CLIFTON HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

Clifton Hill Primary School, including the 1874 school building designed by William Henry Ellerker. 

Clifton Hill Primary School is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register: 

Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.

Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects

 

Clifton Hill Primary School is historically significant as a demonstration of the development of state schooling in Victoria. The 1874 building is based on a standard design, one of several produced as part of an 1873 competition held by the new Department of Education. It therefore has a direct association with the extensive school building program across the colony in the 1870s. Constructed to provide for 1000 students, its substantial size demonstrates the dramatic effect of the Education Act 1872 on school enrolments and the demands made on the Education Department. 

 

Clifton Hill Primary School is architecturally significant as a pivotal example of a ‘competition school’ produced as part of an 1873 competition held by the newly formed Department of Education. The design reveals the philosophy of education at the time. The large classroom spaces indicate the size of classes, and the rather limited fenestration reveals the priority given to the isolation of children during the education process over the provision of natural light.