Brisbane State High School

General

Also known as

Brisbane State High School, Block H; South Brisbane Primary School; Brisbane South Intermediate School; Brisbane South Girls and Infants School

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

31 October 1994

Types

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

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

Themes

9.1 Educating Queenslanders: Providing primary schooling

9.2 Educating Queenslanders: Providing secondary education

2.10 Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Responding to climate and climatic events

Architects

Backhouse, Benjamin Joseph

Porter, Charles

Queensland Department of Public Works

Builders

Beauchamp, Charles

Nott, P

Construction periods

1864–1932, Block H - School (1864 - 1932)

1914–1917, Block H - Teachers' Retiring Rooms (1914 - 1917)

1925, Block A (1925)

Historical period

1840s–1860s Mid-19th century

1914–1919 World War I

1919–1930s Interwar period

Location

Address

Cnr Cordelia and Glenelg Streets, South Brisbane

LGA

Brisbane City Council

Coordinates

-27.47927364, 153.01892518

Significance

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

Brisbane State High School is important in demonstrating the provision and evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. Established in 1865 as South Brisbane Primary School, the school retains excellent, representative examples of teaching buildings illustrating a continuum of years of experimentation with natural light, classroom size, and ventilation by the Department of Public Works (DPW) to produce an ideal educational environment, set in landscaped grounds with mature trees.

With its core built by January 1865, Block H is one of the first state school buildings constructed in Queensland and is representative of the earliest phase of government-provided education in Queensland, and precursor to the subsequent system of widespread standardised state education. Block H is one of three known surviving examples of a school building constructed during this period. The later extensions and alterations (1877, 1929, 1932) and the two Teachers Rooms (1914, 1917) represent important later stages of school design by the DPW.

Block A (1925), the first purpose-built state high school built in Brisbane, is one of the earliest state high schools in Queensland not attached to a technical college. It illustrates the Queensland Government’s commitment to state-provided secondary education.

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

Block H is one of the oldest state school buildings in Queensland, demonstrating rare evidence of the first phase of government-provided education. It is one of five surviving 1860s school buildings and is distinctive as the largest and only two-storey example.

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

Block H is a rare example of an 1860s Queensland state school building with later extensions and modifications by the DPW. Intended as a fine, permanent civic asset, it is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of this type, which include: masonry construction with steep roof; verandahs as circulation; doors and windows that maximise natural light and ventilation; large classrooms with lofty interiors; classrooms later divided into smaller classrooms by folding partitions; and a high standard of design and craftsmanship.

Block A is an excellent, intact example of an Urban Brick School Building designed by the DPW. It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of this type, which include: a handsome edifice standing in a prominent location; symmetrical two-storey form of classrooms and teachers rooms above an understory of open play spaces; a linear layout of the main floors with rooms accessed by corridors; loadbearing masonry construction; prominent projecting central entrance bay; and a high standard of design to provide superior educational environments that focus on abundant natural light and ventilation. It demonstrates the use of stylistic features of its era, through its roof form, joinery, and decorative treatment.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Block H has aesthetic significance as a two-storey masonry school building from the 1860s with cohesive later extensions. It has beautiful attributes brought about by its simple rectangular wings with tall gable roofs; well-composed elevations; durable, high quality materials and craftsmanship; open verandahs; and lofty interiors with high levels of natural light and ventilation.

Highly intact, Block A has aesthetic significance due to its formal composition, decorative elements, substantial size, and materials through which the DPW sought to convey the concepts of progress and permanence. Standing at a prominent intersection, it is a landmark building in the South Brisbane streetscape.  

The fig trees on the Merivale Street campus have aesthetic significance for their streetscape contribution, substantial size and natural beauty within the context of an urban school campus.

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

Brisbane State High School has a strong and ongoing association with the South Brisbane and Brisbane community. Generations of children have been taught at the school since state education commenced on the site in 1865. The place is important for its contribution to the educational development of Brisbane as a prominent community focal point and gathering place for social and commemorative events with widespread community support.

History

Brisbane State High School (BSHS) comprises two campuses in South Brisbane: the former South Brisbane Primary School (established on the site in 1865); and the initial site of BSHS (established on the site in 1925). After the primary school closed the high school expanded to occupy both sites. The school includes:

• Block H (1865-1932) – the former South Brisbane Primary School building
• two Teachers Rooms (1914 and 1917) – built to accompany Block H
• Block A (1925) – the initial high school building, an Urban Brick School Building; and
• three mature fig trees (predating 1946)

Block H, two Teachers Rooms, and three Mature Fig Trees

The core of Block H was constructed by 1865 as the South Brisbane Primary School, with extensions erected in 1877, 1929, and 1932. The two Teachers Rooms were added in 1914 and 1917. The mature fig trees were planted prior to 1946.

In Queensland the Education Act of 1860 established a Board of General Education and provided for a system of government-subsidised primary schools. Under this Act communities were required to contribute one-third of the construction cost for new school buildings but this was later relaxed and in 1864 more schools were constructed, including South Brisbane Primary School. Of the Queensland Government school buildings built to 1865 the only known survivors are Gayndah State School (1861-63) [QHR600516], South Brisbane (by 11 January 1865) [QHR601222] and Warwick East State School (by 11 February 1865) [QHR600947]. Only two other 1860s school buildings survive in Queensland, both dating from 1967; Baroona Special School [QHR600278] and Fortitude Valley State School (former) [QHR602136] [1]

From the 1850s South Brisbane rivalled North Brisbane as an important commercial and residential area. Moves to establish a school at South Brisbane commenced in 1860. In November 1861 the colonial government granted two acres (8093m2) of land between Cordelia and Merivale streets to the Board of General Education for school purposes. Subscriptions took some time to raise and in April 1863 a primary school was established in temporary, overcrowded accommodation at the Mechanics Institute in Stanley Street. Brisbane architect Christopher Porter (1801-1874) was employed to prepare plans for a new building. Porter was the first architect for the Board of General Education and his work included the design of the Normal School at North Brisbane and schools at Little Ipswich, Ipswich, and Gladstone.[2]

The new school building at South Brisbane was built by Brisbane contractor Charles Beauchamp for £1050 supervised by Brisbane architect Benjamin Backhouse. It was completed for the commencement of the new school year on 23 January 1865, when it was officially opened by Minister for Lands and Works Arthur Macalister.[3]

It was a two-storey brick building designed to accommodate 300 pupils, with one large classroom on each floor. Facing Merivale Street, the front (northeast elevation) had a central brick porch and a balcony on the first floor. A hall accommodating a staircase and hatroom projected centrally from the rear.[4]

Further accommodation was soon needed. A balcony was added to the first floor of the rear in 1874 and substantial additions were made with the construction of a two-storey brick wing perpendicular to the rear of the building in 1877. This provided two new classrooms, one on each floor and each approximately 19ft x30ft (5.7m x 9.1m) and had verandahs running along both sides. It was built by Brisbane contractor Phillip Nott for £725. By this time a verandah had been added to the first floor of the northwest side of the 1865 section, but this was demolished between 1914 and 1930.[5]

South Brisbane continued to expand in the boom years of the 1880s. It was renamed Borough of South Brisbane in 1887 when the population reached 15,000. During this decade the school playground was filled and levelled, partly using rock excavated in 1884 for the South Brisbane Dry Dock. In 1888 the building’s shingled roof was replaced with corrugated iron sheets.[6]

By the late 1880s the school was overcrowded. In 1888 the Department of Public Instruction divided the school, which had already been operating as two separate departments. A new building erected on the other side of Merivale Street, at the corner of Glenelg Street, became Brisbane South Boys School. South Brisbane Primary School closed and re-opened as Brisbane South Girls and Infants School.[7]

Few changes were made to Block H in the following three decades. In 1914 a small timber teachers room was erected on the northwestern side of the 1877 wing and in 1917 another teachers room was built on the southeastern side of the wing.[8] These were small, single-storey, freestanding, one-room buildings that were accessed by a small set of stairs from the asphalt verandah.

South Brisbane City Council was absorbed in 1925 by Greater Brisbane Council and the area became increasingly industrialised. Enrolments declined at Brisbane South Girls and Infants School and Brisbane South Boys School.[9] In December 1928 the two existing South Brisbane state schools were closed and combined on the former boys’ school site, reopening as Brisbane South State School.[10]

The vacant girls and infants school building was converted to an intermediate school. Intermediate schools, equipped with workshops, laboratories, and domestic science rooms, were established in major Queensland towns after 1928. They reflected a fundamental change in Queensland education policy at the time, catering for 12 and 13 year old students, and offered a two-year course as a link between primary and secondary education.[11]

The building was converted between December 1928 and November 1929, costing £5000. This involved: rendering the exterior walls; demolishing the brick front porch and converting the front door to a window; adding a brick-enclosed concrete stair to the northwestern verandah (requiring the move and refixing of the 1917 teachers room at a short distance on this side with a minor alteration to its front door location); extending the 1877 wing to its rear (southwest) on both levels by 8ft (2.43m); partitioning the four large classrooms to create ten classrooms (three on each level of the 1865 section, and two on each level of the 1877 section); adding larger windows to the southeastern verandah wall of the 1887 wing; adding a staff toilet to both levels of the northwestern verandah of the 1887 wing; and rearranging doors and windows. The building was officially opened in November 1929 as the Brisbane South Intermediate School.[12]

Almost immediately it was planned to extend the 1865 wing by an additional four bays to the southeast, completed in 1932 for £1430. This added a further four classrooms (two on each level) a first floor verandah on the front, an enclosed verandah on both levels of the rear, and another internal stair.[13]

By this time the school grounds included large open areas for play, freestanding toilets, playsheds, and a tennis court. The provision of outdoor play space at schools was the result of the early and continued commitment by the Department of Public Instruction to play-based education, particularly in primary school. Inspectors stressed the importance of adding shade trees to playgrounds. In response, Arbor Day celebrations at schools began in Queensland in 1890. Landscape elements were intrinsic to Queensland Government education philosophies. Educators believed gardening and Arbor Days instilled in young minds the value of hard work and activity, improved classroom discipline, and developed aesthetic tastes. At South Brisbane Primary School, trees (including figs) were planted during the 1890s. Aerial photographs taken in 1946 show large shade trees near what was then the boundaries of the school. These included: one large tree on Merivale Street, one on Cordelia Street, and one adjacent to the northwestern corner of the teaching building.[14]

The intermediate school concept was replaced in the 1940s and 1950s by high schools offering a variety of courses. Brisbane South Intermediate School was closed 31 December 1953. By August 1954 the nearby Brisbane South State School was transferred into the former Brisbane South Intermediate School premises. This school closed permanently on 31 December 1963 and the premises was absorbed by the adjacent Brisbane State High School. It was renamed Block H and used mainly for domestic science and manual training classes.[15]

Block H was refurbished in 1989 and the Teachers Rooms were relocated within the school grounds. In 2015 they were moved again back near Block H but not to their original locations and Block H was reconfigured as administration offices by partitioning the classrooms and adding a freestanding lift.[16]

In 2018 Block H and the Teachers Rooms are the school’s primary administration offices and the three large fig trees (predating 1946) provide shade in the school grounds.

Block A

Until 1912 Queensland secondary education was elective. Seeing higher education as having little relevance to Queensland's predominately industry-based economy the Queensland Government was initially reluctant to provide it. However, by the early 20th century this position was considered outdated and the state education system was modernised to provide compulsory, free secondary education.[17]

The State Education Acts Amendment Act of 1912 raised the compulsory school age from 12 to 14, creating the need for increased school accommodation. The first state high schools were established at technical colleges in regional areas without grammar schools. The first purpose-built high schools were constructed in 1917 and were large elaborate timber buildings designed by the Department of Public Works (DPW), responsible for all education architecture.[18]

At this time secular secondary education in Brisbane was limited. The community lobbied for the government to establish a state high school in metropolitan Brisbane. Initially the government provided secondary education as departments of the established Brisbane Technical College, Brisbane Central School, and Normal School but in July 1921 Brisbane State High School was formally established using the Normal School in the CBD as temporary premises. To accommodate the school permanently, land was excised from South Brisbane’s Musgrave Park and the DPW designed a substantial three-storey brick school building for the site. Its foundation stone was laid 22 September 1923.[19]

The building was the first purpose-built state high school in Brisbane and cost £34,500. Minister for Public Instruction Frank Tennison Brennan opened the new school on 27 January 1925 declaring it ‘undoubtedly the finest and most costly school building yet erected by the [Queensland] Government’.[20] Contemporary newspaper reports remarked the provision of secondary education was ‘an absolute necessity in a rising democracy’[21] and South Brisbane parents should take advantage of the ‘golden opportunity’ to educate their children for free. Further, it was seen the school would ‘memorialise the centenary of the first actual settlement in the city and … mark the inauguration of the Greater Brisbane Scheme’.[22]

Standing on the site’s highest point, the new building had a commanding view north across a parade ground and playing field. Designed to accommodate 600 pupils, it had separate entrances, stairs, toilets, play areas, and cloakrooms for boys and girls. The ground floor accommodated a large double-height gymnasium in the western end wing. A northern verandah on the first and second floors provided access to a series of south-facing classrooms and it had sheet-and-batten-lined ceilings on the second floor. The classrooms were designed to maximise natural light and ventilation with large banks of south-facing windows.[23]

Although timber was far more commonly used in the construction of Queensland state schools, from c1900 brick school buildings were occasionally built in urban areas where the population was permanent or rapidly increasing. The number of brick school buildings increased sharply between 1928-1947 when approximately 30 brick school buildings were erected as a component of the Queensland Government’s unemployment relief scheme. After this period, brick school buildings were less frequently built.[24]

At Brisbane State High School, Block A remained relatively unchanged until c1964 when its accommodation was reconfigured. This involved: converting the ground floor to staffrooms; inserting a floor into the double-height gymnasium for further classrooms; creating a new main entrance on the centre of the southern side; closing over the original entrances on the northern side; reconfiguring classrooms by demolishing and adding partitions; replacing windows and doors in the verandah wall; and inserting new stairs in the end wings.[25] In the 1990s further partitions were demolished, doors and windows of the verandah wall were replaced again, ducted air conditioning was installed, a new entry portico was added on the northern side, and further staffrooms were made in the ground floor. In 2009 double-glazed windows were added on the inside of the existing windows on the southern, eastern, and western elevations in conjunction with a new ducted air conditioning system.[26]

Brisbane State High School has played an important role in the Brisbane community and continues to do so. In 2018 it is Queensland’s largest state high school [27] and generations of students have been taught there. Many social events have been held in the school’s grounds and buildings and the school continues to be a centre for social, sporting and community events.

Description

Brisbane State High School is located in South Brisbane, approximately 1.4km southwest from the Brisbane CBD. The school covers 4.1ha on two adjacent campuses separated by Cordelia Street.

Features of state-level cultural heritage significance include: 

• Block H (1865-1932) – the former South Brisbane Primary School building
• open space immediately northeast of Block H
• two Teachers Rooms (1914 and 1917) – built to accompany Block H
• Block A (1925) – the initial high school building, an Urban Brick School Building
• open space immediately north of Block A – former parade ground
• three mature fig trees (predating 1946) 

Block H (1865, extended 1877, 1929, and 1932)

Positioned centrally in the Merivale Street Campus, Block H is a two-storey masonry school building comprising two intersecting perpendicular wings with steeply-pitched gable roofs. The original building (1865) faces northeast and has a perpendicular extension (1877, extended 1929) to the southwest and a linear extension to the southeast (1932).

The 1865/1932 wing has a first floor verandah on its northeast elevation and a two-storey verandah, partially-enclosed with chamferboards, on its southwest elevation. At the northern end of the southwest verandah is a face brick-enclosed concrete stairwell (1929).

The 1877 wing has a two-storey timber verandah on its northwest and southeast elevations. The southwestern end of the northwest verandah has a face brick enclosure on both levels (1928, originally staff toilets) and the southwestern end of the southeast verandah has a weatherboard-clad enclosure.

Block H has been converted for administration use.

Features of Block H also of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• face brick walls and tuckpointing
• corrugated metal sheet-clad roof and metal roof ventilators
• rendered finish and quoining
• timber roof trusses exposed in first floor classroom spaces (1877)
• timber board ceilings (beaded, beaded and diagonal, and v-jointed)
• timber verandah detailing including brackets, balustrades, posts, and ceiling and floor boards
• weatherboard (1928) and chamferboard (by 1874 and 1932) verandah enclosures
• concrete stairs with metal balustrades and timber handrails (1929/32)
• timber-framed double hung, casement, and awning windows and fanlights including early hardware
• metal window hoods
• French doors including early hardware
• timber board-lined partitions (1932) between classrooms with large opening where folding partitions have been removed
• clear-finished timber folding partitions disassembled and stored in the first floor mezzanine (1932 section)

Features of Block H not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• freestanding toilet, lift tower and associated bridge to verandah (2015)
• acrylic valances
• administration partitions and associated doors and windows (2015)
• services including lights, fans, air conditioning units, and ducts
• exterior ground surfaces

Teachers Rooms (1914 and 1917)

Two Teachers Rooms stand detached from Block H, to the southeast of the 1877 wing. They are small, single-storey, timber-framed and -clad building with Dutch gable roofs and ventilated gablets with timber battens. Accessible via low timber stairs, the buildings accommodate one room.

Features of the Teachers Rooms also of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• relationship with Block H and close location of buildings
• weatherboard cladding
• corrugated metal sheet-clad roof
• timber-framed windows, doors, and fanlights including original/early hardware (excluding later window)
• window hoods supported by timber brackets with lattice cheeks
• single room layout
• v-jointed timber boards lining walls and coved ceiling
• timber lattice ceiling vents

Features of the Teachers Rooms not of state-level cultural heritage significance include:

• specific location of buildings
• non-original, high-level window (northwest elevation) of the 1914 Teachers Room
• subfloor stumps and battened perimeter skirt
• services including air conditioning units, lights, and fans

Block A (1925)

Block A is a three-storey, face brick school building located on the corner of Vulture and Ernest Street. It accommodates staffrooms on the ground floor and classrooms on the first and second floors.

It has a long central wing terminating in short perpendicular wings at the east and west. The elevations have a rendered ground floor and face brick first and second floors. A brick parapet with rendered cornice conceals a gable roof clad in corrugated metal sheets. A verandah runs along the northern side accessing south-facing classrooms with a projecting central bay accommodating the original entrances and stairs. The southern, western, and eastern elevations have banks of windows on the first and second floors evenly spaced between brick pilasters.

The verandah wall has had its doors and windows replaced in the original openings to a different configuration – the openings are of state-level cultural heritage significance but the later configuration and fabric of doors, windows, and fanlights are not.

North of Block A is a flat parade ground retained by a concrete wall.

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

• face brick walls with render dressings
• original timber-framed windows, doors, and fanlights and early hardware
• original obscure glass and lead came in eastern and western casement windows
• verandahs: face brick walls and concrete floors
• classrooms: smooth rendered walls and timber-framed floors
• central concrete stairs and metal balustrades with timber handrails
• flagpole on roof
• original ceilings – flat plaster or concrete ground and first floors, sheets-and battens second floor (note: at time of writing it is not known if the sheets-and battens-lined second floor ceilings are original or to what extent they are original)
  view of Block A from Vulture Street, Ernest Street, and Gladstone Road
  open parade ground north of Block A

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

• all fabric relating to c1964 reconfiguration, including:
  • first floor inserted in former gymnasium western end wing
  • concrete stairs at either end of Block A
  • ceilings, cornices, and windows
• blackboards
• all fabric relating to reconfiguration of ground floor into staff offices including partitions and ceilings
• aluminium-framed windows
• fixed metal screens in verandah openings on first and second floor
• air conditioning units, ducts, and other non-original services
• fabric of the parade ground: concrete retaining walls, stairs and balustrades, shade structures, covered ways, vegetation, and furniture

Fig Trees (predating 1946)

On the Merivale Street campus are three mature fig trees. One stands on the Merivale Street boundary northeast of Block H and has a canopy approximately 25m in diameter extending over the road. One stands to the north of Block H near its front verandah and has a canopy approximately 12m in diameter. A third stands on the Cordelia Street boundary south of Block H and has a canopy approximately 35m in diameter.  

References

[1] Greg Logan and Eddie Clarke, State Education in Queensland – A Brief History, Brisbane: Policy and Information Services Branch, Department of Education, 1984, p.1 (http://education.qld.gov.au/library/docs/edhistory/stateedu.pdf); Paul Burmester, Margaret Pullar and Michael Kennedy, Queensland Schools A Heritage Conservation Study, a report for the Department of Education, 1996, p.1; Department of Education, ‘Opening and closing dates of Queensland Schools’, eResource Services, http://education.qld.gov.au/library/edhistory/celebrations/dates/, updated August 2013; Entries on the Queensland Heritage Register, Gayndah State School [QHR600516] and Warwick East State School [QHR600947].
[2] Brisbane History Group, A tour of historic South Brisbane: Southbank Heritage Drive, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 1985, p2; Moreton Bay Courier, 15 December 1860, p.5; Survey Plan N258 (1861); Courier, 8 April 1863, p.1; and 14 April 1863, p.2; Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th century, South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994, pp.144-5.
[3] Queensland State Archives Item ID13960, Administration file, school, Brisbane South Boys No 14 State School Memorandum of agreement, 5 August 1864; Brisbane Courier, 24 January 1865, p.2; and 16 February 1865, p.5. Beauchamp requested permission to quarry stone at Kangaroo Point for the school in August 1864: Brisbane Courier, 16 August 1864, p.2.
[4] Brisbane Courier, 20 May 1865, p.5; Report of the Board of General Education, 1864, Notes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly 1865, Vol, 1, p.5; Queensland State Archives Item ID867337, Architectural plans, ‘Plan of State School South Brisbane (Boys) (No 14)’.
[5] Queensland Government Gazette Vol. 15 No. 50, 25 April 1874, p.846 and Vol.21 No. 27, 11 August 1877, p.365; Board of General Education Annual Report, 1874, p31, cited in Fiona Gardiner, Brisbane South Primary School Documentary History, 1989, p.5; The Week, 30 June 1877, p.15; Second Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction in Queensland, being for the year ended 31st December 1877, Table H [unpaged]; Queensland State Archives Item ID13960, Administration file, Brisbane South Boys No. 14 State School, Letter, 28 July 1884; Department of Public Works, Contact Ledger – School buildings 1870-1878, cited in Gardiner, 1989, pp.6-7; pdArchitect and Niche Environment and Heritage, Conservation Management Plan: Brisbane State High School [draft], November 2016, p.2; The verandah addition was possibly built by Phillip Nott earlier in 1877 at a cost of £150. Report on Works carried out under the Colonial Architect’s Department during the year 1877, p.5; Brisbane Courier, 9 July 1877, p.3.
[6] Centre for the Government of Queensland, Queensland Places: South Brisbane (http://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/south-brisbane), 2015; Queensland Government Gazette, Vol. 31 No. 82. 25 November 1882, p.1356; Eighth Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction in Queensland, being for the year ended 31 December 1883, Table I, p.35; Ninth Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction in Queensland, being for the year ended 31 December 1884, Table I, p.36; Department of Public Works, Schools Detail ledger 1885-1890, cited in Gardiner, 1989, p.8; entry on the Queensland Heritage Register, South Brisbane Dry Dock [QHR600301].
[7] pdArchitect and Niche Environment and Heritage, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.3; Telegraph, 30 April 1889, p.3.
[8] The 1914 wing was constructed by Hugh Cannan at a cost of £119 17s 6d: Annual Report of the Department of Public Works for the year 1913-1914, pp18&30; Brisbane Courier 11 February 1914, p.2; Thomas Pye, Department of Works, South Brisbane State School (Girls & Infants) New Teachers Room, 1914 (121-18-3/1). The 1917 building was constructed to the 1914 plans at a cost of £141 by day labour: Department of Administrative Services, Heritage Buildings Group, Batch No. 1031, Brisbane State High School, Old Primary and Intermediate School Building Card, 28 September 1917.
[9] Fifty-third Annual Report of the Secretary for Public Instruction in Queensland, being the report for the year ended 31st December, 1928; Queensland State Archives Item ID 13959, Administration file, Brisbane South No.14 State School, Letter 25 January 1929. Numbers had peaked in 1902 with 838, and had gradually reduced to around 500 in the 1920s, dropping to 472 in 1928. Department of Education, Education History Unit File, Brisbane South State School.
[10] Queensland State Archives Agency ID8905, Brisbane South Boys State School and Queensland State Archives Agency ID6155, Brisbane South State School; Brisbane Courier 1 February 1929, p.8; pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.7.
[11] The Week, 2 November 1928, p.40; Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, 1996, p.53; Department of Public Instruction, State Education in Queensland, Brisbane: Department of Public Instruction, 1937, p.29.
[12] Department of Public Works, South Brisbane Intermediate School (formerly Girls and Infants SS) Remodelling and Additions, 1928, Sheet No. 1 (121-18-3/7), Sheet No. 2 (121-18-3/2), Elevations (121-18-3/6); Telegraph, 25 November 1929, p.16; Fifty-fourth annual report of the Secretary for Public Instruction in Queensland, being the report for the year ended 31st December 1929, p.33; Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1929, p.6; Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30th June 1930, p.5.
[13] Reported in DPW as £1447. Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30 June 1932, p.7; Report of the Department of Public Works for the year ended 30 June 1933, p.11; Brisbane Courier, 12 March 1932, p.17; pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.7.
[14] City of Brisbane, Detail Plan No. 38, 18 February 1926; Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, 1996, pp.4, 48-9; Brisbane Courier, 2 May 1891, p.6; Queenslander, 7 May 1892, p.897; Aerial photographs BCC2-34688 and BCC2-34689 (1946)
[15] Logan and Clarke, State Education in Queensland, 1984, pp.8-9; Brisbane Telegraph, 18 December 1953 p.5; Department of Education, ‘Opening and closing dates of Queensland Schools’, updated August 2013; Returns of Teachers Employed in State Schools, 1951-52 Journal and Register of 1951-2; Department of Education, ‘Opening and closing dates of Queensland Schools’, updated August 2013; Brisbane Telegraph, 17 December 1954, p.8;  Queensland State Archives Item ID 13959, Administrative file, Brisbane South No.14 State School, Letters 26 August 1954 and 25 November 1954; Department of Public Works, Brisbane South Intermediate School Alterations for Manual Training, November 1954 (121-18-3/10); pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, pp.7 & 9.
[16] pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, pp.20-21.
[17] Logan and Clarke, State Education in Queensland, 1984, pp7-8; pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.3.
[18] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, 1996, pp.18, 35 & 46; pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.3.
[19] Logan and Clarke, State Education in Queensland, 1984, p.8; Brisbane Courier, 6 November 1916, p.6 and 24 July 1919, p.9; Daily Mail, 1 September 1923, p.8; Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, 1996, p.33, pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.4.
[20] Telegraph, 28 January 1925, p.5.
[21] Daily Mail, 28 January 1925, p.9.
[22] Daily Mail, 28 January 1925, p.9.
[23] Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, 1996, p.46; Department of Public Works Annual Report, year ended 30 June 1923, p.3; pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.4; Department of Public Works, ePlan drawings, 1922, South Brisbane High School, Block Plan (1-15-8/1); Plan of foundation and basement (1-15/8-3); Plan of ground floor (1/-15-8/4); Plan of first floor (1-15-8/5); Elevations and sections (1-15-8/7 and 1-15-8/8).
[24] pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, p.4; Burmester et al, Queensland Schools, 1996, pp.58-9.
[25] Department of Public Works, Brisbane State High School Alterations and Renovations, Sheet No. 2 (A3-867/2); Sheet No. 3 (A3-867/3); Sheet No. 4 (A3-867/4); Sheet No. 5 (A3-867/5); Sheet No. 6 (A3-867/6) and Sheet No. 10 (A3-867/10), 11 November 1964.
[26] Administrative Services Department, Brisbane State High School Block ‘A’ Conversion Plans (20828-0043), February 1991; QBuild, Brisbane SHS Block A Mechanical Ventilation & Stair Restoration (20828-10257), December 1992; QBuild, Brisbane State High School Block A Refurbishment of Ground Floor Administration (20828-12340), November 1994; Department of Public Works, Public Services, Brisbane State High School Double Glazing & Air Conditioning Mitigation Works (44877/CD/M_A01-6) July 2009; pdArchitect and Niche, Conservation Management Plan, 2016, pp.28 & 32.
[27] Department of Education Schools Directory, Brisbane State High School (https://schoolsdirectory.eq.edu.au/Details/2003), 2018 and Brisbane State High School: History (https://brisbaneshs.eq.edu.au/ourschool/History/Pages/default.aspx), 2018.

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