Key information
- Address:
- 98 High Street , Taradale 3447
- Opened:
- 1 April 1855
- School type:
- Primary
- School number:
- 614
- Other names:
- Taradale National School, Taradale Common School, Taradale State School
- Email:
- taradale.ps@education.vic.gov.au
- Phone:
- 03 5423 2247
- Status:
- Open
Location of records
Digital records are kept at the school. To request access, contact the school directly.
Permanent hard copy records (such as enrolment registers, class photographs, yearbooks and school council papers) are held in the Department of Education’s archive.
To request access, contact the department’s records team.
Long-term temporary hard copy records (such as student health and wellbeing files and staff personnel files) are kept at the school.
To request access, contact the school directly.
Contact the Department of Education records team
If you’re not sure whether the records you need are digital or hard copy, the records team can check for you.
The history of Taradale Primary School
1855
Taradale opened as a national school in 1855.
Most of the local population was involved in gold mining.
The first head teacher was Peter Farrington and there were 27 students enrolled (11 girls and 16 boys).
The average number of students was 18.
1858
The head teacher was John Puckey and Eliza Puckey also taught at the school.
1870s
Sometime in the 1870s the school became a state school.
1874
The bluestone and brick schoolhouse was extended.
1877
The average number of students was 205.
1900s
A new timber teacher's house was built around the turn of the century.
1910s to 1930s
Attendance fell to about 75 round the time of the First World War. It remained consistent until the 1930s.
1930s
In the 1930s mining and business in the town slowed and the population decreased.
1970
The school named changed to Taradale Primary School.
1995
The building from closed Metcalfe Primary School (No. 851) was moved to Taradale. It was used as a multi-purpose room.
2005
Taradale observed its 150th anniversary with a plaque at the entrance of the school building.
2010
Taradale Primary School around 2010. (Source: Taradale Primary School) 
Rear view of Taradale Primary School around 2010. (Source: Taradale Primary School) 2022
Taradale Primary School is still in operation today. The original school house is still in use.
Find more information about this school
The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is the archive of Victoria's State and local government. They look after some of our oldest school records, and we can use these records to help us understand what school life used to be like.
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