The story of Coburg Primary School begins during the Victorian gold rush decade of the 1850s when Coburg was a small rural village called Pentridge. In those days, market gardens and orchards lined the banks of the Merri Creek, cattle and sheep grazed on land that would later be occupied by factories, and farmers grew cereal crops in fields that, in time, would be subdivided for housing.
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[edit] First Schools
Since 1851, a primary school of one type or another has always fronted the northern side of Bell Street, just east of Sydney Road. The first school to operate in this vicinity was one established by a Methodist congregation and was housed in the Wesleyan Chapel which is still standing. At that point there were three church schools operating – Anglican and Catholic as well as Methodist. In June 1851 the total enrolments of all three schools was only 100 pupils. Attendance problems were exacerbated by the fact that, over the summer months, older children were normally kept home by their parents to help with harvesting and fruit picking.
[edit] Pentridge National School
The two Protestant schools had closed by mid 1852. With only the Catholic school open, Rev. Edward Tanner, the Anglican minister of the Holy Trinity Church on the corner of Sydney Road and Urquart Street, was not convinced that Protestant parents would willingly send their children to a Catholic school despite the assertions of Father Dunne who claimed that this was indeed already occurring. Rev. Tanner wrote to Commissioners of the National Education Board requesting assistance with the establishment of a National School at Pentridge. Less than three weeks later on the 8th of July at a public meeting in the former Methodist church school, the Wesleyan Chapel, a seven member school building committee was formed. Elected as its chairman, was the superintendent of the nearby Pentridge Stockade – Samuel Barrow. It is obvious from his early correspondence with the Board that the local community was keen to see a new school constructed and opened within a few months. They also expected the school to be built of stone in common with the Protestant church schools that were now closed. In the meantime, the committee sought permission to re-open the Wesleyan Chapel as a temporary school. This request was rejected by the Board along with a subsequent proposal in late December to build a school made of corrugated iron. The problem was that soaring gold rush inflation and serious labour shortages had dramatically slashed the buying power of the amount raised by the building committee. By January the following year the parents of Pentridge Village found themselves forced by these difficult economic circumstances to vote for a tent school while extra money was collected to build a temporary wooden schoolhouse. Yet even this compromise was only partly approved due to the lack of adequate finance. The tent that was finally erected in March was ten feet shorter than that requested and only one of the two smaller tents ordered for the headmaster and headmistress was supplied. More surprises followed with the appointment in late April of a twenty year old Englishman named William Bryant as the school’s first headmaster. That same month the timber framing for the new wooden schoolhouse was commenced, extra money having been raised.
[edit] School Opening and Development
The Pentridge National School was opened on Monday 2 May 1853 in a large tent. At last, on Monday the 2nd of May 1853, more than ten months after Reverend Tanner’s initial request to the Board, a tent school, otherwise known as Pentridge National School was officially opened. Around mid August, William Bryant and his students, after having endured a winter spent under canvas, now transferred their classes to the wooden schoolhouse. At the same time, Mrs Elizabeth Morgan began her duties as the school’s first headmistress. Towards the end of the year, with student numbers rapidly approaching 200, a teacher’s assistant had to be employed and discussions had already begun, concerning the need for an extra two classrooms to alleviate the overcrowded conditions. Unfortunately, there was no money available at the time to act on this proposal. By mid November 1855 the school building was described by the chairman of Local Patrons as ‘a mass of dilapidation’ and ‘a disgrace to Pentridge’. Adding to the urgency for a new schoolhouse was the re-opening in April 1856 of the Anglican Church school on the corner of Urquhart Street and Sydney Road. The competition between these two schools to attract as many students as possible in order to remain financially viable reflected a larger rivalry between those that supported the Denominational system and those in favour of the National model. To the relief of the latter group work began in late 1857 on a more permanent building, which had brick walls, a slate roof and bluestone foundations. This third version of Pentridge National School opened on the 8th of July the following year and was located within the eastern side of the present day’s senior school assembly area. In September 1862 when the Victorian government replaced the two rival education boards – Denominational and National – with one board, the school became Pentridge Common School. Increasing enrolments during this decade led to the construction in 1867 of a second brick school of the same design as the first to which it was adjoined. This building was located on the western side of the present day’s senior school assembly area.
[edit] Coburg State School
Three years later in 1870 the people behind the campaign to rename the locality known as Pentridge, a word that had become synonymous with the colony’s infamous central penitentiary, celebrated when the change of name to that of Coburg was officially recognised. Hence the Pentridge Common School now became Coburg Common School. However, this title soon changed yet again, when the Victorian parliament passed a bill making primary education compulsory, free and secular in December 1872. Coburg State School as it was now called continued to grow in student numbers, so much so that a third brick building was erected in front of the previous two school rooms in 1874. With its single storey gothic facade and its slate tiled roof, it was by far the most impressive school building to front Bell Street up to that time. A decade later an additional gothic style brick building was constructed in front of the middle section of the previous building. It was two storeys high and was topped by a tall metal spire. When remodelling work began on the senior school site in 1924 only this addition was retained while the other three older structures were demolished to make way for the present building. However, before this occurred i.e. back in the 1890’s, pressure began to grow for the construction of yet another school to accommodate the increasing numbers of younger aged children. Unfortunately it was to be almost another 20 years before this problem was seriously addressed. By the end of this decade the deteriorating condition of the existing buildings led to the school’s temporary closure while the necessary repairs were undertaken. Six years later, in November 1906, the students had to attend classes in either the Wesleyan Hall or the Coburg Town Hall as renovation work was done to the school.
[edit] Infant School
The following year saw the first moves to provide an Infant building for the youngest students of Coburg State School. After delays caused by difficulties surrounding the choice of the most appropriate site, the Infant school was officially opened on the 30th of November 1910 on the southern side of Bell Street, slightly west of the senior school buildings. In 1912 a circular wooden shelter shed was built. While the buildings on the Infant side were a source of pride to the school community, the same could not be said of those on the senior site. By 1920 the condition of the latter school was described as scandalous, thus a request was sent to the Education Department to completely re-model the buildings. As related earlier, only the two-storey addition of 1884 survived the subsequent remodelling work of 1924. As the new school was being constructed, students were sent off to attend classes in a number of nearby premises that were rented by the department. The new school finally opened on the 19th of November 1925.
[edit] Coburg Primary School
The fourteen years from 1924 to 1938 marked the peak period for enrolments with the number of pupils attending always in excess of 1,000. It was only during the Second World War that the student population began to slowly decline. By the time Coburg State School became Coburg Primary School in 1971, less than 600 children’s names appeared on the roll. Throughout the eighties and nineties the steady decrease in enrolments continued, caused by demographic changes that affected many other schools in Melbourne. The school today has settled at an enrolment of around 200. Coburg Primary School has had a remarkable journey across the span of three centuries. There have been many changes from the tent that housed the first students to the beautiful buildings that are lovingly maintained today. But some things remain consistent and true. The teaching and learning that takes place within has always and will continue to instill in children a quest for knowledge to understand the world around them.
