Morningside State School

General

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

24 April 2018

Types

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

Monuments and Memorials: Memorial/Monument - war

Theme

9.1 Educating Queenslanders: Providing primary schooling

Designer

Department of Public Works

Construction periods

1927–1954, Block D

1927–1958, Block B

1937, Block A

1956–1957, Block F

1956, Block E

Historical period

1919–1930s Interwar period

1940s–1960s Post-WWII

Location

Address

67 Pashen Street, Morningside

LGA

Brisbane City Council

Coordinates

-27.46443576, 153.0659089

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Significance

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

Morningside State School (established in 1926) is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. The place retains excellent, representative examples of standard government designs that were architectural responses to prevailing government educational philosophies, set in landscaped grounds with assembly and play areas, sporting facilities and mature trees.

The Depression-era Brick Infants School Building (1937) and concrete retaining wall to Pashen Street (1939) are a result of the Queensland Government’s building and relief work programs during the 1930s that stimulated the economy and provided work for men unemployed as a result of the Great Depression.

The Sectional School Buildings (1927) are important in demonstrating the evolution of Department of Public Works (DPW) timber school designs to provide adequate lighting and ventilation; equally recognising educational and climatic needs.

The Highset Timber School Buildings (1956-57) are important in representing the continued evolution of DPW timber building designs during the 1950s.

The World War II (WWII) memorial commemorating the Rats of Tobruk is important in demonstrating the school community’s involvement in WWII. War memorials are a tribute from the community to those who served, and those who died. They are an important element of Queensland’s towns and cities and are also important in demonstrating a common pattern of commemoration across Queensland and Australia.

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

Morningside State School is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a Queensland state school of the early to mid-20th century, comprising teaching buildings constructed to standard designs by the Queensland Government; set in landscaped grounds with assembly and play areas, sporting facilities and mature trees.

The Depression-era Brick Infants School Building is an excellent, substantial, and intact example of its type, demonstrating the principal characteristics, which include: a handsome edifice standing at the front of the school; symmetrical two-storey form of classrooms and teachers rooms above an understorey of open play space; a linear layout of the main floor with rooms accessed by a corridor; loadbearing masonry construction; prominent projecting central entrance bay; and a high-quality design that provides superior educational environments focusing on abundant natural light and ventilation. It demonstrates the use of stylistic features of its era, which determined its roof form, joinery, and decorative treatment.

The Sectional School Buildings are good, intact examples of their type. Principal characteristics include: their timber-framed construction; highset form with play space underneath; Dutch-gable and gable roofs; blank end walls; connected northern verandahs with single skin verandah walls and double-hung windows; large banks of south-facing casement windows (replaced in Block D); hat rack enclosures; timber joinery; and coved ceilings, with metal tie rods and square lattice ceiling ventilation panels. The original classroom sizes are still readable, due to the surviving nibs and bulkheads.

The Highset Timber School Buildings are good, intact examples of their type and retain: their timber-framed construction; gable roofs; highset form with concrete piers and play space underneath; verandahs for circulation; glazed screens at verandah ends; double-hung windows to the verandahs; and large banks of timber-framed awning windows to the rear elevation (east, Block E; and south, Block F).

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Through its substantial size, materials, symmetry, elegant composition, restrained use of decoration, and fine craftsmanship, the Depression-era Brick Infants School Building has aesthetic significance due to its expressive attributes, by which the Department of Public Works sought to convey the concepts of progress and permanence.

The building is also significant for its streetscape contribution, and is an attractive and prominent feature of the area.

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.

Morningside State School has a strong and ongoing association with the Morningside community. It was established in 1926 through the fundraising efforts of the local community and generations of Morningside children have been taught there. The place is important for its contribution to the educational development of Morningside and is a prominent community focal point.

History

Morningside State School opened in 1926, on its current site at 67 Pashen Street, Morningside, about 3.8km northeast of the Brisbane CBD. The school is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains: two connected Sectional School Buildings (Blocks D and B, 1927, extended c1954 and 1958 respectively); a Depression-era Brick Infants School Building (Block A, 1937); plus two connected Highset Timber School Buildings (Block E, 1956; and Block F, 1956, extended 1957), set in landscaped grounds, with a poured-concrete retaining wall (1939) to Pashen Street, tennis courts (1939) and a WWII memorial to the Rats of Tobruk. The school has a strong and ongoing association with the Morningside community.

Traditional country of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, the suburb of Morningside was once within the area of the Bulimba Divisional Board, and later the Balmoral Shire Council, before being absorbed into Greater Brisbane in 1925. Farming, dairying and related industry initially occurred in the district.[1] The later school site was part of a farm surveyed in 1857 and subdivided into residential allotments in 1863.[2] Residential development in Morningside was facilitated by two transport improvements in particular: the opening of the South Brisbane to Cleveland railway line in 1889; and the extension of the electric tram line (from just east of Norman Creek) to Barton Road, Hawthorne, by May 1925.[3]

Local population growth (from 495 in 1911, to 1806 in 1921), prior to the tram line extension, led to pressure for a school at Morningside in the early 1920s. The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of new communities and integral to their success. Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers.[4]

In July 1922 a committee visited the Minister for Education, John Saunders Huxham, to ask for an infants school, given that children were walking long distances to existing schools at Cannon Hill (est.1915), Norman Park (1900) and Bulimba (1866). A shortage of government funds meant that the Morningside masonic hall (actually a converted residence) on Agnes Street had to be rented as an interim measure, and the Morningside Provisional (Infants) School No.1803 opened there on 28 May 1923.[5]

By this time, a site for a state school for Morningside on Pashen Street had been chosen, and the community continued to push for the construction of a school.[6] The nine allotments which made up the original school grounds (consisting of 2 acres/0.8ha) between Pashen Street and Stephen Street, west of Howard Street, were obtained by the Secretary for Public Instruction in December 1924.[7] 

In July 1925, the Department of Public Works was asked to prepare a plan and estimate costs for a school building (Block C in 2018) to accommodate 200 pupils.[8] The new building was a Sectional School type. Attention to improving light and ventilation to achieve an optimum classroom culminated in 1920 with the Sectional School type, which proved very successful and was used unaltered until 1950. The Sectional School type had only one verandah, typically on the north side, allowing the southern wall, with a maximum number of windows for natural light, to be unobstructed. The building was designed so that the blank western wall was removable. As the school grew, the western end wall could be detached and the building extended in sections (although no western extensions occurred to Morningside State School’s Sectional School Buildings). This led to the construction of long narrow buildings of many classrooms – a distinctive feature of Queensland schools.[9]

The construction of the new school was announced in October 1925, and its cost by the end of June 1926 was £3163. The infants school vacated the masonic hall shortly before the Morningside State School opened on 16 August 1926.[10]

There was immediately a need for additional accommodation at Morningside State School, which, although designed for 200 pupils, opened with an attendance of 350; rising to 475 by October 1926.[11] As an interim measure, 200 students were taught at the Morningside School of Arts hall in 1927.[12] Two new wings at Morningside State School, also Sectional School Buildings, were built by December 1927, east of Block C, at a cost of £4600: Block B (north wing) and Block D (south wing). They were officially opened on Saturday 25 February 1928. By this time, the school enrolment was 600, with the school’s three buildings only designed for 440.[13]

The three teaching buildings were of similar construction: each was a highset timber-framed and -clad building with a Dutch-gable roof, and 8ft (2.4m) verandahs to the north, west and east sides. Block C also had two gabled teachers rooms, each 15ft by 12ft (4.6m x 3.7m), off its north verandah. All three buildings were higher set at their west ends, due to the slope of the ground. Classrooms (five in Block C, and three in each of Blocks B and D) were all 21ft by 18ft (6.4m x 5.5m), and were designed for 40 children, with double doors linking the classrooms. Each classroom had casement windows on the south side, blackboards to the west, double-hung windows and a double door to the front verandah, and a square vent in their coved ceilings. Block C originally had hatrooms in its northern verandah corners; whereas Block B had hatrooms in each verandah corner apart from the southwest, where the west verandah was linked to the north verandah of Block C. Block D had hatrooms at the southern ends of its east and west verandahs, and plans showed it was originally set at a higher elevation than the other two blocks, with steps from its north verandah leading down to the east verandah of Block C.[14]

Efforts to improve the school’s facilities continued. Three 35-perch (885m2) allotments on Pashen Street (in 2018 the site of the swimming pool and tennis courts) were purchased in 1928-9.[15] In late 1929, a fete was held to raise funds to beautify the grounds with shade trees, and plans were drawn up for another Sectional School Building, this time of two storeys, to the west of Block C. The tender of W Alford was accepted in May 1930, for £1111.[16]

The Department of Public Works noted: ‘Owing to the rapid growth of the Morningside district [Morningside’s population rose from 1806 in 1921, to 4919 by 1947] it became necessary to make a second addition to this school, and on account of the fall in the ground a two storied [sic] building was found to be more suitable and economical. The addition will comprise two classrooms on each floor, in size 21ft by 18ft [6.4m x 5.5m], erected on concrete piers joined to the existing building [Block C] and having verandahs 8ft [2.4m] wide on the north, east and west sides. Accommodation for 160 more pupils will be provided’.[17] The new building (Block L in 2018) was opened on 25 October 1930, at the annual school fund-raising fete, by the then Minister for Public Instruction, Reginald M King.[18]

In the early 1930s, land was added to the east side of the school, when an unformed section of Howard Street, plus two allotments which were the site of a council quarry (the latter consisting of about 75.25 perches/0.2ha) were obtained by the Secretary for Public Instruction.[19]

This new land became the site of the next addition to the Morningside State School, a Depression-era Brick Infants School Building (Block A). Infants schools were constructed in Queensland from 1891. In the 1930s, infants schools were sometimes built using brick, as smaller varieties within the Depression-era brick schools type, which were commonly larger and not for infants. Brick infants schools were built at Windsor [QHR 600991], Yeronga [QHR 650025], and Morningside.[20]

The Great Depression, commencing in 1929 and extending well into the 1930s, caused a dramatic reduction of public building work in Queensland and brought private building work to a standstill. In response, the Queensland Government provided relief work for unemployed Queenslanders and embarked on an ambitious and important building program to provide impetus to the economy.

Even before the October 1929 stock market crash, the Queensland Government initiated an Unemployment Relief Scheme, through a work program administered by the Department of Public Works (DPW). This included painting and repairs to school buildings.[21] By mid-1930, men were undertaking grounds improvement works to schools under the scheme.[22] Extensive funding was given for improvements to school grounds, including fencing and levelling ground for play areas, involving terracing and retaining walls. At Morningside State School, relief workers built two grassed basketball courts (later the site of the swimming pool), and some of the school’s retaining walls.[23]

In June 1932, the Forgan Smith Labor Government came to power from a campaign that advocated increased government spending to counter the effects of the Depression. The government embarked on a large public building program designed to promote the employment of local skilled workers, and the purchase of local building materials.[24] The construction of substantial Brick School Buildings[25] 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. 

Depression-era Brick School Buildings form a recognisable and important type. Most were designed in a classical idiom to project the sense of stability and optimism which the government sought to convey. Frequently, they were two storeys above an open understorey and built to accommodate up to 1000 students. They adopted a symmetrical plan form and often exhibited a prominent central entry. Classrooms were commonly divided by folding timber partitions and the understorey was used as covered play space, storage, ablutions and other functions. [26]

Despite their similarities, each Depression-era Brick School building was individually designed by a DPW architect, which resulted in a wide range of styles and ornamental features being utilised within the overall set.[27]

Block A at Morningside State School was red face brick, and had a tiled Dutch-gable roof. The understorey had lavatories, a store room, and an open play area. The first floor accommodated: two teachers rooms, both 21ft by 12ft (6.4m x 3.7m); two 50-pupil classrooms, both 22ft by 21ft (6.7m x 6.4m); and three 40-pupil classrooms, divided by folding partitions (two were 21ft by 18ft (6.4m x 5.5m), and one was 24ft 6 inches by 18ft (7.5m x 5.5m)). On either end were enclosed 10ft (3m) wide verandahs with hatrooms.[28]

Block A, which cost £7500, was opened by the Minister for Public Instruction Frank A Cooper on 9 October 1937.[29] In 1939, a small dry stone wall on the Pashen Street boundary, in front of Block A, was replaced by a poured-concrete wall.[30] Retaining walls with steps were at some point added south of the 1939 Pashen Street wall, forming two level, terraced platforms in the upper part of the school: the eastern wall and steps (in front of Block B) existed by at least 1959; and the western wall and steps (in front of Block C) by 1960.[31]

In July 1939, tennis courts (extant in 2018) were officially opened by the Minister for Public Education and Works, Henry A Bruce.[32] This event was soon followed by the outbreak of World War II on 3 September 1939, which had its own impact on the school grounds. After the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941, the Queensland Government closed all coastal state schools in January 1942, and although most schools reopened on 2 March 1942, student attendance was optional until the war ended.[33] Slit trenches, for protecting the students from Japanese air raids, were also dug at Queensland state schools, often by parents and staff.[34]

In March 1942, a call went out for helpers to come to Morningside State School to double the existing 280ft (85m) of slit trenches (located south of Block L) at the school. During the war, female students also sewed and knitted items for the Australian Comforts Fund, and the Junior Red Cross Circle took gifts to a military hospital. In addition, the understorey of Block A was fitted out as an emergency hospital for air raid casualties. In 1944 an Oslo Lunch room, based on the Norwegian nutritious lunch movement, was established under Block A and was upgraded in 1947.[35]

After the war, more accommodation was required at the school, as the population of Morningside rose (from 4919 in 1947, to 8271 in 1954). In 1949 enrolment at the school was 840.[36] The Department of Public Instruction was largely unprepared for the enormous demand for state education between the late 1940s and the 1960s. This was a nation-wide occurrence resulting from immigration and unprecedented population growth. Queensland schools were overcrowded and, to cope, many new buildings were constructed and existing buildings were extended.[37] Two three-classroom temporary buildings were added to Morningside State School between 1949 and 1951.[38] A classroom, 24ft by 21ft (7.3m x 6.4m) was also added to the east end of Block D c1954, with the removal of the east verandah, and a classroom of the same size was added to the east end of Block B in late 1958.[39]

Two permanent buildings were also added to the school. From 1950 the Department of Public Instruction introduced and developed new standard plans for school buildings. These buildings were highset timber framed structures and the understorey was used as covered play space. Introduced in 1950, the principal type was a long and narrow building with a gable roof. A semi-enclosed stair connected the understorey to a north facing verandah running the length of the building. Classrooms opened off the verandah and had extensive areas of windows; almost the entirety of the verandah wall and the opposite classroom wall were glazed, allowing abundant natural light and ventilation. This type was the most commonly constructed in the 1950s in Queensland.[40]

Block E (two classrooms) and Block F (three classrooms) were added to the school in 1956, south of Block D. Block F was extended to the west by one classroom in 1957. The classrooms were a standard 24ft by 21ft (7.3m x 6.4m). Other changes to the school in the late 1950s included: enclosing under Block C’s eastern teachers room for a new health services room; installing new hat and bag racks on the north verandah of Block B; enclosing the west verandah of Block C for a new staff room; and enclosing the upper west verandah of Block L for a store room.[41] Also in the late 1950s, the open space between Blocks C and F became the main assembly area, with new paving added to the south of the existing paving near Block C; the space between Blocks B and D was paved as a parade area; and spaces to the north and south of Block A were paved for winter and summer assembly areas respectively.[42]

Additions continued in the 1960s and 1970s, despite a drop in enrolments when Grade 8 was removed to high school in 1964. A swimming pool, funded by the efforts of the school and parents, was constructed west of Block L by November 1964. The school grounds were also extended to the west in the mid-1960s, creating the school playing field and expanding the grounds to a total of 1.99ha. In 1972, plans were drawn for a new fire escape to the upper northern verandah of Block L, and the enclosure of the western verandah of Block L was extended onto the northern verandah to create a male staffroom. In 1973, a toilet block for senior boys and girls was constructed south of Block F; a dental clinic was built c1978 and Block J was built c1979 south of Block A, replacing the earlier temporary classroom building.[43]

From the 1980s, further structures were added to the school grounds, including covered play areas, and changes were made to existing buildings. In the 1980s, a tuckshop was added under Block F and a pre-school was created under Block A. In the late 1990s, under the Building Better Schools program, changes were made to classroom partitioning in blocks B and C, creating fewer, larger classrooms. In the 2000s, further partitioning was added to the understorey of Block A.[44]

In 2014 an ANZAC memorial garden was created at the east end of Block B, with a small WWII Memorial (date unknown) commemorating the Rats of Tobruk being relocated there from the southeast corner of the school. Constructed as a small replica of a monument built in 1941 by Australian Divisional Engineers in the Tobruk Cemetery, Libya, the memorial is of a stepped, Art-Deco design and stands on a stepped plinth.[45]

In the early morning of 16 October 2018, a fire destroyed two Sectional School Buildings, Blocks C and L, and a walkway connecting Blocks B, C and D. The western end of Block B was also damaged. To enable remedial works to be undertaken, the school was closed for a week and students were accommodated at Balmoral State High School. Three temporary buildings, containing six classrooms, were subsequently installed on the netball courts east of the playing field as an interim measure for classroom accommodation.[46] In 2020, a new, three-storey Learning Centre was constructed in place of Block C, fronting Pashen Street, and landscaping works were undertaken.[47] Like-for-like reconstruction was also undertaken to the damaged, western end of Block B, and comprised works to: the roof and Dutch-gable end, walls, some framing, and verandah details (including its floor, ceiling, balustrade and hatroom with salvaged hooks and backing rail). A salvaged southern window was refurbished, a new northern stair replaced the existing, and a new walkway connecting the western ends of Blocks B and D was constructed.[48]

In 2024, the school continues to operate from its original site. It retains two Sectional School Buildings, a Depression-era Brick Infants School Building, and two Highset Timber School Buildings, set in landscaped grounds with sporting facilities, playing areas, retaining walls and mature shade trees. Morningside State School is important to Morningside, as a key social focus for the community, as generations of students have been taught there and many social events held in the school’s grounds and buildings since its establishment. A school history was compiled for the school’s 50th anniversary in 1976.

Description

Morningside State School occupies a 1.986ha, terraced site in the residential suburb of Morningside, approximately 3.8km east of Brisbane CBD.  Fronting Pashen Street to the north, the school is bounded on other sides by residential and commercial properties (east and west), and Stephens Street and Palm Square (south). The site steps down from the east, with the complex of significant school buildings and structures primarily aligned with the highest sections to the east.

Features of Morningside State School of state cultural heritage significance are:

• Block A – 1937 Depression-era Brick Infants School Building;
• Block B – 1927 (extended 1958) Sectional School Building;
• Block D – 1927 (extended 1954) Sectional School Building;
• Block E – 1956 Highset Timber School Building;
• Block F – 1956 (extended 1957) Highset Timber School Building; and
• Landscape features, including:
  • Pashen Street frontage and retaining walls;
  • tennis courts (1939) and playing field (1960s);
  • World War II (WWII) memorial to the Rats of Tobruk; and
  • open assembly areas.

Depression-era Brick Infants School Building (Block A; 1937)

Block A is a symmetrical, masonry structure of one storey, highset on an understorey. The building faces Pashen Street to the north and is approximately rectangular in plan, with protruding enclosures to the east and west. It is elegantly composed and ornamented with modest Art Deco-style treatments and its red-brown face brick exterior is contrasted by painted render dressings. The building has a Dutch-gable roof, clad in terracotta tiles and featuring vented timber gablets.

An entrance bay projecting from the centre of the northern elevation is reached by an imperial concrete stair. It has a stepped and rendered parapet that features the words ‘MORNINGSIDE STATE SCHOOL’ above a framed entrance door. The north and south elevations have regularly spaced banks of windows with fanlights, sheltered by continuous terracotta tile-clad window hoods with timber brackets.  A singular bank of windows is centred on the eastern and western elevations, with high-level windows to the understorey.

The first floor layout comprises a short entrance hall leading to a perpendicular central corridor (that runs east-west). To the north and south of the corridor are classrooms and teachers rooms, now used as staffrooms and offices. At both ends of the corridor are enclosed hatrooms (now storerooms) and stairwells lead down to the understorey.

The understorey is aligned with the ground level. Modern lightweight partitions (not significant) have been added to form additional classroom space in the former open play space. Toilets and store rooms are located at the eastern and western ends.

Features of the Depression-era Brick Infants School Building (Block A) of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• location within school grounds and orientation; 
• symmetrical, highset building form, with an understorey;
• terracotta-tiled, Dutch-gable roof, with vented timber gablets;
• red-brown face brick exterior walls;
• rendered exterior dressings (painted);
• V-jointed (VJ) timber board eaves linings;
• central projecting entrance bay, including: imperial concrete stair with metal balustrade; stepped and rendered parapet, featuring the words ‘MORNINGSIDE STATE SCHOOL’; and an entrance door framed by a stepped and rendered doorway surround;
• early timber-framed windows and timber doors, including: original window and door opening (including rendered sills); casement windows with fanlights to exterior walls; double-hung windows with fanlights to the corridor walls; panelled, dual entrance doors; and panelled French doors with fanlights;
• terracotta tile-clad window hoods with timber brackets;
• original interior floor plan layout;
• locations of original openings for folding partitions to first floor’s northern rooms
• internal stairwells (connecting basement and first floor), including concrete stairs and metal balustrades;
• plaster linings to internal masonry walls;
• to circulation spaces: coved concrete skirtings; skirting board and dado height moulding scribed into the plaster walls; and architraves to doors and windows;
• to non-circulation spaces: simple timber skirtings (mouldings and architraves omitted);
• moulded picture rails;
• flat sheet ceiling linings with timber battens;
• original lattice ceiling vents (some have been boarded over); and
• to understorey: brick walls, brick piers (most featuring rounded corners below head-height), concrete floors, and an early timber seat (located in the southwestern corner).

Features of the Depression-era Brick Infants School Building (Block A) not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• non-original folding partitions (replacements) to first floor’s northern rooms;
• non-original partitions (including doors) inserted into some first floor rooms and stairwell, and to understorey;
• aluminium-framed windows and doors;
• water tanks and air-conditioning units, including associated pipes, conduit and cables (including all PVC pipes);
• ceiling fans and non-original lights;
• whiteboards;
• non-original toilet partitions and fit-outs;
• recent kitchenette and storage shelf fit-outs;
• metal security screens to windows; and
• stencil floor pattern (over concrete), recent metal gates and roller door to understorey. 

Sectional School Buildings (Block B, 1927, extended 1958; and Block D,1927, extended 1954)

The Sectional School Buildings are timber classroom buildings orientated on east-west axes, parallel to Pashen Street. The buildings are partially highset to compensate for the sloping terrain. Each has a Dutch-gable roof, with a gable to the eastern ends (indicative of 1954 and 1958 extensions).

The mostly north-facing verandahs are connected and run the length of the buildings. They are generally accessed via timber stairs (modern replacements connecting to early landing locations), with the eastern ends of the buildings accessed from ground-level. Hatrooms are located at the northwest corner of Block B and in the southwest corner of Block D (remnant), and bag racks have replaced some balustrading.

Original coved ceilings survive in most early classrooms. Extensions at the eastern ends of the buildings can be identified by flat ceiling and wall linings, and taller window banks with differing sill heights and later joinery / mechanisms on the southern sides. While most interior partitions between classrooms have been removed or modified to form larger teaching spaces, locations of original partitions can generally be identified though wall remnants on the northern and southern walls and bulkheads.

The understoreys that are accessible are mostly used for storage.

Features of the Sectional School Buildings (Block B and Block D) of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• locations within school grounds and orientations;
• partially highset building forms, with (part) understoreys;
• corrugated metal-clad Dutch-gable roofs with gabled eastern ends (indicative of extension locations);
• timber-framed walls and floors;
• timber weatherboard cladding to exterior walls; 
• early timber-framed window and timber doors, including: early openings; large banks of casement windows and fanlights in the southern wall of Block B; fanlights in the southern wall of Block D; double-hung windows and fanlights in the verandah walls; and timber dual panelled doors to some classrooms; and early hardware;
• timber windows and doors that indicate extension locations, including: taller window banks with differing sill heights with and later joinery / mechanisms on the southern sides; and double-hung windows;
• concrete stumps and piers;
• verandahs (mostly north-facing), including: single-skin walls, with VJ timber board linings and externally-exposed timber stud-framing; square timber posts, raked ceilings lined in VJ timber boards; timber balustrades with timber battens; and hatrooms (including remnants; to corners of some verandahs);
• original stairs;
• remnants of original interior floor plan layouts, including wall remnants on the northern and southern walls and bulkheads indicating original partition locations;
• early interiors: coved ceilings lined in VJ timber boards, with exposed metal tie rods; VJ timber board wall linings square lattice ceiling ventilation panels (survive in most early classrooms; some vents have been boarded over);
• extension interiors (eastern ends of the buildings): flat sheet ceiling and wall linings; and
• to understoreys: concrete slab floors; exposed timber-framed ceilings (from the floor above); and early wall enclosures.

Features of the Sectional School Buildings (Block B and Block D) not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• solar panels, antennas and speakers attached to roof;
• recent stairs and metal balustrades;
• ramp, landing and stair added to verandah of Block D;
• bag racks;
• non-original doors and windows, including recent aluminium-framed windows and flush-panel doors;
• metal security screens;
• metal-clad storage shed with roller doors at east end of Block D;
• water tanks and air-conditioning units, including associated pipes, conduit and cables (including all PVC pipes);
• recent carpet and linoleum linings over timber floors;
• ceiling fans and non-original lights;
• whiteboards and non-original shelves;
• metal gates to understorey; and
• recent understorey wall partitions/enclosures.

Highset Timber School Buildings (Block E, 1956; and Block F, 1956-7)

Block E and F are long timber classroom buildings, highset on concrete piers, with understoreys. The buildings have gable roofs, and verandahs run along the west (Block E) and north (Block F) sides. Timber stairs access Block F’s verandah, and the Block E links to the verandahs of Block D at the north and Block F at the south.

Block E comprises two classrooms connected by a recent concertina door (within an original folding door opening). Block F has four classrooms, each connected by doors at the southern ends of the room partitions (some partitions have been partially removed, with wall nibs and bulkheads retained).

The understoreys of the blocks primarily comprise open play space, and some later enclosures have been added (not significant).

Features of the Highset Timber School Buildings (Block E and Block F) of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• locations within school grounds and orientations; 
• highset building forms, with understoreys
• gable roofs clad in corrugated metal;
• timber-framed walls and floors;
• exterior wall cladding, including: timber weatherboards; narrow timber chamferboards to verandah walls; and metal sheets to end walls (southern wall (Block E) and western wall (Block F);
• early timber-framed windows and timber doors, including: large banks of awning windows with fanlights to the rear walls (eastern, Block E, and southern, Block F); double-hung timber windows with fanlights to verandah walls; French doors to classrooms; half-glazed timber doors to classroom partitions; and original openings;
• verandahs: timber posts, timber floors, raked ceilings lined in timber boards, and enclosed bag rack balustrades clad in metal sheets;
• timber-framed screens with fixed glazing at the south end of Block E’s verandah and to the walkway between blocks E and F;
• flat sheet interior wall and ceiling linings, with rounded cover-strips;
• original shelves, and cupboards / blackboard units (excluding replaced boards)
• understoreys: concrete slab floors; exposed timber-framed ceilings (from the floor above); and original wall enclosures, including early openings.

Features of the Highset Timber School Buildings (Block E and Block F) not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• metal security screens;
• recent speakers;
• non-original doors and windows, including recent concertina doors, recent doors and windows to understorey;
• metal security screens;
• water tanks and air-conditioning units, including associated pipes, conduit and cables (including all PVC pipes);
• shade-cloth blinds to verandah of Block E;
• recent carpet and linoleum linings over timber floors;
• ceiling fans and non-original lights;
• whiteboards and non-original shelves;
• recent understorey wall partitions/enclosures to form a tuckshop and store rooms; and
• tuckshop fit-out and metal handrails.

Landscape Elements

The school grounds are well-established and are terraced along the northern side of the site with concrete and stone retaining walls and steps. The southeastern boundaries of the site comprise open-cut stone excavations – a remnant of a former quarry site.

Pashen Street frontage and retaining walls:

A concrete retaining wall forms a fence along the Pashen Street boundary and features decorative, Art-Deco-style piers at the entrances. Timber formwork impressions are set within the concrete.

Two retaining walls with concrete stairs stand between Pashen Street and Block B (by 1959), and to the northwest of Block B (formerly between Block C and Pashen Street, by 1960). The wall to the northwest of Block B is battered, with stones set within the concrete, and the wall between Block B and Pashen Street is of concrete.

The setback and open space between Pashen Street and Blocks A and B afford views of the buildings from the street and contribute to the place’s prominence and streetscape presence.  

Tennis courts and playing field:

Two tennis courts (1939) stand in their original location at the northwest corner of the site and have been resurfaced. An open playing field (1960s) is located south of the tennis courts.

War Memorial:

A painted concrete WWII memorial (unknown date) stands within an Anzac memorial garden (2014) east of Block B, and is dedicated to the Rats of Tobruk.

Open assembly areas:

Former assembly areas to the north and south of Block A, and between Blocks B and D, and west of Block E / north of Block F, retain their open character, allowing light and ventilation to adjacent interior classroom spaces.

Features of the landscape elements of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• terraces along northern side of school site;
• concrete retaining wall (fence) along Pashen Street boundary, with timber formwork impressions and Art-Deco-style piers;
• concrete retaining wall between Pashen Street and Block B, including stair;
• battered concrete retaining wall northwest of Block B, including stones set within concrete and stair;
• setback and open space between Pashen Street and Blocks A and B, allowing views of the buildings from the Pashen Street; 
• provision of two tennis courts in northwest corner of the school site;
• playing field to the south of the tennis courts;
• painted concrete WWII memorial dedicated to the Rats of Tobruk, including its:
  • stepped, Art-Deco design, with metal crosses fixed to the highest tier,
  • stepped plinth,
  • crest of the Rats of Tobruk Association, and
  • plaque with the words, ‘This is hallowed ground for here lie those who died for their country. “At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them” – Lest We Forget – ’; and
• open character of spaces between north and south of Block A, and between Blocks B and D, and west of Block E / north of Block F.

Features of the landscape elements not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• metal fences associated with the Pashen Street boundary retaining wall;
• recent ground surface finish and fences to tennis courts;
• artificial turf;
• fence, flag poles, mosaic (including stand) and pot plants to Anzac memorial garden; and
• metal balustrades to retaining wall stairs.

Features not of State-level Cultural Heritage Significance

Features of Morningside state School not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• other buildings, structures, playgrounds, fences, shade sails / structures, podiums, and sheds not previously mentioned;
• swimming pool and grandstand;
• 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] ‘Rise of Morningside’, Brisbane Courier, 20 December 1930, p.19; ‘Morningside’, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/morningside (accessed 11 January 2018).
[2] The 39 farm portions surveyed in 1857 lay between the Wynnum and Lytton Roads, and between Hawthorne Road and Queensport Road/Bulimba Creek (DNRM Survey Plan S151824, 1857). Portion 72, consisting of 37 acres and 2 roods (15.2ha) between today’s Riding Road and Thynne Road, was granted to Robert Pashen in 1858. Pashen subdivided Portion 72 into 143 residential allotments in 1863, forming the Pashen Estate (from Pashen Street to south of Monmouth Street). (DNRM Certificate of Title 10020051, 1863; DNRM Survey Plan RP12833, 1863). To the east, across Thynne Road, was the Morningside Estate of 300 acres (121.4ha), first advertised for sale in August 1885. (‘Auction sales’, Telegraph, 14 August 1885, p.7).
[3] ‘The Cleveland railway. The official opening. Excursion and banquet’, Brisbane Courier, 18 November 1889, p.5; Map, 8 Chains to an inch, Brisbane and Suburbs, Sheet 9, 1907 (tram terminus east of Norman Creek); ‘Tram extension. Morningside Route Begun’, Daily Standard, 20 May 1924, p.1; Map, 20 Chain Brisbane and Suburbs, 1927 (tram terminus next to Barton Road); ‘Rise of Morningside’, Brisbane Courier, 20 December 1930, p.19 (extension opened 1 May 1925).
[4] Project Services, 'Mount Morgan State High School' in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, 2008, pp.4-5; P Burmester, M Pullar and M Kennedy Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp.87-8; ‘Morningside’, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/morningside (accessed 11 January 2018) (population figures).
[5] ‘Proposed school at Morningside’, Brisbane Courier, 19 July 1922, p.10; ‘School wanted at Morningside, Accidents on Road’, Telegraph, 21 December 1922, p.2; ‘Morningside School’, Daily Mail, 21 March 1923, p.13; ‘Infant school for Morningside’, Brisbane Courier, 7 April 1923, p.8; ‘Morningside School opening ceremony’, Brisbane Courier, 29 May 1923, p.13; Queensland State Archives Agency ID11228, ‘Morningside Provisional (Infants) School’; ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, Morningside, Morningside State School, 1976, pp.38-9. The official opening was on Saturday 26 May 1923.
[6] ‘Morningside Provisional School’, Daily Mail, 13 June 1923, p.12; ‘Request for school, Morningside delegation’, Daily Mail, 4 June 1924, p.5; ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, pp.33-5.
[7] DNRM Certificates of Title 10020051, 1863; 10045086, 1864; 10988201, 1901; 11607230 and 11607231, 1924; DNRM Survey Plan SL1039, 1926 (Subdivisions 92, 93, 98, 99, 104, 109, 103, 108 and 113, totalling 2 acres and 2 perches). The article ‘Morningside School opening ceremony’, Telegraph, 3 August 1926, p.7, also notes the school was on 2 acres. The Westernmost allotment of the original school grounds on Pashen Street (subdivision 113) is, in 2018, the site of the western half of Block M, and the east end of the swimming pool.
[8] ‘New School for Morningside’, Brisbane Courier, 29 July 1925, p.10.
[9] Sectional School Buildings were known as Type D/T1 (Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.42-45).
[10] ‘New State Schools, Morningside and Wilston’, Brisbane Courier, 9 October 1925, p.12; ‘Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1926’, p.2; ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.43 (closure of provisional school). Queensland State Archives Agency ID5512, ‘Morningside State School’ (opening of new school). The Morningside State school had been officially opened by the Minister for Public Instruction, Thomas Wilson, on Saturday 31 July 1926 (‘Morningside School opening ceremony’, Telegraph, 3 August 1926, p.7).
[11] ‘Morningside State School’, Brisbane Courier, 30 October 1926, p.9; ‘Morningside State School, rapid development’, Daily Mail, 30 October 1926, p.6. The latter article noted the increase was due to the rapid development of the district. The school’s history claims 382 children were enrolled on the first day (‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.47), but attendance figures were usually lower than the total enrolment. Part of the cause for the large enrolment was a greater influx of students from the New Farm State School than anticipated (‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.50).
[12] ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.51.
[13] ‘State School Morningside…’ (photograph) The Telegraph, 31 December 1927, p.16; ‘New wings, Morningside State school, opened by Governor’, Brisbane Courier, 27 February 1928, p.21; ‘The new wing of the Morningside State school…’, (photograph) Brisbane Courier, 28 February 1928, p.7. By 1929, enrolment was 726, with an average daily attendance of 631 (‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.53).
[14] DPW Plan barcode 16002382, ‘Morningside State school new building’, August 1925; ‘The New State school at Morningside, which is to be opened shortly’ (photograph), Brisbane Courier, 27 July 1926, p.15 (photograph shows the ground slope. At this time there was a white picket fence to Pashen Street); DPW Plan barcode 16002404, ‘Morningside State School additions’, June 1927, updated November 1929; DPW Plan barcode 16002393, ‘Morningside State School additions’, June 1927, updated November 1929. The area between Blocks B and D was later levelled, and in 2018 Block D sat at the same elevation as Blocks B and C, with all verandahs being linked. The school’s 50th anniversary history claims that this levelling, and a concrete retaining wall [under Block B], occurred in the early 1930s; it also claims that Block D, unlike in the plans, was given folding partitions between the classrooms (‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.53, 58).
[15] ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.58.
[16] ‘Morningside State School fete’, Brisbane Courier, 2 September 1929, p.20; ; ‘Contracts let, new public works’, Brisbane Courier, 8 May 1930, p.12; ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.55.
[17] ‘Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1930’, p.5; ‘Morningside’, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/morningside (accessed 11 January 2018) (Population figures).
[18] DPW Plan barcode 16002371, ‘Morningside State School additions’, November 1929; ‘State School at Morningside’, (photograph) The Telegraph, 3 September 1930, p.15 (at this point there was still only a picket fence to Pashen street, and the stairs to the north verandah of Block L only ascended to the ground floor classrooms); ‘Wing opened, Morningside School, fete and ceremony’, Sunday Mail, 26 October 1930, p.4.
[19] ‘Addition to grounds, Morningside State School’, Brisbane Courier, 24 September 1930, p.23; DNRM Certificate of Title 11489192, 1921 (subdivisions 86 and 87 were transferred to the Secretary for Public Instruction in May 1933).
[20] Project Services, ‘Morningside State School’, in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, January 2008.
[21] ‘Relief of unemployment: big programme contemplated’, The Telegraph, 24 July 1929, p.5; ‘Unemployment: the relief scheme’, The Telegraph, 26 July 1929, p.5.
[22] Department of Public Works, Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30 Jun 1930, p.15.
[23] ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.59. Plans of the school in the 1934 also show that a septic system was installed at the school in the 1930s, and toilets were added under Blocks C and D (DPW Plan barcode 16002360, ‘Morningside State School Brisbane, lavatory blocks, WC installation & septic tank’, July 1934). The septic system cost £1950 (‘Morningside School’, Courier Mail, 14 March 1935, p.3).
[24] ‘Labor at the Helm’, The Worker, 20 Jul 1932, p.8; ‘Queensland Parliament’, The Northern Miner, 17 Aug 1932, p.2; ‘Public Buildings’, Daily Mercury, 19 Oct 1933, p.7; DPW, Report of the Department of Public Works for the Year Ended 30 June 1934, pp.6-8; DPW, Report of the Department of Public Works for the Year Ended 30 June 1935, p.2; DPW, Report of the Department of Public Works for the Year Ended 30 June 1936, p.2; ‘State will spend over £460,000: big building plans’, The Courier-Mail, 28 Dec 1933, p.9; DPW, Report of the Department of Public Works for the Year Ended 30 June 1939, p.2.
[25] Type E/B1 (Burmester, et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.59).
[26] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.59-60.
[27] EHP analysis of Depression-era Brick Schools, based on contemporary photographs, QHR listed schools, Project Services Heritage Reports (2006) and original DPW building plans.
[28] DPW Plan barcode 16002327, ‘Morningside Stat… New infants…[illegible]’, July 1934; DPW Plan barcode 16002426, ‘Morningside State School, new Infants Block’, March 1936; Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1937, p.8. The design was drawn and traced by Reginald P Buchanan. He trained with the Brisbane firm of Hall and Prentice, working with them until 1929 when he registered as an architect. He was employed with the Department of Works as an assistant architect from c.1936 also working on Townsville North State School. The Morningside Infants School is similar in plan but quite different in elevation to the Windsor Infants School designed by R C Nowland c.1933. It has more stylistic similarities with the Yeronga infants school designed in 1939 and opened in 1941 (Project Services, ‘Morningside State School’).
[29] ‘£576,147 spent on Public Works operations in past year’, Courier Mail, 3 July 1937, p.17 (cost of Block A); ‘School extensions opened at fete’, Sunday Mail, 10 October 1937, p.28.
[30] ‘Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1938’, p.29 (photograph of Block A, showing drystone wall to Pashen Street); Project Services, ‘Morningside State School’. The latter source claims that £941 was spent on ‘retaining walls to Pashen Street’ in 1939. The poured-concrete wall, with Art-Deco style entrance piers, runs from in front of Block A, to in front of Block C. The two sets of entrance steps from Pashen Street, through the retaining wall in front of Blocks A and C, seem to be visible in a 1942 aerial (DNRM aerial photograph MAP3174-22999, 4 August 1942).
[31] Brisbane City Council Department of Works Detail Plan No.1198, 11 March 1959 (only shows the 1939 concrete wall, and the eastern retaining wall and steps); DNRM aerial QAP1070020, 1960 (western wall and steps also visible). A concrete block wall (not of cultural heritage significance) was added to the west of the 1939 concrete wall, sometime after 1959.
[32]  ‘Morningside State School ceremony, bouquets for Mrs Bruce’, Courier Mail, 7 July 1939, p.1; ‘School Progress’ (photograph), Courier Mail, 7 July 1939, p.8; ‘Boys of the Morningside State School…’, (photograph) The Telegraph, 7 July 1939, p.8. The 1939 tennis courts are visible in 1942, on the site of the tennis courts existing in 2018 (DNRM aerial photograph MAP3174-22999, 4 August 1942).
[33] Ronald Wood, Civil Defence in Queensland during World War II, 1993, p.79; ‘Schools reopen; some await shelter survey’, The Courier Mail, 2 March 1942, p.3.
[34] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.64-5
[35] ‘Minister’s warning to build shelters’, Courier Mail, 7 March 1942, p.5; DNRM aerial photograph MAP3174-22999, 4 August 1942 (shows the slit trenches, dug in a criss-cross pattern, south of Block L); ‘Student’s war efforts: No.9. Pupils’ visits to hospitals’, Courier Mail, 15 June 1943, p.4; ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, pp.62-3, 79-80. In 1943-44 the area behind Block A was used to train Volunteer Defence Corps members in the operation of a Bofors (40mm) Anti-Aircraft gun.
[36] ‘Morningside’, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/morningside (accessed 11 January 2018); ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, p.55.
[37] Project Services, Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, January 2008, pp.28-31.
[38] DPW Plan barcode 16002316, ‘”Morningside State School temporary buildings, 3 classrooms’, October 1949; DNRM aerial photograph BCC000539338, 1 August 1951.
[39] DPW Plan barcode 16002305, ‘Morningside SS additions’, October 1954; DPW Plan barcode 16002272, ‘Morningside SS additions etc’, May 1955, revised October 1958; DPW Plan barcode 16002261, ‘Morningside SS additional paving’, May 1957 (classroom dimensions. Handwritten annotation says the extension to Block B was approved in October 1958).
[40] Building type F/T4. Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.116.
[41] DPW Plan barcode 16002272, ‘Morningside SS additions etc’, May 1955, revised October 1958; DPW Plan barcode 11853963, ‘Morningside SS additions’, August 1956, revised October 1958; DPW Plan barcode 16002294, ‘Morningside SS addition’, May 1957; DPW Plan barcode 16002261, ‘Morningside SS additional paving’, May 1957. All additions and new blocks are present by 1960 (DNRM aerial QAP1070020, 1960).
[42] DPW Plan barcode 16002261, ‘Morningside SS, additional paving’, May 1957 (in December 1958 the work was authorised to be carried out by day labour).
[43] ‘Morningside State School, 1926-1976’, pp.57, 72; DNRM Aerials QAP15959094, 25 November 1964; and QAP1968144, 7 August 1969; DNRM Survey Plan SL4726, 1965; DPW Plan, barcode 11853952, ‘Morningside State School, new staffroom and fire escape stairs’, February 1972; DPW Plan, barcode 11853886, ‘Morningside State School, new toilet block for seniors’, July 1973; DPW Plan, barcode 11319440, ‘Morningside SS, teaching block J’, October 1979. J Block was built by May 1980 (DNRM aerial QAP37172202, 15 May 1980).
[44] DPW Plan, barcode 11319286, ‘Morningside SS, new single unit pre-school, tuck shop plan, details’, March 1980; DPW Plan, barcode 16266998, ‘Morningside State School, Building Better Schools, Block B floor, elevation, section’, February 1999; DPW Plan, barcode 16267009, ‘Morningside State School, Building Better Schools, Block C floor plan’, February 1999; DPW plan, barcode 19281878, ‘Morningside State school, architectural records site plan’, February 1999, updated January 2004; DPW plans, 21803/40911/A0.041, and 21803/40911/A0.048, ‘Preparatory School Year Capital Works Programme Morningside State School, Block A refurbishment proposed plan, August 2005; DPW Plan, 6884-C12/1, ‘BER Schools, Morningside State School’, November 2009; Project Services, ‘Morningside State School’.
[45] Queensland War Memorial Register, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, ‘Brisbane Rats of Tobruk Memorial’, 2015, <www.qldwarmemorials.com.au/memorial/?id=276>, accessed Nov 2015.[46] Queensland Department of Education, 2019 (02 May), ‘Rebuild and recovery at Morningside State School’, Queensland Government, <https://qed.qld.gov.au/programs-initiatives/det/building-education/programnews/rebuild-and-recovery> (accessed 26 June 2020).
[47] Queensland Government, 2019, Exemption Certificate: 201910-9596, and 2020 variation: 202002-1052.
[48] Queensland Government, 2019, Exemption Certificate: 201910-9539.

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