Former Corryong Primary School
About the project
Opening for the first time in July 1877 the Corryong Primary School has a long and vibrant history. One hundred and twenty five years later, in April 2002, Corryong Primary School and Corryong Secondary College merged to become Corryong College delivering education from prep to year 12. In February 2020 the school moved to a single campus and the site of the former Corryong Primary School closed.
While the site remains the responsibility of the Victorian State Government since February 2020, in the aftermath of the 2019/20 fires it once again became a place of community gathering as the home to the Upper Murray Community Recovery Hub.
Ensuring the site remained an asset for the Corryong and Upper Murray communities, determining the future use and direction of the site became a priority project for the Corryong and Upper Murray Community Recovery Committees.
The first stage of the project was to identify the community‘s aspirations for the site and to provide this information to local and state government to help inform their decision making and involvement in future projects.
Commencing in February 2021 and with the assistance of Bushfire Recovery Victoria, a thorough community consultation process was delivered to identify community aspirations for the site.
Consultation activities included;
- A comprehensive survey (online and hard copy) to determine community connection to the historical school building and identify community aspirations for the future of the site.
- Focus groups targeting high interest community cohorts to dive deeper into community aspirations.
- A community workshop to test outcomes from the first two consultation activities and ensure analysis outcomes genuinely reflected community sentiment.
Council recognises that the former Corryong Primary School site plays a significant role in the history of Corryong and, through the community consultation process, there is strong community desire for it to remain as a place of community use and benefit.
To support further investigation, consultation and planning into possible future uses of the site Council committed at the April 2022 Council meeting to:
- Secure a tenancy lease for the former Corryong primary school site until 30 June 2025
- Undertake a detailed condition assessment of the former Corryong primary school building
- Develop a business case and create a masterplan and the former Corryong primary school site based on the outcomes of the community consultation report
- Table the community consultation report and recommended next steps with the Victorian State Government via the Department of Education and Training
