#150th Anniversary of West End State School

2025 marks the 150th year of West End State School!

The P&C asked me to create an artwork to celebrate this significant point in history, so I crammed as many special little parts of the school as I could into one artwork.

Some features are no longer physically there and only a distant memory, while others would be brand new to alumni past.

If you have read any of other of my pages by now, you would see there’s such rich history for so many buildings and icons in West End. If you’re up for a long read and keen to start from the beginning, click here. We are so lucky to have people documenting all this history.

Some of the most interesting and main historic points of the school include:

  • The school was built in 1875 with 236 students in attendance.

  • It started off with boys and girls in seperate classes.

  • 1890: One of the first fig trees was planted in the school. It stood in the centre of the old school block until it was severely compromised in a storm and had to be removed.

  • 1893: Brisbane flooded and the school was used as a refuge for flood victims.

  • 1939 - 1945: WWII. The oval was dug up by parents and teachers to create slit trenches in case of an air raid and students were issued gas masks. School just went on for a few hours a day and most of the male teachers enlisted in the armed forces.

  • 1950s and 1960s: The school developed a strong sporting programme.

  • 1978: The Greek dancing programme started.

  • 1990: The swimming pool opened.

  • 1995: The infant school was amalgamated with the rest of the school.

  • 1996: The school house names were changed to reflect the value the school places on Indigenous culture.

    • Kurilpa - The water rat

    • Baruga - The kangaroo rat (or rat kangaroo? Can’t figure this one out)

    • Chullawong - The mountain magpie

    • Dungar - The pelican

  • 2000-2020: The school expanded rapidly, with a new block that has 16 classrooms, outdoor areas and a new pick-up/drop off zone with 14 drop off spaces.

  • 2020: An entirely new school block is built and is opened.

  • 2023: The school reports 40% of students: speak a second language; have 90 cultural backgrounds and; more than 65 different languages are spoken at home.

    You can buy this as a tea towel, print, or postcards through the school’s P&C.