Applecross Primary School (original buildings)

Child Places

• 17794 Pavilion - Applecross Primary School
• 17792 Bell Tower - Applecross Primary School
• 17793 School House - Applecross Primary School

Statement of Significance

Applecross Primary School os significant for the following reasons:

Historic Value: The building was one of the first purpose built schools in Applecross and is in close proximity to the newer Applecross Primary School (within the grounds) which replaced it.

Social Value: The building as a school Museum provides an insight into what this aspect of life was like in the early days of settlement.

Authenticity: The building is in its original state.

Physical Description

The School building, the Teachers House and the Shelter Shed are timber-framed clad in lapped timber boarding, painted with pitched and gabled roofing clad in corrugated iron sheeting. Joinery and floors throughout are timber. The Shelter Shed has no windows and is now enclosed as workshop and store.

The Bell Tower is a freestanding stepped structure of precast concrete blocks, painted, with a metal bracket and bell mounted on top. A brass plaque on the structure of precast concrete blocks, painted with a metal bracket and bell mounted on top. A brass plaque on the structure reads: “Western Australian Centenary 1829-1929. Presented by Parents and Citizens”. The Bell Tower dates from 1929.

The Pavilion is the junction of two individual single pavilion classrooms constructed in 1919 and 1948. The now single building is timber-framed with painted lapped timber-boarded dado, fibrocement linings above the dado, timber floors and pitched roof clad in corrugated galvanised iron sheeting.

History

Applecross was still a small suburb at the turn of the century, with poor roads leading to the nearest school, 4 1/2 miles away. However, there were more than a dozen children in the area needing an education. Discussion with the Education Department about the issue led to the first Applecross School opening in 1905, and run from the local Road Board Hall as there were not enough pupils to warrant a school being built. By 1909, the Hall was in a poor state of repair, and terribly hot in summer, but despite the complaints of parents, the Education Department would still not build a new school, as there was not a large enough attendance. Gradual increases in the numbers of pupils meant that the Hall was becoming increasingly crowded, and the complaints to the Department of Education increased accordingly. Consequently the Department began looking for a suitable piece of land on which to build a school 1912. In order to speed up the process, the Land Agents in the area offered the Department Lots 304-311 for free, providing the new school was built within 6 months. However, by the start of the school year in 1913, the school was not even started, and so a letter by the Land Agents requesting the starting and completion dates for the school building was sent out to the Department in May. At the beginning of June the contract to build the one-room school was given to Messrs. Aitkens and Tillotson of Perth, to be completed on 3rd September at a cost of 783 pounds 18s 6d. The school was opened on the 4th September 1913.

As the suburb grew, so too did the school, and by 1918 the new school was already overcrowded, with 57 children on the roll, but the room designed for 50. A second classroom was built soon after, and by 1934 there were still only the two classrooms, but a shelter shed was also being used as a classroom.

The Bell Tower was constructed and erected in 1929, in celebration of the Western Australian Centenary 1829-1929 and to house the School bell.

The first of the brick classrooms were built in 1945 to alleviate crowding. The ‘baby boom’ era of the late 1940s and early 1950s was a period of tremendous growth in the Applecross area, and consequently the numbers of children attending the school increased dramatically. In 1948 the enrolment at the school was 178 students, and by 1950 it had nearly double to 310. Unfortunately, in the opinion of the School Inspectors of the day, the old wooden buildings were ‘badly in need of general renovation’, but still had to be used because of the overcrowding. In the next few years, classes were place din temporary rooms, in the staff room, in the hall, even in the cloakroom for extra space. More new brick classrooms were added in 1948, 1954 and 1959. When the additions were made in 1954, the old wooden 1913 school room was moved to its present position to make space. The school reached its peak of 843 pupils in 1962, and steadily decreased after that, so that by 1970 the three timber-frame classrooms (all separate from the main school block) were not regularly occupied.

In 1978, a student teacher at the school suggested that the 1913 original building be restored and then used as an example of a one-teacher school. By the 1970s, the room had been used for nothing more than a storeroom, so the suggestion was seen as a good use of the old school building. The teacher Mrs Susan Clark who made the suggestion, with the aid of other helpers, cleaned and restored the room and it was opened in May 1980. Since then the school room has been made available to teachers so that classes can be taken through and shown what school life was like at the beginning of this century.

Integrity/Authenticity

Modifications: Very Few or None
Extent of Original Fabric: Most

Condition

Sound, some deterioration of paint finishes.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.