McKinlay State School

News of the day

North Queensland Register, Wednesday 12 May 1897, page 31

Mackinlay

The weather has set in very cold, and it looks quite wintry to see some top coats being worn.

The school building being finished and passed, it is now only waiting for a teacher, who is badly needed here, as there are a good many children.

The Post Office, which. is nearly completed, is a very handsome building, indeed.

We had our member, Mr McDonald, in town on Tuesday last, but the attendance at his meeting was very small.

There are a great many people in the town just now.

Nearly all the townspeople are gathering hay, which looks very bad tor the want of grass close to the town.

The only business people that are doing any good are the publicans and saddlers.

Several teams passed through here lately, and more are expected, which will mean more business for some one.

April 26th.

Background

McKinlay State School was opened on 5 July 1897 by the first head teacher, Francis Wallace. A ten acre reserve, including the land on which the school was built, was officially proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 18 March 1899.

An application for a new school was made in 1925 and a further application for a new school building was made in 1938. The application was approved on 10 January 1938 and the new school was built in January 1939.

McKinlay State School was closed in mid 1953 because of low attendance as the average attendance in February 1953 had fallen to 3.2. The school was reopened in January 1957.

 

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