11 Trawalla Road
Trawalla VIC 3373
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About Trawalla Primary School

Trawalla Primary School is in the town of Trawalla in central Western Victoria, Australia, located on the Western Highway, 41kms west of Ballarat and 154kms west of Melbourne, in the Pyrenees Shire.

Trawalla Primary School provides an exciting education to students from the surrounding district and the nearby township of Beaufort. We run two classrooms of Prep to Grade Three and Grades Four to Six.

Our spacious school grounds consist of a playground, oval, basketball court, large concreted undercover area, sensory play space and cubby, vegetable gardens and running track, all of which are linked to the classroom learning.

As part of DET's Mental Health Program, our school has been lucky enough to receive funding to train up our welfare dog, Jess, to come to school most days and support our students in their learning. Jess provides calming reassurance to our students and is a delight to have at school. We are also providing our students with Art Therapy and Music Therapy, as part of the Mental Health Program.

Trawalla is involved in inter-school activities with the Pyrenees Cluster of schools; Amphitheatre, Landsborough, Navarre, Natte Yallock and Moonambel. Examples of activities include cluster days, sporting events and cluster camp. Our school camp program rotates around water, bush and city themes.

End of year is celebrated with a school concert with awards based on the school’s values awarded to students. The concert has a variety of musical and dramatic performances performed by students.

Outside school hours care (OSHC) is also available at Trawalla Primary School for our students and is managed by OSHClub.

History of Trawalla

Trawalla sits at the headwaters of the Mount Emu Creek where it crosses the Western Highway. The Ararat railway line passes through the area. A railway station was in service at Trawalla but closed in the 1960’s. The Moner balug clan of the Wathaurong Aboriginal people called the area Trawalla which means ‘wild water’ or possibly ‘much rain’.

In 1836 the district was traversed and noted by explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell after ascending Mount Cole.

Trawalla is the birthplace of Australia’s ninth Prime Minister James Scullin. James Henry Scullin was born on 18 September 1876. He died in Melbourne on 28 January 1953. He attended Trawalla State school and later Mount Rowan near Ballarat.

1871

Trawalla opened as a common school 1871. The first head teacher was Alfred John Evans. Classes were held in a stone building. Students were from local mining families. The original school site was very low-lying ground and suffered constant flooding.

1872

A new weatherboard building with a teacher’s residence were built in 1872. The school was located on the intersection of Ballarat-Beaufort Rd and Mount Emu Creek. The school became a state school at some stage between 1873 and 1878.