By Canungra Historical Association
Witheren Provisional School opened on August 21, 1899 on land originally selected by Mr Robert Christie, eight kilometres from Canungra on the road to Illinbah.
Miss Greenaways was the first teacher and 16 pupils were on the roll.
At one time attendance was so low that fourteen year old Jasper Jerome was put on the roll despite already having his own bullock team.
On Fridays he would park up his team outside the school and attend lessons. Later teachers were Michael Garraty (1907), Miss Still (1909) and Miss Walker (1912).
Agnes McConnell was the teacher at the Witheren School from 1916 to 1931.
She lived with her parents in Canungra and used the tramway line to walk to school.
Some of her pupils would accompany her each day and told of the day they were crossing a gully on a high trestle bridge when “Aggie” slipped and only her umbrella saved her from falling through the boards.
In the afternoon, if they heard a locomotive coming down the valley, school was quickly closed for the day and Miss McConnell and her Canungra pupils would catch a ride home.
On one trip a log jammed in the tunnel so they were trapped inside until the men could work the log back up onto the wagon.
It was a tight squeeze and with no machinery to assist, it was a long and difficult operation.
Apparently, Aggie fainted during the ordeal when she was overcome by the heat and fumes of the burning coal from the steam engine boiler inside the tunnel.
Head Teacher Mr Neil Perrett remembered the children of Witheren to be “above average in intellectual ability, attitude and athletic accomplishments”.
In 1936 tenders were called for a new school building and it was officially opened on Friday June 4, 1937 by the Minister Frank Cooper.
Despite opposition from parents, the Witheren school closed on May 9, 1965 and pupils then travelled by bus into Canungra to attend school.
The school building has since been converted to a private residence.
