In 1853 the licensed country schools return listed a school at Mintaro with Edward James as teacher and an enrolment of 36 pupils (15 boys and 11 girls). The licensing of teachers and inspection of schools was under the charge of the Central Board of Education at this time. Thomas Gibson took over in 1854 and taught in Mintaro until 1860 by which time the enrolment had increased to 44 and the curriculum extended.
There is no record of where this early school was located but it continued until a Government primary school building was erected in 1872 on Lot 11.
The new school building which cost £445, could accommodate 76 pupils and may well have been constructed to counteract the competition of the Jesuit sponsored school established by James Horan in 1867. James Fry, who was the teacher of the licensed school in 1872 and as such had instigated the approach to the Central Board of Education for the new building, was appointed headmaster of the primary school. He remained in that position until 1902.
The original school building consisted of a schoolroom (34 ft x 18 ft) with an attached residence. The residential section was enlarged some time during the 1890s presumably as Fry’s family increased in size. In 1922 when the school enrolment reached 105 pupils modifications were undertaken and the residential section converted to classroom use.
A new residence was built a short distance from the school at this time. The number of pupils enrolled at the school has continued to fluctuate, the peak was 106 pupils in 1923, but the average number has been between 30-40 children.
The building is well maintained and survives substantially intact apart from later unsympathetic corrugated iron lean-to additions. It retains a simple belfry and a well detailed stone and slate chimney.[1]
With the closure of the school in 2006 it was sold into private hands as a residential property.