Craigieburn Primary School was originally established in Hamilton Street in the mid 1950’s. We are now located at Grand Boulevard in the north of Craigieburn forming part of Malcolm Creek Learning Centre.

Article from The Little Book of Somerton and Craigieburn Schools.

THE RURAL YEARS

The New School:

In the 1950' s, the township of Craigieburn was centred around a general store and post office ("Cliffs"), a garage, a public hall, a Catholic church, and a railway station. There were hand operated railway gates and several houses for railway workers. The church was opened in 1949 on the site of old sale yards, and the brick hall replaced a weather board building destroyed by fire in 1954. The facade of a failed harvester enterprise stood to the south of the railway station, while nearby were grazing lands, and further away were the farms which supported the township. The D.S. Aitken Reserve on 15 Mile Lane had been fenced but was leased to a local farmer for cattle grazing.

Craigieburn State School No. 4 770 began its official career on 12th December 1955, when sixteen children, and some furniture and fittings were transferred "holus bolus" from Somerton to a new building at Craigieburn. Erected on a five and a quarter acre block of land to the north of the 15 Mile Lane and beside the Sydney Road, the building was a new, prefabricated24 ft. square room with a small porch. It has been achieved only after several years of agitation by Mrs. G. Plogman, Head Teacher at Somerton and the members of the School Committee. Poor conditions and the bad repair of the school gave both teacher and committee much cause for complaint which was eventually directed to the local Member of Parliament, Mr. Ireland. July 1953 saw Mr. and Mrs. Davies, Mr. and Mrs. Plogman, Messrs Bunting, Yeo, Cassin, Petty, Sorraghan, Gould, Kernan and Stacpoole petitioning Mr. Ireland for help.

Planning for the new school began in the community with a report that a Juvenile Horse Show would be held at the Craigieburn Reserve in September of 1954 to raise money. 1955 saw the planning proceed, and occupation achieved in December. It was the Committee elected at the Annual General Meeting of March 1955 –

President: M.M Wentworth

Secretary: J.Stewart

Committee: J. Sorraghan. J. Cox, R. Kinchington, J. Munro and L. EcEvoy.

which made the official decision that the new school be named "Craigieburn"., As the site for the building was well within the limits of Craigieburn, and the majority of children came from Craigieburn, the renaming must have been a mere formality.

In February 1956, there were complaints of many unfinished items at the new building. The exterior painting had been condemned by the Works Inspector and had to be renewed, sanding of the floor, new desks for the children and the teacher, gravel for the playground and a boundary fence were required, while there was some problem with the sanitary pans. Mr. Kane, Member of Parliament was approached on this occasion, with some success.

Mrs. Plogman appointed as Head Teacher at Somerton in 1951, remained as Head Teacher at Craigieburn until 1964, when enrolments increased to forty-two and an extra teacher was required. When a third teacher was appointed in 1966, Mrs. Plagman became Infant Mistress. Mrs. Plagman was noted for her enthusiasm in all aspects of her teaching position, and for her ability to encourage her pupils to do their very best. The District Inspectors reported in glowing terms -"Head Teacher commended for the excellent way in which the school functioned; children were bright, keen and happy" and" the Head Teacher organises to very good purpose; success has again been achieved in district athletics and in district shows for artwork". "Social services, Junior Red Cross and the Gould League of Bird Lovers were also operative".

Cursive script was introduced for the children of Grades 3 and 4 in 1961 and the Cuisenaire number rods from 1962 onwards.

Parents of children at school up to thirty years ago remember Mrs. Plagman vividly, while one ex-pupil could say with vigor"She learnt me all I knew!" Mr. & Mrs Plagman have lived in Queensland since the early l 970's when Mrs. Plagman resigned from the Education Department in Victoria. The Plagman family were associated with the district from 1910, when Abraham Plogman and his wife, Olga, both Swedish born, had bought a block of land on Craigieburn Road East. (Mr Plogman died in 1977, aged 92 years). A son Ragnar, operated a service station near the Sydney Road, to the north of the site of the school, before Hamilton Street was extended in the l 970's. The service station was demolished in 1973.

The extent of Mrs. Plagman' s influence in the district was illustrated when, in 1976, the name of Plagman was recommended by a Mothei s Club member for the fourth house of the identity system introduced in 1969, and following Harvey, Vincent and Kernan. Harvey was the name of a family resident in the Craigieburn district from 1896, Vincent, owner of a large dairy property at Somerton and land at Craigieburn, and various branches of the Kernan family were also represented in both Somerton and Craigieburn.