Southport State High School

General

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

14 October 2016

Type

Education, Research, Scientific Facility: School - state (high)

Theme

9.2 Educating Queenslanders: Providing secondary education

Designer

Department of Public Works

Construction periods

1955, Block B

1957–1958, Block E

1961, Block F

Historical period

1940s–1960s Post-WWII

Style

Modernism

Location

Address

75 Smith Street, Southport

LGA

Gold Coast City Council

Coordinates

-27.96192381, 153.40340756

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Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

Southport State High School (established in 1955) is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. The place retains an excellent, representative example of a standard school building that was an architectural response to prevailing government educational philosophies; set in landscaped grounds with a former parade ground and sports oval.

It is important in demonstrating the pattern of provision of secondary education, on new sites with expanded facilities, across Queensland in the 1950s, a time of enormous growth in school-age population and demand for secondary education.

The Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (1957-8) demonstrates the introduction and adoption of imported prefabricated systems by the Queensland Government in response to acute building material shortages and population growth in the post-World War II period.

The layout of this building, along with an adjacent brick and timber building with open-web steel floor trusses (1961), the covered link between them (1961) and associated open spaces, reflects the mid-1950s introduction of organic master planning, which responded to the existing contours of the site and provided for ordered growth from a nucleus.

Criterion BThe place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland’s cultural heritage.

Highly intact, the Hawksley Prefabricated School Building is a rare surviving example of an imported post-war aluminium-framed prefabricated school building and is the only known example of a Hawksley type F in Queensland.

Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

The Hawksley Prefabricated School Building is an excellent example of its type and demonstrates a variation of the standard layout configurations and support framing designs: Hawksley ‘type F amended’ (1957-8), incorporating open-web metal trusses. Highly intact, it retains its: prefabricated aluminium-framed and clad structure, mounted on a brick base; gabled roof; verandahs for circulation; 24ft (7.3m) wide classrooms; and extensive banks of aluminium-framed awning windows to maximise natural light.

Criterion GThe place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

Schools have always played an important part in Queensland communities. They typically retain significant and enduring connections with former pupils, parents, and teachers; provide a venue for social interaction and volunteer work; and are a source of pride, symbolising local progress and aspirations.

Southport State High School has a strong and ongoing association with the Southport community. It was established in 1955 and generations of students have been taught there. The place is important for its contribution to the educational development of the Gold Coast and as a focus for the community.

History

Southport State High School (SHS) opened at its current 13.44ha (33.2ac) site on Smith Street, Gold Coast in 1955, separating from the Southport State School, which had included a secondary department (or ‘high top’) from 1916. Southport SHS demonstrates the growth in provision of secondary education across Queensland in the 1950s on new sites with increased facilities. The school retains a rare Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (Block E, 1957-8, now named Elevate), a covered link (1961) that connects it with an adjacent brick and timber building with open-web steel floor trusses (Block F, 1961); retaining walls and railings; and assembly and sports areas; set within a generous landscaped site that exhibits organic site planning. The school has been in continuous operation since its establishment.

The township of Southport, located on the traditional lands of the Danggan Balun (Five Rivers People) or speakers of the Yugambeh language,[1] evolved after its survey as a marine resort on the Crown Reserve at Nerang Creek Heads in 1874. Its first allotments were sold in April 1875 and the first of its many boarding houses opened in the following year. The sale of 180 marine villa sites on 13 March 1878 further stimulated Southport’s growth as a popular resort for Darling Downs pastoralists and the elite of Brisbane and Ipswich. From 1879 visitors could reach Southport via a daily Cobb & Co coach from Brisbane and Ipswich, or via the steamer Iris from Brisbane to Southport twice weekly, or by the steamers Albert or Leonie. By the 1880s Southport had a permanent population of about 230, sufficient to justify the establishment of a primary school, which opened on 17 February 1880.[2]

From 1860 the Queensland Government played an important role in the provision of schools in Queensland, providing an alternative to church schools and private schools. The provision of schools was linked to the location and development of communities, the number of children within reach of particular locations, community expectations, and changing government policies regarding the best way to provide for the education of Queensland children.[3]

Southport continued to develop as a beachside holiday resort throughout the 1880s and 1890s, becoming Queensland’s principal seaside resort. Its popularity with the colonial elite was boosted when Queensland’s Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave (1883-8), established a holiday home there in 1884. Its popularity with all classes of Queenslanders multiplied after the opening of the railway extension to Southport from Beenleigh, in 1889, gave them easier access. By 1901, Southport’s permanent population was 1230, which trebled in the peak holiday season.[4]

In Queensland, governments were slow to establish state secondary education, considering this to be of little relevance to Queensland's primary industry-based economy. The Grammar Schools Act 1860 provided scholarships for high-achieving students to attend elite grammar schools, although few were awarded. It was not until 1912 that the government instituted a high school system, whereby separate high schools were established in major towns or, where the student population was too small, a primary school was expanded to include a 'high top'. High tops were an economical measure that provided essentially the same education while utilising already established facilities.[5]

By 1914, Southport’s residents believed their town warranted a high school. On 21 April 1914, W Lather, the Secretary of the Southport State School Committee, requested that high school classes be established at Southport State School.[6] In the following year, a deputation called on the Minister for Education and in 1915 a public meeting was held, which elected a committee for promoting the establishment of a high school at Southport. The District Inspector visited the area at the end of 1915 and recommended that a high school be established at the Southport State School. Following an entrance test held on 25 February 1916, 30 pupils were approved for admission to a ‘High School Top’ at Southport State School. High School classes commenced on 10 July 1916 in rented premises, but classes were conducted at the school from the beginning of the following year.[7]

During the interwar period, Southport grew into a large town renowned as a popular resort and a fashionable residential and educational centre. With its population approaching 2000, Southport was proclaimed a separate town from Albert Shire in 1918.[8] By 1921 it had a permanent population of 3550 people, increasing to over 6000 residents in 1925.[9] By the 1930s Southport had ‘many modern hotels, guest houses, flats … water supply, septic sewerage systems and electric light’.[10]

After World War II, Southport continued to expand as Australia’s beach culture developed and tourism to the South Coast boomed. In 1949 Southport municipality amalgamated with that of Coolangatta to form the South Coast Town Council, extending from Labrador to Coolangatta.[11] As the commercial and administrative centre of the South Coast (renamed the Gold Coast from 1958), Southport experienced steady residential and economic growth in the 1950s, but the coastal area south of the town experienced massive growth.[12] This development inevitably led to a demand for state schools in the region.

The Department of Public Instruction was largely unprepared for the enormous demand for state education that began in the late 1940s and continued well into the 1960s. This was a nation-wide occurrence resulting from immigration and the unprecedented population growth now termed the ‘baby boom’. Queensland schools were overcrowded and, to cope, many new buildings were constructed and existing buildings were extended.[13] The overriding concern for the Department of Public Instruction was the need to build school buildings as expeditiously and economically as possible because the Queensland Government regarded education as a low priority and provided the department with only a small budget.[14]

The need for an adequate high school at Southport, to serve the whole South Coast, became a priority in the 1950s. In September 1953 there were 99 pupils attending the Secondary Department of the Southport State School. Of those, 62 resided outside Southport. As the school did not teach science subjects, students were unable to pursue any university study that required science as a prerequisite.[15]

In response to this situation, the Minister for Public Instruction acted to provide adequate high school education on the South Coast. He approved the establishment of a sub-senior class at the Southport SHS from the beginning of 1955 and allocated £61,831 in the 1954-5 financial year for the erection of the new Southport State High School.[16]

In Queensland, high schools remained few in number until after World War II, when secondary education became accepted as essential and was more widely provided. In the 1950s the number of high schools in Queensland increased significantly. The grounds were large, greater than 12 acres (4.8ha) providing ample room for sports facilities. The general classroom buildings were the same standard types as used for primary schools but high schools also included purpose-built science laboratories, domestic science buildings, workshops for woodwork and metal work, libraries, and gymnasiums. These were also built to standard plans but were specific to their use and not a continuation of previous designs.[17] This reflected educationalists’ rejection of the previous designs of school buildings, considering them outdated and their favouring of ‘lighter, loosely grouped, flexible’ buildings.[18]

There was also a focus on the fit between the school and its neighbourhood, as well as site planning for expansion. In the early 1950s, architects developed master planning concepts that influenced the design and layout of the whole school. Initially, these plans were broadly based on regular and symmetrical plan forms around a central or prominent axis.[19] A few years later there was a shift away from grid-like layouts to organic layouts which provided for growth and change. Classroom wings were connected to and fanned away from a central nucleus. Master planning schemes were focussed on the ideal solar orientation of buildings as well as their relationship to the natural contours and existing vegetation, resulting in building layouts that were more asymmetrical and open. The long, narrow buildings were positioned so that the spaces captured between them created playground areas and courtyards.[20]

Plans for a new Southport State High School, drawn by the Department of Public Works (DPW) and approved in October 1954, demonstrate an organic planning approach, with the buildings orientated at various angles and connected by covered links.[21] Positioned in the elevated southwest corner of the new 9.6ha (23.7ac) site, which was bounded by Smith Street (south), Brooke Avenue (west), Townson Avenue (north, now Lionel Avenue), Loders Creek (northeast) and Worendo Street (west, no longer extant), the buildings were ‘specially planned to suit the natural contours of the site and also make the most use of the prevailing breezes’.[22]

The site was cleared by November 1954 and tenders called for the transport of building materials from the railway to the school site.[23] Construction commenced soon afterwards. The initial teaching buildings comprised three Hawksley Prefabricated School Buildings imported from Britain. All three (Blocks A, B and C) were erected by the end of July 1955 and teaching commenced there in late August 1955.[24]

Hawksley Prefabricated School Buildings were prefabricated classrooms imported by the DPW from Hawksley Construction Co. of Gloucester, England, in response to materials shortages and the pressures of the baby boom.[25] Across Australia, £1.5 million worth of Hawksley prefabricated buildings for schools, offices, hospitals and bungalows had been delivered by November 1951.[26]  Between 1952 and 1958, a total of 27 Hawksley Prefabricated School Buildings (90 classrooms) were imported by the DPW; initially intended to provide classroom accommodation at high schools and technical colleges, they were also erected at primary and infants schools across Queensland.[27]

The Hawksley system was prefabricated from aluminium structural systems and included aluminium external cladding and aluminium framed awning windows. Aluminium column sections were fixed to a reinforced concrete ring beam at floor level, and support framing was sometimes provided by rolled steel joists at 12ft (3.6m) centres and spans. The introduction of structural steel elements reduced the number of concrete piers required and provided more open area under the building.[28] Many of the prefabricated components utilised techniques developed during World War II in aircraft manufacture, including pop-riveting and the use of synthetic gaskets and sealants. As a consequence, this system had an industrial aesthetic, unique in the evolution of Queensland school architecture.[29]

Hawksley buildings could be high or low-set, had a verandah as circulation, and a gable roof. Ideally, they were oriented so the verandah faced north and the classroom faced south. The verandah wall and the opposite classroom wall had extensive areas of aluminium-framed awning windows, providing abundant natural ventilation and lighting. The classrooms were 24ft (7.3m) wide, larger than most previous classrooms.[30] A range of building lengths and layout configurations comprising classrooms, storerooms, teachers and other rooms, all accessed via the verandah, were available and identified as alphabetised Hawksley ‘types’.[31] The buildings arrived in panel form, with the internal details prefabricated in the factory and components designed to be readily handled, to enable rapid assembly on site.[32]

Masonry and concrete understoreys, and ancillary elements such as hat and bag racks, railings and stairs, were designed and installed by the DPW.[33] Attempts were made by DPW architects, in the adaptation of these prefabricated buildings, to use ‘sympathetic materials and … preserve the inherent lightness of the structure in the finished design’.[34]

At Southport SHS, Block A, used for domestic science teaching, was a Hawksley Prefabricated School Building ‘type B less 16ft’ (4.8 m). Lowset with a gable roof and a northern verandah, it had a large number of awning windows in its southern and northern walls.[35]

Block B to the north of Block A, a Hawksley Prefabricated School Building ‘type H plus additional 40ft’ (12m), was highset on a face brick substructure, with supporting concrete piers and metal posts, above a concrete plinth. The high school building had a gable roof, and was sheeted externally on the upper level with ribbed aluminium panels. The northern side had a verandah on both levels that had tubular steel balustrades, handrails, and supports, and enclosed hat and store rooms at the ends. The building contained four 24ft (7.3m) wide classrooms, a commercial room (west) and principal’s office (east) on the upper level; with a science laboratory, store and lecture room (west), and lavatories (east) flanking an enclosed area for students’ recreation space (temporary library and reading room) below.[36]

Block C to the east of Block A, a lowset manual training building, was a Hawksley Prefabricated School Building ‘type A plus 8ft’ (2.4m). This building had a gable roof, a west-facing verandah, and exterior walls and eaves clad with ribbed aluminium panels, awning windows and two louvred vents high in the gable end walls.[37]

Covered links connecting Blocks A, B and C were also constructed in 1954-5. These had concrete footings, steel round posts with struts at the ceiling, concrete paths, timber seating with steel frames, sheet ceilings and galvanised corrugated metal roof sheets and square profile guttering.[38] The covered links surrounded an assembly area to the immediate south of Block B.[39] In 2024, only one elevated covered link, connecting blocks E and F, is extant.

In December 1955, soon after Southport State High School’s commencement, the South Coast Bulletin newspaper commented on the modern new high school and the change of attitude towards secondary education that had preceded its establishment:

Standing in 24 acres of grounds, the school consists of three blocks designed in accordance with modern standards of school architecture. Great changes were made in educational thought and practice… following two World Wars and the intervening depression. With a clear conception of the rights of the individual there came acceptance of the principle that secondary education is the birthright of every intelligent child and that his studies be closely related to his needs and aptitudes.[40]

Further funding, of £9406, was allocated to building at Southport SHS in the 1955-6 financial year. Another Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (Block D) of unknown type, shown as a future administration block to the immediate east of Block A in the original school plan, was constructed on the site after December 1955. This was a lowset building with a small entry porch.[41]

Southport State High School, which provided secondary education for the whole of the South Coast, was officially opened on 26 October 1957, with the unveiling of a plaque in the vestibule of the Administration building, by the Minister for Education, J C A Pizzey.[42] The flagpole proposed for the site in 1954 was on-site, located to the south of Block B, for the official opening day.[43] In conjunction with the opening, student displays and demonstrations, an art exhibition and a fete were held, while the event closed with a passing out parade of the School Cadet Corps.[44]

Growth of the school population continued and more buildings were added to the site. A fifth Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (Block E), shown on the original school plan as an intermediate school building situated to the east of Block B, was constructed in 1957-8. This was a Hawksley ‘type F amended’ building, highset on a face brick lower level with a concrete plinth. Unlike Block B, the upper level incorporated open-web metal trusses that reduced the requirement for supporting elements. It had a gable roof and was sheeted externally on the upper level with ribbed aluminium panels. The northern side had a verandah on both levels that had tubular steel balustrade, handrails and supports, and enclosed hat (western ends) rooms. The upper level contained three classrooms and a physics laboratory (east); with an enclosed student recreation area and toilets (east) below. The classrooms were 24ft (7.3m) wide. A pathway with concrete paving and retaining walls was constructed along the southern side of Block E, connecting with those that existed along the southern side of Block B; and a ground floor covered link, connecting Block E with existing covered links to the south, was built at the same time.[45] Alterations to Block B were also made – with balustrades at the upper verandah ends replaced by bag racks.[46]

Further additions to the school were made in the early 1960s. Plans were drawn for the addition of Block F in 1960. This two-storey building with undercroft was supported by open-web steel trusses. Ribbed zinc anneal roof sheeting and wall cladding was used. The timber-framed building had brick ends that were designed to match the existing school buildings. Western verandahs were used at both levels and awning windows on all elevations.[47] Block F was completed by May 1961. It was aligned roughly north-south and linked to the eastern end of Block E by an elevated covered link with open-web steel trusses, similar in design to a link that was also constructed between the first floor verandahs of Block B and E.[48]

With the addition of Block F, a parade ground was formed to the southeast of Block E, providing a formal assembly space for the growing school.[49] Other ground improvements at Southport SHS in the 1960s included tennis courts, at the northern end of the grounds by October 1960; and a school oval with perimeter plantings to the east of the school buildings by June 1964, to the immediate south of land that had been resumed in July 1961.[50] Further resumptions (1974) and closure of Worendo Street (1975) brought the school grounds to a total of 13.44ha (33.2ac).[51]

Although more high schools were built on the Gold Coast as its permanent population continued to increase – Miami SHS (1963), Palm Beach-Currumbin SHS (1972), Keebra Park SHS (1973) and Merrimac SHS (1979) – Southport SHS continued to expand to meet secondary education needs in the region. By 1980, 14 teaching buildings plus an assembly hall and sporting facilities (tennis and basketball courts, sports oval) populated the site, radiating in an organic manner to the northeast and northwest from the original buildings.[52] A principals residence, onsite by 10 June 1964, stood in the northwest corner of the grounds.[53]

Some changes to the surviving 1950s buildings have been made. Alterations to Block E were made in 1988-9 reconfiguring the upper level layout to three classrooms and converting the then science laboratories to general classrooms, and refurbishing the ground floor drama room (former student recreation area).[54] In 2001 the lower level of Block E was reconfigured for a multi-media room.[55] The brick walls and concrete plinths of the lower levels of Block E have been painted.

By 2000, the school incorporated 16 teaching buildings, an assembly hall and sporting facilities including a swimming pool. The principals residence was still onsite in the northwest corner of the site on Brooke Avenue.[56] A new GLA (Cultivate) Building was added to the site in 2018.[57]

Removal of buildings and features from the site took place in this century. By 2009 the principals residence had been removed and in 2011 Blocks A, C and D were demolished; however, their associated 1950s covered links remained.[58] Circa 2018, all of the covered links connecting the original buildings were demolished for construction of the Cultivate Building, except those between Blocks B and E, and between Blocks E and F.[59] In October 2019, Block B was severely damaged by fire and subsequently demolished, along with the covered link connecting it with Block E.[60] In 2020, a three-storey GLA building (Generate) was constructed on the site of Block B.[61]

Of the few reasonably-intact Hawksley Prefabricated School Buildings identified in the Queensland Schools Heritage Conservation Study, 1996, only the one at Southport SHS and five at Mt Isa SHS (1953) are extant in 2024.[62] Along with another Hawksley ‘type K plus six bays’ at Maryborough Central State School [QHR 601264], they are rare known surviving examples of the 27 original Hawksley Prefabricated School Buildings imported by the DPW. Block E is the only known example of type F in Queensland.

The importance of the school within the community has been acknowledged during anniversary celebrations. In 1991 Southport State High School celebrated its 75th anniversary with the production of a commemorative booklet entitled Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, 1916-1991.[63] Centenary celebrations were held in June 2016.[64]

In 2024 Southport State High School continues to operate from its Smith Street site. Its school population is approximately 2068 students.[65] The campus incorporates more than 20 buildings, plus sporting facilities. The school is important to the Gold Coast as a focus for the community and several generations of students have been taught there.

Description

Southport State High School occupies a 13.44ha, gently sloping site within a predominantly residential area of Southport. The main entrance addresses the major thoroughfare of Smith Street (south), and the school is bounded by Brooke Avenue (west), Lionel Avenue (north), and Loders Creek (north and east). The heritage boundary covers only the significant buildings and landscape features concentrated in the elevated southwest corner of the school, and the large sports oval to their east.

The school retains a two-storey 1950s Hawksley Prefabricated School Building, aligned approximately east-west (Block E, Elevate, 1957-8). A two-storey Brick and Timber Building with Open-web Truss System, above an undercroft (Block F, 1961), aligned approximately north-south and connected to the eastern end of Block E by an elevated covered link (1961), contributes to the overall significance of the site planning by enclosing the eastern side of the former parade ground.

Features of Southport State High School of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• Block E – Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (1957-8);
• Block F – Brick and Timber Building with Open-web Truss System (1961);
• Covered Link connecting Blocks E and F (1961);
• Landscape features, including:
  • former parade ground;
  • retaining walls; and
  • sports oval.

Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (Block E, Elevate, 1957-8)

Block E is a long, two-storey building with a gable roof and north-facing verandahs on both levels. The lower level is brick, set on a concrete plinth, and the prefabricated Hawksley ‘type F amended’ upper level incorporates open-web metal trusses that reduce the requirement for supporting elements. The Hawksley portion is aluminium-framed and clad in painted ribbed aluminium sheeting, including the eaves and first floor verandah ceilings. The upper gable-ends are flat-sheeted and have square louvred vents.

Timber and steel stairs on cantilevered concrete supports, with tubular steel rail balustrades, lead from both ends of the ground floor to the first floor verandahs. The ends of the first floor balustrades have timber-framed bag racks that are clad externally in ribbed metal (by 1959), and concrete-block bag racks have been added on the ground floor. The ground floor verandahs have paved concrete floors and flat-sheeted ceilings, with cover strips.

Large areas of aluminium-framed awning windows line the first floor northern and southern walls; the northern with fixed lower sashes and tubular steel rails fixed at sill height along the verandah. Ground floor windows comprise predominantly timber-framed awning windows on the southern side and double-hung sashes, with louvred glass fanlights, on the northern side. Windows generally have original hardware. Original part-glazed classroom doors survive along the first floor verandah.

The ground floor contains the former student recreation area and locker rooms (now two large classrooms) and toilets at the eastern end. The interior masonry walls are rendered and the ceilings are flat-sheeted, above the exposed open-web metal trusses. Enclosures on the verandah contain toilets at the eastern end and a former hat room (now a modern kitchenette) at the western end. A doorway accessing the western end of the southern side of the building, indicates the location of a former covered way (demolished 2018).

The first floor retains evidence of its original layout of three classrooms and a physics laboratory (now two classrooms and a dance studio, converted c1989). The interior walls and ceilings are lined with flat aluminium sheets, with metal cover strips. One original classroom at the western end retains its angled blackboard mount, with cupboards below, and a partition with interconnecting part-glazed double-doors (now sealed and boarded). Enclosures on the verandah have been altered to connect with covered links to Block B (rebuilt 2020) via a former hatroom at the western end and to Block F (1961) via a former storeroom at the eastern end.

Features of the Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (Block E) of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• location within school grounds and orientation, illustrating 1950s master planning in combination with Block F to the east, being connected by a covered link and defining the northern extent of the former parade ground;
• long, narrow, highset building form, comprising a prefabricated Hawksley ‘Type F amended’ on a brick substructure with a concrete plinth;
• gable roof clad in corrugated metal;
• flat-sheeted gable ends, with square metal louvre vents;
• prefabricated Hawksley ‘Type F amended’ first floor, including: modular design and construction; aluminium frame clad in ribbed aluminium sheeting; verandahs for circulation; 24ft (7.3m) wide classrooms; extensive banks of aluminium-framed awning windows to maximise natural light; and open-web metal truss supports;
• brick substructure, including: evidence of coursed brickwork (originally face brick); angled window sills; stop-chamfered masonry corners in areas of heavy pedestrian traffic; and rendered finish to piers and below sills along northern verandah wall;
• concrete plinth, including: rendered finish with bevelled capping at junction with brick substructure; concrete steps accessing ground floor verandah and southern entrance; and vertical slit vents and subfloor access opening with metal gate on northern side;
• external stairs accessing verandahs, including: symmetrical layout; timber landings on cantilevered concrete supports and distinctive looped tubular steel struts; and tubular steel balustrades, rails and supports;
• verandah to ground floor, including: steel posts; flat-sheet ceiling linings, with cover strips; paved concrete floor;
• verandah to first floor, including: steel posts; ceiling clad in ribbed aluminium sheeting; tubular metal balustrades and rails (c1957) fixed below windows along verandah wall; timber-framed bag racks clad externally in ribbed aluminium sheeting (by 1959); hardwood deck floor; and end enclosures;
• original window and door openings;
• original aluminium-framed awning windows to first floor;
• original timber-framed awning and double-hung sash windows with louvred fanlights to ground floor;
• original timber doors with square glazed panels;
• original metal window and door hardware;
• original flat-sheet wall and ceiling linings, with cover strips;
• original layout and partitions between classrooms;
• original shelves, and cupboards / blackboard units (excluding replaced boards); and
• original open concrete stormwater drain around southern perimeter.

Features of the Hawksley Prefabricated School Building (Block E) not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• non-original gutters and barge capping;
• non-original paint finish to exterior brick walls (originally face brick);
• non-original carpet or linoleum floor linings;
• non-original cupboards and kitchenettes;
• non-original partitions, infills, doors and windows, including:
  • modern cladding infill at the eastern end of the first floor (following removal of windows c1989);
  • modern replacement awning windows to the southern side of the first floor;
  • modern replacement flush-finish doors to the ground floor; and
  • modern replacement fixed-glass windows with air grilles (originally louvres) to lavatory areas at the eastern end of the ground floor;
• non-original concrete-block bag racks on the ground floor verandah;
• metal security screens to windows; and
• air-conditioning units, including associated pipes, conduit and cables.

Brick and Timber Building with Open-web Truss System (Block F, 1961)

Block F is a long, two-storey brick and timber-framed building, above an undercroft, with the upper level incorporating open-web metal trusses, which are set on rectangular concrete columns and cantilevered to support a west-facing verandah. The northern and southern ends have full-height brick walls enclosing concrete stairwells. The ground floor is face brick on its eastern side and rendered on its western side; and the first floor is clad in ribbed metal sheeting, with large banks of timber-framed awning windows, with modern sliding fanlights, on its eastern side. The undercroft has rectangular concrete piers and is open to the east.

The first floor verandah has a timber floor, square timber posts and bag racks that form a balustrade; the walls and raked ceiling are flat-sheeted, with cover strips, and the fixed timber-framed verandah windows have modern sliding fanlights. A central section of the first floor verandah has been enclosed with modern metal-framed sliding windows. The ground floor verandah has a concrete slab floor and ribbed aluminium sheet-lined ceiling.

The first floor contains five classrooms and a staff room; the central two classrooms have been extended with the removal of the former verandah wall. The classroom walls and ceilings are flat-sheeted, with rounded cover strips. The ground floor comprises toilets adjacent to the northern and southern stairs, separated from central offices by passageways that connect the ground floor verandah with stairs on the eastern side that access the undercroft. The open undercroft contains a tuckshop.

Features of the Brick and Timber Building with Open-web Truss System (Block F) of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• location within school grounds and orientation, illustrating 1950s master planning in combination with Block E to the northwest, being connected by a covered link and defining the eastern extent of the former parade ground;
• gable roof clad in corrugated metal;
• long, narrow, highset building form, comprising two-storey brick and timber-framed building, above an undercroft, with the upper level incorporating open-web metal trusses; and
• cantilevered west-facing verandah edge formed by open web truss, facilitating the continuation of open, yet sheltered, space along the eastern side of the former parade ground.

Features of the Brick and Timber Building with Open-web Truss System (Block F) not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• non-original paint finish to exterior brick walls (originally face brick)
• non-original carpet or linoleum floor linings;
• non-original cupboards and kitchenettes;
• non-original partitions, infills, doors and windows;
• metal security screens to windows; and
• air-conditioning units, including associated pipes, conduit and cables.

Covered Link (1961)

An elevated covered link connects the first floor verandahs of Blocks E and F, comprising an exposed open-web floor truss system, timber framing and flooring, and tubular steel rail balustrades. The ceiling is flat-sheeted, with cover strips.

Landscape Features

The school grounds are well established, with school buildings at the western end, and a generously sized sports oval (pre-1964) to the east that has perimeter embankments and shade trees including various eucalypt species (spp. Eucalyptus).

Concrete pathways, at the base of concrete retaining walls with tubular steel rails, run along the southern sides of Block E and at the site of former Block B. Concrete steps punctuate the retaining walls, illustrating the location of the former ground floor covered ways (demolished 2018).

A sealed parade ground bounded by Block E, Block F to the east, and modern buildings to the south and west, retains its open character for assembly, and contains a flagpole (replaced c1997) and several modern memorial plaques.

Landscape features of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• concrete retaining wall along southern sides of Block E and former Block B, including: unpainted off-form concrete wall; tubular steel rails; and concrete steps;
• sports oval, including: open space facilitating student sport and recreation; and levelled grassed area with perimeter earth embankments and mature shade trees; and
• parade ground, including: open character of space; provision of flag pole for assembly; collection of memorial and commemorative plaques; and mature shade trees along eastern side.

Landscape features not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• recent landscaping and ground surface finishes;
• artificial turf;
• non-original flagpole (c1997); and
• recent memorial gardens and plaques.

Features not of state-level Cultural Heritage Significance

Features of Southport State High School not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• other buildings, structures, fences, shade sails / structures, podiums, and sheds not previously mentioned;
• footpaths, garden beds and landscaping not previously mentioned;
• bitumen ground surface finishes;
• recent sandstone blocks, stone garden bed edging and garden beds;
• non-original signs; and
• electricity poles and associated wires, and fire hydrants.

References

[1] Danggan Balun Aboriginal Corporation is a legal entity that represents the Yugambeh People / language group (synonyms for the Yugambeh language include Yugumbir, Jugambel, Jugambeir, Jugumbir, Jukam and Jukamba). The clan of this group living in the Southport area of the Gold Coast are known as the Kombumerri (alternatively: Gumbumeri, Dalgalburri) Peoples, whose traditional boundaries span from the southern side of the Coomera river, down to the northern side of the Tweed River and westward to around the eastern foothills of the extended Hinterland. (State Library of Queensland, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, <https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/first-nations-cultures/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-languages>, accessed Nov 2024; ‘From the mountains to the sea, Traditional Owners of the Logan, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, and Tweed areas’, Danggan Balun (Five Rivers People), , accessed 10 Sep 2024; ‘Yugambeh speaking people and country’, Yugambeh Museum: Language & Heritage Research Centre, , accessed 21 Jan 2025; ‘Cultural geographical boundaries’, Kombumerri Together Project, <https://kombumerritogetherproject.com/about/cultural-geographical-boundaries/>, accessed 10 Sep 2024; National Native Titles Tribunal, Registered application: QC Number QC2017/007, QUD Number QUD331/2017, <http://www.nntt.gov.au/searchRegApps/NativeTitleClaims/Pages/details.aspx?NTDA_Fileno=QC2017/007>, accessed 29 Feb 2024; Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Cultural Heritage Database and Register, <https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home>, accessed 29 Feb 2024.)
[2] Robert Longhurst, Southport: Images of Yesteryear, The Gold Coast City Council, Gold Coast, 1994, pp.8-11; Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Census Data cited by Queensland Places. ‘Southport’. <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016; Malcolm M Rea, An Australian Post Office History: Southport. Australian Post Office Public Relations Section, Brisbane, 1968, p.3; QHR610649 Southport Town Hall; Opening and closing dates of Queensland schools, <http://education.qld.gov.au/library/edhistory/celebrations/dates/c.html>, accessed 8 Aug 2016.
[3] Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Survey Part II Summary Report for Education Queensland, Project Services, Jan 2008, Section 1, n.p.
[4] QHR610649 Southport Town Hall; Project Services, Summary Report School Site No 21454, p.4; Michael Jones, Country of Five Rivers: Albert Shire 1788-1988. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1988, p.169; ABS, Census Data cited by Queensland Places, ‘Southport’, <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016; Jones, Country of Five Rivers, pp.169-70.
[5] Thom Blake, ‘Educating Queenslanders’ in Queensland Historical Thematic Framework, 2007 (rev.2013 by EHP), pp.9-11; Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp.32-5.
[6] John Elliott, Southport-Surfers Paradise: An illustrated history to commemorate the Centenary of the Southport SS, Southport SS, Southport, 1980, p.112.
[7] Elliott, Southport-Surfers Paradise, p.112.
[8] Queensland Places. ‘Southport’. <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016.
[9] Jones, Country of Five Rivers, p.170; Longhurst, Southport, p.54.
[10] Southport Publicity Committee, Southport Q, Southport Publicity Committee, Southport, 1936, n.p.
[11] Queensland Places. ‘Southport’. <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016.
[12] Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p.4; Queensland Places. ‘Southport’. <http://queenslandplaces.com.au/southport>, accessed 9 Aug 2016.
[13] Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, pp.28-31.
[14] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.70.
[15] ‘Southport SHS’, South Coast Bulletin, 23 Sep 1953, p.1: letter from G H Devries, Minister for Public Instruction to Mr E J Gaven, M L A, Member for Southport, 11 Sep 1953, Queensland State Archives [QSA], Item ID 13541 Schools files, Southport SHS, 1951-7.
[16] ‘Southport SHS’, South Coast Bulletin, 22 Sep 1954; South Coast Bulletin, 1 Sep 1954 cited by Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, p.28; Department of Public Works (DPW), Annual Report of the Department of Public Works, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1955, p.21.
[17] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.75.
[18] Department of Public Instruction, Annual Report of the Department of Public Instruction 1944, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1944, Appendix A.
[19] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.73-4.
[20] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.73-4.
[21] DPW Plan A87/14/3A, Southport High School Proposed New Buildings, Blocks A, B, C, 3 Oct 1954.
[22] Southport State High School Report, dated 17 October 1957, QSA Item 13541, School Files, Southport State High School, 1951-7, p.1; Letter from HG Devries, DG of Education to multiple recipients, 15 Aug 1955, QSA, Item 13541, Schools Files, Southport SHS, 1951-7.
[23] ‘High School on the Way’, South Coast Bulletin, 3 Nov 1954, p.7.
[24] Aerial 31 July 1955, DNRM, QAP545-117; South Coast Bulletin, 31 Aug 1955 cited by Southport SHS, Southport SHS 75th Anniversary, p.28.
[25] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.69.
[26] ‘Prefabricated Buildings for Australia’, The Architects’ Journal, 10 April 1952, p.448.
[27] DPW, Annual Report of the Department of Public Works, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, June 1951, p.7 and June 1952, p.5. Hawksley buildings were erected at Mt Isa, Gladstone, Cavendish Road and Southport State High Schools; Ironside, Maryborough Central and Ithaca Creek State Schools; and Junction Park Infants State School [various DPW drawings and DPW reports from June 1953 to June 1958] - many of which have since been demolished.
[28] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.74.
[29] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.115.
[30] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, p.69.
[31] Various DPW drawings for: Mt Isa, Gladstone, Cavendish Road and Southport State High Schools; Ironside, Maryborough Central and Ithaca Creek State Schools; and Junction Park Infants State School.
[32] ‘Prefabricated Buildings for Australia’, The Architects’ Journal, 10 April 1952, p.448.
[33] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study: Conservation Management, pp.44.
[34] Southport State High School Report, dated 17 October 1957, QSA Item 13541, School Files, Southport State High School, 1951-7, p.2.
[35] Plan of Southport SHS, DPW drawing no. A87/14/3A dated 1954; Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p.6. This building was demolished in 2011.
[36] Plan of Southport SHS, DPW drawing no. A87/14/3A dated 1954; Southport High School, Proposed New Buildings, DPW drawing no. A87/14/2A dated 1954; Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p.6.
[37] Plan of Southport SHS, DPW drawing no. A87/14/3A dated 1954; Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p.6. This building was demolished in 2011.
[38] Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p.12.
[39] Southport High School, Proposed New Buildings, DPW drawing no. A87/14/2A dated 1954.
[40] South Coast Bulletin, 7 Dec 1955, n.p. cited by Southport SHS, Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, p.31.
[41] Plan of Southport SHS, DPW drawing no. A87/14/3A dated 1954. This building was demolished in 2011.
[42] The Magazine, 1958 cited by Southport SHS, Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, p.31; Paul D. Williams, 'Pizzey, Jack Charles (1911–1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 2002, <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pizzey-jack-charles-11433/text20375>, accessed 15 Aug 2016.
[43] Photograph: Official opening of Southport SHS, 1957, Don Fraser photographer, City of Gold Coast Local Studies collection, LS-LSP-CD980-IMO008. It has since been relocated to the west of Block F.
[44] ‘Official Opening of the School by the Honourable J.C.A. Pizzey, B.A. Dip.Ed, M L A’, Southport SHS, Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, p.31 citing The Magazine, 1958.
[45] Plan of Southport SHS, DPW drawing no. A87/14/3A dated 1954; Plans and elevations of Block E. DPW Drawing A87/134/2 dated 28 Oct 1957; DPW Plan 1957, Block E, A.87/134/1, dated 28 Oct 1957; Department of Public Works Departmental Works Order, dated 5 Sep 1957, QSA Item 13541, School Files, Southport State High School, 1951-7.
[46] DPW, Plan A.87.134/31957, Block B alterations.
[47] DPW, Plan A.87/195/2, Block F, foundation plan, 1960; A.87.195/3, Block F, 1960; A.87.195/4, Block F elevation, 1960; A.87.195/6 Block F details, 1960; A.87.195/9 Block F section, 1960.
[48] Aerial 6 June 1964, DNRM, QAP1585-2197.
[49] ‘Induction of prefects at the Southport State High School, Southport, Queensland, March 1964’, photograph by Bob Avery, City of Gold Coast Local Studies Collection LS-LSP-CD594-IMG0005, in Andrew Watson, Watson Architects Pty Ltd, Southport SHS CMP, p.18.
[50] Aerial 1 Oct 1960, DNRM, QAP1069-22; Aerial 6 Jun 1964, DNRM, QAP1585-2197; Survey Plan Wd.2361, Jul 1961, DNRM.
[51] Survey Plan S182.8, 1 Nov 1881, amended noting lots taken for school purposes as from 9 February 1974, DNRM; Survey Plan Wd.2694, 8 Jan 1963, DNRM; Survey Plan Wd.3177, December 1966, amended 1975 noting road closure GG75.1.S47 LAB.369, DNRM.
[52] Aerial, 9 Jul 1980, QAP3089-160, DNRM.
[53] Aerial, 10 Jun 1964 QAP1585-2197, DNRM. Plans were drawn for the residence in 1962. See: Queensland State Archives, ‘Southport State High School, Specifications 1/1/1962-31/12/1962’, Item ID 1015363.
[54] DPW Plan 21454.2.6-1, Block E alterations, 1988; Plan 21454.R-684A, Block E alterations, 1989; Plan 21454.2.22-1 Block E alterations, 1989; DPW, Plan 29500/STG2/CD/A11, Block E alterations, 9 Nov 2001.
[55] Project Services, Summary report - School Site No 21454, p.10.
[56] Aerial, 2 Aug 2000, QAP5740-59, DNRM.
[57] Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI), Living Heritage Information System (LHIS), QHR 650034 Southport SHS, Application #CHCH06800913, 2018.
[58] Aerial, 10 June 1964, QAP1585-2197, DNRM; Andrew Watson, Watson Architects Pty Ltd, Southport SHS CMP, p.22.
[59] LHIS EC application CHCH06800913.
[60] Channel 9 news report, 4 Oct 2019, <https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2660173180670122>, accessed 26 Feb 2024.
[61] DESI, LHIS, QHR 650034 Southport SHS, Application #202005-10325 EC, 25 May 2020.
[62] Project Services, Summary report - project No 47170, p .29.
[63] Southport SHS, Southport State High School: celebrating 75 years, 1916-1991, Southport State High School, Southport, 1991.
[64] 100 Years Centenary Celebration 1916-2016, Open day and Centenary Ball held on 17 and 18 June 2016 respectively. Southport State High School Alumni Facebook page: <https://www.facebook.com/Southport-State-High-School-100th-Year-Celebrations-123105751067274/>, accessed 15 Aug 2016.
[65] Maximum enrolment capacity is 2004 as of 22 Sep 2023. (Queensland Department of Education, Southport State High School, ‘School Enrolment Management Plan’, <https://education.qld.gov.au/parents-and-carers/enrolment/management-plans/southport-state-high-school#:~:text=Student%20enrolment%20capacity&text=Currently%20Southport%20State%20High%20School,the%20Sports%20Program%20of%20Excellence>, accessed 26 Feb 2024; Queensland Department of Education, ‘Southport State High School Enrolment Details’, <https://schoolsdirectory.eq.edu.au/Details/2037#enrolment>, accessed 29 Feb 2024.

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