Brimbank council and the Keilor Historical Society are working side by side to draw up plans for a refurbished playground at Bonfield Reserve.
The works will be carried out as part of the council’s annual neighbourhood park upgrade program.
The playground site is the former home of Keilor State School, which was established in 1875 and closed about 65 years later.
The Keilor Historical Society was keen to join the council in drawing up plans for the playground after researching the school’s history.
Society president Susan Jennison penned Keilor’s Heritage in 1997, going to great lengths to uncover the story of the former school.
An excerpt from her book reveals School No.1578, a 50-by-20-foot brick building, was opened at a cost of £597.
“It left much to be desired. Correspondence from early head teachers indicates problems with draughts occurring within three months,” Ms Jennison wrote.
“Four years later, the water in the underground tank was undrinkable. It became the head teacher’s lot to cart drinking water from the river, some distance down the hill.
“In 1889, damp and fungus excrescence were blamed for an outbreak of diphtheria.”
The foundations of the original building and the underground water tank can still be seen.
The council plans to give prominence to these archaeological features.
A council spokeswoman said it was anticipated about $110,000 would be spent upgrading the existing playground and making associated landscape improvements.
