplying cane. The first attempts to provide schooling in the St Lucia locality were private initiatives dating from 1864. Provisional schools were introduced in 1869 for smaller communities that could guarantee a student population of 15 (later reduced to 12). Provisional schools were once very common and many state schools began as such, on the same or on a different site. These schools generally occupied temporary structures on non-government land. The
Queensland Government supplied the teacher and school books but did not fund building construction. Drawings show a one-room timber school house with a porch, constructed with external studding. The Toowong Provisional School re-opened on 21 February 1871 on the site of the current Ironside State School, which had been provided by major landholder
Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior. The buildings stood on cleared high ground at the southwest corner of the site, facing Swann Road, and the teachers residence stood behind (to its east). The community donated £86, with the expectation further funds would be raised to cover the £100 required by Queensland Government for establishment of the school. Gailey transferred the school site, comprising , to the Secretary for Public Instruction in March 1884. Nevertheless, pupil numbers at the school increased enough to warrant additions to the school building in 1895. Additions and repairs to the school were also made in 1908. The site of the district's earlier private school (sub 3), located south of the state school was added to the school in 1937. It had been dedicated as a road (Portion 253) in 1927. The road closed in 1937 after its acquisition by the government. Land to the south of the road (Subs 894 and 895 of Portion 25) was also added. The construction of substantial brick school buildings in prosperous or growing suburban areas and regional centres during the 1930s provided tangible proof of the government's commitment to remedy the unemployment situation. Several of the brick schools were constructed in stages, balancing demand with the availability of resources; and some schools were never fully completed. The building was constructed in four stages between 1935 and 1959, in response to population growth in the suburb as well as difficulties procuring materials, including bricks, in the years immediately after
World War II (WWII). The school was one of the more modest designs in the family of brick schools, although all the key features of the type were incorporated. The DPW Annual Report for 1935 noted: Located on high ground, facing Central Avenue, it had a standard linear plan of classrooms running east–west, symmetrically ordered either side of the central entrance hall, with a teacher's room on each side of the hall. The classrooms beyond the teachers' rooms were wide with large banks of casement windows facing south and were accessed from an verandah to the north. The four central classrooms were in pairs, each room by , and separated by folding partitions. The classrooms at the ends of the building were . A cloakroom and staircase projected to the north at each end of the building. Ironside State School's pupil numbers rose after WWII due to these causes and the transfer of the
University of Queensland to St Lucia in 1946, bringing its associated academic community. Two further classrooms and a narrow teacher's room were added to the central section of the first floor in 1948. When the upper floor was added, terracotta tiled hoods supported on timber brackets were installed over the windows at ground floor level. In 1955, plans for the temporary enclosure of the Block A undercroft were drawn. This included modifying the existing
window sashes on the south elevation from fixed to opening. Another three classrooms were built on the eastern end of Block A, completing the first floor and the building scheme in 1959. All additions were in accordance with the original design concept. While Block A was being completed other classrooms were built to the north, however, these buildings have since been removed. In June 1940 a tennis court was opened on the western boundary, followed by a second tennis court to its north in 1951–52. A basketball court was constructed in 1956 southeast of Block A and in 1958 the swimming pool was opened on the southeast corner of the site. A tender for the construction of porphyry walls, concrete steps and paths, brick walling, decomposed granite paving, wire fencing and a driveway was advertised in 1953. This work, which included the current entrance driveway, and a brick retaining wall with garden bed that ran from southeast to northeast around Block A, was completed in 1954. Re-erection of the existing flagpole on a new concrete base occurred at this time. The current brick gateposts were in-situ by 1955. A bitumen assembly area to the south of Block A was formed in the second half of the 1950s, but no longer exists. In 2018, a section of brick retaining wall and garden bed southeast of Block A, the flagpole, driveway and brick gateposts are extant. In 1996 the upper floor verandah was enclosed. Doors from the landings at each end were upgraded for fire, and windows onto the landings were filled with glass blocks. Sunscreens were fixed on the north elevation under the eaves to shade the windows enclosing the verandah. The undercroft was upgraded for an office, practice room and rehearsal room, including enclosing the north wall with louvres, removing internal timber partitions, casting new concrete floor slabs and altering doors and installing a new ceiling for fire protection. The school's anniversaries have been marked with a diamond jubilee celebration and a published school history in 1930; a centenary history in 1970; and a further history publication in conjunction with celebrations for the 125th anniversary in 1995. In 2018, the school continues to operate from its original site. It retains its Depression-era brick school building (1935–59), with landscaped front entrance forecourt (1953–4) and mature Eucalyptus trees (pre-1946, 1950s). Ironside State School is important to St Lucia as a key social focus for the community. Generations of students have been taught there and many community events held in the school's grounds and buildings since its establishment. == Description ==