The History of Bororen State School

The name Bororen means “Old Man Kangaroo”.

On the 18th December 1897 a public meeting was held and an application prepared for the establishment of a Provisional School in Bororen. There were 18 children between the ages of five and fourteen years likely to attend the school with the nearest school, maintained and subsidized by the State was 10 miles away in Miriam Vale by road. The estimated total cost of building, offices, tanks and furniture was 50 pounds.

In January 1898 the Department of Education replied that it was unable to approve the establishment of a school in Bororen at the time as there was no established township at present, and the stationmaster’s home is the only building there. The district contains a few settlers who make their living chiefly in the timber trade.

The department requested a map of the proposed school, which the committee sent on 20th January 1899.

Mr Harrap from Department of Education visited the proposed site at Bororen but a new application had to be prepared and sent off. The cost this time is 70 pounds.

 On 18th April 1899 the school committee was advised that if they built a school or otherwise provided accommodations, without subsidy and agreed to supplementing the teachers salary by 10pounds where attendance was under 12, a teacher would  be appointed, by the Department.

In May 1899 the committee accepted the proposal and requested the specifications for the building.

On 22nd May 1899 the Department of Education applied to the Department of Lands for a 10 acres of land and later that year a School  Reserve was proclaimed.

On 22nd January 1900 a Department of Education appointed teacher, Miss Mary Fenton commenced duty with a salary of 60 pounds from the Department and 10 pounds supplemented by the committee and schooling commenced the following week, with 8 students to increase to 14 students.

In 1909 the school became a State School.

On 11th May 1911 the committee requested an extension be built onto the existing building as there were 42 students attending the school, therefore by June 1911 it was granted.

The head teacher in July 1920, asked the Department for the school to be raised up as the students had nowhere to shelter in rainy weather.

Enrolment and attendance increased in 1922 so therefore the school building was raised, in 1933 the building was enclosed underneath.

In 1945 the District Inspector visited the school and recommended that as the building was overcrowded, old fashioned and narrow that it should be widened or replaced. It was recommended that a total new school building be built.

The school committee was therefore informed that they would receive a new school building. However delays in the commencement of the construction of the new building, overcrowding of the school room, problems with the school two water tanks and a flu epidemic which affected many pupils caused the parents of the children to hold a public meeting and withdraw their children from the school. (This was in July 1946).

In August 1956  after a public meeting it was decided  that the parents would sent the students back to school after the midwinter vacation on the condition that the Department provide drinking water for the children and that construction of the new school room be expedited.  A portion of the verandah was enclosed to provide for a separate library in 1963.

In the 1970’s the first school room was divided by a wall to make a small classroom and another room which was to be used as a library. The enclosed verandah was later used by the school staff as an office.

In 1927 a departmental approved part time teacher taught needlework to the girls in the upper grades, but in March 1933 the head teacher applied for a subordinate teacher as there was 55 children on the roll. This was granted in June 1933.

After 1935 the school remained a “one teacher” school until 1946 when another junior teacher was appointed. As enrolments ranged from 47 to 77 over the period of 1946 to 1962 the school remained a two teacher school except for a period of time in 1952 when only one teacher was available. In 1963 the school reverted back to a “one teacher” school when enrolments dropped to 30.

 In 1978 two teachers were appointed to teach at Bororen except for a short time in 1986 when enrolments dropped to under 30.

Enrolments in the 1970’s fell significantly. However, the expansion of the industrial sector in Gladstone and Boyne Island in the early 1990’s led to an increase in the population of Turkey Beach and the areas surrounding Bororen and this again increased enrolments. In 1991 enrolments forced the need for another teaching block and in 1991 a new teaching block was constructed and opened. The school was divided into three classes. Number one school room was converted to the library, the library was converted to an office area and the second classroom was utilized as a classroom.

In 1991 when the new school building was constructed a third teacher was employed. With the increase in enrolments over the following years and the provision of a pre-school, three teachers were no longer adequate. As pre-school children are recognised as only half of an enrolment 0.5 of a teacher was provided to the school to start 1999. This teacher was allocated the preschool children for that term. In mid 1999 when the “half teacher” was unable to continue in her appointment, a fourth  full time teacher was appointed. The enrolments at that time  sustain the need for a fourth full time teacher. ( This is a long way from the staffing scale of 1 teacher for every 46 students as provided for in 1953.)

In 1996 it was discovered that the district had grown to such an extent that there were over 23 children in the Turkey Beach and Bororen areas who would be eligible to enrol for the pre school in the 1997 year. Many of these children would not be accepted at the Miriam Vale pre school as the population of Miriam Vale had also generated an exceptionally large number of children eligible to go to preschool the following year. Therefore a couple of parents gathered numbers by collecting names and birth dates of prospective Bororen school children. Ten pre-schoolers were required each year for at least 4 years. The principal and Parents and Citizens association then wrote to the Department requesting the provision of a Pre School at Bororen and in February 1997 Pre School commenced at the Bororen School.

Enrolments continued to rise and the Department on inspection considered that the older classroom was no longer suitable for the size of the class being taught ( 26 pupils). After many promises and delays a convertible building (with Air conditioning) was erected as a ‘stop gap” for the period of mid 1998 to mid 1999. In 1999 another semi-permanent classroom block was constructed (with air conditioning). The older classrooms are no longer used as classrooms but are used for the staff room and the library.  This building is now our Administration Office. The 'stop gap' building is still onsite and is the building used by the Year 3 - 6 class.

Bororen State school started from humble beginnings in a small wooden building that contained a single classroom, it would progress into a school of 90 students with a newly attached teaching block in the year 2000.  Since then the numbers have fluctuated and again this had been as a result of the industrial and construction work that is happening in the area.

Project Club

In January 1934 the Director of Education sent out a circular stating that the “Agricultural Project Club Scheme was successful in some schools. The expansion of the scheme is not only desired but the Syllabus directs that school work is to be applied to the environment and home life of the pupils, and if, as a result of the school’s programme of experiences and activities, developing situations are to be created by means of which the child may be trained to meet and deal with problems of which his past experience presents no parallel, it is difficult to appreciate the attitude of a teacher who, circumstances permitting, fails to embrace the opportunities offered by participation in projects bearing on the agricultural or stock interests of his particular district ( in other words the project club was aimed at promoting children's’ learning experiences with agricultural subjects available in the local area).

Therefore in 1934 a Project Club was established for the Bororen State school.

Over the following years the following projects were undertaken:

1934 – Bororen grass

1935 – Summer grass

1936 -  Pasture improvement

1937 – Vegetable Club

1938 – Millet and Variety Club

1939 – Summer Grasses

1940 – Tomato Culture

1941 – Agriculture and Gardens

1943 – Vegetable Club

1946 – Milk Testing and Dairy Scheme

1947 – Milk Testing and Calves (home)

1949 – Milk and Cream Testing

1950 – Summer Grasses and Milk and Cream testing

1953 – Calf Club

1954 – Poultry home pen improvement

1956 – Forestry

Each year the Department compelled the school to participate in Arbor Day by planting new plants each year and monitoring the growth and survival of plants grown in previous years. A report regarding how many and what type of plants were planted and the activities undertaken on the day.

Each year a whole or half day was set aside to celebrate Arbor day. The parents of the children were encouraged to join in and in the late 1960’s basket lunches were enjoyed by both parents and children.

The plants planted carried and included: mango trees, poinciana's, paw paws, camphor laurels, palms, bougainvillea's, weeping figs, Burdekin plums, hibiscus and pine trees.

The most notable of these Arbor Day plantings are the two pencil pine trees that were planted at the front of the gate in 1949. The trees were supplied by the Parent and Citizens Association.

Miss Ethel Smallcombe helped plant one of the trees and Noel Marxsen helped plant the other. Another notable Arbor Day planting is the Burdekin Plum tree planted by Les Smallcombe (Ethel’s uncle).

In 1955 the first pine trees were planted in the forestry plot. 49 pines were planted in the forestry plot and 14 were planted near the residence. 21 pines were planted in the forestry plot in the following year. Unfortunately in the 1990’s it was considered that any surviving pines needed to be removed.

Some of the children would ride pushbikes or some would ride their horses to school. There was a saddle and bridle shed provided at the school also a horse paddock (which is now the sports ground) for the horses to graze in. Some children hooked up the horse with harness to drive a buggy to school.