Coordinates: 17°30′56″S 146°02′05″E / 17.51556°S 146.03472°E / -17.51556; 146.03472

Innisfail State College

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Innisfail State College
Innisfail State College
Aerial photo of Innisfail State College, 2020
Location
45 Flying Fish Point Road

Innisfail Estate
,
Queensland
,
4860

Australia[1][2][3][4][5]: 1 
CoordinatesLua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Information
TypeCombined State primary and comprehensive secondary day school, special needs school, and technical college[6][2][4]
Religious affiliationNon-denominational[6][4]
Established2010[3][7][4][8]
AuthorityDepartment of Education (Queensland)[9]
PrincipalTanya Martin (Innisfail State College)[2]
Deputy Principals
  • Sally Hammett (Junior Schooling)[10]
  • Connie Medley (Senior Schooling)[10]
  • Donna Curzon (Inclusion & Wellbeing)[10]
Business Services ManagerAlana Robertson[10]
Year levelsPrep Year – Year 12[11][9][2][5]: 1 [8]
GenderCoeducational[6][5]: 3 
Area26.5 hectares (0.265 km2)[11][12]: 1 [8]
Campus typeOuter Regional[9]
Houses
  •   Bederra[13]
  •   Fitzroy[13]
  •   Hinchinbrook[13]
  •   Orpheus[13]
Colours
  •   Green
  •   White
  •   Black
Websiteinnisfailsc.eq.edu.au[2][4][5]: 1 

Innisfail State College is a government combined primary and comprehensive secondary school,[6][2][4] special needs school,[2] and technical college facility in the suburb of Innisfail Estate (Queensland, Australia),[1][3] in the Cassowary Coast Region of that state. The college is in "Division 5" of the Cassowary Coast Regional Council local government area.[14]

Etymology

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The college's name is derived from the suburb of Innisfail Estate. That suburb and the adjacent suburbs of Innisfail and East Innisfail, in turn derived their names from their historical connection with the town of Innisfail. The name of the town came from the name of the sugarcane plantation owned by Thomas Henry Fitzgerald, a sugarcane farmer who settled on local river frontage land, who established the first European settlement in the region in 1880, which became a sugar-producing region.[15] Innisfail is an old poetic name for Ireland, meaning “Isle of Destiny”, and is based on the old Irish word for "Island of Fál" (Irish: Inis Fáil), a reference to the standing stone (Irish: Lia Fáil), known as the "Stone of Destiny", in the "Inauguration Mound" (Irish: an Forrad).[16] The town of Innisfail was initially named Geraldton after the first settler, but in 1910, the government renamed it Innisfail, due to confusion with Geraldton in Western Australia.

History

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The college was officially opened on 28 February 2010 by the then Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and then Queensland Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson.[17]

For reasons of a more effective and efficient delivery of education services,[12]: 1  in 2010,[3] the Innisfail State College was formed from a 31 December 2009 amalgamation[7][17] of the:

Infrastructure

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Establishment

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Innisfail State High School suffered severe damage when the town was devastated by Cyclone Larry in 2006, requiring the school to function using several demountable classrooms while it underwent substantial repair and rebuilding.[12]: 1 [17][8] Community consultation commenced in August 2007,[12]: 1  and there was overwhelming community support for the relocation of the school to the site of the local TAFE (Technical and Further Education) for the start of the 2010 year,[12]: 1  a site which, as of 2025, the college still occupies.[11] The college used existing TAFE buildings, complemented with some newly constructed buildings, including a new administration building, horticulture building and maintenance workshop.[12]: 1  Since 2015, Innisfail State College has split P Block classrooms for TAFE students.[citation needed]

On 25 May 2008, the then Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts Minister, Rod Welford, announced that the state government had approved $36.7 million, used for the redevelopment of the expanded Innisfail TAFE site into a new integrated community education facility under stage one of the Queensland Government's $850 million "State Schools of Tomorrow" program.[11][19][17] At that time, it was the most significant one-off state government investment in Queensland's education in its history.[12]: 1  With the addition of the $1.2 million Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution grant and the college’s $200,000 contribution, the redevelopment cost $38 million.[17] The redevelopment of the old TAFE site, into its amalgamated Innisfail State College form, saw the campus grow from 1.15 hectares (0.012 km2) to 26.5 hectares (0.265 km2).[12]: 1 

Cyclone Shelter

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File:Cyclone Shelter at Innisfail State College, Queensland, 2025, 03.jpg
Cyclone Shelter at Innisfail State College, Queensland, 2025

As part of the 2010 upgrade of the college's infrastructure, a cyclone centre was constructed by Allan Sultana Constructions,[20] with Evans Harch Pty Ltd as project manager.[12]: 1  The college's shelter, along with the one constructed at Tully State School in 2013, was designed to be used as the 'last option' for people seeking shelter from severe weather events.[21]

Diverse Learning Centre

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The Diverse Learning Centre was constructed in 2010.[17] The centre houses the "Early Childhood Development" program (ECDP),[22] a special needs program that includes all the years from Prep Year – Year 12.

Outdoor Basketball Court

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Funding was approved for a multi-stage development project for an outdoor basketball court.[23] The impetus for the development was on getting youth to become more active by developing lunchtime competitions.[23]

Administration

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Staff

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In 2009, the final year of the operation of Innisfail State High School, the school had a teaching staff of 56 (Full-time equivalent: 56)[24]: 8  and a non-teaching staff of 35 (Full-time equivalent of 35).[24]: 8  On the establishment of Innisfail State College, the college was described as having more than 100 staff.[17] As of 2024, the college has 99 teaching staff (Full-time equivalent: 93.4) and 66 non-teaching staff (Full-time equivalent of 50.2).[9][25]: 6 

Principals

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In 2010, the principal of the college was initially Julie Pozzoli.[11] As of 2025, the principal is Tanya Martin.[26] Principals have included:

Principals
Principal Tenure
Initial Year Final Year
Innisfail State College
Tanya Martin
2022[27][28]
Current[26][2][10]
Catherine MacDonald
2012[29]: 1 [30]
2022[31][32]
Julie Pozzoli
2010[33][11][12]: 2 
2012[34]
Innisfail State High School
Julie Pozzoli
2006[35]: 1 [36]
2009[37][38]: 1 

Julie Pozzoli was Innisfail State High School's first and only female Principal. She was also that school's last principal, arriving eight weeks before it was damaged by Cyclone Larry in 2006[36][39]: 3  and continuing on through the school's 2009 closure[37][38]: 1  to become the founding principal of Innisfail State College.[33][12]: 2 

Canecutter Cluster of Schools

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The college is part of a 10-school partnership known as the "Canecutter Cluster of Schools", including:[11]

Students

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Years

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The college originally catered for only Year 8 to Year 12, but additionally began catering for Year 7 in 2015[40]: 3 [9] as part of the official implementation in 2015 of Anna Bligh's state-wide "Flying Start" program,[41][40]: 3  a program which aligned Queensland secondary schools with the other states, which catered for students from Year 7 to Year 12. As of 2025, the special needs school caters for Prep Year to Year 6 and, in coordination with the college, Year 7 to Year 12.[11][9][2][8]

Enrolments

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In 2009, in its final year of operation before the merger into Innisfail State College, Innisfail State High School had recorded over 740 secondary student enrolments.[12]: 1  On establishment, the college had a secondary student enrolment of 762 students[29]: 2  and was described as having over 1,000 secondary, vocational, special and adult education students.[17] As of 2024, the college has 961 students enrolled. The trend in college enrolments (August figures) has been:

Trend in college enrolment figures
Year Years (Prep – 12) Boys Girls Total Ref
Prep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Innisfail State High School
2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 752 [39]: 2 
2006 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 760 [35]: 3 
2007 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 731 [42]: 3 
2009 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 722 [38]: 3 
Innisfail State College
2010 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 392 370 762 [29]: 2 
2011 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 364 333 697 [29]: 2 
2012 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 334 325 659 [29]: 2 
2013 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 349 344 693 [43]: 4 
2014 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 353 358 711 [44][45]: 2 
2015 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 442 410 852 [46][40]: 3 
2016 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 448 417 865 [47][48]: 3 
2017 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 438 414 852 [49][50]: 4 
2018 2 0 1 2 3 19 176 182 154 156 89 473 419 473 419 892 [51][52]: 5 
2019 3 1 3 0 2 2 16 182 176 176 141 146 79 505 421 926 [53][54]: 2 
2020 6 2 1 3 0 1 17 176 182 186 157 126 136 523 470 993 [55][56]: 2 
2021 6 7 2 2 3 0 15 167 167 159 155 125 109 500 417 917 [57][58]: 2 
2022 4 5 7 2 2 5 0 185 167 179 170 148 119 529 464 993 [59][60]: 2 
2023 4 4 5 7 2 1 6 162 203 174 181 151 135 534 501 1,035 [61][25]: 2 
2024 1 4 4 6 7 3 1 149 167 191 167 131 130 510 451 961 [9][5]: 2 
2025 1 1 4 3 8 8 1 167 149 160 184 146 119 TBA TBA 951 [62]

Of those students, those in the primary years, and some secondary students, belong to the Early Childhood Development program:

Diverse Learning Centre Enrolment Figures Composition
Year Years (Prep – 12) Total Ref
Prep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2025 1 1 4 3 8 8 1 1 7 0 1 3 4 42 [63]

Cultural Diversity

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Indigenous

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The Traditional Owners of the Innisfail region are the Mamu people, whose native title rights were recognised in 2013 through the Mamu Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC.[64] Of the distinctly defined five clan areas of the Mamu cultural group, i.e. Bagirbarra, Dugulbarra, Dyirribarra, Mandubarra, Warribarra,[65] the college is located within the Mandubarra clan region, which includes the South Johnstone River and adjoining coastal/sea country from Liverpool Creek to Maria Creek, such as the areas immediately south of Innisfail and toward Mourilyan Harbour.[66][65]

In 2020, the college had 338 Indigenous students, giving it one of the highest percentages of Indigenous secondary students in the Cairns region.[67] The college is a member of the "Indigenous Leaders of the Future" (ILF) and "Indigenous Leaders of Tomorrow" (ILT) programs, two Far North Queensland Indigenous programs.[68]

Multiculturalism

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The trends in multicultural composition have been:

Student enrolment trends
Year Indigenous LBOTE Ref
2014 30 13 [44]
2015 32 12 [46]
2016 32 12 [47]
2017 33 12 [49]
2018 32 13 [51]
2019 33 13 [53]
2020 33 14 [55]
2021 32 15 [57]
2022 34 17 [59]
2023 34 16 [61]
2024 34 16 [9]
2025 TBA TBA

Sports

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Houses

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The college's four sports houses are named after local islands off the coast of North Queensland:[13]

Sports Houses
House Name Island Colour Ref
Bederra Bedarra Island   Blue [13]
Fitzroy Fitzroy Island   Orange [13]
Hinchinbrook Hinchinbrook Island   Green [13]
Orpheus Orpheus Island   Purple [13]

See also

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References

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