Koonung Heights Primary School Terracotta Pavers Garden
Hasan Hassan
In September 2022, the terracotta pavers along Belmore Rd where Koonung Heights Primary School once stood (now the Scarborough Square Housing Estate) were roughly dug up, broken and tossed in piles. These terracotta pavers were made by students of Koonung Heights Primary School to commemorate the closing of their school in 1993.
In May 2024, after almost two years of campaigning, what is left of the terracotta pavers have been installed in the pocket park where Koonung Heights Primary School once stood. The Whitehorse Council has created a garden bed and installed about 55 of the original 200 plus pavers within the garden bed.
The blue plaque that was in the centre of the pavers with the name of Koonung Heights Primary School and the date (1993) was not laid at the same time as the other pavers.
I recently received an email from the Whitehorse council which stated: ‘Council officers have arranged for a new plaque to be constructed and placed at the new garden bed along Belmore Road. It will replicate the original wording as shown in the image below. The works will be completed in the new financial year (2024/25)’.
I along with other local residents and former students of Koonung Heights Primary School look forward to the blue plaque being placed in the garden bed.
This situation may not have happened if the Whitehorse Council had an online Community heritage nomination process similar to which Boroondara Council has to identify potential heritage sites. At the very least council should have fully assessed the site to ascertain if the terracotta pavers were of any heritage value for the City of Whitehorse before they were dug up and largely destroyed.
You can read about the easy to use and transparent Boroondara online ‘Community heritage nomination’ process here: Nominate a heritage place | City of Boroondara
You can watch a video of the creation of the garden bed here: Whitehorse Heritage | Facebook
Koonung Height Primarary School around 1954
This article is a follow up to my article titled Commemorative student bricks dug up! that appeared in the Eastsider News in February 2023. See below.
Commemorative student bricks dug up!
Hasan Hassan
In September 2022 I was driving west along Belmore Rd near Milne Road – where Koonung Heights Primary School once stood (now the Scarborough Square Housing Estate) when I noticed that the terracotta paving bricks and part of the footpath had been roughly dug up and tossed in piles.
These terracotta paving bricks were made by students of Koonung Heights Primary School to commemorate the closing of their school in 1993.
Each tile was made by a student at the school and the designs, drawings, names and comments were each uniquely individual and personal to that student. Once made they were taken by the school to a brickworks in Brunswick to be fired and then placed by the students in what was thought to be a safe place; to be viewed in the future by the people waiting to board the bus at the bus stop at Milne Rd (before it was moved further east along Belmore Rd).
The terracotta bricks were of local heritage significance and should have been preserved and protected.
What is the Whitehorse Council going to do with the terracotta bricks?
I contacted the Whitehorse Council maintenance department who said that they were a trip hazard and that area including the footpath was being repaved for safety reasons and restore a grass nature strip to that area. They initially said I could take whatever of the terracotta bricks I wanted.
I explained the bricks historic value and significance and rejected their suggestion to take the bricks – replying that they should be kept, restored and should never have been taken up in the first place. If they were a trip hazard (which I rejected) they should have been repaired ‘in situ’. It appears that an assessment of the terracotta bricks was not undertaken by Whitehorse Council as the Council officer was not aware of the presence of the students’ terracotta bricks and their significance.
We received an email from the Manager of City Services stating that the terracotta bricks would be kept at the Council depot, cleaned and restored while they determined best how to use them – one suggestion appears to be to make a small wall of the bricks in the pocket park (maintained by the City of Whitehorse) which is beside the current bus stop.
Councillors Prue Cutts and Amanda McNeill are to be commended for their actions after the matter was raised with them.
If there are ex-students from Koonung Heights Primary School or other interested people who have suggestions on what they would like to see done with the terracotta bricks or can contribute more to the story of these ‘terracotta bricks ‘, you can let Whitehorse Councillors Prue Cutts and Amanda McNeill know your thoughts -they represent ratepayers on the Whitehorse Council serving on the Heritage Steerage Committee. Their contact details can be found on the City of Whitehorse webpage Councillors | Whitehorse City Council or at the Heritage Website www.whitehorseheritage.com under ‘Heritage Information’ sub section ‘Please save our heritage’. Additionally you could contact the Whitehorse Director City Planning Jeff Green and let him know your views on this matter on customer.service@whitehorse.vic.gov.au
The concrete paving and terracotta bricks were later removed and the whole area – nature strip, old bus stop and footpath have all since been replaced with concrete. I can only assume and hope that the terracotta bricks were taken to the Council depot for restoration and later restitution as they stated.
Hasan collaborated with Peter in writing this article. Peter is a local resident and has lived in the area for over 65 years and Hasan for over twenty years.
