Tallanalla School Historic Site Plaque
Hidden in the forest east of Harvey, a historic plaque stands at the site of the original Tallanalla School.
Following the establishment of Tallanalla as a forestry town, a school was created in June 1935 and the schoolmaster, Mr Francis Hoad, was appointed on 2 July 1935.
To furnish the new school with books, excess stock from Manjimup was sent by rail to Wokalup Station. However, a mix up occurred as to the location of Tallanalla. The goods should have been sent to Harvey, or Hoffman Mill via Yarloop, which would have been close to the rail link. The packages waited at Wokalup while they were searched for elsewhere. Eventually, after several letters and further delays, this was sorted out.
The school was described as a ‘standard Public Works Department type, 20 feet x 20 feet’, and the approximate cost of erecting this small school was £250.
Mr Hoad found the school growing quickly and in November 1937, there were 15 children enrolled. Not enough seats were available or forms for the children to sit on, so six children had their enrolment postponed until more seats could be obtained.
A new teacher arrived in 1940, Mr John Austin Osborn, who had been teaching at the Vasse school.
The numbers at the school dwindled and on 17 October 1941, the Education Department instructed Mr Osborn to close the school. There were only five children of school age and when one of these families left, only two children remained. Millars forwarded all furniture and effects to the Public Works Department in East Perth on their rail trucks at a cost of 10/-.
In March 1945, it was suggested that the school building should be removed. The parents at Tallanalla had arranged, through the Education Department, to subsidise a bus run so that their children could go to school at Hoffman Mill, as only six houses were occupied in Tallanalla and the Forests Department was finding it difficult to get workers.
The school building was re-erected at the Forests Department site in Harvey and remain in use there to this present day.
