Coppabella State School celebrates 40th anniversary with half its pupils to bid farewell

A tiny Central Queensland school may be short on students but it’s big on heart as it celebrates a milestone that signals a major anniversary for the Bowen Basin.

Tuckered out littlies were the inspiration behind launching a Central Queensland school that will at the end of this year bid farewell to half its enrolled pupils.

Former Coppabella resident Noel McLeod said the town’s children had to travel more than half an hour each way to Moranbah for school, the commute taking a “fair toll” on preschool and Year 1 students.

Ann McLeod, Amanda McLeod and Noel McLeod, all of Bloomsbury at the 40th birthday celebrations of Coppabella State School. Mr McLeod was instrumental in the opening of the school and was later the president of the P & C. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr McLeod said it sparked a mission to build Coppabella State School which despite state surveyors giving the grounds approval, flooded with four inches of rain within days of opening to students.

Coppabella State School Year 6 student Finn Walters with Mercy College Year 8 student, and former Coppabella student, Ava Van Scherpenseel at the 40th anniversary celebrations of Coppabella State School. Picture: Heidi Petith

But a deluge was not enough to dampen the spirits of Coppabella, with the school becoming a central base allowing generations of residents to work for Queensland Rail (now Aurizon), and at surrounding mines while raising their children.

Past and present students of Coppabella State School at the 40th anniversary celebrations. Picture: Heidi Petith

Isaac Regional Councillor Viv Coleman, in speaking at the 40th anniversary celebrations on Saturday, said the opening of the school a decade on from the town’s inception in 1971 was a “massive credit” to Coppabella which had played a “historic role” in developing the Bowen Basin.

Coppabella State School principal Thomas Corbett with Isaac Regional Councillor Viv Coleman at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the school. Picture: Heidi Petith

There are 12 students enrolled in 2021 of which at least half will graduate at the end of this year.

Coppabella State School principal Thomas Corbett said anniversary celebrations included handprints in paint on the wall adjoining the basketball court, a visible monument as opposed to the time capsule buried about 35 years ago that no one to this day has been able to find.

Originally published as Coppabella State School celebrates 40th anniversary with half its pupils to bid farewell