Chinchilla State High School has four sports houses. They are Atkins, Black, Evans and Wheeler.
House colours
The sports house colours are:
- Atkins house - sky blue
- Black house - maroon
- Evans house - teal
- Wheeler house - gold
Origin of school house names
(From 1963 School Magazine)
Black: J Young Black, a North of Ireland man of some education and substance, came to Australia over a century ago. He ran and presumably owned a hotel at Bridge Creek (on Upper Dogwood) in 1866. Later he became tutor to the children of Andrew Scott, of Hornet Bank, for which services he was given Eurombah Station property.
He eventually became a hotel proprietor in Dalby and was chairman of the Wambo Shire at the turn of the century.
His sons owned various valuable properties in their lifetime.
The Black name is still prominent in Chinchilla Shire.
Atkins: Len, with his father and mother, came to Chinchilla area in 1893 when the Communal Settlements of Monmouth and Mizpah near Charley’s Creek were first started.
Though these well intentioned settlements, to place people on the land adjacent to the railway, were not a success, many families stayed on. Len Atkins was a man of education, initiative and drive. He went to work for Frank Hogg, an early hotel and storekeeper, but later Atkins started his own business on the corner of Heeney and Bell Streets (where present ANZ bank conducts business).
Len Atkins represented the western section of the Wambo Shire in 1908, prior to the excision of Chinchilla Shire from the larger one in 1912. That year, Len Atkins became Chinchilla’s first Shire chairman. He entertained the first Governor and his lady who visited Chinchilla (Sir William and Lady McGregor).
Later, he re-entered the business world, and was a partner in a move to bring first “movies” to Chinchilla.
A man of substance and regarded with considerable respect, he died full of years. And though his two daughters do not reside in Chinchilla, they still derive income from the Atkins estate.
Wheelers and Evans came to the area from the south, as did so many land-hungry people in that first decade of this century.
Cheaper land lured them. They brought gear and horses and vehicles and Evans had cattle driven overland from Kelly county in Victoria. (Two Evans brothers came early and had a choice of good country).
Dairying attracted their attention at first, though later business in the small town yielded returns.
The original Evans and Wheeler became early councillors and thus served the community. Descendants are many.