THE Rosewood community stepped back in time on Saturday to celebrate their school’s 150th anniversary.
The Queensland Colonial Association dressed colonial-era style for the celebrations, and the library was split in half to represent an old school room and the modern classroom to help showcase the school’s rich history.
School P&C Vice President Nicole Davis said the anniversary event was a huge celebration, with about 60 stall holders taking part in the fete and the school launching a limited edition anniversary book.
Among the special guests on the day were former students who started at the school in 1936 and 1939 – they cut the cake with the youngest students currently at the school.
Former students also came from Darwin and Cairns to take part in the celebrations.
The school opened as “Rosewood Gate School” on February 1, 1875.
Local pioneer John Vance led the push for formal education in Rosewood in 1870, with a provisional school set up in the Rising Sun Hotel.
Community fundraising and land-clearing efforts saw the school built, opening with 43 students.
The school was renamed Rosewood State School in 1887, with a new school building erected in 1905.
The school became a hub for community events, cadet programs, and cultural activities including music, sports and public performances.
By 1922, overcrowding and health concerns emerged, with enrolments exceeding 200 students.
Teacher residences were built during the 1920s and 1930s and electric lighting installed, and he school introduced agricultural education through project clubs and pig and poultry clubs.
Among the more prominent graduates from the school was Sir Gordon Chalk, who worked as a reporter on the Rosewood Register & Marburg Mail before being elected as the Member for East Toowoomba in 1947.
He became the first and only Queensland Premier from the post-war Liberal Party, in the role for a week in 1968, sworn in following the death of Jack Pizzey, before the Country Party chose Joh Bjelke-Petersen as their leader. Sir Gordon Chalk served as the Member for East Toowoomba from 1947-1950 and Member for Lockyer from 1950 to 1976.
Rosewood State School has gone from strength to strength, with an administration block opened in 1998 and featuring modern offices, a sick bay, and a computer lab with 16 terminals and $2 million federal funding delivering a new hall, library and interactive learning spaces.
