Memories of Bulimba School Days
as told by Dennis Burchill
May 2004
My formal schooling began in 1936 when I fronted up at the infant's school in Oxford Street. I took an instant dislike to my new surroundings and decided that this was not for me so I took off down Thorpe Street at a fast rate of knots.The teacher quickly organized a posse of the big kids who set off in hot pursuit. They caught up with me at the water trough on the corner of Lytton Road and Apollo Road and draged me,kicking and screaming, back to school.So endeth my first day.
I remember a large Moreton Bay fig tree in the top corner of the playground and you could forget all your worries and cares by climbing into the top branches and watch the world go by.In 1938 I moved up into the big School.
I remember the timber class rooms were built along the western end of the play ground and I think that they were some form of tempory classrooms as the present brick building was under construction at this time.One incident that I remember occured when we were sitting in class about to start our lessons when there was frantic activity outside the front door. As we sat there a workman was carried past covered in blood and the police and ambulance officers were every where.What had happened was that a large scaffold that the brick layers were working on collapsed ,Sending all the workers and the bricks that they were laying , crashing to the ground. If my memory serves me right I beleive the one of the workers was killed in that accident
Bulimba State School was a large school at that time with something like 800 children attending each day. As Bulimba was at that time a working Man's suburb. Most of the pupils were sons a daughters of Wharfies,Meatworkers,or Stockmen. They were a pretty rough lot and we were kept entertained by a fight nearly every day.One of my school photo's of grade iv. shows a class of 44 , with 25 of them boys, and of these boys,only one was wearing shoes, in fact not only was he wearing shoes, he was also wearing a tie. If his mother wanted him to stand out in the school photo,she certainly got her wish.
All the boys growing up on Bulimba were water rats and most of them could swim before they could walk.There was a creek which used to run from the river near the bottom of Taylor Street up to Lytton Road and this was where I learnt to swim.One day there was a King tide at about 10A.M. so a few of us decided that the lure of the water was greater that the one that radiated from the school.on the hill.The creek was breaking it's banks and we were in kid's heaven. What we did not know was ,that anyone standing in the end class room on the top floor of the school with a pair of binoculars had a first hand view of kids swimming in the"raw"in the creek. We were having a lovely time when I spotted the Posse approaching. I just had enough time to reach my clothes and dress before they arrived,however one of the other boys whose father was in the posse was not quick enough and his father who was armed with a wattle branch,had some naked flesh to work on. We were marched back to school and we all received six of the best for our troubles.
Some of the teacher's I remember from this time were Mr.Mcnair, Mr. Finn, Emma Brown,Mrs.Southwell,Miss Battersby and a teacher who's name escapes me, maybe because he was the teacher that was in charge of the cane. He was a W.W.1 veteran and he only had one arm due to a war injury, so we called him mono plane.Mr. McNair was in charge of the school band. There were 55 members of the band and we all played brass fife's.When we were in full flight there was not a tom cat in the district that could beat us. The teacher reckoned that I was out of tune with the rest of the band so he put me in charge of the triangle. Our headmaster Was Mr.Munt.
Being on top of the hill at Bulimba our School has one of the best view's in Brisbane. In the winter time we found out it could also have some nasty disadvantages. The season's have definatley changed over the years, but in my time at the school,the pattern was always the same. August was herelded in by a cold westerly wind blowing strongly for about a week ,then after a respite of a few days of warmer weather, away we go for another week of the dreaded westerley's . This was always the pattern for August.and with most of the boys going bare footed, you had to be tough to survive.
One thing that I did learn at Bulimba State School was the value of money and how to prepare a budget. On our way to school if I was lucky enough to have a penny, all roads led to Gibbins Shop in Oxford about where Ray White's real estate is now.Mrs. Gibbins ran a general store but specialised in Lollies. She had dozens of round glass jars on the counter and more in the window.The hardest decision that I had to make each day was which jar represented the best value for my penny.
Going home from school was quite an adventure. We would depart school at about 3 P.M. and make our way down the bush track which came out at the back fence of the School of Arts. Off down Oxford Street to the tram terminus. The tram line had just been extended to the end of Riding Road with the terminus out side the School of Arts, and we would jump aboard any tram waiting at the stop until it started to move, and then quickly jump off.Out side the School of Arts was a concrete plinth which is still there today. On top of the plinth was a german machine gun captured by the Australian Troops in France in the first world war, and a brass panel on the side discribing it's history.I never once went past the gun without climbing up a shooting twenty or thirty germans.( the gun was removed in W.W.2 and has disappeared with out a trace) Crossing over to Hawthorne Road we would watch the Garage Man flat out pumping petrol. There always seems to have been a Garage on this corner.The petrol pumps in those days were quite different to todays models. They were about two foot square and about six feet tall. On top of each pump was a large round glass bowl which held six gallons of petrol. On top of the glass bowl was a sign which signified the brand of petrol that was in that pump. Some garage's had up to six different brands of petrol all in a row outside their service stations. Some of the brands that I remember were Shell,Plume,Texaco and Atlantic. When you pulled up for petrol you would tell the operator how much you wanted in multipules of gallons up to a limit of six. The operator would then move a hollow tube up the middle of the glass dome stopping at the amount ordered. He would then grab a large handle on the side of the pump and move it backwards and forwards until it pumped the petrol up to the level of the tube inside the bowl , where the petrol would run back into the tank in the ground. The operator then opened a gate valve and the petrol would gravity feed into the vehicle. Moving off down Oxford Street we would window shop outside Gibbons shop working out what we would buy next time we had money. Next door to Gibbins shop was a lane way which led to a Blacksmith's Shop this was a must see stop on the way home. The forges were going full blast with smoke and sparks flying every where and just visible through the mist were these giant monsters with muscles like hams. attacking all sorts of white hot metal with hammers. There was always a couple of the Stockmans horses waiting to be fitted with new shoe's so we would scout around and find some grass to feed them with. Moving on we walked past the tennis court that was built between Cambridge Street and Jamerson St.There were several private homes in this block also.Down past St.John's church we arrived at Ashmans Store on the corner of Smallman Street. Mr. Ashman also drove the school bus. Opposite the Balmoral Hotel was a large house on a big block of land.The front steps were falling down and the house was badly in need of repair. Mrs. Mitchell lived there and she was supposed to have had twenty two children, no wonder she had no time to carry out repairs. Moving along there was a group of shops which still stand today.One was Gaskell'Pie Shop,Another the post office and on the corner of Stuart St. was Murphy the Chemist. Down past the park we went until we reached Godwin St. Vic. Edwards had a barbers shop and residence here,he also had a tennis court which was one of the few in Brisbane that was lit by electricity for night tennis. On the corner of Love St. was a bike shop and then several private residence's until we passed Swanson's Butchers shop opposite Coutts St.Next to Swanson's butchers shop was Marconi's Factory where they made The Goanna Ointment that was very popular at that time .Last on our list was Demack's Emporium which was the largest store in Bulimba. They sold all sorts of produce and also clothing. All goods in those day were delivered in bulk. If you wanted a pound of butter it would be cut from a large slab and weighed ,The same with flour, sugar, biscuits and almost all other bulk items. Every thing was sold in brown paper bags.When the carton of biscuits was empty they would sell the broken bits left for sixpence a bag on the counter. Having reached the river it was now time to retrace our steps up the other side. However we would wait to see the Hetherington dock and see who got off. The Hetherington was a steam driven paddle wheel ferry which travelled between Oxford St. and Commercial Road. As the tram line extended down to the river on the other side, it was the quickest way to town, especially the Valley where the Big stores were. The trip would normally take five minutes ,but when the river was in flood the Hetherington would be swept downstream and finish up at Newstead. It would then sneak up the gas works shore,out of the tide until it reached Commercial Rd. the total trip taking up to 45 minutes.She certainly lacked power. Heading for home,there was a large house on the corner of Oxford Street and Quay Street.This was the Marconi family home, and he was very famous with the kids as he had his own seaplane and he used to land it on the river in front of his house. We passed general stores on every corner,on the way back up Oxford Street until we reached the corner of Bulimba St. This was Dalton's store as well as the paper shop. On the next corner ,Duke St.was Uhlmann's Butchers Shop and Ice works. The ice was made in large metal moulds, and after being frozen was cut into three slabs with a large saw. We would climb under the saw and recover broken pieces of ice to suck on the way home. Most of this side of the street was private homes but there was a Russian barber next door to the Pub. The Balmoral Hotel was built in 1888 and it was starting to show it's age when we passed by. On the corner of Wambool St was another general store and then we came to the Avro Theatre. Henry Thompson had established the picture show in the early 30's and named it after the avro aircraft that used to land on the Leura Estate ,where Hornibrooks built their Warehouses The theatre was set well back from the street and the enterance was surrounded by gardens and shrubs which were always kept in top condition.On the corner of Pine Street and Oxford Street was a lovely old Queenslander surrounded by palm trees.The Uhlmann family lived there. The rest of the trip up Oxford St. was past private homes until we reached the Methodist Church. Next to the church was the police station. It was a sight to behold when the big Irish Sergeant set out on patrol. Their means of transport was a motor bike and side car. The sergeant would squeeze his large frame into the side car and the Constable would mount the motor bike and away they would go on patrol. They were always trying to catch the local lad's playing Two Up on the river bank at Bulimba Point but the motor bike made so much noise they could hear it starting up miles away so they always had plenty of time to escape. We were on the home run now, down to the water trough on the corner of Apollo Rd. and Lytton Rd.The water trough was about six feet long and about two feet deep and was set back on the footpath. It was put there so that any one riding past could water their horses.It always seemed to have it's fair share of green slime at each end and it came in handy if we wanted to get even with one of the kid's that annoyed us. We would wait at the bottom of Thorpe St. after school and when the victim reached the bottom of the hill we would grab him and throw him in the water trough. After passing one more shop in Apollo Rd. we took the track which branched off near the shop, it skirted around the tea tree swamp and came out at the end of Shakespeare St. From there it was only a hop,skip and a jump to home in Cowper St. It was a long way round but it certainly provided an interesting trip home.
Most of the kids in my class were white anglo saxson, however their was one aboriginal lad who always seemed to be having a hard time. His name was Clem Wills and he lived in Merry St. His father was a white man but his mother was aboriginal. Clem hated school with a passion and he built himself a "Donga" on Bulimba Point and set up residence on the river bank. The police went to see his father and told him he had to send Clem to school. Before school started ,one day, his father collected Clem from his hide out and tied a rope around his neck and proceeded to deliver him to school ,with his father riding a push bike and Clem trotting along behind on the end of the rope. They travelled the full length of Oxford St. stopping at the front gate of the school .Clem was then paraded across the play ground and delivered to the headmaster,with the whole school watching.I realy felt sorry for him. His father took off across the play ground heading for the front gate. Clem took off down the bush track and beat him to Oxford St.
Once a week we used to have religious instruction,and the minister from the Church of England,Reverend Thomlinson would take our classes. He was a lovely old gentleman and he would arrive at the side gate of the school driving an old 1928 Chev. Tourer with an alsatian dog on the running board. The whole school would meet him at the gate and escort him into the school grounds.When he retired he was replaced by Reverend Smith who we all took a instant dislike to as he made us do home work.It only took me two weeks to become a Methodist.
During the war years the school went through some major changes. All the boys that were fit were required to help dig slit trenches into the side of the hill starting behind the infants school and finishing at the bike shed. They zig zaged down the hill and were supposed to protect us from emeny air attack. There was a large air raid siren on a telegraph pole in the police station yard and it was to be sounded in the event of an air raid. There was only two genuine alerts if my memory serves me right, and we were ordered to take shelter in the trenches. When we got there ,the bottom of the trenches were covered in mud and they were also infested with flea's. I decided to stay on the ground and take my chances with enemy. Another major change was the splitting the school into two halves. One half went to school in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. I believe this was because their was not enough trenches for the whole school in the event of an air raid
One event that stands out during my time at the school was the school play. This took place in 1943 in the middle of W.W.2. Miss Brown was the Grade Seven teacher,who we reckoned took up residence when the new school was built and never left. In the seven years I was at the school she never aged. She always looked old.Emma as we all called her(but not to her face ) had a brother called Vincent,and they both lived together in what was then known as Brown's Cottages in St.Pauls Terrace next door to the Shamrock Hotel. Emma would often walk from her home to school and back,a distane of about ten miles. The cottages were listed by the national trust,.being of historical importance. Vincent decided that he would help his sister stage a play and he volunteered to produce Shakespear's Midsummers Night Dream..The play was to be performed on stage at the Avro Theatre. Most of the cast were in grade seven but I was picked from grade six to be the under study for Ivan Mitchell who was to play the Jester.Other's that I remember who were in the play were George Eustace,John Clayton,John Dalton,Dickey May,Lenore Cowell,and Joan Dalton. There were two others that I can't put a name to.Old Vincent was quite a character,being an artist he was quite tempremental. He would turn up for rehersals wearing a black beret. All of the boys reckoned he was a "Cows Hoof" and he certainly footed the bill. We had some wonderful sets for the play and I guess Old Vince would have knocked them up seeing he was an artist.We also had some wonderful costumes but I wouldn't have a clue who made them.We put many long hours into rehersals and we were getting quite good. The night was to be kicked off by Tom Cowell with his Bulimba Novelty Band. Tom had gathered a team of local senior cits. and formed them into a band. Every one had a instrument made out of sheet metal by a plumber, and shaped to represent those played by a big band. In the top of each instrument was a type of kazoo which you blew into and it worked on the comb and paper principle using cigarette paper in the kazoo. They could knock out quite a tune when they were in full swing. The format was that Tom would start procceeding,and after providing several item's of harmony there would be an interval,after which the school would take over. All proceeds from the night were to be donated to the war effort and it was decided that the charity that would benifit was Smokes for Soldiers. Seems strange today that we would be collecting money in those days to buy cigarette's for the troops, however they were encouraged to smoke to calm their nerves. We had several full dress rehersals at the Avro. and during one of these Old Vincent had a row with Tom Cowell and stormed off the stage vowing never to return. They managed to calm him down and the show went on.The night before the show I was contacted and told that Ivan Mitchell had lost his voice and instead of being the under study I was now to be the star. If it followed a hollywood script I would have stepped into the breech,brought down the house,and gone on to star on the stage world wide,but it didn't happen that way. The Avro was packed to the rafters on the night and the play went off without a hitch,except that as a jester,I had to sing a song and forgot the words half way through, however I started again and got it right the second time.We took several curtain calls and the clapping went on for five minutes.For many years after this play,several large photo's of the cast hung on the wall of the grade seven class room, but the last time I looked they were gone. I wonder where they are now.
Looking back on the seven years that I spent at the Bulimba State School I made many freinds,I aquired enough knowledge to enable me to carve out a comfortable niche in life, I managed to receive a mark of 64% in the Scholarship exam, and looking back on the amount of time that I wasted at school, with a bit of effort I might have won the Lilley Medal.
The School Motto was then and I believe still is Play the Game and I certainly did that.