Students standing outside the Kandanga Valley Provisional School building (Photo Source: Patricia Towner, 2000).

The area around Kandanga township, located in the Mary Valley, has a long history of producing beautiful timber due to its rich fertile soils. What a lot of people may not know, however, is that the booming timber industry fuelled the growth of the whole Kandanga community and hence the opening of many small schools in the area, some of which no longer exist today.

Not to be confused with Kandanga Creek State School (which was the beginnings of what is now known as Kandanga State School), the Kandanga Valley Provisional School was located on Kandanga Creek Road on a school reserve just below John Ticknell’s farm. The school was built because Kandanga Creek State School was located too far away from homes at the top of Kandanga Creek, making daily travel for those students difficult. Local families provided the timber for the school building and a man by the name of Mr Williams constructed the schoolhouse free of charge (Towner, 2000).

Kandanga Valley Provisional School survey plan (Source: Gympie Library Local History Room)

Kandanga Valley Provisional School was officially opened on the 4^th of March 1926 and had just twelve students enrolled (four boys and eight girls). The first teacher of Kandanga Valley Provisional School was a lady by the name of Miss Mary Bothams (Green, 2020). Miss Bothams was a well-known member of the community, having attended the Kandanga Creek State School just down the road as a student herself in 1912. Being a teacher was not an easy task in those times. Each day, Miss Bothams rode two and a half miles to and from school on horseback. On one memorable occasion, Mr Ticknell gifted Miss Bothams a bunch of bananas, which she placed in a bag on the front of her saddle (Towner, 2000). It was only when she got home and tipped the bananas out of the bag, that she realised she had given a death adder snake a free ride!

Eventually, Mary Bothams married a local man, leaving the school without a teacher and causing it to close down for a period of time. Thankfully, however, in 1929, Miss Kathleen Daly took over as the teacher of Kandanga Valley Provisional School (Towner, 2000).

Miss Mary Bothams, The first teacher at Kandanga Valley Provisional School (Photo Source: Patricia Towner, 2000).

The school building itself was very basic. It was a 24m by 16m timber building with a small verandah out the front and no ceiling or lining. It had only two windows, one at each end of the building. A school inspection in 1930 even stated that it was “merely a shell, standing on high stumps” (Towner, 2000).  The school building had also never been painted, making its façade very plain and weathered (Towner, 2000).

Despite the basic school facilities, the school students had the opportunity to participate in many interesting activities. While some schools at the time hosted a “bring your pet to school day”, Kandanga Valley Provisional School took this one step further by allowing their students to bring their calves to school! The school hosted calf parades in which the students would be judged on their knowledge of the jersey cows and also the condition of the cows themselves (Towner, 2000).

Students with their calves at Kandanga Valley Provisional School (Photo Source: Patricia Towner, 2000).

The school also hosted picnic days on Saturdays which would begin at 9am and would end in the evening with a dance. Children loved these picnic days as they received many special treats; watermelon, lollies and sometimes even ice-cream. Another day of significance for the school was Arbor Day in which the students would plant trees (Towner, 2000).

A letter written by Miss Bothams, requesting tools for Kandanga Valley Provisional School’s Arbor Day in 1927 (Source: Patricia Towner, 2000).

In 1933, the school’s attendance had grown to 19 students. By this time Miss Daly had moved on and Mr Albert Featonby (also known as Bertie), was the new teacher of Kandanga Valley Provisional School (Towner, 2000).

Miss Daly with her class at Kandanga Valley Provisional School (Photo source: Patricia Towner, 2000).

Gradually over time, student enrolments declined and this unfortunately resulted in the school’s closure on the 31^st of December 1935 (Towner, 2000).

Even though the Kandanga Valley Provisional School only remained open for nine short years, the school serves as a tribute to the kind-hearted members of this beautiful community in the Mary Valley.

Reference List:

Green, Daniel. (2020). The History of Education in the Gympie Region. Gympie, QLD: Gympie Printing. pp.1-145.

Towner, Patricia. (2000). One Hundred Years, Kandanga Creek State School 1900-2000. Gympie: Gympie Graphics. pp.1-67.