[1] The former Townsville West State School, designed by the Queensland Government Architects Office was opened on 10 June 1939.

The North Queensland Pastoral and Agricultural Association was formed on 19 December 1879 and the stockyards and ring were constructed soon after in their present location on Ingham Road.

[1] West End, along with neighbouring suburbs, saw a second wave of population growth after the completion of railway facilities in the North Yards in the early 1880s.

Along Ingham Road the West End Hotel (1885) and St Mary's Catholic Church (1888) both survive from this period.

On 22 April 1884 the Mayor, Henry Barbenson le Touzel Hubert, made an application for a school reserve to be set aside in the West End area.

[1] By 11 January 1886 tenders had been called for the construction of a timber school building, out-buildings and a head teacher's residence.

[3][4] Close to Anzac Day each year the school still holds a ceremony to honour past students who have served in the armed services in both world wars and other military conflicts.

The head teacher's House was sold and re-located at 17 Truscott Street, Garbutt and the kindergarten building was given to the Townsville Grammar School.

They were built as part of a Queensland Government initiative to provide impetus to the flagging economy through an active capital works program.

Storerooms and toilets for male and female teachers, boys and girls and infants were located on the ground floor.

In September 1942, the 5th Australian Transport Unit under the command of Major Douglas, camped in the grounds under the fig trees at the rear of the school.

The decline was exacerbated by an Education Department policy decision to move Grade Eight from primary to secondary school in 1963.

The Salvation Army also used the school as a relief centre, where they made bread, milk and blocks of ice available for several weeks after the cyclone.

[1] In 1975 the Townsville and District Education Centre (TADEC) was established in one room of the school and by 1981 had expanded into half the building.

The school grounds also contain a number of trees including large banyans, figs and blackbeans, some of which bear small plaques.

[1] The first floor corridor contains several photographs, including a depiction of the memorial gates, a gathering of past students for the 50 year Jubilee in 1937, and an award winning choral group.

[1] From 1991 to 2009, the building was used by the Townsville and District Education Centre, a library, conference rooms, a creche and kindergarten, manual arts and home science facilities and is a venue for a community playgroup.

Mounted within the returns of the archway are two white marble tablets entitled "Honour Roll, Townsville West State School".

The roof is hipped and clad in painted corrugated fibrous cement sheet, with a timber fleche at its centre.

The rear or northern elevation also has two breakfronts near either end which mark the linear plan, three-storey height, and Georgian-style symmetry, proportion and massing make the building prominent within its largely domestic context.

The two upper levels sit on the rendered base of the ground floor, which has arcades and smaller window openings.

The four classrooms at the centre of the first-floor level may all be opened to form a small auditorium with a stage at its eastern end.

[1] The foreground of the former Townsville West State School building is lawn, pathways and carpark, with vehicular access from Wilson Street to the east.

To the west of the building fronting Ingham Road is a small vegetated lot which includes a number of native plants.

The building is separated from the present school to the north by a level grassed area which has low retaining walls and remnants of the tennis courts.

The present school is a number of timber and transportable buildings beneath several large banyan trees, sited near the base of Castle Hill.

[1] Townsville West State School was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 October 1998, having satisfied the following criteria.

War Memorials are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland's history as they are representative of a recurrent theme that involved most communities throughout the state.

Two timber honour boards located in the a corridor of the building also list names of former students and teachers who served in WWI.