Dr Ron Tooth was appointed as the first Principal of Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre (PEEC) in 1981. He retired as Principal of PEEC in 2022, and was succeeded by the Centre's current principal, Alicia Laidlaw.
PEEC opened as an Education Department Environmental Education Centre in 1982 in the grounds of the original Pullenvale State School located on a 2 acre site at the rural western edge of Brisbane.
The Centre has grown from two buildings (Old School and Residence) in 1981 to now include a collection of historic buildings moved from other locations and then restored (Redbank State School Residence; Laidley South State School and Lunch Shed; Dayboro State School Residence and Kitchen; Forest Gate Cottage; Ballard Cottage).
The site has also been extensively landscaped over the past 32 years with a diverse range of native plants and trees to create a rich and bio-diverse learnscaped garden and forested setting where the historic buildings are nestled into a series of terraced teaching and story sites.
PEEC is now a dynamic and creative educational hub where a talented team of teachers and support staff provide exciting place-responsive Storythread programs for visiting schools. This hub connects to a range of natural sites including Moggill Forest, Pullenvale Forest Park and Karawatha Forest.
PEEC is nationally and internationally recognized and works annually with over 6500 students and 250 teachers.
PEEC has a long history of conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organizations and elders to inform and support Storythread programs.
- Jaragill Centre (1991 - 1995)
- Mary Graham (1992 - 1996)
- Yugameh Museum (2000 - 2002)
- Brisbane Council of Elders (2001)
- Kombumeri Aboriginal Corporation for Culture (2002)
- Gathering of Elders at Baramba EEC (2012)
We acknowledge the ongoing wisdom shared with us by the Elders who continue to support, mentor and inspire us every time we meet: Uncle Albert Holt, Aunty Peggy Tidyman, Uncle James Sandy, Aunty Cathy Jackson, Uncle Joe Kirk and Auntie Merle Cashman.
PEEC has initiated and led a number of major learning and research Projects:
- Storythread Values Project (2006 – 2010)
- ARC Project University QLD (2010 – 2013)
- Teaching and Learning Beyond the Classroom Course (2013 - 2017)
- Place Responsive Pedagogy Course (2017)
- ARC Project University QLD (2019 - 2023)
Dr Tooth has presented lectures on the Storythread Model Internationally:
- Denmark (1996)
- Austria (2006)
- Croatia (2006)
- New Mexico (2013)
- Japan (2014)
- Sweden (2015)
- Canada (2017)
PEEC has designed Storythreads for:
* History of the PEEC site
The following is an extract of information found on the Pullenvale State School site - a full account of the school's history can be read here.
The Pullenvale State School opened its doors for the first time on March 16th 1874 in what would have been a remote backblock of the Brisbane Colonial settlement, on the corner of Herron and Haven Rds. It was established by the Queensland Board of General Education on the proviso that a minimum of 30 students would remain enrolled, and that the community cover one-third of the building and equipment costs. 32 students were enrolled at opening, and the first Headmaster, Mr George Francis, was to deliver a curriculum based on the 3Rs. To ensure standards were maintained, the Board conducted twice-yearly inspections.
However, falling attendance in the last quarter of the school year, especially among older children, was a common occurrence in rural schools. This trend persisted through Pullen Vale's early years despite the introduction of compulsory education in 1875. The dilemma for parents lay in maintaining enrolment numbers to keep the school open, but requiring their children's help to keep their farms viable.
Parents also had the responsibility of maintaining the school buildings and grounds, although they only had to contribute one-fifth of associated costs. In spite of the school committee's best efforts, termites and the fiscal constraints of drought and depression during the 1890s exacted their toll, and by 1900 the school residence required replacement of it's entire ceiling, as well as significant sections of wall and flooring. Negotiations over funding other major repairs were still going on in 1905 by which time enrolments had fallen to 28.
This stalemate ended when the Board approved the committee's proposal that the schoolhouse be moved to a more central location and be reclassified as a provisional school (which required only 15 students to be enrolled at any given time, although it did also require the community to provide and maintain the buildings). In July 1906, the schoolhouse was removed from it's initial location on the corner of Herron and Haven Rds, and relocated to it's current resting place on Grandview Rd, where it re-opened on 5 October 1906 with 28 students enrolled. The Headmaster, however, had to commute from the old site daily, until the teacher's residence was relocated to the Grandview Road site in 1908.
School work at this time was still focussed on the 3Rs but a shift towards useful subjects saw the introduction of nature studies which included aspects of agriculture and biology. Drill, gymnastics and vocal music were also part of the curriculum, but were oftern ignored or poorly taught. The school day lasted from 9am to 4pm with a one or two hour break. Cricket, swimming in the creek and wandering the neighbouring paddocks were popular midday activities.
By the 1920s Pullen Vale State School was echoing with the voices of the pioneers' grandchildren. In 1920 Headmaster McWilliam recommended the Pullen Vale Tennis Club be allowed to construct a court at the school as it would help promote social life and friendliness in the district. Occasionally, the headmaster or committee would organise a Saturday night dance at the school. It later became a regular event held in a pineapple packing shed on the Pullenvale Hall site.
At this time, the headmaster presided from a cane-bottomed chair behind a four foot desk. At his disposal were two blackboards, two easels and a library housed by one wall cabinet and three shelves. The children sat eight to a row at long, pine desks. The school was unheated in winter and former students Marie Cooper (nee Boyle) and Ronnie Mair (nee O'Reilly) recall cold draughts rising through large gaps between the floorboards. Drill squad, physical exercises and organised games were held on the tennis court between the school and teacher's residence. The headmaster's wife usually took needlework classes and a Catholic priest conducted weekly religious instruction.
The Department of Public Instruction introduced the Agricultural Project Club scheme during this era in an attempt to link educational activities with rural home life. Milk and cream testing were a part of the Years 4 and 5 curriculum by 1923. The children were also encouraged to tend a garden plot or raise a calf or poultry, recording their progress in workbooks. The scheme flourished under the guidance of Headmaster George Oakden and parents, such as John O'Reilly. The children's efforts culminated in the annual Project Club Day when they gave speeches and demonstrations and their animals were judged by an officer from Department of Agriculture and Stock.
The school committee continued to look after the grounds and buildings through this period. Public funding for schools was scarce in the 1930s and the committee's efforts to lobby the department and politicians for further improvements were unsuccessful. Due to friction within the committee, it was disbanded in 1936; and no formal community representation to the school existed until the formation of the Parents' Welfare Association in 1944.
By the 1960s, while the district was changing - becoming less rural and more suburban - the one-room schoolhouse on Grandview Road retained its rural atmosphere. This was due in part to a post war expansion of the state's secondary education system and the government's reluctance to spend money on primary schools.
Lionel Dittman, principal from 1962-67, recalls possums in the ceiling disrupting classes, and getting fresh milk daily in a billycan from local dairy farmer John Bird. Mr Bird also made financial contributions to the school during this era. Doug Woodward, who joined his siblings at the school in 1959, remembers walking to school barefoot through the paddocks with the Mackay children. Lunchtime pursuits included Red Rover, rounders and sneaking down to the creek for a swim.
Departmental statistics indicate annual enrolments varied between 20 and 40 students from 1950 to 1963. During this time the school had groomed several final year students to sit the scholarship examination, which if passed, allowed them to continue their schooling at one of the few private secondary schools in the greater Brisbane area. The exam was abolished in 1963 with the introduction of state-funded secondary schooling.
An alarming drop in student numbers during the mid 60s saw some parents registering their four-year olds to keep the school open, just as Thomas Herron had done in 1875. Even with the addition of the principal's children, there were only 10 pupils on the roll in 1966.
Students enjoyed the benefits of a family atmosphere and a more flexible approach to structured learning which came with the State Education Act of 1964. They participated in a range of activities including swimming lessons at Jindalee and interschool garden and sport competitions. No doubt the boys also appreciated an officially sanctioned end to caning.
One hundred years after Pullen Vale State School opened, Cecil Pellatt was the principal of the last one-teacher school in the greater Brisbane region. An estimated 871 children had been registered at the school from 1874-1974.
Enrolments had escalated to 60 by the beginning of 1979. Parents and successive principals had been lobbying the Education Department for some years to develop the nine acre site it had purchased in 1970 from John Bird (the site of the current Pullenvale State School). Its response was to erect demountable classrooms either side of the old schoolhouse. Meanwhile parents had been mowing and landscaping the new site so students would have space for sporting activities.
In April 1980 the Minister advised that a replacement school for Pullenvale had been given top priority subject to funding, and by 1981, the teachers and 93 enrolled students had vacated the Old Pullenvale State School and relocated to the newly built building (a combined administrative and teaching block) on the new site 1km down Grandview Road. The Old Pullenvale State School site was then re-opened as the Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre, with the young Principal Ron Tooth taking up residence with his family in the original teacher residence while establishing the new Centre's programs, before the residence building too was needed for program delivery.
* We wish to acknowledge that our knowledge of the specific history of the land on which PEEC is now situated prior to non-indigenous settlement is extremely limited, attributable to the contested nature of the land on which we work and the fact that the cultural safety required for truth-telling in modern Australia is only now beginning to emerge. Sadly, it is possible that much of the truth-telling specific to Pullenvale may also be lost to our remembrance due to the violent hidden histories of our shared past. The PEEC team is commited to working towards creating the cultural safety required to bring what is still able to be remembered into the light, to share with our visitors and wider community.
Below is a video acknowledging the integral nature of the original Pullenvale School building and teacher residence building to the delivery of programs on the old Pullenvale School site, which is now the Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre. This video was produced in 2024 as part of the Pullenvale State School 150th celebrations.