back
Drouin West Primary School is
located on Main Neerim Road 15km from Drouin. The school was opened 1874 and
has celebrated both 100th and 120th anniversaries. The 152 students who
attend Drouin West Primary School are drawn
 from
the surrounding localities including Drouin, Drouin West, Drouin East,
Brandy Creek, Longwarry North, Jindivick and Labertouche.
The school is set within a 2.4 hectare site surrounded by a natural,
rural environment. The buildings and well designed play areas are maintained
to a high standard and the learning environment is secure and well
resourced. The present physical resources of the school comprise six well
equipped classrooms, the M.A.R.C. library, a staffroom, an undercover area
for folk dancing, P.M.P. and assemblies, spacious playgrounds with two
tennis/basketball courts, an oval and varied play equipment, a principal's
office and an administration office.
Our aim is to promote a learning environment that is vibrant and dynamic.
We work in partnership with parents to encourage children to be happy,
enthusiastic and co-operative. Children's self esteem is fostered by a
positive student code of conduct which is consistently monitored throughout
the whole school.
Our staff are a co-operative caring team who encourage all children to
reach their full potential. Teachers consider themselves to be life-long
learners and continue to be involved in professional development. The
parents are friendly, industrious and supportive to the school and are
appreciative of efforts made to ensure a fulfilled primary school education
for their children. An active school council overviews operations and works
closely with the Principal and staff developing policy and curriculum
programs.
The staffing establishment currently stands at full and part time
teachers and several school services officers. The school is also the base
for the M.A.R.C. (Mobile Area Resource Centre) program. All children attend
a session that includes borrowing with the librarian on a fortnightly basis.
A comprehensive, sequential curriculum is provided for all students in
Years P-6 in the eight key leaning areas. Our programs includes a balance of
traditional and innovative teaching approaches. Children in all grades have
access to computers both in the classrooms and in the computer room which
houses a network of ten computers plus a stand alone computer for the
internet. A further emphasis is placed on the total development of the child
through confidence building learning activities such as personal
development, special activity days, recorder groups, seasonal events,
excursions, camps, sleep-overs, Bike Ed, concerts and inter- school sport.
Local networks of pre-schools, primary and secondary schools have been
developed to ensure curriculum coherence and appropriate transition
arrangements for students. The timetable is arranged to enable two * two
hour uninterrupted blocks each morning where the focus is on Literacy and
Numeracy.
Drouin West P.S. values the contributions made by parents to their
childrens education both at home and at school. There are many opportunities
for parents to participate in activities such as - hearing children read,
using computers, sports activities, special lunches, sub-committees, School
Council, Parents' Club and working bees |
Top
History
In February 1887, F.C. Mason – Parliamentary Member for West Gippsland wrote
to the Department of Public Instruction pointing out the necessity for a school
in the district of Brandy Creek.
Two weeks after this letter, the Department acted and Inspector C.A. Topp
arrived in the area to attend to evaluation of the factual data and consequent
need for a school. His finding was that F.C. Mason had overestimated the
population and that there was no town or village there.
Topp concluded the children were needed at home to help with everyday farm
chores and therefore low attendances during summer seasons and bad roads would
prevent high attendances during winter. He noted that the road at Brandy Creek
Crossing was familiarly known as the “Glue Pot”.
The Selectors then put forward a petition accompanied by a map. The entire
village lay south of the Tarween River (Tarago River) and east of the branching
arm of Gum Scrub Creek. It had streets such as Cook Road, McNeilly Street and
Connor Street. There was a market, straw yards, a cemetery and a racecourse. The
names on this petition were: John McNeilly, James Young, William Young, Henry
Williams, W.H. Smith Joseph Hall, Henry Walton, Richard Higgs, Frederick Wright,
Henry Dicken and Ezra Cook.
W.H. Smith received freehold of 159 acres in 1876, this was opposite the
present school site to the east. He built an eight roomed hotel on the southwest
corner of his land. This “public house” was the renowned “Northern Junction
Hotel” – an institution which always boasted excellent stabling as well as
hearty company.
Ezra Cook and Richard Higgs also had hotels, with Higg’s Hotel called the
“Selectors Arms Hotel”, situated on Sale Road, but east of the Junction Hotel.
Richard Higgs also had a sawmilling plant on Higg’s Road.
The nearest police camp was at Shady Creek. There was a Constable Strahan and
a Mounted Constable Commans.
Another letter was sent to the Department of Public Instruction by Mr. C.
Flemming – Care of Brandy Creek, also stating that Mr. F.C. Mason had
overestimated the population. The Department once again sent Inspector Topp to
the area. He had to decide firstly whether a school was needed and then whether
it should be at Gum Scrub Creek or at Brandy Creek.
His findings were clear, Brandy Creek area was well known as the “Glue Pot”
and was not a place for a school. As a contrast, the land around Gum Scrub Creek
was sandy and comparatively dry. If a school was placed at Brandy Creek,
children attending from the west would be forced to walk through up to two miles
of mud. Three children lived east of Gum Scrub Creek, while 14 lived west of it.
Topp adopted a site between the two creeks. 5/8 of a mile from Gum Scrub Creek
and 1¾ miles from Brandy Creek. The place was called “The Junction” (road to
Jindivick and Neerim).
Five acres were set aside for the site for the new school.
Selectors at Brandy Creek and to the east, angrily claimed they would be
deprived of a school within the required 2 mile limit. How could a Brandy Creek
District School be 2 miles away from Brandy Creek?
Nearly a year had passed since the application for the school had been lodged
before tenders went out for building the school. Tenders varied from 722
tendered by Thomas Wright of East Melbourne to 431 by William Swanson of William
Street, Melbourne. The Department accepted the lowest tender and eventually
found that they had also received the lowest quality.
One acre was cleared of about 40 to 50 trees, of about 8 feet in diameter.
The rest of the site was topped – the top of the trees were taken off. The scrub
was cut and burnt and logs rolled to the side of the clearing for burning later.
On 29th December, 1873, John Holmes, the Clerk of Works for the Department
was dismayed at the quality of construction going on at the new school. He found
rough hand sawn blue gum and messmate palings proffered as “dressed external
lining” while the bricks for the chimneys were still on drying racks, hardly
having been cured for any length of time. These were the first bricks to be made
in the district and were roughly moulded. The rest of the job was not really
successful and Swanson left a trail of unpaid bills and unfinished or shoddy
work. After 5 months the school and the residence were not finished. The
carpenter made official complaints – he and his sub-contractors had not been
paid by Swanson. Richard Higgs wrote angrily to the Department that he had not
seen any money for supplies or cartage.
The school leaked at the chimneys, doors and roof. The bricks needed urgent
cement wash before they themselves were washed away by rain. In fact they were
washed away in August of the following year and the chimney rebuilt in the next
November.
Miss Margaret McLean arrived in the middle of winter to take on a new
building for opening on the 15th June, but finding no equipment for teaching and
that her books were delayed at Berwick, she decided not to open the new school
until June 22nd 1874. However with heavy rain and bad roads, no pupils arrived
on that opening day – not one child.
An inscription board bearing the name Drouin West was carried all the way
from Melbourne and fixed to the school front.
By November the undergrowth had reverted back to its natural state, which
meant no playground. There was no tethering place for the children’s horses. The
boundaries were unfenced and cattle tended to stray in and despoil the yard.
Miss McLean complained that the cattle were not the only strays on the grounds.
Trespassers came to cut down saplings and to steal water from the tap. The need
for a fence remained well into the 1890’s.
In 1876 F.C. Mason wanted the school moved to the Buln Buln township. A
petition was put forward by the local selectors and the school stayed.
No maintenance was done on the school building for about 30 years and the
head teacher, J.H. Laity 1879-1899 complained often about the leaking roof in
his residence, about the lack of fencing and the encroaching undergrowth.
This scrub was blamed for the near loss of the school in 1885, when a fire
broke out near the Tarago River and swept within 2 chain of the school house.
By 1915 the chimney was leaning and smoking badly and parents complained
about the safety of their children, fearing the building would collapse. The
floors were rotten with big holes in them and in the two front rooms the floors
had been eaten away by ants.
When storms blew up the children would be moved out of the school to the
safety of the shelter shed.
Inspector William Dooley, District Inspector, visited the school in February
1916. In August renovations were started and the children moved into the
Mechanics Institute Hall on Sale Road, which was built in 1910. The school
reopened in February the next year. Total cost of renovations were 133. A
further 190 was spent on both the school and the residence in 1927.
The first reference to the tennis courts was in 1911 when the Drouin West
Tennis Club gained permission from the school committee to clear part of the
school ground for a tennis court. J.J. Featherstone, the teacher at that time
did not object to the courts being placed within 6 feet of the school residence.
Harold Higgs became active on the school committee in the 1930’s. In 1934 the
problem was overcrowding – one small room had to accommodate 17 desks, 2
teachers and 39 children. In 1937 there was a problem with blackberries.
In August of 1935 an extension to the old school was added. Once again the
children used the Mechanics Institute Hall.
Electricity was not connected until 1948. Also in 1948 six vehicles had
crashed through the eastern boundary fence, while failing to take the corner
into Jindivick Road. It was thought to be the same driver each time.
Mother’s Club purchased playground equipment about this time and the school
building after a total overhaul in 1950, was joined by a Jennings built L.T.C.
classroom which first became occupied in April 1960.
This information has come from Graeme Butler’s Book “Buln Buln – The History
of the Buln Buln Shire”.
Top