The Establishment of Ubobo State School
Ubobo State School opened on the 23rd March, 1927,
with Miss HM Gough as Head Teacher. The move to have a State School opened at
Ubobo began in September 1924 when Noah Wedge collected the names of
prospective pupils for the school. Short after doing this, he suffered a stroke
and was unable to continue on. A meeting of parents was called and Mr JN Murray
(then owner of Hybla) was elected Chairman of the committee and WN Wedge was
elected Secretary. The Committee was know as the Ubobo State School Building
Committee.
After some time, Mrs WN Wedge moved away to work in another
area with Mr Murray, who was an authorised surveyor. HJ Wedge took over as
committee secretary and was in that position when the offer was made to move
the Glassford Creek School to Ubobo.
A basket picnic was held to meet a State School Inspector,
who had suggested the moving of the Glassford Creek School to Ubobo. The offer
was accepted by those present. Sometime later, the Inspector and HJ Wedge went
to Glassford Creek to view the school. This school had been erected at
Glassford Creek at the end of the last century to meet the education needs of
that mining centre which had commenced production in 1898. Arrangements were
made for the dismantling and removal of the school to Ubobo by Mr Charlie Rumpf
and re-erected on the Ubobo School Reserve.
Miss Cough and the children worked hard following the opening
of the school on this site. They cleared grass and burnt out stumps and fallen
logs. While the abandoned school was at Glassford Creek, it had become a goats
camp. AS a result there was much cleaning to be done to remove the smells and
stains.
The rains of 1928 proved the unsuitability of the area as a
school ground. Following requests by the School Committee and a trip to
Brisbane by Mr Hinds, it was decided to remove the school from its site to a
position near the present school. The old Glassford Creek School was a small
building with a front verandah. It was erected on high blocks. Mr A Marxsen of
Portion 136 received the contract to move the school to the new position and
add to it a back porch and verandah.
The movement meant further cleaning and burning. A teamster,
Fred Koplick, with his bullock team had been using the site as a camp and
unloading area. During the period while the old school was being moved from the
original site to the new site, Miss Gough conducted school in Hellen’s Siding
Shed.
The settlement was young and although many of the first
soldier settlers had left, their place had been taken by more permanent people,
the majority of whom were young married people. The child population increased
quickly and the need for a larger school became evident. The old school was not
big enough to house the children and a second teacher was needed.
The Committee set about to obtain a larger and more suitable
school. One again, Mr Hinds went off to Brisbane to put the Committee’s case
for a bigger and better school. This was built and opened in 1932. The
contractor was Mr A Hinds of Portion 20. The official opening was performed by
Mr TL Williams, then member of Port Curtis. He later because Minister for
Education in the State Cabinet. When the new school was opened, the old school
building was offered for sale.
Principals of Ubobo State School