Dunkeld State School Number 183 began as a National School on 22 October 1855 with the first Head Teacher being James Fraser. It was in an apartment in a small house attached to Templeton’s Hotel. Patrons were William Martin (Chairman), James Ritchie, Andrew Templeton and Alexander McDonald. In 1856 there were 27 children on the roll. In April 1857 Mr Marmaduke Fisher and his sister were appointed to the School which was then held in a spare room at Gwyther’s Hotel. A new school was built that year, a stone building, across the creek from the police station. This school was poorly built and had to be vacated in 1868.

The school obtained the number 183 in 1863. Lessons were transferred to a wooden building in 1868 when the stone building was declared unsafe. A new school was built for approximately £400 on the site on the main highway and opened in 1871. It was added to later and there were 135 pupils on the roll in 1883.

In 1889 a wooden residence was built for Head Teacher John Lord. The rent was £36 a year. Consolidation was first moved for in 1944 with a meeting attended by representatives from Mirranatwa, Victoria Valley, Karabeal, Warrayure and Croxton East.

A Group School was formed in 1952 and this changed to a Consolidated School at the beginning of 1956 with Alan Smith Head Teacher. Buildings first used were on the old site (3 rooms), the Methodist Sunday School Hall and from 1953 some buildings at the present site on Victoria Valley Road. Although the school is still a Consolidated School it is now only Prep to Year 6.

In 1910 the Royal School of Dunkeld Scotland and the Dunkeld State School exchanged flags. The flag from Scotland was unfurled on Empire Day 1910. The box containing the flag was made from a larch tree which was one of the first of these trees ever grown in Scotland. This box and flag are on display at the Dunkeld Museum. During the school’s 150^th Anniversary Celebrations in March 2006 a further exchange of flags between the two schools occurred.

The Advisory Council took over from the School Committee in 1952 and had a name change to School Council in 1976. The Mother’s Club was formed in 1928 and its name changed in 1978 to Parent’s Club. A Parents & Friends Association was formed in 2006.

Glenthompson Campus

Glenthompson Primary School Number 947 opened in February 1869 with 20 pupils. New rooms were added in 1932, 1957 and 1962. The Glenthompson Primary School became a campus of the Dunkeld Consolidated School in 1998. The Glenthompson Campus was de-staffed in March 2012 due to low enrolments and was closed on 7 October 2013.