Sale Primary School – known locally as "545" – was first established in 1853 but has occupied its current site adjoining historic Victoria Park near the city centre since 1883.
A brief history of our school's beginnings
A township at Sale (formally known as Flooding Creek) was first surveyed in 1848 and the first sale of township allotments took place in 1850. The first school, the forerunner, to the Sale Primary School was established in Sale in 1853, as a result of a public meeting. This school was situated in Raymond Street where a 'bark and slab structure' was erected. From this humble beginning the school went through several redevelopments on the Raymond St site, and the school developed to become known as a National School, then later a Common School.
Free secular education was introduced into Victoria in 1872, with the passing of the Education Act, which also created the Education Department of Victoria. All Common Schools then became government funded State Schools. Each state school was allocated a school number based upon their alphabetical listing, thus creating the school's number, Sale State School No 545, in 1873.
Despite continuing new brick classrooms erected in 1873, the school was significantly overcrowded with over 600 children attending. In 1881, following a public meeting and several approaches to the Victorian Government by members of the school board The Minister for Education, immediately issued an Order for the erection of a new building to accommodate 750 children on a new school site. The Sale State School No 545 was relocated to its present site in March 1883.
Historical information courtesy of the Sale Primary School No 545 '150th anniversary commemorative handbook' 1853-2003.
