Allenstown State School

General

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Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

20 September 2019

Type

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

Themes

3.5 Developing secondary and tertiary industries: Struggling with remoteness, hardship and failure

9.1 Educating Queenslanders: Providing primary schooling

Builder

Department of Public Works

Designer

Department of Public Works

Construction periods

1884, Western playshed

1884, Eastern playshed

1890–1892, Memorial to Francis Nassau Clayton

1931, Swimming Pool

1932, Front Garden (by 1932)

1936, Playing Field

1936, Playing Field

1939, Depression-era Brick School Building (Block A)

1948, Parade Ground (by 1948)

Historical period

1870s–1890s Late 19th century

1919–1930s Interwar period

1939–1945 World War II

1940s–1960s Post-WWII

Style

Classicism

Location

Address

Upper Dawson Road, Allenstown

LGA

Rockhampton Regional Council

Coordinates

-23.39168818, 150.50437714

Significance

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

Allenstown State School, established in 1877, is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. The place retains excellent, representative examples of a Depression-era Brick School Building (Block A, 1939) and two playsheds (1884), which were architectural responses to prevailing government educational philosophies, set in landscaped grounds with gardens, memorials, and assembly and sport areas, including: a Swimming Pool (1931); Front Garden (by 1932); Playing Field (1936); and Parade Ground (by 1948).

The place is important in demonstrating the Queensland Government’s state-wide relief work programs during the 1930s that stimulated the economy and provided work for men unemployed as a result of the Great Depression. Constructed using relief labour, Block A and the Playing Field are representative examples of the type of work performed under the program.

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

Block A is an excellent, substantial, and intact example of a Depression-era Brick School Building, and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the type. These include: a handsome edifice standing at the front of the school; symmetrical three-storey form with two levels of classrooms and teachers’ rooms above an undercroft of open play spaces; a linear layout of the classroom levels with rooms accessed by a corridor; loadbearing masonry construction; prominent projecting central entrance bay; and high quality design to provide superior educational environments that focus 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 playsheds are excellent, early, and intact examples of Department of Public Works’ school playsheds and are important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the type. These include its: free-standing, open-sided shelter form; hipped timber-framed roof supported on braced timber posts; and timber perimeter seat.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Through its elegant composition of formal and decorative elements, substantial size and materials, and fine craftsmanship, the intact Block A 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 place is also significant for its streetscape contribution and as a landmark within the flat landscape of the area. Viewed from Upper Dawson Road, and the adjoining Caroline and Margaret Streets, Block A’s assertive massing, classically influenced design, and elegant composition are appreciable. Block A is set back from Dawson Road behind a formal and symmetrical Front Garden of the same period and both contribute to the school’s dignified and prominent presence in the streetscape.

Important views to Block A and its fleche from within the grounds, including open, axial views from the Playing Field, reinforce the dominant presence of Block A within the school.

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

Allenstown State School has a strong and ongoing association with past and present pupils, parents, staff members, and the wider Rockhampton community. Established in 1877, initially through the efforts and fundraising of the community, this early Rockhampton school has sustained its use for more than 140 years. The place is important for its contribution to the educational development of Rockhampton, with generations of children taught at the school, and has served as a prominent venue for social interaction and community focus, including memorials to school staff members, and public celebrations of the school’s anniversaries throughout its history. The strength of association is demonstrated through repeated community volunteer action, donations, and an active Parents and Citizens Association.

History

Allenstown State School, in Allenstown, Rockhampton, was established on its current site in 1877. The school is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture. It retains: two timber playsheds built 1884; the Clayton Memorial, a sandstone monument to a teacher built by 1892; a Swimming Pool built in 1931; a Front Garden built by 1932; a Playing Field created in 1936; a substantial Depression-era Brick School Building built in 1939; and a Parade Ground created by 1948. The school is a prominent landmark in the area and has a strong association with the surrounding community.

The Rockhampton area is traditionally part of the lands of the Darumbal people. After a short-lived 1858 gold rush, Rockhampton was proclaimed a town and declared a 'port of entry' in that year. Emerging as an important regional centre, The Municipality of Rockhampton was proclaimed in 1860 and it remained the principal port for central Queensland for nearly a century.[1]

Allenstown, a suburb 2km south of the centre of Rockhampton was named after William Allen, a merchant and leading elder of the Primitive Methodist Church. Allen purchased, subdivided, and sold land here in 1864. Houses, a store, and Patrick Egan’s Merry Jig Hotel followed. By 1873 the area had developed to the point that there were 50-60 school-age children, who walked between one and two miles (1.6 – 3.2km) to the already overcrowded school in William Street, Rockhampton.[2]

The establishment of schools was considered an essential step in the development of early communities and integral to their success. People from the surrounding community often donated land and labour for a school’s construction and the school community contributed to maintenance and development. Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers.[3]

In February 1873, a school reserve of nine acres, 1 rood and 16 perches (3.78ha) was declared at Allenstown. A school committee of Rockhampton community members was formed in July 1875 and fundraising from the community began. Tenders were called for a timber-framed teaching building and teacher’s residence in October 1876, and Allenstown State School opened on 16 July 1877.[4] As student numbers immediately outstripped the building’s capacity, a wing was added to the existing building in 1879.[5]

In 1884 two playsheds were built at Allenstown State School. The Queensland education system recognised the importance of play in the school curriculum. Playsheds were standard designs, free-standing shelters with fixed timber seating between posts and doubled as teaching space when required. These structures were timber-framed and generally open-sided with hipped roofs, and became a characteristic feature of early Queensland timber schools. [6] Although the school had sourced an original design for a long ‘double’ playshed from a Rockhampton architect in 1879, for both girls and boys, the Department of Public Instruction did not approve the design and recommended two playsheds (40’ x 22’6”/12.2m x 6.8m) of standard hipped roof design be built, supplied by the Department of Public Works (DPW). The two were built by Rockhampton contractor Wiley Holmes at the rear (east) of the buildings with one (for girls) near the north boundary and one (for boys) near the south. In 2019, they are two of four of the oldest-known extant playsheds of their type in Queensland.[7]

The school grounds at Allenstown were beautified by trees, gardens, and playing fields from at least 1890. School grounds were an important component of Queensland state schools. The early and continuing commitment to play-based education, particularly in primary school, resulted in the provision of outdoor play space and sporting facilities, such as playing fields and tennis courts. Trees and gardens were planted to shade and beautify schools, often for Arbor Day celebrations. Aesthetically-designed gardens were encouraged by regional inspectors, and educators believed gardening and Arbor Days instilled in young minds the value of hard work and activity.[8] To celebrate the first Arbor Day in 1890 at Allenstown State School, 27 trees (‘jacarandas’ and ‘bamboo’) were planted and small garden plots were added along Upper Dawson Road.[9] Students cultivated the plots and the best kept were awarded prizes at end of year celebrations from 1891.[10]

A memorial was added to the garden at the front of the school after the drowning death of teacher William Francis Nassau Clayton in 1890. By 1892 the sandstone monument was located ‘in this garden [on Upper Dawson Road]…in front of the entrance to it’, and comprised a pillar and urn, surmounted by a fountain, approximately 8ft (2.5m) tall, funded by Rockhampton school teachers and Allenstown students.[11] It was later moved a number of times within the school grounds, standing in three locations in the front garden until c1953, and then standing in at least two locations behind the school buildings, before it was moved to stand at the rear of Block A, near Block C, by 2018. Between 2006 and 2018 a new pedestal was carved for the monument’s urn, to match the original. At some time, the fountain was removed.[12]

With the further development of the area in the early 20th century,[13] Allenstown State School expanded. New timber wings were added in 1899 and 1909, and the school buildings were raised and asphalt laid underneath in 1907.[14] From July 1913, the school offered high school classes, which appears to have been a short-term venture.[15] In 1915 a new building, an open-air annexe (Block C in 2019), was opened to accommodate infants classes.[16]

The front garden was maintained and enhanced over time. Trees were planted here for Arbor Day in 1911; the school won the district’s second prize in 1911, and equal first in 1913, in the Department of Education’s annual ‘State School Gardens’ competition. By 1922 the garden beds had been removed.[17] From 1926 the Allenstown State School Help Association raised funds for school improvements, through three years of fetes held at the school. These improvements included ‘laying out a garden in the front of the school’.[18] The Curator of the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens offered his advice, and work commenced in early 1927.[19] The garden space was enlarged, and trees and shrubs were planted, donated by the Mayor of Rockhampton through the Botanic Gardens Trust.[20]

There were other grounds improvements in the 1920s and early 1930s. By 1929, sports’ facilities for the school’s 630 students included ground ‘marked for football’, a concrete cricket pitch, two basketball courts and an ant-bed tennis court.[21] A school swimming pool opened in early 1931, and two red coloured concrete paths with black and white mosaic tile insets was laid by February 1932, forming a T-shape through the front garden and from Caroline Street to Margaret Street.[22]

By the end of 1934, the Department of Public Instruction had approved a new brick building to replace the existing teaching buildings – except two, which were to be relocated within the site to accommodate infants’ classes.[23] The construction of substantial brick state school buildings during the 1930s, in prosperous or growing centres, was part of the Queensland Government’s commitment to provide unemployment relief during the Great Depression.[24]

Commencing in 1929 and extending well into the 1930s, the Great Depression caused a dramatic reduction of building work in Queensland and brought private building work to a standstill. In response, the Queensland Government provided relief work for unemployed Queenslanders. Extensive funding was given for improvements to school grounds, including fencing and levelling ground for play areas, begun by mid-1930. This work created many large school playing fields, which prior to this period were mostly cleared of trees but not landscaped.[25] These playing fields became a standard inclusion in Queensland state schools and a characteristic element.[26] At Allenstown, relief workers were employed to fill the lower (eastern) area of the school reserve during 1936 to form a large, levelled playing field. In the school’s centenary year this was named the Tom Hogan Playing Field, after a former teacher and deputy principal of the school from 1952 to 1980.[27]

From 1932 the Queensland Government also embarked on an ambitious and important public building program to provide impetus to the economy during the Great Depression. The building program was designed to promote the employment of local skilled workers, the purchase of local building materials, and the production of commodious, low maintenance buildings, which would be a long-term asset to Queensland, such as large brick state school buildings.[28]

The Department of Public Works (DPW) and Department of Public Instruction were extremely enthusiastic about the 1930s brick school buildings, which were considered monuments to progress embodying the most modern principles of the ideal education environment.[29] These Depression-era Brick School Buildings form a recognisable and important type of school architecture, exhibiting many common characteristics. Frequently, they were two storeys of classrooms above an open undercroft and built to accommodate up to 1000 students. They adopted a symmetrical plan form and often had a prominent central entry. The plan arrangement was similar to that of timber buildings, being only one classroom deep, and accessed by a long straight verandah or corridor. Some classrooms were commonly divided by folding timber partitions and the undercroft was used as covered play space, storage, ablutions, and other functions. Almost all Depression-era brick school buildings faced the primary boundary road, regardless of orientation.[30]

The new Depression-era brick school building at Allenstown State School, to accommodate 512 students, was designed by the DPW. Construction commenced in late January 1938 and was finished in 1939.[31] Built in place of the earlier timber buildings but retaining the front gardens and its path, the building was a symmetrical, three-storey structure facing Upper Dawson Road in a Neo-Classical style. It accommodated open play spaces on the ground floor, with ablutions in single-storey blocks at both ends. Classrooms on the first and second floors – six per floor – were accessed by an enclosed corridor running along the front (western side). An entrance bay with branching stair projected at the centre of the front elevation, accommodating an entrance hall and teacher’s rooms on the first floor and a smaller, seventh classroom and teacher’s room on the second floor. On both levels, some classrooms could be connected for student assembly via folding partitions (four classrooms on the first floor, three on the second floor) and one first floor classroom had a raised floor and acted as a stage at the end of the assembly space. Cloakrooms and stairwells were at each end of the building.[32]

The building was completed with rendered walls and had a red fibre-cement corrugated sheet-clad roof with a tall ventilation fleche. Construction materials were sourced locally wherever possible: the bricks were from JG O’Shanesy (Kabra brickworks) and steel and sand was locally sourced.[33]

The new brick building was officially opened on 29 July 1939 by James Larcombe, MLA for Rockhampton, Minister for Transport and Acting Minister for Mines. A brass plaque bearing a portrait of the school committee patron, WH Rudd, was unveiled. Larcombe’s speech praised the ‘splendid’ new building as ‘a fine landmark [that] raised the prestige of the Allenstown district’ and symbolised ‘the dignity, the power and the beauty of education’, particularly in contrast to the ‘ignorant and barbaric’ actions occurring in Europe at the time.[34] The opening ceremony included a very successful and well-attended fete organised by the school staff and students. The building had been constructed using day labour, and by its opening had cost £21,691 – with a further £150 required to complete the work. The building was occupied after the August vacation, 1939. In 2019 it is called Block A [35]

To accommodate construction of Block A, the three oldest timber school buildings were removed from the site but the 1909 building was retained and moved slightly to the east, behind Block A. The northern playshed was probably relocated at this time, and was re-erected at the centre of the school grounds, south of the swimming pool. In 1940, the 1909 wing was moved again, along with the 1915 open-air annexe (Block C), northeast to face Caroline Street. Both timber buildings were rotated and reconfigured for use by 180 infants.[36]

During the 1940s, cotton was grown in the school grounds by students and sold for patriotic funds during World War II (WWII).[37] The Allenstown State School Help Association decided to insert brass tablets in the main building to commemorate staff and past pupils who had served in both world wars.[38] On Friday nights in summer after the war, the swimming pool was used by the Allenstown Swimming Club, and in winter a boxing ring was installed over the pool for matches open to the public.[39]

After WWII the grounds were regularly improved, and by 1948 a parade ground had been established at the rear of Block A. [40]  Characteristic of Queensland schools, the parade ground was a large open area for outdoor assemblies of the student body conducted by school staff.[41] In c1953 a circular garden with central flagpole and memorial plaque was added at the southeast corner of the parade ground to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. The parade ground surface was bituminised in c1955.[42]

Allenstown State School celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1952 with a well-attended day of speeches delivered on the parade ground, a concert, and games.[43] Soon after, the front garden was adjusted by staff members to have symmetrical lawns and gardens with a central path, building on the existing 1930s layout.[44]

Over time changes were made to Block A. The cloakrooms at both ends of the second floor were changed in 1969, with partitions added to form storerooms. By this time, a tuckshop had been added in the ground floor open play area.[45] In 1972, a library was opened in one first floor classrooms of Block A, called the Pat O’Shanesy Memorial Library.[46] By 1978 toilets were added to the second floor cloakrooms with windows cut into the side walls.[47] In 1978 the folding partitions were removed from the second floor, bagracks were added to the corridor on both classroom levels, and some plasterboard partitions were added to the first floor to form a staff room. This staffroom had expanded to absorb a neighbouring classroom by 1997, when the second floor included a new central wall and the removal of other walls; and the insertion of concertina doors, creating two large rooms divisible into four classrooms. Block A was reroofed in 1989. Changes to the first floor from 1997 created administration offices in the central part of the building, which became a single space in 1998.[48]

The Rockhampton community has celebrated the long history of the Allenstown State School. On 16 July 1977 the school held an 8-day long celebration including a fete and open day and fireworks. A large commemorative stone with plaque was unveiled in the front garden by NTE Hewitt, MLA; between 2009 and 2019, the stone was moved slightly west in the front garden and rotated 180 degrees.[49] The school also published a centenary book.[50] In 1998 a plaque was added at the swimming pool, which was renamed the David Coughran Memorial Swimming Pool, in recognition of a teacher who had taught at the school from 1972-97. The school marked its 125th anniversary in 2002, with a number of celebrations held between May and July. The school also published a commemorative history tour of the site in 2009.[51]

In 2019, the school continues to operate from its original site. It retains its two 1884 playsheds; the Clayton Memorial (by 1892); the 1930s Swimming Pool, Front Garden, Playing Field, and Depression-era Brick School Building; and Parade Ground (by 1948). Allenstown State School is important to Rockhampton as a key social focus for the community, and includes memorials to prominent community members associated with the school. Generations of students have been taught there, and many social events have been held in the school’s grounds and buildings since its establishment.

Description

Allenstown State School occupies a 3.75ha site covering a full city block in Allenstown, a central suburb of Rockhampton. The flat, rectangular site comprises a complex of teaching buildings at the western end and a playing field at the eastern end.

Features of the school of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• Front Garden (by 1932)
• Block A (Depression-era Brick School Building, 1939)
• Parade Ground (by 1948)
• Clayton Memorial (by 1892)
• Playsheds (c1884)
• Swimming Pool (1931)
• Playing Field (1936)
• Views

Front Garden (by 1932)

The Front Garden is the principal entry to the school and it forms a forecourt and open setting for Block A. West to east it extends from the front boundary of the school on Upper Dawson Road, to the front (west) elevation of Block A. North to south it extends approximately 35m from a netball court to an administration building (built 2007).

Features of the Front Garden of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• symmetrical layout comprising two squares of lawn either side of a central concrete path
• concrete-edged beds for shrubbery surrounding the lawns (shrubs are not of state-level cultural heritage significance)
• two cluster palms (Phoenix spp, likely reclinata), one standing at the centre of each lawn square
• central path of red tinted concrete and its inlaid white and black mosaic tile features (by 1932) and crossing path (also by 1932 with 1939 extensions associated with the construction of Block A)
• 1977 centenary commemorative stone and its metal plaque (moved to its existing location between 2006 and 2019 from a nearby area of the Front Garden)

Features of the Front Garden not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• fences and gates, including a chainwire fence (surrounding the northern court)  built across the northern part of the garden.
• seats
• signs
• location and orientation of 1977 centenary commemorative stone

Block A (1939)

Block A is the main building, standing centrally at the front of the site and facing west across the Front Garden to Upper Dawson Road. It is a three-storey, masonry teaching building, long and narrow, with its long sides facing west and east. It has a hipped roof and features a tall, central ventilation fleche.

The front elevation is symmetrically composed and features classically-influenced design elements. It has a prominent centred entrance bay with a tall gable pediment and pilasters, emulating a temple front, and first floor entrance doors accessed by branching stairs.

Single-storey sections at both ends of the building accommodate toilets. The ground floor is largely open for a play area, accessed through a series of large openings along both long sides. The first and second floors accommodate a series of classrooms accessed by a long corridor on the western side and stairwells at both ends of the building.

Features of Block A also of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• three-storey form with hipped roof and single-storey toilet blocks at either end
• rendered exterior walls with scribed ashlar coursing, pilasters with moulded capitals and bases, and spandrels with centred rectangular vents
• ALLENSTOWN STATE SCHOOL lettering on front pediment
• branching front stair of concrete with moulded tread nosings and iron balustrade
• wall-mounted external light above front door
• eaves lined with flat sheets and cover battens
• metal ogee gutters (gable pediments), large metal rain heads, and original square downpipes with wide moulded straps
• ventilation fleche
• wall-mounted lightning straps
• circular vent in gable with metal ventilation louvres
• original door and window openings
• timber joinery:
  • front entrance doors: pair of panelled, clear-finished doors with metal kick plates (possibly replacements of original to matching detail) and three-light awning hung fanlight, and its original door and fanlights hardware
  • ground floor entrance doors: pairs of panelled, clear-finished doors with glazed panel, metal kick plates (possibly replacements of original to matching detail), and its original door hardware
  • ground floor boarded doors into store rooms under stairs (possibly moved here from store room under front stair)
  • first and second floor panelled doors into former teacher’s rooms (have had glass panels inserted, replacing original solid timber panels)
  • classroom doors (corridor wall): panelled, pairs of doors with three-light awning hung fanlights and original door and fanlight hardware
  • three-light double-hung windows with three-light fanlights (in corridor wall) and original metal hardware (finger ring pulls and catches)
  • original skirtings, architraves, cornices, picture rails, and wall-mounted hook rows
• concrete spoon drain around base of building
• ground floor layout with open play area, concrete floor, face brick pillars with rounded corners, timber-topped wall-mounted seats and exposed first floor framing (steel and timber)
• stairwells and their concrete stairs and metal railings with moulded timber handrail[1] (moulded concrete stair nosings have been sheared off), red tint to concrete floor extant in first and second floor former cloakrooms, coved floor edges
• rendered interior walls
• first floor small stair to southern classroom and raised ‘stage’ floor
• ceilings:
  • ground floor flat sheets and battens or plaster ceilings in toilets
  • first floor plaster ceilings in corridor and stairwells/cloakrooms, and flat cement sheets and batten cover strips in classrooms, teachers rooms, and hall
  • second floor ceilings are sheets and battens
  • vents in second floor classroom ceilings (have been closed over)
• wall-mounted metal plaque in first floor entrance hall commemorating the 1939 opening of Block A

Features of Block A not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• covered ways and connections to later adjacent buildings
• non-original metal gutters, downpipes, and other rainwater goods
• metal corrugated roof sheets (original roof was corrugated asbestos sheets) and skylights
• metal frame at rear and the air handling units it supports
• air conditioning systems and ducts
• external louvre window screens
• concrete block wing wall added to northern toilet entrance
• metal shields above front door entablature mould and above gable pediments bed moulds
• non-original windows,[2] screens, and doors
• non-original openings
• non-original closures of original openings
• roof-mounted ventilation on single-storey toilet blocks
• pigeon proofing
• all garden beds around base of building
• external wall-mounted plumbing pipes and vents
• lattice
• signs
• non-original fixtures, fittings, services, and floor coverings
• tuckshop enclosure, chainwire cages, and non-original seats in understorey
• later toilets added to second floor cloakrooms and their window openings
• wall-mounted metal plaque commemorating 2007 opening of Administration Building
• non-original addition of paint to concrete floor margins (originally not tinted/painted)

Parade Ground (by 1948)

The Parade Ground is a rectangular flat space on the eastern side of Block A, measuring approximately 50m by 19m. It extends the entire length of Block A (excluding the single-storey toilet blocks), and Block A’s ground floor open play area connects directly to the Parade Ground though a series of openings in Block A on this side. It stretches east to Block C, south to Block D, and north to Block B.

Features of the Parade Ground of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• open, flat space for assemblies
• bitumen ground surface
• Queen Elizabeth II Coronation commemorative metal flagpole and plaque mounted on concrete block and its visual relationship with the Parade Ground (relocated within the Parade Ground c1999 to stand immediately north of the shelter shed (built 1999). Although relocated, they retain a relationship with the Parade Ground, visible from the student assembly space.

Features of the Parade Ground not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• shelter shed (1999) and associated landscaping and structures
• Block C, Block D, and Block B and associated structures
• covered ways and stairs including high-level connection to Block A from Block D at the southern end
• moved location of QEII flagpole and plaque

Clayton Memorial (by 1892)

The Clayton Memorial comprises a stone urn standing on a stone pillar with inscription. It stands in the Parade Ground.

Features of the Clayton Memorial state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• all stone elements including urn pedestal (replaced 2006-18, similar to original design)
• inscription ‘TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM FRANCIS NASSAN CLAYTON WHO WAS DROWNED OFF PEAK ISLAND KEPPEL BAY 2ND JANUARY 1890 AGED 28 YEARS This Stone is erected by the Teachers of Rockhampton and the scholars of Allenstown State School’ with mason’s mark ‘G.H. JENKINS STANLEY ST’. The inscription has been recut at an earlier date.
• evidence of original use as a fountain hidden inside the pillar and urn (pipes, channels, etc)

Features of the Clayton Memorial not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• location (relocated several times between c1928 and c2006-18)
• recent concrete pad footing/base

Playsheds (1884)

Two playsheds stand in the school grounds. These are open-sided, timber-framed, 10-post shelters with concrete floors and hip roofs. One stands on the southern edge of the school site near Margaret Street and another stands in the centre of the school site, south of the Swimming Pool. Both are highly intact.

Features of the playsheds of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• hipped roof form clad with corrugated metal sheets
• open sides
• timber framing (posts and roof)
• concrete floors
• timber perimeter seats

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

• concrete block ‘shield’ wall in eastern playshed
• non-original gutters
• ‘notch’ taken out of roof in southern playshed

Swimming Pool (1931)

The Swimming Pool is a rectangular, concrete in-ground swimming pool standing to the northeast of the Parade Ground, near Caroline Street.

Features of the Swimming Pool of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• general proportions and footprint
• location

Features of the Swimming Pool not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• concrete apron surround
• tiles and pavers lining the pool shell and lip
• pool diving blocks and ladders
• pool filtering equipment
• surrounding structures including sheds, stands, shade structures, fences

Playing Field (1936)

The Playing Field is a large, open, grassed, flat area at the eastern half of the school site. It is fringed by shade trees planted near the school boundary, contributing to the attractive landscape character of the field.

Features of the Playing Field of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• large flat open grassed space for sports and play
• planting scheme – border of shade trees

Features of the Playing Field not of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• boundary fence
• shelters and other structures
• individual trees planted on the field’s borders

Views

Block A is a prominent building in the relatively low scale neighbourhood and is highly visible from all sides, contributing to its landmark quality in the flat landscape of the surrounding area.

Views of Block A of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

• from Upper Dawson Road, Caroline Street, and Margaret Street to Block A’s entire western, northern, and southern elevations and its fleche. This is made possible by open spaces around the building, including the Front Garden and a netball court on the corner of Upper Dawson Road and Caroline Street. The single-storey administration building has been built on open space at the corner of Upper Dawson Road and Margaret Street, partially obscuring the view to Block A’s west elevation
• from the Front Garden to Block A’s entire western elevation
• from the Parade Ground to Block A’s entire eastern elevation. A single-storey, tall shelter shed (built 1999) has been built on part of this space, partially obscuring the view to Block A’s east elevation
• from the Playing Field (east) to Block A’s fleche, particularly on the centre axis of the fleche

References

[1]http://www.nntt.gov.au/searchRegApps/NativeTitleClaims/Pages/Determination_details.aspx?NNTT_Fileno=QCD2016/006; QHR 600799, Alexandra Railway Bridge, Department of Environment and Science.
[2] Lorna McDonald, Rockhampton: A history of City and District, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1981, pp.340, 525; Northern Argus 22 January 1866, p.1; Rockhampton Bulletin 8 February 1873, p.2.
[3] Project Services, 'Mount Morgan State High School' in Queensland Schools Heritage Study Part II Report, for Education Queensland, 2008, pp.4-5; Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, pp.87-8.
[4] Rockhampton Bulletin 8 February 1873, p.2 see also Government Gazette 18 January 1873, p.112 (Reserve for School Allenstown); Daily Northern Argus, 14 July 1875, p.2, The Capricornian, 19 August 1876, p.540, Rockhampton Bulletin, 25 October 1876, p.2; Brisbane Courier, 16 October 1876, p.3; Daily Northern Argus, 9 July 1877, p.3, 15 August 1877, p.3. The school’s first Principal, George Vowles, was the first Queensland poet to have a volume of works published: Sunbeams in Queensland (1870) (McDonald, Rockhampton: A history of City and District, p. 415). The school residence may not have been built, as none had been erected by August 1877 (Rockhampton Bulletin, 1 August 1877, p.2) The DPW drew plans to add a new teacher’s residence on the school grounds in 1929, to stand east of the teaching buildings, facing Margaret Street (DPW Plan 13566256, March 1929). This does not appear on site plans of 1935 or in DPW Annual Reports, but a residence was built in 1951 (List of work completed at school, on DPW Plan 11808687, November 1973). On a 1955 plan (DPW plan 16066809, February 1955) the residence is shown, crossed out, between the southern playshed and the infants’ playground. It was not present on the school grounds in 1956 (DNRME aerial photograph QAP0616019, 29 May 1956). A new teacher’s residence was built in late 1951 on a site opposite the school in Caroline Street at a cost of £2870. This site was sold to Woolworths in 1985 and the residence removed to allow the construction of a new supermarket (Morning Bulletin, 24 February 1951, p.4; 14 July 1951, p.3; DPW Annual Report 30 June 1952, p.12. School history online, https://allenstownss.eq.edu.au/our-school/history - accessed 2 July 2019).
[5] Morning Bulletin, 8 February 1879, p.2; Allenstown State School Centenary Booklet 1877 – 1977, Rockhampton, Allenstown State School, 1977, p.31.
[6] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.16v.
[7] Tenders were initially called in 1883, but the winner of the contract, William Davis, did not follow up. New tenders were called in early 1884, and the contract was then awarded to Wiley Holmes. (Queensland State Archives, Item 13645, ‘Allenstown No.155 (Rockhampton) State School’, in Series 12607, School Files (Correspondence) for State Schools, 1875-1955; Morning Bulletin, 29 May 1883, p.2 (tenders called); Queensland Government Gazette, 24 January 1884, p.248 (new tenders); 14 February 1884, p.2 (dimensions)). The ‘Ninth Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction in Queensland, being for the year ended 31st December 1884’ p.36, under ‘important additions and repairs’, lists ‘Playshed’ at Allenstown, for £200. (Although the February 1884 tender by Wiley Holmes was for £125 per shed, a June 1884 telegram to the DPI recommended accepting Wiley Holmes’ tender of £100 per shed.). The oldest known playsheds of the standard hipped roof type (B/T5, Burmester et al) in Queensland are one playshed at both Toowoomba South State School and Hemmant State School, and the two playsheds at Allenstown – all built in 1884.
[8] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.4, 48-9.
[9] Morning Bulletin 15 August 1890, p.6; Morning Bulletin 15 July 1922 p7.
[10] The Daily Northern Argus 10 December 1891, p.3; Morning Bulletin 16 December 1904, p.7.
[11] Arbor Day’, Morning Bulletin, 30 April 1892, p.6. Clayton drowned in a boating accident off Peak Island in Keppel Bay on 2 January 1890. The school principal Frederick Smith and student Patrick (Walter) Mooney survived the accident.
[12] ‘DPW plan 19187828, ‘Allenstown S. School Block Plan’ July 1935 (location of memorial by this date); http://www.sunshinecoastplaces.com.au/se-queensland/allenstown/allenstown-state-school accessed 10 April 2019 (shows memorial in front of new brick school building); Morning Bulletin, 7 November 1953, p.6 (monument moved to memorial garden at rear of school); aerial photograph QAP0616019, 29 May 1956 (shows the memorial garden, with a perimeter of trees); Project Services Report Allenstown State School, 2006.
[13] Transport improved from 1909, with the introduction of an electric tramway system in Rockhampton, with one route having a terminus in Upper Dawson Road near the school. Rockhampton was the only regional Queensland city to have a tram service. McDonald, Rockhampton: A history of City and District, pp. 117-118; Brisbane Courier, 5 June 1909, p.10.
[14] Capricornian, 12 November 1898, p.5; Morning Bulletin, 23 January 1899, p.5; DPW Annual Report 30 June 1899, allocated £500 for this project (1899 wing). Morning Bulletin, 11 December 1906, p.9; Brisbane Courier, 11 January 1907, p.7 (1907 raising of school). Morning Bulletin, 9 August 1909, p.1; 21 September 1909, p.4; 10 December 1909, p.2 (1909 wing). The DPW Report for the Year Ended 30th June 1910 shows a playshed standing closely behind the 1909 wing, located near the corner of Caroline Street and Upper Dawson Road.
[15] NA, Allenstown State School History Tour, Allenstown State School, Allenstown, Rockhampton 2009, p.45.
[16] Morning Bulletin, 13 June 1913, p.6; Capricornian, 20 December 1913, p.46; Morning Bulletin, 7 January 1914, p.6, 13 June 1914, p.6; Morning Bulletin, 20 July 1914 p.2; Daily Standard, 21 August 1914 p.6; Morning Bulletin, 30 January 1915, p.6. The 51ft by 25ft open-air annexe included a wall and a verandah on its south side, with the other three walls divided into 12 sections, with rollers for canvas blinds. Erected by Pugh Bros, it cost £814.
[17] Morning Bulletin, 30 June 1911, p.6 (the trees listed in the news article do not include cluster palms); Morning Bulletin, 16 December 1911, p.7; The Queenslander 23 March 1912, p.39; Daily Standard 10 April 1913, p.7; Morning Bulletin, 15 July 1922 p.7. In 1912, there were still shallow waterholes running north-south across the grounds, to the east of the fence located just east of the playsheds and toilets. The remainder of the grounds were unfenced at this time (QSA Item 13645, sketch of grounds c1912).
[18] Morning Bulletin 21 October 1926, p.5; Morning Bulletin 8 October 1928, p.8 (third fete held by the Allenstown State School Help Association).
[19] Morning Bulletin 5 October 1926, p.1 (Curator offered to guide work); Morning Bulletin 9 November 1926, p.10 (work on gardens to begin after Christmas holidays).
[20] Morning Bulletin 8 March 1927, p.3; Morning Bulletin 3 October 1927, p.7. The garden is shown in a sketch dated 10 May 1929 in Allenstown State School History Tour, p.30. It shows the front garden stretched along the entire front of the site and having a symmetrical layout of long rectangles with narrow flowerbed borders and a central path from Upper Dawson Road to the buildings, but does not show any central symmetrical cluster palms. However, photographs of Block A in the late 1930s appear to show palms, similar to those existing in 2019, in the front garden either side of the central path (Central Queensland Herald, 29 September 1938, p.5; DPW Annual Report, 1939, p.28).
[21] Morning Bulletin, 16 July 1929, p.13. The article mentions the ‘landscape garden in front of the school’ and the article’s photo shows a large (possibly fig) tree very near the front (western side) of the timber buildings as well as a tall flagpole.
[22] Central Queensland Herald, 5 March 1931, p.44 (opening of pool); Morning Bulletin, 5 Feb 1932, p.6. The path was reported as 22 yards long and 3ft 6in wide and the cross path was reported as 110 yards long; Morning Bulletin, 15 June 1933, p.6.
[23] Morning Bulletin, 24 November 1934, p.10.
[24] These brick buildings were categorised as type E/B1 in Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.59.
[25] ‘Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30 Jun 1930’, p.15.
[26] Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, p.58.
[27] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.58; Morning Bulletin, 26 March 1936, p.6; https://allenstownss.eq.edu.au/calendarandnews/newsletters/newsletters/newsletter-2018-10-16.pdf accessed 11 July 2019.
[28] The building programme included: government offices, schools, and colleges; university buildings; courthouses and police stations; hospitals and asylums; and gaols. ‘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 DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1934, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1934, pp.6-8; DPW, Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1935, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1935, p.2; Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1936, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1936, p.2; ‘State will spend over £460,000: big building plans’, The Courier-Mail, 28 Dec 1933, p.9; Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30 June 1939, Queensland Government Printer, Brisbane, 1939, p.2.
[29] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, p.60.
[30] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools: A Heritage Conservation Study, pp.59-60.
[31] DPW architectural drawings for the building are extensive, and although some standard detail drawings from 1934 were used and GR Beveridge’s 1936 design was probably the inspiration, the principal design occurred from January to December 1938, and principal architect was Nigel Laman Thomas.  Morning Bulletin, 12 January 1938, p.6; Morning Bulletin, 28 January 1938, p.9; Morning Bulletin, 20 September 1938, p.9, shows the building 2/3 complete; The Central Queensland Herald, 2 February 1939, p.4, shows the building nearing completion.
[32] DPW plans 13566278, 16066886, and 160066897, January 1938.
[33] Morning Bulletin, 26 July 1939, p.11. DPW architectural drawing 19181822, October 1938, shows the exterior as stucco scored to mimic ashlar, and the description of the building on opening shows its ‘cream plaster walls and red fibro-concrete roof’ in Morning Bulletin, 26 July 1939, p.11. This is confirmed in the Report of the DPW for the Year Ended 30th June 1939 photograph of the building, which shows the building is fully rendered.
[34] Morning Bulletin, 31 July 1939, p.9; The Evening News, 31 July 1939, p.8.
[35] Morning Bulletin, 31 July 1939, p.9; The Evening News, 31 July 1939, p.8.
[36] The Evening News, 31 July 1939, p.8 (for 180 infants); Morning Bulletin, 20 December 1940, p.6 (approval to move buildings). The open-air annex was rotated so that its southern verandah was on the north side. (DPW plan 19218595, ‘Allenstown, Rockhampton S.S. Re-Erection of Two (2) Buildings for Infants’, December 1939). A verandah was added to the west end of the annexe after 1947, and c1955 a classroom extension was added to its east end (DPW plan 19218606, 1947; DPW plan 16066820 ‘Allenstown S.S. Additions’, 1955).
[37] Morning Bulletin, 30 August 1940, p.7. Cotton was grown on the land at the corner of Caroline Street and Upper Dawson Road as well as the playing field at the eastern half of the site. Trenches were also dug at the school during the war, while camouflage nets were made in Block A (NA, Allenstown State School History Tour, pp.41, 42).
[38] Morning Bulletin, 5 May 1941, p.8; 1 June 1944, p.4; 31 August 1946, p.3.
[39] Allenstown State School Centenary Booklet 1877 – 1977, pp.24-5; Morning Bulletin, 21 May 1949, p.9. The swimming pool had a new concrete floor lining added in 1990 and was relined in 2007 (DPW plan 15888609, 1989; NA, Allenstown State School History Tour, p.34, 46, 47), but it retains its original size, which in 1952 was noted as 75ft by 25ft (23m by 7.6m), (Morning Bulletin, 24 March 1952, p.3).
[40] Morning Bulletin, 1 March 1948, p.6.
[41] NA, Allenstown State School History Tour, p.45.
[42] DPW Plans 16066820, February 1955; and 11808698, February 1964.
[43] Morning Bulletin, 17 July 1952, p.10 - article states the Clayton Memorial then stood at the front of the school; Allenstown State School Centenary Booklet 1877 – 1977, p.11 (photo of speeches from dais).
[44] Morning Bulletin, 7 November 1953, p.6.
[45] NA, Allenstown State School Centenary Booklet 1877 – 1977, p. 25; DPW Plan 16066699, April 1969.
[46] School history online, https://allenstownss.eq.edu.au/our-school/history accessed 4 July 2019; DPW Plan 15822939, December 1972.
[47] DPW plan 15800708, May 1978.
[48] DPW plans 15800708 and 15800697, 1978; 14416633, 1997; and 21501392, 1998. See also Department of Education History e-resource Services – The Department of Education 1957 -1982 http://education.qld.gov.au/library/edhistory/state/brief/primary-1957.html - accessed 23 November 2018; NA, Allenstown State School History Tour, p.13 (1989 reroofing).
[49] NA, Allenstown State School History Tour, p.13 (photographs show stone in original location).
[50] Allenstown State School Centenary Booklet 1877 – 1977.
[51] School history online, https://allenstownss.eq.edu.au/our-school/history - Accessed 2 July 2019; NA Allenstown State School History Tour, pp. 15, 28, 31, 32, 33; School newsletter, 16 October 2018.

[52] Original handrails are maple and were likely originally clear-finished.
[53] Original timber-framed casement windows (three light with single light awning hung fanlights) have been replaced with aluminium-framed windows and fixed glazing throughout). Stage classroom windows, ground floor toilet windows, and openings between staircases and cloakrooms originally had wire grilles.

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