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TYRENDARRA STATE SCHOOL NO. 1630 (FORMER)

Other Name STATE SCHOOL NO. 1630 (and NO. 489?) Location 125 TYRENDARRA SCHOOL ROAD, TYRENDARRA, GLENELG SHIRE Level Recommended for Heritage Overlay

[1/1] 52580 SS 1630 Tyrendarra

Statement of Significance

What is Significant?
The Tyrendarra State School is located at the corner of Tyrendarra School Road and Morton's Quarry Road, Tyrendarra, approximately one kilometre south of Tyrendarra Township. The school is a small timber building with a steep gable roof, a porch to the west, a verandah to the north and an additional two rooms to the east. The school was begun in 1875 on land donated by land owner, Samuel Brownlaw. A number of large families begun to settle in the area after the first subdivision of land in 1863 and the school was required to educate children in the area. The first Head Teacher was Thomas G. Patterson who stayed at the school from 1875 until 25 May 1881. There were around sixty students when the school opened. The two rooms at the rear were provided as a teacher's residence and this later became a lunch room for students in winter. Junior students were taught on a mezzanine level in the school room and older students on the ground floor. Some families in the district had students at the school for four generations, including the Brownlaw and Arnott families. Politicians Winston Turnbull, M.H.R. and D.L. Arnott, M.L.C. attended the school in their youth. The school was closed after 1973 and is now a private residence.

How is it Significant?
The Tyrendarra State School is of historical and social significance to the Glenelg Shire.

Why is it Significant?
The Tyrendarra State School is of historical significance because it is evidence of the large number of settlers and their families in the Tyrendarra district from 1875 for over one hundred years. It is of further historical significance as one of the earliest State Schools in the area. It shows the importance of education for the pioneering families in the shire. It is of social significance as a focus of the community and for its association with the farming families of the shire over 100 years.