History of Karridale Primary School, est 1883

Karridale education has been continuous in some form or other since 1883.

The school’s stock and equipment moved back and forth over forest tracks to any spot boasting at least 10 children between the ages of 4 and 14 within a three mile radius.

The school has survived population shifts due to pre-World War I depressions, and the timber industry due to the fluctuating fortunes of the many Group Settlements.

Teaching took place in rough timber huts, settler’s houses, mud huts with earthen floors, in canvas rooms supported by wooden uprights and on different sites under different names.

In these early days, teachers’ lead very lonely lives battling with the local privations and a chronic shortage of education facilities.

Karridale Government Provisional School was opened in the third quarter of 1883 by Mr W.A. Boyd in a wooden structure provided by M.C. Davies Co. Ltd. Members of the Vasse District Board of Education, the nearest to Karridale at that time, were Rev. H.W. Brown, Mr G.H. Knapton, Mr A.E. Pries, Mr C. Layman and Mr T.A. Thurkle. The following year Karridale was accepted as a Government Elementary School with Mr Boyd still in charge and an enrolment of 19 boys and 16 girls (the average attendance was 24 pupils).

History 1