On the 29th of August 1955, Mount Gravatt East State School opened with its original name of Creek Road State School. The name was later changed on the 5th of January 1956.
When the school first opened there were approximately 200 students enrolled, but by the end of 1955, enrolment had increased to 310. The first day of school was hectic because a greater number of children than were expected came to the new school to be enrolled.
Initially, there were three teachers, three classrooms, an office, a small staff room and a library - all located in the one building. Because of the unexpected large numbers of enrolments, the staff room and library were used as classrooms and temporary classrooms were set up under the school building. Other teachers were soon transferred to the school to help cater for the large number of students.
Children used slates to write on and kept sponges in a tin. The upper grades used pens and ink for writing. There was always great excitement and turmoil making ink and filling inkwells.
The grounds were very rough and unprepared for the numbers enrolled. The grounds were basically an ungrassed stony hillside. The surrounding area was a semi rural environment. Many of the surrounding roads were unsealed. For many years to follow the school was a continuous building site. This was necessary to cater for the increased enrolments resulting from the rapidly growing suburban areas.
By 1975 the enrolment of the school was 1143 children and on the 5th of June 1976, a modern school library was officially opened by Mr Bird, the Minister for Education. Many other projects were also completed by 1976. The ungrassed stony hillside had been transformed with the building of a fine swimming pool facility, two netball-tennis courts, an adventure playground and two sports ovals. The school marching band, which commenced in 1965, has been and still is a major presence at the school.
The school also has a fine tradition in the participation of inter school sport and has had teams and individuals win many pennants and trophies.
In the late 1990's the school added a special Education class to its enrolments. As the school moved towards 2000 the enrolments in this sector grew and enrolments in 2001 reached 26 students. Early in that year the class changed its status to that of a unit and a Teacher in charge was appointed in December of 2001.
An historical memory emailed on the 4 May 2011 from a student who attended Mount Gravatt East State School in 1955:
On that very first day, which is still very clear in my mind, all the children were assembled on the grass in front of the class rooms, that is, over looking Wecker Road. One of the teachers, I believe a Mrs Scurr, who lived on top of the hill in Cavendish Road, called out the names of the students to be entered into the roll.
Mr Sidney was one of the other teachers, I believe the head teacher, and I cannot remember the name of the other teacher although I can still see her face clearly.
In 1955 I was 11 years old and was put into Grade 5 and had Mrs Scurr as my teacher for the remainder of that year. For my remaining years at the school, I had a Mr Thompson and then a Mr Weeks.
In 1955, the school was in a very bushland setting and there were dairy farms in Wecker Road and Creek Road. In fact, my parents had our daily milk supply delivered in a big stainless steel tank mounted on a horse drawn cart. The milk came from Greenmeadows dairy farm which was owned by the Shand family.
The bitumen on Creek Road finished at the intersection of Wecker and Cavendish Roads and from there on all the roads were dirt.
The creek that ran along side Creek Road, ran crystal clear and there were penny turtles and fish there all the time. If we weren’t catching fish, we were swimming in the creek after school.
One of my fondest memories is of Newnham Road which was lined with huge wattle trees which covered the road and made like a tunnel. I used to take a short cut home by walking up Newnham Road, and can still see the afternoon sun filtering through the branches. I lived in Creek Road, and used to go through the bush from Newnham to Creek Road.
At the back of the school as a rather nice home which had a very large picture window. This was a bed room where an old crippled, bed ridden lady lived. Several times a year, Mr Thompson used to take the school choir over there and we would sing our latest songs for the old lady.
Yes, in 1955, it was a wonderful place, when there were only 7 houses in Creek Road, and I had to remember the number in case I got lost, Lot 138, and the phone number was XY6141.