In the early 1860's Government grants were no longer available to Denominational Schools, so Andersons Creek school that had returned to the corner of Forbes Street became Common School No. 12. The low number did not mean that it was the twelfth school. At this time schools were numbered in alphabetival order, so Andersons Creek was twelfth on the list. The building now had to comply with new regulations. The roof had to be raised so that the walls could be heightened by three feet. Structurally, the building was weakened and soon became dangerous, so eventually a new building was recommended by the District Inspector.
In 1875, a new timber school was planned for Andersons Creek. A member of the School Committee, William Masterton, had been a stone mason before coming to Victoria. The Committee decided that the new school house should be built of stone. The estimated cost using local stone was £543/9/0. Masterton resigned from the School Committee, and with a fellow miner James Sloan as a partner, built the new school.
There were similarities in the life of both Masterton and Sloan. Both had come to Andersons Creek in the early days of gold mining; both had been stone masons; both men had children at the school and both were among the few early gold-miners whose descendants are still living at Warrandyte.
They built a stone schoolhouse designed on the lines of an English Village School, with simple and pleasing proportions. The steep gabled roof had a single ridge. At the east end was an entrance porch and along the side a simple row of windows.
Inside, the school was divided into two rooms. Stone for the walls came from a quarry in the hills behind the school. The stoneówork shows a high standard of craftsmanship. Rough squared stone blocks of varying sizes were laid in regular courses giving a neat finish. Bricks, the colour of which harmonised with the stone, were used around the door and window openings to give a straight edge for the joinery.
The roof was covered with wooden shingles as an iron roof would have cost £20 extra. Later when the shingles cracked and began to leak they were covered with iron. It was not till 1902 that the school bell was installed on its wooden stand where it still stands outside the porch.
Warrandyte Primary School, Brackenbury Street, 1970 showing the original stone-built school with the cement-rendered brick entrance that was added in 1925. The original building was built in 1875. DP0243
Perhaps at some future date the school authorities may remove the unfortunate addition. Then the old stone schoolhouse, while fulfilling a school purpose, may stand on its own as the No. 1 historic building of Warrandyte.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1971 02 DTHS Newsletter. Drawing from 1971 02 DTHS Newsletter. Reprinted in 2000 12 DTHS Newsletter
WARRANDYTE PRIMARY SCHOOL (SCHOOL NO. 12)
42-52 Brackenbury Street WARRANDYTE, Manningham CityOf local significance as the earliest school remaining in the municipality, with particular importance for the Warrandyte community, and of interest for the use of local sandstone and the demonstration of considerable stonecraft skills in its construction.
http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/22635
Warrandyte school No 12, centenary 1875-1975 : souvenir programme ; 16th August, 1975, centenary celebrations.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/31401108
WARRANDYTE PRIMARY SCHOOL (SCHOOL NO. 12)
42 - 52 Brackenbury Street, WarrandytePlace No. 14
Designer H.R. Bastow, Chief Architect,
Warrandyte's first school (c.1856) was a Church of England school, soon closed owing to a lack of pupils as Warrandyte's diggings were deserted for more promising places. Schooling re-commenced in 1863 in the court house while the first Andersons Creek School No. 12 was being built on a site in Yana Street. This school was opened in 1875. The name changed to Warrandyte Primary School in 1908 [1].
This school was completed on 20 July, 1875 under the direction of Chief Architect H.R. Bastow, by the builder William Bolger of Collingwood, at a cost of 543.9.0 pounds. The stonemasons were William Masterton and James Sloan. The stone was quarried in the valley behind the school by the builder. In 1903 the timber shingled roof [2] was covered with iron and the gable vents removed. In 1925, a rendered brick classroom with a porch was added, gable-end windows were enlarged, metal roof vents, a stove and a screen were added, the galleries removed and a timber shelter shed built.
The 1875 school has brick quoins around the windows, and stone window sills. It is constructed of ashlar sandstone with a gable roof. It is a characteristic 80-type single room school, altered by the removal of galleries and finials, the addition of a rendered brick classroom, porch and roof vents, and the enlargement of the gable-end windows. The porch has some architectural pretensions, influenced by English Baroque through Sir John Vanbrugh.
The porch has three bays, the central bay rising as a gable, a strong cornice line with the central entrance bay, decorated with ruled courses and pilaster strips. There is a timber shelter shed.
Some comparisons are Templestowe Primary School (173.07) and Doncaster East Primary School (194.23).
Creation Date 1875 Change Dates
Associations Local Themes
James Sloan and William Masterton - sto 6.03 - Schools
STATEMENT OF Of local significance as the earliest school remaining in the municipality, with particular SIGNIFICANCE importance for the Warrandyte community, and of interest for the use of local sandstone and the demonstration of considerable stonecraft skills in its construction.
Heritage Register Listings Register
Heritage Schedule External Paint Controls: On VHR: Internal Alteration Controls: Prohibited Uses:
VHR Ref No:
Manningham Heritage Study Context Pty. Ltd. page 430
Warrandyte Primary School No.12 time capsule was buried in stone August 1975.
https://www.facebook.com/warrandytehistoricalsociety/posts/1632970840248805
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| Warrandyte School c Stone building 2017 (School Website) |
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| Warrandyte PS 1975 SLV |
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| Warrandyte PS 1975 SLV |
Anderson's Creek's earliest school was a tent school established about 1856. Classes were then taught in the Court House and later in a split slab building by Mrs Rosa Pretty. In 1863 the Board of Education declared the Anderson's Creek Common School No.12 on its alphabetical list. However by 1874 the old school building was reported as becoming increasingly dilapidated with parents reluctant to send children to a cold and draughty school. The resulting pressure and demands from parents and residents led to a new school building of local stone (quarried from nearby Whipstick Gully) and built by local miners and stonemasons William Masterton and James Sloan.
Extract from 'Wonderful Warrandyte A Portrait' by Valerie Polley. Copies available from Warrandyte Historical Society Museum.
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