Harristown State School

Harristown State School is located in the Toowoomba District of the Darling Downs and South West Region and services the south western area of Toowoomba. The current enrolment is around 380 students from Prep to Year 7 with the majority of these students living within the local Harristown community. However, some students travel from other areas of the community with older siblings who attend the high school opposite.

Harristown State School has been educating the community since 1911 and hence the centenary celebrations will take place in 2011. The growth of Toowoomba in the early years of the twentieth century led to the demand for residential land in what was then considered the outer edges of the young city. The “Harristown Estate” received preliminary notice for sale by public auction in July 1902. The number of sites purchased at the public auction is unknown, but unsold blocks were soon being offered for private sale from prices as low as ten pounds. Residential development was rapid and on the 6^th August 1910 a public meeting was held at Harristown. The local member requested that a school be established. An anticipated starting enrolment was between 40 and 50 children. The submission was approved, the land acquired and the school and residence were built by Mr A Barr.