Homerton State School (School No. 1400)

Full description

Homerton State School (VA 5438) was a co-educational primary school in the small town of Homerton, in the Glenelg region of south-west Victoria. It first opened in 1875 under the Head Teacher Sydney Underwood. It operated until its closure in 1955 as part of the government's consolidation policy for rural schools which saw the closure and consolidation of a number of primary schools in the region.

Parents petitioned the Education Department (VA 714) from 1873, leading to land being granted for a new school later that year. A school building was subsequently built in 1874 and the school officially opened 25th February 1875.

Due to small numbers of students in the area, Homerton State School was frequently worked part-time with other schools. From late 1875, the school was run part-time with Bessiebelle State School (School No. 1238), until a new school, Broadwater (Bessiebelle) State School (School No. 2147), opened in 1879. At a few different times during the 1880s, Homerton State School was worked part-time with Mount Clay State School (School No. 2384). In 1898, it was worked part-time with Condah South State School (School No. 3055) and at a later date was likely also worked part-time with Lake Condah State School (School No. 2747). 

In 1900, Homerton State School was closed for repairs, and after a new site was identified at Ettrick, in 1902 the school building was moved and re-opened.

Discussions about merging state schools in the area began from 1944, when it was represented by parents to the Minister of Public Instruction that students would benefit from communal facilities such as libraries, art rooms, cafeterias, and sports facilities, that would otherwise not be available at small, often single-teacher, rural schools. This discussion included existing schools at Heywood, Heathmere, Myamyn, Drumborg and Homerton.

In 1951, the official process of consolidation began, with schools progressively closing and students moving to the Heywood State School (School No. 297) site to join the newly established Heywood Consolidated School (School No. 5226) (VA 5369). These schools included Condah State School (School No. 1019) (VA 5446), Drumborg State School (School No. 1240), Hotspur State School (School No. 1260) (VA 5440), Mount Eckersley State School (School No. 1720) (VA 5402) and Myamyn State School (School No. 1692) (VA 5403).

However, it wasn’t until 1955 that Homerton State School was finally slated for consolidation, along with Heathmere State School (School No. 4526) (VA 5437). Homerton State School was officially closed on 22nd June 1955 with all the students moving to Heywood Consolidated School (School No. 5226) (VA 5369). While it was thought to move the Homerton school building to the Heywood site, it was eventually deemed too old and instead became used as a community hall.