Historic school building still standing almost 150 years later

It was designed by Robert George Suter, a private architect hired to create a standard design for timber framed schools by the Queensland Board of General Education. Until 1875 about 65 schools of this design were built, and only three are known to have survived.

While the area around the school grew and another school was built at North Caboolture and the original school’s name changed to Caboolture South in 1889, and then again renamed to Morayfield in 1907.

In the 1920’s and 30’s larger windows were installed in to improve the lighting.

Karen Walshe, a lone-time teacher aide, who worked in the building for four years complains of the lack of any insulation, meaning it was awfully hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter. Despite the extreme weather conditions, she liked the building in many ways.

“It’s got a nostalgic feel,” she says.

Pupils and teachers, back in the day, would have enjoyed no creature comforts and felt like sardines, she says.

The school’s groundskeeper of 19 years, Jeff Wilson, says his children attended the school and he, himself is a keen student of the building’s history and credit its strong structure meaning it was built to last.

On the school’s first day August 4, 1873, 13 children were in attendance according to the school admission register. William Berry was the very first teach and by December that year there were 34 children on the roll ranging in age from five – 18 years. In comparison, currently the school has 550 pupils and 70 staff.