William Duncan State School was officially opened on 31 October 1987 by the Honourable I.J. Gibbs, M.L.A.
Our school uniform fabric is the Duncan
tartan. The red and navy were chosen for
two reasons, one because it was in the Duncan tartan and secondly, because
other schools didn’t wear those colours.
Our Motto & Emblem were chosen through competitions. Our school motto is Honour, Strength,
Trust. Our emblem is of the Nerang River
and cedar trees with the hinterland mountains in the background.
Our school was originally to be called Boorajing
State School. Boorajing is aboriginal
for ‘windy place’. However, our school
was eventually named William Duncan State School after William Duncan, one of
the earliest settlers in the district.
William Duncan was a cedar tree getter born in Dundee, Scotland in 1832. There is a picture of William Duncan
in the school foyer. The frame is made
of cedar timber.
According to records at Gold Coast City Council,
he arrived in the hinterland populated by the Kombumerri people in 1842. In 1854 he was married to Rose and they had
14 children. William Duncan was one of the tough breed of bush men who opened
up the hinterland. He saw stands of
timber growing in terrible terrain, but worth a fortune. The world of wooden wealth sparked a
miniature gold rush in timber.