Early Swamp Schools

The first school on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp was School No. 2629 which had opened on November 1, 1884 on the corner of Bethunes Road and the Koo Wee Rup to Bayles Road. It was originally known as Yallock School and changed its name to Koo Wee Rup on July 24, 1903. The building was shifted into Rossiter Road (where the Secondary College is) in September 1910. A new building was opened in February 1915 which burnt down in May 1950. The replacement school opened as a Higher Elementary School (both primary and some secondary classes) in mid 1952. The Primary school eventually moved to its Moody Street location and was officially opened there on November 25, 1960.

For many years this was the only school on the Swamp. After four years of work the newly drained Swamp was considered ready for settlement in 1893 and families began to arrive, however it wasn’t until July 1894 that the schools at Five Mile and Iona opened.

It must have been a great occasion for the swamp settlers at the eastern end of the swamp to have schools that their children could attend, however apparently some children were less than excited as they had been roaming free and not attending school for 12 months and a newspaper report at the time said that the Iona Head Teacher, Arthur Jamieson, ‘found the that the children were in a deplorable condition of ignorance and barbaric wildness.’*

Koo Wee Rup North State School, No. 3198

The first of these schools to open was No. 3198, on the corner of Five Mile Road and Main Drain Road, and it opened on July 7, 1894. This School was originally called Koo Wee Rup South and changed its name to Koo Wee Rup North (and unofficially called Five Mile School). 

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

recreation reserve location.

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

Five Mile School had Peter Norris as the first Head Teacher. At one time the school population was over 100 but in July 1954 when the School celebrated its 60th anniversary there were only 20 children enrolled. However, the anniversary celebrations were a great success with over 700 people attending, including three original scholars - W. Gilchrist, W.G. De Vries and Tilly Freeman (nee O’Shea). 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. I have written about the Consolidated School here. 

I have written about World War One soldiers from Koo Wee Rup North area, here. The post also includes information on two previous teachers from the School who served - Captain Frank McNamara who received the Victoria Cross and Captain William Wilson who received the Military Cross.

Koo Wee Rup North State School 1927

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photo

Iona State School, No. 3201

The Iona State School was located on the corner of Thirteen Mile Road and Bunyip River Road at Vervale. The name of Vervale didn’t come into use for this area until around 1917, 23 years after the school was established, which is why it was never officially known by that name. The school, with an attached three-roomed teachers quarters, opened on July 9, 1894 and was originally known as Koo Wee Rup North; then in 1899 it changed its name to Bunyip South and then in 1905 to Iona.

There were 83 pupils enrolled when it opened and the head teacher was Arthur Jamieson. When the school opened many of the local children had not been at school since their parents had moved to the area (it was around 1893 that permanent settlers moved to the Swamp) so it was not an easy time for Mr Jamieson as some children had no interest in attending school after a year or so of freedom. Mr Jamieson also had to establish a school garden and a playground.

By 1895, the school population had grown to 120 pupils and the new Head Teacher Joseph Lyons arrived in April 1895. He had three assistants - Mr Colquhoun, Miss Alston and Mrs Lyons. Joseph Lyons remained at the school until 1907.

As the school population increased the teachers quarters were used as class rooms, and so a separate teacher’s residence of five rooms was built in 1908. The original school building burnt down on July 6, 1913 and school lessons were held in a private house until the new building, which had accommodation for 164 pupils, opened on April 28, 1914. The school was opened by Mrs Keast, the wife of the local state member of Parliament, in front of a crowd of 500 people, with entertainment provided by the Iona Brass Band.

The Education Department established the War Relief Fund in August 1914, to raise money for the War effort or as the Education Department’s Record of War Service, 1914-1919 book put it ‘sustained and generous help by Victorian boys and girls may well assist to keep Australia free from the horrors of war. Every boy and girl should therefore endeavour to make regular contributions till the close of War’. This book lists the amount of money raised by children at all schools in Victoria and the children at Iona raised £196 for this fund, a substantial amount compared to other schools in the area. 

After the War, from April 1920 to the end of 1927, the Head Teacher was World War One veteran, Percy Scouller. Percy Osborne Scouller had enlisted on February 8, 1915 at the age of 23. After serving overseas Sergeant Scouller arrived back home in Australia in June 1919 and was discharged in the August of that year and had a number of temporary appointments until he was posted to Iona.

In 1942, electricity was supplied to the school and the telephone was connected in 1964. Celebrations took place in 1964 to mark the 50th anniversary of the new building with between 500 and 600 people attending. Another celebration took place in 1989 to mark the 75th anniversary the 1914 building. Sadly, the school community could not celebrate one hundred years of education as the school was closed on December 17, 1993, seven months short of its centenary. The building is now at Nar Nar Goon and used as a Scout Hall.

Iona State School - opening of the new building in 1914. 

Photo: On the edge of the swamp: a history of the Iona Primary School no. 3201 1894-1994 

by Denise Nest

* Gippsland Independent, March 6, 1895, as quoted by Denise Nest (see below).

Sources: 

Vision and Realisation : a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, edited by L.J. Blake. Published by the Education Department of Victoria, 1973.

On the edge of the swamp: a history of the Iona Primary School No. 3201 1894-1994 by Denise M. Nest ( Iona Primary School Back-To-Committee, 1994)

Island Road School No. 3952

The Island Road School, formerly Dalmore East, opened June 23, 1919. The people of Dalmore East had been agitating for a school for a few years. In August 1916, Mr W. Giles, the Secretary of the Manks Road and District Farmers Association had written a letter to the Education Department with a list of 36 children who might attend the local school. In October 1916, the Education Department purchased one and a half acres of land from F. Wood for £20.00 per acre. A working bee was held to clear the land as the Education Department had a spare building in Koo-Wee-Rup that they were willing to move to Dalmore.  This building was the original Koo-Wee-Rup State School, No. 2629, building. School No. 2629 had opened on November 1, 1884 on the corner of Bethunes Road and the Koo-Wee-Rup to Bayles Road. It was originally known as Yallock School and changed its name to Koo-Wee-Rup on July 24, 1903. The building was shifted into Rossiter Road (where the Secondary College is) in September 1910. This building became redundant when a new building was opened in February 1915. It was this redundant building that the Education Department wanted to move to Dalmore East.

The School, in 1913, on the Rossiter Road site.

Photograph from the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical society collection.

Perhaps due to the War there were difficulties finding a contractor to re-locate the building and it wasn’t until May/June 1919 that a contractor could be found to move the School.  When it was opened on June 23, 1919 there were eighteen children enrolled –Alice Dixon, Annie Dixon, Ethel Dixon, Elsie Follett ,Vera Follett, Bessie Giles, Pauline Giles, Rosalind Levey, Wilfred Levey, David Mills, Alice Pepper, Gwendelon Pepper, Samuel Pepper, Sarah Pepper, Clara Wood, Clifford Wood, Emily Wood and Frank Wood. Another twelve children enrolled during the year. 

The first teacher was Miss Estella Forbes. Estella Forbes had previously taught at Flemington Primary School and this School had an average attendance of 580 students in 1915, so Island Road would have been a bit of a shock to her. Estella did not stay very long as the first year of operation saw a succession of teachers; after Estella there was Elizabeth Anderson, then Alexander Munro, then Eric Elliott who started in 1920 and left in 1923. This succession of teachers probably reflects the reality of teaching in a one teacher country school - many of these teachers would have been young; there was no school house so they would have had to board locally or else travel in from Koo-Wee-Rup on a horse, or as Eric did a bicycle. As well, resources were poor and the teachers complained about lack of basic resources such as desks and blackboards.  

The School, in 1969, at Island Road.

Photograph from the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society collection.

The School was surrounded by water in the December 1934 flood but it did not enter the actual building, although the shelter shed and outdoor toilets were inundated.  It was due  to the fact the school was an island during the flood that James Marshall, who was the teacher at the school from 1932 until 1936, suggested that the school change its name to Island Road School  and this was adopted in 1935. 

From 1919 until 1945 there had been 15 teachers at the school, and the school was closed for a short time in 1944-45 when no suitable accommodation for a teacher could be provided. This succession of teachers came to an end in 1945 when Allan Humphries was appointed, as he stayed until 1955. During his tenure, electricity was installed in 1953.
A Young Farmers Club was established at the school in 1939 by teacher Walter Koochew and in 1946 Allan Humphries started a Scout Troop, with himself as the Scout Leader.  Mr Humphries also started evening classes to teach English to the newly arrived migrants from Holland, Italy and Greece. After Humphries left in 1955 there was another succession of teachers with none staying more than three years.  At the time of the Island Road School Golden Jubilee celebrations and ‘Back-to’ in 1969, student numbers were down to seventeen. In a document that we have at the Society, it was reported that in the fifty years the school had educated 344 students. Over 500 people attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations.  Island Road School, No.3952, closed in 1974 when enrolments were down to six. 

In 1984, Koo-Wee-Rup Primary School, No. 2629, celebrated its centenary and fittingly its original building was moved back onto the Koo-Wee-Rup Primary School site from Island Road that year.