Bayswater Primary School

Statement of Significance

The place has historic importance for its educational, social and civic associations. The school is part of the development of the Bayswater townsite and has historic associations with a number of influential community members - Smeed, Stone and Murray. The involvement of the local community in the development and upgrading of the school is also of significance.

Physical Description

Brick construction building designed in a "U" shaped plan with a gable roof of corrugated metal projecting over a wide inward-facing verandah running the full length of the inner sides of the "U" and supported on full height timber posts with a cross braced balustrade. This verandah is raised up on timber stumps and is approached by a pair of wooden staircases. Both ends of the verandah are enclosed with jarrah weatherboard to form washrooms. The gable ends project over the end walls and are supported in the case of the earlier wing by carved wooden brackets. The roofs are vented at the gable peaks. Tall bricks corbelled chimneys project above the outer walls and large metal vent stacks appear above the ridge of the

History

The Bayswater School was founded in 1894 and its location between Murray and Leake Streets indicates what was then the centre of the very small and scattered Bayswater community. William Leonard Smeed and Frederick Stone led the agitation for the foundation of the school and both also emerged as local characters in the early history of the Bayswater Roads Board. The land was purchased from David Murray, original owner of the 5 acre Lot 37. The school has a checkered construction history as it was expanded in stages as the population grew. Each stage of development followed an arduous campaign by teachers and parents, and temporary arrangements had sometimes to be made for children to be accommodated in halls, pending more accommodation. The first wooden schoolroom, built by Alexander Halliday, served as the library in later years, but burnt down in 1957. The earliest rooms still in existence are the two brick rooms built in 1900 in response to an overcrowding crisis. The population increase of 1904-5 was clearly the impetus for a further brick room in 1906, the coming population boom in Bayswater being referred to frequently on Education Department files in 1904. Following the addition of another room in 1910, the school by 1912 consisted of five classrooms, two wooden and three brick. Facilities were never fully adequate however, and with the formation of the Parents and Citizens Association in the 1920s, agitation for improved playground facilities and accommodation stepped up. Being built on the side of a hill with little slope for a level play area had always been a problem, but it was not until 1926 that the two antiquated wooden classrooms were combined into a hall and two further brick classrooms added. Meanwhile, pavilion rooms which still remain had been added as a supposed stopgap measure in 1914. Thus, by the end of 1926, the school consisted of 5 permanent brick rooms, three pavilion rooms and a hall. Another brick room was added in 1932, after much agitation from the Parents and Citizens Association. This was one of the few government works undertaken in the district during the Depression, other than sustenance works. The much needed levelling of the playground was carried out in 1939-40. The next great pressure on school accommodation occurred in the early 50s in the midst of the Post-War baby boom; but with competition for school facilities from the many new areas of suburbia, Bayswater received only pre-fabricated Bristol rooms which were sources of complaint for many years. The fire which burnt down the oldest part of the school in 1957 resulted in a new library in the undercroft and upgraded staff facilities. However, it was not until the late 1970s that a junior school was built and in 1995 a major upgrading occurred with a new library and administration facilities. In recent years the number of children in Bayswater has fallen off somewhat and the days when the school was under constant pressure is part of history; but with the movement of young people back into older areas this might not always be the case.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High Authenticity - High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update