The image shows the school as it looked in 1919 – it was expanded at least three times after that, but always in the same architectural style.
Sadly, only two rooms of of the old brick building remains.
There have been a few comments on the Preston South Primary School Facebook page on the fire that destroyed most of the old school in 1968 – some suggesting it was Christmas, others Easter.
It was the evening of Easter Sunday,14 April, 1968 – The Age the following morning revealed it was reported at 5.30 and ten fire engines had arrived by 6 p.m. but the fire had spread to all parts of the 103 year-old school, nine of the 15 classrooms (accommodating 450 children) totally destroyed.
I’m not sure if there were later reports of vandals involved, but the woman who first reported the fire from Brighton Avenue suggested “I thought I could smell paint burning. When I looked over at the school, I saw smoke all over the roof. It looked as if it had started in the roof because there was no smoke anywhere else“.
Anecdotal reports suggested that the blaze could be seen as far away as Gilbert Road – others nearer the school recall watching with tears in their eyes as the brigades fought a hopeless battle to control the fire.
A number of contributors to the Facebook page remember the switch to Coburg East with an old Tramways bus taking the children to and from Coburg each morning before temporary accommodation was arranged in Hotham Street.
The “new” school was again destroyed in 2008 and I know for a short time there were thoughts that the site may be closed permanently and the school operated I think for over a year in temporary classrooms before Phoenix Rose From the Ashes and a new building was erected.
These were the two major disasters, but I have a haunting recollection that a year or so after I left (1957), there was another fire that destroyed the four-room infant’s section at the rear of the south wing. Again it was attributed to two brothers who were ex-pupils – whether they had a particular problem with their time at the school is unknown, but it seems more likely that they just liked lighting fires because I remember they set fire to their own garage and shed where they lived in South Street!
