Dardanup State School (fmr)

Statement of Significance

The place is significant for the following values:
Aesthetic Value: The school building has aesthetic significance as a good example of a small state school designed in the English Queen Anne architectural style prepared by the Public Works Department when G. T. Poole was the Government Architect.

Historic Value: The school building has historical significance as one of the oldest state schools and the oldest surviving school in Dardanup.

Physical Description

The building represents an English Queen Anne Style Government School Building designed in the department of George Temple Poole. It is a small single room rectangular building with a steeply pitched gable roof (corrugated metal clad). The verandahs run continuous with the roof on the western and northern sides of the building. There are also two small verandah brick rooms. The verandah has been constructed from timber consisting of timber chamfered posts, fluted brackets and closed eaves. The tall brick chimney is in tact. There are high double hung timber sliding windows.

History

The one room state school was built in 1896 and opened in 1897. Miss Mary
Anne Cleary was the first teacher. The school is one of the oldest
government schools in WA. It closed in 1971 when Dardanup, Wellington,
Ferguson and Waterloo Schools were amalgamated and transferred to the
new school in Hayward Street, Dardanup. The first school established in the
area was in 1854 at the home of Sir Thomas Little and transferred to the
church where, in 1871, it was relocated to a little cottage built beside the
church. The school was taken over by the government and relocated once
again in the new premises (present site) in 1896. The building was restored
in 1988 with the aid of volunteers funded by the Shire of Dardanup and the
Australian Bicentennial Authority. Don Hewison, a one time student, and
the local builder, who undertook much of the renovations, died in a rail
crossing accident outside his home. In 1993 the school was named after him
in acknowledgment of his outstanding contribution to the school. A bronze
plaque on a granite block commemorates the restoration project.

Integrity/Authenticity

Authenticity: Good

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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