Warwick East State School 2.63

Warwick East State School is a heritage-listed state school at 45 Fitzroy Street, Warwick, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Benjamin Joseph Backhouse and built from 1864 to 1912. It is also known as Warwick National School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe former Warwick National School is a one storeyed brick building which was constructed in 1864 to designs of early Queensland architect, Benjamin Backhouse.The first surveys were carried out in Warwick by James Charles Burnett in April, 1850, with the first land sale following soon after in July of that year. On May 25, 1861 Warwick was declared a municipality (the Borough of Warwick) and continued to grow steadily as the service centre of the Southern Darling Downs. During the 1860s the tradition of building permanent masonry buildings in Warwick began.The first school in Warwick was established by the Board of National Education on October 25, 1850. This was set up largely as the result of efforts by local pioneer, George Leslie who was concerned about the education of his own children and those of other families in the district. He started making enquires to the Board of National Education in September 1848 but it was not until September 1850 that the school was actually established with thirty students.