SCHOOL UNITES PAST AND PRESENT
QUEENSLAND Governor Paul de Jersey had two very good reasons to attend the Coolangatta State School centenary.
The first was in his official capacity as Governor. The second was the special honour of unveiling a plaque inscribed with his grandfather’s name for the centenary, which was celebrated last month.
Claude de Jersey was the first principal when the school opened and served at the school on Kirra Hill until 1929. The Governor’s father, Ronald, also attended school there.
Established in 1919 in response to the closure of the Queensland-NSW border due to an outbreak of the deadly Spanish flu, the school occupied three different sites before settling at Stapylton St.
The original school ran for just a year out of the then Coolangatta Town Council’s Municipal Hall from February 1919 until the school on Kirra Hill was established.
But by 1970, the school had outgrown the site so opened up the Stapylton St campus on November 26, 1977, with Kirra Hill becoming a special school and community centre.
A reunion of hundreds of teachers and past students, which also honoured six former students killed in World War II and Vietnam, was held at the 42-year-old Stapylton St school last month, with the formal centenary plaque unveiling on the hill the following day.
The plaque was funded by the Past Pupils Group, representing students from Grace Byrnes (nee Power) in 1936 to the last enrollees in 1977, and came with the blessing of another former student, Norma Packer (Adams), now 102, who Claude de Jersey enrolled in 1923.
The commemorative plaque will be installed in the heritage classroom at the centre – the same room in which Claude de Jersey taught.