Greetings
The site has been a tad quiet of late. Is everyone still there? No
doubt the Olympic Games and the Exhibition have taken precedence but I
expect all will be back to normal very shortly!

Just to fill you in: during the course of my research I have
established that the school actually began on 4 March 1861 whereas
according to the Queensland State Archives and the Education Centre's
library at Coorparoo, it did not begin until 1 October of that year. I
discovered references to the former date by reading the Votes and
Proceedings of Parliament, in particular the evidence of the Select
Committee of 1861. It's irrefutable evidence.

There was much disquiet at this time and the subject of religious
instruction in schools was a contentious matter. The church run
schools eg the Church of England's St John's (North Brisbane) and Holy
Trinity (Fortitude Valley) received financial assistance until the end
of 1860 as it had done previously from the NSW colonial government.
From the beginning of 1861 funding for these two denominational
schools was discontinued whereupon application for reinstatement of
funding, the Board of General Education established under the The
Education Act of 1860 was denied on the grounds that the Board had
established National Schools at North Brisbane (the site of Anzac
Square) and Fortitude Valley (cnr Ann and Brunswick Streets). It makes
good reading but it's not the sort of thing you would find interesting
before retiring at night.

This brings me to the point: when will the school hold its
celebration, March or October 2011? In line with Q150 (Queensland
celebration) and B150 (Brisbane municipal celebration) I thought we'd
get in the bandwagon and use FVSS150. What say you?

Hope to hear from everyone real soon and please contribute to our
discussions. There must be lots of snippets that you can share with
others.

Onward, Ever Onward

Ray