Our history
Nundah State School is one of the oldest primary schools in Queensland. It was founded in 1865 on the same site that it occupies today. We have a very long and proud tradition of serving our community by providing excellent education. A vital part of this is the partnership between schools, parents/carers and the whole community. Your involvement and interest in our school and the education of your children is very much appreciated.
Nundah State School has been rapidly growing over the past few years as our community changes, with renovated houses and more apartment complexes. Our school reached its peak capacity in 2014 with approximately 29 classes (between 710-730 students). Although this may seem large, one of the lovely things about our school is its community connectedness.
The school features a magnificent, heritage-listed building constructed in the 1930s. Nundah State School has among the finest facilities of any primary school in Brisbane, consisting of a pool, tennis courts, playgrounds, an oval, sporting facilities and the best hall in Queensland! Many of these facilities were provided by our active and involved parent body and local community. Community spirit has been a feature of the school for 150 years.
First Nations at Nundah
Before our school
Our first nations families have been working with some of our staff to understand the history of indigenous life in our community, and this has been captured and celebrated as our 2022 Rock Art Project. We have been informed by our families, and historian and “old Nundah student” Dr Russell Parry and visiting artist Leah Cummins.
Nundah is so called as it means “chain of waterholes”. What we know about life before settlement of Nundah as German Station is that this area is Men’s country out to Nudgee waterhole on the super-highway to Bunya Mountains for large gatherings. Tribes moved through the country following watercourses. There were Corroboree grounds at Kalinga Creek Park, marked by a special tree, with temporary humpies set up along Kalinga Creek as this area was prime hunting ground for fish, possum, koala, eel, wallabies etc. What we now know as the Brisbane Exhibition grounds were also a significant meeting place for Yuggera and Turrabal tribes. The area of the Breakfast Creek was known to be for Women’s business.
The First Free Settlers Monument, Nundah, was erected in 1938 to commemorate the first free settlement within the area of Moreton Bay, later to become Queensland. The first settlers were German Protestant families who were recruited by the Rev. John Dunmore Lang. While their goal was to introduce Christianity to the local indigenous people, they also sought to understand and appreciate their culture; the missionaries came to listen and learn from the tribes and so chose Nundah to intersect and interact with the First Nations people.
At Nundah School now there is a secret stream underneath the oval which was a place to fish. The curlews, possums and kookaburras are still present and let us know they were here first. Of significance, there is a Lemon Myrtle tree in the Rock Garden.
When indigenous families were stolen and moved away, some to Cherbourg, some indigenous children were placed in the local Tuffnell Children’s Home on Buckland Road, and then attended Nundah SS. They used to meet under the big old tree in the old quadrangle. Their presence was a significant part of our history for 100 years of our school.
The large tree had to be removed in 2011 but is represented by the large image in the Treehouse Tinkering Studio, and it’s wood has been used to make the Treehouse sign which hangs out the front. Appropriately, we are now using the Treehouse as a space to celebrate first nations artwork.
And now ...we heard from our families and Dr Parry that students can stay strong in culture, and when they want to feel close to culture, to be in country, they can walk the oval near the underground stream or sit in the yarning circle and listen to the birds.