Mutdapilly State School

The 1874 Mutdapilly State School is a rare surviving example of a school designed by London trained Brisbane architect Richard Suter. It is located on a treed allotment on the corner of the Cunningham Highway and Churchbank Weir Road. When built, this was the Normanby National School. It served as the local mail office from 1876; was known as the Normanby State School from 1877. In 1869 Suter developed a standard design for timber-framed schools clad only internally, creating a distinctive exposed framing exterior. Suter was the first in Queensland to use this technique and it featured in school architecture for a subsequent 50 years. There are only three known largely intact early Suter schools remaining in Queensland. This school, like others have been altered over time, including the replacement of the shingle roof with corrugated iron and the inclusion of external cladding. From the 1920s, in an effort to improve the lighting and ventilation of schools, larger casement windows were installed. A tennis court was built here in 1925 and a play shed in 1927. The mature trees, many the products of Arbor Day plantings, add to the ambience of the site. The school was renamed Mutdapilly in 1968.