Koo Wee Rup North State School flooded

The Koo Wee Rup North State School, No. 3198, opened on July 7, 1894. It was located on the corner of  Five Mile Road and Main Drain Road.  This School was originally called Koo Wee Rup South and changed its name to Koo Wee Rup North and unofficially called Five Mile School. The school parents voted for the school to close in November 1959 and the children were sent to Pakenham Consolidated School. Five Mile was the last school to join or ‘consolidate’ with the Consolidated School which had officially opened in May 1951. (1)

Koo Wee Rup North, showing school, Mechanics' Institute (Hall) and 

recreation reserve location. This section of Main Drain Road is now called Fechner Road.

Detail from Koo-Wee-Rup, County of Mornington Department of Crown Lands and Survey, 1939.

State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/104366

Here are some accounts of the school being flooded and the ineffectual action of the Education Department to solve this problem.

June 1911 - The water is running through the windows of the Koo-Wee-Rup North State school. The same article also notes - The Keast-hall, a new building at Cora Lynn, which was to have been officially opened last night, has about 3ft. of water in it. (The Argus,  June 14, 1911, see here) 

June 1911 - The settlers at Kooweerup have ample cause for righteous indignation at the incapacity which the Public Works department has shown in dealing with the drainage of the swamp. Although large sums of money have been spent in making a clear run to the sea for the Bunyip River and Tarago Creek, which cause the periodic floods to which the flats are subject, the outlet provided yet falls far short of requirements. The consequence is severe financial loss, if not ruin, to a deserving body of small holders, many of whom were induced to buy Kooweerup land on the understanding that it was reclaimed.  (The Leader, June 24, 1911, see here)  

Koo Wee Rup North in flood in 1911 - the school in the centre and the Methodist Church, erected 1909 (2), is on the right.

The Leader, June 24, 1911 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/198161960

November 1913 -  The 5 Mile school and teacher's residence was flooded on the 14th inst. Although the Government promised a couple of years ago to take steps to prevent a flood, nothing has been done except to take levels and to import a sand-dredge, which I understand is hopelessly bogged in the mud of the Lang Lang river. (South Bourke and Mornington Journal, November 20, 1913, see here) 

June 1914 - Good progress is being made with the renovating and remodelling of the State School by the contractors, Messrs Parsons and Weller, whose contract price is £530. The school, which is being temporarily conducted in the hall, has an average attendance of 50 scholars, the teacher, Mr Wilson, having two assistants. The school has been removed about three chains from its old site, with the ostensible purpose of raising the elevation on account of floods, but the floor is not an inch above the level of the old school. Mr Keast, M.L.A., referred to this matter when at Five Mile on Friday, and said that if representations were made to to him it was not too late to alter the location of the building. The proposed school will have ample accommodation, which is in painful contrast to the Kooweerup school, where 73 children are housed in a building 34ft x 23ft, with less air space than the regulations of the department provide for.  (Lang Lang Guardian, June 24, 1914, see here) 

June 1914 - A School below flood level - Good progress is being made with the erection of a new school at Five Mile, the contract price being £530. During the flood in 1911, caused by the overflow of the Kooweerup Canal, there was two feet of water in the school, and a request was made that the floor should be raised above flood level. The new school, however, is being erected on the same site, and the floor elevation is the same as that of the old school. Mr. Keast, M.L.A., is inquiring into the matter.

(The Age, June 27, 1914, see here) 

July 1914 - The five-mile school and teacher's residence, which was recently removed by the Education department about a couple of chains, has, as was generally expected been flooded by the recent rains and unless the school is raised to the level of the road it will always be liable to be flooded after heavy rain. There are large quantities of sand, brought down by the flood about 3 years ago, lying on both banks of the canal, partly covered with grass and ti-tree, which might be used for filling up the site. (South Bourke and Mornington Journal, July 23, 1914, see here) 

Koo Wee Rup North School, 1927

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

September 1918 - The head teacher of the Five Mile School, Mr Donald, had to get out on Wednesday and wade waist deep, carrying his family to safety. All their furniture, etc., had to be hung up out of the flood fiend's grip. The water was a foot deep in the school, which was closed for the remainder of the week. This building is situated in a position particularly liable to flood, for every freshet in the Five Mile drain causes inconvenience. During the two years of the present teacher's regime he has suffered no less than 23 floodings, a record that must surely reach the limit of exasperation. The structure was removed about 100 yards some time ago, to evade or try to minimise the risk, but without any relief. The Five Mile Hall also suffered a visitation, as usual. A ball was to have been held on Wednesday night, but by that time there was a foot of water inside, and the waters danced the "flood glide" at their own pleasure. The ball was postponed to Tuesday of this week. (Koo Wee Rup Sun, September 11, 1918, see here)

Koo Wee Rup North School Residence, 1927

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

The teacher, Mr Donald who suffered the 23 floods, was John Robert Donald, who was born in August 1874 and began his teaching career with the Education Department in 1892. He was appointed to Koo Wee Rup North on January 1, 1916, having previously been at Brookside, near Bright. He was transferred from  Koo Wee Rup North  in April 1919 and in the 1921 Electoral Roll was living at 146 Gatehouse Street, Parkville. John had married Clara Cecilia Powell in 1903, they had three children Robert Stewart (born 1905-1992), Nancy Mavis (1908-1992 Mrs Raymond Kitson) and Charles Douglas (1910-1979). Robert and Charles both served in the Army in World War Two. Clara has a short term of employment at the Education Department as the sewing mistress at Brookside and Koo Wee Rup North, and her appointment ended when John left the Koo Wee Rup North School.  John died in 1962, aged 87 and Clara in 1949, aged 67. They were both cremated at Springvale Botanical Cemetery. (3).

Called Koo Wee Rup South, this is actually the Koo Wee Rup North (Five Mile) School 

in the 1937 flood. 

The Australasian, October 23, 1937. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141810942

Koo Wee Rup North Hall, 1927

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

The Koo Wee Rup North Hall was built in 1910 or 1911. In November 1910 the Shire of Cranbourne received correspondence from Public Health department, submitting plans and specifications regarding proposed public hall at the Five-mile, Kooweerup. The first mention I could find of the use of the hall was in June 1911, but it was most likely opened earlier than that. (4) It has been demolished, maybe in the 1980s. 

Footnotes

(1) More information here https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2018/06/early-swamp-schools.html  and https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2022/10/state-primary-schools-called-koo-wee-rup.html

(2) The Age May 10, 1909, see here, notes A new Methodist Church is to be erected at Five Mile.

(3) John Robert Donald - Public Records Office of Victoria Teacher records (1863-1959) Series 13579;  Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry; Springvale Botanical Cemetery  https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery ; WW2 Nominal Rolls https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/ww2

(4) The Argus, June 15, 1910, see here - A new public hall is to be erected at Five mile.  

South Bourke & Mornington Journal, November 10, 1910, see here - Shire of Cranbourne received correspondence from Public Health department, submitting plans and specifications regarding proposed public hall at the Five-mile, Kooweerup. 

The Argus, June 29, 1911, see here, - A public meeting will be held at the Five-mile Hall to consider the best means of preventing a recurrence of the recent floods on the swamp. Messrs W.S. Keast and A. Downward, M.L.A.'s, will address the gathering. 

A report of the meeting can be read  in The Age, June 30, 1911, here.