SCHOOLING AND CAPITAI,ISM:

ìIDUCA'|ION AND SOCIAL CI{ANGE IN SOUTÍ I AI-JSTIìAI.,IA, iB36-1925

Pavla Mi11er lìÂ., I)iPEd

Thesis submj-tted for PhD DegreePolitics DePartment

Llniversity of Adelaide

t9 B0

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Hi stary and theory

Evaluating historical hypothesesThe narxist approach to history

Schooling in capitalist AmericaThe origins of public educationSchooling of the English working class

Analysing capitalisnFirst leveI - mode of productionSecond 1eve1 - social structureThird leve1 - social situation

Schooling and societyFlow schools workCapitalism and schooling in South Australia

Chapter 2 The dynamics of colonial capitalismThe establj.shment of capitalism in South Australia

Agricultural and mining boomThe limits of rural expansion

Developnent of a class societyPattern of edrrcational change

Chapter 3. Mass schooling in a new colony

Theories about the origins of mass schoolingPlanning a system of educationThe definition of rgood schoolst under the 1851 EducationAct and everyday lifeA new Education Act

Chapter 4. Efficiency, stupidity and class conflict in SouthAustralian schools

Combating inefficiencyTeachers and the rstructures of schoolingrCompulsory schoolìng and patteïns of working class lifeThe social construction of the concept of intelligence

Chapter 5. The uses of schooling

A crisis of capi.talismSchooling and economic security

A state secondary .school?Competing for exhibitions and bursariesExtending elenentary schooling

Chapter 6 The ideology of the dependent childThe invention of adolescenceJuvenile enployment rates in South AustraliaThc 'crj-sis of youthr

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Chapter 7. Technical education

Fostering colonial industriesTechnical education and social efficiency

Chapter 8. The labour movement and education

A noderate workersr partYReforming an unjust systenElenents of a critiqueState, race and social efficiencyImperfect education in a classless society

Conclusion

Appendices

374

383

410

418

I

;

1

I

ì

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I

TabIe

List of tables and figures

I1L2

South Australia - staple exports 1836-1890Ernployrnent in secondary inclustry in South Austra.li.a

in census yearsEstimates of new capital formation and replacenent outlays

from the public sector in South Âustralia, 1861-90Estimates of new capital formatic¡n and replacement outlays

from the private sector in South Australia, I861-90South Australja - wheat area and wheat production ils

proportions of Australj.an totalSouth Australia -wheat production and prices, 1860-1890South Australia -wage rates in selected trades, 1850-1868Occupations and wages of workers in Hinclnarsh, 1881-4South Australia - proportion of boys and girls in government

schools, 1851-1875South Australia .- education vote and the nunber of

government schools and the pupils attending them.South Australia - met.ropolitan population 1846-1921Place of residence of members elected for country se¿rts

j.n the llouse of A-ssembly, 1868-1896South Australia - governmerìt ernployees I853-1916:

(a) civj I servants; (b) other: governnrentMajor occupational groups in the South Australi.an

Parliaments, 1857-1899, at times of House of Assernblyelections

ItPercentage of children made times to number of conpulsoryage each quarteril

Llindrnarsl'r Primary School .- occupation and attenclarlceApproximate sj.ze of factories in South Australja in 1890Numtrers employed in tl-re principal factories in Adelaide, 1890Exhibitions and bursaries offered for conpetition by the

South Australian government, I876-1906South Australia -- number of pupils exarnined in state schoolsThebarton Primary School - occupations of parents of children

in class 5, 1895-1905Ilinclmarsh Primary Scl"rool 1890-1899, Children in selected

occupational categories who passed compulsory certificateand those enrolled in grades 5 and 6 compared to the restof the school

South Australia - employment of adolescents in 1891, 1901and 1911: (a) fenales 5-14; (b) females 15-20;(c) nales 5-14; (d) males 15-20

Metropolitalr Adelaide - employnent and schooling ofadolescents in 1911

South Australia - enrployment jn factories registered unclerthe Factoriest Act: (a) all trades; (b) boots and shoes;(c) mechanical engi.neering and ironfounding; (d) plumbingand gasfitting and ironworkíng; (e) printing and bool<-bindj.ng; (f) tea and coffee blending; (g) furnituremakirrg; (h) clothing tradcs; (i) clothing (ready-made)

Enrolment in evening classes , 1923

13

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15

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3

4

5

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8

9

385

385

386

387

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394

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396

398399

400

401

402

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25404

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Figure

1

2

Appendices

Life cycle of skilled and unskilled workers

System of state education proposed by the Royal Connissionon the Adelaide University and higher education

Schene of technical education proposed by the Superintendentof technical education

268

3

312

316

I2

Dane schools in Manchester

Formation of trade unions in South Australia(a) in the metlopolis of Adelaide and Gawler

(1) prior to 1890(2) during 1890

(b) in the country

410

41s

SIJMMARY

Recent yeaïs saw a renewed interest in rnarxist and other theories of

education. Drawing on some of these, the thesis exanines several aspects

of the history of education in South Australia in its fj-rst hundred

years.

Chapter 1 discr.¡sses the advantages of a marxist approach, assesses three

ilrfluential exam¡llcs of its application to educational history, and out-

Iines the basic characteristics of narxist social analysis.

Chapter 2 looks at tl're naking of a capitalist society in South Australia.

Agai¡st a background of economic. clevelopnent, it- traces the history of

major classes and their political organisation, and concludes by an

overview of the educatj-on system.

Chaitter ll exanines the pr.ocess of provi ding South Australia with a

governtnent-suppoïted educati.on system. It outlines various hypotheses

regarding the introduction of mass schooling, examines the interplay

between the lives of various class sections and the definitj-on of atgood

schoolr , and concludes with some thoughts on the reasons for introducing

the 1875 Educatiort Act.

Chapter 4 looks at the profound transformation, of school processes which

occurred under the new Act. The ccntroversial implementation of this

Legislati-on is conceptualised as a class-cultural conflict, and traced to

íssues such as Correct English, irregular attendance, support of dame

schools, free education, and the concept of intelligence.

The following three chapters deal with attempts to so1ve, in the education

syStem, several fundanental problems of contemporary capiEalisn - an

economic cr:isis, a reclistribution of producti.on knowledge, disruption of

customary ways of transmitting economic security frorn one generation to

the next, ancl changes ín juvenile employnent patterns.

Chapter 5 examines attenpts to forge a nexus between schooling and

individual social nobility in the context of tightening class boundaries

and deskilling. Chapter 6 discusses the ideology of the dependent child

and its applicability to South Australia, and Chapter 7 the changing

fornulation and functions of technical education.

The last chapter looks in some detail at South Australia's labour movement

around the turn of the century, and in particular at the setting up and

oarly history'of the ULP. It then tr¿ces, through the exanination of

several l¿rbour newspaper.s, the changing assessment of the place of

schooling in labour political strategies.

This thesis owes mu,ch to the help, encouragenent and

concern with Correct English of my friends Doug

McEachern, Brian Abbey, Ian Davey and Brian Condon.

List of abbreviations

AEU

ALF

ASU

Altu

SAEG

SAGG

SAPD

SAPP

ULP

ULU

Analgamated Engineering Union

Australia Labor Federation

Amalgamated Shearers I Union

Australian Workers I Union

South Australian Education Gazette

South Australian Govetnment Gazette

South Australian Parl.iamontary Debates

South Australian Parlianentary Papers

United Labor Party

United Labourersr Union

'Ilerald The Weeklg Herald

Registe¡ , The Sauth AustraLian Registet

INTRODUCTION

2

Marxists attenpting to contribute to education history come under several

standard criticisns. 0n the most basic level, it is argued that theory

is irrelevant to the concerns of historians who, if they are worth their

salt, can nake rfacts speak for thenselvesr '

Even if a neecl for some theory is acknowledged, marxism usually does not

figure in the line up of eligible candidates. It is disnissed either on

the grounds that narxist pronouncements are ideological assertions and do

not have the status of theory in the first place, or because marxist

theory, with its clognatic, abstract character and mechanistic enphasis on

the economy, is too blunt an instrutnent to use in the delicate task of

historical reconstruction. The lasE, rnost realistic objection, is that

r:nti.1 very recently, marxists did not have anything very sophisticated to

say about education.

In my thesis, I have attempted to plove that such criticisms are based on

mistaken and untenable assumptions, and that marxist theory - although not

its straw man inage - can provide an effective perspective for scholarly

historical research.

The present moment is particularly oppoÏtune for such a task. 0n the

political front, the pubtic erjucation system has become one of the targets

of conservative attacks o¡r the social wage. Radicals who used to condemn

'bourgeois schoolingt now fincl thenselves in need of a rnore sophisticated

3

theory in order-to defend the positive features of the institution'

historicalperspectiveisanindispensablepartofsuchtheory.

In the fielcl of theory, there have recently been some interesting steps

towalds tlre development of a narxist theory of edtrcation, as well as a

renerved interest in using the sociology of knowledge and other theoretj'cal

approaches to study schooling. on the other hand, there j-s a modest but

growing body of research on the history of education in south Australia -

virtually none of it, however, making consciotts use of these theoretical

persPec Elves .

r want to maì<e a contributi.on to the historiography of south Australian

education by ctabora[ing the connection bctween the two fielcls of research'

In orcler to <1o this, I have reexamined in some detail several periods

where the usef,lness of the marxist approach in reconfiguring historical

problems comes out most clearlY'

The first chapter discusses the conlrection between theory and history'

Ir,ly aim has been to prove not only t̡at social theory is inevitably present

in any history writing, but also that the authorrs stance on this issue

can often be interpreted in political terms. This discussion makes clear

my reasons for cl.roosing both the project of rny thesis and the theory

employed in carrying this project out'

Having made a case for the use of a particular theoretical approach' the

thesis is locatecl, through a critique of several major contributions' in

recent narxist literature on the history of schooling. Drawing on this

cr.ititlue, I have presented an outlíne of some of the theoretical ingredi-

ents of my anatysis. The key poilÌts of this approach are illustrated and

expanded ilr the several chapters of the thesis, reshaping, in many cr:ucial

aspec'ts, the problens formula.Eed by the theory underlying conventional

history writing.

A

4

Chapter 2 contains the general social background against which the

various educational problems and golutions ale set. It outlines the

establishment ancl <levelopment of a capitalist social system in South

Australia and indicates the rnajor economic phases of this developnìent. In

the secontl place, it is concerned with thtl history of the different

classes and, to some extent, with the political expression of their

interest. t,ast1y, it presents a brief summary of the najor educational

developments in the period under discussion.

Cha.pter S examines the origins of mass schooling in South Australia. In

t¡e first part, it outlines and evaluates various hypotheses advanced by

hj.storians to explai.n this event.. 'fhe second part, usi.ng the nost'

plausible of these explanations, begins the task of reconfiguring the

history of education. The account here revol.ves around the interplay

between the patterns of life of various class fractions, an Education Act

relying on local, initiative and a regulated rfree markett in the provision

of sc¡ooli.ng, and the shifting balance of political power in the colony.

Chapter: 4 is concerned with the large-scale transfor,mation of schooling

processes which occurred urder the 1875 E<lucation Act. Through a cl-ose

examination of inspectors I reports ancl other documents, I have attempted

to reconstruct, in sonte detail, both sides of the struggle to nake schools

nore reffiCientr. Issues SuCh as regular attendance' exans, rcorrectl

English usage and set timet.ables are analysed as foci of conflict between

Eclucation Department's attempt to enforce laws and regulations, and exi-

gencies of rvorking class life.

The following three chapters deal with the various uses of schooling

r^¡hicl-t developed in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Sor:t'lt

5

Australia in response to several interconnected prolrlems of contemporary

capitalism. 'fhese problems l{elfe: a crisis in the process of capital

accumulation; a crisis j.n tl're established patte'rns of rnaintaining and

enhancing the class position of individuals, and the development of an

ideology of the dependent child.

Chapter 5 deats with the displacement of some aspects of this cornplex

crisis into an effclrt to extend st.ate-provicled e lementary schooling. It

points to the increasing use of eelucational qualifications in restricting

access to various kinds of jobs, and the tensic¡n between immediate

economic needs of working class families a¡rd their long-term tenuc¡us

investment in social mobility through schooling. It then discusses, in

some detail, three strat.egies for extending elementary schooling -

through the setting up of a government secondary school, the awarding of

bursaries and exhibitions, and the provision of fifth and sixth classes

in existing prirnary schools.

Chapter 6 deals with the ideology of the <lependent child. Its first part

looks at factors which contributed to the rise of this ideology in the

United States, England and Gernany: changing nexus between school and

work, a crisis of youth employment, and a wide clissernination of psycho-

logical theories portraying young people as fragile and nalleable.

A wide range of statistical data is then used to judge to what extent

sirnilar material conditions applied to South Australia. The last part of

the chapter t.ïaces changes in perceptions of youth which occurrecl in South

Australia at the turn of the century.

Chapter 7 is concerned with the developrnent of government-sponsored

technical education. Different ways of understancling the problems of

6

contempoÏalycaPitalisngaverisetodifferentSchemesoftechnicaleduca-

tion.Itracethisunderstandingthroughthreenajorphases:aninitial

e¡rthusiasm about the power of technical education to tbring forthr colonial

industries'ascepticismabouttechnicaleducationasapanaceafor

economic problems and a far nore precise definition of the personnel and

type of instruction technical educati.on should concentrate on' and finally

renewed attempts to give technical eclucation to all crisis-ridden working

class Youth.

ChapterSchartsabriefhistoryofthesettingupanddevelopmentofthe

United Labor Party, and examines some aspects of the labour movenentrs

attitudes to schooling. using an evidence a range of progressive news-

papers,ittracesthetransformationoftheoriginalenthusiasmaboutthe

roleofeducationinclassstruggletoaconcernaboutsocialrnobility

and efficiency of reach unit of the state | '

Throughoutthetextoftlrethesis,Ihaveusedandreproducedalarge

arnountofstatisticalmaterial.Thisrrotonlycontributestothepreci-

sionofmyargrrment,butnakesreadilyavailableacollectionofdata

usefuli.nthecollectiveprocessofrewritingthehistoryofSouth

Australia which my thesis hopes to encourage '

Notes

1 This passage is fron denunciation, by Knight, of Hodgskinrs pamphlet

on Ricarclo quoted in B. simon z stíai'es in the hístor7 of education

1780-1870 (iawrence and Wishart, 1960) ' p'157 '

CIT|\PTER 1

I{ISTOIIY AND TIITIORY

B

o

Ëconomy and politics stand together in very nuch the,ure t-"lutionship as Little Red Riding Hood and thewoIf. l

As regarded the subjects that might be left out of thecurriõulum...history night be dropped, partly because

in that branch of eciucation much was taught as factwhich was not fact, and it was a mistake to teachchilclren anything that was untrue.2

In recent years, there has been an inpressive growth in the sophisticat'ion

and scope of theories dealing with education'

Nlarxist theory, where for nany yeaÏs schooli-ng, like other problens

touching directly on the social production of individuals, remained on the

periphery, has been enriched by several inportant works concerned

explicitly with modern education systems'3

At the same tirne, Inany recent or rediscovered social theories, although

not dealing with education or comíng directly within a marxist tradition'

have dealt with subjects in such a way that they can inforn the adequate

theoretical coverage of some of the renaining dark spots in a narxist

account of schoolittg. u

'Ihe developnent of mainstream historiography, as well as the growing

sophistication of tools for understanding schooling, has made uneven

impact on education history writing. Very inpressive links between the

two related fields have been nade by several British and Anerican

historians,s who indeed have made a contributi'on to narxist theory itself'

I¡.r Australia, however, a similar pÏocess has hardly begun. Although,

apparently, the history of eclucation has been dislodged from the realn of

9

headmasters, common Senser6 the Old, unexaminecl assurnptions have usually

remainedtostructurethealgumentsandunderpintheconclusions.

It lras, for example, l¡ecome vi.rtually inpossible to ornit all mentj-on of

social class (or at least socio-economic status [SES]) and ofrsocial and

economic factorsr. But, as Stedman-Jones cornplains'

the result has been a subjectificationand a form of discussion which is pre-narxist. Iror sociological theories ofbeen persistently characterised by theobjective *.ono*i. relati.onships''' 7

of social relationsrather than Post-stratification haveevasion or denial of

one of the reasons for this negtect is that some of the essential ingredi-

ents of a sophisticated analysis of schooting, such ai a thorough social

and econonic history, ale missing in Australia. Most of the existing

fragments of such an analysis utoreover refer to the eastel'n states' and

tllere--tne -economic and social d-eveloplent often proceeded along narkedly

different lines from those in South Australia'

Douglas Pike's history of Sou'lh Australiae ends in 1857 and, apart frorn

several honouts theses,' i, only taken up by, i:-hn H1,rsÈ" u stirnulating

but not comprehensive fashion for the period from 1870'10 There are

several excellent but partial l-reatnents of the Depression and ensuì"ng

industrialÍ.sation, I I but again no conprehensive background history'

Êconomic ancl political history of nineteenth century south Australia

Iargely relies on Coghlanrs work at the turn of the century' r2 Although

this has been supplemented by several flieses ancl articles, l 3 we are still

a long way fron a coherent account of the making of class society in south

Australia.

Another, far more serious Teason underlying the poverty of Australian

education history,tu i, the confoïtable illusion of rnany histor:ians that

10

their field is somehow insulated from the rough world of social theory.

It is lrot.

As in any other theoretical enterprise, thc writing of history involves

selecting, interpreting and organising informabion on the basis of some

more or less coherelrt and explici.t system of relevancies ' The fact that

rnarxists tend to acknowleclge their particular theorctical bias usually

makes the theory implicit in thejr work nore coherent, but neither more

nor less pTesent in the actual selection and presentaticln of evidence thart

is the case with authors who claim a complete absence of theory in what

they write. 1 s

As the British l'ristorian Stedman-Jones argued,

of the historian. Secotrdly, and more inportant, thework of the histor.ian is an active intellectual exercise

in principte between history and any other rsocj'al

sciènces'-. The distinction is not that between theoryan<l non-theory, but between the-adequacy or inadequacyof the theory brorrght to bear. 16

11

This has several inportant consequences for our understanding of past

events. Firstty, different theories can be logically expected to genelate

clifferent exptanations of rwllat happenecl in Ìristoryr ' Recently' rnarxists

in particular have been extencling the reinterpretation of rnajor events in

educational]ristorythatwasbegrulbyrevisionist}tistorians.

second, a theoïy can throw Light on certain aspects of history rvhich would

otherwise remaj-n invisible - for exanple, those unclerlying dynarnics of

histo:rical siEuations which happenecl behind peoplers backs and without

them beíng aware of them, and whícli were often characterised by non-

actions, silences, and a quiet consensus about irnplicit assumptions'

Together, tlrese two things helll to crcate a sit-uat,ion wherc the se11'-

conscious use of a theoretical perspective would allow the historian' in

niany instarlcìes, to present a different ,Ëormulation of wLat ít is that is

beinginvestigatedinthefirstplace:tolmakeIratherthan'takel

problctns.I7

Importantly, t]ris relationslrip between tlreory and history works both ways.

on the one hancl, clevelopments of theory will show up new, reconfigured

problerns. on the other hancl, the social identification of paÏticular

problems wilI sometines draw attention to the inadecluacy of the theory

within lvhich the¡' are formulated, and will encourage the search for a more

adequate one.

In practice, this means tlìat the problern-naking of eclucational theories is

closely linked with the nature of political struggles in the area'18

If we accept the point that history-writing Íìust necessarily be done on

the basis of some theory, the question becontes which theoretical approach

one shoulcl use ancl , beyoncl t-hat, what are the criteri'a for evaltlzrting the

valiclity of tìre final procluct - a particular historical hypothesis' ìe

T2

Evaluatin historical h othes es

Mycriteriaforevaluatinghistoricalhypothesesdrawonculrentdevelop.

ments in the philosophy'of science.20 In recent years, as the firm

distinction_anddistance_betweenobjectiverealityandscientific

hypotheses nade by philosophers of science becane commonly accepted'2I

historians lost one of the nain ways of rlistinguishing history fron natural

sciences.Inotherwords,naturalsciencesalenolongerSeenasaccumu-

latingaVaStstoleofIfactsl;reflectionsofrea]i.tysoinnediatethat

theywillremainthesameforalltimes,soli-dbuilclingblocksinthe

edifice of rabsolute truthr, an enterprise which the historians then-selves

aspiredtointhenineteenthcentury'butwereforcedtoabandoninthez¿twentl etn .

rn both fields of enquirl, it is argued, the practitioners establish

hypotheseswhichattempttoaccount'inalogicallyconsistentway'fora

greaterrangeofdatatlrantheirpredecessors.Asahypothesisbecomes

accepted,itnouldsnotonlytheshapeandinterpretationofinformation

alreadyaccessible,buttheselectionof'factsItobe'discovered'and

thetechniquesfordiscoveringthen.Inlrothcases'oneofthemain

criteria of theoretical arJecluacy is the degree to which a hypothesis can

accountforthedatabyaunified,coherentrlogicallyconsistenttheoret-

icalschemewithouthavingrecoulsetovariousadhoc,incidentalõc

theor]-es.

The second criterion of theoretical adequacy is the degree to which a

its caPacity to generatetheory actually 'worksr: its prediclive power'

new l<nowledge ancl the precision with which it can inform social

As E.H. Carr Put it,

action.

13

scientists, social scientists and historians are allengagedindifferentbranchesofthesamestudy:thestlldt of man and his environment, of the effects of rnan

on his environment ¿rncl of his environment on man. The

objectoftlrestudyistheSame:toincreaseman|surrclerslandi¡g of , a¡cl maste1.y ove1.' his envj-ronment.2q

Here agaitr, as in the problen ofrfactual theoriesr, the historians have

for a long time attenqttecl to clraw a clistinc.tion between natuTal and social

sciences: physics coulcl remain scholarly while enallli'ng peoplc to gain

greater mastery of their physical environnent, but history's contribution

to the sane pïocess with regarcl to peoplers social environment was almost

automaticallY decried as rbiasr.

Iiot.h the reluctance of social theory to concern itself with discovering

the fundamental clynamics of social change and the anxious concerlr of

natural sciences with increasing ltunan nìastery of nature can be traced

back to the par.ticular way our society is organised; and are, in the last

analysis, political choices. 'Ihis i.s because a capitalist society depends

both on the rapicl clevelopment of the ¡neans of production and on relatively

static and opaque teLations of production'

It is through stlch linkage of social thecry to the potit-ical requirements

of preserving a capitalist society that we can interpret the I'ea:: proveked

by atternpts to pepularise penetrating social analyses, and the corresponding

unease felt by many social scientists at seeing thej-r discipline

rpolitici zedt fur example of this rnoral reluctance is provided by the

prominent Americarr historian So1 Cohen. In his article, "The history of

the history of American educationrt, Cohen approved of Cremin who "respected

ideas but abhorrecl ideological commitment as antit-hetical to historical

scholarship,,,'lt bt¡t felt "despeTatoly sarl" that lecent revisi'onist

historians seenled bent on repeating 'rthe foIIy of attenpting to politicize

history of eclucation".2 6

T4

But the mere fact that it is in the interests of the ruling class for

history to opt out of an endeavour to unclerstand society does not provide

historians with goorl reasons for cloing so. Indeed, the segregation of

history ancl politics can only be maintainecl at the price of sorne very odd

theorising. At its base, i.t involves the neglect of a crucjal distin-

guishing feature between the objects of st¡cial and natural sciences'

People are both ttre object of enc¿uiry and subjects capable of nrodifying

their own activity on the basis of understanding it. The objec'ts of

rratural sciences, on the other hancl, behave i.n the same hray irrespective

of the cìegree of scientific knowledge that people have of them'

0n a more concTete level, the rreluctantr hiStorians can be accusecl of

insisting on scholarly criteria of good historlr t1t"tt writing about the

past, but abancloning the scholarly apparatus when called on to scrutinise

the rvorkings of contenìporary history in which they are directly involved'

And yet it can be argued that this latter conceTn is a stronger inducement

to 'objective' history writing than the rcanons of academic scholarshipt'

It is c.onrparative ly easy to make a theory acaclemically respeqtable' lJ

\dearegoingtoactonit,howevet,ithadbetterbetrueaswell'

rGoodt history, then, woul<l seek to naxirnize our knowledge about the human

authorship, in al} its complexi.ties, of social phenomena' In doing this'

it wi.ll try to establish a balance betleen those parts of the explanation

which enphasize peoplers conscious designs in producing their world' and

those rvhich concelltrate on the structural constraints and deterrrinants of

peoplers actions.2T For example, it wi1l. not be enough to know that a

changed clinate of public opinion caused sonething to happen' In addition

to the stïuctuïal constraints of the situation, we wilr want to know whose

opinion was considered to be 'publicr, how it came to be changed, how

l5

exactly \{aS this change of opinion relevant to a particular event, and

wl.rether in fact the rvhole episode coulcl not be conceptualised in a differ-

. 2Berìt way.

A third criterion of theoretical adequacy, closely linked with the other

two, is the capacity of íi=tory to base an account of people's actions on

a syrnpathetic reconstruction of the life experiences of different social

groups.ItisnecessaTytogobeyorrdtheculturalpluralisminherentin

sirnplyassertingtlrevalidityo:Frneaningsgiventoeventsbytheirvarious

participants,anclattenìpttofindtowhatextentthedifferentlife

experiences aïe mutually dependent, or have a conìmon source'

For example, after exploding the moral reformersr categorisation of fanilies

whose children clid not attend school as rviciousr andtdepravedt' and

grounding non-attendance in the logical exigencies of labouring households '

we shoulcl go a steP furthcr. It can be arguecl that the pattern of family

lifewhichtlrebourgeoisiewasextollingasamoralirnperativeforall

deper-rclecl directly on subjecting the labouring class to living and working

conriiti.ons which nacle the iclealised family institution an irnpossible

attainment for them.2s

The neecl for a theory of such capacity is relevant to nore than the writing

of history; it is necessary t^rhen theorists atteÍpt to i'nvestigate the

contenìporary social experience of clifferent classes, sexes, national and

ethnic groups.

It was, indeed, recognised by a rare English inspector who wrote' in 1845'

16

The marxist roach to histo

Marxist theory claims t<¡ satisfy all of these criteria of objectivity' In

the fi rst pì.acc, it clainls to lna.ke a cohcrent, logical ly consistent

accountofhistory.Second,tlrisexplanationhasagreaterpowe1lto

generate new insights precisery beùuse it is able to take into conside::a-

tion a greater Ta.nge of causal social factors than other theories '

Moreover,inanalysingthepast,marxistshopetoperfecttlreirtoolsfor

analysingthepresent.ThisisnotSomegratuitousbenefit.ltStens

directly frorn the insistence of histor:ical naterialisn on the historicity

both of theories and of the social phenomena which they analyse. Last ,

marxist theory, above all through íts insistence on the necessity to

analyse cJ-ass struggle, is led to the cletailed consideration of sone

social groups whose history, if not cornpletely invisible, is unnecessaTy

to the concerns of nrany pieces of conventional history'

It is not nìy j-ntention here to present a detailed theoret'ical argunent in

favour of these claims. Rather, I have used ny whole thesis as an argued

case for the practical useful.ne-ss of (a particular version of) narxist

theoryinexplainirrgtlrehistoryofAustralianeducation.

The first step in this case is an exposition of a rnarxist account of

schooling through a brief critique of several recent key contributions:

Schoolinq in capi.tal-ist Ametica'by Sanuel Bowles and Herbert Gintjs' rrThe

origins of public educationil by Michael KaÏ.2, and'rNotes on the schooling

of the English working class" by Ri'chard Johnson'

.fhe book by Bowles ancl Ginti s, Schooling in capitaTist America, is an

integratecl account of the authorsr research oveÎ a number of years ' When

it first came out, in 1976, it irnmediately provided a focus for discussion

I7

about marxist historiography and theory of education' While nany aspects

of the book have been surpassed, it continues to be essential reading for

people working in this fieId.

Katz¡s contribution, rrThe origins of public education: a reassessmentrr, has

a similar significance. It was first presented as presidential a'ddress to

the 1976 meeting of the Ftistory of Education society in canbridge,

Massachusetts. The rreassessmentr refers not only to the tendency within

a particular strean of revisionist historiography, but Katzrs own movement

towards the use of marxist theory in his work'

The article by Johnson is again a reinterpretation of earlier work by

using marxist theory, as well as an indicatjon of theoretical developnents

within the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birrningham

Univers i ty .

Schooling in cap italist America

In their book, Schoolirtg in capitali-st Ametica, Bowles and Gintis attempt

three majoiltasks. The first one is to establish that the reconomy' which

is corunonly accepted to be somehow linked to education is in fact a

capitalist economy characterised by exploitation and class conflict' The

second task is an attenpt to elaborate the natrire of this connection

between the economy and schooling in a capitalist society' The third is

to suggest a theory of educational change '

The carrying through of the first task is essential to the rest of the

analysis, and is the point at which Bowle-s and Gintis signal their depar-

ture from orthor]ox history. This indispensability of econonic analysis

for the understanding of education is neither a dogmatically stated

a priori requi-rement, nor a fashionable, ad hoc addition. Rather, it

stems logically from the authors' understanding of the way society works'

18

The economy, and j-n particular the process of capital accunulation, has to

be analysecl in great. detail, because it is precisely in the conflict-riclden

relations of procluction that orìe can find the key to understancling the

shape of the education sYSten.

But Bowles and Gintisr contribution goes beyond defeating theoret-ical

iclealism ancl naking econonics the 1egì-tinate concerrl of educatic¡nal

historians. 'fhe authors differentiate themselves just as sharply front

most of the nett economic historians through their particulaT conceptuali-

sation of the econonìY.

'Ihis analysis is clistinctive in its insistence that the technical aspects

of production cannot be considered ilr isolation, but must be seen as palt

of a social process characterised by an irreducible conflict between

workers and caPi tal ists :

Capitalist procluction, in our viett, is not sirnply a

teih.ical pto.e=s...'Ihe central problen of t¡e employeris to erect a set of social relationships and organisa-

llow does the education system fi.t into this pattern? According to the

authors, sc.hooling does not I'add or subtract from the overall degree of

inequality and ïep.l.essive personal clevelopmentrr32 present in a capitalist

society. Nevertheless, it plays an important role in reproducing both ihe

technical and the social aspects of c'apitalism:

on the one hand, by imparting technical ancl social skillsancl appropriate motivations, education increases theproarrðiivã capacity of workers ' 0n the other hand'education helps defuse anci depoliticise the potentiallyexplosive clais relations of the production process, and

thusservestopel.petuate[these]social,politicalandeconomic conditioni. 3 3

l9

The seconcl role, which the authors conceptualise as ardisplacement of

contradictions' i,s accornplisl'red, above all, by the habituation of students

to the rsocial relationships and organi.sational formst they will later

encounter in the workplace, Anchor:ing recent research on thethidden

curricula, in an ¿rralysis of the capitalist relations of production' Bowles

and Gintis formulate a tcorr.esponclence pr:inciple' which, clocumented and

reiteratecl throughout the book, becomes one of the linchpins of their

analysis.

The e<lucational systen helps integrate youth into theeconomic system. ..through a structural correspondence

between i.t-s social relaiionsl'rips and those of production'Thestructureofsocialrelationsineclucationnotonlyinures the student to the discipli-ne of the workplace, butdevelops the types of personal demeanor, modes of self-preseniation, sõtf-image ancl social class j-dentification*l"ri..l't are the crucial ingrecli'ents of job nclequacy'

Specifically, the social relationships of education -t'he relationitrip between administrators ancl teachers,teachers ancl students, students and students, and

stuclents ancl their worl< - replicale the híerarchicaldivision of labour.3\

But the problen is that 'rThe capitalist economy and bicycle riding have

thi-s in co^mon: stability requires forward motion".35 The incessant

changes in and expansion of both the pr:ocess of capital accumulation and

of class struggle nean that any mechanisms for defusing class conflict'

including those located in the eclucation system, will continuously become

inadequate. This appties the more so since, unlike the economy, the

education system is relatively stati c. In surn, the third task of the book

is baseci on the oltser:vation that 'r.. .the i-nclependent intelnal clynamì'cs of

the two systenìs present the ever-present possibility of a significant'

mismatch arising between the econony and educatj.on". 36

tvhen Bowl.es and Gintis apply this hypothesis to the history of educational

change in America, they are able to identify forces far more substantial

20

tiran the spirits, senti.ments and clinatcs of public opinion, democratic or

othenvise, that seem to be the notive forces in so rnuch of conventional

history ivriting. Acc.ording to them,

The book represents a tnajor, politì.cally powerful, atterpt to integlate

recellt research illto a conrprehensive marxi-st account of schooling' But

there are many aleas where it can, ancl indeed has to, be improved if its

theory is to be used as a guide to detailed historical research' Most of

thesc are closely linked witl-r the central thene of the book - the

correspondence principle. The fact that the relations of schooling

r.esemble, in many respects, those of capitalist produc'bion, is a very

powerful ancl insightful thesi.s, which shoulci not be omitted from any analy'

sis of capitalist ecJucation systen - but only after, as most of the

critics of the book have poin'Eed out, its precise theoretical status is

firmly established. while it is possible to docunent' the process whereby

the structures and relations of schooling come to r:esenble, to a certain

exterìt, tþe stïucLures and relations of econonic tife, it is quite another

to theorise the reasons for this corresponclence and yet another to explain

the way in which it actually works. But the absence, in the book, of a

tireory of learning ancl of hegenony, does not allow such distinctions to.be

aclequately established. In fact, what happens instead is that t'he authors

collapse the first and the third problem-descr:iption of the character of

scl'rooling structures and of the way they work; alrd hanci over to the

2I

capitalisl the second problem, establishment of a correspondence between

school and the workPlace.

'Ihe conf.usion between structures and outcomes of schooling is one of the

nost significant defects of the book. In talking about school processes,

Bowles and Gintj-s lose sight of their own statements about a relat'ively

autonomorrs educatíon system with its own dynamic, and of the fact that

peoplc are active agents in their own production, As a result, in thei'r

account, the structures and relations of schooling not only correspond to

those of product.ion, but seem to have a direct, unrnediated impact on their

participants.3s But although people might end up behaving and thinking in

a way congruent with the rhiclden curriculat of schools, there is no auto-

lnatic connection between the two. on the contrary, such connection, in an

institution which <Jepends for its legitirnacy on relative lack of coerciott'

can only occur through the participantst own, semi-autononous cultural

activity. As an outstanding Iecent example of this approach illustrates'

a more sophisticated matxist analysis is quite capable of producing intel-

pretations which sharply conflict with those of Bowles and Gintis '

For exarnple, Bowles and Gintis argue that

schooling fosters and rewards the development of certaincapacitiãs and the expression of certain neecls, whiletl*,iarti.ng and pe.alising others. Through these institu-tional rãtotio}tthips, tñe educational system tailors theself-concepts,aspirationsandsoc-ialclassidentifica-tiolr of inãividuals to the requirements of the socialdivision of labour..", tt

and that rr...t-he class, sex ancl race biases in schooling do not produce,

but rather reflect, the structure of privilege in society at large"'40

But Paul Wi]lis, in his book ¿earning to Tabour, is able t'o descÏibe a

mecharrism where it is precisely a revoTt against the school 1abe11ing

process ancl the maintenance of oppnsite noÏn¡s by a school' rcounter-culturer

22

which, couplecl with sexisn, teads working class lads to actively seek

hard, unskillecl manual work ancl reject wlìite collal and skilled work

favoured by the school as tunrnanlyt.4I

Moreover, if "education helps defuse and depoliticize the potentially

explosive class relations of thc production plocess"r42 it can hardly do

so through na type of social relationship that fairly closely mirrors that

of the factorytt. a 3

On the contrary, the schools atternpt to l-eave ouÈ certain aspects of the

social relationships of the factory - this is indeed part of the raison

drêtre for a schooling systen separate from the process of production.

The schools however are never entirely successful in elimj,nating fron their

operation the contradictory character of capitalist social relations and

reproduce, in a clifferent place and in a different form, class conflict.

'fhese pqints can be extended in a critique of Bowles and Gintisr concep-

tualisation of the nature of the conírection between economy and schooling.

If the relations of procluction can provide us with a key to rrnderstanding

schooling, the authors' search for this key is conducted in distinctly

functionalist terrns '

A convincing demonstration of the usefulness of contemporary work organi-

sation for naintaining the power and profits of the employe1s stands in as

a proof of the causal status of workplace structures in the formation of

the rhidden curricular of schools. The logical corollary of this position

is the identification of an agent actually carrying out the functional

requirements of the capitalist economy - and here the authors opt for. a

renarkably powerful and class-conscious bourgeoisie'

There are serious problerns with both parts of the argument.

23

0n the one hand, procluction relations ale pÏesent in the shape of science'

machinery, chil<1-rearing practices, consumer goods, status of children in

society, popular conceptions of hierarchy and intelligence, to trame just a

few. It is these elenents, reinforced by every family and corner shop,

rather than relations of production per se, that enter the process of

struggle and negotlation thror.rgh which eclucational structures al:e definecl'

In other lvords, there is no dilect causal link between the economy and

eclucation. Rat.her, their relationship is mediated by a variety of cultural

forms transnitt-ecl by people in their everyday life'

white Bowles and Gintis provide us with sone of the basic ingredients of

analysing the relationsl'rip between economy and schooling, we canf t accept

those part.s of their analysis which suggest a direct causal link between

these two aspects of society. It is Willis and.Iohnson who, through their

fi.ne appreciation of the interplay between capitalist development and

individual actions, offer: the best hopes of filting this theoretical gap'

The same theoretical considerations seriously undermine the second part of

Bowles and Gintis' aTgrnnent as well. Here, the authoÏs Teverse their

overemphasis on structures, ancl emphasize the autonomous society building

activities of the capitalists' While

...theeclucationsystemopelates...notsomuchthrouglrthec.lrscious intentions of tõachers and adninistrators inthejrday-to-dayactivity,butthroughaclosecorrespon-clence between the social relationships which govern

persotrali.nteractioni.ntheworkplaceandthesocialrelationships of the education systelr"t4

the capitalists, enjoying a position quite unlike that of anybody e1se,

seem to be consciously erecting the social stluctures which would further

their class interests.

24

But just as the teaclters and students reproduce important aspects of

c¿lpitalist society utìawares as they go about their mundane, everyday

activity, so do the capitalists. The fact that the public statements of

some of t.hem come close to oul ïeconstlluction of thcir j-nterests - and'

morc importantly, that their clclcisions m¿lke an important impact on the

shape of the ¡naterial and social environtnent, is not enough to put then in

a position of tsocial controlr.

Brian Abbey and Dean Ashenclen, in their review of' Schoofing itt capitaTist

America, put the point in the following way:

The contencling clâsses do not in norrnal tines directlyconfront one another * they stand in a relation which'i.s

clefinite forlns. Whatrs more they shape our ways of

culture (or cultures) shaped. in part by the naterialcircumstances of productiotr. *"

SchooJing jn cap.itaTist Ä¡ner:l ca is an avowedly marxist attenpt to outline

a theoretical approa.ch to schooling. Its ntajor strength consists in frac-

turing the opaqtre clìalacter of tsocietyr, and in a radica'l relocation of

education within it. Instead of linking education, in an ad hoc fashion,

with this or that economic factor, the authors have attenpte<l to analyse

the notive forces of capitalism, and situate education firmly withi'n the

f-undamental conflicts these generate.

25

But wl-rile Bowles, and Gintis succeed in stripping these rnotive forces of

their arbitrary character, the authorsr lack of consistency and sophisti-

cation i' the use of certain aspects of marxi-st theory rnakes such for:ces

less lifelike than they r^roulcl otherwise have to be' In particular' a

finer appreciation of the cultural significance of peoplers everyday

actionsandenvironmentworrldobviatetheneedtosearchfordirect

causal link between rculturet and recononyr, ancl correct the excessive

quietude of wor:kers and hyperactivity of capitalists that this search

encourages '

'l'he ori ins of lic education

In 1976, the promi.nent American revisionist historian Michael Katz wrote

an article\6 i,'r whic.h he attenrpted to use sonìe aspects of rnarxist theory

in orcler to reínterpret the emergence of public educ'ation systerns in nine-

teenth century North Aneríca. Llis reassessment of the origins of mass

schocrling comes in four parts. First , Katz outlines four critical social

developments relevant to the emergence of school systerns - industrialisa-

tion, urbanisation and immigrati.on; graclual assumption by the state of

direct responsibility for some aspects of social welfare; invention of

institutionalizatiol-t as a solution t.o social problems; and a redefinition

of the famity which involved its separati.on from the workplace, a reduction

of j-ts role in the treatrnent of deviance, and its closer invoivenent in

the life of its nembers '

seconcl, Katz cliscusses five problcm areas formulated by contenpolary

observers; problenr-s which aÏose out of the above tsocial developnentsr'

ancl which were believed to have a solution in the educational system'

26

These were urban crime and poverty, where working class farnilies were seen

as breecling grounds for paupers and criminals; increased cultural hetero-

geneity, which was tnore often than not equated with inmorality and devi-

ance; the necessity to train and discipline a workforce often unused to

the rhythms of urban and in<lustrial environment; the crisi.s of youth in

the nineteenth century city; and the anxiety anong'niddle classrparents

about their adolescent children.

To bring the two lists, which display a great deal of sensitive historical

insight, into some sort of coherent r:elationship, Katz suggests the outline

of a socia.l theory. Armed with these tools, he discìlsses the cluestion:

rTo what extent can public educational systens be said to have been imposed

upon the poor?', and tentatively leaves the answer with a sketchily out-

lined theory of hegemoriy, which he believes might provide a bridge between

conflict and consensus interpretations of Llnited Statest history.

Katz argues that we need a theory which would show

...exactly how the problems listed...interacted with eachother to produce systems of public education. Thatexplanation is an inportant and subtle task, drawing notonly ot't historical events but on a theory of socialdeveloprnent ancl on sociology of knowledgê and motivation.aT

Before suggesting ny variant of such a theory, I want to nake a mole

ambitious clain for it. First, as argued earlier, a theory is already

present i¡ the different problens anci developments; it is possible that

the rcoherent explanationr woulcl not only show their interconnections, but

redefine the rproblems and developmentsr themselves. At the sarne time,

ind.ependent theories of social cleveloprnent, sociology of knowledge and

motivation are l.ikely to be, in nany respects, incompatjble' The more

27

they are ïeconciled into a coherent theorg the more chance they have of

inforning a coherent hjstorjcal- account'48

In the case urder ctiscussion, instead of relying on disconnected accounts'

weshoulcltr),toexplainlrowtheincreasíngdorninationofthecapitalist

rnode of ploducti-on helpe{ to fashion a certain social realì-ty, inc'luding

the ways in which people have sought to explain that leality.''e

In the seconcl place, although the author is attenpting to use ' capitalisn

as a conceptr in his reinterpretation, his characterisation of capitalisn

remains problematic. Katz not only lacks Johnson's finer appreciation of

the clepth of class cultural conflict. Where Bowles and Gintis ovel-

emphasi zed the capitalistsr conscious role in erecting social and naterial

environment conducive to gl.eateT exploitation of workers , Katz can be

critici zed for neglect.ing ilnportanL aspects of this pÏocess' At the same

t.ine, a major analytical strength of Bowles and Gintisr book - cliscussion

of the rdisplacement of contradictions' - is lacking in Katzts analysis'

Katz acknowledges the existence of class conflict, but 1.eserves it for

special occasions. Most of the time, the action belongs to the capitalists;

the workers remaining passive except for brief bursts of organì-sed class-

conscious activity such as strikes. This is because, following conmon

usage , Katz confuses class conflict with class agi.tation' FIe is looking

out for organisation, unions, leaclers, rneetings, speeches, leaflets and

aims, ancl large-scale clashes with authority. In this way, many aspects

of class struggle, parading tmder a different name, have escaped his

attention. For exanrple, indiscipline, go-slow, absenteeisn, ninor indus-

trial.sabotagc, fight for retcntion of o1<1 job classifications and lack of

interest in wor:k, not just union organisation ancJ activity' are some of '

the ways in which the r^rorkers try to resist increasing exploitation'

28

Sinilarly, events which we have becorne accustomed to classify otherwise'

such as order, rationality, specialisation and discipline, should not be

seen as rinherent aspects of capitalismt' but as sone of the ways in

which the capitalists tÏy to increase profit'

Buttheun<lerstarrdirrgofclassconflicthastobebroadenedoutinyet

anotherdirectj.on'Peoplenotonlyresisted,butfornulatedandactedon

strategies of self-improvement. 0n1y rarely did these strategies resernble

actionsofworkersfullyconscíousofthenselvesasaclass.Farmore

often, they represented the sectional interest of a fraction of the wor:king

c1ass, or simply indiviclual strategies for coping with life' For sone

sections of the class, these strategies inclucled, in various ways' the use

of schooling.

Itlorkers di¿l value educated, literate chilclren and safe babysitting cale'

rt can be argued that other institutions, such as applenticeship and

'boardì,ng outr, would have been able to fulfil this fr¡nction more in

keepirrg with the wor:kersl interests. Nevertheless, the wotkersl rrse of

schools for thjs purpose has to lle sharply differentiated from acc¡uiescence

witlrbourgeoisattemptstoeradicatevariousaspectsofworkingclass

ctrlture.

such widenecl understanding of class conflict can be systenatised in the

conceptoftdisplacementofcontracli.ctionsl.Lookedatcarefully,the

most successful capitalist innovation can nevel cornpletely Temove conflicts

arisirrg in the capitalist rclations of procluction' Rather' the conflict

canbegivenadifferentrlessimmediatelythreateningform'andbe

displacedintoadifferentsphereofhunanactivity.Inthisway,when

Katz maintains that schools have played a key role in getting people to

spontaneously accept the structure of inequali'ty which circumscribes their

29

Iives because, I'with even t.heir internal organisation a. reflection of

social ideology, schools have taught the legitinacy of the socia'l oldeÏ",s0

he can be critj.cizecl on two counts. ljirst, as with Bowles and Gintis,

nere consonance with social icleology does not prove an institutionts major

r<tle in generating this ì-<teology. Aftcr all, every cor.¡rer shop, rvedding

cerenony ancl suburban street reflect ancl reinforce the same j'deology' To

establish the schoolst share of reproducing capitalist hegemclny would be a

far more ambitious enterPrise.

second, the tools for 'teaching people the legitinac.y of ttre social orderr

are by no means perfect. In South Australia, for exanple, I have argued

that the enforcencnt of compulsory attendancc and the t.ightening of school

cliscipline under the 1875 Act encouragctl thc grorvth in the ntrmbcr of

rilrefficientr -snlalI private schools on the one hatrd, ancl a widespread

clissatisfaction wi'th traditional working class occupations on the other'

As Johnson says,

. ..schools seeil to reproduce instead of the perfect workerin complete icleological subjection, lnuch more the workeras beaier of the characteristic antagonisms of the socialformation as a whole.sr

School ing of the Enqtish working class

A solution to some of the theoretical problems I pointed to in Katzts

articl.ei is suggestecl by Richar:d Johnson in hisrrNotes on the schooling of

the EngJ.ish rvorking class f7B0-1850r'. Against conventional historians,

,Johnson emphasizes the usefulness of the mode of production as an explana-

t.ory concepr. Agaí.nst a sinrple rnodel. of causality employed by some

marxj-st. authors, he introcluces the notion of class cultural conflict.s2

In the first part of the article, .Iohnson explains the rise of mass

schooling by the effort of the ì:ourgeoisie to aid the extension of the

30

capitalist mocle of procluction through 'cutti'ng the reproductionr of working

class culture.

In the second part, he locates the tining of the introduction of mass

schooling in the crisi.s of hegenony sparked off when the same process of

extending capitalism undenninecl older systems of authority ancl gave rise

to a raclical working class challenge. Lastly, Johnson establishes some

theoretical distanc.e between the intentions of schoolrnen, the structures

they set up, and their a.ctual. effects of working class children' s3

Jolrnson sets himself a more ambitious task than Katz - v¡here Katz speaks

of relatively indepenclent pr:gb1ems and developments, Johnson is already

testing out an j.ntegrated a.nalysis. The pinchpin of this analysis is the

concept of class-cultural control/transfornation, but shouid perhaps

rather be identi.fic<l as class-cul Lural conf Iict. 'lhis conceptualisati-on,

intentionally clifferent froln that of tsocial c'ontrolr, makes Johnson rnore

attentive both to the indigenous forms of working class education and to the

subversion of schoolmenr s intentions,

For Johnson, resistance to work discipline, the defence of custonìaÏy

rights of relief, the practice of customaly sports and pastimes, the

ecltrally tradiLi.onal use of alcohol in sociability or need, the spending of

hard-won wages on petty luxuries, the theft of property or the street life

of children and adolescents constitutecl fr¡rms of resistance, even if often

notself-consci-ouslyoppositjonaloronlypartirtllypolitical.

In tþeir clay-t.o-clay attempts to live their lives under capitalism, working

peopte behavecl in a way which was obstructive to progless or even to self-

advancement within a capitalist social order. If capitalist development

in town and countrysicle lt¡as to be speeded ancl secured, it was necessary to

cut the reproduction of older popular culture"sa

31

This analysis fits r,¡ell with the case under cliscussion. Flowever, Johnson

can be c.riticised for linking his concepts too closely to a particular

historical con juncture. A-s he says,

Moclern inclustry djd nced new elements in human naLure,did require the learning of new lelations' Earlyvictorian moralisn, then, lvas not some gratuitonsbourgeois aberration' Cultural aggression of thiskind was organic to 'Ehi.s phase of capitalist develop-

Ét:menr.

The oppositional culture of the working class, the foltler popular culturer,

seenìs to date back to feudalism, and the tcultural aggressiont to be

closely linkecl with early industrialisation. ßut both the oppositional

working class culture and the cultural aggression have a wider explanation'

Next to its origin i.n a <lifferent mode of product'iotì, wotkersr oppositional

culture ariscs or¡t of the capitalist mocle of production itself '

Firstly, as Borvles and Gintis stress, capitalism is an inheretttly revolu-

tionary mode of production, with constantly changing technology, division

of labour, patterns of wor:k and distribution of populat.ion' People used

to particular rliythlns et.E work con-stantly come into environments where

their l'rabits appear as inefficiency'

secondly, some aspects of the toppositional culturer are produced through

tl.re organisa'Lion of the new jobs themselves. E,P. Thonpson, Ln TIte making

of the English working class, for example draws attention to the fact

that Irish laboureïs, unused to the rhythms of factory life' were preferred

for heavy labouring to English workers who have learnt, through decades of

factory experience, to husband their strength'sG Moreover, the capitalist

nocles of life and work thenlselves procluce not only forns of resistance to

the entployers, but often also a t¡nentalityt which irnpedes the snooth

working of capitalist society. For example, the conclitions of life of

3',z

casual wage laboulers militated against frugality, orderly fzLmily life,

-respect for private pïoperty, sobriety and diligence, habits which their

enployers would clearly have liked thern to have'

Similarly, cultural aggression occurred at other periods of sharp class

conflict besicles industriatisation. Importantly, that part of it which

saw the emergence of mass schooling was not linked with industrialisation

in either Canada or Australia.

Altlrough Johnson is not primarily concerrled with the effects of educa-

tiolral expansion, his theoretical approach is equally applicable to this

area. In particnlar, without using any ad hoc theories, Johnson is able

to show that the same factors that rnade for the introductic¡n of mas-s

schooling - c1¿rss-cultural conflj.ct and early inclustrialisation, were also

amongthereasonswhl"rthewholeschoolingenterpr'isewaslikelytofail

or work only in rather unexpectecl rvays"'57

First, the clesire to get children into schools conflicted with industrial

capitalisrnrs insatiable appetite for child labour'

Second, working people used provided schools in an instrumental manner,

taking from the system what they wanted but rvithdrawing children fron

school once these skilIs (especially a rneasure of literacy) were secured'

Thircl, the systenì was subverted in its working by the resistance of school-

chi ldren.

Aild finally, at the time, family, neighbourhood and even place of wor:k

were probably of much great-er importance in shaping young peoplers charac-

ter t|an scþoo1. In any case, schools, lilte other bourgeois institutions,

weïe never able '[o procluce a rperfectr worl<er in cornplete ideological

subjection, and instead reproducecl the worker as bearer of the character-

istic antagonistns of the social fornation as a wl-role: schools reproduced

forms of resistance, however limited or ¡nse1f-colìsciotrs'sB

33

What, then, are the major characteristics of a marxist account of

schooling? In the first place, schooling takes place in a capitalist

society characteri.sed by exptoitation and class conflict' This conf'1ict

is not confined to class-conscious struggle centred on the place of work,

but extends into a whole range of diffuse act'ivity whicl'r can be character-

ised as rclass-cultural conflict'. In this scenario, capitalists can no

longer be seen as exercising rsocial controlr'

second, the capitalist relations of prociuctiorr profoundly nark the

cultural and naterial products and processes which surround people in

their everyday 1ife. At the salnc time' nrany colrflj'cts generateci in the

sphere of production are constantly being displaced into other spheres of

human activity. For these two reasons alone, it is necessaly to under-

stand the reconomyr if we want to analyse sçhooling'

Thi.rd, historica,lly, mass educatiorl Systems cleveloped in such a way that

they could help reproduce both tl-re technical and social aspects of capi-

talist production. on the one hand, schools teach people specific techni-

ca1 skills. On the other, they expose thern to an environment which in

many respects Tesembles that of the workplace. Nevertheless, the link

between tthe economyr and schooling remains very complex' Above alf it

is mecliated by the autonomous cultural activity of educator:s and pupils --

altcl as strch reprocluces, albei.t in a different fotm, many of the contradic-

tions schooling is intende<l to solve. In acldition, because of the differ-

ent internal dynamics of the two systerns, there is a continuous possibility

of a serious misnatch between them'

34

It is around these basic concerns of a marxist account of schoolirrg that

the next section of this chapter is structured. Fi::st, it describes in

nore cletail some of the basic characteristics of a capitalist society.

Next, it cliscusses the displacement of contradíctions into the education

systern and the link between schooling ancl society. Final11', it looks at

the actual process of schooling.

Anal it a 1i srn

At the ce¡tre of rny analysis i-s the assumption that Australian society is

a capitalist one - more precisely, that its developnent is dominated by a

capitalist mode of production.ss Before going on to clescribe this society,

hgwever, it is rìecessâry to establish the rough shape of the theory acle-

quate to the task.60 I have done this b)'discussing two fundantental

requirements -- the diaJ. ectical. and Tagered character of ¡narxist theory.

In the first plnce, a marxist analysis of Australia would naintain that

the basic production relationships people enter i.nto ar:e present, in rnany

conplex ways, in all other spheres and results of hurnan activity. Since,

in a capitalist society, most production is carried out by wage labourers

in antagonistic relationship to a class of owners of the means of produc-

tion, we would e,xpect other spheres and results of human activity to be

deeply marked by this conflict. This has inportant consequences for

marxist theorY.

...if the way of life in class society is antagonistic,t-hen the theory of class society must also be antagon-istic...lf there is room in the theory for the conditionsunder which the ruling class is able to alienate and

exploit thc labour of the producing class, then theremust be room for the conditions under which the rulingclass is unable to alienate and expJ"oit labour. If thetheory includes tl're conditions and kind of labourdiscipline and control, it must also include the c.ondi-tions ancl kind of labour indiscipline and absence of

35

control. If it contairts an explanation of how the owningclass re-strains the proclucing c1ass, it must also show howthe producing class restrains the ruling class. If it isan econouric theory which cmphasizes the process by whì chwealth in a particular form is produced, it must giveequal empirasis to tlÌe process by which wealth in thisform is destroyed...For capitalist society, if we havea theor,v of productive labour, accunulation, and capital-ist developmertt, we also need a theory of unproductivelabour, capital disaccumnlation, and socialist developrnent 61

But it is immediately necessary to stress that this fundamental insight

can be elaborated only on the basis of another essential aspect of rnarxist

analysis - its layered character. This is because, even when the whole

theory is logica11y consistent, tools developecl for one level of analysis

are often inappropriate for other leveIs. More specifical.ly, as argued in

corrments on Schoofing in capitalist America, the terminology and concepts

used in analysing the general development of a whole social system become

exceedingly clumsy and misleading if they ar.e used to describe in any

detail the everyday life of one of its members. There, it is necessary to

deal rvith events ancl explanations the overall analysis can well afford to

leave out. This, indeed, is one of its strengths.

It is in class anzrlysis (which, in the narxist schene, i-s an essential

cornponent of studies in the history of schooling), that the necessity of a

Iayered approach comes out most strongly. Balbus62 and Stolzman and

Gamberg, u t in their separate contributions to class anaiysis, for example

highlight a major problen which arises after ri-gorous critiqr-re of stratifi-

cation theory. T'he authors correctly point out that class and stratifica-

tion theories are incompatible since they not only employ a strikingly

different conceptual apparatus (based on analysing the conflict of opposing

j.nte::ests and opposite attributes on the one hand, ancl the distribution of

tlie relative share of the same attribute on the other lrand); and refer to

36

r1ifferent spheres of social reality, but also nove on a different leve1 of

abstraction. 6 \

WhiIe lr{arx was interested in developing'ran analytical tool for the explan-

ation of structural changes in societies characterised by a capitalist

mode of productior",tt stratification theory is "[b]roaclly concerned with

questions pertaining to tl're forms, functions and consequences of discernible

systems of structured social inequality". This can include examination of

t'how peoplers position in the stratification liierarchy determines their

in<lividual or collective behaviour". 66

The latter is obviously a very important area of research, where highly

abstract marxist theory is nearly as lane as stratification theory is in

explaining the dynarnics of capitalism. But this d<¡es not nean that, after

denonstrating tfie inadequacies of sttatification concepts, marxist theory

should abandon the field. Indeed, recent developments in nnrxist theory

provide some tools for understanding the range of probl.erns where stratífi-

cation theory has macle its home. However, these contributions sometirnes

suffer from a lack of clarity about the level of abstraction to which they

refer.

An inportant attempt to deal with such problems is an article by Theotonio

Dos Santos, "The concept of social cIaSseS".67 In it, the authOr aTgues

that mariy conrplaints about the inappropri-ateness or conc.eptual confu-sion

of marxist method stem directly from a failure to turderstand the dialectícal

approach used. As he says, "Ir]igorous differentiation ancl interdependence

of the levels of abstraction is one of the rnajor aspects of- the dialectical

method,..tr6B

5t

In his article, the author distinguishes betrveen four 1eve1s of abstrac-

tion in relation to class analysis: rnode of procrrrction, social structure,

social situation and econornic cycles. It is not my intention her,'e to offer

a detail-ed critiqr.re of Dos Santos, but ratlrer to preface a more detailed

ciescription of capitalist soci,ety by a few remarks which will explain the

changes I have nade i.¡r his ttreoretical scheme. These refer, in the first

place, to the content of tire fourth lel'el atrd, in the second place, to an

attempted ehange in elçhasis regarding the connection between the different

levels of analysis.

For Dos Sa¡rtos, the fot¡rth level, economic cycles, is important because it

alt-ers the tvisibiJ.ity' of different aspects of capitalist society. For

exanq>Ie, cLass conflict and exploitation are far nore reaciily apparent

during depressiclns 0.r revolutionary situations than during periods of

prosper:ity.6e Partly as a result-, more or less tperceptiver theories

irppear at clifferent stages of the economic cycle. But it is quite

p6ssÍble * åflcl inciecd necessary, to i.ncorpolate precisely tl:. ' kind of

insight into levels two and three: to explain the ways in which a changing

polltical a:lci econonic situation is tÍanslated into different kinds of

elass experience ancl organisation. The problern of the fourth level is

syrrrptontatic of Dos $antostwhole approach, which does not fully and

c<.r¡tsistently tal(e into consicleration how various buildi.ng blocks of his

levels - technology, wage and skill differentials, and consumption

patterns - are tproducedt in the course of class struggle' In the

fiollonrlng erpüsítitfl, 'ûhe leve1 of reconornic cycles' is accordingl.y

elir¡solved, ¿lfld íneorporateel into the rest of the analysís.

Seconcll.y, I lvant to pursue more consistently than Dos Santos seens to do

the opening trromise of a dialectical relationship between different 1evels

of anaLysis.

38

specifying the levels fron the most abstract to the concrete does not

imply a one-way, top-down movement of cletermination. In fact, each level

should be concept-ualised as havirrg some measure of autonomy, as well as

conplex links with the other levels. Dete::minatj-ons move both ttr"

althorrgh it is very clifficult to establish the precise mechartj-sns through

which this is done.

At the sane time, it should be kept in mínd that the three levels of

abstraction aïe merely different ways of seeing one social reality;

different a.spects

At this point, I

of one object.

can reconmence ny description of capitalism' 70

First leve I - ntocle of Production

on the first level, that of capitalist mocle of pro<luction, we aTe concerned

rvith the abstract formulation of the underlying conditions ancl basic teli-

dencies in a capitalist society. Although these basic features of capital-

ism might not exist in a pure form in einpirical reality, their under-

stancling is a.prerequisite to explanation of that reality. what are these

conditions ?

The historical trasis of a specifically capitalist society is the existence

of two c.lasses - a mass of people <iivorced from the means of production

and both able ancl obligecl to exchange their labour power for wages on the

one hancl, ancl the existence of capital capable of buying and utj'lising

thi:; labour power on the other hancl. In the apparently free and equal

exchange betwecn worker and capi.talist, the value of a commodity is

measured by the tine socially necessary for its production' In exchange

for his or her labour po\^ier, the worker therefore obtains the means

necessary for staying alive and bringing up children within a certain

historicalLy established family structure and standard of living'

39

However, labour, as clistinct from other comnodities, has the characteris-

tic of producing value. By extending the necessary labour tirne, 'Ehat is'

the ti.ne spent on producing the nere value of labouT poweÏ, it becomes ttre

source of surplus value (of more value than it has itself) and, by the sane

token, of increasi.ng economic power of capital'

This continuous expansion occurs because capitalism is an inherently

dynarnic mode of production. Its motor is the competition-induced drive to

accunrtrlate capital - a clrive which, acting indepenclently of the will of

individua-l capitalists, assunes the status of a rstructrrral inperativer'

Quite simply, the capitalist wiro fails to nake a profit or continuously to

increase the size of his fir¡r will sooner or iater be taken over by a more

successful conpetitor, or go out of business. under capitalisn, accumttla-

tion involves the efforE to continually increase the rate of surplus

value, continuously increase the exploitation of the working class: rll'he

secret of the self-expansion of capital resolves itself into having the

disposal of a ciefinite qua¡tity of other people's unpaid labour"'71

In various ways, the working class resists this effort. Its logical

interest (as clistinct fron its policy at any given tine), is more than tire

grantingoflafairday'spayforafat.rdaylsworkl;itistheabolition

of the conditiorrs of its exploitation - of the wage labour system :ltself'

This interest is rarely formulatecl into a coherent progrannne' Insofar as

it is pTesent in workerst indiviclual or collective actions, however' it

constitules a continuous threat to the smooth functioning of a capitalist

econorny. It is only through containing and defusing these constant

threats that the capitalist mode of production is able to survive' Thus

class struggle is the other, inseparabte side of capital accumulation' an

essential. conponent in shaping the way capitalist society develops "

40

when they are coherently defined, the opposing i,nterests of the two

classes appear in the form of ideologies. on the side of the bourgeoisie,

a true expression of its interest involves the attempt to pÏesent jts

values and needs as those of the society as a whole, and to avoid the

formulation or manifestat:lon of fundamen'Eal cla'ss conflict' A true

expression of workersr interests, on the contrary, would seek to analyse

tl-re real clash of interest between the two classes in order to dernonstrate

the causes of exploitation and clevíse ilìeans of removing t'hem by radically

restructuring society. This is because "[f]recclorn for the owning class is

the freedom Lo exploit the tabour of the producing class ' Freedom for the

producers is the freedon from su'rplus labour, i.e. freedom fron the owning

c1ass".72

The necessary relationship between two classes with opposing interests

represel'rts one of the nany irreducible contradictions of capitalisn' It

is irnportant to stress that such contradictions aÏe present, in various

forms, on a-zJ levels of class analysis -not only in the analytically

clefined nocle of production, but withín classes and insti-tutions, different

aspects of the dzry-to-day li-fe of individuals, and even within peoplers

minds.

The capitalist nlode of production exists in a social formati'on many of

whose aspects clo not operate accorcling to the logic of the dominant node

of production.T3 Fron the standpoint of the capitalist, these 'dissonantl

features graclually come into vi.ew as obstacles to capitalist developrnent'

Tlìey are often analysed as suc.h, ancl become. the target of a concerted

effort to subsume them under the capitalist rnode of production.

4l

Second Ievel - social structure

The capitalist mode of production does not develop in precísely the same

way in all countries. To analyse the historically specific social forms

a¡rcl structures which develop i.n different locati<¡ns, it is necessary to use

a lower level of abstraction.

While the previous section stressed the conflict be'Eween classes, here it

is appropriate to concentrate on the divisions within classes. For

workers, the application of science to work processes characterised, at

every step, by commercial competition and class conflict, leads to constant

changes in technology and cli.vision of labour. f\lhi1e advancing capitalj.sm

subjects more ancl moïe people to the general conditions of wage labour,

the char.rging division of labour within enterprises, as well as the uneven

development of regions and sectors of the economy, nean that not all are

subject to the same conclitions of work.Ta

Indeed,

...this progressive simplification of the underlying classstructure of capitalism is accompanied by a simultaneousand contradictory novement toward complexity and,differ-entiation witirin the ranks of the major classes.'"

The same plfocess can even be seen as giving rise to different labour

markets within one countTY,T6

Of the various distinctions used to describe sections of the working class,

tl-rat between craft workers and unskilled labourers and Asian workers is

useful in analysing nineteenth century Australia, while fragmentation of

the labour force between white men and women, Aborigines and later non-

Anglo Saxon migrants becomes relevant in the twentieth.TT

For owners of capital, divisions are fostered not only by capitalist compe-

tition itself, but by the size of investrnent and the different areas in

which capitaì. is deployed.

42

IVe can thus clistinguish between money capital (such as in Portfolio invest-

ment and loans), proclucti.ve capital (ernployed directly in production), and

commodity capital (employecl in trade). These fractions are further divicled

into monopoty and non-monopoly capital. In the Australian conditions,

another distinction is essential - that between sections of capital exposed

to ilrternational conrpetition and able to operate, because o.F their compe-

titiveness or natural shelter, without substantial assistance; and those

operating behincl a substantial tariff wa11.78

In summary, tl're enployment of capital in di.fferent sectors of the econony

on the part of the capitalists, as well as substantial <lifferences in the

c.onditions of work between clifferent groups of workers, make it necessary

to speak on this leve1 of analysis not only of classes, but of class

fractions.

While these class fractions share certain fundamental class interests,

their objective position within the capitalist economy gives them a whole

range of sharply competing i.rnmecliatc objectives. For example, different

class fractíons could favour different patterns of state expenditure (e.g.

city schools and seweïage as against country roads and subsidized port

facilities) ancl general econornic policy (e.g. free trade as against

proEection), or clifferent approach to the content and organisation of

schooling (e.g. coryretiti.ve classical curriculum as against industrial

education or rworking class knowledger),

Not only classes, but institutions take on a more specific forn on this

1eve1 of analysis. fVithin cliffercnt countries, the changing conditions of

capitalist economy influence not only the transfornation of structures

which predated capitalism '- such as the state or the family, but the

clevelopnent of new ones - such as reformatories or trade unions. Sometirnes,

43

indeed, the character of particular institutions becortes the focus of

class struggle. In turn, through taking over specì-fic aspects of reproduc-

tio¡ of capitalist society, as well as helpirtg to mould and process peoplets

demands, tlte ilrstitutions beconle olìe of the determinants of class

struggle. Te

And finally, i.f the first level of analysis identified class interests and

ideologies, here it is possible to point to the extent to wh-ich these are

embodi ed in and inform various social practices and institutions. In

otlrer words, capitalist ideology is not rnerely a set of icleas which wor:kers

for sorne t'eason believe or are forced to believe. This ideology is

enrbedded in o¡r environment and in the objects ancl pr:act.ices r^rhicìr people

continuously etrcounter in their everyday 1ives. Money, used car yards,

workplace fiierarchy, alL-firm football teams, dormitory suburbs, buying

cloctorsr tirne, police and throw-away foocl cotttainers can all be included

in this 1ist. None of these bits ofrmaterialised ideology' is altogether

perfect. On the contraly, they continuously produce prohlern-s and

practices -- such as the energy crisis or stealjng-which can make their

continuous existence very precarious.

Third leve1 - sociat situation

'Iogether, the structures of the second leve1 forrn a historically changing

but nevertheless (frorn the point of view of inclividuals), relati.vely

stable pattern of positions in the class structure. The characteristics

of these rclass placesr provide the people tvho fill them with much of the

raw material of tl-reir experíence.80 At work, this experience relates to

the clegree of hierarchy and competence expectecl in different jobs, to

working environments ancl to modes of class organisation. Outside of work,

44

it is influenced by the tifestyle, status and public influence that

different jobs or other forms of incorne províde for, as well as by

peoplers sex ancl mernbership of various groups and institution-s. Again,

it is the characteristics of class places that intervene between a current

¡tolitical and economic situation and its impact on particular people. A

depression is experiencecl differently by a labourer, policeman, housewife,

or a grazier.

But class places influence not only what happens to people, they have to

do with t-heir perception of it. In other words, peoplers social environ-

ment is a significant factor in structuring the rpsychologicalr mechanisms

they develop for appropriating, dì-gesting, assimilating, classifying,

sortir-rg out and making sense of experience. These in turn corne to

strengthen the rinertiat of a particular mode of production. Often, even

if people consciously r:eject some of these patterns, such as contpetit:ive-

ness or sexisn, they fincl their feelíngs continue to be affected by them.

ïn summary,

Ivle¡nbers of different social classes, by virtue of enjoying(or suffering) different conditions of life, come to seethe worlci clifferently ancl to develop clifferent conceptionsof social reality, different aspirations ancl hoqes andfears, different conceptions of che desírable."'

It is irnportant to stress that people are in no sense passive recipients

o.'. thi.s experience. To begin with, as Piaget argues, it is only through

active nranipulation of objects thaE children are able to acquire such

basic concepts for comprehending the worlcl around them as those of space

and number: accolcling to hin, intetligence develops out of motot' activity,

not just passive observation.B2

But the signifi.cance of peoplcrs autonomous activity goes far beyond its

active ::ole in assinilating experience. It is precisely through their

45

eveïyday activity that people produce and reproduce capitalist society.

As Marx put it,

Like all its pr:edecessors, the capitalist process ofproduction proceeds under definite material conditionswhich nre, howover, simultaneously the bearers of definitesocial relations entered into by individuals in theprocess of reproducing their life. 'Ihose conditions, likethese relations, are on the one hand pre-requi.sites, onthe other hand results...of the capitalist process ofproduction; they are ploduced ancl ieproduceã by it.B3

People aïe not mere cogs in this process. Their par:ticipation in capital-

ist production is rnediated by a semi-autononous cultural level characterised

by such factors as per-sonaI and collective creativity, consciousness,

unintentionality and rationality. s'¡ Iìor example, capitalist.s may well

want a certain number of particular worke::s. In order to actually have

appropriately qualified people apply for jobs on Monday ntorning, however,

a whole string of events, lnany of rvhich are only tenuously linkecl to

capitaljst rationality, has to occur.

If we return, on the basis of the preceding discussion, to the problent of

class interests ¿rnd ideology, we can get a clearer understanding of the

dominaltce, or hegeTnony, of the capitalist t¡orld view in our society.

On the one hand, working class people work and live in a system organised

around their exploitation, and show their awareness of this fact through a

variety of individual or collective actions which challenge it. On the

other hancl, they only rarely distill this practical attitude into a

coherent working class world view, and instead conceptualise many situations

in terms of bourgeois ideology. ßs

In this light the operation of bourgeois hegemony is bestunderstood as a fragmentation and disorganisation of theculture and consciousness of the subordinate class - notits obliteration. Working-class culture rnay be deniedrvider articulation, macle to seem partial and jnaclequate,and publicly labeled as inferior. Ilut it is not rnade todisappear and cannot be until the conditi.ons which give

46

rise tobetweencultureworking

it thenselves disappcar. The contradictionsthe doninant and the fragrnented subordinateremain, always present in informal groups and

class institutions and individuals. oo

As the previous section tried to show, this 'fragmentationr andrdisorgan-

isationr is more than an intellectual conflict in the realm of ideas, it

refers to people's experiences as well. Since the

.. .progïessive sirnplification of tl-re underlying classstructure is acconpanied by a simultaneous and contra-clictory movement toward complexity and^differentiationwithin the ranks of the major classes,o'

workers experience not only unity, but division between groups of workers.

Moreover, in proportion as conflicts are displaced from the workplace into

some other sphere of 1ife, workers tend not to experience direct conflict

with the bor.rrgeoisie.

Having sketched out solne of the features of capitalist society, it is now

possibte to consider in nore detail those of its aspects which came to

constitute mäss education systems.

, Schooling and society

The development of capitalism in different countries not only ttansformed

the character of tasks traditionally performecl in such societies, but

created nany new ones. Historically, one can in a sense trace a path of

sone of these fundanrental problens, such as turning children i.nto produc-

tive adults, or struggles over the control of the labour process, through

various institutio4s and social processes.

Put differently, in the course of class struggle, contradictions gene::ated

ancl transformed by the capitalist mode of production assume different

shapes and are displaced into different aspects of society.

47

The public eclucation systen is one of the many locations in which people

have been trying to resolve the problerns of the capitalist node of produc-

tion. Atthough it l-ras generally developed, in the second ha.If of the

nineteenth century, as paTt of tl-re state, it has an ambiguol¡s status

witirin it. Unlike some other institutions, for: example the army or the

courts, schooling as such is not a necessary, deternining aspect either

of the mode of production or the:;tate. This is because, although the

education systetn plays a vital role in reproducing capitalist society,

there is no necessitg in its being run by the state. Its different

functions, moreoveT, could conceivably be relocatecl elsewhere. For

example, basic literacy could be taught by local councils or private

enterprise (for exanple, through the rvoucher systemt), alrd aIl aspects

of vocational training could be carried out by industry.

The educatjon syst.en has its own structure, its own notnenttrm, its own

relative autononìy. Such relative autonomy enables it to perforrn many of

its functions. But, by the sarne token, this means that one caTì in no

setìse assume a perfect fit between schooling and the rneedsr of capitalism,

however defined. For example, rigid bureaucracy which serves rvel1 to

discipline teachers and rninimise comrnunity control of schooling night

hamper, as well as anticipate, the displacenent of social rproblensr or

cont1adictiotrs into t.he eclucation system. Moreover, the education systern

can sometimes take over a particular publicly definedrtask'i (for example,

technical education), but in the plocess transform it to deal with a

different problem, often of its own naking.

Not only structural, ltut political factors mediate the displacement of

contr.adictj.ons into the education system. l{'hile a particular course of

action might be favoured by sections of the bourgeoisie or the working

48

class, the class fraction which actually holds political pol^/er r:an resist

such a nìove as being against their inte::ests. (F'or example, there can be

a conflict between land-based and manufacturing capital about socialising

the cost of reproducing labour power.)

In surnmary, there is no logical or structural necessity in schools actually

taking over a particular problem. Whether they do or not depends on a

number of factors - the shape and composition of the education bureau-

cracies, the cIas.s fraction or alliance holding political power, the

intensity and form of class struggle at the tinte, the state of governìnenL

finances and the overall economic situati.on. And even if we could theorise

a connecti.on between all ¿hese factor:s, tliey do not influence schooli.ng

just as they please; they do not do it undcr circun.stances dctermined by

theinselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and trans-

mitted flom the past.. .

Just as there is no necessity in schools taking over particular problens

of capitalist society, those contradictions actually dealt with in

schools should not be identified as the 'essencet of schooling. Such a

conc.eptualisation tends to obscure two important facts. Firstly, as soot-t

¿ts r\re <lescribe what happens in schools in terms of wider social processes,

it beconles obvious that the sanre basic problems, although often irl

clifferent forms, aTe being resolved elsewhere. For example, schools

might teach l:espect for autl-tority and private ploperty, but then so does

every claily newspaper ancl local policeman. Secondly, since the funda-

nental problems the schools deal with are perpetually reproduced by the

capitatist- relations of production themselves, they can never be conpletely

solved withj-n the education systern. They can, howevet, be transforrned

into ¿r nore rnanagcabJ.e, less imnediately thr:eatening, but eclually

49

contradictory process. For exampre, some of the conflict inherent in

assigning people to the reserve army of the unemployed is displaced into

the grading processes in schools" There, it appears that peoplers

rinterligencer and tapplicationr, not the requirernents of capitalist

economy, are responsible for unenploynent. But although this understandì.ng

of the situation rnight make the unenployed less likely to organise, it can

intensify vandalis¡n, truancy, and emotional problems of young people, to

name just a few.

How then can we conceptualise the tink between schooling and society? In

the past, marxist writing on education could often be characterised either

in terms of a rstructuralistt or tinstrume:rtalistt approach. It is only

recentty that some authors have atternpted to construct a theory which

draws on the strengths of both, sB

The instrumenta-List approach points to the way in which individual

members of tire ruling class are able to exert their influence. Its

research project concentrates on showing the many, often hidden ways, in

which capitalists are able to fashion the state and its policies after

their own interests. vaLuable as it is in demystifying the decision-

ntaking process, this approach has its limitations. ]he nost serious of

these is the tendency to equate the dynamic of capitalisrn with the

collective will of the capitalists (even if in struggle with the workers).

In practice, this means that the theory would cease to apply if the

capitalists got voted out of office and the public seryice was reorganised.

Even the most sophisticated appr,oaches have trouble systenatically

accounting for the factors deliniting the capitalistsr and the staters

actions, or for tl'rose of the staters actions which are opposed by large

segments of the bourgeoisie.se

50

In historical research, this approach is often identified as a rsocial

controll problernatic. s o

fhe sÈructuraLjst approach', in conttast, atteTnpts to show how the state is

structured and constrained so that, irrespective of the personnel that

staff state institutions, it functions in a way favourable to the capital-

ist class as a whole. If nembers of the bourgeoisie are found in key

positions in the state stluctule, it is a result, not the cause of, its

capitalist nature.el If, as is often the case, the structuralist approach

is joined by functionalisn, it gives rise to a research project which

attempts to identify the often contradictory functions the state must

perforn in order to reproduce capitalist society as a whole; and locate

then within specific areas of state action.

But it is one thirrg to prove that the state shoulcl act in a particular

way to fulfil its role in reproducing a capitalist society, and quite

another to show why it actually comes to function this way.

Since class consciousness is explicitly rejected by structuralist writers

as an explanatory concept (it does not explain anythi.ng, a proper theory

should explain it), one possible solution to the problem is ruled out.

In education str¡di.es, this approach is developed by Louis Althusser in

"Ideology and ideological stat'e apparatuses".e2 In a sinpler forn - that

of thercorrespondence principler, it appears in the work of Bowles and

Gintis, discussed in an earlier section of ti'ris chapter.

In summary, neither the instrumentalist nor the structuralist approach

can, on its oh,n, provide a satisfactory theory of the state.

But, by itself, sometmidclle wayr between these two is not enough either.

On the one hand, we should be able to account for the fact that, in

different historical periods, the state comes very close to either one or

51

the otl-rer model. On the other hand, we should look for a theory capable

of inco::porating both the insight that the capitalist state has some

a¡tonomy, and the historical process tl'rrough which this relati.ve autonomy

is cstablíshed,s3 One irnpressive recent attenpt in thj.s direction is

lnaclc 5y Anclersen, Irriecllancl and Wright in their articlerrModes of class

struggle and the capitatist state'r. T'he following section pÏesents a

brief summary of their argtunent, and recapitulates at greatel length

t"hose parts of it which seem to be most pertinent to the study of state

schooling institutions .

The paper "Modes of class struggle and the capitalist staterr atternpts to

develop a theory which sees the state sirnultaneously as a product,

cleterninant an<l object of class struggle. This is possible on the basis

of the realisatiort that

State structuïe is itself a source of power. T'he organ-isation of political authority differentially affectsthe access, political consciousness, strategy and cohesionof var:ious interests and classes ' State structure is notneutral witli respect to its effects on class conflict.The str:uctur:e of the state intervenes between social needsancl the way these needs are translated into politicaldemancls, between demands and state outputs, and betweenspecific outputs and t4e ability to organise and raise new

clòmands ín the future.sq

More specifically, state structures can develop and change in such a way

that they neutralise the political threat working class organisation

presents to the process of capital accunulation by rnaking its denands

congruent with the reprorJuct.ion of capitalist social relations. Moreover,

the removal of critical areas of state activity from direct political

scene j,nto non-elcctive institutions can, to a large extent, insulate

them from political accountability. This has the effect of

q)

...naxinìizing the translation of capitalist economic powerinto pa.tterns of allocati.on and non-decision favourableto thãse interests, wh11e simultaneously minimizing thelieecl for those capitalist interests to participate in manj.-

festly poli t.ical *aYs . o s

One concrete exantple of this is the gr:adual emancipation of education

bureaucracies from local. politics" In thc united states,

in urging the corporate forrn of external school govern-ance ancl internal control by expert bureaucra-ts, thecentralisers were, of course, simply exchanging one formof political clecision-rnaking for i-rnother. They wishedto it"rtroy the give-and-take bargaining of the wardsysten, the active Iay influence through subconmitteesof the board, the c.ontest over cultural and tangiblevalnes that had characterisecl the pluralistì.c politicsof many large cities. Instead, they wished to centralisecontrol ¿rnd differentiate functions ovel: a large geo-graphical area in a tmodern and rationalr bureaucracyËufiere,l fron popular vagaries. eG

State structu¡es are then neither pre-deterrnined nor eternal. 0ver the

years, t)reir exact foi:m has devetoped out of conflict not nerely between

the workers and the bourgeoisie, but belween different sections within

classes . Moreover, trs capitalism deve lops, some state structure-s start

hindering, rather than aiding, the staters function in the accumulation

process. It i,s then that we can expect to find a surge of attenpts to

transform then. There is no reason for assign:i.ng to the bourgeoisie an

exclusive authorship of these attempts. Qui'te often the movement for

reforrn can cotne fron sections of the state admi.nistration, or from the

party-potitical sPhere.

In summary, the capitalists attcìnpt to influence the state in a valiety

of ways desc::ibecl by the instru¡lelrtalist theories. But they ate not able

to do this just as they ptease. on the one hand, they l-rave to contend

rvith the politicat organi.sation of the working class. 0n î-he other hand,

t¡ey are constrained by the character of the state structures thenselves,

53

especially by their i'elative autonomy. L,ike the workers, therefore, the

capitalists, in trying to influence vrhat the state does, attempt to

reshape the structures through which thei:: demands are processed in such

a way that they become more suitable to the furthering of their own

jnterests. The state is a capitalist state because, to a large extent,

they have succeecled in doing this. Most state structures are shaped in

such a nay that they are far more anenable to the kinds of pressures

available to owners of the means of production, rather than to those of

working class organisation. Nevertheless, given the exj.stence or poten-

tial of such organisation, even the most elaborate andrfunctionalf state

structttres can never be entirely successful. This is because of their

inherently contradictory character, which the working class can use as a

basis of political action.eT

Flow schools work

The previous section discussed in sone cletail the social context of

education systems, touching onty indirectly on the problen of how schools

actually work. lhis section outlines a systernatic rvay of describing the

school environment. Secondly, it looks at sone atternpts to exptain the

way in which this environnìerÌt affects those who participate in it.

In schools, a variety of things pass between teachers and pupils. Some

are realised by both partíes, but many go unnoticecl. 'fo tidy these

events up and render then more inteLligible, I have introduced three

concepts: content, process and structure of schooiing.

The content of schooling refers in the first place to the overt, explicit

messagre of school readers, textbooks, spelling books, teacherrs lesson on

ari.thmetic, bible stories or educational pictures, Because of its form,

54

this aspect of schooling has been mos.t open to public scrutiny. In the

second place, content has to do with the underlying ideological frameworl<

within which this message is set, and which delimits the range of possible

questions and answers. Third, on a level wliich merges in many respects

witlr tl-re process of schooling, it refers to the way in which some aspects

of a societyrs culture (in its anthropological sense) are selected out

and orgarrised into a corpus of rschool knowledget"eu

The other tr,lo concepts, pïocess and structure of schooling, describe

djffere¡t aspects of the socj.al relaticlns within a school. 'lhe process

of sc¡ooling (today often called the hiclclen curriculum) refers to the

complex of events -- and their in'terpTetations - which occur as the

te¿rchers and pupils pr.epare themselves for and carry out learning of the

actual content. Designed to teach essentially the same lessons as the

textbooks, the processes of schooling are potentially far more effective.

trtfhile chilclren can take or leave the lessons contai.ned in their textbooks

- whose language they often hardly understand - they themselves produce,

through their everyday behaviour, the school p1ocesses. As long as they

go torproperly organisedrschools, children calì try to clisregard or

subvert this experience; they cannot avoicl it. Indeed, in certain cases,

we call attribut.e to the pÏ.ocess of scllr¡oling the same generative power as

we have become accustoined to see in the family. If the family, or

patterns of sexuality, provide the -source of personality tTaj.ts identified

by Freudian psychology, the r}ridden curricular produce perhaps less

powerful, but still ve::y effective, Stluctures of rneaning.

The structure of schooling refers to the lega1 and adninistrative frame-

work witl'rin whj-ch the actual activity of schooling is set. Some of this

assenrbly of rules and regulations is present in everyday school activity

55

- in the ¡nultitude of administrative routines the teachers have to carry

out, the timetable they have to observe, the examinations they have to

prepare their pupils for, the circulars they have to answer; or when, in

carring a puiriJ-, the teacher:s assert their authority" On some occasions,

school rules are startlingly absent -a-s when a burly student breaks the

teacherrs cane and threatens to break his neck if he tried to hit his

little brother again. Many aspects of the structute of schooling,

however, are not routinely involced, and serve to clelimit, and give back-

ground meaning to, teachersr actions.

Before suggesting sone of the ways in which learning actually talces place

in schools, it is necessary to establish a distance between the intentions

of school adni.nistrators and the actual events in classroons. As Johnson

says, "The nonilorial system according to the gospel of Joseph Lancaster

was one tl'ring; its operation in schools of brick and nlortar with children

of flesh and blood and even average ingenuì.ty was quite another".ee

Wi11is conceptualises this djstance through a distinction between the

official, the pragnatic and the cultural level.t00 The point of thi-s

clistinction is that, on the second level,rrsome of the real functions of

institutions work counter t.o their stated ainst'.101 On the third level

there are

...the cultural forms of adaption of the institutiontscli.ents as their outside class experience interacts withthe practical exigencies and processes of the institutionas tlìey strike them. One of the important variants ofthis is likely to be an oppositional informal cr¡lturewhich may well actually help to accomplish the widersocial reproduction which the official policy has beentrying to clefeat or change.lo2

It is through an elaboration of this level that we can arrive at a closer

understanding of the learning process. According to Wi11is, the inpact of

56

schools on people is nlediated through a semi-autonomous cultural level

possessing three distinct characterj stics..

In the first place the basic naterial of the cultural isconst.ituted by varicties of symbolic systems and articu-lations. These stretch frorn language to systematic kindsof physical interaction; from particular kinds of attitude,Tesporì.se, action and ritualised behaviour to expressiveartefacts and concrete objects. There are likely to bedistinctions and contradictions between these forms, so thatfor 1nstance, actions may belie words, or logics enbeddedwithin cultural practices and rituals nay be quite differ-ent froln particular expressed meanings at the level ofinunediate consciousness . . . In the second p1ace. . . thesethings are produced at least in part by real forms ofcultural production quite comparable with material produc-tion. Indeed in such areas as the generation of a distinc-tive style in clothing or changes nade in the physicalenvironnent the production js material production. Thebasis for, and inpetus of, this pr:oduction is the informal.social group and its collective energies at its ownproper 1eve1.. .Final1y. . .cultural forms provide thenaterials towards, and the immediate context of, theconst.ruction of subjectivities and the confirmation ofidentity. It provides as it were the most believable andrewarding accounts for the individual, his future andespecially for the expression of his/her vital-ellergies.It seelns to rmarkr ancl rmake sense t of things .

t o '

cap italisnr and schoolins in South Australia

I have concluded this chapter with a brief summary of my t-heoretical

points, anrl an indication of the way they are developed in the different

chapters of the thesis.

Aust::a1ia is a capitali.st society whose structures and institutions

developed in the course of class conflict, With regard to the education

system in South Austlalia, my thesis examines the ways in which powerful

schooling structure.s, today oftcn regarded as natural and inevitable,

developed in the course of sharp conflict between and within cLasses.

In thej-r turn, these structures affect the shape that class

ancl can take, as rvell as the range of its possible outcomes

struggle wil I

For example,

57

The displacement of social problems into the state sectorplays a central role in the reproduction of the capitalistorder. The fonn in which a social problem manifestsitself ancl the arena in which the resulting conflicts arefought out are natters of no srnall irnportance...Theclass nature of social problems is often obscurecl whenmanifestations of the underlying contradictions aredisplaced into the state sector.r0a

In my thesis, I have explored several such intersections between schooling

and social confli.cts generated, in the first p1ace, in the sphere of

production. O¡re of the nrost imirr-.,rtant of these was the attempt by the

bourgeoisie to rernould, through schooling, the tment.ali.tyr of the worki.ng

class. This 'mentalityr represented a logical effort by labouring people

to survive within working and lj-ving conditions largely deternined by

their empLoyers" Yet it often conflictecl with the capitalistst economic

ancl social aspirations, and was attacked as such. Not all sections of

the bourgeoisie had an equal interest in such a crusade. Many land-based

capitalists, relying on casual and unskilled labour, saw education expen-

diture as a misdirection of state funds. City manufacturers, on the

other hand, tended to allign themselves with sections of organised labour

to promote institutions which encouraged the 'rati.onalityr ancl predicta-

bi1íty of future citizens and unionists.

When, towards the end of the nineteenth century, the class structure

tightened and nany tracles started J.osing their traditional grip on the

working process, schooling began to be enployed in the allocation of

people between different class places.

While only comparatively wealthy people could afford to buy the amount of

schooling which began to be required in many well-paying jobs, yet it

began to appear that, on the whole, they were the only ones jntelligent

enough to succeed at schooL,

5B

But schooling carne to play a part in reshaping the pattern of class

places itself. In particular, it started intervening in the conflict

over the division of labour within the productiorr process. This conflict,

flaring up again and again in the course of capitalist development, saw

the transfer of prodr.rction knowledge fron artisans to increasingly

exclusive groups of often wl-Lite coIlar workers'

The growth of science, occur:ring within this context of progressive expro-

priationofproducti.onknor'¡Iccig'¡flronthecli:rectproclucersrputinto

cluesti-on tl're apirrenticeship system, and raised the problem of alternative

modes of transmi tting procluct lon knorvledge.

For different reasolìs, some sections both of the bourgeoisie and the

labour novenent favoured the displacement of the tproblenr into state-

sponsored technical education - the first attempted to transfer to the

state some of the co-sts of reproducing labour power, the second wanted to

regain overall knowledge of the production process; both hoped to control

the new institution.

The far-reaching transfornation of the production process helped to change

the traditional division of the life-cycle. Towards the turn of the

century, young people found it increasingly difficult to enter the work-

force in anything but 'dead-endr jobs. As their work opportunities

declinecl, an incteasingly popular tideology of the dependent childl

started obstructing their passage frorn the clependent relationships of the

family and the school.. Eventually, it was technical eclucation for rless

abler chitdren v,rhi-ch allowed popular schooling to be extended without

jeoparclising the exclusiveness of scarce educational oualifications.

Thror.rghout ttre period, labour and capital attenpted to enploy schooling

as part of a solution of tl-re prolr1em of class consciousrìess. Whi1e,

59

towards the end of the nineteenth century, labour spokesmen hoped that

free and compulsory education would nake the glaringly unjust workings of

capitalism transparent to future workers, the enployers looked to schooling

as explicit means of Iesserting class conflict.

1

2

3

60

Notes

An earlier version of a part of this chapter appeared as P. Cook: "lheuses of marxist theory in the history of education: a critique of somecontributionsr' fpaper presented to the 1979 ANZHES conference).

From a newspaper editorial op¡rosing Professor Mitchellrs Universityextension course on Political Econony given in Adelaide in 1896.Register, 19 .12. f895.

C.B. Whillas at South Australian Teacherstreported in the Regrister, 4.6.1888.

Association meeting,

These are, for exarnple, S. Bowles and Il. Gintis: school-íng incapitaJ.ist Atnerica (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976); R. Dale (ed.):Schooling and capital-ism (lìoutledge and Kegan Pau1, 1976); M. Young

;"''and G. lVhitty: Societg, state and schooling (The Falmer Press, 1977);P. Willis: Learn.ing to Jabour (Saxon llouse, l97B) .

Much useful work has been inspired by tlie sociology of knowledge,anthropology and social hi.story.

l.-or example, R. Johnson: rrNotes on the schooling of the Engtishworking class, 1780-1850'r in R. DaIe, op. cit.; M.B. Katz: frThe

origins of public education: a reassessmentrr in llistorg of EducationQuarterTg (Vo1.16, No.4, 1976); T.W. Laqueur: 'rWorking class denandand the growth of English elenentary education, 1750-1850r' inL. Stone (ed.): School-ing and societg: studies in the historq ofeducation (The Johns Hopkins Universíty Press , 1976).

Most often by reclectic shopping arorurd in academic sociology'.iG. Stedman-Jones: rrFrom historical sociology to theoretical historyilin ¡r.itjsl¡ Journal- of SocioÌogg (YoI.27, No.3, 1976), p.301.

ibid., p.301.

D. Pike: ?he paradise of dissent - South AustraJ-ia 1829-7857(Melbourne University Press, 1967).

For example, J.K. Ramsay: 'rCulture and society in South Australia1857-66r' (Unpub. BA thesis, University of Adelaide, 1963);J. Nancar:row: "A social history of South Australia 1865-1875'l(Unpub. BA thesis, University of Adelaide, 1965).

10. J. Hirst:- Adel-aide and the countrg (Melbourne University Press, 1973).

11. C.R. Broomhill: LlnempToged workers: a social historg of the greatdepression in AdeLaide (Queensland University Press, 1978);M.J. Thompson: rtGovernment and depression in South Australia" (Unpub.MA thesis, Flinders University, L972); J. Lonie: rrConservatism andclass in South Australia during the depression, 1929-3411 (tlnpub.l''lA thesis, University of Adelaide , I973); R.N. lVai-t : ?'Reactions todemonstrations and riots in Adelaide, 1928 to l932tt (Unpub. MA thesis,University of Adelaide, 1973); D. Hopgood: "A psephological examination

4

5

6

7

B

9

6l

of the South Australian Labor Party from the First World War to thedepressiontr (Unpub. PhD thesis, Flinders lJniversity, 1975);S.W. Dyer: trFarners and the depression: government farm relief inSouth Australia, 1929-39'' (Unprrb. MA thesis, University of Adelaide,Ie74).

L2. T.A. Coghlan: Labour and industrg in Austral-ia, 4 vols. (Macmillanof Australia, 1969).

13, E.S. Richards: "The genesis of secondary industry in the SouthAustralian econolny to 1876rt in Australian Economic llistorg Review(Vo1.15, No.2, 1975); B.R. Chapman: rrDepression in South Australia -the late nineteenth century" (Unpub. BA thesis, tJniversity ofAdelaide , 1967); J.lvl.A. Dunn: 'rïhe effects of war and drought on theeconomy of South Australia, 1914-191"8" (Unpub. BA thesis, Universityof Adelaide, I966) ; I.J. Mitchell : 'rJ.ltl . Wainright : theindustrialisation of South Australia 1935-40't i.n Äustrafian Journafof Pof itjcs and Historg (l¡ot. B, No. 1, 1962) .

14.

15.

Which in fact contributes to the first problen.

Similarly, in the natural sciences, t'Pure empiricisrn does not lead usanywhere -not even to experience; much less, of cour:se, to ex¡leri-ment. An experiment, indeed, is a question we put to nature. Itpresupposes, therefore, a. language in which we formulate ourquestions; in other words, experimen'L is not the basis of theory,but only a ivay of testing it.rr A. Koyré, introduction toG.E.M. Anscombe and P.T. Geach (eds.): Descartes: philosophíca7writings (Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1954) , p. xiii .

16. G. Stedman Jones, op. cit., p.296. Fifteen years earlier, anotherprominent historian, in emphasizing the same point, was moved to saythat therage of innocencer, when "historians walked in the Garden ofEden, without a scrap of philosophy to cover them, naked and unashanedbefore the god of history'r, is irretrievably lost, and rrthose

historians who today pretend tr: dispense with a philosophy of historyare merely trying, vainly and self-consciously, to recreate the Garclen

of Eden in their garden suburb'r. E.H. Carri what is historg(Penguin, 1964) , P"20.

17. "Ihis distinction is developed in J. Seeley: rrThe making and taking ofproblems: towarcls an ethical stanceil in Socjal. Probl-ems (Vo1.14,No.4, 1966).

18. This point is brought out in a graphi.c way by two recent protagonistsin the rinequality debatet . In their opinion rrlJaving the appealanceof critical social science, the debate in fact has been closely tiedto the changing grounds chosen by the privilege<l in defence of theirinterests. When, i.n modern times, inequality of educational provisionfirst cane under broad attack the upholders of privilege responded bydiscovering that there were different types of minds and that theserequired broader or narl:ower education...'Ihele ensued a debate onpsychological testing which gradualJ.y forced the defenders ofinetluatity to yield intellectual and some other ground...Mren subse-quent reforms professed to establish equality of educational oppor-tunity the egalitarians set out to show by detailed demographic

62

studies that access to more and better education still depended onthe parentsr social position. This later line of work doninatededucational sociology until five or ten years ago.l\le are now on the threshold of a third phase which wil1, it seems,revolve around the theory of knowledge currently espoused by modernconservatives - a theor:y which entphasizes the objective, thing-1ikecharacter of knowledge and the conplex but given order of its internalstrlrctures. . .Against thj-s the liberals and progressives are employingthe sociology of knowledge to show the epistenological assurnptionsburied in the structure of school curricula, and the political rani-ficatio¡rs of teaching such curricula.rr B. Abbey and D. Ashendcn:

'fExplaining inequality" in ûle Austral-ian and New Zeafand Journaf ofSocioTogg (Vol . 14, No. 1, 1978) , P .8.

19 This is especially imporEant because of many marxistst 'rtemptation toconduct theoretical criticisrn of history's methodology, not by denon-stratirìg its validity or invalidity, but sirnply by demonstrating itsnon-marxist characterrr. S. Maclntyre: "Radical history and bourgeoislregemony" in rntervention (No.2 , 1972) , p "47 .

20. An excellent summary and criti.que of modern approaches to the philo-sopliy of science - especially those of Imre Lakatos, Karl Popper,Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyeraband, can be found in A. Chalmersr bookhlhat is this thing ca77ed science? (University of Queensland Press,1e76).

21. This dístinction is based on the recognition that, however good theyrnay be, thouglrtrepresentations of a particular object will always havea different status from the object itself. Theories can be better orr{orse approximations of 'objective realityr; they should never betreated as the sanìe thing.

t,

2\

E.Fl. Carr: op. cit., Ch.t.

Perhaps the strongest argunent for using a unified theory is that thephenomena we are describing are interconnected on nany levels.

24. E,l-1. Carr: op. cít., p.86.

25. S. Cohen: I'The history of the history of American education" inHarvard Ed.ucationaf Review (Vol.46, No.3, 1976), Pp.322-3.

26.

27.

ibid., p.329.

This can be called a Ìstructuralist' approach. For a definition anddiscussion of these issues, see D.A" Gold, C.Y.H. Lo and E.D. WrightrrRecent developnents in rnarxist theories of the capitalist stateil inMonthLg Review (Vo1.27, Nos.5r6, 1975).

It is tl'ris theoretical point which puts into a Perspective what Ihave attemptecl to do in my thesis. Tl're work is not done merely forthe l-ove of truth ancl a desire totset the record straightr, it alsocones from the recognition that, insofar as they are read, differentways of writing history contain different political lessons for thepresent. These might Tange frorn reinforcing the powerlessness ofpeople subject to an opaque but seeningly benevolent process, to

2B

63

cleepening the appreciation of men and women as active producersconstrained by thei:: social and historical situatíon ¿rnd the levelof their understanding of it.

29. See Chaptet 3, p.1I3

30. Minutes of the Committee of Councif on Education J845, i.pp.2.66-7quoted in R. Johnson: ¡rEducational policy and social control inenrly Victorian Ënglandl in Past and Present (No.49, 1970), p.104"

51. S. Ilowles ancl H. Gintis i op. cit., p.10. Surplus value is a technicalterm used to denote that part of the value of a workerrs prclducttvhich is left over to the capitalist after accounting for expensessuch as rvages, materials and depreciation of capital.

32.

33,

34.

35.

36.

ibid., pp.129-30

ibid., p.130.

ibid., p.131.

ibid., p.232.

ibid., p.236.

37. ibid., p.234.

38. See n.27. My critique of the book owes a lot to M. Rowant.s unpubf ishedpaper r'T'he theory of education in SchctoLinq ìn capitalist Ameticatl(nèpartment of Philosophy and History of Education, Hartley Collegeof Àctvancecl Education, SouEh Australia, 1978).

39. S. Bowles and H. Gintis i op- cit- , p.I29.

40. j.bid., p.85.

41, P. l\lillis, op. cit.

42. S. Borvles anci tl. Gintisi op. cit-, p'11.

43. ibid ", p . J.35 .

44. ibid., PP.LI-2.

45. B. Abbey and D.S, Bowles and I{.pp.33-4.

Aslrerrderr: "Review: SchooLing in capital.jsL America,Gintis" in Äustral-ian Left Review (No.54, I976),

46 . lvl. Katz; "The origins of public education.

47. ibict., p.390. Chapter 3 deals with the particular histori.cal conjunc-ture through which Katz explains the rise of public schooling' Here,cliscussion is limited to a few theoretical issues '

48. Given the fragmented way in which we have become accustomed to concep-tualise social phenonena, this is an extremely dÍffj-cu1t and ambitious

49.

50.

51.

64

task. One of the best existing attempts to tackle it is the philo-sophy of internal relations developed by B. 011man in his bookAfienation (Cambridge University Press, 1971).

rr...so we cannot judge of such a period of transformation by its own

consciousness; on the contrary, this consciousness must rather be

explained from the contradictions of material life, from the existingconftict between the social productive forces and the relations ofproduction.rt K. Marx: rrPreface to a contribution to the critique ofpolitical economy'f in K. Marx and F. Engels; sefected tlotks (ForeignLanguages Publishing llouse, 1951), p .329.

M. Katz, op. cit. , P.402

56

R. Johnson: "Notes on the schooling of the English worlcing classr',p.s2.

SZ. Johnson in fact identifies his concept as rclass-cultural control/transformationr, but his wl'role argument Tevolves around various mani-festations of cultutal conffict.

59. As in tfie cliscussion of the two preceding works, I have left co¡nments

on the applicability of Johnsonrs analysis to the South Australiansituation until a later chapter, and confine myself to a few remarkson the theory underlying his argument.

54. ibid., p.49.

55. Loc - cit.

E.P. Thompsonz The making of the EngTish working cl-ass (Penguin,1968) , p.473.

57. R. Johnson: op. cit., P.51.

58. ibid., pp.5l--2.

59. The historical and theoretical argurnents .supporting this assr"rmptioncan be found in the following works: J. Playford and D. Kirsner(eds.): Australian capital,ism (Penguin, I972); E.L. Wheelwright and

. K. Buckley Essags in the poJiticaf economg of Austral-ian capitalism,3 vols. (Australia and New Zealand Book Company, 1975, 1978);J. Loniet ,'Conservatism and cl.ass in South Australia"; S.Maclntyre:I'Radical lìistory and bourgeoi,s hegemony"; K. Rowley: trPastoral

capitatisrn: Australiats pre-industrial developtnentil in Intervention(No.l , L972); J. Lonie and D. McEachern: rrA classless party for a

classless state" in Arena (No.29, L972); R.W. Connell and T.t{. Irving:Cfass strucùure in AustraTian historg (Longrnan Cheshire, 1980).

60, Not counting various rstraw nent versions of marxist theory, there isa sizeable group of serious but partly conflicting marxist atternptsto analyse capitalism. In the account which fol1ows, I will try tointegrate the positive aspects of several of these latter approaches.

61. J. OtConnor; "Productive and unproductive laliour'r in PoLitics andSocietg (Vo1.5, No.3, 1975), PP.300-1.

65

62, I. llalbus: "Ruling etite theory vs' marxist class analysis'r inÌ4onthlg Revierv (Vo1.23, No. I, 1971) .

63. J. Stolzman and H. Gamberg: "Marxist class analysis veî-sus stratifi-cation analysis as general approaches to social inequality" inBerkeTeg Journaf of SocioTogg (Vo1.18, I973-74).

64 Similarly, after analysing several different approaches to thehistory of conrpulsory schooling in Arnerica, David Tyack concludesthat their contlibutions cannot be integrated by tsimple additiveeclecticisnt, since "the models deal with social reality on quitedifferent levels: the individual or the farnily, the ethnoculturalgroup, the large organisation, and the structure of political oreconomi-c polver in the society as a whole'r. D.B. Tyack: "Ways ofseeing: an essay on the history of compulsory schoolingrr ín HarvardEd.ucationaL Review (VoI .46, No. 3, 1976), p . 588.

ó5. J. Stolzman, op. cit., P.106.

66. Loc. cit.

67, T. Dos Sa¡rtos:(Vo1.34, No.2,

'rThe concept of social classesrr in ScÍence and Societg1e70),

68. ibid., p.I73

As he says,'rCertain cyclical phases tend to accentuate the contra-diction between the appearance of phenomena and their mocles of being,i.e. theirressence'; other phases, particularly those that are levo-lutionary, nake the essential aspects of reality rappearr in immediateexperience". ibid., p.180.

69

70.

7T,

This description will necessarily be very schernatic, but will containreferences to ltore detailed tleatment of var:ious topics by authorsfrom whom I have drawn.Ã mod.e of product-ion can be defined as a particular combination offorces and relatj-ons of production, wher.e the way the surplus productis appropriated is the single ntost inìportant factor. For my pur'?oses'the definition of the mode of ploduction includes certain necessarycondi-tions for its reprocluction.A socjal. formation is, cluite simply, the society in which particularmodes of production exist - one usually appearing in dorninant andothers in subordinate form.There has been a prolonged debate on these issues among contempolarymarxists. Arnong the most important contributions to this debate areL. Althusser and E. Balibar Reading capital (New Left Books, 1970)and T.. Asad alrd ll. Wolpe: t'Concepts of modes of productionrr inEconomq and Societg (Vol .5, No.5, 1976) .

K. Marx: capital, Vo1.1 (International Publishers, f967), p.534.

J. O'Connor:rrProductive and unproductive labourrt, p.300. For aI'Brief guide to bourgeois ideology" see R. Blackburn in A. Cockburnand R. Blackburn: Student powet (Penguin, 1969).

72.

73.

74

1'7

66

P. Vilar has fornulated the problem in this way: I'Suppose there is a

dis junctute between an il'tstitutional forln, a lnocle of thought, an

economic attitude or a social ethic and the node of production whichwe assune to be operative...Must we then say tlìat these mora1s,at'litudes, thoughts, etc. alc advanced, are backward, are survivals,have an autononolrs rhythm and so on. lVould it not be better to say:to what extent is this mode of production, taken to be in place,functioning, according to its own model? In what areas does it do

so? Over what durational scale? In which sectors is it an effectivetotality (already, if it is cleveloping, and stiII, if it has begun lobecome clestructured)?r' P. Vilar: "Marxist history, a history in themakirrg: towards a dialogue with Althusser.trin New Left Review (No.B0,1973).

F'. F-reeclman: rrThe internal structure of the American proletariatrr irtSociaList l?evofution (No.26/Vo1.5, No.4, 1975), p.43.

75. ibid., p.51.

76. Bowles and Gintis in schooTing i.n capitalist America, for example,aclopt a distinction between primary and secondary labour markets.

"The primary sepnent is located predoninantly in the corporate and

state sectolrs, where jobs are characterised by relatively ltigh wages

and modicun of job security assured through white- and blue-co1larunions. In the prirnary labour market sector, where bureaucratic orderancl the hierarchical division of labour is the rule, there are clearjob taclclers, seniority ruIes, and opportunities for plomotion.Credentials of vatious types here play an irnportant role and worlçersare predorninantly aclult, but not aged, white rnales. Alongside theprimary sector, there is a secondary se¡¡rnent. Ilere jobs are charac-terised by lorv wages, great employnent instability and worker turn-over, ancl litEle unionization. In the secondary labour market, jobladders are few and there is little chance for promotion. Educationalcredentials are not ímportant requirements for job entry; jobs leavelittte room for learning skills, and workers are not paid accord:ingto training and ski1ls. FinaIIy, workers are relaLively powerlessvis-à-vis the enrployer; threat ancl coercion are the usual. means ofenforcing conpliance. A large portion of the jobs in the small-scaleentrepreneurial capitalist. sectol: may be consi.clered part of thiss".onãary Labour rna::ket although the lowest level white- and blue-collar jobsin the corporate sector also take this form.rr S. Bowles

and H. Gintis, op. ci.t., pp.66-7. See also R.C. Edwards: I'The socialr:elations of production in the firm and labour market structurerr inPol-itics and Societg (Vo 1 " 5, No . 1 , 1975) .

In tht,

I tJ. Coand K

Vo1.3

e Australian context, this line of analysis is developed by1lins: I'Ijragnentation of the working class" in E.L. Wheelwright. Btrckley: EssaVs jn tåe political eÇonomv of Australian capitalisn,

78. T'. O'shaughnessy: 'rSome ïecerìt conflicts in the ruling classrr inIntervention (No. 10-11, 197B).

79. G. Esping-Anclersen, R. Friedland, 8.0. wright: rrModes of classstruggle and the capitalist staterr in Capita-tjstate (No.4-5, L976)pp.lgl,19B, A gooct example of analysis on this level of abstraction

67

is tlre scheme developed by OtConnor in his book rhe fiscal- cz'isis ofthe state (St. Martints Press, 1973). Unlike many other author-s,OtConnor, in explaining the expansion of the capitalist state, seeksreasons which are firnly rooted in the dynarnic of capital accumula-tion. For itim, the nloving factor behind the increasing size of thecapitalist state is the interplay between three sectors of theecononìy - competitive, state and monopoly sectors. I'411 threesectors of the economy are part of a single contradictory process:the growth of the monopoly sector leads directly and indirectly tothe growth of the state ancl the competitive sectoÏ; the expansion ofthe state in turn becomes a source of further growth of the ntonopolysector as nìore and nrore of the costs of accumulation are socialised;the growth of the conrpctitive sector increases the social expensesof the state and thus hampers its ability to further underwritemonopoly sector growth..." D.A. GoId, C.Y;FI. Lo, E'0. IVright:"Recent developnents in narxist theories of the state", P.42.In nineteenth and ea.rly twentieth century south Australia, thisthree-way model obviously would not work, but it i-s possible toreplace it by the group large-scale landed capital, sìnall-scalemanufacturing capit.al, and state sector. It is on this scheme tl'ratIhave based my argurent in the chapter on social background.

80.: This clistinction betweenrclass agentsr andrclass placesris concep-tualised by the French theoretician Nicos Poulantzas i¡"t Political"power an<1 social. c-Zasses (New Left Books, 1973). It has a most use-ful function in demolishing the confused notion that a consj.derablemovement of people between different classes is the sarne as thedissolution of the class structure itself.

81. Il, Silver (ed.); Equal opportunities in education: a reader in social-' cfass and educafionaf op¡nrtunitg (Melhuen, 1973), p'xxxii.

J, Piaget: Psgchologg and epistenalogg: towards a thearg of knowledge(Penguin, L972).

83. K. Marxt Capital, Vol.5, pp.818-9

B5

'rln its desire for workers of a certain type the reach of the produc-tion process must pass through the serni-autonomous cultural levelwhich is determined by production only partially and in its own

specific terms. Its own terms include consci<tusness, creativity ofcõllective association, rationality, limitation, unintentionality and

division.tr P. Willist Learníng to Tabour, P.l71-

A. Gramsci: The modern prince and. other wtitings (InternationalPublishers, 1970) , PP. 61-6.

82

84

86. B

87. F

Abbey and D. Ashenden: "Explaining inequality'r, P.B

Friedma:r: "The inLernal structure. ' . ", p .5 1.

Sce, for exanple, B. Jessop: rrRecent theories of the capitaliststaterf in Cambriðlge JournaL of Economics (Vo1.1, No.4, 1977);D.A. Gold et aI., op. cit-

88

B9

90.

91

92.

6B

O¡re of the most inportant recent contTi.butions in this tradition isR. Miltiband.. The state in capitaljst societg (Basic Books, 1969).

For a critique of the social control/class clclrnination approach see

G. Stedman*Jolìes, op- cit.; II. Cantor: f tStorj-es left to te11:pïogTessivisrn revisitedrr in trducationaf Theotg (Vo1.28, No.3, Ì978);T.W. Lac¡ueur: "lìeview: P. McCann (ed'): Popular education and

sociaf ization i.n the nineteenth centurqtt ín Socia.l. Historg (Vo1.4,No.1, 1979) .

'Ihis approacl-i is developed most convincingly by N. Poulantzas inPol-il:icaL Wwer and social. classes.

L. Althusser:: 'rldeology and ideological state apparatusesrr inB.R. Cosin: Education, structure and societg (Penguin, 1972).

96

95 "Tliis rela.tive autonotny, howevel, is not an invariant feature of. thecapitalist state. Particular capitalist states rvill be more or lessrrtono^ons depencling upon the clegree of internal divisiveness, thecontr¿rclictions witliin the vari-ous classes and fractions whicl-r consti-tute bhe poweT block, and upon the capitalist class as a whole..."D.A. Gold et a.L., op. cit., part ?", p.44.

94. G. tìsping-Ancler:sen et aJ., op- ci.t., p.191.

95 " ibid., p. 194

D.B. Tyack: The one best.sgsfem.' a histc>rg of Ametican urbaneducation (llarvard tJniversity Press, 1975), p.I47. A similar accountcould bo written of the d::au¡n-out ba[t1e belween the InspectorGeneral of Schools and local school boards in South Australia ín theI 890s .

97. In the sec.oncl paït 'lf the pilper, the authors develop a typology ofclass struggle as part of an effort to conceptualise a relationshì-pbetween it and state policies. The typology is constructed aroundthree clifferent dinensiorrs of political detnands for state interven-tion: the ler¡el. of interventiotr, where the najor distinction isbetween actions affectir-rg the process of production as agailìst thatof circ.ulation; the form of intcrvention, whicl-i eitlier can or cannotbe expressed in conmodity teïms; and, finaT ly, the conseguences ofintervention, which can be ej.ther reproductive or non-reploductivefo:: capitalist social relations in the society as a whol-e.This typology puts in a wi,der peÏspective rny earlier stress on theimportance of the location of struggles between workers and capital-ists, and the shape of institutions which actually nlediate them'A prelirninary point which colnes out of this typology is that demands

which can be channelled into rr:eproductivet-tcommodifi ecl!-'circulationrpol:icies not only fail to challenge, in any way, the reproduction ofcapitalist social relations, but lead to forms of working classorganisation which accentuate the lnarket-based clivisi-ons witl-rin thisc1ass, ratlter than clemonstTate its common underlying char:acter and

thus aicl 1.hc developnent of it as a rclass fc¡r itself |. The oppositeis true for runreproducl-ive | - Inon-commodified'*tprocluctionr policies'In the stn-rggle to transform their demands into these types of statepolicies, workeïs are nìole J-ikely to group themselves in ways and

69

experience incidents which will strengthen their conception of aclass for itself. Moreover, if irnplenented, these policies would,in the manner of Gorzrs trevolutionary refornsr , undemine the repro-duction of capitalist relations of production.Political class struggle can therefore be conceptualized as astruggle over which of these typeS of political clernands will dominatethat is, over the content of class struggle itself.

9B M.F.D. Young; |Øowfedge and controL: new directions in the sociologgof knowJedge (ColIier-MacMi11an, 1971) .

99 R. Johnson: rrNotes on the schooling of the English working classr',p.sl.

100.

101 .

L02.

r03.

104 .

P. Wiflis, op. cjt . , p.I77 ,

Loc. cit.

ibid., pp. 177 -8 .

ibid., pp.172-3.

S. Bowles , op. cit., p.233.

CI{APTER 2

THE DYNAMICS OF COLONIAL CAPITALISM

7L

The set.tlement of Australia by white men was part of theprocess of capitali.st expansion in England. Fron the verybeginning, British industrial growth was heavily dependenton the international narket for sources of raw materi-alsancl for narl<ets. I

The previous chapter outlined sorne of the basic theoretical ingredients of

a narxist history of schooling. Thj-s history" it was argued, cannot be

understood merely in terms of the institution itself., but has to be seen

as one of tl're rnany locations in which conflicts arising in the process of

capitalist development are fought out (albeit indirectly), by different

class fractions.

This section of the tilesis provides a backgrouncl against which such

understanding of educatÍon liistory can be developed in later chapters.

Fi.rstly, paying attention to its unique features, it will present a brief

outline of the origins ancl development of capitalisn in South Australia.

Secondly, it will concern itself with the history of different classes

and of najor fractions hrithin them, and with the politì ca1 expression of

their interests. Lastl¡', it will indicate the general pattern of educa-

tional change in the period under consideration'

Throughout, this development will be seen in the context of Australiars

changing role in the British Ernpire. Until the end of the nineteenth

century, this role centred on the provision of raw naterials, and the

import of nanufactured products fron Britain. After this period,

Australia becane, in the context of Britainrs sharply cleclining economic

power, a junior partner of an increasingly conplex * and defensive -

<li vi s ion of labour. 2

72

The crisj-s of Britisir capitalism after IB70 liad a profoundeffect on development elservhere. Econornic stagnati.on athome and the decline of the traditional export industrieson which Bri.taj"nrs industrial growth had depended soheavily were the leading features of the crisis ' To

overcome them the United Kingdom increasingly cornmittedits capi-tal to expanded reproduction abroad rather than todomestic activity. The Doninions were the principalrecipients of incomc rnrhj ch inflated i.ncomes, createdopportunities for investnent and increased denancl forcapital goods from Britain. I}ritish economic relationswitl'r the rest of the world were marked, after 1870, bythe retreat of much trade and capital dealings to theconfines of empire. Ancl capital in the Dominions was bydegree committed in greater measure to industrial andrelated urban development. "

The estalllishment of capitalisin in South Australia

South Australia was founcled as a capitalist venture in the 1830s by

British investors trying to find new profitable outlets for their capi.tal

and remained, for over a century, tied to their changing fortunes and

j.nterests. It was carefully planned to avoid the problens that plagued

the attempCs to transplant capi,talisn into the other colonies -- especially

the Swan River one.\ As in some other instances in Australian history,

the planning and setting up of South Australia revealed the workings of

capitalism in a remarkably t.ransparent forn. s

At the time, mone)/ could be made out of colonial investment in three main

ways: through tr:ading, speculation in land, or employing people to work

for wages. The exercise in land speculation depended on the developrnent

of a viable, ::espectable ancl prosperous connunity where the price of land

would go up. 1'his was especially impoltant since, at the tirne, land in

the other colonies was selling for much less - 5 shillings as against the

72-20 planned for South Australia.6 lrrespective of the price of land,

similar conditions applied to merchant capì"ta1. For wage exploitation to

operate two requírenÌcnts were necessary - a sufficient nunber of labourers

73

without neans of production, and sufficient capital to buy their labour

power and .set it to work.

The early investors saw these problems quite clearly. In 183.5, for

example, a club ofl intending colonists and investors 'rfieard Rowland Hill

lecture on the astronony of South Australia, but the recurring question

of niost interest to members was the means of maintaining uniformity in the

wages to be paid in the colony to ernigrants".T The prospective enployers,

having in mind a closely settled agricultural colony, were looking for

ways of

establishing a fund to carry out labourers and theirfamilie"s. . .; [rvays] to render the acc¡uisiti.on of landby the enigrant labourer nei-ther so easy as to preventa. proper concerìtration of settlentent [a nice euphemisntfor compelling hin to work for wages] nor so di.fficultas to ïemove too far the reward of industry and fnrgality;and to induce capitalists to emigrate to the colony. B

Edrvard Gibbon Wakefietd, whorn Marx caIled rthe most notable political

econoni.st of [the 1830s]', went a long way towards resolving these

problems. He did tliis not through discovering 'tanything new about the

coloniesr', but through discoveringrrin the colonies the t::uth as to the

conditi.ons of capitalist production in the mother country".s

Wakefield's recipe for establishing capitalist wage relations in South

Australia was elegantly sinple: expropriate all land belonging to the

native population, and sell it to inigrants for a price that would pay for

a passage fron England for labor¡rers to work it, and be suffj-ciently high

to prevent rrruorking nten...obtaining independence fatal to the prosperity

of enrployers".I0 As Marx paraphrased it,

This 'sufficient price for the landr is nothing but a

euphemi.stic cj-rcumlocution for the ransom which thelabourer pays to the capita.list for leave to retire fromthe wage-labour narket to the land. First, he mustcreate for the capitalist rcapital' , with which the

74

latter may be able to exploit rnore labourers; then he rnustplace, at his own exPense, a focum tenens on the labour-market, whont the Government forwards across the sea forthe benefit of his old master, the capitalist'11

In practice, things dicl:rot work out quite as planned. One rnajor source

of problens was the weakness of the colonisation theory, especially with

regard to fixing the rsufficient pricer of land.l2 Another was the

conplex and i11-defined three-way split in governing the colony in the

first few year:s of its existence -- between the South At-rstralj-an Company,

the Colonisation Courmission and the ColoniaI Office. Moreover, there was

a conflict between two of the aims of setting the colony up: to make money

out of land speculation, and out of exploiting labour.

This confLict r^ras exemplified in the conduct of the South Australian

Company:

Before the way to agricultural expansion was opened, theeconomic control of colonists by the South AustralianConpany lwhich repïesented ¿rbsentee land investnents],had waned. In boom and slump the [South AustralianCompany] had undernined the policj.es that the ColonisationCorunission and the Colonial Office profes.sed to practice.By seel<ing special privileges for their own emigrants'absentees played havoc with the Ernigration Fund. By

pressing personal claims they had disrupted land salesand defeated concentration. By sub-dividing theirsections, they had stimulated speculation' tsy prenaturesettlenent, ruinous terms of tenancy, grasping policy,misuse of the land account and defiance of Colonial Officeprocedure, thg Company failed to fuIfil its pledge ofþt'ti tanthtopy. I 3

Nevertheless, in spite of its defects and the fact that it was nevel

f.ulIy inplemented, the Wakefield policy contributed to the finn establish-

ment of a capitalist rnode of production in south Australia.

Although periodical shortages of labour tendecl to increase wages above

the level paì-d in Hngland, the system of wage labour was neither threatened

by rvorkers acquiri.ng their own means of production (as was the case in

7rr

Western Australial or confused by the availability of convict labour, nor

softenecl by any form of assistanc.e to those unfortunate enough not to

find work.

The prevailj.ng view of the employers was that rthe onlyway to shorten the period between the arrival and thetine of work was to throw the immigrants entirely on theirown resources, even at the risk of some hardship andprivation' ...What had to be avoided at all costs was anyspirit of depenrlence on government support. Il was notthat the people of Adelaide had no charity...'"

In fact, the particular Adelaide charity did have its brighter side. The

sooneï people obtained work, the sooner they would be able to start saving

in order to becone indepenclent producers in their own right. To this end,

each working class innigrant was required to declare'rhis willingness to

work for wages until he had saved sufficient to enable hirn to buy land fat

inflatecl prices], and ernploy others". rs It was by such small farmers

that the founclers hoped the colony to be largely populated.

In the following section, the development of this capitalist society is

traced through three different econonic phases - first, as an agricultural

and mining colony pr:odr-rc.ing for a buoyant 1ocal and overseas market;

second, in the period up to First World War, as a statc reorienting itself

to the nore intensive use of natural resoulces; and final1y, in the

period between the wars, as an economy sharing in the most vulnerable

aspects of Australiat s industrialisation.

Agricultural and mining boom

In the period to 1890, Australia developed as one of the najor British

suppliers of primary products. Its potential as a soulce of wool and

wheat and its mineral wealth attracted a steady flow of capital and

migrants from the rmother countryr. In the 1850s, this was spurred on by

76

the goldrushes. From the 1870s, as the British economy entered a long

period of stagnation, capital inflow of unprecedented levels entered.

Australia in part as a counter-cyc.lical measure. 'fhroughout- this pericd,

Australiars role remained emphatically that of a supplier of raw materials

ancl a consumer of manufactured goods. Except for naturally sheltered

secondary production, capi.tal was olr the whole unavai.lable for industr.lal

development, and the dominant fractions of capital were organised around

the export-intport trade.

Against this comrnon background, economic developrnent in the different

colonies varied. liJhile wool and gold fc¡nned the ba.sis of prosperity in

New South Wales ancl Victoria, South Austr.alia grew riclt on the export of

vüheat and the rnining of copper. i6 In line with the plans of the original

investors, ì.ts economy was, to a large extent. based on small-scale

agriculture.

T¡e colony pos:tessecl several characteristics facilitating this development

of relatively snralI-scale farning which its eastern counterpal:ts found

much nore clifficult. In the first p1ace, sma1l holdings came with the

way the land was so1d. They remained viatrle because, in contrast to New

South Wales and Victoria, South Australia was able to develop into a

wheat growing colony and, within a few years of settlement, add other

forms of intensive agriculttire, especially vine growing. Not only wa's

wheat farmì-ng suited to the geography of the state,l7 the developnent of

agriculture coincicleci with the goldrushes in the eastern colonies as well

as the less spectacular discoveries of copper. in South Australia, a

population boom, and thus a rapid rise in the demancl for wheat. From

1862 to 1880, South Australia was the rgranary of Austral-iaf, with a wheat

yield gïeateï' than that of the whole of the rest of the continent ' 1 I In

77

addition, the ideology of the dissenting migrants that the religious

clauses of the South Australian constitution were designed to attract were

well suit.ed to the dynantics of creating this class of small cornrnercial

farmers. I 9

Altl-rough South Australia became distj"nctive for its dependence on wheat

farming, wool growing was an essential aspect of the economy, in nany

years contributing rnore to expoït trade than breaclstuffs.20 Squatters

nrere able to run sheep on lancl leased to them beyond the surveyed and

settled areas; land which tl'rey sonetimes bought at auctions when t.l-reir

leases tvere resumecl. Many, noreover, purchased large tracts of the best

land under the'special surveyrprovisions in the first few years after

settlement.2l Unfavourable seasons, lolver prices and higher costs, as

well as the nore stringent government control of pastoral lands combined

to rnake wool-grolirlg a less profitable pursuit in South Australia than was

the case in the eastel:rì colonies.22 Nevertheless, those with sufficient

capital could make substantial profits. As one contemporary observer put

it,You find plenty of rich squatters who it is palpablecould not have got on in any other calling demandingmuch mental power, either natural or acquired - menwho have been fortunato enough to take on the onepursuit in which they could not help making money inspite of thenselves .2 3

Not only wool but copper developed into one of the colonyts majo::.sta¡rles.

In 7842, the discovery of the mineral at Kapunda helped to lift South

Australia out of a severe recession. More spectacular copper discoveries

at Burra Burra in 1845 started a land and mining boon. By 1851 inore than

thirty mining companies were operating, many of them paying spectacular

dividends.2a Indeed, between 1846 ancl 1852, minerals accounted for well

over half of South Australiats cxports.2s

1ö

T[e development of manufacturing during this periocl was strongly linited

by the sma1l size of the local market, the preference of investors for

prinary industry, arrd relatively high wage rates. Nevertheless, behind

the sl'relter of liigh transport costs, local i.ndustry developed to provide

infrastructures for prinary production and to meet the demand for food-

stuffs, clothing, furniture, building materials, housing, general repair

and naintenance work, specialise<l agricultural implements, and later

r:aì.h,vay equipnent and machinery" 26 Eric Richarcl-s estimates that between

1844 and 1876, about one-sixth of the total workforce was employed in

secondary indu-stry ranging from primitive backyard operati,ons to

rrsurprisingly elaborate nanufacturing tasks",27 According to Coghlan,

I'he Province...was early distinguished for its machinemaking: in lB50 six machine manufactories tvere at work,and a number of useful :rgricultural nachine:; had beenperfected, anìongst which was the forerunner of thestripper, which practically revolutionised wìreat growingof the world. 2 I

To enhance the profitability of primar:y ir-rdustry and to cater for the

expanding population, Ehere wils a lapid growth of infrastructures - such

as railways , port facil j ties , roads , bridges, resi.ciential and conrnercial

buildi.ngs, and these in turn absorbed large nuntbers of workers.2e

As in the other Australi¿rn colonies, go\¡ernment played a very significant

role in the provision of these infrastn-¡ctures, one which was nuch larger

than in most c.apitalist countries at the time.30 Butl.in estimated that

betrveen 186I and 1890, the public -sector accounted for 41.8% of aI1

capital forrnation in South Australia.3l J'he nassive amounts of capital

required for tliis development did not, on the whole, come from 1oca1

-savings, but reflected the greatly increased flow of British capital into

Ar:stralia, and its preference for the securîty of goverrunent 1oans.32

79

The limits of rural e s 10n

With the en<| of the first long boom, the fitful flow of British capital

sharply contracted, but debt corunitments, accumulated fron a more pros-

peïous periocl, dicl not. This exacerbated the balance of payments problems

created for the colonial governments by a fall in export earnings, and led

them to curtail sharply their social expenditure and thus add to the

alreacly seriou-s employment situati<ln.

In buoyant periods capital inflow supplemented exporte:,rrnings to meet payments deficits; sharp reductionsin tl-re standarcl of living met them at other times. ""

'l¡roughout the country, the m¿rss of labour engaged in providing infra-

structures became redundant, tniners lost their jobs, and bad seasons

combined witl'r low prices for agricultural produce sent farmers banl<rnpt.3'*

In South Australia the signs of depression appeared earlier than in the

other colonies. Coghl,an notes that by 1881,

Although the conditions of business showed a rnarkedimprovetnent ovelr those of former years,...i't seemed

that agriculture was near it.s full extension; the pastoralindustry seemed indeed capable of extension, especially inthe unknown Northern Terri tory, but such development was

not likely to be on a large scale; while mining was

decidedly on the wane."

The decline in the profitability of rnining, as well as the gradual exhaus-

tion of copper cleposits, led to the closing, in the late lB70s, of the

Burra and Kaptrnda mines.

In agriculture, bad seasons and low prices were joined by a decline in

the eastern grain market. Aided by agricultural nachinery developed and

manufactured in South Australia, both New Sor:th Wales and Victoria over-

took the original tgranary of Australiar in wheat procluction.36

The economic situation in South Australia was made ntore serious by the

state of government finances. Fleavy borrowing in anticipation of economic

80

growth, followed by a slump and a sharp reduction of capital inflow, 1ed

to a situation where

Insteacl of 3. 3% of the value of staple exports beingsufficient to cover both the interest and loan redemp-

tion annual payments, as v/as the case in 186I, 209o ofthe value of staple exports was needed in 1891 to do

no more than equãl the interest payment.3T

As profits declined, employers, naking use of the growing Teserve arny of

the unemployecl, and often with the help of direct government intervention,

started trying to compensate the falling rate of profit by reducing wages

a¡cl going back on agreements about conditions of work. In the ensuing

struggles, workers suffered a series of defeats.

Nevertheless, even with the industrial defeat of labour, there was a

Iimit to servicing the overseas debt and naintaining profits through

increasirrg exploitation of workers in a stagnant economy. One way out of

the situation was a ïeoïganisation of the export industries. Eventually,

rural production started concentrating on the more intensive use of land

and the export of dairy products, meat, sugar and wheat, while the mining

industry reemerged as a major exporter.30 Nevertheless, investment in

these industries occurred under different conditions from those of the

fj-rst long boom.

Because of rural expansion in countries like United States, Canada and

Argentina, Australia started losing its privileged position as a supplier

of agricultural products. At the same time, the terms of trade noved

against the prinary producing countries. This neant that the potential

for new profitable investment gradually shifted to secondary industry -

atthough here the Tates of profit were generally lower than in existing

agrìculture. This was because, although established agricultural invest-

ments were nore profitable than thos'e in industry, the Ïeverse tended to

be the case with investnent in new agricultural areas '

B1

To profitably ernploy the ntass of idle capital and labour it was, in the

end, necessary to industrialise. 'lhe rnaking of the Australian federation,

with its conìmott inter:ral narket and outside tariffs, can be seen as

creating sone of the preconcli.tj.ons of this industrialisation.

But while most British colonies atternpt.ed, at one time or another, to

industrialise, not all managed to do so. Indeed, the conventional account

of Australian economic developnent sees tlre country industrialising in

spite of the wishes and preferences of British c.apital. In a persuasíve

reilterpretation of this pïocess, Peter Cochrane argues that. the conten-

porary problems of the British economy, in particular the contracting

na,rket for its capital goods, on the contlary led to the encouragement of

a particul-ar form of industrialisation, together wjth rural expansion.

Accorcling to him, this complex linkage stenmed from the fact that "...the

increased export of capital goods to the Dorninj.ons h¡as a function of their

increased spending power arising from the expanded inflow of loan capital".3e

In turn, the repayrnents of these loans depended on export surplus generated

by rural industrj-es, whose expansion, it was hoped, would moreover

provide a hone for so:ne of Britaints rsurplus populationr.

In spite of the quali.fied approval of some sections of British capital,

Australian industrialists rvere faced with nany problems. These ranged

fro¡n the reluctance of foreign investoïs to provide capital for import

replacement inclustries and the unsuitabi.lity of loca1 fina.ncial institu-

tions for funding inclustrial ventuïes, over the shortage of skilled

Iafrour, higþ wage rates and inability to use economies of scale, to the

irolitical domi¡ance of a pastoral-finance fraction of capital.

In the general franlework of these conditions, what happened to the South

Austral ian economy?

B2

Between fecleration and the depressÌon of 1930, Australia experiencecl two

periocls of rapid industrial growth: the decade u¡r to about 1912' repre-

senting the full recovery fron the 1890s depression and the severe drought

which followed it, and the period from abor¡t 1919 to 1927, reflecti.ng the

expansion of indtrstry after the Fi.rst World War, a¡rcì dhe inposition of

protective tariffs. South Austral.La participated in both of these periods

of expansion, but the major ernphasis of its econonic developrnent renained

on agriculture ancl nining, Indeed, the first twenty-five years of the

twentietl'r cent-ury saw the staters second period of significant rural

expansion. Closer settlement, mixed farrning and introduction of new

tecl'rnologies in established areasa0 and the opening up of new land with

lower and less reliable rainfall brought record profits from rural

exports .

After the state }rad recovered from the long drought at the turn of the

century, its manufacturing, spurred on by rural prosperityhl and popula-

tion growth, expancled rapiclly along existing lines. The main branches of

seconclary i¡dustry weïe pTocessing of prinary products, productiolr of

food, drink, clothing ancl building materials, and railway and farm supplies.

The growth of industry in the first few years of the twentietl'r century was

so promising that in 1907 and 1908 South Australia was the state with the

highest average value of production per heacl of population.\2 But white

tl're other states continued expanding, the gr:orvth of Soutl'r Australian

industry leveled off. In 1909, it was overtaken by Victoria in per capita

production, and j.n 1911 it fe11 below the national average."3

The First World l,irar and the drought which preceded it affected South

Australian industries far worse, and for a longer ti.me, than those of the

other s-tates. Even more than in Australia as a yvhole, South Australia's

85

was a dependent economy, relying on the lvorld market and the weather for

rural prosperity and, indirectty, government revenue; and on the inports

of nost produccr and many collsuncr goods.

The disruption of t.rade caused Lry the war was all the more seriou-s for

South Australia because of its double dependence on the mining and produc-

tion of netals. On the one hand, very large propoltion of secondary

production came from refining sone of the raw materials of Broken Hill at

the Port Pirie smelters. lVhen the war broke out, countries like Belgiun

and Germany, which were closely linked with the production of metals at

all stages (from financing mi.nes and smelting a proportion of the ore, to

importing of tlie finished procluc't), suddenly became Australiars cnemies.

The war thus led to a disruption of mining, increase in unemployment, and

a sharp loss of railway revenue for South Australia.

On the other hand, Australia was not self-sufficient in iron and stee1.

Even after the opening of the Nerucastle steelworks in New South Wa1es,

the greater part of iron and steel still had to be imported from overseas.

This meant that , ãt a tine when there was great demand for local ly-nade

machinery, South Australi¿rn industry could not expand but had to contract

because of a shortage of iron: I'the position [was] so acute that manu-

facturers of agricultural rnachinery fwere] unable to meet the requirements

of the farmers".q4 Thus the isolation of Australia during the war stinu-

la'[e<l, in South AustTaIia, only t]re nanufacture of consurner goods, and the

state calne out of the war just as dependent on its primary índustries as

before.

Both the war and the drought exposed the danger of South Australiars

extreme reliance on primary production. But while in Victoria ancl New

South Wales the war provided an opportunity to set up new industries and

strengthen old ones, in South Au-stralia there ruu rro successful move to

84

redress the balance. Most new industries established in Australia during

and after the war and eventually protected by tariff, urele not situated

in South Australia.

Moreover, the industries introduced into the eastern states during the war

to supply local demand and procluce for export began to provide, after the

reduced export opportunities that cane with the end of the war, strong

conpetition for the snatler states. In South Australia, this seriously

affected the leather industry and flour ni11ing, where employnent was

sharply reduced in spite of a growing population. a s

As the staters competitive positiorr worsened, any significant expansion

of manufacturing seerned possible only through the establishment of

entirely new industries. This opportunity was seized on by two firms -

Richards and l-toldens who, taking advantage of the wartirne restrictions on

the importing of car bodies, started manufacturing them in Adelaide.

From small beginnings, Holdens had, by 1925, in operation therrlargest

motor body building works in the southern henisphere".h6 Indeed, the

seconcl period of industrial expansion was accountecl for in South Australia

mainly by the growth of the motor body industry and its suppliers, and the

Government Railway Rehabititation scherne, which between them enployed

nearly 8,500 workers.

Developnent of a class society

The prevíous section presented a brief historical sketch of South

Australiars capitalist economy. This section explores a slightly differ-

ent perspective. It draws out some rnajor points concerning the development

of major classes, and arnplifies thern by a brief reference to the political

articulation of their interests'.

8.5

The dynamics of' founding South Australia not only set in motion a capital-

ist society, they also firnly estab,lished the fani.lies of its ruling

class. l'hc ori ginal land spcculation 1:rovidccl car:ly invcstors with largc

tr:¿ìcts of the best, ilncl rapidly appreciating, land. Withilt a few years,

these land-based capitalists were able to diversify their interests into

mining, retail, nerchant and finance capital

In their turn, 'nen of substancer who nade thcir money as merchants or in

mining ventuïes often took up large pastoral leases.47 Because of the

particular characteristics of the pastoral industry in South Australia

(with the exception of tl're relatively isolated South-East, lvhere land was

unsuitable for farming), most landolners tended to live in Adelaide.

The insecurity of pastoral Ieaseholds and the early successof farnling rnade the world of the South Australian pastor-alist quite different from that of his counterpart ín theeastern colonies. For Inost, investment in pnstoralindustry did not become associated with a way of life onthe land; it remainecl merely a way of making money.48

This intermeshing of capitals made for a tighter cohesion of the South

Australian ruling class than that of other colonies, where the different

fractions of capital had a tendency to develop more independently. While

large-sca1e nerchant, banking and producti-ve capitaJ. remained economì-cal1y

and politicatly united throughout the first long boom, the preferences of

British investors and Australia's position within the worlci market fostered

a split between land-based and manufacturing capital, a split which was

crystalised in the free trade versus protection issue.4e

Unlike the merchant-s and landowners, most manufacturers led a precarious

existence on the border between ernployers and enrplclyees, and often sought

political alliance with the workers. During the dep::ession of the 1890s,

the borderline between working class and industrial bourgeoisie became

more sharply drawn, and there started appearing large-scale industriaL

B6

enterprises. But it was only in the period irunediately preceding the

Second World War that tl-ris fraction of capital won political doninance

and in its t.urn started forging political alliance with banking capital

Hand in hand with economic dornination of large-scale capital went attempts

to link firmly political power with the privileges of ownership. The

first Legislative Councils consisted of nembers appointed by the Governor,

and those elected by the ownels of property on the basis of plural

voting. s o

By 1850, in opposition to the increasingLy conservative 'rnen of propertyr,

there st¿Lrted emerging a reform movement based on a coalition of town

artisans and tradesmen, workers, and smalL far.rners. Shortly before the

passage, in 1851, of the Australian Colonies'Government Act, the South

Australian Political Association was formed. funalganating the llindmarslt

Elective Franchise Association ancl thc Adelaide Complete Suffrage I.'eague,

the Political Association saw as its task securing the preconditions of a

democratic society for their (male) descendants. To this end, it adopted

and advocated the entire Chartist progran: universal rnale suffrage, equal

electoral districts, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, no property quali-

fications for can<lidates and paynent of members. Although this agitation

had little irunediate impact, it significantly affected the final shape of

Sotrth Australiars constitution,

In 1855, this consti.tution came to enbody some very advanced features.

Although women were clisenfranchised until 1894, ther:e was no property

qualifi.cation for members of either house, and the Flouse of Assernbly was

crlectccl by fuLl ntalc suffragc

But the liberatity of these provisions was carefully and thoroughly

counterchecked by others. In the first place, untì1 1888, there was no

B7

provision for payment of members of parliament, so that candidates in

effect had to be rmen of independent neansr .

More irnportantly, therc wûs tlìe triple checl< of the Legislative Counci1.

In ordel to rrbe tl-ro guardian of [capital] procluctive interests, and...see

that propeïty uJas not rashly clealt with",s2 the upper house was designed,

as in the other colonies, to be rrconstitutionally powerful, politically

conservative, and beyond the control of the people êt largerr.s3

Restricted franchise (basecl on property qualification) and rural weighting

dealt effectively with the voters, but a third defence was thought to be

necessary - a defence against the relatively democratÌc lolver house

itself.sq Such a clefence was created by raccident or designt,5s through

the lack of procedural provisions for a de¿rdlock between the two houses

of parliament. In effect, this ¡neant that there was no r^ray a bill could

become law if the Legislative Council was opposed to it. And it worked.

By 1883, J.P. Stow naintained that. the Legislative Council "had thrown

out, in different years, every measuïe submitted to it for taxing

propertyrr,s6 while a later researcher found that, between 1857 and 1901,

The Council refused to pass almost one-half of the billswhich were in some way connected with property, propertyrights, taxation or the powers of the LegistativeCouncil, and clefeated eighty percent of them outright.sT

If the Legislative Council vigorously defended private property, it was,

in their eyes, from unselfish motives and in the interests of the whole

cornmunity:

...mark weI1"..how necessary jt is that good, patriotic,unselfish and lried men should be elected...The Assenrblyis the place for the representation of ciass interest,local prejudice and of part.y clic¡ues; but let not thesepolitical considerations have a place in that Horrse wheretlle broacl and general inter:ests of the community shouldabove all be observecl.ss

8B

The nenbers of the tEstablishrnentr earnestly believed that frit was an

eviclence of high civilisation when the rights of property were respected"'se

Only some people were not quite civilised - yet.

The workers, tike the class of their employers, were divided into frac-

tions. Reflecting the rural and nercantile bias of the colony, most of

South Australiars workforce hras concentrated in rural industries and in

transport. Ilere, the, structule of the pastoral industry, mining and

transport started producing large concentrations of unskilled labourers

who, in many respects, resembled contemporary European proletariat. In

the manufacturing sector, the situation was different.

Although the rise of heavy índustry in Europe had by thistime given rise to a proletariat of wage earners enployedin large factories, the small scale of manufa.cturers inAustralia at this ti¡ne resenbled a class of artisansrather than a proletariat.6o

The shortages of labour and t-he general prosperity during this period, in

spite of cyclical downturns in the econony, strengthenecl the bargaining

position of workers, especially skilled ones, who were able to achieve a

high degree of unionisation and relatively high wages and short working

hours.

Australia's livi.ng standards in the 1860s were thehighest in the world, with per capita income and con-,sunption at levels 50% above those prevailing in Americaand 100e" above those in England. They continued to risesteadi ty r.rnti t 1890 . 6 I

Accorcling to McFarlane, Australiats inperialist connections led to a

unique pattern of economic developrnent. The main feature of this develop-

ment was a relatively low reliance on depressing wage leve1s as a means

of building up capital accunrulation necessary for industrialisation. This

had

89

...pïofound inplications for the growth of an Australianproìctariat, ond erp*"ially for its class conscj.ousness.^'IÏlat is, such e.onomic background was conducive to theintegraiion of t.he trade unions into the bourgeois stateanci tlre Labor lartyrs i.tegration into i*periãlisrn.62

Indeecl, there is nuch truth in the assertion that

'I-he dominant theme of workirtg class polif-ics has been thecreationnotofacla.sslesssociety,butofaoneclasssociety.. .The raclicalism of the late nineteenth centurywas an raggressively aspiring petty bourgeoís kind. ' 'anddesigneci ió obtairr such governmental action as wouldensuTetheestablisliment.ofautopiaofindependentproclucerst . 6 3

Many workers who, in England, hacl tnothi'ng to loser' were attracted to

south Australia by 't-he promise of becoming inclependent proclucers' Ancl

although the promise became more and more tenuous, and rnight not apply to

themselves, tirere weTe enough people who tmade goodr around then to

convince large lrtrmbers of workers that removing obstacles to beconing

snall producers lvas incleeci the road to a better: society'

It is true that this icleology was vignrously maíntainecl by the landed

c.apital, since it provided a legitimation of their own position (they

were the ones r,n¡ho nade good) and channellecl opposition against them into

relativel;r safe demancls. But there were objective condj-tions which made

the dominance of this ideology possible'

up to the I890s, the rnost important of these were the related factors of

relatively liigh stanclard of living of Australian rvorkers, a substantial

clegree of inter-class mobility, the small scale of nanufacturing production

and farming ancl, lastly, substantial cliffeTences in the jnterests ancl life

ex1,-i:Liencc-sofclif.ferentfractionsoftheworkingclass'

Throughout the ni.neteenth century, irregular employment, Iatge fluctua-

tions in wages and frequent. .influx of nigrants in periods of unemployment'

graclually lecl groups of these workers' to combine. In temporary alliance

90

with small farmers, they protested against the ltlakefield system. Frorn the

workers' point of view, sponsored inmigration was blaned for lowering

wages through creating an arti.ficial surplus of labour, whi1e, in opposi-

tion to the interests of small farners, the price of land was put up to

pay for the immigration Program.

Although the gains ¡nade were small by todayrs standards, they gradually

forced the government to limit imrnigration duri-ng slumps, and to give trp

the iclea of throwing unemployed workers entirely on their own resources.

At t¡e sa¡ne time, increasing nunbers of capitalists started appreciating

the usefulness of preemptive ¡neasures (such as compulsory schooling)

clesigned to rciviliset workers, measures which they previously tended to

see as a waste of moneY,

Reflec.ting the differing economic conditions, lifestyles, interests and

aspirations of different fractions of the working class, the pattenls of

unign organisation created du::ing the long boom were by no means uniform.

When the United Labor Party was founded in 1891, these differences were

carried over into the workers' first permanent political organisation.

Although the Labor Party cler¡elopecl policies aimed at a gradual reforrn of

capitalism; its left rving, centrecl around several Inew unionsr of unskilled

workers, adoptecl a socialist policy. But while the interests zrnd policies

of different fracti.ons of the working class differed in some respects,

they had nany thing-s in comnon. They faced common exploitation under a'

wage system whose class boundaries were increasingly clearly defined. It

was the large-scale strikes of the early 1890s which gave many workers

tl-reir first unantbiguous experience of sharply drawn class conflict-

A significant division - along racial 1ines, nevertheless persisted. Fed

on a conlJination of econonic interest and racial prejudice, it often over-

rocle the labour )novelnentrs concern with capitalist exploitation.6"

91

The third niajor class in the South Australian economy was that of small

fanners. Atthough nany properties were bought witÏr mclney brought over

fron Er.rrope, some were purchased with savings accumulatecl in the province,

Workers were only rarely able to save enough wages to take up fnrming,

but profits from gold or copper nining, or various other independent

ac'livities, enabled many of thon to clo so. ln 1847, for. exarnplc, the

.llegister \{rote

...i.t will appear that the class of snall farmers isincreasing rapidJ.y; in the dry season they are employedin cart.ing ore from the mines to the port, for which theyare we1ì. paid, and when the rain sets in, and this workis suspcncled, it is time for ploughing ancl sowing. Withtheir gains in carting ore nany have been enabled topurchase or rent and have comnenced farrning on theirown account. 6 5

11 the years under discussion, renting land was at least as common as

clirect purchase. Bowes notes t-hat, during the 1850s and 1860s, a large

proportion of South Australian farmers did not own the lancl they culti-

vated. In the 1860s, tenant farmers amounted to at Ieast half of the

total nunber of farnters.6 6

Although no longer engaged in clirect wage labour, rnany smal1 farners

thus continued to lose a large proportion of their labour to the capitalist.

gften, unabl.e to niake ends meet year after year, they resorted to a variety

of sideline occupations to nreet their comrnitments and to augment their

incorne. The most conrmon of these was carting produce in the off-season,

but there were many others. Bowes gives an exan¡:le of a farmer who

rrcontractecl to repair the roads and carry the mai.1,...Teaped his neigh-

boursr harves't on thirds, . . . cut and sold wood, erected fences and plastered

the District Office".67 Other snal1 farmers might go shearing, leaving

their wives and children behind to look after the f,amily fann.

92

gver the years, the aveïage size of farms increased. According to Bowes,

'fhe average area r:n<ler wheat per fanner at the beginningof the sixties was just over 40 acres, but by IB70 thi'shad incre¿rsed to 70 acres, five years later to 110 acÎes,and by lBB0 to 140 acres.68

In the 1870s, there occurred a spectacular agricultural expansion. The

size of the fanring populatjon doublecl,6s an<l the area under wheat

increased froln 532,135 acres in 1869 to 1,733,542 acres in 1BB0-70 But

although the introduction of credit selection facilitated the purchase of

land, most agricultural expansion was accoutìted for by farners fron the

old settled clistricts, not e¡narìcipated labourers. According to Ilirst,

Anong a sanrple of 1,200 successful applicants for land inthe early seventies, only 39o were Adelaide men, and some

of these...were investors, not farmers' There was aslightly larger group of country labourers and tradesmen,but the largest gïoup, constituting well over 80% of thetotal, were th" iut*èt, from the oid settled districts.Tl

Throughout the nineteenth century, as in the other colonies, the interests

of small farmers conflicted with those of scluatters and absentee land-

holclers. 'Ihese not only pushecl the price of land up, but held much land

tha.t could be used for agri.cultural. pulposes" But although, especially

during droughts, the land tenure system angered smal1 farmer:s into

politiðal activity, the relatively strict Jegislation concerning sc¡uattersl

land use preempted the rise of a popular land reforrn movement in South

Australia. O¡1y in the late 1860s, when bad seasons and shortage of good

lancl clrove fanners to clemand raclical changes in lancl le¡¡islation, did

t,hey become interested in payment of rnembers of parliament and local repre-

sentation. Goocl seasons and modest land reform quietened their dj.ssatis-

factions for a decade. But after the disastrous drought which began in

1884,'they took up their claims again, this time in alliance with the

urban working c1ass. Payment for rnembers of parliament, temporarily

grantecl in 1888, became pet'nanent for both houses frorn 1891.

93

After thi.s time, the class of rural petite bourgeoisie came to dominate

state parliamentary politics. With their considerable electoral strength

(based increasingly on the inequalities of the electoral system rather

than on their actual number), the snall farmers fo::med political alliance

neither rvith the 'Establishmentr noÏ, 1ater, with organised labour.

Indeed, 'r...the proclivity of farmers to return independents conf-used and

hindered tl"re development of party politics until the eve of second world

war',.72 But while fanners doninated parliament until the late 1930s,

their economic ancl political porver rernained sulrordinate to that of the

tEstablishmentr:

Although farmers seemed to call the tune, they had theirmasters. Their earnings went to Adelaide merchants,money-lenders and land specula.tors. These tnen, alreadl,enriched by investrnents in cooper and wool, had llo use

for urban industry with its turbulent labour force' By

naintaining the fiction of independent enterprisg, theywon the farmersr vote an<l held þolitical powär.t'

This position only rarely led farmers to pullsue conmon policy with workers

Instead, small farners were the natural pToponent-s and carriers of the

petit bourgeois ideology that strongly linited the developrnent of working

class politics in South Ar'rstralia.

Pat.terrr of educat-ional change

The class ancl economic system of south Australia was inextricably linked

to the patteln of eclucational change " Later chapters deal lvith particular

fonns of this connection; here the ain is merely a brief chronological

r:utline of the development of South Australiars e<lucatì.on systern.

In the first years of white settlelnent the colony boasted a com1rlex,

importecl educational schene designecl to supplement the expected haphazard

private provìsion of schooling. Within a few years, however, the South

Australian School Society wound ciown its operations. Between 1846 and

94

18S1, t¡e colonia1. governtnent instituted two schemes of subsidy to the

educational efforts of churches and individuals. Tn 1851, earlier than

in any of the other coLonies, state aid to denominational schools ceased.

A new Edrrcation Àct was passecl which hoped, through selective subsidizing

of 'effic:Lentt schools, to eventually give all of the col.onyts children a

moral and christi.an rudimentary education. The goverTìment subsidy

gradually took on more and more precise definition of desirable teaching

until, in 1875, the sy:item was formally transformed. Under the new

Education Act, tire governmcnt changod from the role of a discerning

col-tsut.rìer i¡ a free educatiort market into one of producer of the type of

schooling it saw as clesirable. Compulsory clauses u/ere passed in order

to compel all children to take a<lvantage of the new institut.ion' In

1875, scìrooling was macle cr.rtnpulsory for seventy days in each half yeaT'

In 1g05, attendance provisions were tightened in the city, where children

now had to attend school on four out of five school days. Only in 1915,

forty years after the introduction of compulsory scltooling, were children

required to atten<l school on each day it was opened'

The curricula of the elementaïy schools, at first ulrcler scrutiny for their

noral ancl religi.ous content, became, from the 1870s, the target of a new

colìcern with im¡rarl-ing technj.cal educatjon to chiltlren.

The 1875 Eclucation Act substantiaì.Iy increased governtneut spending on

education. Free elementary schooling, howevel, was only introduced in

1891. At .the beginning of the twentieth century, the gradual expansion of

the primary school systen was regul¿rrised in the establishment of a

system of government secondary schools.

In spite of rnany attempts to tailor the curricul¿r of these schools closely

to the future vocational neecls of the st.udents, Iittle differentiation

occurr:cd ancl liigl'r schools remainecl tied to an academic curriculum- It was

95

only during the depression and 51þ5:equent industrialisation that a

sharper enphasis on vocational education was inpl'e¡nented.

The following chgpter exanines the first period of this developnent -increasing government intervention in a free education narket, leading up

to the establishnent of a nass schooling systen in South Australia.

96

Notes

1. K. Rowley: rrPastor:a1 capitalisll", p,11 .

) P. Cochrane:(PhD thesis,

'rlnclustrialisation and clependence : Australia 1919-1939r1

University of Adelaide, 1977).

5

ibid., p.114.

ibid., p "69 .

K. Marx, op. cit. , P.766.

D, Pike, op. cit., P.77 .

3. ibid. , p.37 .

K. Marx: capitaT, Vo1 .1, PP.766,768.

ibid. , p.766.

In the 1830s, fo1. example, a clergynan intervened in a controvelsyabout the appointment of a colonial chaplain. FIe I'had his own

reasons for intervention. tlis son was planning to sail with thesurveying expedition and he seemed fear:ful that the appointrnent ofan impropet þerson a.s chapl,ain night lower the tone of the colonyand tñereUy ãiminisl'r the rewards of land speculation.'r D. Pike:Paradise of dissent (Me1bour:ne Uni-versity Press , 1967), p'118'

6

7.

B.

9.

10.

11.

12.

K. Marx, op. cit . , PP .772-3 .

Ncvertheless, Wakefield neither integrated the linchpin of hisanalysis -the'sufficient price of land', with the other two ingre-dients of Ìris rcolonisatíon theoryt - immigration and self-goverrunent

- rìor in,Jicatecl how prccisely was the 'sufficient pricer to be,

calculatecl. On thesè grounds alone, J.D. Young argues that Wakefieldtsplan of coioni:;atj.on should not be honoured with the name of theoryãt aft. J.D. Young: "South Atrstralian historians ancl Wakefieldrsrschemerrr ìn Historicaf Studies (Vo1.14, No.53, 1969) '

13. D. Pilce, oP. cit., P.220.

14 . i.bid., p.3IB. " I'he employers I dislike of govelnnent aid to theunfortunate contrasted strangely with their readiness to invoke theaid of both legislatj.on ancl the courts in their own favour." ibid.,p.320 .

15 . ibid., p. 151.

16. r'The change in scale of the denand for foo<l in the 1850s wa's thesignal foi a great increase in South Australian wheat production.ThIs together rvitl-r the r:esults of tlie continued discovery ancl workingof the ðopp"t cleposits of the colony constitutecl a najor increas'e inthe total output of the region.This coloty.ätr be said to have caught the wave of the gold r:ush,

97

gathering a momerìtum which carried it through the period 1850-80'rlw"¡,. sinðtair: The process of economic devefopment in Austral-ia(Cireshire, 1976) , P. 105 .

Before the development of a rail network, transport costs were so

substantial that they made the growing of wheat in outlying areas

uneconolnic. In South Austlatia, with most farms being only a shortclistance from the coast, farmers wele able to keep the price of wheat

clorvn by using the relatively cheap sea transpoTt. Even in 1910, theuu"tugã clistánce from farm to port was only 60 miles in SouthAustrálin contparecl to 242 nlites, in Ncw South lllales and 149 inVictoria. J.È. ttirst: Adefaide and the countrg JBTA-I977 (Melbourne

University Press, 1973), P.64'

M.J. l{alters; 'tPolicies, production and people" (Unpub. BA thesis,University of Aclelaide, 197f), p'51.

Man1, 6¡ t[ese farmers produced for a capitalist narket (and were

expioitecl by Adelaicle merchants and shipowners), but did not become

iniolved, to any sig¡i.ficant extent, in capitalist relations ofprod.uction by employing labour. For dissenting nigrants, see

D. Pike, op. cit.

20. See table I

17.

18

19.

2I. J.B. Hirst, oP" cit., P.11.

22. R. K. Bowes: I'Land set.tlement in South Australia,thesis, Australian National University, 1973), p

r857-1890" (PhD

75.

23. ibid., p.25.

24 D. Pike: "HistoryVo1.7 [Gro1ier, 19

25

26.

27.

28.

of6s)

South Australia" in ?Jre Austrafiart encgcTopaedia,

, pp.214-5.

See tab le I .

rrln 1848 lVilkinson ïeportecl that rthe number of manufactories ofdifferelrt kinds shows a decided i.ncrease within the last three orfour years...at plesent all kinds of articles of colonial manufactureare t'o be purcha-sed in Aclelaide cheaper than they can be obtainedretail from England, when they have the expense of package, freighb,cartage, and bieakage adde'J to themr .rr E . s . Richards : rtThe genes i s

of seðnndary intlustiy in the South Auslralian econony to 1876", p'II7

ibid., pp.11B-9. For proportíon of workforce employed in manufac-

turing, see table 2.

T.A, Cogh1an.. The seven coLonies of Austrafasia, l-895-6 (Sydney,

1896), p.Sl.5, quotecl in E' Richards, oP' cit', p'I22'

rrFrom the very earliest days...a public sectoT has been crucial insetting the pace, trtmospheie an<i -social investment 'infrastructureressential to economic development.rr B. McFarlane, op. cit., p'69'

29.

9B

S0. 'rThe neecl to develop an adequate infrastructure generated heavyinvestnrerrt in transport and corrunurications in the late nineteenthcentury, Tìris devolved upon '[he various colonial governments at thetine, for the jnitial layouts were so prohibitive, and the oppor-tunities for profit elsewhere in the economy so lucrative, thatprivate enterprise soon abancloned the fie1d.'r K. Rowley, oP- cit,,p.21.

31. See taìiles 3,4.

32. r'The interval 1870-1914 transforned the country into a focal poìntof the Unite<l Kingdomts overseas jnterests...incomplete and conser-vati.",e statistics indicat-e a growth in oversea.s investment i-nAustralia from 32 nillj,olrs to 298 miIlions, forty-five per cent ofwhicli was effectecl between 1875 and 1BB9...Between 1870 and 1914,British invcstors in thc Australian econony pourcd about seventy percent of their capital into tlìe colonial governments.rr P. Cochrane,op. cìt. , pp.38-9.

33. P. Cochrane : Inrlustrial-isation and dependence " llustra Lia's road toeconotnic cleveTopment (University of Queens land Press) , P.4.

34. Sinclair, op. cit., P .146.During the last two decades of the nineteenth century in Soutl'rAustralia, drought seeneci to alternate with low pr:ices for wheat.For example, 'rThe wheat harvest of 1893 proved exceptionally fine,but the farner obtained less than 2s. a bushel for his wheat; in 1894

the harvest rvas light, but the price of wheat on the farns was onlyabout 2s. 6d. a bushel. In 1896 there was a large advance in priceand rvheat contintted to be fairly high for: the rest of the period,but the harvests of those years were abltornal.ly sma1l, so that fewof the farlner-s obtained any benefj-t from the irnproved prices . . . "T.A. Coghlani Labaur and industrg in Australia, p.2168. See also table 6

35.

36.

ibid. , p.J.794

The declining inrpoltalìce of South Attstralia as a wheat producer isshorvn in the follotving table:

Table 5

SOUTH AUSTRALTA _ W-HIIA'I A-REA AND \^]-IIF'AT PRODUCTION

AS PERCENTAGE OF AUSTFAI,fAN TOIYII,

South AustraU.an vheat areaas /' of Australian vheat area

South Australian wheatprod.uction as /o of

Australian vheat r-rrod"uc-bion

1890-rr900-1

EA)r3l+

3)+

LTI BB9-90rB99-1900

R.R. Chapman: "Depress ion in South Austra-Lia" , T).29

37. M..L Walters, op. ci.t., P.47.

42. See Australian Bureau of Census ancl Statistics I Production BuTletin'1907-1935.

43. I\rhere it has stayed ever since.

38.

39.

40.

4L.

44.

45.

46.

47

48

99

P. Cochrane, op. cit. , P.l0 .

P. Cochrarie: rrlnclustrialisation and dependenc.er' (thcsis), p.55.

"The rapiclity with which prinary production actually increased. '.nrust be ascribed to a rnajór technical breakthrough in the growing ofwheat in Alrstralia. The new technology of wheat growing adopted inthe early twentieth centuly was a combination of new stra-ins ofw¡eat, ncw nethocls of fallolving and neu¡ ferti liser-s.'r l4J"A' Sinclair,op. cit., p.167.

'rThe prosperous colrdition of the farnting industry is directlyreflleðted in the flourishing conditions of rnany of the secondaryinclustries of the state, notably the agricultural inplener-rt ancl

nrachine worl<s.rr South Austra.Lian Statistical- Register, 1911,

Production 1., P.xii.

J.NI.A. Dttnn; "'l'|e effects of war and dlought on the economy of South

Au-stralla", P"97.

For example, "fejvidence taken in Melbourne showecl that there was a

big expansion in the fleather] industry t]ìere in order to cope withthã ovãrseas cleniand cluring the war and the jnmecliate post-war periocl,the exports from the Conmonwealth having reached as high as 8860,000

wortlr of boots and s]ìoes in I920-2I. Since then there has been atremenclous contïaction in over.seas trade, and it was stated that thewhole of the capital and fac.ilities for production had been throwninto a keen competition for the Australian lnarket.r' SAPP' 1926,No.57: r'fìirst Progress Report of the lìoyal Comrnis-sion on Manufacturingand Secondary Industríes", p.vii.

As E.lV. Ilolden saiclr "Our success is due to the fact that we put inearly and obtained the big production, which meant that we were ableto red¡ce prices to such an extent that the small nan calìnot compete

with us. rr - Quotecl in T.J. lr{itche11: "Industrialisation of South

Australia, 1935-1940r' (Unpub. BA thesis, univer:sity of Adelaide,1957), p.Ì .

nlt has also long been a comlnon practice for men who llad won theirfirst wealth from trade or profession to take tip land and rttn sheep

without noving from their city homes...The most notable members ofthis group were the partners Thornas Elcier and Robert Barr Smith,who finanèed their etttt-y into the pastoral industry from the profitsof theiï meïcantile and nining ventuïes...rt J'8. FIi::st: Adefaid'e and

the countrg, p . ì.6 .

ibid., p. 15.

I . O'shaughnessy: rrsome r:ecent conf licts in the rul ing classrr'49.

100

50. ülhen, in 1851., after the passage of the Australian CoLonies GovernmentAct, it bccanrc clcar that South Australia was to be governed by acombinecl chanher of eight nominees and sixteen elected representa-tives, the Minìng Journal- went so far as to publish a list of membersof the proposed Council, basing itself on the knowleclge that few rnen

in the colony possessed the required property qualification of 82,000clear of all encumbrances. Seventy-five per cent of its predictionproved correct. D. Pike, op. cit., p.418

51 . J. Mos.s : rrSouth Austr:a lia t s colonial labour movementf r itt Journal- ofÈhe llistoricaL.Societq of South Äustralia (No.6, 1979), pp.19-20,

5'2.

53.

Regrister, 6.12.1855

54

D,FI. Jaensch: I'Political representation in colonial South Australia"(Unpub. PhD thesis, Unì.versity of Adelaide, 1973) , p.235.

Thus t-lre conservative ?hu¡sdag Review saw I'the Upper l-louse as a veryuseful check on the delegates of the unenployed, and as operating t.oretard in some measure the evil and retrograde tendencies of thenorst provisions of our political systenrr. Thursd.ag Review,26.9 .18(10, quotecl in D . Jaensch , op. cit . , p .266.

55. ibid., p.23tr.

J.P. Stow: South Austral-ia (Government Printei:, Adelaide, 1883),pp.62-3, euoted in D. ,Jaensch, op. cit., p.250.

D. Jaensch ¡ op- cit., p.253.

Register, 3.9.1857.

9APD,1890, p.6I8.

K. Ror.vley: rrPastoral capitalismtr, p .23 .

56.

K. Rowley t op. cit., p.23.I-lowever, it nust be kept in rnincl that I'The indexes suggest thatthere has only been one period of sustained increase in Australianper capita consumplion. This was in the years fron the beginning ofthe 1860s'[o the end of the 1880s, roughly spanning an entiregeneration . '

I K. Ilancock (ed . ) , The national- income and social-weffare (Cheshire, 1965), p.5.

B. lvlc.Farlane: rrAustraliats role in world capitalism" i.n J. Playfordand D. Kirsner : .Ausf"ra-Z ian capi tal. j,s¡n.

63. J. Lonie: rrConservatisn and class in Sout-h Australia during thedepre-ssion, 1929-34tt, p.32, quoting FI. McQueeî: A new Britannia(Penguin, 1971) , p. 125.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

See tt. McQueen: A new Britannia, cl\.2

19.6. 1847 "Register,

R. K. Bowes

64.

65.

66. "Land settlement in South Australiarr, p.41.

t01

67.

68.

69.

70.

7L.

i.bid., p.87.

ibìd., p.81.

ibid., p.51.

See table 6.

BowesJ. B. Ilirst, op. cit., p.19. A similar figure was arrived at by

, op. cit. , p.52 .

72. D. Pike: Paradise of dissent, p.482.

73. D. Pike: "Education in an agricultural state" in E.L. French (ed.):Melbourne studjes jn education, 7957-8 (ì4elbourne University Press,I958) , p.68.

CTIAP'IER 3

MASS SCI-IOOLING IN A NEW COLONY

103

Sir, I know not who is responsible for the scandalousneglect of the children in this part of the city, butit seems to ne that the streets are thronged withregular littIe Arabs. Their Ianguage and manners arefearfuL, as eveïy passer-by must know. I have residedin Adelaide nearly twenty years, but I never saw so

nruch ignorance and profanity anong cliildr:en as now.Is there no law that will compel parents to send themto school? They are a complete nuisance, and stealwherever they find a chance. I an sure they will costthe state a great deal of trouble and money by-and-bvif nothing is clone to change their vicious couïs"u. . . t

It is certainly not to be expec.ted that the childrenthemselves will vol.untarily relinquish the sweets ofgutteÌ freeclom for the, to then, dismal prospect ofschool restraint.2

Tlieories about the orig ins c¡f mass schooling

The introduction of nrass schooli.ng to South Australia dates back to the

period from 1850 to 1875, when a new Education Act was passed by the

colony's legislature. The pïocess by which mass schooling developed

parallels events in other parts of the wor1d. These have been described

by authors using a variety of theoretical approaches. Katz, Bowles and

Gintis and Johnscln, emphasizing various aspects of class conflicl, have

dealt with North America and England from a marxi.st perspective. Other

hypotheses regarding the enìeïgence of rnass schooling can be roughly cate-

gorised as explanations which give major weight to urbanisation, relations

between cl'rurch and state, rneedsr of the education system, and imitation

of other countries without nuch regard to loca1 conditions.

Sincc so many explanations of a similar process exist, it is useful to

preface the discussion of mass schooling in South Australia with an

examination of the arguments advanced by other historians of education.

104

According to Johnson, mass schooling should be seen in the context of

the massive social transformation without which the extension of capital-

ist mode of production would have been impossible. In this perspective,

expansion of schooling was one aspect of the bourgeois cultural aggres-

sion organic to the industrialisation phase of capital:ist development.

But the cotrtemporary social Lransfor¡nation had a two-edged impact. 0n

the one hand, bourgeois reformer-s successfully challenged a range, of

existing social relations such as proPelty laws and church privileges,

and replaced them by capitalist ones. 0n the other hand, the same

pTocess of extending capitalism, by undermining older systems of

authority, led to a protracted crisis of ruling class hegenony. For

Johnson, one particular episode in this process, the radical working

class cl'rallenge of the l830s, accoutìts for the actual timing of the

introcluction of mass schooling.

Although Johnsonrs theory hinges on industrialisation, he distances him-

self from the orthodox pre-industrial-industrial society model in his

criti.c¡ue of the Ineed for ski11s' (or manpower) hypothesis. According to

him, such theory is invalid on two counts. Firstly, industrialisation

initially tended to lead to sharp falls in literacy and to rdeskillingr

of the workforce, rather than to a ner^i need for more technical skills.

Second, characteristics of schools at the time did not support the rneed

for skills' hypothesis either. Predominantly, literacy was a secondary

conceïn of educational bureaucracies, who concentrated above aI1 on

eradicating the childrensr own habits and attitudes and on replacing them

by nore rcivilisedr ones. tf sgl19_g!_!ry¡fes --ti1\_gdl: t"Uï-._llq1-!9,ation;-'

it was not because of a eater Ineed for skillst but because industrial-

isation lecl to a sharpening an<l intensification of the bas ic cont

of capitalism, that between capitat and labour.s Âccordingly, the

adict on

t 0r,

linchpin of Johnsonrs analysis is wha,t he carls the concept of class-

cultural control/transfonnation but which should perhaps be identified as

class-cultural conflict .

One aspect of th:is class cultural conflict, the struggle between an j.nde-

pendent working class and 'providedr forms of education, should be

brought out more clearly, as it diverges sharply from rnost conventional

accounts of mass schooling. According to Johnson, the various work!1c

class educational forms came under a.t.tack_J1gt so much because of theirtinefficiencyr, but because they conflicted with the najor concerns of

the bourgeoisie at the time; their desire to transform the psychological

,world of labour, and the fear of radicalism as culture. tDametand\.._.

private schools were írn integral part of working class corununity, and

were organised in such a way that they accommodated the supposedly

vicious habits of children with regard to church attendance, speech,

dress ancl behaviour. At the sanre time, educational concerrrs were organic

to radical movements, especially Chartists and Owenites. In England,

these not only criticised alI forms of providecl education, but improvised

alternative educational institutions and content of their own.

fif-ìs-t\ !fg:1 T"t_?oll I _!_lriyqt-g-s-cÌloo-!i!g, . .hras one of those indigenous

tvql\_i1g_cIass practices against which ma-ss schooling was defined and

which it was intencled to replace". a

In spite of the different historical conditions of the country he deals

with, Katzt s account of the emergence of school systens is in many

respects similar to thât of Johnson. This is because, in both cases, the

authors try to connect schooling with far-reaching changes in the social

relations bctween classes in a capitalist society . Unlike in England, in

North .-in Au-stralia mass schooling predated industrialisation.

106

K+9-ir'l"o"s forced to reject a pre-industrial - industrial society

theoretical nodel, marxist or otherwise. Instead, he locates his theory

in a rshift to capitalist mode of productionr, characterised above all by

the rentergence of a class of wage labourersr. In r

schoo on between the fi and .second

s.tl-g? _i¡..-4 thre,e--ti.er dev-s1-spiptr!--qf capitalist.-economy from rngrgantile

peasant to mercantile capitalist to indus_t-fiq=1- capitalist.

From the point of view of contemporary reforners, schooling could help to

solve five major problems which now appear to be products of this transi-

tion. These were: urban crime and poverty; increased cultural hetero-

geneity; the necessity to train and discipline an urban and industrial

workforce; the crisis of youth in nineteenth century city; and the anxiety

among the tmiddle classr about their adolescent children.

Unlike Joþnson, Katz does not specifically se).ect those aspects of the

transition to nìercantile capitalism which were responsible for the

immediate timing of the introduction of state schooling systems. funong

the likely candidates - emergence of ridler youth and inmigration, the

relatj-ve strength of an organised labour movement, which constitutes the

major thrust of Johnson's analysis, is conspicuous by its absence. This

is either because of a narked divergence in historical development

between England and North Ameríca, s or (as argued in Chapter 1) a theoret-

ically induced omission.

A sinilar point can be made with regard to rdame schoolsr. Throughout

tlre discussion, Kalz, unlilce Johnson, does not pay ntuch attention to the

indigenous forms of schooling that the new institutions were intended to

replace. It is unclear whether his different theoretical perspect-ive

produced different 'historical facts', oT whether there was a great

L07

difference in historical experience, but in Engtand, as in south

Australia, the imposition of thc capitalist noclel of refficient instruc-

tionr was by lìo nìeans rspontaneouslyr accepted by the great nass of the

p'pulation.6 On the contrary, there was a significant amount of conflict

betureen the refficient' and the Iinefficientr models of schooli-ng' It is

tr-ue that Katz cliscusses an initial conflict between four models of

schooling, but the rinefficientr institutions of the darne school type do

not seem to have been included'

As he says, the different models were clebated byrsane and responsible

peopler rconceTned with social policyr, a gnoup presurnably not including

teenage working class girls, destitute rvidows, or males unatrle to find

any other employment,.from whom nost teachers for these snall private

schools were drawn'

Bowles and Gintis summarise and bring out bottr approaches in their

strongest form. According to them, the rnajor turnitrg points in united

Statesr education history rrall correspon<l to intense periods of struggle

around the expansion of capitalist production relations" ' 7 The first of

these, for example, the rera of the cornmon school reforml

Wasaperiodoflabottrnilitancyassociateclwithtlrerise oi the factory systeîn, growing economic inequality,and the creation and vast expansion of a permanent

wage-labour force. B

In spite of tliis recurring coincidence of events, however, the authors

wdrn us that I'no very sinple or mechanistic relationship between economic

structure and educational clevelopment is likely to fit the available

historical eviclence".e Such warning applies even more strongly to the

Australi,an case

108

In lainin 1n ohnson is able to

point to a ctacular transforrnation of t r¡g{e o_f prgduction. It is _

rìot poss ib lp !o do -tlr-ts- i-tt. |g"t"I-|iq.trali1. The state experienced

several periods of rnajor change of the capitalist mode of production,l0

but the ¿ecade around 1875, wl-rich witnessed the major change in the

colonyrs eclucation system, was, in comparison, not one of them.

_Katz associ-ates t[e rise of mass schooling with a less spectacular trend

- that of crisis of youth:-a trend whi.ch was only firmly established

after a detailecl examination of manuscript census data. In South

Australia, compaïable research does not exist (and namrscript census data

is not available). In addition, sketchy evidence indicates that a

sinilar crisis occurred in South Australia only at the turlr of the

century.

In this situation, it is obvious that a careful exanination of other

liypotheses is required. Urbanisation is one of these. As in the case of

industrialisation, however, a hypothesis revolving around urbanisation

has to be usecl carefully. Like industrialisation, urbanisation is a

secondary explanatory concept. In other words, it is necessary to know

how both of these pïocesses came about before we can use them to explain

arÌything else. Iror example, urbanisation rnight be accounted for by the

introduction of less intensive forms of agriculture and concentra-

tion of indust ly_ _i4 fl'_q ciglr_ which in turn can be linked to the competi-

tion induced drive towards greatel p¡gduct,iyily- o-f- 1qb99l: It is to

these developments, not to urbanisation or industrialisation as such,

that we shoulcl attempt to trace some of the motive forces in the trans-

formation of schooling.

109

With a similar clistinction in mind, Rodney Gouttl-?¡ elgues that the

severe drought which South Australi a _ 9Ip-çliçnced in the mid-l860s, as

well as the invention of the reaping machine,

- é--

reversed the novenent of

- --pqpulation out of the city and 1ed to an influx of unemp loyed into

:!.a9]ai_ae--Aecording to Gouttman, increasing urbanisation, occurring at a

)

time of economic slunp, lecl to a rise in the number of unemployed youth

rin the streetsr. In turn, such a situation alarmed tegislators into

ca1 ling the 1868 Select Conmittee on Education, and finally into providing

for compulsory schooling. I I

Whether it is used as a primary or seconda::y explanatory concept, a

hypothesis based on urbanisation has people reacting to material changes

in their social environment. The sane is usually not true of explanations

revolving arouncl the relationship between church and state, a. major hypo-

thesis traditionally ernployed in educational history writing in Australia.

Although the different churches of course have a dynamic, personnel and

teaching of their own, these can, in most instances, be connected to the

political and economic interests of the particular social groups the

churches represent.l2 Most conventional historians, however, counterpose

not competing intelests of different social groups, but ideas.I3 An

exanination of the precise social location and functj.on of these ideas is

considered to be outside their brief.

The organisati-onal approach is often used in conjunction with the rchurch

and stater explanation. Over time, this approach argues, the tinefficien-

ciest involved i,¡r leaving erlucation to the vagaries of denominational

rivalry become so great that a group of state adninistrators decidecl to

take education out of the hands of the church. Sometimes the church

might be missing, but the structure of the argument remains the same.

110

In its simplest form, the argunent depicts schoolnen accunulating small

victories as they ctinb the long road towards the pinnacle of efficient

schooling. The sophisticated version of the argument sees school

administrators seeking efficiency within changing social, economic and

political conditions.

In wriEing zr history of education, it is of course necessary to take into

considcration the initiating powers and independent action of school

bureaucracies. Nevertheless, the conventional organisational approach

has two major flaws: it does not take account of the changi-ng social

construction of the concept of efficiency, and it does not conceptualise

schools as part of a wjder social conflict'

'fhe 1ast, often fôrgotten approach, revolves a19,q¡d imitation of other

countries rvithout rnuch regard to loca1 econornic conditions in formulating

eclucational policy. Sr.rch an approacl'r is essential to the analysis of

non-metTopolitan capitalist regions like South Australia, but has a wider

theoretical sign:lficance. If Johnsonrs treatment of English schooling

i'relps us to elabor:ate the connection between changes in the mode of

procluction and str:uggles about the shape of institutions, the case of

South Australia reninds us of a countervailing theoretical point: the

relative autonomy of the state. In other words, it helps us to see that

there is no sinrple coltespondence between economy and schooling.

Almost without exception, the various hypotheses traditionally applied to

the history of education in South Australia conceptualise the period up

to 1875 as one of sCruggle between voluntaryist and state-supported models

of schooling. The hypothesis I want to present rests on the same

(inadequate) evidence, but substantially alters its meaning through the

use of modern marxi.st theory of the state. In particular, i.t attempts to

111

situate the rise of mass schooling in the interplay between accumulation

and social control functions of the capitalist state.14

In allocating budgetary expenditure, the capitalist state is alrnost

invariably faced with two contradictory yet nutualty reinforcing claims.

From one side, tlìe state is called upon to underwrite the process of

capital accumulation by sncialising some of the costs of production. It

is the politically doninant fraction of capital which can be expected to

gain the greatest advantage from such transfer of t:e-sources. However,

insofar as this process intensifies the exploitation of sections of the

workforce (often those enployed by weaker fractions of capital), it

strengthens the possibility and intensity of social unrest. This gives

urgency to redirecting state funds away from production to non-productive

expencliture on social control. But it can also lead to a drop in the

profitability of capitalist production, and thus to intensified calls for

government support of the accunulation process. . .

In the rest of this chapter, I want to tentatively suggest that just such

a dynamic was a.t work between the 1840s and 1870s in South Australia.

Briefly, as argued in Chapter 2, governnent underwtiting of profit

accruing to landed capital significantly contributed to the growth of a

rural workforce as well as to the growth of a manufacturing and trading

urban centle. Sonetimes on their own, sometimes as a coalition, the

emerging class fractions of workers, urban bourgeoisie and small farmers

attenptecl to redirect the flow of government finances towards themselves.

At the same time, the organised and unorganised activity of workers

assurned, in the eyes of the bourgeoisie, an increasingly threatening

character. The same process thus strengthened the fraction of the ruling

class interested in anci demanciing noney for social control of children

¿

1.r2

through schooling, and the rproblenr tliey were increasingly wonied about

and attempting to fsolvet -a working class stTong enough to organise, and

impoverishecl enougl-r to lead rimmoralr life-styles .

Planning a systen of edr-rcation

The education, like the economic systen of the new colony of South

Australia, was clevised in Eìngland, by rnen of modest property trying to

t"11.-:_1=:" .an _English society without its faults. They wanted a capitalisn

without the constraints of aristocracy, church and other remains of

feudalism. 'they also rvished to avoid those excesses of capitalisn which

made the English working class unpleasant and dangerous to live with.

But although the introduction of the modified Wakefieid system firmly

established capitalism in South Australia, life ín the province was not

only considerably different frorn that of conternporary England, but also

from tl-rat envisaged by the colonyrs founders. Partly because of tl'ris,

sonle of the i.nstitutions devised to operate in the new society proved

inappropriate, or were abandoned as an unnecessary expense by those

supposed to fund then.

The planning and settlement. of tlìe new colony of South Australia

coincided with one of the nost turbulent periods in English history.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the rising bourgeoisie,

in its effort to establish social relations appropriate to its rnethod of

acquiring wealth, undermined the power and authority of the aristocracy

a¡rd the church. Such process created problems. It allowed for the

erììergence of a vast anny of landless labourers, sufficiently free of

traditional bonds and rights to be able to enter into the wage contract

and move into the cities in search of enploynent, but also alarmingly

free of traditional morality and religion.ls

r13

The 1832 Reforrn Bill extended franchise to workers' landlords and

employers, but exclucled the mass of the working population itself.

Followed by a series of similar legislation, it becane the target of a

number of raclical campaigns, culninating in the higirly organisecl and

class-conscious Chartism.

In many regions, the quickening pr.ocess of industrialisation seTiously

affected the falnily where, traditionally, much of the learning of socially

acceptable bel'raviour took_place. To the bourgeoisie, gradually creating

a typical pattern of farnily life of their own, it appeared increasingly

obvious that ivorking people should fo1low their example. Yet

At the same time as the bourgeoisie was extolling thefamily of its creation as the moral inperative for allclasses, it.s other creation - the capitalist system -nacle the idealise<l family instituti?l an inpossibleattainment for the labouring class.'"

Incieed, the bourgeoi,s family depended, for many years, on subjecting the

majority of population to living conditions in which an orderly family

life of their o\{n hras all but impossible.17

Schooling began to be formulated as one of the answers to the increasinglY

threatening crisis of hegemony' Accorcling to J-9h-usgn"""]l[i]n this period'

schooling as public if not a state apparatus was actua77V, fotced into

e.x1st_e¡9e fn llef ancl by tJrg c91lapse of older systems of controlrr.l8 In

the 1770s, a naLional Surrday School movement, attenpting to rreturn poor

children to Gcldr , started emerging.

In 1785 the non-denominational Society for theEstablishnent and support of sunday schools throughoutthe Kingdom of Great Britain was set up and by 1795

there ruãre nea"ly 250,000 children attending Sunday

schools. By lB03 the nurnbers had risen to 7,125 scl'roolswith 844, 72-B PuPiIs .

I e

In the early nineteenth century, the organisational innovations of Andrev¿

BeIl and Joseph Lancaster macle possible, because of their chea.pness, the

1I4

mass convelsion of tlìese part-time ventures into day schools ' In the

turbulent 1830s, these day schools became part of an effort to rcivilisel

a class as a whole through its childïen.20

If, in E¡glancl, t|ere appcared to be a need for some solution to the

perceived irreligion, lawlessness and immorality of the working c1ass,

the situation in South Australia could potentially be even wolse' In the

first place, the setting rlp of a chuïch envilonment.in thq- new colony was

itself difficult. Many denominai:ions, especially those which depended on

paid rninisters and permanent churches, needed large congregations to be

able to operate, ancl often got hopelessly into debt after building

fitting accommoclation for their God. And the people themselves were not

all tl-rat enthusiastic either.

The census of 1844 showed that only some 18 percent oft.lroseshowntobelongtoadenonrinationactuallyattended a place of worship. There \¡/as signi-fìcantdifference between attendance in Adelaide (36'") ancl

countrY areas (4eù .2t

What was wol:se, those considere<l to be rnost in need of thercivilising

influence of the churchrnever came near it. In tB6B, the chairman of

the Destitute Board observed that "the children of the poorest class are

still not reached by the local churches anil loca1 chapels, because they

never attencl the places of worship thernselves"'22

Neither was it easy to establish a moral family environment. In England

the working class family came under strong criticisn, but in the

Australian pe¡al colonies it harclly existed. Many h¡onen undoubtedly

tried hard to find a seLtled horne for themselves and their children'

But the massive imbalance of the sexes, the government's tacit recognition

of itrostitution as a way of solving the problcms this presented, and the

a|nost total lack of any provision, economic, adninistrative or legal,

r15

for women wlto wantecl to avoicl becoming rdanned whorest,23conbined to rnake

marriage a very distant ambition.

The planners of the new colony of South Australia attenpted, from the

beginning, to ovelcome these obstacles. They tried to ensure -- not

altoget¡er successfutty-that cqual numbers of men and women migrated,

and passed comparatively liberal marriage laws. This made it easier for

couples to marry and have children. But the founders of South Australia

were more ambitious, rrThe plan for South Australia stressed that Ino

woman would be without a protector, and no man wotrld have an excuse for

dissolute habitsrrr2k - 1¡" rprotectedr women policing the habits of their

husbands and chilclren.2s Nevertlreless, anticipating tire i.nadequacy of

church ancl tlie farnily, the founders of South Australia, basing themselves

on their disquieting experience of contemporary England, j-ncluded

schooling as a necessary ingredient in the setting up of the new colony'

hhile aclult nigrants would be kept in line by the necessity to work for

wages and the promise of economic independence, children of rpoorer

neighboursr would be educated in schools I'conducted on the soundest

princi.ples of moral and religious education, with a due regard for the

necessity of sub<¡rclination as the foundation of order and peace in

society" . 2 6

_in r33,1, _!L1_191:L1Y_=!fg-|i+l s-qh-oq.l Soci.et was set up ín

London to provide instruction for children who would otherwise be unable

to attend schools. The Society was supposed to use public subscriptions

to run an ambitious four-stage system which would rrcommence with infant

.schoolsl and end with t'introducing the youth after sixteen years into

suj.table employrnent...as regularly indentured apprentice for five yearsrl

By comparison rvith the two major organisations concerned with education

in ßngland, the colonial Society was a tiny affair. As

only 3, 000 children attended

1 ate as 1851

27

1I6

the same year in England, there were 801,000 children on the Anglican

National Society registers and 123,000 on those of the British and

Foreign School SocietY.2E

Lil<e religion (9r_ ag--q¡ -extçn9,io-n of reli€iion), education was to be based

on the voluntary principle, with different denoninations and communities

collecting enough ïnoney to erect or hire a school builcting and pay a

teacher, the gaps in the provision of schooling being filled by the

philanthropic efforts of the South Australian School Society. The

rsufficient pricer of lan<l provided for the cost of bringing irnmigrants

out of Britain a¡rd surveying new ì.and, nore controversialty for t.he cost

of administration and the building of roads and bridges, but emphatically

not for religion or education which, at the time, were seelì as mo1'e or

less the same thing'

Originatly, the insistence on voluntary funding of education (and

religion), was part of the liberal religious clauses of the south

Australian constitutj-on. These were designed to attract as nigrants

people rvishing to escape religious discrimination and also to remove

obstacles to the social supremacy of the rich dissenting founders of the

nel colony.2 e

In this scheme of things, state fgnding of religion was seen as the first

step towarcls the dorninance of the Anglican Church (which was the

Established Church in England), and towards the discrimination agai-nst

other denorninations. As the chairrnan of a meeting or promoters and

friencls of South Australia said in his address in 1834,

we do not contemplate anything that can partake of thecharacter of an èstabtished church, cortvinced that whatis called the voluntary principle will arnply supply asufficiency of means to give evelyone in-our colonyproper rnoral and religious instruction'30

117

But the voluntary principle involved more than the fear of an established

church. It was an arrangement which complenented the doul¡Ie ransom

migrants ¡ad to pay to South Australian capitalists under the Wakefield

scheme, and which benefitecl the same social group; the alliance of land,

financo and nìerch¿rnt capital . 3l

The voluntary principle strengthened the ideology of private property and

free enterprise by insisting that individuals be responsible for their

own religion, education and social welfare. If working people, inpover-

ished by the vagaries of an energing capitalist economy, failed in any of

these respects, their wealthier neighbours had the discretionary power to

grant them charitY"

The other sicle of voluntaryism, the absence of government control over'

some crucial aspect.s of social reprocluction, was initially appreciated as

a virtue by the dissenting boulgeoisie. Over time, however, it cane to

be seen, by the same class, as a defect serious enough to wa11.ant

cljsnantling of the major parts of voluntaryism.

From 1856, when South Atistralia was granted responsible government, the

land fund was abolished and the proce eds from land sales were Paid

directly to the Treasury. Together with import duties, they provided the

najor part of governnìent revenue. Ilere agai-n, the definition of what

expendituïe was necessary and what should be left to thervoluntary

principler closelY mirrored the actual interests of landed capital and

its merchant ancl banking a11ies. Expenditure orì countrY roads and

bridges enhanced the value of land, nade its produce more conpetitive,

and nade investnlent in Land a lucrative proposition' Sound elernentary

and even higher education was essent ial for the performance of clerical

and conrnercial jobs, while unemployment relief was a matter of lits e4d-

cleath to many working class families" -.Iq-t- the first interest gained an

118

undisputed call on government revenue, while the other two were confined

to tlìe vagaries of reluctant state subsidy and private charity. As J.ong

as governnrent functions were restricted in this way, its revenue, which,

proporti.onately, fell nost heavily on small farmers and workers, did not

have to be supplenented by any tax on pToperty. The voluntary principle

thus in effect sanctified a transfer of wealth to landed capital.

The voluntary principle in education carne to a test in the first few

yeaTs of the colony, when it appeared that the need for schools was

especially urgent. In the disorganised and primitive conditions, when

much of the small population was concentrated in Adelaide, schools could

talce on a similar rquarantiner function they were expected to perform in

the convict settle¡nents :

Vice among us is more exposed owing in part to our atpresent partially organised state of society...vice...is open and bare; everywhcre its voice is heard, itsdeformity is exhibited, its loathsomeness is sentaround us. llow shall we save the children from thesesights and tl-rese sounds? Let us take them to theschools. For such a space in the day, at least, theyare ïemoved frorn these demoralising and pollutingscenes. There also they are placed under a wise andwhole.some discipline, and acquire the habit and spiritof subordination...they inhale the elements of truth,of purity, of lcindness, and pity, and there a1so,conscience is excited, enlightened, forti.fied andbraced for future temptation.32

)

Naked vice notwithstanding, þy \9+/, even the nuch sirnpLified version of,-

the South Australian School Societyts sche¡e fa!1e{, Neilh1 th: "!t19:11

, nor the wealthy benefactors, nor the state were sufficient Iy interested.

During the drought and econonic clownturn pils were withdrawn from

school to follow their parents out of the city, to work, or sinply

because they were too poor to attend. The riclt, who shortly afterwards

contribtrted nagnanimously to the endowment of an exclusive private

college,tt di.l not see why they should spare the money, the more so since,

r.19

after the contributions from London dried up, they had to provide the

ìrulk of the running expenses. And the administration of the coÌony,

wl.rile verbally supporting the scheme, gladly used voluntaryist argì.rments

and shortage of funds as reasons for not Iescuing the Society The poor

migh t ìrave b ,. ¡¡nlil tþe ,1870¡, their nany vices seem to

have pro duced no serious threat to the rich.

lvteanwhile, almost inmediately after the first settlers arrived in the

province, a number of small ¡rrivate schools was set up in Adelaide. 'fhey

were fee-paying institutions, providing employrnent for those who ran them

and instruction to children of the wealthier inhabitants of the colony,

as well as cheap childcare for those of the poorer ones.

If there were not an Eton or Flarrow to cater for theeducation of the sons of the squires, t\ere was at least

'a sufficiency gf dames' schools for infan-tS--of*a1:1----:-"degreés and óIasses; and teachers, mo'e or less trained,to instruct the older children.34

I! yqas this kind of school which eventual ly attracted government subsiclY

ancl , in exchange, gradually carne under state control . ¿t.tt,,,.

When prosperity returned to South Australia in the late 1840s, Govetnor

Roben on instructions from the ColoniaI Office, revived official concern

about the moral standing of the colony's working population. A devout

Anglican and a lligh Church Tory, he favoured the idea of an established

church. Ilut although he would have liltecl to limit aid to the Anglican

chulch, he realised that he had to compromise with the opinions of the

colonists. Eg_f-qr-U-l! y_ele Ordinances 13 and l4 of 1846, which provided

a limitecl ¿rmount of state aicl to religion and through it, education'

Only Anglicans, Presbyterians, Ronran ljatholics and Wesleyans applied for

the grant based on a census rettrrn of their adherents.3s

r20

The ordinances createcl such a furore anong the colonists that, the

following year, Robe replaced them by ones that separated aid to religion

and to education, and changed the per capita ftrnding to a subsidy paid to

teachers.

Alt¡ough the numbcr of tcachers recciving assist.ance under the new legis-

lation increased, fierce criticisl¡ continued' To its opponents, the

schene not only violated the funding principles of the colony but was

unjust anci inefficient as we11. Indeed, well organised opposition trans-

forned this comparatively insignificant problem into one of the rnain

issues of the electi.ons for the first semi-elective Legislative council

in I851. 3 6

The new CounciI, containing a majority of anti-grant supporters, ref.used

to reconfirm the current Eclucation Act. New, far more comprehensÍve

legislation vras drafted to replace it, and was passed as a nel{ Education

BilI in JanuarY 1852'

The Act provided for a Board of Education, anci a loose framework of

poweïs and responsibilities within which it should operate. It pernittecl

the Board of license teachers and schools, fix, within certain lirnits,

stipend levels to teachers, subsidize the building of schoolhouses, estab-

lish a bool< dePot and a norma school, and deternine the rkind, quality

and extentr of instruction.

Except for the Model oo1 (which was ortly opened in 1874),, the Board

had no power to initiate the setting up of schools. Here the initiative

was I eft to individual teachers or local education boards. ese boa

would provide schoolrooms and appropr iate furniture, find and recommend

teach rs .for appointment, and be responsible for the upkeep of the

,rlo"1:.- They or their deputies should visit, i.nspect and report on the

schools but leave their actual running to the teachers.

L2I

The teachers themselves could apply for subsidy for schools they set up.

I-lere, they were limited by the preferences of parents and pupils,37 local

boards, as well as the central autliority. Once granted a licence, however,

they retained a considerable degree of autonomy.

tVhile teachers weÌ:e encouragecl to use the books supplied by the government

book depot, tl'rey hacl to keep their fees within certain linits and, fron

1861, were themselves exarnined in the basic branches of instruction.

Control over the curricula and nethods of teaching, beyond specifying that

the 3 Rls -he,LêUgh-t_¡*w1_t ]lo! consiclered to be part of the Boardts duty.

Inspectors confined themselves to ensuring that instruction was carried

out in suitable environment by acceptable teachers, and that the schoolsl

registers \^/ere accurately kept, although they night offer advice on

other natters as well.

In essence, then, the Iloard of Education was given linited finance in

order to perform the role of a discerning consuner in a free erlucation

market. Wrile it was unable to initiate the setting up of schools, train

teachers, enforce any particular teaching nethods or compel regulal'

attendance of pupils, t,l_.::lg_:,e--l"ec-t schools, considered to be x/orth)' of

goverrlment subsidy, and pay highest stipends to the best rcertifiedt

teachers. In this way, it was hoped that the Inatural'demand forrgood'

teachers, reinforced by the informed preferences of the governmelìt, would

gradualty bring forth the recluirecl supply of effici.ent instruction and in

turn increase school attendance.

In orcler to understand the effects of this Education Act, it is first of

all necessary to discuss the interplay between two processes - the graclual

definition of a rgood schooltworthy of governrnent subsidy; and the way of

life of the people for whom the schools were supposed to cater.

1.22

The definition of rgood schoolsr under the I85I _Education Actand gveryday life

According to a recent study of this period, tt ttro basic kj.nds of school

appear in the contemporary reports of the South Australian Education

Board. The first, the tgood schoolt, tended to be large, catering for

about 100 pupils. It was housed in a specialised buiÌding and equipped

with rschoolr furnjture ancl rnaterials, such as desks, blackboards and

school readers. It had facilit"ies, both in terms of space and teaching

staff, for rsimultaneous instructiont of children divided into classes.

Tire te4gh.q.I*rô¿as often specially trained or at least self-educated, and

keen to define himself or herself in opposit-ion to the runtrained

charlatant. These schools, organised on the assumption of regular atten-

dance and often charging higher fees, tended to attract children from

more settled families with stable incomes and often actively discouraged

the attendance of poor ones.

The Act did not exclude any class of society fromlicenced schools " .. In actual fact, nany. ..were attendedalmost exclusively by children from well-to-do familiesAlthough they could not officially exclude chi.ldren,teachers could in practice set their fees at a level todiscourage poor parents sending their children.3e

On the other hand, the runtrained charlatans I - people with basic

literacy shilIs but no special training, tended to run snall school.s -in

casual accommodation and teach, through individual instruc tion, from a

variety of reading matter provided by the parents. This form of teaching

did not require punctuality or regular attendance, and tendecl to be

patronised by poorer families whose children could only afford to go to

school by tbits and snatchesr.

The rincompetent personsrwho ran these schools were selectecl not with

regard to their scholastic ability but t.o the traditional division of

labour within a working class community. There,

i23

...rewards had been distributed nore on the basis ofascribed than achieved qualities. Social positiondevolvecl upon successive generations mainly as a resultof heredity, and it would be considered not c'orrupt butcorrect to favour a kinsman over a rnore qu?lifiedstranger in the award of jobs or favours.*u

As a letter to the Reqister complained, a fornally unqualified woman

could get a licence to teach nerely by expressing ta preference for

teachingr, and by arranging for friends to send their children to her

school for a nominal fee. Such practice was condenned on the grounds

that ilthese kind friends send their children nerely...so that Miss A' can

get a living. The mutual good feeling subsists upon a few presents of

fancywork ancl needlework. . . rr.' I

WhiIe some of these small schools sought and obtained (often temporarily)

a government subsj,cly, nany other:s continued to exist outside the licenced

school system. In 1857, the Board of Education wrote:

Anot}rer prevalent evil is the injurious conpetitionarising Ìrom the existence of numerous srnal1 privateschools, constantly springing up and disappearing, whichholcl out to the unthinking parents the temptation ofridiculously low fees, ranging frotn tlopence to sixpenceper week. It is hardly possible to ascertain the fuLlèxtent of this evil; but the returns made. . .by 52

licencecl teachers, of 111 unlicenced schools in theirrespective neighbourhoods, with an estimated attendanceof äbout 1,600 children, affords an approximate idea ofthe mischief thus inflictecl upon the rising generation.No schools of established reputation are íncluded inthese returns

writing about a similar situation in lìngtartd, Johnson said:

rDamesr and private schoolmasters weTe simply people who

had acquired some teachable and marketable skill, rarelymore than a basic literacy, or who found in child-minding or tpaching, full tfne or as by'employnent, sonìe

support in old age, infirmity, unemployment or othertimesofneed.Suchpeopledifferedwidelyintheirability to teach anything of use. Ilut it is clear thatprivate schooling won and held the support of parents.It was rernarkably persistent, expansive eyen, well intothe nineteenth century, despite the unanilìous censure of

r24

ThB sane concern was voiced in South Australia. Already in 1856, a

letter writer from llindmarsh, a traditional working class suburb, com-

plained:...how is it possible for the Board of Education toforward their neritorious intentions if every old womancan have the opportunity of dralving off, say 12 boys hereand 12 there, fron the established schoolmaster; and howany person with proper quali fications to teach canpretend to enter the arena, when no protection is givento him against the nere charlatan or empiric " Surely itis time this system was put to an end. You nay r:estassurecl tl'rat while this state of affairs lasts it isalnost useless, except in a fcw pcrsons, to undertakethe education of youth. To teach is becoming the refugeof thc destitute.['+

But while their betters condemned the snalf inefficientt schools, the

node of life of most working class families did not allow for settled,

¡equential and orderly practices such as tgoodr schooli.ng.

In the first place, the school attendance of children conflicted with

their own enployn)ent. It seems that for most working people, the help or

earnings of their children were absolutely indispensable at least during

some parts of the year. Several tines, the Board of Education itself

acknowledged that

...the labour of youths [was] too valuable to be sacri-ficed in some cases, and indispensal¡le in others, asaffording the only means by which the parent can hopeto rnaintain his position in life.qs

Indeecl, Inspector Wyatt, i.n complaining about the

the philanthropists'. Private schooling, indeed, was oneof those indigenous working-c1ass educational practicesagainst which schooling was defined and whi.ch it was1ntended to replace. q 3

...irregularity of attendance on the parb of thechildren, arising from the indifference of the parentsor the supposed necessity of employing their childrenin domestic or farming occupationS,46

r25

identifi.ed as a rnoral failing the very same situation that Australjan

immigration agents hetd up as a !üay out of the desperate poverty of

contemporary [ngland. According to these, while i.n Bri.taín,

Married rnen are congratulated by their friends whentheir wives prove childless...in Australia the workingnran, with a few acrcs of corn growing bushland, sees inevery chilcl the source of an income. They prove usefulat seven and eight years old.'*7

Following this line of argument, the voluntaryist landowners, interested

above all in cheap ancl abundant labour, felt that schools retarded agri-

cultural settlenent by taking children away from farms, rwhere their

Iabour was worth more than any book learningt.as

In the second irlace, family budgets rarely allowed folthe regular payment

of school fecs. While parents might be i.nterested ín educating thej.r

children, school att.endance outside of the times when chilclren needed

some babysitting w¡rs often regarded as a luxu:^y way down the list of

priorities. Like new clothes or a tri.p to town, it c.ou1d only be

afforcled in prosperous years.qe In 1848, for example, Wimshurst arguecl

that after accounting for necessary expenditure, labourersr wages left

the family one penny a week for c.lothing and education.s0 By the late

1860s, the situation does not seen to have changed nruch. As J. Batlt

(secretary to the Board of Eclucation) said in 1868,

I beli.eve there are very large nurnbers of parents whocannot afford to send their children to school...thefee charged in nany of them is too high...and evenwhere it is not high...I stil1 think that labourers, andsmall farmers also, with three or four children to sendto school, are quite unable to pay 3 ot 4 sixpences aweek. Indeed, I havc received staternents of that kindfrom teachers over and over agai.n,s1

In his 1871 report, Inspector Wyatt concluded that

r26

There is much...to be said in extenuation of the chargeof neglect on the part of the parents. It is irnpossibleto go through the country extensively without becorningaware of the too general cliffi culty that parents labourunder of finding school-fees, and suitable clothing fortheir children to appear in school.s2

llecause of their lower income, such a situation most seriously affec'led

labourers, who already found attendance difficult l¡ecause of their lj.fe-

sty1e. Indeed, one of the witnesses to the 1868 Royal Connission was

convinced that, i.n many cases, the setting of high fees was a deliberate

policy ained at the exclusion of poor children.s3 Even in those schools

rvhere teachers atternpted to reduce the burden of fees on poor families,

a similar sitrration could result. This was because, in thinly populated

districts, the school

...must embrace the children of the whole neighbourhood,to whom generally no other educational means is avail-able. T'hus the families of the employer and thelabourer receive the same tuition at similar cost, whichis easy to one, and burdensome to the other. It is invain for teachers to attenpt the adoption of a slidingscale to meet the different circumstances of the parents;the well-to-do pcople sr>1dom consenting to pay rnore thantheir poorer neighbours. 5a

Tþe imbalance of school composition, however, reflectecl nore than the

unequal distribution of incoiue" 'l'here was, so to speak, an additional

weighting against poorer pupils which represented more than their inability

to pay fees. Even if the parents swallowed their pride and declared then-

sleves destitute, tt o rrgreat unwill:i.ngness exist[ed] on the part of the

masters to receive the destitute children".s6 In 1868, the chairman of

the Destitute Board found the schools "of a limited or private character,

being composed principatly of the children of tradesmen and shopkeepers;

scarccly any poor or destitute chilclrerl".sT As a result, one of the

najor problems of education, at least of this kind, was that it did not

'rreach the class that most needs it, the poorest classr',tu ut a time when

the employrnent opportrrnities for their children were probably declini.ng.

L27

In the third p1ace, the 1i-fe experience of people in nineteenth century

South Australia was dominated by the insectrity of emplopnent and fluctua-

tions of incone endemic to a violently cyclical economy, and as such

conflicted with regular attendance of 'good' schools. In 1856, for

example, accordiltg to Inspector lVyatt,

Wherever pupils remain at school for a reasonably longperiod, and are punctual and regular in atten<lance,their progress is generally -satisfactory, as j.s percep-tible in those localities nrhere the people are in easycircurnstances, and duly appreciate eclucation. But, fromthe migratory c.haracte:: of the population, and thetemporary or permanent withdrawal of older children fronschool, for the sal<e of their services at home, thereare both a constant change of pupils, ancl a preponder-ance of young children in almost every school. Fromreturns sent in by a large nurnber of teachers whoseschools rvere in opcration during October lB54 and 1855,it is shown that in that rnonth of the last year, therewas an average of 559¡ of pupils who were noL in thoseschools in the same month oi the previous year.so

Seven years later, the Board of Education reported that

...irregularity in itse.l'f has the further di'sadvantageof producing a state of nind vely unfavourable toapplication. Uncler these circumstances, i.n a greatnrany cases a mere rucliment¡¡ry education i-s all thatcan possibly to acquirecl. Þ-or this serj-ous evil theBoard see no renedy likely to be effective for a longtime to come...uo

In a typical year, the beginning of the hay harvest in October drained

off unernploye<l labourers fron Adelaide, and government relief works were

closecl. If the ha::vest was good, Adelaide rnechanics gained steady

emplo¡rnent ancl were able to clenland higher wages. But the governnent

j,nme<liately set out to overcome the relative shortage of labour by inmi-

gratio¡. If the boom cont-inued fnr another yeaî, the nigrants prevented

local workers froln ttaking their Fu1l share of prosperityr' But more

often, migrants arrived when the employtnent conditions started worsening

with recessiolt or sinply with the approach of rvinter. Thus

L28

...in April 1866 cornplaints of unenployment were cslTtrnon

not only amongst those that followed grazing and farning,but also amongst town workers, especially in Adelaide.Two inmigrant ships l^/ere at the tirne arriving rnontitly,thus adding to the nuntber seeking work, and there was

muc.h resentment thereat in the ninds not only of thosealreacly unemployed, but also of those who saw their presento..r'rpuiion riteiy io be taken frorn them.61

In another such year,1859, the wages of both mechanics and labourers

were reduced. Nevertheless,

No great coniplaint was made in regard to the reduced\{ages; the gïeát conplaint of the working classes was

that tlieir employment was irregular and that a man was

fortunate enough who could get work for five days a

week. 6 2

As wages fel1 and unenploynent. increased, seasonal workers startecl

retur¡ing to Adelaide. After much pressure, the government would provide

relief works, often in the country and always at starvation wages, less

than one-half of that paid for the same work by private employers - The

prospect of long or internittent employment induced Íìanlr Í¡s.¡anics to

migrate to Melbourne or Syclney or tïy their tuck at golclnining. A good

harvest might improve conditions at the end of the year. But often there

was tlrought. Towards the end of 1865, a particularly bad year, a squatter

reported that I'more than a thousancl men have come to his station in

search for work drrring the course t-rf 14 wceks"' 63

Farmers could seemingly lead a more settled existence. But nost of them

did not renain long in óne place either. Before all the agricultural

land in the colony was taken up and superphosphate came into general use,

there was a continuous movement of farmers to areas where larger holdings

could be purchased, and away frorn the exhausted -soiI of the o1d farms

which could no longer support a growing family. Many farmers rnade this

move several times during their lives.6a

Ins

r29

workin e le in nid-nineteenth c.en-tury South Australia had

neither none nor the inclination to nake rnuch use oftime,

chools. In L872, for examPle' the Board of Education reported that

ear persons say that they have thenselves

usual lY

S

" [i] t is not unusual thing to

managedtogetalorrgwellenoughwithouteducation,andthattheir

children nust do the same". 6 5 The Education Board strongly condernned the

plactice,butthepersonstheyspokeoflradapoint.l¡Ihileitwasessen-

tialforclrildrentoknowlrowtolookafteTyoungerbrothersandsisters,

help wit' the harvest or the Morirlay washing, literacy was often irrelevant

totheperformatrceoftlreir:workandwhereitwasnot,itcouldoftenbe

acquiredinthefarnilyworkshop,surrclaySchool,orfrornatiteraterela-

tive instead of in a school '

Neve::tlreless, against the background of such conditions, we must differen-

tiate between the experience of different class sections ' and of men and

wolnen. First , the ïe were the skilled craftsmen' often owning their own

tools and residing permanently in one place' They not only rec'eived

higherpay,butwereabletomaintainrelativelySteady,constantenploy-

ment. Moreover, the house ntany of them owned nade them eligible to vote

innunicipalelections'It.wasabovealltheseworkersthatCoghlan

refers to when he says that, 'l-n 1872' "[a] large proportion of [workers]

weredepositorsinthesavingsbanlts;friendlysocietieswereincreasing

their mernbership, and there was a gleat expansion of tracle unionism"'66

Bythemid-l870s,bothinor:dertowintheirprivilegedpositionfromthe

employers and to preserve it from unskilled workers'

in snalt .111. unions'67

nìaly o,f. lhe-ru co-rnbi-ne d

Second, there were the unskilled labourers, hired by tlre day or by the

hour, and working long hours for 1ow l^/ages' They were' above all'

h

130

dominated by the uncertainty and inegularity of their incorne' In a

predominantly rural economy, much of the enptoyment available to them,

such as harvesting ancl fruit picking, was of seasonal nature, and involved

frequent sliifts of rosidence. In addition, unlike the best crirft workers,

the fa:lilies of unskillecl laboul:ers only rarely rnanaged to save enough

money to buy their own house. lr'lore than any other group in society, they

rvere obliged to live from clay to day, an exigency which often produced the

rdeplorable mentalityr the bourgeois reformers wished to eradicate.

In between these two sections vlas a lalge group of urban and rural

skilled workers, Their tra<le earned them higher wages and markedly

better conditions than ordinary labourers could hope for' Yet, unlike

the rbest rnenr, their working life involved a far greater degree of

insecurity. While the best craftsmen were, to some extent, cushioned

against tl're vagaries of the capitalist econoilty through the close, person-

alisecl ties between master and journeynen that weTe a traditional feature

of craft workshops, these workers l'rad neither security of employnent nor

detailed control over the labour plocess.

On the one ha¡ìd, there was the large glotlp of tradesmen who, not bei¡g

the rbest menr, were laid off 'cluring slack months or lecessions, and

received a lower rate of pay than their more fortunate comrades ' Some

indeed were itinerant, moving around the colony in search of work' 0n

the other hand, skilleci workers were employed in the handftll of increas-

ingty mechanised ntanufactories, where the choice of rnachines and worìt

organisation graclually erocled the required 1evels of ski11.

As the following table indicates, daily wages of the 'best menr could be

twice as much as those of general labourers, vlho in addition were more

affected by the irregularity of employment.6s

13r

Table TSOUTH AUSTRALTA _ DATLY I,IAGE BATES TN SELECTED TRADES, rBt6-1868

buiì-d.ing trad.esmanufacturing Índ.ustrie s

general labourersbl-acksmithsironfourrd.ersminerslabourers on unemPlo¡rment

relief worksf'actory 'women

TB56

l.os 6d-1ts6d

I863.

8s-10s

1B68

7s6a-9sos- fs5s 6¿

Bs-l0sOS-fS 5s

Bs-10sl- 3s -I5s

6s 6s 6a

5d-IsBa2S-\S .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . ... .. . ... .. . ..

This trend is confirmed by later data quoted by Kerry Wi¡nshurst, who

includes in his table the nunber of workers employed in each occupation

in Hinclnarsh, a manufacturing district of Adelaide.6e

Table B

OccuPATroNS AND ITAGES OF I'IORKtrAS IN HTNDMARSH, 1881-l+

wages / d.aylBBl+

lll-Lo/ -rcl-

912e/-e/-el-el-Bl-al

employed1881

nooccupation

plastererplumberbri-ckmakerprinterbricklayermasonmillervheelwrigïrtcarpentertannerblacksmithbakergalvanized. ilon workershoemakerlabourer

I+6B/-at8/_t/-6/6

2927

lBB1l+

IB7rIO

Õ

Bol-1t-

192066

l+86

t32

An adequaLe explanation of the major forces shaping peoplers lives in

nineteenth century South Australia, however, must take into consideration

not only the class section of adult males in the family, but divisions

and conflicts Lrased on age and the sexual clivision of labour. While the

life of women was profoundly influenced by the conditions of employment

of their husbands and fathers, their daily experience, mediated by the

particular role women were assigned in colonial South Australia' was

often significantly different from that of their rnenfolk.

While men predorninantly worked for wages, the majority of women were

engaged in product.ion for use within the houseliold economy. l4any women

performecl essential tasks on farnily farms and workshops, but few obtainetì

regular paid employment, and those that did were almost invariably single

or wi-dowed.7o Nevertheless wonen took on a variety of casual jobs. For

the wives of rrespectable tradesmenr,

...taking in washing, needlework and other sorts of out-work was the least disruptive way of supplementing thefamily income when extra expenses were ilcurred, or duringthe seasonal or enforced unènployment...71

In less financially secure households, the women, as well as the children,

always had to contribute to the fanily income.

A rnixture of washing, cleaning, charring as well as

various sorts of hone or slop-work, in addition to<lomestj-c labour:, occupied most wonen throughout theirworking lives. 72

'fhus, in comparison with men, the experience of wonen was more homogeneous.

0n the basis of a weekly cycle of household chores, they performed a

variety of unskilled, casual and tow-paid jobs. Even for those in regular

enployment, any experience of unionism was only secondhand, through the

male rnenbers of the farnily - since, until 1890, there was no trade union

containing wolnen workers. The cycle of womenfs work and the pattern of

133

their employment in turn affected the ability of children, especially

girls, to attend school. The best documented exarnple of this was the

necessity of girls to help with the rMonday washing', and the need of

older children to stay at home as babysitters when the nother rwent out

to workt .

As a result, the school attendance of girls was, throughout the whole

per]- od qar\gg_1L-.1-oy-gl-.-tþ"an that of boys.73 However, it is reasonable to

suppose that, as in Canada, this gap varied with the changing division of

labour in different class sections, as urel1 as with their assessment of

the value of educating gir:ls as against boys. Tq

In sumnary, the conditions of life in South Australia gave rise to a

dj.fferent relationship between daily life and schooling for different

sections of the working class. On the one hand, the skilled craftsmen

often enjoyed pay and conditions that both allowed then to lead the kind

of fanily life educators approved of ancf to have their children attend

school. On the other hand, unskilled labourers not only formd it hard to

send thei.r children to school (Iet alone a rgoodt one), but coped with

their poverty in ways directly condernned by noral reformers.

In this situation, Ian Daveyrs observation about Canada can be applied

equally well to South Australia'

P1ainly, the experience of nost working class faniliesmilitatecl against the fornation in their children ofthe vj.rtues of orderly, regular, punctual industry'The irregularity of their work patterns made it diffi-cult for then to conmit themselves (and their children)to regular activities for any length of tine. 'lhe rlack

of discipliner that middle class observers considered toTìe the cause of working class poverty was rather, noleof an accommodation to the insecurity of their econornicreality...For, as Mayhew shrewdly noted of the casuallabourer:s in London: tRegularity of habits is incon-patible with the irregularity of income; indeecl, the

r34

conditions necessary for the formation of any habit what-soever are, that the act or thing should be repeated atfrequent and regular int.ervals. It is a noral irnpossi-bility that the class of labourers who are only occasj-on-aIly employed should be either generally industrir¡us ortenperate - both industry and temperance being haLritsproduced.by constancy of employtnent and unifornity ofiltcome. | ' "

How was El"ris relationship between schooling and working class Ii.fe-styles

expre-ssed in numerical terns? The nunbe:: of schools and of children

attencling tl'rern gradually increased between 1852 and 1875.76 In spite of

the instability of life in early South Australia, many localities estab-

lished and ran slrccessful schools. ßy 1873 there vrere one hun<lred vested

schools (rvhose buildl-ng rvas subsidized on a pound-for-pound basis by the

Central Board of Education). Sixty-three of these buildings inclucled a

resiclence for the teacher. TT According to Hirst,

In old areas schools were closed as people moved away tonew lands, but in many of the new areas conmittees wereformed and buildings were begun not long after the firstcrops were reape<l...In 1874, as t result of the increasedinterest in education, the llouse of AssernbJ'y passed amotion for the granting of noncy for repairs fof school-houses] arrd 81,500, to be distributed on a pound forpound basis, \i/as placed on the estimates. Witl-rin lessthan 6 months trustees hacl raised enough money fornearly all this grant to have been a11ocatecl.78

But although the increase in school accommodation on the whole kept pace

with population growth, goveïnment schools by lto means reached all of the

colonyrs chi ldren

In 1868, it was estimated that less tharr one-hal.f of the children between

5 ancl 14 years of age tvele enrolled in school - 19,141 as against 23,093

wþo were not receiving instruction of any kind. Te Five years later, the

Board of Education, basing itself on the 1871 census, concluded that of

tr¡e 44,107 children between the ages of 5 and 12, 19,862 attended public

schools, 16,325 were taught in private schools, and 5,656 - or 12.8% -

135

neither attended schools nor received instruction at horne. If the school

age was extended to cornprise children between 5 and 14 years of age, this

number woulcl rise to 14,663, or 27.6vo of chilclren. B0

In 1868, when Mr. Rees, chairman of the Destitute Board, visited 1,438

houses rof the poorest outward appearancer jn the rsnaller streetsr of the

City of Adelaide, l're found'1518 children who were receiving no education

at all, notwithstanding that they were of the right age for being at

school". I r

Even for those children that went to school, schooling often consisted of

a few nonths of broken attendance cluring periods when they could be spared

frorn work at home, or needed some babysitting. According to Inspector

Wyatt, in 1868 "fs]ome childrenrs education does not extend over 12 months

of tìreir life, ¿rnd two years i.s rathcr above the averaEe'¡.0'

In 1872, for exanrple, out of a school year of 230 days, children attended

city and town schools for an average of 114 days, and country schools I22

days. At the same time, out of tlie 307 schools in the colony, 43 had an

average attendance of 85 days or less. B 3

Throughout the periocl, there were nor:e boys than girls in,school, the

proportion moving around 55% of boys and 45% of girls. The gir1s,

however, "...being less-adapted for the labours of the fielci than boys,

[were] usually allowed to renain at school somewhat longelrr. sr*

So far, I have established that a serious nismatch existed between many

eoplers 1 ife-styles and rgoodr schooling provided for their children.

Although the proportio¡r of population reached by educational institutions

gradually increased, many children never went to school. Others were

withdrawn as soon as this misnatch became acute.

136

Moreover, even within the slow increase in school attendance, there were

fluctuations and contrary trends. 'fhese reflectecl, in the first p1ace,

the interplay belween economic cr:nditions and the voluntaryist, free

market aspects of the IB51 Educat'ion Act'

If, at the ìrest of tinres, it was hard for a working class family to spaf.e

the si.xpence peï child for the weekly school fee, cluring recessions, it

was often sinply not possible. But this was precisely the time when the

need to rciviliser ancl restrain workers appeared most pressing to their

r,jealthier nei.ghbours. Even if the moral lessons failed, chilclren would

at least be physically renoved fron the streets which were already uncorn-

fortabl-y crowcled by the unemployecl. ;!>€a'undels gut-.--it-,-- ---,

Unc]erprivateenterpriseeducationfluctuatedacc.ordingto the <lemands of the market, just like a.rry other busj-ness

venture...A bad harvest or depressed economic collditionsbrought nrany withdrawals from school" 'The question was

whether this was for the goocl of the children of the

statc

The rise, during recessions, of the nunber of unschooled cliildren, was

aided by the frequent influx of population to Adelaide and large country

towns in periods of economic downturn'

...destitution was a problern particular to the city and

IargetownslikeKapunda,MoontaMinesandWallaroo.Inthecountryafarme.rfacingdifficultiescutlossesbykeeping chitdren home to help hin' If his farm failed

"o*pt"ãet1,, he noved out of the di-strict' ei'ther to try

again elsewhere or to work in a town'86

paradoxic a:\y, this situation was exacerbated by the activities of the

Education Boarcl itself. The Boarcl strongly favoured the rgood' schools'

and was keen to bring poor working class chilclren under their salutary

influence. As mentionecl earlier, the strongest means at its disposal was

a market-based system of selective licensìng. A licence carried with it

a monetaTy subsidy and various other benefits in exchange for a measuÌe

t37

rJf supervisiolt; and the Board, in the role of consumer, could withdraw

licenccs from rcharLatansr and grant them to rgood teachersf. The aim

was to provide rgoodr education for working class children - especially

t.hose from rvicioust and I immoral I fami Ii es .

Flowever, the Board lvas faced withtwo serious obstacles in the carrying

out of this aì.m; the monetary stringency imposed on i.t by the legislature,

and the prefererrces of teachers '

The first problem revolved around the rel.ucta!Çe of the 1egislatgrg--t-O.-

see education funding as a budget priority. From the late 1850s, after

an initial period of enthusiastic attention to the new Education Act lvore

off, tl're Boarcl of Education conti:ruously receivecl less money than was

Ììecessaïy for licensing all teachers norninally eligible for government

assistance. Although the voluntaryist-dominated legislature reluctantly

accept.ed the necessity of subsidizing education in the country, it opposed

goveïllnent glants to city schools on the grounds that, with greater

cqncentration of popuì.at.:i"on, they could be made more efficient, larger: -

and self-supporting. Not only were grants reduced, several tines they

r,¿ere threatened with abolition.BT Moreover, the Ê.200 which was tl"le

maximum pound-for-pouncl subsidy for the crection of schoolhouses, was

nowhere near sufficient for the pur:chase of land and construction of

buildings in town - the rnore so since city schools had to be larger than

country orles.tt

The second problem was that 'goodr teachers ì,,'ere, on the whole, interested

in settj.ng up only inrbetterrand more profitable neighbourhoods (such

as North Adelaide or Kapunda). The rcharlatansr, on the other hand,

often offered themselves in the very places where the Board wanted

schools , and n9 ieoSclr teacher¡ wou_ta appl),. B s In working class districts

138

and small country settlements, the Board was thus faced with the problem

of delicensing schools and having no control over what went on in then at

alI (if they survived), or subsidizing ventures it disliked.

The Boardrs own preferences, combined with the limited education votes

and the conditions attached to them, Ied it to opt for the formel cou1se

of action; delicensing, in the city, and the latter couTse, tolerating

rinferio:rr schools, in the countTy. In 1854, for example,

The Board have consiclered it their duty...to withhold,ancl, in some cases, to withdraw licences from sma1l

inferior schools in the city and its suburbs, in orderto lessen the causes of the low standard of educationwhich has too evidently prevailed, and to be better ableto assist in distant country localities. In theseclistricts, even sr-rch schools must be tolerated, in theabsence of better; for, in many instances, well qualifiedteachers would neither find scope for their exertionsnor adequate remuneration" so

Similarly, in the stringent economic conditions around 1870, when the

education vote r,vas reduced several yeaxs in succession, the Board reported

thatThe most noticeable feature connected with the yearsrproceedings was the reduction made by the Legislature inil'," u,norrtti which hacl been voted during each of the pre-ceding years for the payment of teachersr stipends '

This ieduction necessitated a corïespondi.ng decrease inthe number of schools. Irr naking the alteration, we were

anxious not to withdraw aid from such schools as were

largely attended by children of the working classes, orwhiãh were situated in isolated localities ' In thep erformance of this somewhat difficult task, the coursewe first [ook was to with icenc fro.n,!hg _f_qq+19

tclaracter "ôônne ct êd' wi'rh -

ìiactiers were 1iõensecI.. .

ing schools of an elementarYotirer schools för wllieh'me1-ã--

-ln*the. next p1ace, ihèiéver it was consi<ler:ed practi.cable,the licences were withdrawn from schools having a smallerattendance than 40 scholars, if such schools were situatedwithin 2 miles fron any other school. By these means,

7 were struck out fron the number previousty licensed inthe City, 18 from country towns, and 25 from the countrydistriciå

139

As a result of the selective licensing system, the number of governnent

schools and their pupils in the city of Adelaide showed a steady decline

for most of the period the 1851 Education Act was in operation. From a

peak of 40 schools with 1,979 pupils, it fell to 12 schools wifh 971

pupils by L872. Sirnilarly, the nunber of pupils in suburban schools,

which by IBSS reached one and a half thousand, fluctuated much below this

figure until it startecl rising again in 1873. In 1870, the monetary

stringency usually reserved for city and town schools affectecl education

throughout tl-re colony, reducing the total number of schools from 330 to

500, and the number of pupils from 16,328 to 15,108.e2

l"he Boarcl of I3ducation, in carrying out these recluctj.ons, was anxious not

to close rvorking class schools. s 3 The fact remained, however, that by

delicensing smalt cheap estabtishnents, it reduced school accommodation

precisely for those children whom it was set up to educate, and who often

had good reasons for not patrortising the schools the Board favoured.

In the meantime, population steadily increased.

While, between 1857 and 1872 the number of licensed scliools in the city

was reduced to one-third and the number of- their pupils by one-half, the

population of Aclelaide grew by 59%.e"

By 1873, the Board of Eclucation wrote: 'rTn the city, indeed, the build-

ings in present use would scarcely contain one-half of the children who

clught to be in the schools, ancl yet some of them are inconveniently

crowdecl". e s When, in I 874 - e first school building actually belonging

to tle l:g,1 or Edu-calion-was spgngg _il {.141',de 1r-1h_1þ_out !o! runit¡,

300 applications for boysf and infants' department had to be rejectecl for

want of accommodation. e6

r.40

A similar situation existed in the suburbs. While the nunber of schools

in the corporate towns cleclined and that of their pupils stagnated, the

population of netropolitan Adelaide grew fron 36,524 in 1856 to 54,251 in

1866 and 71,7g4 in I876.e7

gutsicle of Adelaide, accorcling to the 1874 report of the Board of Education,

Many of the largeï country towns [for example, Gawler,Kadina and Moonta] have no public school building what-ever, and several have not even private school room

accolnmodation of a suitable kind, and sufficient for thechilclren whose parents desire to send them to school'sB

In summary, the tfree narkett and voluntaryist aspects of the badly

funded I851 Eclucation Act conflicted, in practice, ltrith the rcivilisingr

effects of schooling on pooïer neighbours. Schooling, intended above all

as a tool of social control, seems to have been used select.ively by

working people for their own purposes, wltile those whose life conditions

nade it most difficult ancl rneaningless to maintain any senblance of

respectability, ancl whose children were therefore most in need of

rcívilisingr, renrainecl, for the most part, outside the reach of subsidized

state sc¡ools. Graclually, this situation became defined as a serious

social problem.

From about )W* when a Royal Connission on Education was called, concern

about the lack of school acconmodation started fincling its way into

-,!-fli:c-r_gl._l:lottt. By 1871, the Education Board, whose policy it had been

nfor the last several years, to clecrease the number of licensed schools in

Adelaide and other centres of population", se cane out in direct support of

a radical change in the direction of governnent spending:

We are of the opinion that the government subsidy isrequired for thê support of city and town schools quiteas much as it is for those in country districts, and forthis reason, that the proportion of children of parentswho could not afford such fees as would rnake schools

141

self-Supportingisasgjreat,perhapsgleatel,inthecityand in iõme of the country towns than it is in ruralclistric'bs.loo

As they poirttecl out, the same concern had already induced sone of the

colonyrs weelthy citizens to provide charity schools for the poor.

The number of free schools and schools charging only a

small weekly fee which have been start'ed in the city and

suburbs in the last year or tt{o, and supported chiefly by

contributions fron benevolent indivj"duals or religiousbodies, indicate that the public schools have failed tomake so complete a provision for the instluction of thechildren of the poorer classes as is absolutelyrequisite. t o t

A sj.nilar thene started appearing in sonte of the colonyrs newspapers and,

in nany instances, turned into a wholesale condernnation of the Erlucation

Iloard itself. In L872, for example, the Register printed a letter fron

rA workerr, rvho "[had.l waite<l til1 tired hoping that sorne citizen would

arouse attention to the fact that muLtitudeg of our chi'fdren ate teceiving

no education...only think, sir, of Adelaide'r, he continued,

...with its beautiful churches ancl avowed intelligence,inclif:terent to the cry of the children of its poor!Adeiaicle, without a single public schoolroom that itscitizens can call their owr! Year after year haspassecl, ançl things instead of mending have grown worse

and tvorse.l ot

The paper devotecl i'fs editorial to endorsing Workerrs sentiments, and

supplementecl theln by a detailed exposition of what it alleged to'oe the

Boarclrs incompetence. The Board, the editorial said,

...havebeencontenttoworkoninas)"uggishlydevisedgÏoove, and if the clrj.Idren of the city wilt not fallinto this groove, so muclr the worse for them; it was toomuch to expect from a dignified Board tha.t it should putitself out of the way to calry out any new ideas in thehope of gathering together the stray sheep""'

Of the many possible ways of unclerstanding and dealing with the perceived

crisis in the provision of schooling, the one eventually adopted revolved

r42

around a comprehensive nc'vJ Education Act which rnade education compulsory

t not free .Sentr¿-lts- ed the education system and sharply increased

education spending. Under the new bil1, teachers lost the power to

deternine curric'ula, teaching nethods, the progress of their pupils, and

even the adnini.strative routines of their school. Parents lost the power

to select and recorunend teachers for appointment. The ownership and

control of vested scl'roolhouses was transferred to the Central Council of

Ëducation and the power of local bodi.es to decide on educational matters

was drastically curtailed. Children ïrere now not only compelled to attend

school but were subject to.a much more rigid and thor:ough discipline.

A new Education Act

While a detailed consideration of the process which led to the passage of

tl're 1875 Education Act is entirely beyond the scope of this chapter, it is

possible to introduce some of the nain ingredients of such an analysis.

In particular, I have lookecl at the changes brought about by the working

class; at the political balance of power at the time; the agreement reached

on education by the various churches, the consequences of the particular

method of fundj-ng adopted, and the influence of legislation elsewhere.

The first point concerns changes brought about by t.he working class.

Briefly, as workers started to orgattise, they had a twofold effect. 0n

the one hand, they helped to weaken the governrnentrs exclusive nonetary

enphasis on boosting the profitability of investment in land. They not

only had some inpact on immigration policies, but periodically forced the

government to provide unernployment relief works.

On the other hand, the workersr organised actions assurned, in the eyes of

employers, a threatening character previously unknown in South Australia.

They not only grumbled as individuals, but rioted and won strikes. To

143

cleal with the stronger opponent, it appeared necessary to enlist, to a

greater degree, the assistance of tïre state' and redirect its finances

towards expenditr.lre on social control.

T'he changing official attitude to rrnemployment relief, which can be seen

in trvo successive statements of the Regi.ster, is a good indicator of

workersr influence in the area ofl government finances ' In 1867, when

unemployment was rising an<l workers demanded assistance from the goveln-

ment, the PaPer stated:

By 1870,

movement

As a rule, it is a dangerous policl, for the government tounclcrt¿rke to fi.ncl latrour for the people. The healtl-riestlesson in social economy which any people can be taughtis self-reliance, and there is sonething wrong where

appeals are made to the government to do for people whattñèy ought to do for themselves " Its effect is demoral-isiirg ancl calculated Lo destroy that healthy spirit ofself-dependence which has rnade the English nation what itis. Bui this is an exceptional case

t|e Register so1Towfully commented on the gairis of the labour

in its struggle for better conditions:

It is to be regretted that any large body of SouthAustralian worklnen should be ready to fly to the goveln-ment wheitever a temporary difficulty presents itself;but- the habit has been Leatned and the only thing is tonake the best of i,t.1os

The increasingly threatening and cffective organi.sation of the workers is

well docunentecl by Coghlan. According to him, whereas, up to 1862, "[t]he

working classes in South Australia were not so alert as in Victoria and

New South lVates ancl ...their want ol. combination in tr¿rde unions made tireir

influence in politics alnost negligibl"",to6 now, during tl're l ate 1860s ,

workers' organisaticlns were making their presence felt more and more'

In 1866, the po1ítical Association of Working Men was formed in Adelaide,

liaving as its object'rthe stoppage of irnmigration for the benefit of

labouring men, ancl to place the lvhole question concerning labour f'airly

144

before tl-re publi.c, especially at the time of Municipal or Parliamentary

electionstr, l o T

During the five-year recession, there were many increasingly angry

neetings of the unemployed, culmirtating in March 1870 in what the papers

described as rioting of the unemployed, who demanded higher pay for reli

work. r o I

By 1874, Coghlan claims that

. . . the general revival of prosperi'Ey tirroughout theProvince was accompanied by a marked developrnent oftrade unions, partly as a result of that prosperity and

pa::tly as a synpathetic consequence of the severe labourstruggles which were at that time going on in England' "'Ihe trade unions already in existence were reforned and

strengthened, and new unions established in all importanttrades that had not hitherto possessed then...The firstconsequence of the form¿rtion of the unions was seen in a

'series of strikes, occurring between September and

December 7872. In nearly all these the strikers gainedtheir way.Ioe

In this situation, the rvoting argunent-' in favour of cornpulsory educa-

tionll0 change<l from a piece of rhetoric to an urgently felt necessity.

So rnuch so, in fact, that it eventually overrode the everpresent concern/ù

with rovereducating the þassesr. As the Treasurer, L. Glyde, said,

Either they must educate the people ancl rnake thern possiblya little discontented with their humble lot, or they wouldhave to grapple with the danger of a large number oftotally uneducated people wielding the whole politicalpower of the colony. I I t

-\r4;¡,eOa FLederick Basedow (a teacher front Germany who later became member

of parliament and minister of education) noted that I'in England as well

as here, the feeling has: changed very much in favour of compulsory educa-

tion. It appears that people begin to think that a free constitution and

-:n_T1_u:ia:O people is an anomaly'rr1I2 Seven years later, shortly

before the netv act was passed, one of the inspectors, comnenting on the

workersr modest attempts at politì.cal organisation, ended his report wi-th

145

the plea: ryou cannot give pol.itical power to the people, and a1low them

to re That woulcl be a potitical suicide of a nation."lr3

The inspectorrs recipe for avoi.ding such suicide was straightforward.

According to Dr. Jung,

...just as in prol:ortion...as citizens desire to have thepor^/er of independently using the political rights con-ierrecl upon them - so should the state have the right tosee that these powers are entlusted to none but those who

are fitted by eäucation to intelligently exercise them.Ila

Obviously, the proporti.on of working peoplers participation in politics

was getting too large to renain without further checks.

It is important to note, however, one striking feature of these arguments

-they were conducted before the days of universal suffragerls and there-

fore applied, strictly speaking, only to male chilclren. And ¡et girls

wel.e never excluded from the sed educational Provi. sions. Obviously,

there must have been some widely accepted irnplicit chain of reasoning

that included wornen, as wives, mothers and teachers of rnale voters, in

the scheme.

Not only the workers, but the farmers and manufacturers began to organise.

Their gains, although snall at this time, contributed to altering the

political balance of poler in the colony.

In 1869, the Chamber of Manufacturers was forrned and, with a handful of

me¡nbers, shoestring budget, unpaid secretary and free roons, started the

lengthy process of encouraging the grorvth and diversification of South

Australian inclustry.ltu In alliance with rnany workers, the manufacturers

advocated increased tariff protection of South Australian manufacturing

irrdustries, a policy which was likely to reduce import trade and raise

costs for prinary producers, and as such was vigorously opposed by the

Chamber of Comrnerce.llT In 1870, 1885 and 1887, the tariff was indeed

146

increased, albeit because, as Flirst aIgueS, "enough of the free t::aders

chose to accept higher duties rather than face the alternative, the

imposition or the increase of direct tax¡rtion on land ancl inconle".IIB

Even though the 1870 tariff was slight and intended more for reverrue than

protection purposes, Richards concluded that it

tionery, two cabinet, two carriage factories, and one

each of the following portmanteau, biscuit, brusli, har-ness, clyeing, tent, as well as a machinist. The manufac-turing labou:: force in the city increased by 64 percent'The sðaIe of operations altered.lrs

The extension of primary industry exhausted the supply of good land within

easy reach of Adelaide and, combinecl lvith several yearsr drought, produced

a class of dissatisfied small farmers. Not content with the limited

r:eforms of t¡e 1869 Stratìgways Acts, they demanded substantial alterations

in the availability, methocl of sale and payment for new land.r20

Realising how radical these issues were (if demands for cheap land and

cheap credit ruere met, the prospect of mcre taxation of the wealthy seemecl

almost inuni.nent.), the farmers frec¡uently linked then wiCh agitat-ion for

loca1 representation and payment of members.

In the event, land legislation fell far short of the farmerstdemands.

But tl-re election of a larger propoïtion of dírect country representativesl2l

contributed to the cornplex realignnent of political power which occurred

in the 1870s.

The changes in the composition of government at this time are noted by

most of the researchers dealing with the period. Pike, for: example, wrote

that tlìe "fall of Blyth's ministry in 1875 marked the end of the

I47

Congregationalistsr power in Parliament but it i.ncreased the strength of

the Wesleyans',.I22 llirst draws attention to the relatively high propor-

tion of country residents elected in 1870 ancl 1871 elections]23 Hawker

renrarks on the changes in top levels of politics and administration and

'fresh econornic pressuresr after 1874, and links then with rapid expansion

of governnental functions and breaking down of the comfortable relation-

ship between ministers and senior offi,cials in the Civil Service.l2a

Jaensch clairns that, unlil<e the Victorian and New South Wales experience,

sc¡rratters \^iere never dominant in the South Australian Parliament, repre-

sentatives being clr¿rwn from essentially urban interests, especially the

comrnerciaL ancl inclustrial men of Adelaide.lzs However, ìris analysis of

occupations of members of partiament reveals that, around 1875, pastoral

and agricultural representation decrease<l ín the Legislative Council and

increased in the House of Assembly."u

Bowes, in his thesis on land settlement, argues that the "t'enor of the

l{ouse began to alter during the ].ate seventies, but the extent shoulcl not

be overemphasized". The nost visible aspect of this change was the fact

that during this period, "[o]ne by one the men who had dominated the

potitics of the sixties vacatecl their seats in the l-louse",127

There is, howevel, no seriou-s attempt, comparable to Loniers thesis on

the 1930s ,"t to establish with what changes in class organisation the

political, developments were linked. In particular, there is no resealch

on the tluestion of whether the doninant fraction of capital was reorgan-

ised, or whether political power was in fact seized by a different frac*

tion of capital. And yet understanding of these changes is essential for

writing a serious history of schooling in this period.

148

If, as a whole, the study of changes in the political organisation of the

bourgeoisie has been baclly neglected, the same is not true wíth regard to

one aspect of the, question, the agreernent reachecl on educa*"ion questions

by the various churches. This issue, incleed, being Part of the tradi-

tional churcþ-state explanation of educational change, has received

abundant attentiori fron historians of education '

In essence, it is arguecl that the gradual wj"thdrawal of Catholics fron

the state school system made it easier for the protestant denoninations

to reach agreement about the form of education they were willing to

support. Thr:ougl-rout the period, the various churches wanted to reproduce

tl-reir congregati.ons, not lose them to irreligion or other denoni-nations.

But the cornpetition for parishíoners conflicted with the effort to provide

cheap schooling for as many chitdren as possible. The najority of country

settlenents were harclly large enough to support a single one-class

school, yet freqr.rently each of the different congr:egations tried to set

up their orrrn. But while the protestant denoninations found it relatively

easy to reach a compïomise and attend each othersr schools, the Catholics

sarv the lB51 Ilducation Act in direct conflict with the teaching of their

church" By the late.lB60s, the issue was so important to them that they

...woulcl never consent, as a clergyman, to parentsallowing thej.r children to go to school not taught by a

peîson óf ur-,t own detìonination...v/e should prefer thatã Crthotic child should g'rf\^r up in ignorance ratherthan be exposed to the dãnger òt roting its faith'12e

The protestant chutches, hoping Eo avoid any forrn of aid to the Catholics,

r:ec.iprocatecl by a steadfast opposition to the funding of denominational

schools. llventually, state-pïovided secular education appeared to them as

the lesser of two cvils. To tire Cathol.ic church, reLigi.on was i.nseparable

frorn a church hierarchy which interpreted the Bible and actecl as a

custodian of faith. The way to a protestant God vJas more direct ' It

t49

would be tl're logical outcome of rmoral educationr, literacy, and a Bible

in every home. As a result, rsecular educationr confirmed the faith of

the protestant denominations; it often contradicted that of the Catholi'cs'

In 1869, the Baptist Union voted in favour of secular and cornpulsory

systeìn of education. In 1870, they were followed by the congregational

Union who decidecl to support rentirely secularr education' The Primitive

Methodists went beyond this scheme by advocating a decentralised secular

system which children woulcl have to attencl for five yeals' ]he Wesleyan

Methodists and an influential fraction of the Anglican church, although

in favour of bible reading outside of school hours, adoptecl, by IB7I, a

basically similar Position. I 3 o

'l'he financial reasons for the introduction of the 1875 Education Act can

be found in the economic fluctuations of the South Australian economy, and

the resultant state of the goveïnment exchequer. These are relevant

becaus e, though compulsory schooling came to be favoured by many inembers

of -!b-9.-!!y¡eo_1sie, eclucational legislation had to be passed by the

Legislative council which vigorously opposed any tax on property. During

the economic downtuln, when government finances were low, such a tax

..appea.red to h-ave been t-he only way to fina¡ee the ex¡ransion of education

facilities. According to [li-rst,

avoid direct taxation. Il/hile the central government

could raise money readily without taxing land or income,

150

If poor tidler children were a city problem, the legislature that tried

to solve it was composed of city men, with the absentee rural members

often speaking as if the Adelaide suburb in which they lived was their

constituency. And yet, until the 1870s, the pain nany of them would have

felt at seeing government money spent on education was stronger tl-ran the

concern witl-r unschooled city children, and drove then to outvote their

more generous or worried colleagues.

The suclden prosperity of the colony, however, made possible a painless

solution to the education question.

TLe revenue collected at Custonts llouse first reflectedthe return to prosperity after the lull of the late 1860s:between 1871 and 1876 it almost doubled. Then, while itrenained steady at a high level for the rest of thedecade, the receipts from land sales rose rapidly,swo1len by payments for the huge areas taken up underthc Solection Acts in tl're early 1870s. By 1873 thegovernment was able to announce that it could provideeclucation for all the colonyrs chilclren without anyirrcrease in taxation. I 32

The source of money in turn had a bearing on the structure clf schooling.

If education was funded from central revenue, it becane, as a logical

corollary ancl without much opposition, centrally controlled. As in other

matters, there was to be no local representation without taxation.

Indeed, Hirst aïgues that, without the sudden plosperity of the 1870s, it

would have been necessaïy to raise finance through local taxation, and

1oca1 taxation could not have been instituted without a significant

degree of loca1 control. I 3 3

TJre case for introduction of mass compulsory schooling in South Australia

would not be complete without taking into consideration the imitation of

tegislative clevelopments elsewhere. As Saunders points out, the Prussian

education systeììt, which l'rad caught peoplers imagination around the tine

151

of the Franco-Pmssian war, was nat.ionalised in 1872 and made free in

tB88--Conpulsory educatio¡r was introduced in Switzerl in 1874, in

Iraly in 1877, in the Netherlands in 1878, in Belgium in 1879 and in

Engl,:rnd in 1880. By l8B5 France had a free, compulsory and secular

systenì of primerry eclucatioìl . I 34

I¡ Austraìia, by the mid-1880s, the colonies l-rad set up education depart-

ments staffecl by permanent and full-time offici.¿rls and controlled by a

milrister who was responsi.ble to Parliarnent. The Victorian Act was passed

itt 1872, the SouLh Australian and the Queensland Act in 1875, the New

South Wales Act in 1880, and the'lasmanian Act in 1885. Only Western

Australia did not have an eclucation department until 1893.13s

Ànd incleed, much of the debate on a new Education Act was conducted in

terms of rhe proven efficiency of a similar system of schooling elsewhere.

In 1871, for example, the South Australian Board of Education wrote in

its annual report

In the event of any altcration being made, with a viel ofobtaining a large:: and more general attendance of thechildren of a school-going age, and particularly of thosebelonging to the poorer classes, we are of opinion thatthe carefully prepared Act, recetltly brought into opera-tion in England, would, in sonte respects, form anexcellent model for imitation. t 36

At the sane time, the centralisation and bureaucratisation which accom-

panied the introcluction of compulsory schooling in South Australia was not

limited to the Education Departnent. As l-lawker points out in his thesis,

the entire civil ¡eririce underwent far-reaching changes at this time.137

To sum up the arguntent advanced to this point, I have suggested that,

starting fron the recession of the mid-sixties, there was an increase in

the number of children who neither held a ful1-time job nor attended

school, By itself, this need not have led to any changes in educational

152

legislation. But there were other factors at work. The wealthy citizens

of Adelaide and other large to\^rns not only saw large nunbers of unschooled

poor chilclren, but were more sharply aware of the threat posed by the

local working class as sections of it began to organise. Thorough

schooling, often advocatecl on the basis of Prussian or English experience,

came to be seen as a solution to both problens. It would not only lemove

potential larrikins from the streets but forn then into more predictable,

respectful and conventionally moral citizens. The solution was legis-

Iated or1 rvhen, in the favourable economic conditions of the l870s, the

combined pressule of land-hungry farmers, workers and city Iiberals

contributed to changing lhe balance of political power in the co1ony.r38

It is now possible to deal with the last problem, conceptualising the

nature of educational change in the period under discussion.

According to officials in the Education Department, the case for anending

the 1BS1 Education Act was quite straightforward. Because of changing

ecolomic conditions, the old Act, previously quite adequate, had ceased

to fulfil its function, and had to be brought up to date. As the 1875

report of the Board of Education said,

...the colony has for a long time outgrown the schoolsysteilì provi-ded by the present Act, which has not beenamended since the date of its coming into operation, in1851, when the nunber of children attending publicschools was only 3,030.13e

To a large extent, this is the conceptualisation taken over by historians

of Australian eclucation. Some, like Thiele, argue that the 1875 Education

Act was a simple updating of the older one, ensuring extension, adequate

funding and efficiency of basically the same system:

1.5 3

...as the schools started to go up Hartley turned hisattentiontowhatwasgoingtohappeninsidethe,rn...Sloppy methods had to change, poor teaching had toinprove,standardshadtorise.Astatedepartnenthadto- function efficiently; recalcitl:ant and ineffectiveteachers had to confonn or go ' '*

u

Others, for example, Hyams and Bessant and Gouttman, entphasize the

profound transformation of the education system at this tirne'l\r

Accorcling to them, t{re new Education Departrnent crystalised the long pro-

cess of centralisation and uniform ity within the education sYstem,

brought in a remarkable measure of bureaucratisation'

But these additions to the official case amollnt to a substantial shift in

interpretation. It was not only that eclucation ceased to be able to deal

with its own problem, it was gradually transforrned to such an extent that

we can speak of a qualitative change in the task it was assigned' More

precisely, in natters like compulsory attendance, schools began dealing

with problems which previously neither rexistedr nor 'belongedr to

education. la2

using these concepts, rny hypothesis is that, with the 1t375 Act, schooling

in south Australia was not only updated, but transformecl to be able to

cope with the ¡nassive new task allocated to it - the cultural remoulding

of 11e1|r-r_9 gQneration of workirrg class youth. In Lhe process, schooling

was transformed from a comparativety insignificant semi-private concern

I into an extremely powerful bureaucracy, o1, to use a more technical term,

e apparatus. 143

Notes

154

Register, 13.7.1872, letter from rM.B. r, IVright-Street.

Register,18.9.1880. An earlier version of parts of this and thefollowing chapter appeared in P. Cook, I.E. Davey and M. Vick:'rCapitalism.and working class schooling in late nineteenth centurySouth Australia't in ANZHES Journal. (Vol.8, No.2, 1979).

I

2

J

4

5

6

7

B

I

R. Johnson;r780--1850,r.

'rNotes on the schooling of the EnglÍ.sh working class,

ibid., p.4A. This line of argunent is further developed and docu-mentecl by T.W. Laqueur in his I'Working class denand and the gTowth

of English elenentary education, 1750-1850r'. According to him,

" fp]ub1ic1y providecl schooling...grew up in large part to rneet thedemand for eclucation which might othervise have been satisfied inpolitically less reputable private schoolsrr. ibid., p.198'

S. Bowles and ll. Gintís take some account of these schools in theirSchooTing in capital-ist America, p.153.

One of the najor differences is that in South Australia, unlike inmany parts of North funerica, schooling was made conpulsory fifteenyears before it became free.

S. Bowles and H. Gintis , oP" cít,, p-234

Loc. cit.

ibid., p.179.

10. Such as, for exarnple, the concentration of capital around the 1890s,

and industrialisation in late 1950s.

ll. rt...the depression of 1864-1866, directly caused by the rural drought,was the ina¡or factor in the creation of the 1868 Select Comnittee.It j,s suggested that rural difficulties forced Tnany people to thecity of Adelaide in search of work in its sna1l manufacturing sector.The general effect was to increase turemployment and destitution inthe óity. This destitution was reflected in the large number ofyoungsters roatning the streets of Adelaide. ' .

The invention of the reaping nachine also contributed to this flightfron the land.tr R. Gouttman: I'The relationship between politics and

education in south Australia, 1834-1875" (Unpub. PhD thesis,University of Adelaide, 1979) , PP.244,266.

See note 97 for ny reservations about the applicability of theurl¡anisation thesis to South Australia at this time.

12. Many of the accounts of c.hurch-state conflict are written as if theclifferent churches each catered for a random selection of the popula-tion, and hacl no distinctive class base. This is not the way theywe1.e seen by their contemporaries. For example, it was adrnittedthat the Catholics providód schooling for a large proportion of the

155

colony's dest-itute children: rr...our Rornan Catholic fe1low colon-ist,s...are spending very considerable surns in supporting schools andorplran establishments, without ziriy assi stance from the staterr.South Àr¡st¡a-Zia n Arlvertiser , B. 2 . 1969 . A minister of the UnitarianCfiurch, on the other hand, confidently asserted that r'[t]he najorityof the memlters of rny congregation are people who can afford to sendtheir children to St. Pete::rs or Prince Alfred Colleges, and privatesclroolsrr. IA.PP, IBB3-4, No.27A, 77/8461-

13. Hyams and Bessartt, for example, argue [hat, in the 1870s, "[t]heliberal-democratic ethos of Australia in that age ensurecl that fthestate] would be more than a competitor fof a denominational systern].The liberal sentinent had regarded the state as a significantprovidcr for the individtral, but the democratic sentiment wentfurther by demand.Lng that the state shoulcl provide eclual treatmentfor all i.ndivicluals, irrespective of occupation, income or locatj.on'I-he consequence was that the great najority of elementary schoolpupils were to be educated in public schools and those institutionslvere to be the instruments of equalisation...'r B.K. Hyams andB. Bessant: Schoofs for the peopTe? (Longrnan, 1972), p.50.

I4. A similar hypothesis is elaborated by J. 0rConnor for contenpor:ary;lUnited States in his book rhe fiscal- crisjs of the state. See also'\:ltThe fiscaf cri.sis of the state: a reviev/" in capital-i'state (No.3,

iirszs).

15. See, for example, E"P. Thonpson: The making of the English wotkingcfass.

A. Sunrmers : Damned whores and god's pnJice (Penguin, 1976), p ' 16916.

17. As Engels concluded abouL contempolary Iingland, 'rthe social ordernakes farnily life almost impossibte for the worker. In a comfort-less, filthy hou-se, harcl ly rain tight nor walm, a foul atmospherefilling room overcrowded with huina.n beings, no domestic comfort ispossible. The husband works the whole day through, perhaps the wifealso and Lhe older chilcl::en, all in different places; they meet atnight and in morning only, all u¡rder pelpetual tefiptation to drink;what family tìfe is possible under such conditions? Yet the working-man cannot escape from the family, must live in the family, and theconsequence is perpetrral succession of farnily troubles, domesticquarrels, nìost clemoralising for païents and children a1ike. Neglectof all donestic duties, neglect of the children, especi.ally, is onlytoo common among the English working peopte, and only too vigorouslyfostered by the existing institutj.ons of society. And childrengrowing up in tiris savage way, amongst these denoralising influences,are expected to tuïn out goocly-goody and noral in the end! Verilythe requirements are naive, which the self-satisfied bourgeoisiemakes upon the working man.rr F. Engels: The condition of the wotkingcLass 1n EngJ-and (Panther Books, 1969) , p.159.

18. R. Johnson, op. cit., P.50.

J.M. Goldstrom: The sociaf content of education l-808-l-870, a studg ofthe worl<ing cTass schoof reader in England and in Irefand flrishUniversity Press , 1972), p.9.

19

156

20. R. Johnson, op. cit., p.45.

2L G.E. Saunders: rrPublic education in South Australia in the nineteenthcentury" (lJnpub. lvlA thesis, University of AdeIaide, 1964), p.35.

22 SAPP, 1868, No.56: I'Report of the Comrnittee of Incluiry into theworking of the Education Act'r, p.36/669.

In the form of employnent, accornrnodation, narriage licences andpolice protection.

23

24. A. Summers t op. cit., p.298.

25. In the worcls of Caroline Chisholm (an influential contemporarysocial reformer), "f f her lvlajestyts Governrnent be -really desirous ofseeing a well conducted commu:rity spring up in these colonies, thesocial wants of the people must be considerecl. If the paternal.government wish to entitle itself to that honoured appellation, itmust look to the materials it may send as a nucleus for the forma-tion of a good and great people. For a1l the clergy you can dispatch,all the schoolmasters you can appoint, all the churches you canbuild, and all the books you ca.n export, you will never cio much good,without what a gentleman in that colony very appropriately calledrGodrs police' -wives and little children - good and. virtuouswomen'r. Quoled in A. Sununers, op. cit., p.291.

26. First Report of the South Australian School Society, 1838, reprintedas Addendun to Chapter 1, T.tl. Sneaton: Education in South Australia,1836-te27 (Rigby , L927) , p.22.

27 . ibid., pp.2I-2.

28. J.M. Goldstrom, ap. cit., p.111.

29 In England at the time, various laws prevented the rich non-confornistbourgeoi.sie from entering the rupper classr. Although most of thislegislation was repealed throughout the nineteenth century, theBritish aristocracy continued to use religion as a social means ofpreserving their privileged position. See G.E. Saunders, op. cit.,pp. 30- 1 .

Quoted in Royal Geographical Society of Australasia: The centenargItistorg of south AustraLia (Adelaide Royal Geographical Society ofAustralasia, SA Branch, 1936), p.290.

30

31. As argued earlier, the nodified Wakefield schene disadvantaged smal1farmers by setting the price of land artificially high, while theproceeds fron land sa.l.es, when used for assisted irnmigration, actedagainst the interests of workers by creating a frequent surplus oflabour. The scheme, however, was essential to the interests of largeemployers, since it firrnly established the conditions necessary forcapitalist exploitation.

32. South Austral,ian Gazette ancl Col-oniaL Register, 4.5.1839, quoted inG.E. Saunders , op. cit., p.120.

r57

SS, The setting up of the Churcli of England Collegiate School in 1847,later incorporated as the Church of England Collegiate School ofSt. Peters, v,as the sccond attcmpt to establi.sh a proprj.etary schoolin South Austr:alia. In 1859, adverti-sements to set such a school up

brought F,3,825 in subscriptions, but the venture lapsed with thedepression.

34. T.H. Smeaton, oP. cit., P.41.

35. The grant was 82,22I and, according to G.E. Saunders, worked out attwo shillings a head. G.E. Satndets, opz cit., p'40.

36. D.J. Ashenden: 'rsouth Australian education, l836-1857: its Englishbackground and social environment'r (Unpub. BA thesis, University ofAdelaide, 1963), PP.46-50.

57. W[en parents or children took a dislike to the character or teachingmethods of a particular person, they simply stopped attending theschool: "...the residents conbined to stalve the teacheT outtr.C. ThieIe, oP. cit., P.8.

38. M. Vick: 'tThe Education Department in South Australia, 1852-lB75r'(Unpub. MËd thesis, University of Adetaide, fgBl).

59. G.E. Saunclers, oP. cit., P.72.

M. Katz, op. cit., p.595. For a description of rdame schoolsr inManchester, see Appendix 1.

Register, 25.3.I861.

SAGG, 12.2.1857, pp.149-50. From 1861, the selection procedures forteachers employed by the Board of Education were tightened.

43. R. Johnson, op. cit,, P.44.

44. Register, 19.1.1856.

45. IAPP,1863, No.35, P.3.

46. W. Wyattrs Report9.8.18s1.

for Junc quarter, 185I, published rn Register,

Quoted in Â. Summers, op. cit., p.304.

4T,

42.

47.

48.

49.

40

50

D. Pike: "Education in an agricultural state", P.71.

The 1861 tìeport of the Board of Education, for exarnple, attributesthe 2eo increase i.n the attendance of scholars over thirteen years tothe exceptionally good harvest of 1860. ;AGG, 1.5.1862, p.374.

K. I\¡inlshurst : "Nineteenth century llindmarshrr (Unpub. BA thesis,University of Adelaide, 1971), pp.3L-2,

51. IAPP, 1868, No.56, P.27/473.

158

s2. SAGG,

53. G.E.

54. SAGG,

24.4.1872, p.548.

Saurders , op. cit p.72 .

24.4.1872, p.548.

SS. And t¡us l.racl a morrntain of deliberately fostered prejudice descend

on their heacls" This mai.ntained that any request for assi.stanceremoved people from the ranks of the fhonest poorr. Destitution was

seetì not so much as an integral part of a particul.ar economic systen'but as a sole consequence c¡f the individualrs own intenrllerance and

dissolute habits.

56. sÄPP,1868, No.56, P.35/610.

57 . SAPP, 1868, No.56, p.35/608. In 1869,schools rvere registered as destitute.

l6.5eo of the children in cityRegister, 77 .5 .1869.

58. SÀPP,1868, No.56, p.35/605.

59. ;AGG, 21"2,1856, p.I23. The comparable figure for IB55 and 1856 was

4Leo and for 1857, 57%.

60. 1APP, 1863, No.35, p.5.

61. T.A. Coghlan: Labout and jndustrg in Austrafia, p'1068'

62. ibid., p.756.

63.

64.

65.

66.

ibid., p.1067

J.B. llirst; Adefaide and. the countrq, pp.19-23.

SAPF, 1872, No.73, P.8.

T.A. Coghlan, op . cit., pp .1076-7. Since this discussion refers tooverall distinctions between skilled and unskillecl workers ratherthan workers in different sectors of production, it uses the termrsectionsr rather than rfractionst of the working class.

Among the first uni.ons formed in South Australia were, hotniever,

seveial associations of unskilled workers such as wharf labourers.see appenclix 2 for the date of formation of different unions.

Tlre table is based on T.A. Coghlat, oP. cit., PF.753,1065-6,1071.

K. Wimshurst: I'Nineteenth century Hindmarsh'r, p.l)4.

This section is based on IJ. ,Jones: "l\lomen at work in South Australia,lBSg-1906'r in JournaT of the HistoricaT Socíetg of South AustraLia(No.2, 1976); B. Cass: I'Womenrs place in the class structure'r inE.L. Mreelwright and K. Buckley (ecls.) : Essays in the ¡nL.iti-caLeconomv of AustraTian capitaJ.istn, Vo1.3, pp"16-7; D'A' Baker:

"position of women ilt South Australia" (Unpub. BA thesis, llniversityof Adelai.de , 1977).

67.

68.

69.

70.

159

7I. S. Alexancler: rrWonenrs work j-n nineteenth century London: a study ofthe years 1820-1850" in J. Ivlitchell and A. oakley:?'he rights and

wrongs of women (l-larmondsrvortlt, 1976), p.65. Although the articledeals wj.th women in London, it is applicable to urban Australia whereproclucLion was often organised in a sinilar way.

72. foc. cit.

75. See ta.ble 9 for comparison of boys I and girlst school attendance.

74 . I . Davey: 'rTrencls in fenale s chool attenclance in ni.cl-19th centuryOntario" in Social Itistorg (Vo1.B, No.16, 1975) , p.224. See alsoChapter 4, n.I07. Fol similar data on South Au-stralia in the I890s,see Chapter 5, p.251 ancl table 22.

75. I . Davey: 'rllducational reforn and the working classrr (Unpub. PhD

thesi.s, University of Toronto , 1975), p.280; cluoting E. Yeo and

E.P. Thontpson: The unknawn Maghew (Merlin Press, I97t), p.83.

76. See table 10.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

oaoL,

83.

J.B. I-lirst'. Aclelaide ancJ the countrg, p.136.

ibid., p.137.

SAPP , 1868, No. 56 , P .29 /507 .

SAGG, 8.5.1873, PP ,696-7 .

Registez', 2L .7 .1868 . See also Register , f5 . 7. 1868.

SAPP, 1868, No.56, p. 2/2L.

SAGG, 8.5.1873. The attendance in this year seems to have beenlower thau average.

84. ;AGG, r.5. 1862 , p.373. See also table 9.

85 . G. E . Saunders : 'rJhe state ancl educatj.on in South Australia, 1836-l875r' in E.L. French (ed.): Mefbourne studies in education' L966'(lufuP, 19Ó7) , p. 208. According to a conterrpolary observer, rrunfor-

tunately for ihose in the profession, the more they are wanted, theless tfiey are in delnand. 1hus nental economy differs from political.The denscr t-he ignorance, the rnore difficult to penetrate it.'rRegister, 28.1.1850, quoted in G.E. Saunders: "PubIic education j-n

South Austratia in the nineteenth century", P.79.In 1869, for exam¡rle, the Board of Education reported thatrrThe yearnow ïepoïted on can scarcely be regarded otherwise than as an

ulfavo¡ra.ble one, so far as the interests of the schools, and theprogress of public eclucatiolr are concerned. Ttre almost generalfailure of the wheat crops by rust, and the consequent losses sus-.lajnecl by those in agricultural purstrits, vcry scriotlsly interferedwith the attendance in the country schools. During the early partof the year, the scholars in many of them were reduced to less thanone-ha1f the usual nulnber. The elder: chilclren were enployed at home

in tl're place of paid labourers, whi1e, for those that were sent to

86.

87.

B8

89.

160

s;chool, the usual fees irr many cases could with difficulty be afforded-Towards the close of the year, however, the effects of a moTe favour-a51e season beca¡nc apparent, the chi ldrcn were again sent to school,and the îetuïrrs showed a consi.derable increase on the nr¡¡ber thatattended cluring the corresponding period of the previous year.'lSAPP, 1869-70, No.19, P.1.

G.E. Saunders: "Public education in South Australia.. ''r, p'69'since, from the point of view of thc bourgeoi.si e, one of the nainaims of schooling was to cater fo:: ridlerpoor children, the statis-tics on school attendance would be far Inore meaningful if we had, att¡e same ti.ne, some inclication of chi.lclrenrs work patterns. In theabsence of statistics on juvenile employrnent, however, it is possibleorrly to make guesscs whether tlìe ¡untber of children in regulareu,pinynr"tt inãreased or decreased during a particular period -especialty since much of the work children perforned was of a casualnair_rr'" - running messages, carrying luggage, selling matches and

sweets at race meetings ancl, ntost irnportantly, helping with the work

of adult tnen and women in the farnily. For more discussion of theseissues, see K. Wi.nshurst: 'rstreet chitcïrcn and school attendance inSouth Australia, 1890-19tso' (Unpub. MEd thesis, Flinders University,1e 7e) .

I1 1861, for example, an [ìducatj-on Arnendment Bill containing a dras-tic reduction in the scope of public education lvas presented toparliarnent. Undel the proposed 8i11, the Education Board would be

iestricted tr¡ licensing schools in thinly populated areas, or thosecatering for poorer destitute children.

The Bill was defeatecl but, in the same yeal, a notion was passed tothe effect 'rThat in tolns consisting of more than one thousandinhabitants an aveïage of 40 scholars [instead of 20] should bedeemed essential to constitute a school eligible to receive suchgoveïrìrìrent aid'r . íAPD, 1861, p '838. See also tabIe 10'

In these places, it was adrni.tted that, "fu]pon t]re whole, when it isconsi¿ereã that the remunerati,on received scarcely exceeds the wages

of an ordinary labourer, the qualifications of the lowest class ofteachcrs arc qui te as goocl aS can be reasonably cxpectedri . SAGG,

2.5.186I, p.360.

90. IAGG, 16. 11. 1854, P. 815 .

91. IAPP, I87I, No.22, P.1.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

See table 10.

See table 11

See, for exantple, S^APP, 1871, No.22, P.l

Þ/lGo,

SAPP,

8.5. 1875, p.700.

1875, No.26, p.14

161

97. It is noL truc, however, that, as Gouttman argues, the period underdiscussion \¡las one of increasing urbanisation. Quite the contrary.Mrile the population of the capital grew between 1866 and'LB7I, theproportion of people living in metropolj.tan Adelaide remained steadgat the l-owest point it has ever reached in the staters history.See table 11.

98. sÀ6c, 11.3.1875, p.460.

99. IAGG, 8.6.1865, p.496

100. ;AGG, 4"5.1871, p,624.

101. ;AGG, 25,4.1872, p.539.In 1870, for example, the Register reported on the t{alífax St. FreeSchool (1.I.1870), Free Evening School in Currie Street (5.3.1870),Franklin St. Boys I and Girls I Iìtee School (5 . 3 . 1870) ancl FreeIndustrial School at Port Adelaide (28.f1.1870).

102, negi.ster,

103. Loc. ci¡!.

22.7 .1.87 2.

104.

105 .

106.

10 7.

r08.

Register, 29.7 .1867.

4.3. r870.Regi ster,

T.A. Coghlan, op. cit., p.757

ibid., p. 1069.

Enphasis supplied.

ItOn...lst Nlarch, a crowd of men assembled at noon outside theTreasury Buildings and a score of them rushecl in, tshouting, Ìrowlingaud vowing vengeance on the Governrnelttr , So ran the account in thenewspapers. The nounteci police were sunrnoned and drove the crorvdfron the Treasury, trut it reassembled before the Town Hal1 and helda neeting at r.¡hich the nen declared t"hat they would not accept lessthan 5s.6d. per clay -- the rate pairl to labourers on gove.rnmentrailways. 'fhey marched back to the Treasury ancl tried to beat inthe door, which had been locked against then. The place was clearedby mountcd troopers and the men then rvent to the Post Office, whencethey were driven by the troo¡rers with tl-re flat of their swords.rlibid., p.1073.

109. ibid., p. 1076.See Appendix 2 for a list of trade unions formed duríng this period.

110. t'Neglect the education of the people, and the democratíc pri.nciple,now in unrestricted (t) operation, will speedily become a grossdelusion, the in-strument of anarchy, and the parcnt of despotism."Register,14.1.1B57.

ll1. sÄPD, 1873, p.315.

II2. sAPP, 1868, No.56, p.75/I4I4.

115.

114

115 .

116.

117 .

r62

SÀPP, 1875, No.26, P'14.

S.APP, 1875 , No. 26 , P. 14 .

As nelrtioned in Chapter 2, women gained the vote in South Australiain 1894, ancl weïe among the firsb in the world to do so'

See .Annual Re¡>ot'ts of the South Australian Charnber of Manufacturel:s,

The Regisùer, for exanple, wr:ote that "A better anti.dote to protec-tionisl dyspepsia coul d not be recommended than the infilsion of. . .

privatc entãrprisc...Vlhile the llotel Europeans have been expoundingio rrr what might be done with a cliscriminating tariff, business men

like Messrs. Robin ancl Le Messurier fmiters at Port Aclelaide] have

shown us what can be done witlt the taliff as it is. T'hey have

denonstrated that the encottragenlent of native industry is less a

fiscal ciuestion than a labour question. Workmen, instead of askingfor protective cluties to bo1-ster anti.cluated ancl cr¡nbrous forms oflzrboirr, should say, rGive us the machinery with rvhich these Alnericandoors or this English ironwork is made, and we will clo our best toproduce as cheap an articler." Quotecl in E.S. Richards: "Secondaryindustry in the South Australian economy to 1876'r, PP.130-1.

J. B. tlirst , oP. cit . , P ,77 .

E.S. Richards, oP. cit., P,130.

See J. B. tlirst , aP. cit. , PP.78-95.

See table 12. .

D, Pike: I'A society without grandparents" in E.L. French (ed.):Ilefbourne sÈudjes in education, f957-8 (Metbourne University Press,1958), p.63.

J . B. llirst , op - cit. , PP .65- 75 .

G"N. Hawker: r'The development of the South Australi.an Civi1 Servicel.836-1936" (Unpub. PhD thesis, AN[J, 1967), p.v- See also table 13'

D.LI . Jaelrsch: 'rPolitical representation in colonial South Australiar',p"2iB.

ibid., PP.216-7; see also table 14.

R.K. Bowes: "[,and settlenent in South Australiarr, p "95.'

J. Lonie: rrConservatism and class in South Australia during theDepression, 1929-1934rr'

;APP, 1868, No.56, Pp. 10/f59,11/181.

R. Gouttmalt: 'rThc relationship of eclucation and politics in southAustralia", chaPter 4.

J.B. Hirst, op. cit., P.145"

118.

r19.

r20.

T2T.

1 )')

123

r24.

125.

126.

r27.

128.

729.

130 .

131 .

163

132. ibid., P.140.

133. i.bid., ch.5.

li4. G.Ë, Saunclers: 'rPublic education in South Australia in the nineteenthcenturYrt , P.4.

135. A.G. Austin and R.J.14¡. selleck: The Àustra-ljan government schooJ

1830-1914 (Pitrnan Pacific Books, 1975) , þ,62'

136 .

t37 .

138 .

SAGG,4.5.1B7l, P'631.

G.N. Hawker, oP. cit., P.v

while the evidence is pitifully inadequate, I hope it will encourage

research along different lines fron the ones traditionally followedin studies of tire 1875 Education Act.But there are areas which, although essential to the explanation,have not been researched in South Australia at all. In England,Laqueur suggests that r.vorking class dernand was cruc'j-al in deterniningthe shape iiiat schooling eventually took. In South Australia,however, we l<now virtually nothing about the explicit preference ofthe orgânised working class at the time, nor about the alternativeeclucational arrangements at their disposal.

139.

140.

141 .

t42.

'APP,1875, No.26, P.5.

C. Tlriele: Grains of mustatd seed (Education Departnent, South

At¡stra1ia, 1975) , P.21.

B.K. Flyans and B. Bessant: schooLs fot the peopJe?; R" Gouttman:

"The rêlationship of education and politics in South Australiarr'

The rexistencer refers here either to empirical existence, existenceas a social construct, or both. Ernpirical existence involves thingssuch as increase in the numbers of unemployed chi ldren or changes intheir behaviour patterns. Existence as a social construct refers toa process whereby a particular grouir of events, previously unprob-

lematically subsumed un<ler several corffnonsense categories, suddenlyattracts peoplets attention, and in the course of discussion colttes

to be gradually conceived under a nelu concept'Susan Eatle gives a good example of such plocess. Accorcling to her,juvenite delinqrrency wrs rinvented' in England in the early nine-leenth century, when changed laws defined nany previously quiteacceptabl" ur1â'casual1y regulated aspecls of life of working classyoutl, including their games and amusements, as criminal acts:i'Both the Metroiolitan Þolice Acts made a wholesale onslaught on theleisure occupations of the poor and labouring classesrr - and, as a

consequence, many mo1.e people were convicted of 'criminal activitiesr,causing concern to contemporaly social observers. S. Eade: rrThe

invention of juvenile delinquency in early nineteenth centuryEngland" (Paper presented to the 1977 ANZAAS Conference), p.15.

l{irst regards the 1875 Education Act as the rrgreatest increase inthe porvei of the centr:al governmcnt in the period 1870-1917".J. B. Llirst : Ad,eLaide and the coutttrg, pp . 135-6 '

r43.

CHAPTER 4

EFFICIENCY, STUPIDITY AND CLASS CONFLICT

IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS

The daily habitsrules unless theapplie<1. I

165

of the children are stronger than anylatter are constantly impressed and

I do not think it desirable to aIlow individuality inthe case of children. I think in their training thereought to be a certain anount of suppression and

repression as well as encouragement

The previous chapters dealt with two interconnected processes - the

shaping of the life patterns of various class fractions, and the gradual

<iefinition of argood schoolr. It was argued that the expansion of

capitalism in nineteenth century South Australia depended, to a great

extent, on subjecting a substantial part of the population to low wages,

irregular employnent, and harsh working conditions. Indeed, bourgeois

families could only afford to lead the fanily life of their choice if the

cost of labour, including that of donestic servants, I'emained very low'

But this in turn rneant that, on their inadequate wages and intermittent

incones, labouring farnilies found the bourgeois ideals of settled, planned

and ,respectabler existence distant and impracticable. Only one section

of the working class, the skilled tradesmen, with nore Ïegular enploynent,

shorter hours, and wages of up to twice the amount paid to unskilled

labourers, found rrespectabler fanily life a feasible pfoposition'

Against considerable odds, many labouring fanilies nevertheless favoured

some forn of education for their children. The trouble was that the nodel

of a rgood' and refficientr school, gradually established under the

selective licensing systen of the 1851 Education Act, in many respects

conflicted with the exigencies of working class life. Children who could

166

only attend school irregularly, would obviously benefit by some form of

what we have become accustomed to call rindi'vidual progressiont - a type

of instruction which was present, in priinitive form, in many sma11 private

establishmcnts. 'lhe tefficientr schools, however, took their point of

departu::e elsewhere, and developed around cost efficient satisfaction of

the needs of regular attenders. Partly for this leason, 'goodt schools

for a long tirne did not reach the class considerecl to be nost in need of

their salutary influence - the poorest class.

This chapter deals with some aspects of the wholesale transforrnation of

school routines which occurred in South Australia from the mid-1870s until

the turn of the century. Many of these changes, although couched in terms

of morality and efficiency, represented a direct assault on the life-styles

and culture of labouring people in South Australia. After much struggle,

they not only codified, j-n the form of hidden curricula, practices foreign

and disadvantageous to many working class families, but nade substantial

opposition to then a punishable offence. As I have attemptecl to show, this

process tendecl both to undercut the subsistence patterns of nany labouring

families and to prepare the ground for a rscientificf identification of

their children as less rintell tr t}ran their wealthier neighbou:rs.

Conbating i nefficiency

The educational changes of the 1870s affected all levels of the schooling

hierarchy. In 1874 the Education Board itself was replaced. While

previously, its members werc draln almost exclu.sj-véIy from the Adelaide

rEstablishmentr , the new Boar4. at y-gJ I as the Counci 1 of Education which

succeeded it, nas selected fr<lrn anong career public servants, professional

men and manufacturers favouring a more rinterventionistt approach to

r67

schooling. J.A. ttartley joined the Education Board in 1871; by 1875 he

became what he was to renain for twenty years - the foremost educational

decision-rnaker in the colony. He epitonised the changed way of seeing the

world. Like wyatt, the previous head of the education depaTtment, Hartley

was born and educatecl in England - but tl'Jo generations later, and in a

different religion.3 Unlike his Anglican predecessor' he was a Wesleyan'

a section of the Methodist church active predominantly anong the English

petite bourgeoisie. lVishing to differentiate itself from the labouring

poor and yet perpetually threatened by a reduction to working class status,

it had the strictest and nost detailed proglamne for its moral transfor-

mation. a

From the micl-I870s, the reconstructed Education Department, arned with a

new Education Act, started an anbitious programme of getting alL cl'rildren

to regularly attend rgoodt schools. During its crusade, the content,

processes and structures of even refficientr schools were substantially

altered. s Perhaps the nost important changes occurred in the process of

schooling. As arguecl earlier, this refers to the raw naterial of school

experience, which during this period emerged from the obscurity of common-

sense behaviour and became the focus of educationists' explicit concern.

In 1868, somewìrat to the surpr'ise of the Education Connission, T'S' Reed'

the chairman of the Destitute Board, outlined his criticisn of school

curricula. In brief, schoolmasters were taking their task too literally'

Instead of paying attention to'training, they concentrated on teaching,

rrteaching the intellect rather than training the child"'c A proper system

of education woulcl be I'something very different fron what exists nowrr'

Instead of starting with teaching pupils to read and write, teachers should

see as their first and most inportant task the training of children through

1(r8

plrysical activity _ '|clrilling, rnarching, si.nging _ all these tencling to

inculcate subordination and olleclience'r ' 7

seven years later, in 1875, an inspector was thundering against the lack

of these very features in thc South Australian education system' Frorn a

curiosity, they had become the norm from which, regrettably, schoolnusters

still deviated. Many teachers had a

...nisconceptionoftheirdutiesandresponsibilities.Too many irnägine that their office is to teach simply,leaving out õf sight the moral training of the childrenunde:: ãn"it care - forgetting that it is of far greateriniportance to teach thern habits of honesty, self-denial'ur,ã p"rreverance, than to dri11 them in the prescribedsubjècts. B

Put even more bluntlY,

Consideringtlreclassoflifetowhichnostofthescholars bãtong.."too much stress can hardly be laidupon the ,r*""rlity of maintaining in our public schools

thernostthoroughlygooddisciptine,orderandmoraltone;and,personally,Iwouldrnuchrathermakeconces-sionsinthematterofscholarlyattainmentsamongt}reteachers, in order to^secure, in their place' these allimPortant essentials .

e

But the inspectors rilere not worried for long' aVç¡-!þg L9"T-t--!9LI-eaTi

school es were thoroughlY transformed' The overriding concern with

norality ancl discipline, as weli as the perceived needs of the new examina-

eil, I 0 changed the very content of the 3 Rts. No longer was it the

ach pupils to read and write intellígibly and with ease; now they

\^Jere to be trained to I_o11gy, 4,s-. ç199ely al- p-955,ibre, tlle departmental

¡t_1ndqd of excelfgl.ce. In the newLy introcluced writing tests, for exanple'

the faithful fol"lowing of the authorised copybook, rather than the

abitity to write, was assessed. Because the inspect'oIs took the copybook

as their standarcl in judging what was better and what was inferior, 'rit

was quite possible for a child to be failed i.n writing, even though he

wrote better cornparatively than another child who was not failed in the

tion sYst

ain to te

169

same class,,.ll lrlhen one of the mernLrers of the 1881 Royal Commission of

Education naivety asked I'But after all, does it matter what style of

rvriting children are put to do, so that they can write?", Inspector

Stanton reaffirmed the departnentrs preoccupation with hidden curricula:

Ithinkitmattersconsiderablyineverylrranchofeducation, whether you study the means as well as theend...Ianafraidthat.weshallbecomesopracticalancl utilitarian as to look only at the end,

^withoutany regard to the discipline or the means""

Ilow was this <liscipline defined ancl secured anong the children? I{ere, it

is important to realise that, contrary to the conventional understanding

of such pïocess, what was at stake was not instilling tgood mannellsr into

children who previously had none at all, but an attempt to replace one way

of doing things by another. An essential and well documented part of thjs

pTOCESS WAS the transfer of school knowledge into the realm of private

p"o!-::tl. In 1875, the co-operation of children during exams was identi-

fied as one of the most serious consequences of the schoolsralleged

overemphasis ol't teaching:

Theeffectofthismostseriousmistakeisonlytooevident. The children hardly seemed to know that tocopy from each other, or from books, which in many cases

they placed openly on the desks, we'e acts of dishonesty.t3

In fact, the children's attitude was not sutprising. lVhile the new

disciplining teachers

ildren 'twere not examined

left school".1a Indeed, the

dependecl, to a_gl9at extent, on

esult system; until 1873, rnosI ch

as to their attainment when theY

only experience nost of them had of exams was tile yearly l.ocal public

examination, which more Tesenblecl a festival than a rigorous test of the

pupilts attainment.ts Even more importantly, keeping ideas to oneself did

not make sense fron the point of view of traditional working class educa-

tional practices such as apprenticeship, pamphlets, political speeches,

170

newspapers or seïnìons. I 6 BuE with diligent inspection and supervision

and frecluent exanìs, an extremely important tra¡rsformation was accomplished'

Gradually, children were schooled into giving the label ofrcheatingt to

many aspects of learning through exanple and co-operation, and to add

school knowleclge to the grorving list of things which could be conceptual-

ised as pri.vate property. In their reports, the inspectors wele able to

clearly identifY this change:

under the old system children we1.e vely dishonest -in theirwork. They would steal right and left the work of otherchildren. I do not say that they would take money fronthe pockets of their schoolmates, but they thought it no

wrongtoapplopriatetlreworkofanot.her.."Innotonesc¡ool out õf iwenty do we find that disposition now,

the fact showing that the moral tone has greatly improved'17

Such irnprovement in the rmoral toner carried \{ith it a most impclrtant

corollary. In the years after the passage.of the lB75 Education Act, the

public schools startecl producing an ruranbiguously identifiable category of

t5ucceSSfu1chi,1dren|.Asargued1ater,the'p"p1i:,'=-"glowever

defined, accounted for school success only in exceptional circumstances '

In the majority of cases, failure or success were overwhelmingly predeter-

nined by extraneous factors such as residential mobility, regularity of

attendance ancl parentsr employment. And yet the school routines, organised

around the needs of regular attenclers, gave causal status to the link

between intetligence ancl school success. At first, the rsuccessful

children' were not sharply identifierl in the everyday life of the school'

but selected out in the yearly inspectorial examinations. Later, as

regular exanìs and ranking children in order of merit we1'e gladually

ntrocluced into the schools, the identification of failure and success

became a feature of their everyday life'\__*._

ï7)

By 1896, Inspect.or Smyth was able to co¡nment that

Mrere a systematic plan has been adoptecl of testing each

class every week in arithmetic, spetling and other inpor-tant branches, tlte incrcased progress made ful1y cornpen-

sates the teacher for the extra labour involved. In thisrvay defects and shortcomings are not.iced at once and

steps taken to effect remedies, while the friendly rivalryexcited by pitting class against class in each subjectset:ves as a stimulus to excel...T'he qr_rarterly exarninations by the teachers aÎe now as a

general rule fairly well carried Out in accordance withinstruction, . I t

Not o¡ly the frequency of exalns, but the arbitration of their results

changed. The manifestly alien inspector, belonging to a different social

class ancl enforcing criteria which even the teacher-s often did not under-

stand, was nou/ joíned by the more familiar 1ocal teacher. To this

g::aclation, a handful of bursaries and exhibitions added a symbolic

nomenclature. The successful children were firmly identified as intellec-

tually brilliant and deserving further attention.

As socn as pupils learnt to respect exams,le these became one of the means

towarcls further transformatíons, One of them, essential to the eventual

definition of rsuccessful chilclrenr, was the enforccd standardisation of

school language. Such a crusade was in rto sense socially neutral - it

ïepresenled one aspect of attack on working class patterns of life - the

rdaily habits of the childrenr, and coulci only be conducted as such.

As nineteenth century laboul activists were neveT tired of repeating,

workers could only irnprove their lot if they thoroughly understood the

conditions of their own exploitation. In this process, education was

essential. Accorciing to an editorial in the South Australian labour

weekly, 1"he flerald,

The death knel1 of monopoly was sounded that moment thefirst righteous demand of labour received concession inthe shapã of free education. Gradually the light of

172

reason is being applied by workers to problems which he

before never hacl the temerity to grapple with, and theconsequellce is the mask is being dragged off the rottenand inhuman system which afflicts all commtrni.ties of theso-cal1ed civilised world

And yet, instead of drawing on ancl enriching the language in which

orclinary people clicl thcir evcry<lay thinking, and thus helping them to

nameandana1ysetlreconclitionsoftheireverydaylife,ry

were taught to manipulate a dialect based on the cultural vrorld of a

different class .2 r

Thus, when the inspectors said that r'[f]luency, freedom from provincialisms

and clear entrnciation are perseveringly sought",22 they aimed further than

teaching children to speak clearly and distinctly. If, in the case of

writing, the aim r,vas to make pupils closely imitate the set copybook,

rather than simply teach them to write, hele the goal was the suppression

and eventual elimination of loca1 dialect, rather than the thorough under-

standing of granunatical rules:

Grarnmar appeaïs, as a rule, to be taught in an intelligentway, but the chilclren clo not always speak correctly, evenwhen they understand the ordinary rules of grammar. . . thedaiTghabitsofthechjfdrenarestrongerthanangrulesunless the fatter a.¿'e constantl-q imptessed and appTied,

Only through such constant enforcement could a dialect, unfamiliar to most

working people, change from the social attribute of a particular class to

Correct EngIísh; an official standard to which the children had to adhere

if they wanted to pass exatns, and which teachers had to enforce if they

wantecl to maintain theil reputation and get their payment for results.2a

As the headlnasters of schools in working class districts realised, this

host of innovations more or less involved teaching the children a new

language: "lthe teachers] have to begin at the very beginning to teach

L7'3

them to aspire their thrsr, to sound their final consonants, and correct

nistakes in grammart'.25 The necessity to teach children a new language

could, however, be understood in several different lttays. Sonle headrnasters

-simply assrunecl that thêir Ìloorer pupils had no language at all. Accorcling

to one,

The children of respectable parents with good home

influences can always be taught nore easily to under-stand the language and the teac.hing than the lowerclasses, where you have to give then-a Tanguage beforeyou can teach them anything at all.26

Such an approach can be designated as cultural domilration - the culture of

the clominant class is considered to be so unmistakably superior that there

is no ¡eed to stoop down ancl consicler anything which is not a part of it.

Most þeadnasters, hor^rever, adopted a more enlightened - and workable -

view, rvhich i^/e can call cultural assi¡nilation. The children had both

culture ancl language. but these, as well as different fron the dominant

standar:d, þJere faulty anct deficient. To reforn the children, however, one

should start fron where they were - on their familiar ground. 'fhus Clark,

the most perceptive of these heaclmasteTs, suggested that the language

starrclard should be lower for working class children, and that, instead of

abstract rulesr granmar should concentrate on correcting I'errors of common

speech".27 It did frot occur to hin that tlìe childrenrs own language, with

jts rules and regularities and regional variations in pronunciation, cor¡1d

be respected. As regards the subject of conposition, however, the class

bias was less entrenched and invisible, lacking the seeming neutrality of

grammatical rules. Noting indignantly that, in a test in composition,

working class boys (many of them with hardly enough to eat) I'were asked

to reply to tl're aclvertisernent - rwanted to purchase, a pleasure boat, for

use on the Torrens Lake, capable of carrying 8 persons in comfort and

174

safety ,28 he strongly advocated the setting of topics which were

closer to the childrenrs experience.

Here, Clark came close to a position similar to that advocated by sone

contemporary proponents of sociology of knowledge.2s According to this

interpretatio¡r, different classes have in some respects different, but not

necessariJy inferior or superior, cultural attributes. They do, however,

possess different poì4rers of designating parLicular aspeÇts of culture as

superior. After the introduction of the lB75 Education Act in South

Australia, the power: of working people to designate their everyday speech

as tschool lariguager was drastically reduced but not entirely obliterated'

In 1886, an inspector cclmPlained:

In one school, under an experienced teacher, who assuredme that composition had been nost carefully taught, theexercis*s, àlnost without exception, were in the districtpatois. lle declared it impossible to get the children towrite otherwise. I failed to see it, ãnd I do so still

Although such victories r\¡eïe rare, the cr:usaders for Correct English were

gradualty forced to modify their anbitions. If, in IBB7, an inspector

hoped that rigorous school routines would "soon rnake the conmon speech of

children free from the vulgarisms and nistakes that now nar it",3t in L89B

his colleague coilmented that t'there is an evíl in pronunciation which ís

rnaking headway in some localities. ltris evil is sometimes called the

Australi.an twang, and is most unpleasant."32 And, by the first decade of

the twentieth century, Alfrecl IVilliams, the new Director of Education,

officiall), washe<l his hands o:f the whole affair. Schools were sirnply not

powerful enough to counter the rdaily habitst of the people, and make

everybody talk the same tcorrectt way. 'fhe teachersr influence could,

with sone effect, be extended into the playground, but hardly any further:

t75

It is necessary...that the teacher's influence be felt intheplaygroundaswellasintheschool,foritisnounusual ittittg in some parts of my district to hearchildren t.hai speak fairly well while in the school, todrop into a stlle of speaking that is neither correctnorpleasanttohearasSoonaStlreygetintotheplay-ground. 3 3

If it was next to impossible to control the out-of-school language of the

chj ldren3q tlìe school lost its authority entirely in the workplace.:

Teachers in the rnining districts assure ne that lads whn

have by persistent training, been 1ed to drop tlre peculi-arities ãf tn" Cornish pronunciation, and to write and

speak really sound Iìnglish, adopt in toto the patois ofthe miner as soon u. ih"y arq employed undergrãuncl.

But precisety this failure to enforce the general usage ofrcorrect

Englishr ¡nade possible the continued usc o:F language as a class-biased

sorting devjce for rsuccessful childrent '

Next to inspection and exanìs, a variety of new and inaginative techniques

was introcluced j.n ordcr to remould the pupilst daily habits ' Observing

that, in 1874, therrwant of order in some schools is very greatrr, an

inspector supported the introduction of dri11 rrto accuston children to

pronpt obedìence and regu1arity".36 Singing was to be used to a sinilar

purpose: rrschool singiDg, says an emjnent authority, is as necessary to

moral teachiqg as instrunental music is to military discipline" '"37 It

was Alexander Clark, the headràaster of the N{odel Schools, loud in praise

of rnilitary driIl (which was 'strictly carriecl out in all <lepartments of

the schoolr, and with a caclet cor:ps of fifty which could perform ra1l

ordinary drill with arms, including skirmishingt), who was a fervent

aclvocate of the tonic sol-fa method for the teaching of singing, and who

had a wide infllreuce over the clevelopment of choral work for three

decades.3s A1l the teachers had to unclerstand and practise class dri1l.3s

In nany schools, t.he orders reyes frontr, teyes on the groundr, reyes

176

right' andreyes on the ceilingr were followed out so strictly that fifty

or one hundred lines were given for disobedience in this respecta0 since

nit is just as much 1as act of disobedience if, when a child receive the

order 'eyes right' during the exercise, he looks sone other way, as if he

had comrnitted a far nore serious offencet'.ql

An important aspect of teaching children pronpt obedience and regularity

was breaking up their conception of time and replacing it by a strict

mechanical division of the day into hours and minutes. Such process was

not confined to the classroon, and indeed constituted one of the most

significant comnon features of contemporary schools and workplaces. As

E.p. Thompson argued, the cl,ose attention to mechanical tine which charac-

terises advancecl industrial countries had its roots in the rationality of

wage labour and machine production.a2 It was preceded by nore tnaturalr,

task-oriented conception of time, where life was governed not by the clock

or the pace of the nrachine, but by the season and the task to be done.

More particularly, the problem of enployers anxi-ous to utilise every

moment of the labour time they bought, was how to eradicate practices such

as rsaint Monday', and the irregularities in work PAtterns brought on by

the workerts private concerns or local festivals.

Before conplex machinery was ernployed in production, the working day might

be shortened or lengthened and intensity of work rnight vary in order to

finish a given task. With mechanisation and a more detailed division of

labour, such as was slowly occurring in South Australia from the 1870s,

punctuality and regularity changed fron a virtue to an attribute which had

to be enforced if tire enterprise was to rernain profitable.

177

For many working people, the reforned public schools were their first

encounter with rigorous mechanical division of time.a3 By the 1at-e 1870s,

i¡ the typícal public school, "At 9.15 the be1l rings or the whistle is

blown, and the cl-rilclren fall in. At 9.50 there is an inspection for

cleanli¡ess. The chilclren march into school, and the roll is called...'t44

In each day there were four roll calls: complete ones at the beginning of

nornitrg and afternoon with cleanliness inspection,

...the second callings in the morning and afternoon aresimply the blank spaces, to record the attendance ofthose who come late...The reason for this is...to get an

idea of the punctuality of the school, so that [theinspector] can see whether unpunctuality spreads throughthe whole school, or is confined to one particularfami ly. q s

'Ihis precaution was taketr because, to many families, the new system of

timel<eeping came by no means naturally. In 1887, the East Torrens Board

of Advice wrote

...it is but just to the parents to say that they are innany instances in sympathy with the Board in their desirenot only for the children to be sent to school, but tosee that they are in time for ro11 cal1. Ignorance ofthis practice hitherto has lost the pupi'ls many an

attcnàance mark. a 6

In its attempt to discipline both pupils and teachers, the education

department did not stop at enforcing a strict division of time within a

day. GradualIy, set timetables were j,ntroduced to regularise the division

of tasks within a week. As in the matter of tirnekeeping, the introduction

of timetables which catered neither for the irregularíty of attendance

causecl by sontc childrents work patterns, nor for pupilst absences through

illness or other unforeseen circumstances, was an ambitious affair' In

the late 1860s, Inspector Wyatt observed resignedly that the majority of

schools were of a

178

...lnodicun characteÏ, whose teachers find their tine-tables and other methoclical arrangernents renclered alrnostnugatoïy by irregular and unpunctual attendance, whichnecessiiates the srrTrstitution of ínclividual for classteaching. a 7

flven in 1874, of t-he 112 public schools inspecte<l, only 18 were considered

to have argood' tinet.able, whi.le 37 hacl nono at all, and usua,lly there was

no pl.ogïalnme.'t0 It was only in 1BB4 that Inspector Burgan was able to

repoÎt a noclest victory in the matter of rmethodical teachingr:

Tremodeinwhichtherecordshavebeenkep.risnowgenerallyverysatisfactory.Muchmorecareandneat-ness ¿rre shown now than for:merly. In fact a badly keptbook is the exception. 'finietal-¡les ancl progÎaìnmes are,as a rule, carefully'prepared, and except in a few

schools, they ar:e systematically workcd frorn. 'l'here

are stiít o f"rn teac.hers who seem to have no liking fororder or nrethocl, and I }rave constantly to Temind them

that their arrangenent for work shoulcl be clear and

preci,se, ancl carried out with the utmost regularity' 4e

To appreciate the clifference the new school processes made to the

childrenrs experience, we can compare the new regime with private estab-

lishments, which retainecl ntucþ of the fonner conditions of public schools'

By 1881, these establishments \^Iere seen by headmastet Young to be

cloingapositiveinjurytothechildren'.Iheyareallowed to attend school rvhen they please, and are notcornpelledtokeepclean,andnohabitsofcleanliness,neatness,orproprietyofconductareinculcated.l'here is no discipline car::1ed out. T ^see the childrenrunning in the stieet for half an hour at a time afi"erthose ät tne public school are in's0

Inspector l-losk:Lng, lvho was invitecl Lo examine one of the smal1 private

schools in the working class suburb of Hindmarsh, so it coulcl be certified

asefficient(l'Theteacherdesir:edthatheshouldbeinformedofthetime

when I would visit him, but I thought it better to take him unawares"),

testified in disgust:

onenterilrgtheschoollfoundtheplaceintliorough-ciisorclcr; ðl'til,lren cal1i.'g out to each other from allparts of the ïoom, ancl loucl talking going on' -Nodiscipline in fact.-No discipline at all" After being

1.79

there for a minute or two, I found a number walkingaway fron their seats, without perrnission, to lool< forslates and book.s, and the whole place was in disorder.l\4ren I a-sked for the copybooks, I found they wereblottecl and written ve.ry carelessly, and it seemed as

if no proper attention had been given to the books ' s r

It was no easy matter to subjugate children to such an extent that they

ciid not dare move their eyes without permi.ssion. Griffiths, head of the

Franklin Street MocleI School, recountcd prouclly that

I had to punish a great. deal when the school was firstopened to recluce the children to ol-¡edience. They weretike a lot of wild young colts, jumping over the desks,laughirrg, tallting ancl throw'ing trooks at each other' IhacJ to use in many cases very severe methods, but sinceI have established a character for deternination, I have

hacì vcry tittlc punishing to do. s2

lrlost other teachers alld inspectors seen to have had a very similar

experience. In 1883, Inspector Dewhirst wrote:

...the discipline maintained in all the public schools isnorv very good...In all, the pupils aI'e taught that obedi-ence is the foundation of order, and the effect producedis just what was anticipated'..s3

(As another inspector noted, part of the effec'L was that "there is very

little attempt nade to draw out and increase the mental powers fof the

children]".tu) But, as order inrproved, the i-nspectols became more

anbitious. I'he ideal was more tharr a busy, quiet classroom; iÛ wasrrutter

subsenrielrce of the scholars to rule"ss; a well-oi1ed nachine, a regiment

of solcliers on parade. In 1tì86, Inspec.tor Clark wrotc:

of orcler in itself it is almost irnpossible to conplain.Discipline, as I understand it in its technical sense,is not so goocl' Movenellts are not carried out withuniformì.ty, regularity, quietness, promptitude and

exactness, ancl discipline without all these cannot be

s at i s fact orY

It seemecl to follow logical1¡. that "[i]ndeed a schoc¡l is better without a

playgrou¡cl unless that playgrouncl be superintendecl".sT The schools kept

r80

trying. In 1896, Inspector Clark reportecl with approval having heard 'ra

large school narched in to the rhythnical recitation of the extended

multiplication table forwarils ancl backwarcls...rt5s Towarcls the end of the

century, many teachers could boast of perfect discipline - at least when

the inspectors were around. The fulfilmcnt of the schoolsr civilizing

nissiorr seened to bc at haltd. According to Inspector Burgan,

No nore gratifying sight is to be witnessed by a loverof order than the daily assembly in our schools...Thechildren readily and promptly respond to orders, theymarch into and fronl the schools to the stirring soundsof a clrum and fife band

To his colLeague, Inspector McNamara, the transformation seerned almost

miraculous:

A large number of children in different classes aretaught at the sane time in the large roons of ourschools, and the quiet, orderly way in which their workproceeds, the methodical way in which material for thatwork is distributed, and the absence of all noises andconfusion would seem, to all those unacquainted withour system, a marvellous exhibition.60

Looking at the suppressed, repressed and regulated children, people

eventually started realising that the new perfect discipline arnounted to

an overki11. Indeed, reading the exasperated comments about childrenrs

lifelessness in classroom, one gets the impression that many pupilst

opposition to school cliscipline did not disappear, but went underground to

turn into passive resistance: I'We have developed a style of teaching",

lanlented Inspector Neale,

...in which the teacher unnecessarily exhausts himselfrvhile the children are comparatively passive. So muchto seed has this type run that it is not uncoTntnon to finda teacher answering the questions as well as asking; andstill nìore numerous are those who find it necessary torepeat everything the child says to save hin the energy-oflspeaking so clearly that his classmates can hear...6r

GradualIy, rnany educationists became convinced that to rnaintain both

discipline and the pupils' interest in schoolwork, a new app::oach was

181

needed. The children themsel,ves had to be enlisted in the schooling

effort. Inspector Burgan, inspired by reading accounts of New Education,

beca¡ne convincecl that,

If proper aTrangements were nade the children could, undersupervision only, do with ease and pleasure nuch nore thanthey do now...'[he necessity for t]re adoption of ingeniousplans of working is apparent. It is by these that nanyteachers get a large quantity of excell'ent work done.They enlist the syrnpathies of the children in their work,give them something to do which they are proud of doing,and which, when accomplished, nakes then feel that theyhave power within themselves. . . t2

By 1903, a nelv critical orthodoxy was firmly established. Teachers still

erred if they concentrated merely on instruction. But the renedy no

longer lay in tsuppression and repressiont of the children's individuality.

Quite the contrary. As Inspector Burgan put it,

...the belief is forced on ne that too nnny of our teachersmake the initial nistalce of assuming that instruction -not cultivation of the native powers of children's mincls -is the chief thing to be aimed at. In any system ofeducation it is of course essential that both shall go,as it were hand in hand, but the first place should begi.ven to cultivation - the eliciting of the native poweÏS

of the mind in the way that nature herself points oirt. 6 3

More bluntly and concretely, tnatute herselft seerned to have pointed out a

Iess counterproductive, but no less a¡nbitious and comprehensive, mode of

cliscipline. As Inspector Maughan said in 1903,

I do not regard as entirely good that rnanagenent whichmakes it impossi_ble for the child to disobey, where every-thing is clone by ru1e, and there is little or no oppor-tunity for the learning of self-control' Admirable as

this perfect govemnent may seem, we may well dread thetine when the youth is freed from its restraint...Trust,then, should be freely given; but with judgenent and tact'Supervision should indeed be constant, but not only notintrusive, but so litt1e in evidence that the child shouldscaïcely be conscious of it.6a

In South Australia as elsewhere, this changed way of understanding the

Iearning process became known as rNew llducationr . Composed of many, often

conflicting strands of thought, New Education enphasized not only different

t82

modes of teaching - especially 'learning by doingr '- but prolonged

dependence of adolescents on adults.

Teachers and the rstructures of schoolingr

To be able to put this whole system into operation, not only pupils but

teachers had to be disciptined into a. different way of doing things. The

effort to acconplish this led to a profound transfornation of what I have

called the tstructures of schoolingr, and in turn affected hidden and

overt currjcula of schools. Nevertheless, it would be misleading to see

the 1875 Education Act6s as a sudclen introduction of previously unknown

practices . Rather it presented another, substantial step in selecting

rsuitabler teachers and whittling away theilr autonomy.

Before 1875, this process went from the requirement of testinony to the

good rnoral character of the teacher --and the practical approval, through

attendance, of parents and pupils, to an ever more precise definition'of

the kind of lnorality that licensed teachers were supposecl to have. As in

the case of their pupils, this diverged further and further from the everyday

behaviour of the local community. Outside of schools, teache::s wele

p ro! i bif ed from-enge€,1lg i_1 g-o_t ! t i_-c 1 I activity or holding any time

jobs, could not get druhk, and had to observe the utnost chastity in tJreir

relations with the oppos ite sex. Beyond this, the olrl Ë,ducation Board set

up literary qualifications which teachers had to pass (though many did not),

and suggested a standard timetable, Course of Instruction and list of

suitable books that some teachers made use of.

Nevertheless, many far-reaching innovations can be attributed to Hartleyrs

administration. The nost prosaic of these I^Ias a substantial change in

183

personnel. As in the case of their superiors on the Board of Education,

teachers who would not accept the new definition of schooling were either

dismissgd o¡11¡-i,gþt 9r s1ow1y eased out of the <lepartTnent, while, with the

help of tlie ne-ivly ope,ned training co1lege, young tcachcrs were trained in

the one correct nethod.66

The change in personnel facilitated the introduction of many innovations.

Some of the most significant of these are linked with Hartleyr.s attempt to

transfor¡n his own and brother inspectors' ideas about the adninistration

of the department into detailed, impersonal, clear-cut and comprehensive

rules to which henceforth everybocly, including the Inspector-General of

schools liimself, had to submit.67 While this way of doing things scemed

strange to nany of his contemporaries, the new head of the education

department hardly ktrew any other.

The son of a Wesleyan ninister:'..he was very much aproduct of his upbringing - that strict code of morality,uprightness, integrity and service whic.h his rel.igionep:-tómisecl, his fãrnily revered and his school insti1led.68

A followçr of Matthew Arnold, h-e-sulrscribed to the dictum thatrra man in

public. office accluired ab ilities and judgements which placed him above hi-s

s.^ubordina_tes qncl .al]owed- hin to decide what was be¡t for them".6e To this

way of seeing the worlcl r^¡as now ad<led the abiJity to issue circulars and

regulations under an Act which left great scope to such executive

di,scretion.

This fortunate combina'Lion star.ted producing its own logical progeny,

which the inspectorate upheld and tencled with fatherly caïe. Whi1e, in

tìre first instance, regulations wcre macle to rationalise and facilitate

teachersr work, now teachers often had to work in order to faci.litate the

continue<l existence of the regulations. A mclst significant inte::change

184

between Hartley and one of the Commissioners illustrates this inversion

of purpose:

Do you think it necessary to exercise such a directcontrol over the schoolnasters to ascertain whetherthey keep regular hours, and whether the tinetable isduly observed? - Yes, indeed I do. - Do you mean tosay that, from your expcrience of teachers, it isnecessaïy to keep a look-out over them in this way?

- I donrt say that, but in a department like ours we

cannot nake rules to apply to one teacher and notanother. 7 o

In a sintilar way Inspector Stanton, stat.i.ng that'rwe take the copybook as

our standard in judging what is better ancl what is inferiorrr, answered the

question rrDo you think it is desirable to alter that standpoint, and to

judge more by the excellence in wri.ting than by any particular standard?"

by "I don't think it would be advisable in a large clepartrneut to do that,

as every teacher's iclea of excellent writing would most probably be the

irnitation of his own".7l And indeed, as the carefully enforced regulations

prospered, the teachersrintellect seemed to decline, at least in the eyes

of the llducation Department. By 1891, one of the inspectors expressed

'ralarn and misgiving [at] the proposal to allow poetry learned to be

selected by the teachers themselVesrr...trI am not' as a rule, an advocate

for crampi.ng any teachor's indi.viduality...rt, he stated, but allowing

teachers freedom in "a subject of so much importance to the rising genera-

tion'r would al1ow t'the unblessed and untrainecl blind... [to] lead the far

greater portion [of chilrJren] into some doggerel ditch".72

l^lithin the various regulations

porverful rpaymcnt for resultst

issued by the Hartley administration, the

scheme proved to be particularly fcrtile in

unintended consequences' Officially introduced in the 1875 Act, it was

rnodelled on the English Revised Corle of 1862. In South Australia, it was

first put forward as a solution to the oId problem of denorninational

t85

schools, which would be paid so nuch per pupil for i-mparting examinable

secular instruction. 7 t

Ill the fonn in w|i.ch it was eventually adopted in Sotrth Australia, the

sche¡re involverl a yearly inspectorial rresult examinationr of each pupil in

each governrnent school in a list of prescribed -subjects, as well as

assessment of discipline and dri.11" e school percentages gained in the

rresult exaninationr became the basis on which depended a proportion of

teachers' pay (except for those in the model schools), their reputation

ancl that of their school, and their promotion possibilities. In this way,

the clepartnent could tmake its wishes known by examì-nati-onr and expect

t¡em to be promptly obeyed. And indeecl, as one teacÌ'ter testified, I'I

believe rresultr is present with the teacher everywhere - at his meals,

when he rests at night, and in chrrrch".74 Tl¡-e. glyntent for results schern3

*I*1_r_lg,l_ "lti 1- 1892. By then, curricula and school practices had been stan-

clardise{ to such an extent that, in view of mounting criticisn of the

scheme, the added incentive to conformity - direct dependence of pay orr

exam percentages, could safely be dropped. Nevertheless, the result exam

itself was retained for classification purposes - and thus indilectly

linked wi.th wages, well into the twentieth century. l''Ihile it lasted, the

scheme hacl a profound influence on both the process ancl content of schooling.

Not only were discip).ine, dri1l and a ralìge of other subjects included in

the examination; the nethod of inspection and grading contained lessons of

its own - some undoubtedty intentional, some probabi-y not.

I have already discussed the deliberate transfer of school knowledge into

the realm of private property and the effort to standardise the childtents

language. Ilut the rcsult system had some unj-ntended consequence-s as well'

One of the most widely discussed and criticised was tcralnt ' Althor.rgh

186

exceptional teachers of well-schooled pupils night not Tesort to this

mindless menorisation of exaninable facts, most of them had little choice

in the lnatter.Ts A lower exam percentage carried with it loss of pay,

reducecl promotion possibilities, and the constant threat of transfer to a

smaller school or of loss of enqlloyment because of rinefficiencyt.

Many teachers, realising that the result system forced then into a style

of teaching they <lisapproved of, were bitter in their condemnation of it.

The system, they argued, made teachers

regard the children as so many things to get a highpcïccntage from. Thc necessity of getting a highpercentage is so impressed upotl the teachers that innìany c:ases everythiig else tiìan that is cll sregarclecl. 76

And yet it was

contrary toenergy, andapplicationgauged in acontents of

the dignity of human nature that human

tlre care and anxiety of a master, and theof his pupì 1s, should be attempted to besinilar nìanner as you can find the cubicgeonetrical boclies . 77

As one of the old teachers (whose p::incipled opposition to the new methocls

was explained away contenìpt-rrously by Flartley as olcl age and inability to

cope with imrovation) said bitterly,

while trying to strengthen the powers [chilclren] have,I feel that I am doing what is against my own interest,my status, and against nryself financiall-y; but I cannoLon these grounds do what I think is not so r¡¡ell for thechildren. I think education consists of two parts:education propeï and instruction - the one drawing outthe faculties of the chilcl, ancl the other the mereirnparting of know1e,ig". t'

paynent by results, ire believed, forced teirchers to pay undue attentjon to

the latter.

If, at tìre time, such complaints were often identifj.ed as the inconsequen-

tial grtrrnbles of inefficient teachers, twenty years later they became,

with the aclvantage of hinclsight, part of the accepted wisdom of some of

r87

the inspectoïs thensel.ves. Accor:ding to t.he 1902 report of Inspector

Whi 1 las ,...thc lesult exaninat.ion. .,has done nore to starp outthe indivicluality of the teacher than anything else.Insteacl of fotlowing out iris own lofty aspiratiolìs as

to the best lneans of promoting the interests of hispupils, he ha-s had to conforrn to the system of examina-tion in all its ltarassing details, ancl to sink his own

ideals to tlie necessity of obtaining a certain numberof marks. fire consequence has been that the teacherhas generally become mechanical in his work - hisenthusiasm has been quenched and his ideals lowered.As his advancement depended very much upon the re.sultsof his annr¡aI exanination, it was only natural that he

should devote his nost strenuous endeavours to gaininga high percentage. Conrpetition becane so keen thattl're employment of very que.stionable lnetho'ls for thispuïpose have not been unknown, and the moral trainingàr in" pupils has sufferecl in consequenc".tn

Hartley himself believed that meticulous observance of the clepartmentrs

regulations was worth far nore than teachers I individuality in bringing

about the desir:ed state of eclucational affairs. Accorrlingly, he argued

tha! n...paynìent by results,."has been one of tlte most efficient facLors

in olrr slste¡rr.80 Yet, at the same time, he disapproved of cramming,

which many people saw as the logical corollary of the result system. The

Teachersr Association, for exanple, pointecl ottt that:

'l'he reason sotne teachers teach geography in the mi-nuteìnanrìer coltplainecl of by the Inspector-General is nottoo far to seek. They do not know but that the examininginspector will question their pupils on the lines sostrongly condenned by Mr. llartley, whose ideas ofteaching the subject would be gladly adopted by teacherswere thcy assured inspectors would exanine olt the lj.neslaid clr¡rvn therein. s r

Ilartley, hovrever, ttnderstood the problem differently. It was not the

system the Eclucation Department adopted, but the teachers who were at

fau1t. To irnprove their ineflìicient teaching methods, curricula had to be

further s tandardi.s ed .

188

A,Ithough by 1880 the curriculum was made uniform throughout the colony,82

there was still some latitude. In 1881, thc teachers rrwere not

linited in their course, except that they must take up certain subjects

and present the childrelr for exaniltation in them".83 They hacl a set

pïogratnme, although'r[t.lhey can take any method they please and devote as

much time as they like to any subject".Bq But the following yeaÏ,

I-lartley mused: "...it was only the other day that I saw my way clear tcr

make this alteration [in teaching arithmetic]; and I think it can be done

by a carefully prepared and elaborate syllabus of a plan of teaching to be

fo 1 lowed in each ca-c er | . I s

Next to c1.an, the paynent for results scheme seemed to have produced

another, partly unintencled consequence - a self-perpetuating spiral of

higher achievenents and higher standards. In the nineteenth century (as

well as now), schooling i.nvolved a contradiction. While it was considered

to be essential for 'civilis5ngt working-class children, too much education

nrig¡trrunfj.t them for the calling Gocl has bccn ¡rleasctl to placc them j.n"B6

or, lnore to the point, allow working-class boys to compete r+ith the sons

of peti.te bourgeoisie for clerical jobs. Thus the rcornpulsory standardt

was appïoved of by wealthy colonists as a means of keeping chì.Ic1ren in

school only as long as tvas necessary to teach then their lesson: long

enough to reach their modest proficiency in the 3 Rts ancl become disciptined

In t¡e first instance, the education departnent concurred with the leading

citizensr ai-m ofrkeeping the standarcl of education in State schools pretty

lowr. As the years went by, howevet, this aim not only carne under

i¡creasing political attack, but starterl conflicting with the dynamics of

the l¡ureaucratj.cally administered department.

189

In their effort to discipline teachers through paynent for results,

inspectors dicl not like giving much over 75eo in exans:

...they consider that obtaining 89, 92 and 93eo isundesirable - In what way? Is it not desirable thatall children should pass? - It i.s thought that theyought not to pass to such an extent as that. It isconsider:ed rnuch better that the schools should get70 and B0 than 91 and 92Yo,B7

But the teachers did try to get more - knowing full well that lorv results

could mean a demotion as well as loss of pay

Indeed, during Llar:tleyrs lifet.ime rrThe average percentage gained in a

progïanune fully twice the value of 1876 had risen from thetvery satisfac-

toryt average of 61.11 of that year to 77.I7'r in 1896.BB To achieve hi-gher

percentages, teachers could work themselves and the children harder - or

become moretefficient'in the sense of, leaving any unproductive (of

percentages) aspects of knowledge out of the curricula' In the

inspectorsr reports, the first rperce:rtage grindingt method received rnuch

attention in the decade after 1875. Thus Inspector Dewhirst reported in

rB79

...instances have come to my knowledge during the pastyear of children having been found at night by theirparents in a muttering delirium of schoolworlç. Airc| lol4 f,eul- tqaçb--eJs-+-,.,-e,speci-al1y feml!-es, bave. very much

their health by extra, and what I may designate -

"agãnt, efforts to bring the younger and less

f thèir scholars up to the stan-dard of -

ncy. B 9

Many, like the head of the Norwood school, did this by keeping the children

in school two hours a day longer.e0

Towards the turn of the century, the second group of rpercentage grindingr

strategies began to receive mole attention - although it is unclear

whether teaching children out of school hours became standard practice,

ceased, or stopped being 'productivel. One of these strategies was the

t90

construction of timetables in such a way that the subjects awarded the

most marks in tl-re result exams received the most attention. As one

i:ispector s ai<1 ,

I have been frequently asl<ed how it is that some tcachersobtain such high results, while others with apparently asmuch energy and abitity do not succeed. the success andfailure are due in a great measure to the timetables andprogramnes. The following remarks of a very successfulteacher ntay be read with benefit: 'As the departmenthas fjxed the values of the subjects by marks, I appor-tion my time to them in the same ratio; for example,¡\rithrnclic (slatc and mcntal) is worth about ol'rc-thirdof tl-re marks, and I give nearly one-third of the time tothat subj ect' . e l

At first the inspectorate, noting trt-hat the only way in which a large

department can make its wishes known is by examinatioil",e2 approved of

this practice. But, as teachers perfected their statistical percentage-

grinding techniques, the inspectors became alarmed at the increasing

neglect of subjects such as reading, history and geography, which it was

not lprofi-table' to teach. According to Inspector Smyth,

So long as teachers give 11 or 12 lessons a week toarithmetic and only 4 or 5 lessons a week to readingit wiIl be impossible to secure anything beyond medio-crity in this most important branch...Mren our depart-rnen't will decide upon awarding only the sarne marks toarithmetic as is done to reading, then probably a morerational arrarÌgement of lessons will take. p1ace.e3

And again, in 1905, the fact thatrrthe marks assigned to the subjects

taught have been badly gr:aded in the pastrr is given as one of the many

reasons "for t.his failure in intelligent teaching".eq

Both strategies -- out-of-school work and greater 'efficiencyr of teaching

- increased the percentages. A persistent trend in this direction would

have lessened the effectiveness of the result system. As it was, however,

it enabled the inspectorate, through frequent curricular changes, to raise

tlie rstandardsr still higher, keep the teachers working hard -and upset

191

tlie leading citizens who, rtoting thatrrthere is a sort of spirit of

independence getti.ng abroadrr, did not know I'what is to act as a counter to

it except keeping the stanclard of eclucation in State schools pretty low".e5

In other words, the increasingly ambitj.ous disciplinary aspects of schooling

could onty be grafted onto a steadily expanding curriculum which, while it

nì.gl-rt have been adverse to the interests of workers as a ciass, ecluipped

many nore inclividuals with skills essential for the Tterformance of white

collar jobs. One of tire results of this creeping increase in exam require-

ment-s was that the rconrpulsory standardr did not work as it was supposed to

- t.o enable poor parents to take childrcn out of scltool, irrespective of

ûge, as soon as they ptrssed an exanr i¡r olementary eclucation. e6 As the

Teacherst Association said,

An except.ionally smart child of ten and a half years ofage, who attends the school regularly, and who has thehelp of parents at home, frôI be able to pass the standard,but no instance of thj-s ki:rd has come to our knowledge;and we submit that the standard was not constructed toneet the needs of exceptionally smaït children

After Hartleyrs clcath, curricular changes became le-ss frequent, and the

trend towards increasing standards slowed down. 'Ihe new Board of

Inspectors, conposed of his fonner subordinates, saw their duty as

preserving, ín every detail, the system established by the late Inspector-

Ge¡reral. sB In this climat.e, the teacherst statisti,cal expertise and

efficiency in getting exam'passes flowered unhinciered. In 1898, Inspector

Plummer reported that rr[t]he gene::al organisation and instruction continue

to improve, ¿r¡rd the exarni.nation results are higher...I attribute this great

inprovemelrt to the rest and quiet that have obtained during the past

Iearrr . g g

r92

IVi.thin a few years, however, opinions started to differ, even withj.n the

i,nspectorate itself, as to the real value of this inprovement. Orr the one

hand, the Board of Irrspectors believed thernselves to be within reach of

the best of all possibte worlcls. In 1902, they reported tliat:

The work of the schools this year has differed butlittle from that doner in the past. We are extremclypleased with the general condition of the schools, - _

whi.h, we believ*, wts never better than it is now.10o

On uhe other hancl, the Boardrs critics attributed the increasing percent-

ages more to the teacherst expertise in getting children to pass exarn-s than

to any increase in educational standards. In the sane yearly report that

contained the self-congratulatory remarlc-s of the Boarcl of Inspectors,

Inspector Neale, the ou.tspoken future Director of Education in Tasmania,

condemnecì the present system.

The tabulated result.s of the annual examination shc¡w thatpercerìtages higher than ever before have been gainecl.This follows a clecrease in the diffi.culty of the testand a knowledge of the limitations of the examination,rather than any increa.se in the efficiency of theschools; indeed it is clear that the very case with whicha good percentage may now be gained has prevented manyteachers showing any interest in the mode::n attitude ofnind to the child and the subject, and has tcnded withthenr to produce a mechanical and perfunctory method ofrvorking. \ o I

ln spite of this eventual slowing down, the year:rs programme had becorne so

fu1 1 that only regular attenclers had an even chance of successful 1y passing

the exans:

. ..both children and parents :Erecluently keep taJ.ly ofthe clays actually attended, so that the bare nilrinum of35 days a qlrart-er nay not be exceeded. As a naturalconseqLrencc sttch chil.dren are unabJ"e to compl-ete thegear's progranrne in the limited attendance, and are a

clrag on the teacher throughout the yetr.lo'

By the same token, tl-rrough the paynent for results scherne, teachers were

enlisted in the battle against such irregular attenclers:

193

The greatest source of annoyance and inconvenience whichtl.re teachers hacl to put up with was the irregular atten-dance of scholars. ".The irrequl-ar and truant pupiTsalwags brought down the percentage of marks at theexanination, and every teacher was anxious to avoidthat result.lo3

If some teachers tried to ntake their programme more flexible in order to

accommodate these chilclren, they found thenselves penalised for breaking

the regulations:

The teachers pTepared at the beginning of each qualtera pïogranme of lessons for the whole qualter, and if any

of the pupils were absent they nissed the lessons of theduy, or the teachers oiten staged behind and broke thetegulations, So as to teach tJre ]'essons that had beenmissed. l oq

Not only irregular attenders, but children of residentially nobile

families found it harder to succee<l at school because of the paymerit for

results schene. Unle.ss pupils had been in school for a substantial part

of the year, they could be withdrawn fro¡n the yearly result exams.I0s

Since any failures clepressed the teachersr final percentage, this was the

couïse usually acloptecl. No exan meant to pronotion into the next class -

and several non-promotions or failures nìeant that the chi.1d reached the

leaving age of thirteen years \^/ithout ever getting to grade 4 or sitting

for the compulsory certificate which was awarded in this gra<le.

The p based on i.dentical exams for boys and girls

in nost subject_s-,-h.açl qno ther, rather controversial, effect - considerable

lessening_.qf !.he- Sex-differentiation of curricula and of teaching methods.

such standardisation did not pass without opposition. Gir ls, it was

fre ad less need to rnaster subjects such as

ir,

uent

lc but less abiJ.ity to do so. As one influential headrnaster put

194

I would rnake the arithnetic in the higher classes easierfor the gir1s. In the lower c1asses...There should beno thinliing there, but rather accuracy, and therefore Iwould not modify tÏre standard for the girlsr second andthird classes, but I would in the higher c1asses.106

And indeed, the observations regarding girls' ability seemed to be con-

firned under the new regime. 0n the whole, girls did perform worse in

arithmetic than boys. The catch was that the standardisation of exams

changed little in the division of labour within fanilies, or the different

values that different social grouþs put on girls' educati.on.l0T For

example, in 1884 Inspector Dewhirst reported that boys attended school

more often than girls (in the ratio of 11 to 9), and added: I'Considering

how much more serviceable the help of girls in home life is than that of

boys, this relative difference in attendance can occasion no surpri-se..."I08

At the same tine, while exams rvere formally standardised, the instruction

given to boys and girls was not. Thus "[t]]re difference in rnental

arithmetic of boys and girls taught together is generally attributed to the

I tirne lost (?).. .by the girls while sewing, the boys generally devoting

that time to arithmetic". I o e

Girls not only tended to spend less time in school and to spend less of

that time learning arithmetic,,they usually received worse instruction than

boys in the subject, at least in schools divided into boysrand girlsl

departnents. Thus, if girts performed worse than boys in arithmetic,

rtley insisted that i t wa5 because rr...for generations girls have been

so badly taught- arithnetic that lhe average girl is not equal to the

aveïage boy in this subjecttt,ll0 not because of arry innate difference in

ability. For the sarne reasons, the Inspector-General resisted rnoves by

the head44stgr qf the teacher training school who wanted t-o lower the

standard in arithmetic, physics and chemistry for wonen trainee teachers.

195

Women had equal ability to men in these srrbjects, he argued. Problerns

were only likely to arise if wornen, in addition to the demanding full-tine

work or study progranìme, took on the additional arduous job of housekeeping

for their family. In a private letter, he mentioned the

...great difference between men and women. Many of thelattel earn their bread during the clay, and spend theevenings and early rnorning, which would be a time ofcomparative rest, in the discharge of woments specialfunction as the ninistering angel of 1ife, or else indomestic duties. This is not expected nor intended.All honour to those who do it. The stern stress oflife is too much for them - and they give way: but wemust not blame one paït of thei.r life.lll

Compulsory schooling and p atterns of working class life

Up till now, I have been describing the redefinition of education in terns

of the profound changes which occurred in the process, content and struc-

ture of schooling. But to come under the influence of the new civilising

machine, children actually had to regularly attend 'efficient schoolsr.

By 1875, it became accepted that the most effective way of getting them

there was to make schooling contpulsory."'

The 1875 Act proclaimed and the 1878 Act perfected the governmentrs

intention to extend compulsion to all. The following seotion examines

some of the social effects of this legislation. In sunmaTy, it argues

that, as soon as non-attendance became defined not merely as a moral

failing but as infringernent of the law, many families, in their efforts to

eaïn a living, wer.e seen by wealthy educators not only as indulging in

rimmoralityt and rvicer, but in a variety of more or less illegal devices

to dodge compulsion. I'lenceforth, what for many workíng class people was a

day -to-day struggle for survival, appear ed to the educators as a double

obstacle to enforqing the 19ga1 requirements of an education act. Firstly'

196

they l-rad to confront the difficulty of policing cornpulsory attendance among

people whose life-style often rnade such a practice alien and irnpracticable.

Secondly, they were faced rvith the existence of snal1 private schools more

congenial to the needs of working class families, but tinefficientr as far

as the new functions of schooling were concerned

Before discussing the inpaCt of compulsory attendance, however, it is

necessary to renincl ourselves that even for chitdren who subnitted then-

selves to it, the rneaning of compulsion was very different from what it is

now for most children, or from what it was then for those attending

expensive private schools. I r 3 'Ihe immorality of non-attendance notwith-

standing, the leg islators were forced to be realistic. In the prevailing

economic conditions, child labour was quite essential, at least during

sone païts of the year, for both ernployers and parents. Without substantial

social change, it would have been quite unrealistic to try to prevent

children helping with the harvest, fruit picking, hay, minding cows,

driving trullocks, sorting ore, stripping bark, ::unning messages, helping in

the family workshop during a busy time, minding yotmger brothers and

sisters, or doing the Monday washing. o"::tgttl, T9_",:

tn:_.!:3-Y-it-tol:-

of the 1875 Act, education \^Ias compulsory for only 70 days in each half

year of about 110 school days. lvhen it turned out that children chalked

up their 70 days as fast as they could and tl'ren stayed away from school

for several months, it was changed to 35 days a quarter - to which so¡ne

pupils kept with an arithnetic precision that should have been some small

source of consolation to Flartley the mathenlatician.

As might be expected, the passage of a new Education Act had no effect on

wage and unemployment rates, or the amount of work that had to be done

around the house. It cli,d, however, seriously affect the ability of rnany

197

working class fanilies to cope r^¿ith the problens these presented - and

eventually contributed to shifts in the household division of labour.

Even witfi the low IegaI attenclance requircrnent, school attonclance for matry

children ¡neant an adflition to wcirk, not a substitute for leisure. Thus,

for example,

luliles Franklin's bitter ctescriptiorl. . "of the 15-year o1dSybylla rnilking 30 calves and washing the breakfastdishes before walking Lhe 2 miles to school; then, afterthe walk back in the blazing sun, completing the sarne

round of duties again as well ¿¡s blacking boots andpreparing horne lessotrs, suggests that school attendancewas for rnanv an addition rather than an alternative tohome cluties'. I l4

11lhere such cloubling of work was not possible, compulsory attendance could

unr1ercut the subsistence patterns of 1ow income and single parent families.

In 1887, for example, the Aclelaide Board of Advice reported that "[t]here

is now 1itt1e oï no prejuclice against compulsory attendance, except where

the parents are very poor, and it must be confessed that in such cases

harclshill is involvccl". I 1s

To the educatorsrdisnay, even aflter 1878 nrany children continued to slip

through tþe tigh'Eening knot of con4lulsory schooting. Apart fron restrícti.ng

attenclance to tire lega1 minimum, sone parents calculated that it was

cheaper to obtain false medical certificates, or use a part of the childrs

earnings to pay the quarterly fine for non-attendanc.e, than to dispense

with their labour. Some chilclren simply rlid not register rvith the school

when they moved to a ne\^r locality - a sirnple pl'actice which five rschool

visitorsr were appointed to eraclicate in 1878. But they did not have time

to police the whole of tl'Le state. In 1893, the Port Augusta Board com-

plained that

198

...strange families come to our tohrn, and unless theynoti-fy their existence to the head teacher at the stateschool, there is no neans of enforcing the compulsoryclause unl ess a visitor went through the town peliodi--ca1ly.l)o

SirnilarIy, the Naracoorte Board wantecl a truant inspector a¡tpointed to

the South-East because

there are a nunber of children of school-going age whosenarnes have never been entered upon any school register,and rvho have never received any instruction, and theboard have no neans by whi clt they can foTçg the parentsof such children to send them to school.,-'

Even when the chilrJren did register, the country school boards were ln

ìnany cases not over enthusiastic in enforcing compulsory att.endance. In

1884 Inspector Whitham cotnplainecl that

In the country clistricts the compulsory clauses of rheEduc.ation Act are very rarely enforced with anythinglike effective rigour. Whenever alt of:Êicia1 visitor hasbeen sent round to the houses of absentees, a moreregular attendance has been the result, but where tlteTespolìsibi1íty of enforcing attendance has been left tothe local boarcls of aclvice it has generalJ.y only beenhalf clone. As a rule the country boards are mostunlvilling to prosecute delinquent parents who are theirnea:: neighbours, and not unfrequently their tradecust.ouìers, and the parcnts take little or no notice ofthe ordinary inti.mations sent to them... t18

To nake the sane poinL, Vockings, the superintendent of school visitors,

presented the statistics which appear on the following page.

But there was a tinit even on the efficacy of tTuant inspectors and

enthusiastic boards of advice. Many tchildren of the labourj.ng classesl

avoided conrpulsion -- or at Ieast refficient instructioltt, through enrolling

in cheap pri-vate schools. In 1879, Inspector Dewhirst complained in a way

which h¡as to be echoed again and again during the following fifteen years:

No sooner are the school visitors withdrawn from a givenneighbourhood than the increased attendance graduallydwindles down, although it never perhaps entirely diesaway. Many of these forced scholars, feeling the

199

Table 15I'PERCENTAGE OF CHTLDREN MADE TI}MS TO NUMBER OT' COMPULSORY AGE

EACH QUARTER''IT9

All school-sSchools vi'bh help of visitorsSchools where extra help is refused.Percentage of bad cases of neglect

AI],HeIpNo help

Ist 2nd,

Br.r582.927\.5

3rd,

81.5582. \1nn cEtt.))

,.\,l+.0

t2.I5

)+tfr

78.16Bo. rl+71.31

6B6ztl+

3BB96r

L',13.D)

1B

,2,7

5

3I3

5

5¿IIB

7

,.l_b.

3'3l-ff

discipline of a well-conclucted school to be very dis-tasteful, persuade their parents to allow then to removeto some petty school or other where punctuality, goodorder and cleanliness are never enforced. It is verynuch to be feared that comparatively little real goodwilt be effected until these mere apologies for schoolsare abolished - since they have in then only the form ofinstruction, and very poor form too, while destitute ofthe life and power. 12o

It is hard to estimate the numtrer of children who actually went to such

schools, but an inclication can be gained fron figures submitted by the

headmaster of Ilindrnarsh school. 'Ihe building had accomnodation for 1000

pupils, but only 600-700 were enrolled, since the public school was

competing with eight or nine snal1 private schools attended by 400-500

pupils. r2 I

Only in rare cases did the childrenrs attendance of these schools consti-

tute anything approaching conscious opposi'tion to refficientr state

schooling. Nevertheless, there is'anple evidence that nany working class

children and their parents traded the class bias of public school curricula

with regard to attendance, modes of behaviour, dress, expression and

morality for the often inferior scholastic ability and accomnodation of

private school teachers. Similarly, the parentsr desire for safe child-

200

minding and care frequently conflicted with the programrne of centralisa-

tion of schools. The public school might have been better or cheaper than

the private school round the corner, but many young children would have

hacl to walk long distances, oï cross busy thoroughfales, to get to it-

In Hindrnarsh, for example, the state school headmaster gave the following

reasons fo:: the children's preference of the snlall private schools: in a

manufacturilg d|strict, chilcl labour: was valued at home, and the private

schools did not police attendance; the private schools were cheapcr;

chilclren dicl not lil<e the discipline of the governnent school and "the

inconvenience ancl danger to children in the winter tirne crossing the Port

Road"r2z or the railwaY line.

Of these reasons, the ability of children to work and their oppositj-on to

school clisci-p1ine received particular attention frorn the official

educators. According to l1artleY,

.. .the children go to the private schools because thecliscipline is less strict than at the public schools. . .

These schools are really even helped by the acti-on ofthe schooJ. visitors, as the parents do lrot care for thetrouble and send the children where inquiries will notbe so closely nacle.123

pike, sumnarising sone of the available evidence, concluded that a few of

the rinefficient schoolsr "openly conspired with parents to defeat the

compulsion clause of the Education Actt'.12q

with regard to cliscipline, the educators complained tirat

.. .there are a nunber of little schools in tire colony. which charge so much per week, and being kept by incom-'f1fetent persons, are sínp1e havens of refuge for childrenlift^¡ho rvish to escape the discipline of the goverrìment\!.nools. r2s

A particular example, pointed out by Inspector flurgan, r:eferred to an

incident when

20r

...one private school was opened at Port Pirie...andthe chilclren went to the private school fron the publicschool because they would not stand the discipline atthe latter. 1'u

As was the case before the passage of the 1875 Act, parents tended to be

guided by criteria considered to be corrupt and uninforned i.n selecting

teachers for their children, giving preferetrce to friends and people in

need, and ¡nethocl-s that were familiar and readily understandable. According

to the critics,

...the laclies and others tvho conduct these cheap privateschools have never had any special training for schoolwork. Generally their parents have two or three littleones to teach, and they form a nucleus, and they getchildren from other fanilies to come and be taught withthem. t 2 7

Some were "kept by girls who could not pass a pupil teacherrs examination",l2s

or uclaughters of working men, who I thought should be engaged in some other

work, but still tlie parents r^¡ould send the chi-ldren to them".12e In

acltlit.ion, as Joþlrson noted in the case of England, rrltlhe co]nmon philan-

thropic distrust of the irrtelligent but unsupervised teacher of working

class loyalties undoubtedly had a basis in fact. Schoolnaster was qui,te a

conmon occupation anong prominent radicals.rtl 30

Faced with irregular attendance, truancy and other forns of resistance to

state schooling, edr.rcationists moved beyond attempts to tighten school

discipline: they tried to get rid of the cheap pri.vate schools, and

attacked parents for failj-ng to bri,ng up their children rproperly' . This

attack, as Richarcl Johnson has noted, I^Ias a specific assault on the work

patterns, habits, customs and attitudes - the culture, that is, of

uliskilled working people, even though it used the apparentl.y neut'ral

language of morality.t'I Thus, for example, in evidence to the 1881-4

Comnission on Education, Griffiths, head of a l.arge Ilinclmarsh school

202

attende<] mainly by working class children, suggested that the city mi.ssion

shoutd tget hold of the parentsr, because their positiou was ta very

¿eplorable one indeedt. Iflren Mr:. Tonlcinson, one of the comnissioners'

askecl in dismayrrls there no legal control over them?rr, Griffiths replied

nNo, but if the parents were brought to a better frame of nind sonething

rnight be done. I knorv that amongst the children attencling nty school there

is a great deal of depravity...rrl32

Five years later, the Board <¡f Advice in the same working class suburb

sent out a letter suggesting that a conference of Boards throughout the

state should prepare a booklet for poor parents on how to bring up their

children. The booklet would contain "[s]inple and concise form of sugges-

tions regarcling the treatnent, discipline and encour¿tgenent in the honerl

and be sent rrto each parent or guardian, with a strong reconmendation to

carry out the suggestions givenr'. Like Headmaster Griffiths, the Hindmarsh

Board of Advice reasoned that "a latge proportion of the truancy from

school is due to the want of salutary influence and discipline in the home,

alrd can only be cur:ecl by reaching that sphelgrr. t 3 3

Witþ the passag€ of the conpulsory education clauses, however, the assault

on the tvorking class fanily could - and did - proceed further. Now, it

ì,ras not only the tmoralityr of child-rearing practices u'hich came under

at.tack, but patterns of fannily subsistence. ltre educationists u'ere lrot

slow to realise that in many households, child labour macle an essential

contribution to the family b t. The North Adelaide Board of Advice,

for example, acknowledged that:

In nost cases poverty has been the cause of non-attendance, necessitating the detention of the childrenat home to nrind thc younger ones whilst the motirer wentout to work, or from the want of necessary boots andclothing. l 3r

203

Yet throughout their reports, child labour is presented as a problem for

the school to suppress, rather as a necessity for the working class family.

Accordirrg to a typical statenent, "[t]he parents are to blane, and do not

attach the importancc to strict punctuality which it deserves".135 As the

Ilindmarsh Board put i.t,

The district is the chief manufacturing one of thecolony, and, owing to the comparatively 1ow rate ofcottage rents, a consiclerable number of widows, invalids,poor fanilj.es and immigrants reside here...Great troublehas been experienced in dealing with the compulsoryclause in the case of children who, in a great measure:are the support of the family. Thi-s has had to berernedied, and only in special cases is the practiceallowed to be continued. "u

Sinilarly, after hearing Inspector Stanton testify before the Commission

on education that 'the labouring classes and smal1 farmersrwere not over-

enthusi.astic about sending their cllildren to school ("It night be that if

they were in easier circumstances they would -see matters a little differ-

ently, but in the struggle for bread they are only too glad to get their

childrenrs aid"), the conunissioners snugly concluded that law enforcenent

lvas the only answer: rr...unless the law is put in force, parents in

mrmeïous cases would not allow their children to attend school".137

Nevertheless, as tlte inspectors realised, stringent law enforcement with

regard to compulsory attendance tended to provide more customers for the

small private schools. And these schools proved remarkably hard t.o get

rid of. Tre education Acts of 1875 and 1878 established a clear, but

virtually unenforceable, 1ega1 position.

Schools could not be conpelled to have themselvesdeclarecl efficj.ent, nor could action be taken againstthe proprietors of inefficient schools. But proceedingscould be taken against parents for sending theirchildren to such schools, as the 1aw requirecl thatchildren attend a public school or an refficientlprivate school. I 38

204

In 1879, this 1egaI position was tested in the Mt. Muirhead Court. The

local Board of Advice, confrÒnted with resistance to the enforcement of

the conpulsory clauses, took legal action to rcombatr those who rsent

their child::en to private school not certifiecl efficientt . I 3e In its

crusade, the Board felt

confident that it has only done its duty to the State inascertaining this question, without the slightest wishto restrict private schools when duly efficient. TheBoard is quite alive to the fear lest inefficíentschools degenerate into litt1e more than places forchild-farming. I4o

But although the result of tl're court action was rfavourable and decisiver,

the enthusiasts found themselves rnot a popular Board of Advicer...rThe

result is most unpopular, and considered harsh and stringent.r The

opposition of parents was such that the chairman was forced to resign,

and the Board to reverse its position.

During the IB80s, several unsuccessful bills containing proposed solutions

to the rproblem' of private schools were introduced. 0n the one hand, to

ensure that the small private schools becane refficientr, the Dducation

Department wanted them inspected by its officers. But independent scheol-

nasters flatly refused what they saw as a drastic reducti,on of their

autonomy. The supporters of denoninational schools, on the other hand,

proposed to convert them to the idea of inspection and refficiencyt by a

capitation grant to private schools. Again, the proposal failed - not

least because such a schene would have provided direct monetary support

for the Catholics, who were then practically excluded fron the provision

of pubtic schooling, and whose influence the protestant denominations

would have been loath to increase.

205

In the end, al.though rpersonally and theoreticall.yt in favour of paynent

for education,lnr the Inspector-General and his supporters opted for the

Iesser of two evils. Free eclucati.on mì-ght be full of rcornmunistic

principles r, but it seened to be the only way to solve a much nore immediate

problen - discipline the pri.vate schoolmasters. since

...if there were no fees we should not have the private-school difficulty. ..because the pri.vate schools cannotsupport thernselves against an open and free government,yrt"t, tu'

the best way to enlarge the department ancl enforce efficiency was to join

forces with raclical ancl Labor parliarnentarians, and make public schools

free. r q 3

The introduction of free education coinci<led with the onset of the 1890s

depress1on. In the harsh economic conditions, private schooling became a

luxury most working families could no longer afford. Between 1890 and

1892, public school enrolntents jumped by 8,653.144 By the sarne token,

childrenrs casual earnings or help at home becane nore important than

ever. Many of the new reluctant scholars thus probabLy joined the ranks

of rstreet cirildrenr - children who attended school for the minímum legal

period only, and often spent the remainder of the time seeking casual jobs

or helping their parents. t a s

The independent activities of sueh chilclren sharpened their wits and self-

reliance, especially in conparison with their increasingly repressed well-

schooled fellows" But while they raere often accused of runnatural

precocity' on tþis count, the handicap these children experienced with

regard to observing school routines increasingly 1ed to t-heir identifica-

tion as less able and intelligent.

206

The social construction of the concept of intelligence

In his paper rrClass structule and the concept of intelligencerr, Paul

l-lenderson points out that most debates on education and intelligence have

been conducted in terrns of the hereclity-environment contToversy. But

these differences,

...sharp as they appear, nevertheless share a co¡nmon frameof referenc.e. Under the domination of this frarnework,focus is directed to the acquisition of intelligence,rather than towards the social basis of thc concept ofintelligence and the functions performed by this conceptìn class society.1+b

In my chapter, I have attempted to go sonle way towards charting this

latter research project. As I have argued, the implementation of the 1875

Education Act helped to create an unambiguously defined category of

I successful childrenr .

Long befole the childrs capacity, however defined, came into question,

rigictly enforced school routines, such as timetables and exans, acted to

select out certain categories of Pupils as successful. Residential

rnobility, regularì-ty of attendance, health,lqT willingness and ability to

master a di.fferent dialect and amenability to school discípline and tine-

keeping were sone of the ntost inportant variables. Above all, these

depencled on the clifferent life and work patterns of various sections of

the working population, citY residence,Ìus ownership of a house and regular

work which did not require substantial childrenrs assistance, being

__"jf9.fu11y significant. Over time, these practices helped to create a new

gener4l conmonsense category of intelligent children, which came to figure

prominently in the education poli.cies of the different political groupings

Kerry Wimshurst, in his analysis of 480 boys who enrolled at l{indmarsh

Primary School between Januarl' 1898 and Ju¡re 1900, confirms thcse

?.07

conclusions. Accorcling Lo him, there was high statistical probability for a

Isuccessful chiIdt to be

l'he son of a shopkeeper r-rr white collar worker brrt more

likely the son of a skilled tradesnìan, especially therlabour aïistoclacyr, an ironworker, plaster:er, carpenLer.. .his attendance rate was high' certainly within the

The unsuccessful child, on the other hand,

...was probably from the unskilled labouring groups -the car:icï'sr life-stylc ancl nced for help from thcirsons particularly clashed with school requirements.His attendance rate hlas poor, probably less than thatclenrandecl by the 1875 At:t (65e" of tlie school year).Attainment was low, class 5 or less, Ieaving hin closeto seni-illiteracy. lle probably repeated two years inaclclition to any he repeatcd in the junior primary

r50clr.vlS10n.

Intelligence could, of course, be defined quite differently. English

working class radicals in the first half of the nineteenth century coulcl

put a high value on liter:acy, yet perceive the fallacy of equating it with

intelli.gence. According to Johnson,

This was startlingly expressed in a defence of theilliter:ate. rMen are not to be called ignorartt becausethey cannot make Lrpon paper certain marks with a pen'ot t".o,rte they do not know the rneaning of srrch markswhen macle by others.r By the same rule, those whom thervorldcalled wise were often ver:y stupid. of the eclítorof Morning ChronicLe and of others rvith a facility forwords Lcobbettl wrote rthey.ygre extrenely enli.ghtened,but they had nó knowledge¡.151

In South Australia, an exan-oriertted rslnartnessr was simi.larly challenged

In the same year that public elementary schooling wa.s made free,

l,t/. Catton Grasby, a former teacher and outspoken critic of Hartleyts

adnúnistratiorr, pourecl scoïn on the schoolsr definition of intelligerice.

Do our schools fulfil to the greatest extent thosepuïposes for whicll the state undert¿rkes the purpose ofeclucation? fjor an answeï, we may ask the teacher who

208

feels his noble aims ancl purposes stifled, and his bestenergies crampcd and prostitutcd tiy the curse of a

mechanical examinati.on. Question the thoughtful parentwhose child is placed under the control o:Ê a boy or girlpupil teacher unable to understand the objects or meansof education to be cranrned with undigestcd facts, taughtto admirc snt¿rrtncss instead of thoroughncss, led to workin order to pass a paltry exarnination instead of for thelove of knowleclge, prompted to adopt dishonest tricks inorder to ensure a pass, and finally is turned out tvithno concept.ion of the dignity and independence of work,and no power to make the hand the instrument for execr-rtingthe conèeptions of the mind.rs2

Yet the schoolsr conception of intelligencc was aided by other processes.

As argued in Chapter 7, one arena where the new sorting out of successful

and unsuccessful - and therefore rintelligentr and fstupidr - children was

immediately uscful was technical education. In the 1870s and early 1880s,

proponents of technical education in South Australia advocated a general

increase in the skill of the whole working population. The Regrster, for

example, argued that I'In proportion...to the intelligence of its operatives

as a whole the working power of a tration is largely determinecl".r53

iVith the onset of the 1890s depression, however, the proposals for technical

education c¿rme to reflect, much more closely, the ernerging division of

labour within capitalist enterprises. Here, a large-sca1e process of

t de-skil lingr was taking place . I\rhi le most workers were progressively

relegated to sinple, unskilled work, production knowledge was concentrated

in an ever-smalIer proportion of speci.ally trainecl ernploy"es. ltu

Accordingly, manufacturersr clemands for technical education no longer

specified education for all, but ca11ed for special training of a handful

of leaders of industry. As the Register put i-t,

What we contend for is a candj.d recognition of the truththat technical instruction, if it is to be worth themoney expencled upon it, must not be forced upon thoselvho do not.seek it, but should be offered to those whosebrai,ns and zeal and industry warrant the outlay invc¡lvedin providing it. l ss

209

And it is here that the new conmonsense concept of intelligence became

significant. 'Ihe changed denands had a ring ofrnatural lawtabout then.

Sorne young folk rnay be exactly suited to educationalequipnent as the future rcaptains of industryt, but thisremark does not apply to the rnajority...The chances ofheredity cause the big brains and large capacities forwork and leadership to occur sporadically. ..Nr¡nerousyoung rnen have no taste or aptitude for special techni-cal studies. These may have their useful places in theecononìy of industry, but they will never aèt as leaders.ls6

Fortunately, by now, almost everybody knew that some children were too

stupid to succeed ín school.. .

Notes

2ro

SAPP, 1887, No.44, p.18.

Irrspector Stanton in SÄPP, 1883-4, No.27a, p.3I/7367.

Wyatt was born in 1804, Flartley in 1844.

I'At the two extremes of the social scale - among the aristocracy andthe non-respectable labouring pool, Methodism had little influence,but among the middle class and some sections of the working class itsectired a firm holcl. lt¡hile the Wesleyan Methodists in most placeswere predominantly a middle class body, the Primitive Methodists hada pronounced working class flavour.rr J.F.C. Harrison: The earJgVictorians, 7832'51 (Panther, 1973).

'fhe account which follows is based primarily on two sources - thethree lengthy transcripts of evidence given to the 1880s RoyalCommission on Education (which began, in 1881,, as the Sel-ectComnittee of the House of Assembly on Education), and the yearlyReports of the Education Departnent. Although, during llartleyrslifetime, these reports do ¡rot show any serious differences inapproach to educational mattels between the different inspectors,such agreement probabty owed far rnore to the Inspector-Generalrscensorship than to real. consensus. tlartleyrs sharp criticisms ofvarious inspectors in his confidential letters, as well as thedivergence of opinions within the inspectorate which marked thedepartment'-s yearly reports after ttartleyrs death, seem to confirnthis. See Tåe confidentíal Tetterbook of the South AusttaLianInspector*GeneraJ. of School-s 1,880-L974 reptoduccd as Murray Parksources in the history of S.A. education, No.8.

As late as 1871, the Education Board wrote that I'We consider thechief aim of the instrtrction imparted in public schools should be tosecure to the children attending them, as generally as possible, theability to read intelligib1y, and write, and conpute with a fairdegr:ee of neatness and accuracy; and that it is desirable theseimportant elenentar)' branches should be thoroughly taught, even if itshoutd be at the risk of the childrents inability to run off theconjugation of verbs, or long lists of the capital cities of foreigncounLri-es, with their rivers and mountains.tt íAGG,4.5.1871, p.631.

IAPP, 1868, No.56, p.36/626,628. The thorough grounding in hiddenc.urricula before children are all<lwed to stalt learning to read andwrite is clearly explained in a widely used nid-nineteenth centuryworking class reader: rrllirst, then, you were taught to conte toschool, with clean hands, face and hair...Next, /ou were taughtorder, to put alvay your things...in their proper places, to be civiland respectful in your behaviour towards your teachers, and gentle toeach other; to be silent during lessons; and to conforrn to all theother rules of your school. This was the first part of your education;and these things are taught, not because they are important, butbecause they are necessary to the peace and comfort of others, andtherefore to the order of the school...It was necessary, then, thatyou should first learn to be civil, gentle and orderly; for this is

I

2

5

4

5

ó

7

8

I

2TI

patt of gour dutg to gout neighbur.tt Irish Conunissioners: SequeT tothe 2nd Ipok of fessons for the use of schooTs, p.7, quoted i-nJ.M. Golclstronl: The sociaf eantent of education l-808-7870, p.81.

sÀPP, 1875, No.26, P,12,

S/IPP, 1878, No.40, p.22.

During the Royal Corunission into education, Inspector Stanton was

askecll "Do I understand you to say that it would be more difficultto carry out a resìrlt systen i.f you allowed nore individuality?"trYesrr, he replied, 'rI think it would be more difficult to saîry outany fair system of inspection under the rcsult system or any otherryrt"*...[The inspectors] would not be able tcl get a true comparison,and therefore [the teachers] would lose the spirit of emulationwhich is very irnportant.'r SAPP ' 1883-4, No. 27a, p.32/7375 '

SÀPP, 1BB3-4, No.27a, p.3I/7363. The sane collception of excellenceas uniformity afflicted drawing as wel1. In 1883 Inspector Burgan

complained that although "Drawing is irnprovitg,.. .there are too many

metirods employed in teachirrg it, ancl the rest¡lts are not uniformrr'SÀPP, 1883, No.44, p.23.

s/tPP, 1BB3-4, No.27a, P.32/7371.

SAPP, 1875, No.26 , P.12.

sÀpp, 1868, No.56, p.78/1488-9. In i871, the Board of Educationwrote: 'r'l'he absenc.e of any sySten of exanination in set stan'dardsprevents us from making a comparison as to the progress and efficiencyãf tn" scholars in one district with those in another...r' 9APP,1871,No.22, p.7. Two years later, they brought into operation thefollowiug regulation: rrAnnual exams: The leports of such exalninationmust be ðupplied on printed fonns suppli ed to the teachers for thepurpose. ùèsi.des a itatement of the nunber of classes exanined, theLrañches taught, and the profici.ency attained, particulars are alsoto be given ãs to the order and discipline of the school, the appear-un." oñd behaviour of the scholars, and the state of the schoolroom"rt}AGG,8.5.1873, p.693.

According to Inspector Wyatt, "Though such exarninations are but veryinconplete tests either of the efficiency of the preceptor or thegenerã1 usefulness of the school, they are of considerable importanceln their tenclency to create a kindly feeling between all the partiesinterested, and may frequently give rise to conbined efforts on thepart of the residents of any neighbourhood thus occasionally broughttogether'r . SAGG, 3.3.I859, p.201. 'Ihis form of examinationsuivivecl until the early 1870s. In 1872, the annual report of theBoarcl of Erlucation stated that: rrÏn many country places theseexaminations forn a sort of annual festival, being followed by some

kind of entertainment or soirée, generally including a lecture on a

popular or instructive subject, and attended by rnost of the residentsin the neighbourhood'r. S.APP, L872, No.73, p'11.

While the-se traclitional working class eclucational practi-ces depended

on co-operation, close link with people's everyday experiences in

I0.

11.

T2,

15.

14.

15.

16.

2r2

17.

terms of subject matter, concepts and language and, to a largeextent, on spoken word; the new exaninable knowledge elaborated aliensubject matter with the aid of unfamiliar concepts and granmar., andemphasized individuality and written expression.

iAPP, 1881, No.122, P.58/L265-6. In 1878, "The noral tone of theschool has already undergone a narvellous alteration for the better"Not only has the miserable habit oftcopyingt (so general among

schoolboys a short time ago) lessened considerably, but the increasedatten'tion and respectful conduct of the lads while under examinat-ionafford proof that higher ground has been taken. The change has beenaffected by the teachers showing them the dishonesty of such practicestkeeping thern well occupied, and exercising a stricter oversight whilethey have been at work.'r sÄPP, 1878, No.40, P.15.

18. IAPP, I896, No.44, p"15.

19. If, in the early 1870s, pupils were chided for ignoring the purposeof exams, by the 1890s they seenred to have got the rnessage. Accordingto Inspector C1ark, I'Although the characteristic errors in the speechof young Australia sti11 exist, when the scholar is reading for histeacher or tl're inspector he is very particular to mind his aspirates,to be careful of his vowerls and final consonants, and does his bestto earn and deserve tliat rmarkf to gain whicli affords hirn suchinfinite gratification. How cleverly he gets a gl.irnpse of the passsheet, or failing that how i.nnocently and pleadingly he propounds thequery, rHave f pa-ssed, sir?r and on receiving an affirnative replymarches proudly to his place. When outsicle his pent-up feelings arevented j-n an exultant cry of rlrve passed!rrr SAPP, 1897, No.44, p.13.

20. HeraTd, I f.1 .1895.

2L. If, in Latin American countri.es, the suppression of literacy in thepeasantsr ot/n language could produce a politically irnpotent rcultureof silencer, the enforcenent of Correct Iìnglish in tl're Australianconditions could be seen as one of the factor:s inpeding the formationof radical working class consciousness. See P. Freirez Pedagogg oftåe oppressed (Penguin, 1972),

22. IAPP, 1875, No.26, p.B.

23. SAPP, 1887, No.44, p.18 (ny emphasis)

24 In the 4th cIass, for exanple, the reacling test allowed for only oneslip in eight lines of the 4th Rogal Reader, and the dictation testwas t'B lines frorn tire 4th Rogal Reader, with one lnistake allowed.That may be the nisplacenent of a letter, or a capital letter beingput out of its place, or the omission of the apostrophe. If a childfrom nervousness makes one slip of that character, and spel1s oneword wrong, he would have to fail.tt íAPP, 1882, No.27, p.29.Nevertheless, tnany teachers appreciated that a less idiosyncraticmode of spclling would have nade their task ntuch easier. The 18BB

London School Board Commission, for exanple, was in favour of a

revolution in spelling since rt...teaching the spelling of inegularverbs weakens the childrenrs sense of the invariable nature ofscientific lawSrr. RegrisÊer, 15.6.1888.

25.

26.

)"f

213

sAPP, 1881, No.122, P.93/2100.

iAPP, 1881, No.122, p.10212283 (my emphasis). In view of theconstant preoccupation of teachers with keeping working classchilclren quiet, it is a strange (although conmon) assumption thatthey have no language.

sApp, 1881, No.122, p.83/2097, Similarly, Hartley, in canvassingschools for lists of misspelt words so that locally produced sheetsco¡1d be prepa::ecl, dicl his bit in the battle agaiust the emergence of1ocal clialects or tprovincialis.msr . rtAs settlement increases and

gets more fixed, each locality will develop some peculiarity. Our

ãeachers should enrleavour to stem these tendencies...'r SAPP' 1886,

No.44, p.15. See also C. Thiele; Grains of mustard seed, p.152.

28. 1APP, 1881, No.122, p.93/2I0L.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

See, for cxantple, M. tr. D. Youttg: Knowfedge and conttol- '

sÄPP, 1886, No.44, P.15.

SAPP, I887, No.44, P.18.

SAPP, 1B9B-9, No. 44, P.l7 .

SAPP, 1887, No.44, P.18.

"'lhe children when in school are careful to avoid erlors, or if theyconmit then can, without prompting, supply the correct r:endering.out of school they, of course, hear tEnglish as she is spoker, and

the boys at any rate are ever imbued with the idea that if theyattenrpt to talk better than their conpanions they will be accused or,rsp"ãt"d of tputting on sider; and so to avoid remark they speak as

their fellows do...There is a good deal in the story of the gentleman

who was invit.ed by one of those persist-ent newsvendors to buy hiswares. tlVant atawk, sir? l\lant a tawk?t tWhI dontt you say Hawk,

my 1ad?r 'oh, I know all about your blessed aspirates. Do you want

arawk?trt iAPP, 1899, No.44, P.14.

35. foc . cit. ,

36. sApp, 1875, No.26, p.I2. Dri11 was introduced officially intoschools i¡ J¡Iy 1878. In 1879, 500 breech-loading carbines werej-ssued to south Australian primary schools. c. Thiele, oP. cit.,p.24 .

37, 'APP,

1875, No.26, P.14.

Sg, C. Thiele , op. cit., pp.24-5. Clark was not alone in his adrnirationfor the military. L.G. Madley, Principat of the 'Ieacher TrainingCollege from 1876 to 1896" r{as renowned for hjs active involvementwith ihe militia. Appropriately, he left teaching to become

Conmissioner of Poliãe. J.E. Saunders: "Prrblic education in SouthAustraliar?, P.301.

39. SAPP, 1881, No.122, P.113/2418.

214

40.

4L.

42.

'APP, 1881, No.122, p.Ll4/2427.

IAPP, 1881, No.122, P.39/831.

E.P. Thonpson: t'Time, work-discipline, and industrial capitalisnrr inPast and. Present (No.58, 1967).

As M. Katz rernarked: rrlt is no accident that the mass production ofclocks and watches began at about the same time as the mass produc-tion of public schoolsrr. M. Katz: I'The origins of public education:a reassessnentrr, P.395.

sÀPP, 1881, No.122, P.22/394.

S.APP, 188I, No. 122 , P.24/454.

SAPP,1887, No.44, P.59

SAGG, 11.6. 1867, P"65f .

SAPP, 1875, No.27, P.11.

1APP, 1884, No.44, P.19.

såPP, 1881, No. 122 , P.98/2217 ,

SAPP, 1881, No.122, P.59/1283.

iAPP, 1BBl, No.122, p.\SO/3237.

sÄPP, 1BB3-4, No.44, P.5.

SAPP, 1896, No.44, P.15.

SAPP, 1881, No. 122 , P.82/ 1845 '

SAPP, 1884, No.44, P. 17.

'APP, 1888, No.44, P.5.

SAPP , 1896, No . 44, P . 14 .

s^¿PP, 1904, No.44, P . 16.

SAPP,1899, No.44, p.20. Sone aspects of the new discipline could be

linkecl with the process of centralisation of schools. In the opinionof some cotttempoiary observers, the large rooms and high teacher-pupi1ratio logically required nilitary discipline and irnpersonal teacher-pupil relations.

sApp, Igo2, No.44, p.18. And again, ttBoth in large and in smal1

schools tþe teachers are exhausting their energies in the effort tostimulate the children to take part in the lesson. The eager look,the alert mincl, and the pupilrs own question are the cornparativelyrare exception. Very often even the physical attitude of attentionand work is wanting. In the absence of the real desire to know, the

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

215

teachers in their haste are forced to the use of all the extrinsicmotives, suclt as love of approbati.on and fear of detention afterschool hours...rr SAPP' 1903, No.44, P.19.

I896, No.44, p.12.

64

62. s^åPP,

63. sAPP,

65.

66

67.

1903, No.44, p.15.

SAPP, 1903, No.44, p.25.

0r rnore precisely, the appointnent of thc new Board of Education in1874, For a ntore detailed treatment of this question, see B.K. I{yams:rThe teacher in South Australia in the second half of the nineteenthcenturyrt in .AusÈraLian JournaL of Education (vol.15, No.3, 1971).

In this process, by an unexplained coincidence, many Anglican school-nasters were replaced by Wesleyan ones. Often, it is assumed thatthose who were forced to leave were simply incompetents and dissolutedrunkards. In some cases, this might have been true, but evidence tothe lBBl Commission on Education shows that more was involved than af weecling out of inefficient teachersr. SAPP, 1881, No.122, p,45/946.Throughóut, there is a strong impression that Hartley atte¡npted tot"*o',r" those who had serious objections to the departrnentsr particularunclerstanding of pedagogy as wc11.Although it is difficult to substantiate the allegations of some head

teache:sthat grossly unfair practices - such as sending then a stringofrfailedrassistants and removing their capable ones, h¡as used todenote them and generally nake their life difficult, the evídence ofInspector Dewhirst is nrore suLrstantial. Accused by tlartley (and hisbiographers), of being lax in his duty, taking days off, and generally,beiñg accustonted to the more easygoing previous regime, working lesshard than the other inspectors (with llartley tolerating this weakness

beca¡se of the senior inspectorrs advancing years), Dewhirst produceddetailed records which showecl exactly the reverse. He had a largerworkload than the other inspectors; the allegations about days offwere untrue; and his already disproportionate workload was actuallyincreased in the preceding year, while that of the other inspectorsrenained more oT less stable or: was reduced. SAPP' 1882, No.27,pp.230-1.

According to G.N. Hawker, this process of bureaucratisation occurred,from the mid-lB70s, throughout the South Australian civil service.G.N. Hawker: rrllhe developnent of the South Australian civil service1856-1936'r. Besides bureaucratisation, the process can be concep-tualised as reification of personal relations in the department.Reification is a process rvhereby aspects of social intercourse assume

a thing-like quality, *hich suddenly nakes them seem to be indepen<lentof hurnan action and design, conceals their human authorship, and putsthem over and above tl're people who created them and who perpetuatethem in their actions. (Thus, for exarnple, cheating is a constluctwhich robs the païticipants in a particular situation of the power todecide whether or not t-hey want to or should co-operate on a certainproject.) Sinilarly, the payment by results systen, discussed inmore detail below, tratìsforned a hunan plocess into a thing:

,rmeasuring the care ancl application of the master as one would thecubic contents of geornetric bodiesf.

(

216

68 . C. ThieIe i op . cit. , p. 16.

69 sÄPP., p"17. As he wrote in a confidential letter, "l1lê ar:e respon-sible for the morality of the schools, and the very híghcst standardnust be maintained at whatever cost of p;rin and suffering toindj-vidualsr'. Letter fron J.A. tlartley to P.W. Jones , No,22, inThe confidentiaL l-etterbook.

70. .q/lpp, Itì82, No.27, p.203/6710-"1..

7I. sLpï), IBB3-4, No.27a, p.3I/7366,

72. sAPP, IB9l, No"43, p.xvi"

73, In 1869 the Anglican Synod decided in favour of the systen ofi paynentby results, whi.ch the Catholics would also have accepted.J.E. Saundcrs, ilThc statc anel eclucation in South Australia i836-1875r',p.227 .

74. SAPP, 1882, No.27, p.74/4533"

75. And sone have succeeded unconrmonly well in teaching their pupils topass exams: the head of Prince Alfrecl Col1ege, speaking of exhibit.ionboys from public schools made the point: r'...I must say that theyhave le¿rrned to p¿rss exanì.lnatjons. There is no clenying that; and Ithink there must be a little too rnuclt examinations in the publicsc.hool system to produce boys who can pass examinations so we11, andyet some of whom off the line of thcjr i.mnlediate subjects seem topossess very little infornation.t' 9APP, 1883-4, No.27a, p.35/74I8.It woul cl be interesting to speculate whether the boysr lack ofi-nformation should not in fact reacl 'little information consideredimportant by the usual clientele of private colleges I .

76.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

82.

83.

84.

85.

86.

IAPP, 1881, No.I22, p.158/3280.

SÄPP, 1883-4, No.27a, p.9B/9074

SAPP,u-s ed,

1881, No.122, p.I4I/2883. Notice that the same terrninology istwenty years 1ater, by inspectors conr,/erted to New Education.

SAPP, 1902, No.44, p.23

SAPP, 1881, No"122, 7-:..27/528

SAPP, 1885, No.27a, p.I0B/a6349.

D. Pike : 'tllducation in an agricultural s tatert, p . 78 .

IAPP, 188I, No.122, p.57/I074.

SAPP, I881, No.I22, p.5I/I078.

;APP, 1882, No.27, p.16!>/6334.

IAPP, 1881, No.122, p.41/868.

87. SAPP, 1882, No.27, P.85/4793-4'

88. .s^APP, 1897, No.44, P.ll'

B9

90

217

I896, No.44, P.16.

1898-9, No.44, P.15.

1903, No .44, P . 17 .

1905, No.44, P.2I.

1883-4, No. 27a, P "59/794I.

SAPP, 1880, No.44, P.2.

sÀPP,1882,No.27,p.31/4017'Inhisbook,W'C'Grasbyclaimedthat,,Teachers wtro gain

-higl', p"t.entages almost without exception keep

their children in aftér ichool tó cram them up for the examinationtr'

I4r.c. Grasby: our public schoofs (l{ussey ancl GiIlingharn, 189r), P'23'

91. 9APP,

92. SAPP,

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

SAPP,

SAPP,

SAPP,

98.

99.

100.

r01.

102.

IAPP, 1882, No ' 27a , P "82/7418 '

sÀPP' 1883-4, No.27a, p.|07/a6299. Seven yeaTs later, the situationìrad not changed nuchi "Of the 595 children from the four Adelaide

sclroolst,llropassedthecornpulsorystandard.intheSyearslS90to1892 one was aged 9, 38 were 10, 129 were 11' and 201 were 12'r'

B.K. llyams and B. Bãssant: SchooTs for the people' p'145'

In 1898, the Board of Inspectors proclaimed-: rrOur aim has been to

fo11ow the lines so strongly defined and adhered to by the latelamentedheadoftheDepartment,Ml'J'A'Hartley'andinallcaseswe have encleavourecl to ^have the rules and regtrlations strictly and

conscientiously observed ancl acted on". SAPP, 1898-9, No'44, p'10'

iAPP ' 1B9B-9, No. 44 , P '17 '

SAPP' L902, No.44, P'13'

IAPP,!g02,No.44,p.18'Bylg05,InspectorMaughanconcluded,rKnibbs and rurner ànpnatically state ih"t thu system of New south

lVales needs to Uà-tu¿ically reformed...What is true of New South Wales

is true of our ãwn State, ãn<l no amount of self-complacency, if we are

wealt enough to indulge in it, will alter the fact' The State is not

getti.ng tñe best porõibt" ïeturn for its expenditure.r' SAPP' 1905'

No. 44, P. 25 .

sÀPP, 1904, No.44, p.17 (my enrphasis) . Accorrling to lVimshurst, there

was a marked poriiiïe .ottLl"tion between socio-economic status and

achievenent among boys enrolled in the Hindnarsh Primary school

between 1895 and 191-0: "The table be10w shows the proportions of(Iess than 65e") attendances '

shopkeePers with Poor attendanceheii attainment it is obvious that

r fathers and sti1l gain valuableois code of values, however the

218

Table 16HTNDMARSH PRÍMARY SCHOOL _ OCCUPATTON AND ATTENDANCE

qood. attetrdance poor attendance

petit bourgeoisskil-1edsemi-skiIl-edunskilled

carterts son who helped his father during school hours acquiredskills ancl a life view not measured by formal schooling. Againwhereas only 24% of the labourers I sons attended more than 90eo oftlre tine, 45Yo of tlìe labour elite iron worketsr sons did so."K. lVimshurst: rrFormal schooling and social structure in a workingclass rnunicipality: Hindmarsh in South Australia, 1895-1910r' (Roneo

palrer, [jlinders University, 1977), p.18.

IAPP, 1905, No.44 , p.2O (my emphasis).

Loc. cit. (my emphasis). Indeed, teachers took obselrvance of theregulations so much to heart that, instead of attempting to fitschools to the neecls of children, they passed, at their 1904 confer-ence, a resolution calling for the tightening of attendance require-ments: rrThat this meeting of teachers desires to place on record itsopinion that the compulsory clauses of the Education Act should bearnended, because at present they are not calculated to serve the bestinterests of the statert. Quoted in SAPP, 1905, No.44, P.24.

See Eclucation Regulations , SAPP, 1876, No.21, pp. 6'7 '

sApp, 1882, No.27, p.37/afi4. The leason presumably was that girlsshould not be taught to think.

Research on the second question has not yet been completed inAustralia. llowever, I{e can assume that something sinilar happened as

has been reporte<l by Davey in his research in Canada (although hisdata refer to the period of free education before compulsion was

introducecl). "The analysis of the occupational background of thelnale and female students reveals that girls from some occupationalbackgrounds were much less 1ike1y to attend school than their brothers.If yõu were the daughter of a merchant or professional, a shopkeeperor clerk or a skilled artisan you were lnore likely to attend schoolthan if your father was a semi-skilled worker or labourer or if yourrnother was a wiclow. Ilowever, unless you were the daughter of a

labourer or, perhaps a skilled artisan oT widow, ygur chance ofattending school was nowhere as good as your brotherrs...The twogroups with proportionatety greatest divergence between male and

iernot" attendance, the rpetite bourgeoisier and the semi-ski11edworkers, ilây have harboured anbitions for their sons, anbitions theyattempted to fulfil at the expense of their daughters.r' I.E. Davey:rrEducational refornt a.nd the working c lass t¡ , p .224 . See also ch.5, p .25I '

1884, No.44, P.2

6z/"6o/'29r,)+6f"

2I+f'Bf'

29r"15/'

103.

104.

105.

106.

L07.

108. sÄPP,

109. SAPP,

110. 9APP,

1898-9, No.44, p.19

1882, No.27, p.189.

TT2.

2r9

111. Conficlentjal letter fron J.A. Ilartley to Mrs. Dowdy, reproduced as

letter No" 225 in ?,he canfi-denti.r-1 J"c'tùerbook.

lJeforc the 1875 Act, the first stePs tow¿rrds this were made by theDestitute Board and the Catholic Church. The Destitute Board nadeeilucation effectively compulsory for a small section of the populationw|en it insisted that, to be eligible for government relief, destituteparents must send their children to school. And, as ReverendTenison-l{oods said for the Catholic.s irt 1865, "Amongst out own

denomination, we have a very efficient systen of house to housevisitation, ancl I clo not- think there are many children who donrtattend school. If they cannot pay fc¡r schooling, we take them fornothj.ng." ;APP, 1868, No.56, p.9/1a0. Many of the Catholic schools,however, caìne to be considerecl an tinefficientt by Hartleyts adminis-tration.

113 . In lBBl, it was said: "...everyone knows that the attendance atSt. PetersrCollege or Fri¡rce Âlfred College does not bear anycomparison with the attendance at the government schools. Thechildren go to the former everyday ancl aII day, unless some palticularoccurrence det¿rins thent at hone, which is a rare thing.'r SAPP, 1881,No.122 , p.4/5I.

A. Zainurddin: rtOn the history of woment s education in Australi-a"in Education News (Vo1.15, No.4-5, 1975), P.6.

SAPP, 1887, No'44, D,28.

SAPP, 1893, No.44, P.34.

SAPP, 1893, No.44, P.28.

SAPP, 1884, No.44, P.15.

SAPP, 1884, No.44, P.70.

SAPP, 1879, No.35, P.18.

s.Äpp, 1881, No.122, p.96/2166. In England, according to T.w. Lacqueur,a sírnilar situation was very connon. For example, in the 1840smembers of Parlianent weTe puzzled as to "Why there should be solarge a nuntber as 4,000 boys in lrÍanchester in attendance upon thoseprivate day scT¡ools, where you state the instruction afforded to beof a very ordinary and i.nferior description, whilst it appears thatat the LancasErian day school, where it is of a superíor kind andwhere tl're instruction is gratuitous, there are 280 boys at attendance'Can you state the reason why parents give preference to the worst kindof eclucation, for which they are obliged to pay.rt fncleed, while theNational School in question stood half empty, at least seven privatevent.ure schools flourished rçithin a 500-yard radius of its doors.T.W. Lacqueur: "Working class demand and the growth of Englishelementary educ.ati.ot", pp.196-7, quotiny> Report ftom the sel-ectCommittee on the Education of the Poorer C-l.asse-'s in England and Wales,1837-38 (589), vii, q.I14.

114 .

115 "

116.

II7 ,

118 .

119 .

120.

r2r.

220

p.98. rrParents would rather send their childrens in winter: than have then incur danger in cross:ingI22. SAPP, 1881 , No.I22,

to the snall schoolthe road.rr

123.

L24.

SAPP, 1881, No.122, P.2/22.

ilseveral private schools, run by ls-year o1cls, kept attendance rollswhich pupils could mark on their way to work" 0ther compulsiondodgin! ãevices were usecl by independent teachers whose inefficientscnãotl were beyond the ïange of truancy inspectors.rr D. Pike:rEclucation in an agricultulal state" , þ.79. For example, in Portpirie, ,,Iû dealing with cases of irregular attendance a clifficultyhas båen experienõed owing to the refusal of one private school tojive iriformätion to t¡e tiu¿rnt inspector. 'Ihis opens a loophole fornegligent palents to evade the Education Act. with impunity..."SAPP, 1893, No.44, P.35.

125. S.APP , 1882, No.27, P.Lls/5463'

126. SAPP, 1881, No. I22, P.46/956.

I27. SApp, 1881, No.27, p.100/2266.

I2B. IAPP, 1881, No.27, p.9B/22I2.

l2g. IAPP, 1881, No. 27 , P ,53/IL43.

130. R. Johnson. rrrp6¿fly useful knowledget: radical education and workingclass culture, l790-1848r' in J. Clarke et af. (eds.): Working cl-ass

cu-Zture (Llutchinson, 1979) '

131. R. Johnson:rrNotes on the education of the English working classrr'p. 49.

I32. ;APP, lBBl, No.122, p.16l/3375 '

I33. ;APP, 1886, No.44, P.22.

I34. SAPP, 1886, No.44, P,23. G'St,ednan Jones notes that, in London, a

forcible disruptiói of such patterns of subsistence 1ed to a shift int¡e clivision oi labour within working class fanilj-es. "lhis stricterdivision of roles between man and wife was to an increasing extentgeneralisecl throughout tire working class by the 1870 Erlucation Act'Once chilrJren, esfecially girl childrenr were forced into the school,it l¡ecane n,utå diificult fór the wi.fe to go out to work and leave thehousehold cleaning ancl care of infants to the older children'rlG. Ste<lnan Jones: 'rworking class culture and working class politicsin London, 1870-1900" in Journal- of sociaf Historg (vol.7, No.4,

I974), p.486.

135. sePP, 1906, No.44, P'16.

136. IAPP, 1880, No.44, P.29.

I37. IAPP, 1883-4, No.27a, p-29/7318-21'

158.

139.

140.

r4l.

L42.

I43.

r44.

145.

22r

J.L. Cleland: I'Conrpulsory and secular education in Sor¡th Australia,IB75-1891" (incornplote nanuscript, tlistory Departnent, University ofAdelaide) , p.72.

'rThe Board consulted the school register and <¡uarterly returns,ascertaining the defatrlting parents. Mr. Madison assisted us gTeatlyby taking a school census of the distri-ct. First and second noticesr\¡eTe sent wher:e recluirecl , and had an adntirable effect, with fewexceptions, from those who sent their children to private school notcertified efficient. To combat these exceptions the Board tested thequestion of tefficiencyr in our loc'al Court.r? SAPP' 1880, No.44,p.32.

l-oc. cit.

sllPP, 1881, No.122, p.17/274.

SAPP , 1881, No. I22 , P .17 /275 .

Sorne proof of Llar:tleyrs intentions with regard to private schools can

be gaugecl fr:on the fact tliat in 1884, he calcul¿rted the cost of intro-ducing free eclttcation to be nearly 862,000. 'rhe Registet, whichchecked his estimate, came to the conclusion that it was based on thehopeful assumption that 'rthe abolitíon of fees would close eveïyprivate establishment in the colony excepti-ng...hi.gher schooIs".Quotecl in J.L. Clelancl: "Introduction to free education in SouthAustrali.l, 1873-'1891'' (Unpull. llA thcsis, University of Adclaidc,I 954) , p. 15.

sÀPP, I910, No.44, p.17.

Before basic heelth cale becalnc more generally accessible, nanypoorer children could be disadvantaged for life because of simplemedical defects. As late as 1907, Inspector Burgan stated that hewas convinced that I'many children looked upon as dul1 and almosthopeless as far as nental developnent is concerned are often labouringunder gl:eat ctisability througl'r eye ancl ear troubles which are unsus-pected, but whiclì sjnple test.s would re¿rdi1y discover...tr SAPP, 1907,No.44 , p.20.

As one of the inspectors stationed in the country wr'ote: I'I haveagain to report irregularity o¡ attenclance ¿ls one of the chi-efobstacles in tho way clf successful rcsults...In the farming dis'tricts,especialJ.y at certain seasons of the year...The clainu of the labournlarket atrsowingtandrreapingrtimes are so great and the selfish-ness of so many farmers is so much greatel.'.tr SAPP' 1878, No.40,pp.26-7 .

W. Wíntshurst: "Formal schooling and social structure...", PP -21-2.

See K. Wimshur:st, rrstr.eet children and school attendance in SouthAustralia, 1890-1915rr.

146, P. Ilende¡:son: 'tClass structure ancl the concept of intelligenceil inR. Dale: Schooling and capitaJism, p,I42.

r47 .

148.

I49.

150.

r51.

t52.

1s3.

154.

155 .

156.

222

ibld., p.22. Ihe statístical material presented in Chapter 5

confirms Witnshurst t s conclusìons.

R. Johnson: rrrReally useful knowledget: radical education and worklngclass culture, 1790-1845rr, P.89.

W. Catton Grasby: our pubTic schoofs, p.12.

RegisÈer, I5.4.1873.

For an elaboration of this argument, see [1. Bravernani Labour and

monoynlg capital (Monthly Review Press , 1974).

Register, 26.10.1900.

7oc. cit.

CHAPTER 5

TIIE USES OF SCHOOLING

224

The position of Sir John Downer night perhaps be

expressed in the following lines:The drudgerY I could not doO Lorcl, assign to others!Therers mttch to do of dirtY wotk,It will not hurt nY brothers.Itts healthful for them, Lord, to cligAnd delve in grinY soil.The sweetest rest they-are sure to winWith unremitting toil. I

Towards the turn of the century, a worldwide transformation of capitalism

profoundly affected Australia. As in other countries, ít produced

several major problens which various social groups tried to solve in the

eclucation system. The 1890s witnessed a profound economic crisis, a

transformation of the ways individuals maintained and enhanced their

class position, and marked changes in youth enploynent pattems.

In describing these events, this chapter will indirectly challenge

several conventional approaches to educational history.

The first concelns the almost automatic connection cf schooling with

social mobility by contempoïary historians of Australian education.2

Chapter 1 situated the concept of social rnobility in a wi.der theoretical

framework, and began to exanine the class bias of schooling. This

chapter looks at the conditions under which the two notions, both of

which are ideological in character, became connected.

The seconcl theoretical issue, closely connected with

the equally unproblematic relationship often assumed

developrnent, tdemand for rnore skil1sr, and expansion

system.3 The argument which follows reexamines some

the previous one, is

between industrial

of the education

of the constituent

22!¡

parts of such an equation. In particular, it looks at the way different

class fractions contributed to the process of displacing some of their

problens and conflicts fron the workplace to the education systen.

A crisis of capitalism

Throughout the nineteenth century, more and rnore aspects of life were

brought into direct connection with the increasingly dominant capitalist

mode of production. In the sphere of production, the novement of capital

in search for profit incessantly altered and recreated the balance

between different sectors of production and of the i.ndustries which

comprise them. The same process also fundamentally transforned the

division of labour withÍn the various branches of industr:y.

Internationally, the closing decades of the nineteenth century, a period

of increasing inter-imperialist rivalry, saw a sharp decrease in the

profitability of British industry. The crisis, originating in the joint

pressure of international conpetition, militant working class and excess

capacity in the capital goods industries (overproduction crisis),

reduced Britainrs share of the world's industrial production by rnore than

clne-half . a

In order to escape the decreasing profitability of domestic economy,

British capitalists began to divert their funds to overseas investment.

As a result, while Britainfs total credit abroad rose from 8195 to 8685

nillion between 1860 and I890, domestic capital formation declined and

capital equipment per worker was virtually stagnant - at a time when this

rate gïew rapidly in both Gernany and the United States.5

226

By its natuïer the option of avoiding the consequences of Britain's

indust.rial decline through foreign investment was only available to a

small fraction of the countryrs population. In addition, it exacerbated

the internal problems of the British econonty. In the last half of the

nineteenth century, other options began to be fornulated. One of the

most pervasive of these was a concern with technícal education, After

seyeral |nternational exhibitions,6 B'ritirh manufacturers [-¡ecane alare of

the inferior.ity of many Englìsh products conpared to continental and

American orìes, In the ensuing public debates, one of the najor causes of

this deficiency was located in the continued domi.nation of the English

education systen by the interests of the aristocracy:

England was a land of manufacturers, without the means

of instructiolr as to a single rnanufacturing process; ù

land of artj.sans, tvhete nothing could be learnt of a tradeunless by pr:actising it...Speculative science had mono-polised ¿11 the acctunulated ftrrds of the Univcrsitiesti11 not a scholarship, mttch less a professorshì-p,rernained for appliecl sciencc. '

But while technical education of artisans and their employers was believed

to have the power to enhance the profitability of English industry, it

r:emained j.r:relevant to the strata below them. And yet the casual poor,

hit harri by Britaints inclustrial decline, came to be seen as anothel

possible cause of the count'ryrs economic problems.

In the crisis-ridden 1880s, a gïoup of social imperialists began formu-

lating a po1:Lcy wl'rich called for social expenditure to eradicate what

they saw as the degeneration of the poor and unenployed, a degeneration

which threatened tlre welfare of the whole society and, if left unchecked,

could lead t.o revolutiolr.B Tn this tsocial hygienet approach they

sharply diverged fron the official orthodoxy, rvhich understood both

poverty and it.s alleviation in strictly individual tenns, seeì-ng thern

instead as personal rdclnoral.isationt that could be cured by judiciously

2',27

aclninistered charity. Ul'rder the impact of tlÌe London housing crisis,

this latter analysis appeared increasingly inadequate. Atthough the

proposals of the social ì.mperialists were not acted on at the time, they

helped shift the attention of governnent fron¡ rclemoralisationr to

I degenerationr . e

By 1900, the defeats which the Bri.tish arny suffered in the Boer war,

together with revelations about the poor physical state of recruits,

b¡gught åack,-thg spectre of physical deterioration and racial degenera-

tion. The casual residuum once again became the topi.c of anxious debate,

provoked this tine not by fears of revolution but by intimations of

impencling inperial clecline. I 0 As Steclnan-Jones renlarked,

The freedom of the casual labourer to live out hisclegenerate existence and r:eproduc.e his kind in filthyovercrowded slums was now seen as a lethal menace tornational efficiencyt, Draconic measures would benecessary if the enpi::e was not to be dragged down byits r-rnfit. Overcrorvding and casual living conditionswere not a mis fortune but a c.rime

Both of these solutions - technical education and 'reclaimingr the casual

.poor. came to be joined in a social efficiency movement, which was

profoundly ;; influence educational rhetoric ancl development in both

Britain and Australia. As I have argued in the section on labour educa-

tion policy, the United Labor Party [ULP) in South Austral-ia developed in

such a way that the policies outlined in Britain by proponents of fnational

efficiencyì became increasingly attractive as formulations of its own

position.

Mrilernational hygiener would deal with the resu-Zts of declining indus-

trial production in the form of poverty and unemploynent, technical

eclucation and personal refficiencyr of the strata above them would

i-mprove the corupetit.iveness of British industry. In other words, the

228

ground lost through shifting investment priorities, which left the

capital per worker ratio in British industry stagnant for many years,

would be corrected by rschool powert,r2

In Australia, exhaustion of investment opportunities in traditional

primary industry, droughts conbined with poor prices for agricultural

products, and heavy debt commitments adversely affected all sectors of

thc economy. At the same time, there occurred an appreciable concentra-

tion of both industry and agriculture.

On the one hand,

From 1870 to 1886, the changes in size af. individualholdings show clearly the movement towards larger farmsand, by 1890, one-half of the total value of alienatedland in South Australia was held by 703 people.13

0n the other, while South Australia renained, in 18p0, a predoninantly

agricultural colony, its nanufacturing was quickly increasing in impor-

tarìce. The number of factories and of the people working in then doubled

in the space of fifteen years, and increased proportionately to the total

workforce.rh Of the three distinct trends comprising this pïocess, one

involved ntarke<l concentration of industry.

Firstly, srnal1 industrial concerns, such as forges and printing presses,

developed i.n tl're country towns, and other crafts, carried on a srnall

scale, expanded in Adelaide as well.

Secondly, during the latter half of the 1880s, neu/ types of rnanufactures,

such as bicycle and paint factories, for éxarnple, or electroplating and

galvanised iron'works, were begun on a modest scale.

Thirdly, in nost of the larger traditional trades, such as bootmaking,

there \¡ras a tendency for concentration of business into fewer factories

in the principal towns. I s Although the nunber of such factories decreased,

'))g

the numbers enployed in them rose, sometimes quite dramaticalÏy. By

1890, there rvere in Adelaide nine factories employing 200 or more workers

In this year, although the majorit"y of factories had fewer than twenty

employees, the greater part of the industrial labour force worked in

concerns entploying twenty or nore people"l7

Botl'r processes of concentration 1ed to a. tightening of class boundaries

between workers alrd the petite bourgeoisie. At the same time, it is

possible to speculate that the class of petite bourgeoisie itself began

to contlact during this Period.

If skilled workers founcl it increasingly difficult to become srna11

employers ilr their own right, the institution of apprenticeship, which

traditionall¡z çe¡5tituted the path towards economic security for their:

sons, receivecl a sevcre shock. Not only were apprenticeship provisions

disrupted during the econonic crisis,ls in many trades employers began or

intensified the long process of dilution of ski11s.

To explaín these trends, it is necessary to examine more closely the

second aspect of the contemporaÌy transfornation of capital; the changing

division of labour within various hranches of industry.

During the early period of capitalist development, while employers of

wilge Iabour gaJned increasing econotnic and political power, they had

little <letai1ed control over the actual work process. Until the last

decades of the nineteenth century, this area of productive activity

renained the province of craft workers, who held an effective nonopoly of

skills and production knowledge. It was above all the apprenticeship

s¡'stem, a jealously-guarded prerogative of the craft workers, which

allowed thern to maintain this nonopoly froin one generation to the next.

According to Brecher,

I6

230

That control was perpetuated and nade effective by theirrefusal to let work be subdivided into slnaller componentsthat did not reqrrire rall-rouncl craftsnent . Ily regulatingthe use of helpers and labourers, they were able to limitthe labour market, maintain skill requirements, and keepup pay scales. The skilled workers set tstintsf whichdeterni.ned the antount of work to be done, and establishecltheir own rules about the methods and equipnent with whichit was to be done. The employer could not te1l then how

to clo a job; indeed, the craftsmen generally supervisedthe unskilled majotity of tl-re workforce themselves. te

In a period of sharpening conrpetition between different firns, such lack

of control over the work process inc.reasingly appeared to ernployers as a

double obstacle to the most profitable use of their capital. The tradi-

tíonal clivision of labour, with its insistence on all-round tradesnen

and iLs opposition to subdividing work, rneant a higher wage bill than it

was, theoretically, necessary to pay. This was becat¡se the craft wor:kers

not only perfornrecl a wide variety of cornplex tasks, but spent a faLt

proportion of their time on simple ones.

By subdividing work, employers ained to bring about a situation where the

best ancl nost skilled workers could be occupied ful1-tine on the nost

skilled aspects of work, and leave ¿r11 the less d.emanding tasks to others

who did not need as much training, and could be enployed for less. In

addition, the subdivision of work meant that even the best workers only

needecl to be familiar with one part of the craft. In other wotds,

"subclividing the craft cheapens its individual Partsrr.2o

At this time, the craft workers retained a substantial degree of corrtrol

over output. Because of this, the possi-bilit¡' e¡ increasing profi-ts by

increasíng the spee<l and intensity of work renained, for the most part,

closed to the enrployers. As llraverman ttoted,

l{orkers who are controlled only by general orders ordiscipline are not adecluately controlled, because theyretain their grip on the actual process of labour' So

231

long as they control the labour process itself, they willthwart efforts to realjse to the ful1 the potentialinherent in their labour poweT'. To change the situation,control of the labour process rnust pass into the hands ofmanagemeltt, not only in the formal sense but by the con-trol and clictation of each step in the process, includingits nocle of Perfornance.2l

l{ere again, the fragrnentation <¡f craft skills proved useful' As the

Register put it,

thes e day5tr .22

"[t]he clivision of labour saves time, and time is money

nh

To rcheapen the craftt and gain nore detailed control over the work

pÌocess, employers used a varietY of techniques. The introcluction of

new technologY usual Iywent hand i and with a redistribution of t'¡ork

within an entelprise towards jobs recluiring a lower degree of ski11

Such a process not only cheapened tl're total wage bill, but gave employers

increased power over their workers. It was widely recognised at the time

thatThe universal application of nachinery has wrought a

coniplete revolution in mechanical enployments " 'menskiffed in only one palt of .1-job, necessarily become

more dependent on emPloYcrs.'"

At the sane titne, there was a trend towards ernploying unindentured

helpers or rimproversr instead of apprentices. In most cases, these

changes met strong opposition from the craft unions and could be imple-

mentecl onl¡r ¿¡¡"r a concerted assault on thern by the enployers.

No systematic research on this topic has been done in Australia'

Flowever, there is abundant evidence that the process was taking place,

and was the object of heated debate anong many sections of the community'

In 1890, for exanple, it became evident thaL errployers in the Adelaide

Ieather industry were trying to compensate for the introduction of the

e-ight-hour clay, not by a recluction in wages, but by the employment of a

higher proportion of unskilled workers. The Tanners' and Curriersr Union,

232

then ilr dispute with the employers, took three weeks to realise the

implications of this nove. After that, it began -strongly to oppose it.

According to its secretary, the entploycrs

.. .woulcl not stop when their first demancls were granted,for he was of opinion tlraf fresh unskilled workers wouldbe introcluced at every available opportunity r'nti1 a

heavy blow would ultimately be ¿eaii at skílled labour.2\

pl'ocess occurrecl in the boot ancl shoe industry. In 1898, the

the ULP argued that

Machinery had also been introduced in...boot factories,and the result had been to knock out half the men and toreduce the wages of those lvho handled the machines tohalf of what ihey used to get. The nen were now workinglike slaves and only got 30s a week and ten men werelvaiting at the door-tó take their places.2s

A sinri I ar

leader of

'l'he appre¡rticeship systetn was undermi¡red - not only through the explicit

i,ntentions of thc employcrs but indirectly, through the changing organi-

satj.on of worl< rçithin an enterprise.

lVith the progressive fragnentation of work, skilled worl<ers increasingly

came into contact with only a small area of their trade, and wer'e no

longer able to teach all of its aspects. As tradesmen testified in 1888

to an inquiry into technical education in South Australia, "ft is found

that,,vhen one man is qualified to carïy out one section of a trade better

than another Ìre is kept pretty wel1 to that particular section"'26 In

the boot tracle, "[t]he upshot of the whole thing is that the majority

concerned i.n the rnaking of a boot donrt know the whole process, and a1'e

not conìpetent to take a business in the country".27 At the same time,

the speecl-up of production meant that tradesmen ancl ernployers had less

tine in which to instruct applenti ces : " [t]he maximum amount of work for

the minintuln anount of attention is the rul'e"'28

¿55

'lo compensate fc¡r such rdegradationr of skilled labour, the jobs of

foremen and managers were redefined to include those aspects of produc-

tion knowledge which were expïopriated from the craft workers. In this

wây, insofar as employers rlrere successful in rcleskillingt the workforce,

they createcl a problem: how to tlain the remaining skilted workers, as

woll &s 1þc nanlgcrs ûnd tcchnicians whose i)ositions suddenty required a

thorough knorvledge of the production proces.s .

B), the beginning of the twentieth century there was, throughout Australia,

a strong but eventually unsuccessful movement to resolve the first of

these problems by the conrplete replacement of apprenticeship by technical

education

In 1904, for example, K¡riÌ¡bs in his report on technical. education in New

South lVales c.oncluded that "the modern tendency j.s overwhelmingly in

favour of substjtuting -systenatic eclucatj.on for orclinary apprenticeship".2e

This view was enclorsed by W.S. Brrsby in the Dissenting Report of the 1913

apprenticesl'rip conference in Victoria, in rvhich he opposed moves to revive

"tþe obsolete systen of apprenticeship and make the cnrployer responsible

for the complete tra.ining in every paTticular of his apprentices",30

In Sor:th Australia, such an appr.oach had less support than in other

Au-stralian states. According to Trethewey,

-..a fundamental belief in the efficiency of an appren-ticeship system, as clerived from English practice andaccepted virtually without question in South Australia,continued to be upheld in adrninistratj-ve circles. Fenner,for example, rejected the alternative provided by theContinental system where specific trade training was

incorporated in secondary schools in favour of rtakingthe o1d Elizabethan Apprenticeship system, modifying itto suit nodern industrial and social conditions, ancl

more closely correlating the workshop with the schoolancl the llomLt .3l

234

Nevertheless, even in this state, the replacement of apprenticeship by

teclrnical education was widely advocated.32

The si.tuation which in fact developed resembled, however, far rnore the

one described by Brecher for the United States. There, the fj.rst part of

the problem, training the remaining skilled workers, was predominantly

solved by a further redivision of labour:

The clestruction of otd skilled crafts elininated themeans by which skilled workers were trained. Industrystil1 needed skilled workers for naintenance, repair,ancl tasks not yeb nrechanised. As shortages of skilledworkers became endemic in the early clecades of the twen-tieth centuïy, employeïs cÎeated a new class of skilledworkers rvho, unlike the all-round craftsmen of the past,were given only a few weeks or rnonths training for one

specific ¡ob. They lacked both the general l<nowledge oftñe olcl skilled workers and their ability to transfertheir skills from one plant to another.33

The seconcl part of the problem was tackted in quite a different way:

In nost early industry, nìanagers were drawn from theranks of skilled workers. with the declíne of all-roundcraftsnen, employers began hiring college graduates,giving them experience in a wide variety of departmentsand jobs, and using these trainees for managelnentpositions.3a

Tlre nineteenth century, however, wit4essed ntore than the tedistribution

of production knorvledge previously under the control of the craftsmen'

Tìrere also occurred a spectacula'r increase in the amount of scientific

k¡owledge brought to bear on the production process. By wresting control

over the natnre of nachinery out of the hands of the guilds (which for

centuries forbade the use of new technology), the early capitalists

contributecl to the I'transformation of labour plocesses from their basis

in tradition to their basis in science".35

The resultant rapiclly increasing store of scientific knowledge was appro-

priated by society in a particular way. Instead of nerging with colnmon

235

culture and becoming part of general studies, it became fragmented both

in terns of content and of people designed to deal. with it. In the words

of Raynronci ltrilliams,

If we look at the range of scicntific discovery betweenthe seventeenth and the end of the nineteenth centuries,it is clear that its importance lies only in part in i"tstransformation of the techniques of production andcommunication; indeed it lies equally in its transforma-tion of rnanrs view of himself and his wor1d. Yet thedecisive educational interpretation of this new knowledgewas not in ter¡ns of its essential contribution to liberalstudies, but in terns of technologi.cal tr:aining for a

particular class of men.36

@asingìrisobservationsonreSearchbyDavidLayton,a-parti cUl¿¡=...describes a process whereby, n the ninet

concept ion of science became dorninant, tJnlike rnore radical tradiÇio._ItÞ,

which saw scientific knowlegge, among other things, "as an instr_ument iq.

the pursuit of political independence and social emancipationr', tt g_?,

clominant conception of science acconmodated itself to the i.aetfs oî'_\*-."_contenporary liberal studies. Like Classics and Mathematics, the new

scientific subjects aimed to further "the discipline of the mind the

attainment of habits of controlled attention and the exercise of reasoning

powers and nemory 3 I

According to Young, such establishnlent of science as rfactl r,a!he-t than

rpracti.cer has to be considered in the context of changes in Victorian

capitalism" 3s

A sphere of technology developed, corresponding to the conception of pure

science divorced not only from the concetns of everyday life, but also

from the uses to which scientific knowledge is put.

Staffed by different people anrl imbued by a different ideology, techno-

logical knowledge aims to appty the findings of pure science to the

2:56

Froblens of a particular system of production. Although technological

knowledge could provide a link between scientific 'research and the work-

place, it is in fact separated from both. A sharp distinction is rnain-

tained between pure ancl applied research; and technologists are not drawn

from the ra¡rks of manual workers: they recei.ve separate training from

then, and are removed, as far as pos:;ible, from the shop floor'

Hand in hand with reshaping the technical division of labour to suit the

capitalist relations of production thus went the creation and redistribu-

tion of procluction knowledge. Indeecl, it is only through considering the

interplay between the social and technical aspect-s of production that it

is possitrle lo understancl the particular shape that scientific and tech-

nological knowlcdge assulned in the various educational institutj-ons.

The two complementary pïocesses so far described, deskitling and a redis-

tribution of production knowledge, had an important trearing on the crisis

in traditional strategies for the transmission of economic security (such

as it was) from one generation to the next. Tlie decline of skilled

trades, accentuated by an econonic cnsis, made white collar jobs

inqreas ing attractive to groups whose social standing was being under-

mined, At the same tine, the new systen of conpulsory state schooling

gave more and ntore peopte the necessary ski1ls for performing these jqbÞ,

It was above all this link which made various forns of schooling an

important ingreclient in proposed solutions to the socially perceived

crisis of distributing people between different rclass placesr; a crisis

expressed rnostly in alarm about the prefereltce of youngsters for clerical

jobs.

237

Schoolins and econonic security

In Chapter 4 it h/as argued that a serious discord existed between the

exigencies of working class lifestyles and the routines ofrgoodr govern-

ment schools; a discord which manifested itself in various forns of

resistance to the rhicldenr and overt curricula of schools. Ilere, I have

introcluced another element: the Íncreasing relevance of schooling to

peoplet s economic securitY.

How did working class people cope with the tension that these two con-

flicting factors produced?

An impressive study of these problems in the United States has been

produced by D.J. tlogan. Through his examination of wor:kers' budgets,

Hogan is able to show that wivesr and childrenrs earnings forrned an

indispensable part of most family incomes.q0 Yet the i.ncreasing use of

education in selecting workers for steady, secure and well-paying jobs

meant that limiting childrenrs school attendance in order to secure the

immediate economic well-being of the family jeopardised the attainment of

the same goal in the future

In Chicago at the turn of the century the resolution of this dileruna

depencled, to a large extent, on the parentsr ethnic background. While

sone ethnic groups tended to make considerable sacrifices in order to

send children to school, others opted for seeking pr.esent and future

econornic security in the purchase of a fanily home, and used their

children's earnings to help them attain this goal.42

Similar conclusions, this time focusing on the experience of different

class fractions, were reached by John Gil1is for nineteenth century

England and Germany, and Joseph Kett for the United States. According to

238

Gillis, over 40eo of working class fanilies, and especiaJly those of

unskilled workers, were living below the poverty line during the time

their cliildren were growing up. This meant that they desperately needed

the earnings of all enployable fanrily members precisely at the time when

they would have liked to invest i.n their childrenrs future prosperity.q3

Onl th raristocrac of labourt and other relatively well-pai.d sections

of the working c!ag-s_._c_ou1d adoptrra family strategy somewhat like that

".:._:.-n" middle "t"::::ll:.1_l Kett draws the sarne conclusion for late nine-

teenth century Unit.ed States, and argues that the inability to di.spense

with childrenrs wages kep-r most working class parents and children in

the sort of productive-contractual relationship that had once character-

ised family life in all social classes.4s

In South Australia, Kerry Winshurst, in his thesis on'street children',

argues that a degree of acconmodation between the conpeting c.lairns of

working class budgets and school attendance could occur because of sub-

stantial loopholes in the cornpulsory attendance clauses: for forty years

ajter t]re passing of the.iB75 Act, attendance was compulsory for only

part of the time schools were open.aG While a substantial ninority of

children, about one-third in tl-re working class suburb of Hindmarsh, took

advantage of the minimun attendance clauses, many other farnilies saw the

latitude of these provisiorìs as a traditi.onal right, a form of insurance

to be used in times of rgrave needt.47

By the 1890s, tnost working class fanilies learnt to reconcile their

periodic need of childrenrs assistance or ear:nings with the requirements

of tl're compulsory clauses of the 1875 Education Act. In rnost cases, it

was only through sickness, accident or other mishap that children failed

to attend school for the specified thirty-five days a quarter.4s Indeecl,

239

Wimshurst presents convincing evidence that working class families

attempted to get as much schooling for their children as was possible

under the circumstances. During tslackr months, for exanqlle, the school

attendance ofrstreet childrenr tended to be welI above the minirnum

requirement.qe Sinilarly, childrenrs summer earnings were often used to

btry boots so that tltey coulcl attencl school in winter. s0

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the increasingly ambi.tious

system of compulsory schooling taught a good proportion of its charges to

read, write and cornPute, and made more and mote young people nominally

clualified to enter _!hg--lp-WçI. Igtgg of.white col1ar jobs"..- Many, forgetting

t¡e golden rule that labourerst chi.ldren were clestined to become labourers,

actually started applying for clerical jobs.

As the tlonourable Lavington Glyde larnented in lBB0,trthe curse of the age

was that all the boys wanted to be gentlemen more or Iess, and all the

girls wanted to be laclies". sl

Faced with growing cornp etition, th_e- s!r4tg. -of population which habitually

fil1ed these jobs searchecl for lrriì-1r5 ¡o restrict entry into the rover-

crowded professions Given the sl"rape of the eclucation system, the use

o f educational qualifications increasingly appe ared as a suitable too1.

Indeed, the same stïategy of exclusion through educational qualifications

came to be used on sever.al fronts. I have already discussed its use

against the traditional division of labour wj-thin a working class conmunity

in the conflict over rinefficientt teachers. It was also employed by the

rmiddLe class' in its fight against tTre 'Estabtishmentf system of patron-

ogc, s2 ancl against the growing attraction of white collar jobs for working

class people. s 3

240

In 1884, for example, the South Australian Education Departrnent claimed

thatBoys are eagerly sought from our rnodel schools by trades-men and merchants for their desks, their colmters ortheir counting houses, at a higher remuneration than thatpaid by the Education Department, and with a quickerincreas e. "'

In discussing the same period, l{yans and Bessant confient on the use of

cornpetitive examinations for deternining entry into the public service,

and on the interest which the commercial sector. of the community,

business firms, banks and insurance companies, developed in recruiting

yfung people with exanination passes in the popular subjects of the

s econdary school.ss The denand for educational qualifications did not

affect only educational institutions for children but those for adults

as well. Murray-Srnith, for example, refers to the Gawler School of Mines

where "[t]he pressure for qualifications defeated the council's opposition

to examinations, and at the end of 1895 the Gawler Scl'rool of Mines

awarded its first certificate".sG

In Austr:alia as in Engtand,..otly"-people--abo-ve=-a---ee-nt*i-n-levsl--o4'-ifleomc'- - .,

hacl the option of buying enough education to prepare their children for-

nany of these _gI4JlIs-, -yhose greatest weight (in spite of constant and to

some extent effective pressure towards declassicising the curriculun) was

reserved for subjects furthest removed from any conmon culture.sT For

example, the South Australian Education Regulations of 1900 provided for

the following scale of marks in the competitive exhibition examinations:

(1)(2)

(3)

(4)

Reading(a) Spelling and Dictation(b) Composition(a) Aritltnetic(b) Mental ArithmeticGeography

(5) Ilistory of England B0

(6) Granmar B0

(7) Latin 200(B) Gconetry 100(9) Algebra 100

(10) Drawing and Plane GeometrY 25

2525

r0025BO

835

24J.

As an indi.gnant Heral-d correspondent pointed out, Latin got nore marks

than spelIing, dictation, composition, arithmetic and mental arithmetic

combinecl . sB

Ten years later Campbell, a perceptivc Labor member of parlianent, and

one with a utiversity education, drew somc soci.a1ly-iriformed conclusions:

', i1 A danger appeared inminent that to the rvorkers an educa-tional oligarchy should be brought into existence whichmight be as dangerous to their interests as any tyrannywhich hacl marked the ages of the past. Any one who readthe paper:s set to railwaynen coulcl only conclucle that thetests lvere adopted as mean-s to restrict entrance or promo-tion in the service. Practically every year the standarclof the public examinations rvas raised, not in a directionwhich would be valuable to the candidates entering particu-lar professions, but in the direction of barring theirwa)'. IIe dicl not say it was done to injure an¡, parti cularsection of the conmunì-ty, b_u!-Lç- was a menace to the1 q!Le- r c¡-t 4s-s, s-,--U-ltqs q ch i i arìn tir oì gìi u i i¡-iarit^ c öul?''qq_vgl afforcJ the expensive education necessary to c1uãlîfy_fol such exaninatiohs.[The University] was laigely the door througli whichcandidates for the overcrowded professions hacl to drivetheir way... [it was used] to raise the standard of learn-ing and check the strearn of candidates entering theprofessions. se

But those sections of the population ag:rinst whom various levels of this

arrangement were directed, petite bourgeoisie and ski.lled artisans, did

rtot give up quite so easily. Not only were their aspirations to tbetter

thernselvest at -stake, but'in the 1890s important changes in the social

structure made the mere retention of their current status precarious.

I;or the petite bourgeoisìe and small farmers, the'1ong period of recession

brought concentration of capital and contraction of the class. For the

skilled workers, the sarirel process tightened the boundaries between

enrployers and cnrpJ.oyees, sharply recluci.ng the possibility of inter-class

nrobility througl'r economic neans. Not even the best of them could hope

for full employment and m¿rny were forced to accept irregular unskilled

242

jobs. At the same tine, in many trades, concentration of capital brought

with it labour-saving machinery and tdeskillingr. As Katz noted, this

meant that, in most cases, artisans could no longer guarantee economic

security to their sons by teaching them their craft. To maintain theirstandard of living, they might have to get à differ 9tq.,___of99t J¡_i_tg -

collar, job. 'o

unlike the old passage fron'apprenticeship to craftsman, the new linkbetween educational credentials and employment was far rnore tenuous.

What BowIes and Gintis (and many others) denonstrated for United States

of the 1960s was undoubte<lly equally true of South Australia at the turn

of the century. WhiIe length of schooling was closely correlated with

t'he chances of obtaining better enrployment, it was by no rneans the tkey'

to economic success.

Sti11 less was economic status dependent on 'intelligencef. Even in the

1960s,

a familyrs position in the class structure [was] teplro_duced prirnarily by mechanisms operating independentlyof the inheritance, production and certificaiion ofintellectual skills . b r

Insofar as it wa,s displaced into the state education system, the struggle

about rsocial nobili tyt centred arOund three basic strate gies: the

demand that the vide a seconda school cateri fo

threshold of income than the existing private institutions; the provision

of bursaries and exhibitions; and the gradual extension of government-

provided elementary schooling.

243

A state secondary school?

The first strategy had, in the short r:un, the least success" At this

time, fanrilÌes rvhich wanted to sencl their chiLdren to rreputatrlel

seconclary schools, had to have an incone whicir 1eft, after unavoidable

expenses, four to six guineas a term to spend on education of each child

This threshold not only automatically excluded the majority of the

working population but also many farmers and rnembers of the petite

bourgeoisie, rvhose total earnings over the quar'ter' would not have

exceedecl 8,25, assuming ful1 ernployrnenl for the period'

As Inspector Dewhirst hacl pr.rt jt in 1884,

Parent-s require a cheap ancl thorough education for theirsons...Wishing to carr:y on their educatiolr after theyhave been a year in the fifth class, as things are atpresent they nust sencl them to St. Peterrs, orMr. l'Vhinhan's, or Prince Alfred College, at an expensefron 4 to 6 guineas a cluarter, and this nany parentscannot possibly afford. Why -shor.rld there not be anadvanced school where they could bé taught for 3 guineasa quarter? 6 2

Since thc state had, through land grants, subsidized university education63

for the; richest sections of the population and provided cheap elementary

schooling for the workers, members of the r3 guineas-a-tel'm classr felt

justified in clernanciing, as a subsidy for themselves, the setting up of an

advanced school.

eakin during a debate to dis¿rl the Ê2,000 provide<l for the e.stab-

lishment of air advanced school fo:: gir1s, lì.D. Ross, a landowner and

retired colonial officer, one of the r6 guineas-a-term classt, said that

lVe hacl establisl'red national school.s for the poorer class,at r,¡hich the fees were...Ê1 6s . a year; but here theytalked about a school with fees f,S 3s. a quarter andextras, which would bring the amount up to Ê15 a year.They knew that no poor persons could avail themselves ofthat, and the school would sirnply be for the middle andwell-to-do classes of the community.(Mr. Quirur - 'tWel1?'')

6"

244

To nembers of the tEstablishnentr, Mr. Quinnrs conplacency was unaccep-

cheapcr seconclary cdusation seemed totable. Iìrorn their point of view,

inter.fere rvi.tl'r tl're r¡ery laws of nature. Mr. Downer (a lawyer, one of the

staters l.argest landowners, and never on(ì to resort to polite euphemisms)

put the rnatter squarelY:

It was all very well to say that everyone should betaught to reacl and write, but now they were trying tomake everyone great and educated, forgetting that natureirad laws in these things ...There could be no eater mis-fortune than to ve to gir SO orer classes t ese,a

S ast weÏe ca 11ed sirls,.lvliõ,in thö nature o f things, would be content to

-':rgrffdîri respectable domestic servants all their lir¡es,-FfóñCh and German, drawing and class singing, elernentary-3öí=ôñcõ,- tatin and mathernatics , and rendcr them âbsolutely

Xl,,lA,lï-

unfit fòr meniãI-dutÏes...It was interfering with the very''Taws of -natûre; some must be higher and sone lower, but

-Th:is Tùas'tryi"n-g-to mâke an a'ùerage cjf the-whblé'Iot- an-d

Tõ--t'ürn a great nunbef of first-rate labourers into*îdcliffei'e¡ri schol"tr. . . t 5

Laws of nature notwithstanding, the fact renained that the Advanced

ls provi ded -S ortin

-qualified teachers as one of its benefits to the state.

11 for this reason that the proposal received enough

iberals to defeat the handft¡l of conservative defenders of

66

1

Such counterv¿riling arguments' did not apply in the case of boys. In the - ,

first place, it woul<l have been harder to make a boysr school self-

supporting, s j.nce its nlale staff woutd have cornmanded higher salaries.

I{omen employed i.n public schools received only about two-thirds of the

-ï:9lili Y1:-1.-t-9 0f pav'67 In addition, an aclvanccd school for boys

would have competed unpleasantly with the boysr private co11eges, with

which many of the legislators were quite closely linked.6B

245

Competing for exhibitions and bursaries

In tl're end, instead of establishing a state secondary sch for boys

catering for a lower threshold of incorne than the existing private insti-

tuti ons , a different route was taken. Each year, money was set aside in

the Ëstimates for a handful of exhibitions tenablept the private colleges( q* 67<l

vb(éxaminatiol{. Theilable to the winners of special competiti

arrangement ttas probably more costly, but it was certainly nore congenial

to the private colleges and their patrons.

In terms of social rnobi.lity, such provisions were altogether negligible.

Up till 1898, when almost 62,000 children were being instructed in state

schools, six bursaries were available for girls and sj.x for boys. With

I,22g teac¡ers c¡rployed i.n that year, it mcant that, everything else being

ec1ual (it clearly was not),6e one teacher in a hundred could aspire to

send arbest pupilr on to secondary education. The doubling of these

provisions in the following year did not materially decrease their

insi gri ficance .

And yet this absurd provision for secondary schooling was frecluently

referred to as adequate, not only by conservatives, but by liberal and

even Labor members of parliarnent.T0

Indeed, it might be arguecl tlìat there was sorne basis for this assertion,

as the number of candiclates was never very much nore than the number of

places. Between 1880 and 1897, for exarnple., when the government offered

six exhibitions for boys each year, the number of candi.dates fluctuated

between 15 ancl 39.7l

The catch was that the prospective candidates had to go through a double

selection process. As previously outlined, the first hr¡rdle was the

clear mismatch between the routines and curricula of schools and the

lives of most working PeoPle.

'246

The seconcl hurclle was set by the nature of the private schoolst curriculaT2

and Eclucation Departmentrs wj.slt to restrict the ntrmber:s of -scholarship

candiclates. As Inspector Ctark put it, "[ilt was for exceptional pupi"ls

that thosc exhil¡itj.ons werc jntcndccl, ¿rntl to discovcr thcrn the test

cannot be an orclinary one".73 More explicitly,

Orving to the cornpetition for exhibitions and scholarship-sbeing limited to those schools where the head teacherstook the trouble to establish classes in the study ofLatin, German, English literature, Algebra and Euclid[none of which rr¡as included in the standard corryrulsorycurriculum], it followed that pupils attending schoolswhere those subjects were not taught could not win suchclistinctiolls . 7 4

Those schools which djd teach thenl found themselves perpetually over-

crowded

Indeed, even the knowledge of standard -subjects needed to pass these

examinatiorls r{as so far rcmovecl from thc ordinary school fare as to give

the Principal of the Teacher'l'raining College an opporìtunity to cornplain:

I certainly thinl< ít is not too much to expect pupilteachers of the second and third year to know as nuchas is expected of boys under 14 years of age who areexamined for exhibitions, and who are taught in thesame schooLs in which these young people are engaged inteaching. Ts

In adclition, many pupils who acquired the knowledge necessary to pass

these examinations were sometimes prevented, for monetary reasons, from

sitting for the¡n. According to one inspector,

In all class V -schools and upwards 6th classes aretaught, and mzrny of tìre pupils have been sent to thePrima::y and even to the Junior examination at theUniversi.ty. l'he fares and fees are preventi.ves againstsome of the pupils presenting themselves at these exam-inations . 7 6

In summary; in the rvords of a writer for the pr:ogressive paper, the

Pioneer,

247

TLe chance of securing any such scholarship rests quiteas much upon attendant circt.unstances of situation as uponslrìartness or natural capabilities. 'l'he sons of thefanning and producing class are to a very large extentdebarred from competition in these annual exhibitions,because of difficulties in the way of attending firstclass primary schools, and so the rnost deserving classin our midst are practically shut off fron all thebencfj.ts of higher education. "

The bursaries and exhibitions thus perfonned a double social function:

they cornpleted the process of selecting otrt rsuccessfulr state school

pupils by clesignating then as intelligent and deserving, and they helped

to rnaintain an official appearance of adequate provision for secondary

education. To many educational historians, this appearance proved so

tempting that it has led them down the garclen path, stoutly maintaining

all the white that such a token gesture represented the beginning of

socially signi ficant state encouragernent of social mobility. In fact

tfiis schooling systen was clearly designed to justify and to hide state-

suppo::ted ..obstacfe:_a:-::.:l.a_l

nobrlity through education by severely

rationing the minimum chance of working-c1ass access.

Extending elementary schooling

The tliird way of aiding the aspirations of education-conscious parents -

through gradually extending state-provided elementary schooling - had by

far the most practical irnpact. At the time, school attendance was compul-

sory until chilciren reached thirteen years of age, or passed the tcompul-

sory standardt, an examination in the 3 Rts based on the ctlrricula of the

fourth class. Although they were a small nrinority, children sonetimes

stayed two or even three years in the fourth class to gain the compulsory

certificate and, having got it, to extend their general education. At

the same time, increasing nurnbers of children were given tuitj-on which

248

urould prepare then for the first university exam, or the scholarship

examinations .

During this period, incleecl, it appeared that the inteTest that nany

parents ìrad in schooling gradually shifted from the acquisition of useful

knowledge, centred around the 3 Rrs, to the acquisition of exarnination

certi fi cates . This change was cl os ely- çç-f,¡e ".ted wí th the new cri teri a

of selection for many jobs. nt tn* same time, it was probably influenced

by the moìe or lc':ss successful experience of schooting of the parents

themselves. As an inspector commented in 1884,

...it would appear on the surface to be a waste of tirneand paper to issue [cornpulsory certificates] to pupilsover 13 years, nevertheless, I should be very sorry tosee this practice discontinued. They are much valued bythe parents when seeking employment for their boys onleaving school as a sort of nerit testirnonial, and I havenot infrequently known cases where boys and girls havebeen kept in school for another yearr when over age, forthe spelial purpose of ga.ining one.7B

In proportion as it bqqame possible for more and more working class

children to acquire these qualifications, they becanre devalued in an

By 1904, Inspector Burganacademic and probably also economlc sense'l\,..-.-+,..-'

wrote that

Parents ancl children are under a mistaken notion as tothe value of the [compulsory] certificate. Its realvalue is very small incleed, for it only indicates thatthe child has made sone little preparation for enteringon a course of study in which certain instrumentarysubjects - reading, writing and arithmetic, will be ofuse to it and enable it to acquire knowledge of variouskinds

Not only compulsory certificates, but University examinations were in

growing demand. One indicator of their growing popularity [and class

bias) was the wave of establishing University exarnination centres in the

country. Accorcli-ng to Eric Willians, the decade from 1897 to 1907 saw

249

twelve peTmanent University examination centres established in South

Australian countly towns under the patronage of the districtrs most

influential persotralities, ê.g. its solicitor, doctor, clergyman arìd

l eacling bus ines slnan . B o

Enterprising teachers, encouraged by the Department, started catering

for the growing group of educatjon-conscious childr:en in a separate fifth

and later sixth class, wfiicl1 eventually, under a different name, came to

constitute the first system of governìnent seconclary scltools ' Bl

The number of children exanrined in the fifth class as a percentage of

the total nulnlrer of chilclren examined rose front 0.82"¡ in 1878 to 3.36% tn

1884, 4.76e¿ in 1899, aucl 7.Og% in 1900. B2

In 1879, departmental .examinations for fifth class students were set for

the first time. In 1893, all schools with more than 100 pupils and in

1B9B all those with attenclance over 40 pupils had to establish such

class, amd in 1901 a sinilar provi.sion w¿rs made for the setting up of

sixth classes. In 1898, a new fmerit certifícater r¡Ias introduced for

fifth class pupils, ancl in 1901 for fourth class ones, for whom it even-

tually superseded tlre more basic compulsory certificate.03

The conselvatives in parliament sti1l pained at the thought of providing

state schooling for anybody except those poorest sections of the working

class for whom conventional norality made least sense' Although reluc-

tantly reconcilecl to the teaching of the 5 Rrs, they nonitored closely

the working of the education system in order to prevent any attempt at

secondary eclucation - e-specially after the passage of the flee education

bil.l in 1891.84

Cornplaining bitterly about the rising costs of free cducation in 1893,

these clefenders of natural laws hacJ the fifth class fee increased fron

250

6d to 1/- a week (i.e. doubled), and they also repealed the provision

which gave children who had passed the compulsory standard, but were

under thirteen, free education.

The inposition of fees was useful in preventing the spread of popular

education but did nothing to achieve the ains for which it was ostensibly

introduced. While fifth class enrolnents barely kept pace with the

increase in the total school population, the effect on raising revenue

was negligible, and the fee interfered with, rather than aided, the

setti¡g up of classes in the country. In addition, it had such a detri-

mental effect on departmental routinesEs that the Liberal Governrnent,

confident this time of its ability to get the numbers if the issue came

to the vote, had the regulation repealed. Immediately, fifth class

enrolments regi-stered another jurnp. Though the totat school population

remainecl almost constant, they increased from 3,224 in 1897 to 5,097 in

1999. I 6

Conservatives reached a high point of noble sentirnent with another argu-

ment in favour of the re-introduction of fees: free education past the

compulsory starrdard was unjust since it meant an effective subsidy from

the poor to the rich; the workers and small farmers paid the largest

amount in taxes, and yet could not afford to keep their children in

school after they reached the compulsory standarcl. sT

My prelininary survey, of the Thebarton school registers between 1893 and

1905 reveals, however, that this r^¡as not the case. The abolition of the

fifth class fee in 1898 brought into existence a sizeable class where the

children of skilled workers consistently formed the largest single category

and, togetl'rer with the children of labourers, transport and agricultural

workers, always constituted over one-half of the class'88

251

A similar situation existed in l-lindmarsh Prirnary School, for which nore

adequate figures are ¿rvailahle. Between 1890 and 1899, the children of

skilÌed workers cont-ributecl well over half of tlie enrol.nent in the Sth

and 6th classes, although under-represented in these classe.s compared to

graclels one to four.0s 'llte chilclren of nerchants, manufacturers ancl white

collar ivorkers were over-represented: in sone instances their proportion

j.n the two highest gracles was twice that in the rest of the school. A

very signifi.cant feature of the data i.s the wide divergence it indicates

in the experience of different occupational categories,e0 and of boys

and gírls: the boys of merchants and agents r:epresentecl 8% af the two

highest grades but only 5.1% of t.he remainder of the school., while the

conparabl e figur'es for gi rls werc 1I . 5e; and 5 . 3e;; the proportion of

daugl'rters of government and institution enployees in 5th and 6th classes

was double, and that of their sons nearly quadruple, that in the rest of

the school.

The proportion of children of skilled workers was reasonably stable

throughor¡t the whole school, but the children of labourers, and especially

their daughters, were severely under-represented - the percentage of girls

fell from 2I.L% in the rest of the school to 9.7% in gr:ades 5 and 6.

A roughly similar situation existecl with regard to the compulsory certi-

ficate. Among those rvho passed, the ciaughters of labourers were most

severely under-represented (tlieir proportioll was nearly halved), while

the sons of gover:nmcnt and institution employees and the daughters of

merchants and agents wcre most significantly over-Tepresented.

Overal1, a disproportion¿rte number of girls passed the compulsory certi-

fica,te. It is open to fïrtl'rer research to find out whether girls were

better than boys at. passing exams or, as is rnore li.kely, successful boys

and ti'rose froni lvell-to-do families were witTrclrawn from the Ilindmarsh

252

Prirnary School and sent to a private school or a more prestigious

government school.

Many working cla-ss fa¡nilies - and especially those of skilled and white

collar u¡orkers -- thus made extensive use of the rprovidedr educational

institutions, i.e. the state schools.

In using state schools, these workers did not succurnb to bourgeois

hegemony. Rather, they accomrnodated thenselves, as best they cou1d, to

the changing shape of their economic environment. As Hogan says l

The popular acceptance of public education was not somuch the consequence of rideological hegemonyr, butprinarily the consequence of the [mistaken] realizationby working class parents that because of the existenceof the wage labour systen and the nature of the socialdivision of labour, education was the key to economicsurvival, security, and mobility. It was the structureof social relations that was primarily responsible forworking class educational demands. er

Flowever, in attending schools and competing with their fellows for exam*

ination certificates, children participated in a hegemonic practice. In

other words, as was argued in Chapter 4, pupils learnt to read and write

in a process built around individual competition for social mobility,

and through passive rnemorisation of exaninable tfactsr. All these

factors were detrinental to the formation of a class-conscious working

class movement,

2s3

Notes

I. sÄPD,1BgB, P.401.

Z. Accorcli.ng to Saunders, for exarnple, "Education was seen [in the latenineteenth century] as now, as a i:ath leading to a better life, as a

nìeans of enteritrg, if not the professions, at least an offj.ce.parental ambjtions have always made eclucation appear an ropen sesamel

to a hígher social class.r' G.E. Saunders: "Public eclucation in SouthAustralia in the nineteenth centuryr', p.255'

S. Many of the questions raised in connection with this problem arecliscussed by A.J. Field in I'Educational expansion in nid-nineteenth-centuly Massachusetts: hunan capital fornation or structuralreinforcement?rf in Hary¿rd Educationa.T Review (Vol'46, No.3, 1976) '

4 Cochrane:'rlndustrialisation and depenclence : Australia 1919-1939'r,34.

ibjd. , p.35.

Especially those held in 1862 and 1867.

Register, 11.6.1870, drawing on naterial supplied to the TechnologicalCommission of Victoria. The actual position wa-s more complex. Here,however, I am mainly interested in contemporary perceptions of whathappened.

G. Stednran-Jones: Outcast Lond.on.' a sÈudy in the reLa'tionship between

c_i.asses in Vjctorian societg (Clarendon Press, 1971), p. 311.

f. ibid., p.313

10. ibid., p.330

P

p

5

6

7

ö

11.

t2.

13.

14.

ibid., P. 331 .

school power, it was hoped, would increase the intelligence and

application of each worker coming ulrder its influence. It would notoniy inspire everybody to work faster, btlt reduce the wastage ofmaterial and lead workers t-o constantly think of innovatíons whichwould improve tlte proclucts and economise the costs of procluction'

l,,l .J. Walters: 'rPolices, production and people't, p.61.

K.R. Borves: "The 1890 mari.tine strike in South Australia" (Unpub' MA

thesis, University of Adelaicle, 1957), p.Il.

ibid., pP.12-3

J-bJ-d., P.IJ

15.

16.

17. See tables 17,18.

254

18. Jas. Newbury, a smith and engineer frorn the Adelaide -suburb ofNorwood, for exalnple, wrote to the l8B7 Comrission of Enquiry ì-ntoTechnical Eclucati-on: rrCannot employ any workmen ancl lads. llavegone to lvtelbourne, and working as labouring man. Would Like toenploy 15 men and boys. No work for tlten t-o do. The greater paltof macltinery ancl all thc ironwork that can be is imported. I haveone thousancl poundsr worth of machinery getting rusty...tt 9APP,1887, No.33, p.19.

19 J. Brecher: t'Uncovering the hidden history of the American workplacertin rhe Review of Radical- Pol"itical- Tlconomics (VoI.10, No.4, 1978),p.s .

20. Il, IJraverntan : Labour and mc>no¡xtJg capi. taJ, p.80.

2I. ibid., p.100.

22. Register, 15.5.1886.

23 Register, 15.5. 1886. Braverman sunlmarj,sed the process i.n thefollowing way: "The capitalist rnode of production systematicallycìestroys all-round ski1ls whcre they cxist, and brings into beingskills and occupations that correspond to it.s needs. Technicalcapacities are henceforth distributed on a str:ict rneed to knowlbasis. The generalisecl distribution ol' knorvleclge of the productivepïocess among all its participants becomes, fron this point, notmerely runnecessâTyt, but a positive barrier to the functioning ofthe capitalist mode of production...Every step in the labour processis divorced, as far as possible, from special l<nowledge and trainingand reducecl to simple labour. Meanwhile, the relat"ively few personsfor rvhon special knowledge and training arc rescrved are freed sofar as possible fron the obligatíons of simple labour. ln this way,a structure i.s given to all labour proccsses that at its extremepolarises those whose time is infinitely valuable and those whosetime is rvorth alnost nothing, It shapes not only work, but popula-tions as wel 1.rr tl. Braverman , oP " cit. , p.82.

24,

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

S.APP,

SAPP,

Quoted iir K.lì. Ilowes, op. cit., p.60

SAPD, 1898, p.515

1888, No.33 , p.5/1280

1888, No. 33, p. I9/1654 .

sÀPP, l8BB, No.33, P.6/1283.

L. Trethewey: "Post-primary technical education in South Australia,1915-45'' (Urrpub. MEd thesis, Flinclers University, 1977) , p.49.

30. foc. cit

31. ibid., p.85 .

32. In l9J2, for exanrple, the South Australian Governor, Sir Day

Bosanquet, argued that rt,..modern conditions of production have

JJ.

34.

55.

5b.

37.

255

changed, and the old apprenticeship system has gone for ever. Themodern workshop is an institution devotcd to turning out products atas quick a rate and as 1ow a price as possible. It does not existfor the purpose of teaching nren hotv to produce the goods. No onein the shop has time or inclination to teach a boy a trade...We canget the number of skilled workmen rve need only by training thern, andthis can be done by developing the work in the technical scltoolsalready in existence, and by or:ganising technical classes in connec-tiorr with our district high scltools...'r SAEG, 13.8.1912. In a

similar vein, the 1913 conference of the Australian Natives Associa-tion passed unanimously a resolution declaring that, as the system ofapprenticeship had ceased to be effective, technical colleges beestablished and Schools of Mines in the state be extended in orderto train youths in the various manufacturing and other trades.K. Karim: rrl'he development of government-directed apprenticetraining in South Australia, 1917-L940t' (Unpub. BA thesis, Universityof Aclelaide, 1964), p.11. Incleed, as argued in Chapter 8, the schemewas favoured not only by thc workersr governors and employers, but bytheir own representatives in parliament.

J. Brechcr, op. cit., p.8.

ibid., pp.B-9.

H. Braverman, op. eit., p.6.

R. Williams: TÌrc Tong revofution (Peng'uin, 1965), p.163

M. Young: "The schooling of science[ in G. Whitty and M. Young:ExpTorations in the poTitics of schooL knowledge (Nafferton Books,1977), p.49. See also D. Laytoni Scienc:e for the peopTe (GeorgeAllen ¿rncl Lfnwin, 1973).

38. M. Young, op. cit., p.48.

39. ibid., p.49.

40. D,J. flogan: "Capitalism and schooling: a hi-story of the politicalecorÌonìy of eclucation in Chicago, 1880-1950" (Unpub. PhD thesis,University of I1linois, 197B), p.358.

4I . ibid ., pp . 382,404

42. ibid. , p.357

43 "'l'he ability of children of poverty fanilies ever to rise above thi-sclass was severely linited by the fact that need pressed so stronglyon their families precisely at that point in their live.s when expen-diture on schooling or apprenticeship would have facilitated move-ment upwar:d.'r J.R. Gillis: Youth and historg (Acadenic Press, 1974),p.I23.

44 - ibid., p. 119.

"The opportunity costs of education -the loss of wages while thecl'rildren attended school - put prolonged education beyond tire reach

45

256

of children iu most fanil-ies...At a time when increasing numbers ofmiddle-c1ass parents rvere sacrificing the labour of their childrenilr favour of prolonged education, rnost working-c1i:ss parents andchilclren remained cauglit up in the sort of producti-ve-contractualrelatj-onship that had once characteri-sed fanily life jn al1 socialclasses .rf J . F. Ket.t : Rj tes ot passage . Adol,escence :.n America f 790to the prese.nt (llasic Books , 1977), pp.169-70.

46. fte origÌnal Act provided for 75 days' a.ttendance in cach irIn 1878, this \^ras changecl to 35 clays a quarter, and in 1905childrelr in largc towns were compcllecl to attcnd four out o

school da1,s. Only in 1915 were all children under cotnpulsirequLred to attend every school day.

47. K. lVinlshurst: 'rstreet children and school attenclance i-n SouthAust-r:Llia, l890-1915", p.164. According to Wimshurst, rrthe flexibleschool attendance regulations j¡r South Australia at thc turn of thecentury nurtured a category of schoolchildren known to officialdolnas street cìrilclren. 'l'hese were children who attcnded school for thenliniutun nrlnlrcr of days required by Law irnd, accorcling to authorities,for the remainder of schooldays each cluarter ttook to the streetsr.rlK. IVimshurst: I'Child-saving and urb¿ur school reforn in SouthAustralia, 1886-190S" (type-script, 1980), P. 1.

48. ibid. , p.I27 .

49. ibid., p.144.

50. .ibid., pp. 126, 156.

5L sAPD, 1880, p.1638.In 1890, lV.A. I.lorn, ¡:astoralist and ninì.ng magnate, believecl thatthe statets cluty wcnt no further than providing rudincntary training."Children are being educated up to such a standard that they will notfollow the footsteps of their fatÌ'rers; they want to be bank clerks¿rnd such like, and wj 1l not he nechanics, thinking it beneath thenl.'lIJe grurnblecl that when he adverti.sed for: a clerk he got 400 applicants;his adver'1-isemellt for a cat:penter brought only three rcplies. SAPD'1890, pf.59I,679, quoted in D. Pike:rrEcluc¿rtion in an agrictilturalstaterf , p.'77 .

52. In 1877, the Goverrror of Victoria nade an influential speech advo-cating the introduction of public exa.ms as the base criterion forentry into the st.ate¡s public servicc. According to hin, "It hasoften been shown that the objections to cornpetitive examinatj.onshave enanated in Lìngland almost entirely from ttvo classes: (1) Fromthe nembers of the aristocratic and other influential farnllies whounder thc old system enjoyed a practical monopoly of the publicservice. (2) From the rnany inefficient schoolnasters ofl the lastgenerati-on lvho taught nothing but Greek and Latin, and that- oftenbadly, and who were soon distanced by rnore able and energeticteachers, whorn they enviously nick-named IcrammetsI.'r Regi.ster,2.t.1877 .

Sone of tlre issues raised in conlrectíon with such conceptualisationare noted by Par"rl llenclerson in 'rClass stlucture and the concept of

a1

tf

f dlye

fivcon

53

257

intelligence'r. In his article llenclerson uses research on the nedicaland architectural professions to support his contention that I'pressure

for educational qualificatÍons came about less as a response to arneedr for rnore ski1ls, but rather to contl:ol mobility 'into themiddle class, and to ensure that those who were already favourablyplaced wi.th respect to educational opportunities - the cl'rildren ofmiddle class parents, would be equally well placed with respect toemploynent opportunities'r. R. Dale (ed.): SchooLing and capitalisn,p.145.Accorcling to l{enderson, it was the least successful nembers of theprofession who tended to be nost active in calling for compulsoryregistration and educational qualifications of their colleagues.As it stands, this contention directly contradicts the claims of therhuman capj.tal theo.ryt . In particular, instead of arguing that therisi.ng level of skilI required j.n many job-s ilrduced ntore people toinvest in schooling, Llenderson points to the effort.s of those ableto pay school fees to erect educational barriers against entry intovarious white co1lar jobs.

54. IAPP, 1884, No.44, Ì).4.

55. B.K. I{yans a¡rcl B. Bessant., op. cit,, p.72

56. S. Murray-Srnith: "A history of technical educat.ion in Australia"(t.lnpub. PhD thesis, lJniversity of N'lelbourne, 1966) , p.509.

57 " See E.L. French: rrSecondary education in the Australian social orderI788-l89B" [Unpub. PhD thesis, tlniversity of Nle]bourne, 1958) .

58. Ileralcl, 2.2.I90I.

59. sApD, 1910, p.818. The attempt to exclude people from a professiontì'rrough eclucational qualifications clid not apply to nrining in the1890s . Murray-Snith clocuments the founcling of the Ar.strala-sianInstitute of Mining Engineers in 1893 where membership was based onpractical connection with mining or metallurgy, and attempts toinrprove status of menilrers revolved around a period of practicalexperience, not clualifi cations. S. Murray-Snúth, op . cit. , p.494.

60. M. B. Katz: 'rThe origins of pr-rb1ic educationrr, p.398

61. For an elaboration of this argurnent, see S. Bowles anci ll . GintisSchooling in capital.jst America, ch. 4, p.I20.

62. qAPP, 1884, No.44, p.4

63 It was common, in nineteenth century, to support educational institu-tions (or churches), not through direct monetary grants, but throughgranEs of land. 'lhe recipients supported thcmselves from incomeclerived fron leasing the land.

sApD, 1879, p.987. William Quinn was elected to Parliament as a

'reptesentative of Port Adelaide working men¡.64

65. SAPD,1B79, p.990.

2sB

66. See J, Clothier: "l4lonen, John Flartley ancl the Advanced Schoo1 :forGirls (f 867-f 908) , South Attstralia" (l.lnpub. MEd lesearch essay,Flinders UniversitY, I974).

67. See, for exantple, SÄPP,pp. 10-i .

1876 , No . 21 , pp. 6-7; SAPP, 1885 , No . 34,

68. Wj lliarn D. Glyde, for example, had interest in Prj'nce Alfred CoI1ege.See S,APD, 1880, p.1638.

69. In 1899, for exanrple, all nine of the [roys' exhibitions open toconrpetition from al1 government schools went to pupits from Norwood

lvloclel School.

70. in IBB0, for exatnple, the liberal l{aines argued that rr.. 'at presentthe state wes providing sufficient education to enal¡1e the sons and

rlaughters of the poorer cl,asses to rise sicle by side wj-th the sons

ancl daughters of thc rich...lle bclieved that sone of the children ofthe pooier classes wc¡uld r:ise superior to those of the rich, and

possitly there was a fear of that taking place. Every man who under-stood the law trncler wlrich he lived was a better man to obcy the lawt¡an the one who knew nothing about it, and the tine had very nearlygone lvhen the cry could be raised ofrkeep the poor man downr."9APD, I880, p.1638.

71.

72.

See table 19.

Þ-or c¡a¡ges in secondary school curricula, see E.L. French: "Secondaryeclucation in the Australian social order 1788-1898'r.

73. SAPP,

74. 9APP,

1900, No .44 , p .12,

1901, No.44, p.19.

7q

76.

77.

78.

79.

80"

81.

SAPP, 1888, No.44, p.30.

S^åPP, 1904, No . 44 , P . 19 .

The Pioneer, 22.8.1891, P.68

SAPP, 1884, No.44, P.17

SAPP, 19Û4, I'1o.44, P.14.

E. Williams: trl'he foundation of univcrsity adult ecluca'tion inAustrali.a 1B86-1916" (Unpub. BA tiresis, LJniversity of Adelaide,1966) , pp.78,I20.

In 1.885, for example, the East Torrens School Boarcl wrote of theNorwood scirool: 'rWhitst the requirements of the department havereceived the fgllest attentiolr, as evidenced by examination results,it is erninently satisfactory to note that the senior pupils receivegratuitous instruction in Latin, Euclid and AIgebra, with a view toqualify them for exhibitions, bursaries, and the jtrnior examinationof the university. since 1879, 8 boys have passed the juniorexamin¿rtion direct fron this school.tr 9APP, 1886, No.44, P.29'

B3

B4

259

82. See table 20.

Information fronr the yearly Education lìeports and from EducationRegulations publishod in SAPP. Iror addi.tional information on fifthcI¿rsses see G.E. Saunclers: "Public secondary education in SouthAustralia: the 19th century background" in R.J.W. Selleck (ed.):Me-Lbourne studjes jn education l96B-9 (MUP, 1969), pp.148-9.

Like Mr. lì¿lnclcll, one of the pioneers of the Murray steaner tradeand later l"fP, they noticed that rr...nany of our youth-s are notinclined to work as their: fathers did before thenl. They did notwant to.do any manual labour, but fill what they thought were morerespectable positions"..lle maintaincd that if boys were kept toolong at school and did not begin to do some work fitted to theil:strength at, sây, 14 or 1.5, and Ïr¡rrder work as they grew older, theystood a good chance of proving failures and turning out poor andinefficient lvor:kmen, Manual work ljecame veny distasteful to them,and thcy got t.he character of bcing lazy ancl good for nothìng. Now,

they were not 1azy, brrt to a large extent were not able to do hardwork simply because thcrir bodics had not been tra-i,ned, scasoned, andhardeliecl for work, aucl thc fact that our cliniltc was somewhat ener:-vating and therefore predisposed to languor and lethargy, enrphasi-sedhis contention.I' ïAPD, 1898, p"660.

85. In 1898 Inspector Neale rvrote I'I wish again to disclairn any intentionto discuss the policy of P:lrlianent i.n this matter, but in the furtherlight of this year'r:; experience it i-s no less than a duty to reportÌrow, in practice, not only arc the wishes of Parliarnent frustrated,trut a very evil influence has been i.ntroducecl into the schools,against rvhich teachers and officers of the department ¡rle alike help-less. 'lhe charge of a shilling a week was imposed partly to raiseïevenue in tl're larger schools and partly to make a 5th class possiblein the country schools. 1he parents evade the payment in two ways,either by keepi.ng the children hone from the examination in the 4thclass or by telling them to fail in one of the conpulsory subjects.I have reported specì,fic cases whete this Ïras been done. In oneschool all the best chiÌdren of class 4 were kept away for thisTeâson, and the percentage snffered accorclingly. This is denoralisingto the chi ldren and disheartening to the teacher:. It night be saidtliat a teacher sìroulcl checkm¿lte the practice by refusing to pronotesuch children to the 5th class; but no teacher would dare to enterupon such a crusadc against local opinion, to say nothirrg of theinmor¿rlity of lvasting thc children's precious titne, Nor does thischarge of a shilling a week accomplisl'r the object of establishing Stltclasscs in coLrntry schools. 0n tltc othcr )rand, it has haci theeffect of practically abolishing them. Many a teacher would form a

Stl'r class bt¡t for this fee. 'l'he people will nct or cannot pziy it;Írs soon as a 5th clnss is forrnccl a fcw cligitrtc pu1:i1s 1cavc, andthe average attenclance drops, possibly just enough to redr¡ce theclassification of the school and conseqrrently the salary. The teachercan thus hardly be blamed for failíng to voluntarily undertake extrawork when it nay mean a reduction of. E2A or Ê30 in his salary.rrSAPP, 1898-9, No.44, p.15.

86. See tahle 20

260

87. In 1861, during a debate on a hill that proposed to restrict govern-ment assistance to c.ity schools, Thomas Magarey, one of SouthAustraliars largest pastoralists and merchants, argued that "[t]hepoorer classes paid the largest anount of taxes; they bore theprincipal share of the burden of the state; and it was not fair thatthe noney which they contributed should be devoted to the teaching ofthe higher branches of instruction.rr ÍAPD, 186I, p.I47.

BB. See table 21. A more extensive study of the Thebarton Prirnaryschool registers is being undertaken by Brian Condon at FlartleyCollege of Advanccd Education, Adelaide.

89. For tìrese and the following figures, see table 22"

90 The use of roccupational categoriesr rather than rclass fractionsr j.smade necessary by the nature of the statistics collected.

91. D.J. Ilogan, ap. cit., p.22. For a reninder about the nistaken viewof educatiolr as the key to economic security, see page 242 of thisthesis.

CIIAPI'EIì 6

TIIE IDEOI,OGY OII THE DEPENDENT CHILD

262

In 1907, the historic Flarvester decision on the basic wage was handed

down in the Federal Arbitration Court by Mr. Justice Higgins. Ihe basic

rvage was calculated as the a¡nount needed by an adult male to suppoTt a

wife ancl three children - who did not themselves work - in ba'sic comfort'

It presupposed a particular view of the family; one that was narkedlY

different from the working class famity of several decldls ¡levigusly-' ,

dent supplementary breadwinners, young people between theFrom semi-dePen

ages of twelve and eighteen changed into adolescents, rnalleable and

fragile beings needing the protection of settled fanily life and a

plethora of state institutions. In this chapter, I have summarised sorne

theories regarding the I inventionr oÏ. t cliscoveryr of adolescence, and

presentedSonespeculationaboutitsappeaTanceinSouthAustralia.

The invention of adolescence

some social scientists argue that adolescence, the period of life between

puberty ancl marriage that is irnbued with special characteristics, was

discovered in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries'2

others, such as Gillis, Kett, Reede::, Katz and Davey, refine this analysis

to argue that special social arrangements for people between puberty and

marriage had existed for a considerable period of time' The transition

263

consisted not in discovering that a particular period in the life cycle

possessed different characteristics, but in investing this difference

with a new significance. According to Kett:

The key contribution of the 1900-1920 period was not thediscovery of adolescence, for: in one forn or another arecognition of changes at puberty, even drastic changes,had been present long before 1900. ne!bç¡-jJ--was-Jh+-invention of the adolescen the you!h whose socialdefiniti on and indeed, w e whole being - üas'Teter-

I p¡oçgs s of _maturation. . .To spe¿kthe adolescentr rather than of the

discovery of adolescence underscores a relatecl point:was essentiallya ]. oul

1mp osed onway in which young peop

an 9.4P1 rical assessment o

le actual

According to Katz and Davey, during the period of seni-autonomy, which

virtually disappeared during industrialisation, young people noved in

with other fanilíes, dwelling as boarders, relatives, servants or appren-

tices. Although they remained, to sone extent, under the supervision of

their new household, these young people led a relatively independent

existence. a

As the nineteenth century pt:ogressed, however, more and nore categories

of young people spent increasing amounts of tine in specialised, age-

segregated institutions, stayed longer at home and, instead of contri-

buting to the farni 1y income, became economically dependent on their

parents.,,.

In explaining the origins of adolescence in England and North America,

marxist and rrevisionistr historians nake two basic claims. The first

contention involves the relevance of educational institutions to entry

into a growing number of sought-after occupations. As arguecl in the

previous chapter, there occurred, towards the end of the nineteenth

century, a gradual transformation of the initiation and exclusion

niiriéd by o biologic_a- õ-f-th?!- ri nVéñlion o f

264

mechanisms of various kinds of jobs, Starting with the nost prestigious

ancl best paicl profcssions and ending with 1owly clerkships, var.ious

amounts of occr:pational skills, as well as a range of more-or-1ess job-

related certificates, began to be produced in the formal education

systems.

Seconclly, theorists concerned with explaining the rcrisis of youthr clain

that towards the end of the nineteenth century there was, in many regions,

a sharp decline in loyment opportunities for oung people. Thjs

clecline is linked above al.l with the invention of new labour-saving

machinery at the turn of the and with tlie applications ot raiiòrist

methods of rscientific rnanagementt.s It is also connected with factory

legislation, which limited young peoplers working hours and the type of

work they were allowed to perform,

lVþile, as Katz and Davey argue, a transition from a mercantile to an

industrial economy brought with it a growth in the job opportunities

available to young people,u tt a l¿rter stage of developnent this trend

was reversed, and much of the sinple unskilled work performed by children

was taken ovel by machines.

To support his argurnent that changes in young peoplers employrnent patterns

unclerlay efforts to introduc.e vocationally-oriented curricula and extend

schooling, Troen cit-es several stri.king examples of the displacernent of

juvenile labour by technological innovations in the Unitecl States. For

example, whereas in the l880s up to one-third of the workforce in large

department stores was composed of cash troys and cash gir1s, in the

following two decades the cash register, pneumatic tube and conveyor belt

virtually elirninated thi.s kind of employment.T Similarly, inventions

which facilitated comrnunications - typewriter, telephone and pneumatic

265

tube - eliminated most of the unskilled teenage workers who ran errands in

the late nineteenth-century office.s In industry, Inany unskilled opera-

tions previously reserved for children were taken ovelf by more sophisti-

cated machinery. e

As Kett emphasizes, neither the changing nexus between school and work

nor the Erisis o:F youth*.çn¡¿!-ç¡r¡r9nt could, on their own, account for the\--*-invention of adolescence. A third ingredient is needed - and here Kett

points to the wide dissemination and popular acceptance of several strands

of:_gqyShol+g+ea{ theory. Works such as G. Stanley Hal1rs Àdol,escence had

a brief ancl unspectacular life as bases of acadenic research. They

horvever accurately expressed the acute concerî of parents, youth leaders

and tea,chers with the adolescents whose lives they were attenpting to

regulate. Thesc men and womcn

...responded enthusiastically to llallrs conception ofadolesc.ence as a stage of life distinctive for aestheticsensibility and inner turmoil, and...used Flallrs view-point to justify the establishment of adult-sponsoredinstitutions which segîegated young people from casualcontact with adults. I o

The transition towards 'adolescentt forrns of life experience thus brought

wit¡ it an ever intensifying concern with the moral dangers of those

parts of children's life which continued to occur outside the institu-

tions provided for them. Graclually, the slreets changed from a rschool

of lifer to atnursery of vicer, arìd the childrenrs inventiveness in

keeping bocly and soul together cane to be representecl as a threat to the

rsurvival of the racet. Gillis, referring to this period, observes that

Never had youth appeared so rnalleab1e, so prepared forgood and yet so accessible to evil. 'Ihe nodel adolescenttherefore became the organised youth, dependent butsecure from tenptation, while the independent and pre-cocious young were stignatised as delinquent. Beginning

266

whether adolescence is seen as a llehl invention oT as a renamed and

reshaped stage of life, iEs interpreters aTgue that it first affected

the chilclren of the wealthy, and only gradually began to have an irpact

on the lives of working-c1ass people'

AccordingtoMusgrove,chilc]renofthearistocracywele,duringthe

eighteentlr century, gradually separated frclm the wor]d of servants,

apprentj ces ancl meliials to which they had until then been often consigned'

ancl were integratecl into the social class of their parents ' For several

decades in tire eigl'rteenth and early nineteenth century there was a trend

towarcls eclucating these young people thr:ough irrtegrating then into the

fanrily, involving tlìem in thc everyclay radultt concerns of theiÏ parents'

But this arïange)nent tencled to accelerate, rather than impede, the young

people's progress towards maturity: "'lhe adolescent was inappropriately

located rvithin the family: the characteristics which had been asc::ibed

to him coulcl more cer:tainly be produced in the school 2 'nte public

schools themselves were tïansforned. Irrom lol status institutions where

boys from different classes mixed, governed to a large extent by inter-

nally generateci rules, they changed to exclusive, adult regulated schools

which carefully excluded all poorer children. In Kettrs words:

No longer were the public schools to be dumping grounds

for thð clissolute sons of gentlemen, places where theyweÏetleatedlikeserfsandoftenactedlikeserfsonthe rarnpage.. Ratherr rtheY

were to become nurseries ofChristian character"'

Children from more modest backgrouncls came under the new concept of

adolescence much later than uppeÏ class one,s. The last two decades of

267

the nineteenth century are usually identified as the period when bourgeois

a¡d professional families began to ernploy educational institutions, rather

than apprenticeship under eninent practitioners, as introductíon into

work life for their sons. Accorcling to Kett, this period

.. .witnessed a radical differentiation of the economicopportunities available to niddle-c1ass and l.ower-c1assyourìg people. During. these decades middle-class parentswere forced to adopt new strategies ;Lo guarantee thesatisfact.ory placenent of their children in occupations,strategies which emphasized the young peoplers passivityand acquiescence. tu

T'þe boysr change of character was preceded by that of their sisters, who

were often the first to be released from the immediate task of reproducing

their family and to protong their stay at school.is No longer r:ash,

troublesomc and heedless, adolescents of both sexes were increasingly

seen as passive, vulnerable and awkward, qualities that previously hacl

been associated only with girls. l6

Compulsory school attendance laws notwithstanding, the low standard of

living ancl precarious economic existence of most labouring families

excluded their children for a long time fron the realm of adolescence.

In nid-nineteenth centuly England, for exarnple, reforns of the penal

system and of factoïy con<litions distinguished ryoung personsr from

children on the one han<l, and from adults on the other. 17 But the

concept of adolescence becane generally applied to working class young-

sters only by the turn of the century, when widespread changes in the

production pïocess eliminated a large proportíon of the jobs habitually

performecl by young people. Even then, r"rnderlying the general application

of a new psychology, there were marked differences in the experience of

different class fractions.

268

As argued in the previous chapter, during periods of prosperity the

regular incomes and higher wages of skilled workers enabled thern to

approximate the new'nriddle classr pattern of transition fron school to

work. The famiLies of labourers, on the other hand, were prevented,

tl'rrough economic necessity, from following the sane course. Their

incomes were such that at least the otder children had to work as soon

as possibte to help the fanrily nake ends neet: the rfair and reasonablel

wage awarded to male unskilled workers to support a rfa¡nily of about

fivet by Mr. Justice Higgins in 1907 amounted to a 27eo rise in wages for

labourers working under Commonwealth awards.lB Graphically, the differ-

ence in the life cycles of skilled and unskilled workers could be

represented in the same h'ay as Gillis had done for England of 1900:

ases o 5 10 15 20 2, 30 3, \o \5 5o 55 6o

skilted

unskil-l-ed-

Figure 1" Life cycles of skill-ed. and unskiÌled work.t=te

G)h0rd.rlÈ{trcû

s

.dooh00(d.q.Å -PlrÊFi(l)dF{Ê(û

Ê

Ho(tH

'rl

b¡

.-l-1Ooc¡

Uo

I0)o'rl]JÈÊ'¡a).g¡{tnÊÈd

>'

(ûç'¡

b0

.rlrlU.qUa

¡ropdrlhoþ

2(t9

Juvenile employnent rates in South Australia

The only study to seriotßly confront these issues wi.th regard to

Australia is Kerry Wimshurstrs thesis on South Australian rstreet

children'.2-0 Iìe argues that the hypothesis linking school reform with

changes in child employment rates cannot be applied to South Australia at

the turn of the century. Katz and Troen speak of full-tine work.

According to Wimshurst, the same arfluments could be applied ín South

Australia to child casual work2l -- and in this he can find no evidence of

falling employment opportunities. As he says,

. . . the urban economy remained dependenl on conmerce andrelatively sma1l workshop production and there appearsto have been a wide range of opportunities for childcasual work. tnos in the period

sa e need to tSt ere larl b causeeconomic change, conbined with e n mum attenclance

sn the stree 1n of

decl inin rt t ES casê1, t was e very exl_s tence of these street

children that was seen to cons titute a social threat.22

Wimshurst notes that the case is complicated by the fact that no survey

of child casual work was ever undertaken in the state, I would argue,

however, that the South Australian econony at the turn of the century was

tndergoing a transformation, and that there does exist some evidence of a

decrease in juvenile ernployment opportunities.23 While, as Wimshurst

observes, Adelaide remained a commercial city, its rnanufacturing sector

was undergoing a modest process of concentration.24 t)nlike small work-

shops, larger concerns came under the scope of factory acts which limited

the conditions under which you¡lg people could be ernployecl. In addition,

it is probable that some of the technology and organisation of work that

went with such concentration elininated opportunities for juvenile labour.

270

Nevertheless, South Australia at the turn of the century probably repre-

sented a combination of trends. In sofne respects, it resembled Llamilton

as describecl by Davey, where a tlansition from a mercantile to a more

inclustrial econony in tlie 1870s led to the creation of a large number of

jobs for juvenile labour. Yet at tlle same time employers started

importing and utilising:nachinery which origi.nated at a later stage of

industrial <levelopment, and whicl'r often 1ed to a reduced demand for yor-ng

workers. The overall effect was protrably similar to Joseph Kettrs

description of late nineteenth century America:

. . .some phases of industrial:isation intensifi.ecl thedernand for young labourers, while other phases did not.Because of the chronological overlap of phases, observerssaw conflicting pieces of evidence, but rarely the wholepicture. They complained about i.dle and dissipated youthin one breath and about erçIoited youth in the next. The

only point of agreement was that apprenticeship was indecline.'"

I¡ trying to gain some oveïview of juvenile ernployment patterns in South

Australia, the most useful sources have proved to be the 1891, 1901 and

tgll census documents, and the statistical infornation on certain classes

of factories collected in South Australia from 1904 onwards.

The census figures indicate that between 1891 and 1911, the enployrnent of

females in the 5-14 age group remained relatively c-onstant at about 3-7%

of the age group, while that of fenales between 15 and 20 fe11 fron 46.5%

to 40.7eo of the age group. In both cases, a marked fall in domestic and

primary occupations r,Jas accompanied by a rise in industrial employment'26

Du::ing the sane period, the proportion of enployed male-s in the age group

5-14 rose from 9.7eo to 11.1e", ancl that of the 15-20 age group feJ-Z from

94,4% to g2.3vo. For both categories of young nale workers, there was an

increase in comntercial and industrial employment, and a decrease in

primary occuilatiorts. "

271

The significance of these figures for a rcrisis of youth' hypothesis can

be judged if we compar.e tl're eruploynent. and schooling of young people irt

metropolitan Adelaide at the date of th 191 L cens .2s of the 17,367'-l

..#,æ

persons aged 10- 1.4 4,195 or 24.'2% were inclicated as rnot receiving

instruction' of any kirrcl, and 2 ,7I4 o'r 15.6e" were working. Even if we

assumed that none of the children receiving instruction rvorked (and

there is much evidence incticating that many of then diri work), 1,481

youngsters, or B.Seo of the age group, was neit-her at school nor enrployed'

For individual ages, the proportion of children not receiving instruction

rises sharply with age -from 2.7e0 at the age of 10 to 69'5% at the age

of 14. The rate of ernpì.oyment, for which no detailed breakdown is avail-

ab1e, probably increased in a similar way. Although it is impossible at

this stage to nake detailed comments about trends over time, or allout the

sex composition of the ridler group of children, the figures do indicate

that one in ten ancl possibly one i¡r five youngsters wcre outside insti--

tutional super-vision, causing headaches to socj.al refornters already

worried by the large nulnber of rstreet childrenr '

A finer if more limited picture can be gained fro¡n the yearly statistical

returns of registered factories.2e These show that fron a peak reached

between 1905 and t908 the factory employment of nales under sixteen

gradually clectined as a plopoltion of the total workforce, and probably

absolutely as we11. While, in 1905, one in ten of all rnale fac'Eory

workers lvas sixteen years of age or yorüger, ten years later this propor-

tion was reduced to one in 15 and by 1919 to one in 20, around which

figure it f luctuated r.rntil the 1930s.30

Ilr.i.ncliviclual traclcs, betwecn 1904 and 1915, the percentage of yor'mg

¡nale workers in ful1-time employment cleclined from 1090 to 4% ín mechanical

272

engineering, fron 19% lo 6% in plunbing and gasfitting, from 16% to 6%

in boots and shoes, and fron 102o to Seo in furniture and cabinet naking.

Even in tea and coffee blending, a simple occupation traditionally

connected lvith young people, the proportion of the workforce occupied by

juveniles fell from 46.6eo to 35.7%. 0n1y in printing and bookbinding, a

strongly unionised trade, did the proportion of young workers remain

relatively stable at around 11%.31

The factory employnent of young women, on the other hand, remained more

or less stable. 3 2 B"t*e"n 1904 and 1915, the number of women tmder 16 AS

a percentage of the total fenale workforce rose from 10.5% to I2.Lea.

The largest nurnber of young women was ernployed in the textile industry,

which depended for its competit 1y-_elggs_.-94_paying its workers less than

subsistence.y3g::|t; in dress naking, mil1inery, shirtrnaking, whitework

.-{nd, tailoríng, tìre conrbined proportion of young wonen as a percentage of

the total female workforce rose from around 99o to ll9o. By contrast, in

the much larger ready-made clothing factories, their proportion of the

female workforce halved in the space of eight years - it was reducecl frorn

19.9% in 1908 to 9.8% in 1915.34 In the contracting boot trade, where

the employnent of you:rg men \..¡as more than halved, the employment of

young wonen fluctuated around 20e" of the fenale workforce throughout the

whole period.3s

Becar¡se wonen during this period started giving preference to factory

work as against their traditional enrployment in domestic service, however,

it is probable that the stable proportion of girls in factories conceals

an over:all decline in their enployment rates, as is indeed suggested by

the census figures. 36

273

In surnnary, with the exceP tion of males tnder 15, all the available

statistics indicate a gradual decline in the workforce parti ciPation

t4T4tes. o.f -te-eilag:rs- -in Soutf Australia in the first two decades of the

twentieth century. As tl-re 1911 statistics on metropolitan Adelaide show,

schgol was by no ncans an automatic substitute for work, since at lcast

one in ten of all chilclren between 10 and 15 were neither employed nor

I receiving instructionr .

These changes in employment Patterns occurred during a process of increas-

ing urbanisation; an ímportant consideration since adolcscence was seen

âs, above all, a city problen.37 Between 1896 and 1901, the proportion

of South Australia's population living in the Adelaide netropolitan area

increasecl from 42.9eo to 45 .3%. By 1921 it reached 51 .6%, the same

proportion as in the early years of the colony' 38

Before further research in tl-ris area is completed, it is irnpossible to

put an tnambiguous explanation on the long-tern decline in juvenile

enrployment rates. In sonìe aTeas, there undoubtedly occurred a contrac-

tion of employinent opportunitjes. In others, êmPloyment was curtailed

through factory or educational legislation, and through the preferences

of the young people thenselves. Even in the buoyant conditions of 1907,

for example, tvhen record harvests boosted enptroyment in most trades to

trnprecedentecl levels ancl the press was full of complaints about a shortage

of labour, there was in certain areas a surplus of unskjl-Zed juvenile

workers. According to one article

One remarkable phase of the quest.ion disclosed by thesearch for j-nformation is the scarcity of boys - thosewho are suitable for shop and warehouse. lfe can getptentg of .a kind, one employer explained, bu,t where thesmart, thìnking 1ad, the one who enters the businessenthusiastical. ly, is gone, f really arn at a loss toknow. 3s

274

An even nore cautious point of view was put fonn¡ard by w'R' Hunt' senior

partner in a firn of labour agents:

There is a lot of exaggeration about the labour market...so far as the supply is concerned, the nunber of miscel-laneous hands, such as young men for stores, and especi-ally those who have no desire to leave the city, is beyondthe demand. a o

A similar situation existed with regard to wonen In 1912, a Royal

C on u/as callecl after repeated complaints frorn loyers about a

shortage of labour in the clothing and boot trades. In its First Progress

Report, the Conrnission reco the increase, through irnrnigration, of

the fenale workforce by 6I0. However, those sections of the workforce

which were unionised, and therefore able to present evidence without fear

of victinisation, argued convincingly that no shortage of labour existed

in their trades, and that enployeTs were in fact attenrpting to create a

considerable reserve of unemployed workers. This view was endorsed by

A.K. Wallace in the 'Minority Reportr of the Comnission.ql

Nevertheless, the general prosperity clid lead to a lessening of the need

for juvenile labour from the standpoint of working class fanilies'

Unlike in the 1890s, the adult ¡nales in the fanily had a good prospect of

obtaining full-time work, and could afford the luxury of keeping their

wives and olcler daughters at hone and their children at school. As the

Register put it,

It may be that with a little rnoT.e money for tlie house thepaïent of the brainy boy is giving him a year,extra atichool...there is not the sarne necessity for daughters tobe breadwinners while the fathe:: is earning regularmoney. a2

The women and young people themselves had less incentive to accept the

first available job, wl'ren a better paid or more congenial one night be in

the offing. It is interesting to note that the peak for the number of

275

boys enployed in registered factori.es was reached tlo years before that

of adult nales. In 1905, 13,165 adult ¡naIes were registered as employed

as against I,485 juveniles; trvo years later the nunber of men rose by 9eo

to 14,383, while that of boys feJ.J by 8% to 1,365.43

In summary, although South Atstralia witnessed some clecline in the enploy-

ment rates of young people, t.here was nothing resembling the massive

shift in work opportunities which occurred j"n regions whose industry was

undergoing a rapid process of mechanisation.

But the social uncj-_yhiçL-agçanpanied..-the.,ideol'ogy=of, th-e=dependent-.--_ ._

t rates ..-. lt wa.ç _fueilqd .þv p".T.sfqu{tg ,child hinged on more than I

misgivings about the nature of young people t s ernployment as well. In

particular, it related to the apparent replacement of apprenticeship by

rclead endr unskifled jobs -indeed, three successíve Acts of Parliament

sought to regulate and limit the type of casual wor:k that children were

al.Lowed to unclertake . h a

In the late nineteenth centtrry, there was genelaì. agreement that, for

those young people who rernained enployed in industry, apprenti-ceship,

with its detailed supervision and significant educational content, was a

decreasingly available option. Murray-Smith, in sumrnarising the evidence

collected by the 1886-8 Board of Inquiry into Technical Education j-n

South Australia, echoed a chorus of similar cornmentaries made throughout

the whole period. As in New South Wales and Victoria, he concluded, the

apprenticeship systen in South Australia was on the wane:

...except in the printing tracle, the apprenticeship systemwas everywhere in desuetude; comparatively few firns had a

fixed policy of employing apprentices; apprentice condi-tions were wildly inconsistent even within individualtrades; and i.t was seldon incleed that a young worker, evenif apprenticecl, could obtain all-rourd trade training;wherc apprentices were enrployed, the enrployerrs interestin then was too often as cheap labour.'"

276

As apprenticeship provisions declined, there was some corresportding

increase in the nunber of relatively rvell paid fdead endr jobs reserved

for young 'peopJe. According to contenìporary observers, children were

'lured' into these jobs as soon as they left school, only to find then-

selves sacked and replaced by more cheap ì,abour by the time they were

eighteen. A sample of working class parti-cipants in an oral history

project confirmed tÌìat tiìele might be a shor:tage of plun jobs, but plenty

of casual labouring, which youngsters in t{indmarsh sanplecl wit-h consicler-

able rapidity and discernment. And, if it came to the rvorst, theyrcould

always get a job in the Kilkenny glassworks'.45

Such jobs rvere roundly condemned by social reformers, but they had art

important role i.n working class budgets. In South Australia in 1913, for

example, the weekly wages of unskilled young'inproversrwele four to

five shillings ¿r week liigher tl'ran those of apprentices. 0n1y in their

fj.fth and sixth year of ernploynent clid the two classes of workers receive

equal pay. In this situatiolr, with the added expense of indentures,

apprenticeship was a l.uxury ìnany parents could not or did not want to

afford.

As Liddy and Radcliffe (an Adelaíde firm of boot rnanufacturers and

ímporters) testified before the 1887 Technical Education Board:

Parents rvill nol now, as a rule, indenture their boys,because the boys can get morr) money as errand boys etc.,than they can when learning a trade. TTris is, however,a penny wise and a pound fooli.sh idea, because. the boyhas no trade at his fingerst encl when grown up.k 7

lhe conclusions of Gillis apply irere:

In large fami.lies, the older siblings were expected tol'relp provide for their younger br:others and sisters,leaving -school at the earliest possible moment and takingthe highest paid enployrnent availabLe to a person aged 13

or 14, which at tliis ti,me meant unskilled jobs with noprospect of further tr:aining or real advancement. 4 I

277

The changes in employrnent patterns on their own had a profound impact on

the life of young people. But they occurred at the same tirne as two

other developments: the increasing institutionalisation (through

reffj-cient' conpulsory schoofing) of a significant part of childrenfs

lives, and the related wholesale redefinition of the rnaturalt way for

young people to behave.

The rcrisis of outhr

According to Winrshurst, the main veliicle for forrnulating the ideology of

the clepenclent child in South Australia was the State Childrenrs Council,

which by 1905 established a close link with educationists and rprogressive

Iabourr elements.

lhe Council had a brief but traumat.ic contact with a nunber of habitual

tïuants in the early t890s. Throughout the rest of the decade, it contin-

ued to apply its unclerstanding of the social and ntoral dangers of truancy

to a category that it did not recognize: street children, who in fact

complied witl'r the legal attendance requirements of the Education Act. In

this period, the Cou¡rcil

...inaugurated the final step in South Australia in theextension of childhood dependency. In its role of rsternyet loving and concerned parentr, the Council pressed forconpulsory ful1-time school attendance for ail childrenduring the tdangerous yearsr from ten to fourteen

Gradually, the Council's arguments were taken up by Labor Party and

liberal school rcformers and cven Education Department officials.

According to Wimshurst,.frre

emotional rhetoric. ancl stereotypes created by the chj-l<tsaverÞ in the 1B90s lielped to establish the parameters ofprogressive arguments for the abolition of tire ninimurnàttãnaanc" t"q.tit"ments between 1905-1915. . . s 0

278

By this time, thirty yeaïs of compulsory school.ing had led, at least in

t¡e ninds of the eclucators, to a redefinition of what was a Inaturalr way

for young working class people to behave. 'lhe gradual shift of children

out of the permanent ancl casual workforce and their increasing experience

(in school) of long periocls of passive obedience to cletailed authority

combinecl to produce a shift in childrenrs rcharacterr - so much so that

the initiative, independence ancl self-confidence necessary fot finding

and performing a valiety of casual jobs came to be refer:red to as

runnatural precocityt . tt

Such reclefinition tlid not occuï without a significant measure of conflict

between groups of independent youngsteÏs and those adults who advocated

gïeateT intervention in the lives of alI young peÏSons. Gillis notes

tlrat in England

Resistance was parti cularly pronounced anong a large partof working youtlì, foL whom the teen years hacl tradition-

until the model of organised adolescence became more

widely accepted. s2

t/[/n similar course of events occurred in South Australia'

Chapter 4 referrecl to tl're gradual process rvhere pupils (who, around 1875,

could be describecl as a 'herd of young unbroken coltst) changed their

behaviour to such an extent that, by the turn of the century, inspect-ors

started complaining of their listlessness. The school inspectors criti-

cized young people for being too sliy to ask questions of the teacher and

raise their voice above a whisper when answering her questions ' When the

children left school, the contrast \^ras startling, to judge by the meta-

pl'rors used to clescribe it.

279

To the Conservative MP, RudalI, it appeared in 1910 that

when the state has given children the nere rudj-rnents ofteachi.ng she practically turns them loose and unaided intoa burniug fiery furnace of the stTeets ancl makes charrce

the arbi.ier of their future destiny

Sone 9f the eclucators responded by dreaning up ways of providing children

with inbui1t, rather tiran merely external, cliscipline. As Inspector

Neale pointecl out,

. . . character is determined by motive rather than refine-nent, and it is education in high altruistic notivesthat is lacking...In school the extrinsic rewards mustgive place to work for the love of work - for the joy ofwork only, and the passing satisfaction of emulation and

cornpetition must be exchanged for the joys of ministryand sacrifice. sq

Otliers, painfully una.ware of F-reud, allowed thenselves to lapse into

flowery outbursts aclvocating the subliination of young peoplers sexual

energy. s s

At first, the salvation of the newly discovered impr:essionable and fragile

adolescents was seen in longer: and more rigorous school attendance, or

was calmly consigired to the discipline of the workplace ' In 1903, for

example, Inspector Whitham tvrote that

Nothing could be more beautiful than the tone and disci-pline of our 4th and Sth class chil<lren as long as theyãttettd school, but when for months ancl , in hurdreds ofcases, for yeaïs they have no regular: enrployment to go

to, they d:rift into rnischievous habits and idle loafing.A boy of, st/, from 12 to tS years must either havelessons or some reguJar occupation, and how to keep himat either one or the other is one of the most seriousproblenrs the state has to so1ve.56

Tolards the end of the first decacle of the twentieth century, however, the

anxious eclucators found the work discipline wanting as we11,

Noting witfi alarnr that'rlcss restrai.nt, is exercised upon children, who

incline more ancì morc towarcls early inclependencc and wlio eagcrly respond

280

to the alluring cry of the streets...",s7 Williams advocated the setting

up of evening continuation schools offering, even to those wþo were

already employed, such exciting subjects as civics and hygiene. According

to him,

Well conducted fevening contj.nuation schools] would do

nuch to counteract the pernicious influence of thestï'eets, ancl to train boys to make the rnost of theilpowers instead of allowing themselves to drift with thecurrent of natural desires. . . "

To foster, in girls, 'lthe great desideratun, a sound nind in a sound

body", the educators pronounced that

domestic confort, which should add greatly to the

In this chapter, I have argued that the sudden hysteria abgut saving

yolrng people from the rfierY furnace' of the streets at the beginning of

the twentieth cent was based on more than the application of imPorted

psycholo to children suppressed by long yeaIs of conpulsoI.y schooling.

It was closely linkecl with the changing structure of the workforce, and a

gradual transformation of the nexus between school and work. In addition,

there was a marked shift in the enployment patterns of young people,

which at times probabty involved an increase in the nurnber of visibly

unemployecl youth. By the turn of the century, a shorter stay at school

no longer automatically neant a longer period of more-or-less regular

employrnent. Even when it did, it tended to be enploynent of a particular

kind, with looseT supeïvision, and decreasing opportunities for learning

any partícular' tracle.

281

In this situation, extended schooling might enablo anxious tchild saversr,

educators ancl parents to subdue and direct into -safer channels the

frightening impulses ancl passions adolescents were discoverecl to be

riddled with. This solution, however, was not without its problems. To

the encl of the nino'teenth ccntury, it was generally acceptecl that compul-

sory cclucatiolì jtrvolved a serious contradiction, 0n the one hand, a'

ninimun amognt of schooling was essential if children were to accluire

habits of diligence, morality ancl cheerful obedietÌce to authority. 0n

the other hand, too much education rvould lead in the fu'[ure tc¡ wor:kersr

fact that any such rninimum was

ts of working class children but bY

ess of carrying out their rnoralisíng

ivings and often actively opposed.

Over tl.re following fiftecn years, this problematic was set aside in South

Australia and a new orthodoxy energed - one nuch harder to implement.

Until then, one of the main grounds on which conseïvatives opposed exten-

sion of state schooling was that it would faciLitate social mobility. As

Langdon Patsons, chaitman of ttre 1881-4 Educa.tion Cornmission, put it

neatly in 1882t rrI think a few years hence, under the system of education

now obtaining, it will be hard to find anyone to clean our boots".60 By

the beginning of the twentieth century, a new line of reasoning had

appeared

cons i der

extended sctrooling of a particul-ar kjnd came to be seriously

of preventing t excessive' social mobility. As the

Labor Minister of Eclucation, F.W. Coneybeer, hopecl: rr. . .secondary

education, if dire !!"_d g_Ir_I_lglt! f,f¡]gS, -w-9-,r¿14 p,revent young people from

taking the di on of,-c-lerical lif.e!'.91 His gaze fastened on to a new

ecl as

hope - technical education.

Notes

282

Alfred Williams in sÄPP, 1908, No.65, P.B, quoting Dr' Paton'

According to Mu:;grove, "[t]he adolescent was invented at the same

time as the steam engine. The principal architect of the I'ater was

watt in 1765, of the forner Rousseau in l762.tt F. Musg1ove: "Theinvention of the adolescenttr in F. Musgrove (ed.): Youth and thesocja-l ord,er (Routledge and Kegan PauI, 1964) , P.33.

J.F. Kett: Rjtes of passage: ado-z,escence in Ametica L790 to thepresent, p.243.

M. Katz ancJ I.E. Davey: rrYouth and early industrialisation in a

canadian city'r in J. Denos and s.S. Bocock:. Turning points.'histori caL and socioTogical essags on the familg (Uni.versity ofChi cago Press , 19 78) , P . 88.

See, for example, S.K. Troen:'tThe discovery of the adolescent byAmerican educâtional reformers, 1900-1920: an economic perspectiverlin L. Stone (ed.) : SchooLing and. societg Uohns Hopkins LlniversityPress, 1976) and P. Osterman: I'Education and labour narkets at theturn of tlre centuryrrin Politics and Societg (Vol.9, No.1, 1979).

Davey found that in Hanilton (Canada) in 1851, almost two-thirds ofthe chilclren living at honre were neither at school nolc in full-timecrnploynrent. Lle adcls that rnariy children undoubtedly helped theirpaients at home. In addition, the census figures would not have

indicated childrenrs casual work, which would modify to some extentthe autholrs comnents abor¡t the idleness of unschooled children.Nevertheless, rr...it would appear that middle-class perception oflarge numbers of ticlle and vagrantr street urchins must have been avery real one in mid-nineteenth century Hamilton". I.E. Davey:I'Eclucational reform and the working classrr, p.87. Davey ad<ls thatthe small number of children in full-time employment "highlights a

feature of the newly developing conmercial city: there was a paucityof jobs for children". ibid., p.86. By 1861, the sane lack of

"mploynrent oppoltunities remained but educational provision had

increased, and more children attended school.In the following ten years, the city industrialised so rapidly thatthe concentratión of its industry resembled that of industrial towns

many tirnes its size. ibid., p.165. During this decade, enploymentoppãtt*"titi"t for young people grew quite remarkably, and rnany leftsènoof to take up jobs in newly expanded or developed industries.ibid., PP.165-8.

S.K. Troen, op. cit., P.242.

J-oc. cit.

ibid., p.243. In surunary, in nineteenth century cities, "Childrenbetween twelve and sixteen found many openings in service occupationsthat required ninirnum skills and in labouring positions that denanded

less than adult strength. 'lJrus, large nunbers were enployed infactories, sto¡es and offices as cigar makers, nessengers, cash boys

I

2

3

4

5

6

7

B

9

10.

11.

28s

or cash gir1s, delivery boys, stock clerks, wrappers, markers,inspectors and the like. But the invention of cash registers,pneumatic tubes, papeT folding nachiners, and telephones - to suggestõnly the most obvious -necessalily rnade nany of their jobs obsolete.An aclvancing technology had not only brought about the unenploymentof legions of adolescents, but in so doing, had also undernined a

basi.c prenise of nineteenth century education'tt ibid. ' p.24I.

J.F. Kett, oP- cit., P.6.

J.R. Gillis: "The evolution of juvenile delinquency in England,1890-1914" in Past and Present (No.67, 1975) , p-97.

F. Musgrove, oP. cjt., P.54.

J.F. Kett, op. cit., P.llz.

ibid., p.5.

ibid., p.I38.

ìbid., p.6.

F. Musgrove, op. cit,, P.34.

Austra-l.ja¡ EncAcTopedia, Vo1. 1, p.446,

J.R. Gi1lis : Youfh and histotV, P.128,

K. Wimshurst: rrstreet children and school attendance in SouthAr¡stralia, l890-1915'r.

ibid,, p.160.

ibid., p.l6l.

It is not essential to this hypothesis that school reformers beshown to be explicitly aware of any changes in enploynent pattemsin either case, the problern of explaining the'origin of intensesocial concern uJith a particular issue renains.

see, for exarnple, R.K. Bowes: rrThe 1890 maritine strike in southAustralia", pp.12-3.

J. F,. Kett, op . cit. , P .147 .

See table 23a,b.

See table 23c,d.

See table 24 "

Published as 'Appendix Ar to the yearly rrReport of the working ofthe Factoriesr . .-.Actil in Sepp. Until I9O7 , statistics l,{ere collectedfor both rnetropolitan and certain couTìtry factori.es, includinggovelnment workshops. From 1908, only private netropolitan estab-

12.

13.

r4.

15.

1ó.

17.

18.

19.

20.

2r.

))

23.

24

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

J¿.

55.

54.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

284

lishments were included. lr{ost of the decrease in the nunber ofworkers was accountccl for by omitting the Port Pirj.c smclting works,the Government Printing Office, and the Islington and GlanvilleGovernment Worksþops. This change in the base of the statisticscollected, as well as incomplete Teturns, make it impossible todetermine with any preci.sion changes in absolute figures over time.

30. see table 25a.

31. See table 25b,c,d,e,f,g.

See tabLe 25a.

See, for exantple, S.APP, 1912, No.l2, pp.vii,120-7.

See table 25h,i.

see table 25b.

See table 23a,b.

See K. Winshurst, op. cit., PP'80-3.

See table 11.

"The labour market. Questions of supply and delnand." Reprint of a

Serics of spccial articles hlhich appeared in the Register, June1907, in South Australian Chanber of Manufacturers | 38th AnnuafRe¡rort, I907, P.3.

ibid. , p.7 ,

SAPP, I9L2, No.12.

"The labour market...", op. eit., pp.3-4

See table 25a.

K. Wimshurst , op. cit. , P.52.

46

S. Murray-Smith: "A history of technical education in Australia',p.48f. We must remember, howevel, that the Board sent out itsquesliormaires during a severe recession.

Informatj.on obtained in R. Broomhill and I.E. Davey: "Hindmarsh oralhistory projectrr.

47 . s.APP, 1887, No.33, p.26.

48. J.R. Gillis: rrThe evolutíon of juvenile delinquency", p.116'

49. K. l\timshurst t op. cit. , p.43.

50. ibid., p.47.

51. ihid., pp.4l,l85.

40.

4L.

42.

43.

44.

45"

52.

55.

54.

55.

285

J. Gillis, op. cÌt. ' PP.97-8.

SAPD, 1910, p.819.

SAPP, 1904, No.44, p.fB.

See the appeal by Alfred Williams, successful heaùnaster turnedSouth Australian Director of Education, reploduced as epigraph tothis chapter.

IAPP, 1903, No.44, p. 15, my emPhasis.

såPP, 1908, No.65, p.18.

SAPP, 1908, No.65, P.67.

iAPP, 1901, No.44, p.13.

íAPP, 1882, No.27, p.L8/3773.

SAPD, 1910, p.507.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

CI.IAPTEIì 7

].ECIINICAL EDUCATION

287

The fornulation, in late nineteenth century., of demands for state-

provided technical education in schools can be traced to two fundanental,

conflict-ridden processes of the capitalist node of production. The

first of these is the distribution of people between different class

places; the second, the shaping of these class places thenselves through

the development of technology and the changing division of labour. More

particularly, the tractiveness of technical educa tion as a solution to

the economic and social problens facing late nineteenth and early

twentieth century was enhanced by its supposed ability to sten the

incrination of working class children to rrise above their classr.

But while technical education was thought to be endowed with considerable

poh¡ers, no blueprint for its precise shape existed. For nearry forty

years, various social gr:oups negotiated the exact distribution of scien-

tific and production knowledge, as well as the forn it would take. rn

this way, although nany people and groups used the term rtechnical educa-

tionr, they did not always have the sane thing in mind. Throughout the

<lebates , two basic meanings of the term can be distinguished. Firstly,

in an approach often designated as I liberal r, technical education was

seen as the development of certain skills and aptitudes to, gLÀral use.

Seconclly, i.n what has been described as a _latechnicistr approach, it was

understood as a tuition in specifÍc skitts necessary for the performançe

of specific occupations. I

288

Fosterins colonial industri es

In South Australia, one of the first bodies concerned with technical

education was the Chamber of Manufactures,2 which was formed in 1869

with the object of fostering the elevelopnent of colonial inclustries. To

strengthen 1ocal nanufactures in an essentially agricultural colony, it

advocated not only a diversification of production but the growing of new

crops on which manufacturing could be based, the introduction of protec-

tive tariffs, replacement of imports by locally rnanufactured goods,

reduction in taxation and wharfage charges, inportation of skilled labour

-and technical education. In all these fields, the Chanber was able to

achieve modest victories. 3

From its inception to 1886, techni.cal educ.ation received a mention in

each of the yearly reports of the Chamber of Manufactures " The Chanber

held its second Industrial Exhibition in 1877 and by that time it had

established classes in mechanical drawing, organised lect.ures on scien-

tific topics, started arriucleus of a museumr of technological and

industrial exhibits, and added to its reading room a large collection of

rrpamphlets, catalogues and papers etc. bearing upon the industries of the

United States". \

A report two years later urged greater use of the new facilities:

The committee feel that ernployers night usefully cooperatewith thern in introducing to those persons in their employthe facilities offered by the Chanber for their rnentalimprovement and the acquisition of technical knowledgerequired in various hanclicraft trades. s

Technical education, as one of the means of rfostering colonial

industriest, was for a time closely linked with the tariff question

his 1B8B Report, Inspector Dewhirst, for exanrple, wrote that

In

289

Among the subjects which have come to the front in connec-tion with our public school system, none occlÐy so promi-nent a place as technical education, and now that the tariffhas been alterecl, largely with the view of fosteringcolonial industries, the rnanner in which it can best be

incorporated lvith, or appended to, that systen, becomes ofmuch interest to ih" .o^* .tnity.. "

6

T¡c li¡rk bctwcen tcchnjcal cducation ancl thc tariff tlucstion was of a

cljstinct kind. Murray-Snith notes that technical education was logically

supported by both free traders and protectionists: by protectionists as

one of the schemes that would encourage rdormant j.lrdustriesr and make

existing ones more profitable; by free traders because technical educa-

tion was one way of ensuring that the tariff protection of industry l\tas

only tenpotary. t

Duri.ng the severe recession, when a strongly protectionist tariff rvas

first introcluced, pressure from the Chanrber of Manufactures and two

influential school boards of advice led the government to fo1low

Victorian p::ecedent ancl appoint, in November 1886, a Boar:d of Inquiry

into teclìnical education. In the same yeírr, the Minister of llducation

expressed his

...sense of grati.tude to the Chanber for the way in whichit has assistecl in fonning a public opinion on ftechnicaleducation]. This Chamber toolc up the matter from thevery first, and has kept persistently at it, and gracluallygot a public opinion formed outside."

But while, for nost manufacturers, tech¡rica1 education remained only one

of several ways of attracting industry to the state and making it more

profitable, to many of their al1ies it becarne the,very linchpin of

industrial devel opment.

At the rool of this altalysis, which eventually achieved a fcommonsensel

status, was a conparison of the economic development of England, Germany,

an<i the United States. It was eviclent th¿rt, while Brjtish industry was

290

stagnating, that of Germany and the United States was developing at a

rapid pace. It was also widely accepted that both of the latter coun-

tries, and especially Gennany, had a highly developed systern of technical

education. e Insteacl of explaining a complex relationship between forms

of capital investment and social policies within different countries, a

sinple connection uras drawn. Technical education was thought to have the

power to initiate successfut industrial developnent. In a word, "[i]f

we sow fools we shall reap vice; if we sow larrj-kins, we shall reap

criminals; but if we sow practical knorvledge, we must reap pol4/er and

richestt. I o

One important corolLary of -such view was that it was desirable to make

all tradesnen just as knowledgeable about the work process as the masters

who employed thern.

At the 1886 annual rneeting of the Chamber of Manufactures, Mr. T. Hack,

on rnoving a motion in support of technical education, explained in great

detail that

...there is a very snall percentage of workmen indeed thatany employer wilI trust to do the headwork of his employ-ment. Many have a good hand and turn out splendid work,but give thern an opportunity of setting out their workand they are altogether at sea. Very few of then havethe mental training to do the work which all good arti-'sans ought to be ready to do.rl

I{e complained that the problen was further compounded by the fact that

most of the liandful of thoroughly ski1l.ed and knowledgeable workers

eventually becane master bn their <¡wn account,

And yet, rather paradoxically, the enthusiasm about raising the general

1evel of skil1 was closely linked with deeply felt concern, on the part

of wealthier sections of the colonial soci.ety, about the need to maintain

their position of privilege. 0n the one hand, they sought to reaffirm

291

their nonopoly over a variety of clerical and professional jobs. 0n the

other, they were anxious to train adequate numbers of peopte willing and

able to perforn thc manual work which they hoped to avoid.

As was argued in Chapter 4, nineteenth century eilucatiolrists were

increasingly made aware of a serious contradiction. While, in order to

better <tiscipline their pupils, they struggled to extend schooling, the

increased amoutìts of educ¿rtion provided undermined the necessity of many

working class children to confine themselves to traditional avenues of

employment. Ijron the standpoint of the employers, technical education

presented a possible solution to this grorving perceived crisis in clistri-'

buting people between different class places.

A nodel of sr.rch eclucation, albeit severely restricted by the 1875

Education Act, already existed in South Australia in the fonn of inclus-

trial schools for poor or destitute working class children.

In the Port Adelaide Free School, established in lB70 to cater for poor

working class children, half of each school day was devoted to accustoning

chilclren to various inclustrial pursuits. Each afterîoon, the gir:ls spent

their time learning knitting, plain needlewc¡rk, nending, darming, arrd

rhabits of hou-sehold economyr, and the boys picking oakum or in rother

industrial engagenentst . l2

The Magi1l Industrial School, a reformatory catering also for clestitute

children, went even further. Regrrlar school subjects were restricted to

an absolute minirnum, and the school conccnttîated on training the intended

servants and labourers in various manual tasks, In the 1880s, according

to a frequent visitor to the school, 't[tlhese backward boys and girls,

instead of being put in the school to learn to read and write and learn

292

arithmetic, aTe kept half the school day out of doors'r. The boys were

taughtrrgardening, digging, rnilking cows, and such things'r, the girls 'l

"washing and scrubbing".ls Considering the contenporary shortage of ;

servants, it was no wonder that r'[a]lnost no boys or girls rernain in the

school, there is such a demand for then out of cloors".l4

The arguments in favour of technical education serving both functions,

increasing produclivity and training adequate nunbers of labourers, were

painstakingly clocumented by evidence from other Australian colonies and

from overseas. Since members of the Chamber of Manufacturers ditigently

collected al1 available informationrs and the colonial newspapers neveï

tired of printing articles on technical education, there was no dearth of

evidence to clraw on. I 6

The wide general knowledge displayed by early advocates of technical

education was, however, matched by a vagueness and even indifference

about local conclitions. It was sufficient to argue, as the Chamber of

Ivlanufactures. had done, that "[t]he success of such technological classes

i1 other colonies should encourage the forrnation of a sinilar course of

instruction here".I7

By the same token, the analyses of technical education were, for a long

time, of a general character 1itt1e concerned with the specific needs of

particular branches of production. In essence they argued that " [i]n

proportion...to the i.ntelligence of its operatives as a whole the worki-ng

power of a nation is largely cletenninedrr.l0 According to Murray-Smith,

in South Australia in the lBBOs,

We would look far to find a cry for specific training ofa specific group of people to meet some pressing andurgcnt neecl; and, when we fincl it, it would more likelybe in the field of agriculture than in ì-ndustry. And

even in agriculture, enphasis is likely to be placed more

295

on tlìe general-ised benefits of more research than on thetraining of young farners. 1 e

Both of these characteristics were clearly illustrated in an interchange

between a cautious Inspector General of Schools and enthusiastic eclucation

conrnissionets in 1882.

What is your opinion as to the desirability of havingtechnical high schools, and to what extent should theybe carriecl out? - I do not think such valuable resultswould flow in this colony frorn them as in victoria, where

there is gold rnining and other things going on whichrequire technical instn¡ction.But are not technical schools being establishecl Ín everycivj.lised country? - Yes; and they are of great advantagein manufacturing and nining countries.Donrt you thi.nk tl'rey sti-rnulate manufactures? - Yes'Is not the cause of the advance made by America of lateyears her technical schools, and the extent to whichtechnical education is carried? - They are supposed tobe.Dc we get sufficient advantage for our money when we stopshort of giving technical instruction and establishingthese schools? - They are considered desirable bysensible men, and are carried out in the countries whichare supposed to be the cotrntries advancing in Europe atthe präient tine; but whether the time is ripe for themhere I do not know.Have not the countries you speak of advanced with more

rapi.d strides since technical educatiorì wes adopted thanbelore? -- To affirm an opini.on trpon that clrtestion requiresa great deal of knowledge, but I may say that ther:e areteõhnical schools in those countries which nay be calledthe countries of advancement and developnent at thepresent duy.'-o

The non-specifi.c clefinition of technical education rvas facilitated by the

conternpoïary understanding of tlie link between educat"íon and the economy.

Accorcling to this, there was no need to linit technical training to the

actual requirements of 1ocal industry. In the plosperous econonic condi-

tions of the 1870s and early 1BB0s, the employersr represetrtatives argued

that a sulplns of skilled workers would present no problem - it tvould be

iuunediately usecl r-rp by entrepreneurs eager to find profitable outlets for

their capital:

294

the accumulation of workers does not make work scarcer orless remunerative. . .we nay safely lay down the axion thatworkmen create work, and especially in a new countrywhere increased attention has been paid and is now beingpaid to manufactures. Proceeding from this axion we findeasily that the instruction of the people in the principlesof technical education is a direct inducement to the exten-sion of industrial enterprise.2l

At the same time, mistaking much of workersr defence of their working

and living conditions for ignorance, the proponents of technical education

hoped that the new knowledge would make tradesrnen not only cheerfully

welcome new technology, bnt induce them to exert their rinventive facul-

tiest in the service of capital. As the Register put it,

It is almost impossible to over-estimate the directincrease of manufacturing power and capacity which anation derives from its workmen being thus trained...Hence, instead of hinder any new adaptations of scienceto his trade, as is too often the case now, he would beprompt to assist in the inventive process when^hismental culture is placed in synpathy with it."

0n their part, some sections of the labour movemeTìt, interested more in

advancement of their class than the individual nlobility of some of its

rnembers, argued for a form of technical education as a practical way of

extendi.ng primary schooling. tJnlike the traditional academic curricula,

llgl1-plncticaf!y_9T_91Lgd educat!9n wguld be accessible to the bulk of

the working class to raise their general standard of education. If

extended, it would have the potential of becorning a runiversity of the

working classest.23 Often, it was hoped that such education would help

workers to more effectively understand and defend the interests of their

class . 2 q

Nevertheless, the atti.tude of unions of skilled ruorkers to technical

education remained ambiguous. In addition to their concern with generalI

education, they were caught between the process of deskilling, which

295

eroded their grasp of the production process as well as their ability to

carry out the training of apprentices; and the fear that the possible

replacenent, technical education in elementary or technical scllools, could

not be adequately controlled by them to safeguard their interests,

especially with regarrl to liniting the numbers of tradesmen.25

The first Intercolonial 'l'racle Union Congress in lB79 approved proposals

for the advancement of technical education and the seventh Congress,

held in Ballarat in 1891, passed a resolution advocating the gradual

replacement of apprenticeship by technical education.26 In South

Australia, however, many unions were initially op,pogeçl- t9 form of

industrial education outside the control of the trades thenselves. As

evidence to the 18BB Board ofa machinist frorn Balaclava wrote in his

Enquiry into technical education,tr_- \_.*/-...-

Instruction [in technical education] would no doubt be avery good thing generally if our population hras a largerone, but with a snall population, and our cornpetitionalready in almost every trade, I think it would inter-vene very materially with the trades of those who hadgiven their whole time to learn them, as it would cteatea large number of worknen who would eventually start inbusiness on their own account.2T

One after another, the trade union witnesses to the Board testified that

they were specifically sent by their associations to express uncondi-

tional opposition to introducing any elements of trade instruction to

children under 13 or 14 years of age.

fn the end, the Board itself rvent to great lengths to reassure the Trades

and Labour Council that it had no intention of interfering with the

apprenticeship system. As its second Progress Report said, "[a]ny

attempt to teach special trades cannot be too strongly deprecated".2B

296

The Education well as the trade unions was sha¡ry-!¿_o-qPgl.9g-.

to introducing anything except the barest elernents of technical education

into the primarY curricula.

The inspectors, suppolted by the teachersr association' argued, with

varying degrees of enphasis, that the work of prinary schools was already

overcro¡ded with essential subjects. Even if ninor changes in curricula

v¡ere n¡ede, the overwQ rked t .eou1<1.-not be 'expectod,to tqaçh 4e.ry

branches of instruction. ]'his was all the more true since, while one

skilled tradesman instructed one or two appren tices, one indifferentlY

trainecl teacher was often in charge of fifly Or si¡ty students.2e

partly for this reason, many employers favoured subjects such as nensuaa-

tion and technical drawing, but were against teaching primary school

pupils the use of tools so they would not have to rurlearnr their young

workers, 3o

The double opposition of trade unions and the Education Department led

the Board to abandon vague proposals to turn out ful1y trained apprentices

out of the transformed prirnary schools. As a result, only minor adjust-

ments wer.e lecorunendecl and made to primary school Courses of Instruction'

The Education Regulations of 1$_$B stated thatrr[a]fter the examination of

1888, drawing will be taught in all schools, md elementary lessons in

scientific subjects will be given in the upper classes".3l T\^ro years

later, the llegulations defíned in considerable detail rspecial lessons.'.

given to develop the powel¡s of observation and manual facilityr . For at

least two lessons a week, teachers wer.e expected, according to their

interests and abilities, to give elernentary science lessons, illustrated

by experiment, on tfacts which nray be observed by the children thernselvesr;

give younger children work ras is described in Kindergarten manualsr; teach

297

older girls cookery, boys carpentry, or perhaps gardening or farrning -rcare being taken that the children learn the principles as well as the

practice". 32

But if the Board affirmed that most aspects of training future workers in

particular technical skilIs had to wait until after they left the prirnary

sc¡ool, it sarv no such restriction in the natter of dampening the child-

renrs pte ference for white collar jobs. Indeed, finding a way to encour-

age a rtaste for induslrf-al pursuitsr in working class_children seemed to

.-_b_9 o1*e of the Boardrs majgr preoccupations. In a typical exchange, the

heaclmaster of the primary school in the working class suburb of Hindmarsh

was, for example, asked

Supposing we incorporate these industrial elements ftikeelementary carpelìtry and drawing into primary schoolcu::ricula], do you think it would have a beneficialeffect in turning allray the tendency to seek clericaloccupations? - I believe a great deal of tha-t is not due

to tlie training in schools, but to the parents. Theythink it is rnore the life of a gentlenatr, and teach thechilclren to think so. I have always tried to teach thenthe opposite.Do you think the influence of such training would be

sufficient to overcotne this parental influence? - Itwould be a very difficult matter. In my district, theparents are not of a very high class, and are a littleJealous of their prerogative. At the sane time, if theboys were successful in handling tools, and made them-selves useful about the house, I dare say they would be

reconciled to it. 3 3

Clause B of the Conmissionrs brief First Report endorsed this view. It

said:We have carefully inquired into the subject of ManualInstruction in Primary Schools, and are of opinion thatsuch instruction, besides affording a pleasant andprofitable relaxation from purely nental wotk, wouldpïove valuable as a means of physical training,, and

would clevelop a taste for industrial pursuits.3r

298

There is some evidence that working class parents objected to the intro-

duction of the tindustrial elenelltsr into school on precisely these

grounds: instead of spending their valuable short tine in school on

Iearning essential (ancl marketatrLe) skills, children wastecl it on fri11s

lilce clrill and manual training. According to one inspector,

Ât first a considerable amount of disfavour was mani-fested by the parents, who were not in sympathy with thework, and considered that their chíldren could be farmore usefully ernployed at sorne of the orclinary scholasticsubjects, After sorne tine, however, when various speci-mens of the pupilrs workmanship were taken home, and inmany instances appli.ecl to the decoration of wall andnantle-shelf, thà^ parents became moïe ïeconcil.ed

When, ín 1886, a meeting of the Clianber of Manufactures suggested the

introduction of trade training into primary schools, the headmaster of

one working class school indignantly pointed out that

...the recent meeting in Adelaide was simply a meetingof the nanttfacturers. I feel confident that not one ofthose gentlemen who eitlrer in meetings oI' the Press havebeen advocating techni.c¿rl education in schoc¡ls would sendhis boys to Ieãrn tracles before they were 13.36

This line of argunìent was elaborated in an article in the llerafd contri-

buted by 'A Liberalr in 1898. According to him,

Insofar as brushrnaking, matnraking, or auything of thatkind is taught it is only instruction in branches ofindustry, more or less naking of the schoolroon a work-shop for apprentices without the benefit of skilledmasters.. .Aqy p¡g-ficiency that is gained in the rnanualaïts'-in our sòñools is acquired at the los's of time and

.oppg_rlunity which would be more profitably given to thecultivation of the mind...The mass of people are onlybeirig deluded when they are got to adnit that it is a

goocl thing for the schoolroorn to be turned into anythingelse than a mental workshop, and thery are playing intothe hands of those persons who s ay that any educationis good enough for the child of the working man, becausel-rc should not aim at bcing anything better than hisfather rvas; and they ask, if all the children are welleducated urhence are tire labourers and working men

coming? 3 7

299

In spite of their moclest encouragement of tindustrial pursuitsr, it

proved impracticable to turn South Australiars primary scirools into fu1ly

fledged rinclustrial schoolsr. But the Board remained enthusiast-ic about

tlre far-reaching econonú.c benefits of rgeneral technical trainingr in

primary schools, ancl rspecial tech¡rica1 trainingr at the post-plimary

stage.3B According to them, technical education was tr..,a chief factor

in deternining the future Telati.ve rank of nations".3e This did not

apply only to highly developed countries. Quite the contrary.

In a young country like South Australia, with vastTesources and inclustrial lines not yet fulIy defined,general technical training should find its fullestcleveloprnent. Equipped with such instruction, possessinga fine knowleclge of the principles of applied science,and endowed with ¡nanual dexterity, the worknan willreadily discern the conditiolrs favourable to the estab-lishnent of new industries; he will have a keen eye tothe utilisation of waste products; and in tines ofclepression or overcrowding clf an industry he^can tralìs-ter tri-s energy into a remunerative channel.a0

The need fc¡r new skilled workers might not be readily apparent during a

recession, but would become all the more pressing as soon as conditions

improved:

Our rising ntanufactures will in a few years tequire a

large number of skilled workmen, foremen and managers,and if we do not provide for the occasion, by the con-tinuation of general technical training beyond thecompulsory school age, the positions which belong byright to our own lads will fall i.nto the hands ofchãnce "o^err.

u I

But if t¡e conmissioners wholeheartedly believeci that technical education

preceded and brought forth industrial development, the Inspector General

of Schools himself rcmained unconvinced:

.. .I doubt wl-rether tliis conununity is in a position tosta::t a complete system of technical education, becauseit really dòes not seem to rne that we know what ourinclustries are to be...I really fear that many of thepeople have got hold of a. rnistaken icìea...and believethat if we start technical education we shal1 turn our

300

colony, which is evidently an agricultural and niningone, into a manufacturing counlry.-'

As economic conditions deteriorated in the late 1880s, such scepticism

became more widespread.

The colrservative Register is a case in point. F'ron its urunítigated and

vegue cntl'rusiasn about technical educatiott, it gradually movecl to a nìore

precise advocacy of neasures tailored closely both to loca1 conditions

and to a capitalist divisiort of labour.

There weïe several najor points on which this rtechnicistr view diverged

from the earlier calls for raising the general leve1 of skill.

Firstly, technical eclucation should be provided specifically to neet the

needs of branches of production actual ly carried on jn South Australia.

By 1896 , ã Reqi ster editorial complained that

Time after timc we have called attention to the strangeanomaly that in a country srtch as ours, which must inthe very nature of things depend for its prosperity noreupon the producing than upon tl"re manufacturing industr:ies,the technical classes for teaching city trades at theSchool of Mines and Industries are crowded with hulrdredsof students, while those lads who are studying agriculture,horticultu:re, viticulture, and dairy farminq etc. at theAgricultural College number only 40 or 50.'"

In 1898, the same paper was able to clain

At first, of course, each colony exhibited a tendency toclirect attention towards sone subjects of study entirelyunsuited to colonial industrial requirements; but thisnistake is now being rapidly corrected' Ottr local Schoolof Mines can boast of a much closer connection with themining industry than it had half a dozen years ago..-44

The necessity of matching technical education with the speci.fic needs of

local industries was all the rnore pressing since, during a depression, a

surplus of skillecl labour, far from calling forth industries to employ it,

would rturn sourr. Technical education in itsel:Ê rnight be a good thing,

the Register added, "but it must be directed into the proper channels

301

before it can produce its due effects, and in this effect the plan hitherto

adoptecl in South Australia has been lamentably defective".45

Secondly,

workers.

it lsas not necessary to give technical education to aLl. the

Indeed, this could create nore problems than i.t woulcl solve.

As the RegisÈer pointed out,

It is conmonly alleged that the anbition of the betterclass of our schoolboys is to become clerks and not toengage in manual labour. ..This tendency is cerLainly tobe regretted; but we are not at all sure that it wouldbe materially lessened by the introdrrction of technicaleducation, There is manual labour and manual labour, andrve suspect that the same kind of artificial distinctionsurould be perpetuated if all men were skilled workers andall were compelled to engage in sore kind of nanual toil. LA

Far more important than making everybody skilled was the speci.alised

technological training of rcaptains of inclustryt, engineers, fotemen, and

other technical and supervisory personnel.

As the Reg-ister put it,

What we contend for is a candid recognition of the truththat technical instmction, if it. is to be wortl"r thenìoney expendecl upon it, must not be forced upon those whodo not seek -it, but should be offered to those whosebrains and zeal and indu-stry warrant the outlay involvedin providing it. a 7

In other words,

into the right

educatedr . a I

the problem was not only how to direct technical education

channels, butthow to find the persons who are to be

Such a cost efficient arrangement was credited with tlie sarne potential

for creating econornic prosperity that was previously reserved for lifting

the general level of skill of the workforce

A fewrbr:ainy ment, by layjng down the lines of certainindustries and attracting young people of ability aroundthem, may succeed in bringing prosperity and trade to awhole town or clistrict. +s

302

The reasons for Gernanyrs economic superiority were modified accordingly.

In 1905 Langdon Bonython, a prominent rnember of the bourgeoisie and a

foremost Soutli Austratian proponent of technical cducation, explained t<r

a teachersr conference that

The conviction has been steadily gaining ground thatsuccess in manufacturing industry, in the higher walksof commcrcc, ancl in cvcry pursuit requiríng technicalknowledge, depends very largely upon the thorough andconplete training of those who are charged with thecontrol of the different kinds of work in which the armyof operatives are engaged. Intelligent ancl Ìrighly skilledworkers are indispensable, but unless they are properlydirectecl by efficient and expert officers, they caneffect littte. It is undoubtedly due to the carefultr:aining of thc m¿rsters and leaders of indr-r.st"ry thatthe Germans have achieved so large a neasure of successin different technical pursuits.B0

To help justify the nev¡ line of thinking, it was argued that only people

with a certain inherited genetic potential were capable of intelligent

interest in the application of technological knowledge:

Some youtrg folk may be exactly suited to educationalequipntent as the future rcaptains of industryr, but thisrenark does not apply to the rnajority...'fhe chances ofheredity cause the big brains and the large capacitiesfor work and leadership to occuf.. sporadically...Nurnerousyoutìg nen have no taste or aptitude for special technicalstudies " These may have their useful places in theecorìomy of industry, but they will nevãr act as leaders'sl

Such tnatural lawr, coupled with fierce international competition, meant

that I'leading po-sitions...mnst in future be awarded in accordance with

the standard of ntental fitness". s2

Thirdly, teclrnical education was once again relegatecl to being only one

antong rnany differe¡rt souïces of profitable economic development. Already

in 1887 the RegÍster expïessed doubts abottt I'whether sorne of the evils of

which we complain are due to the absence of [technical] insttuction, and

wl-ret}rer: they would be removed by its introduction". s3 It was one problem

303

whether people were sufficiently skilled to be able to make a particular

procluct; an equally important one was I'whetl'ier there exists a market for

[their] procluctions when they are offerecl for salet'.5\

In this vein, the negister abandoned the monocausal explanation of Gernan

conmrercial suprenracy ancl pointed out that German ¡nerchants and manufac-

turers cornpeted not only byrrsuperior technical t.raj.ning on the part of

the artisan classes,', but by "adapting their ldares to the requirenents of

distant consuneïSrr, rrcheaper wages, lowet freights, bounties. ".and the

up-to-date nethocls of the conrnercial firmstt.5s

Technical education and social efficiency

Towards the encl of the nineteenth century, just as it was beconing

accepted that only rleaders of industryt should receive thorough technical

education, began a feverish concern with controlling adolescents after

they left the primary schools. Often, a solution to the rcrisis of youthl

involved suggestions to extend the period of conpulsory schooling by one,

two, oT even more yeaTs. Just as, three decades previously, social

reforners agreerl that it rvas necessary to introduce compulsory schooling,

now they were ready to launch another assault on the morality and life-

styles of young working-c1ass people:

Girls ancl boys should not be allowed to do as they pleaseafter they i"rave attained the age of 13 years, or passedthe standard requirecl b¡' our primary schools. Theyshor.rld be kept uncler obser:vation until tl-re age of 18, and

attendance at a technical school should be nade compulsoryThat. is the way to makc good citizens, and habjts ofindustrv would be created which would be invaluable inafter- ti fe -

5 6

In this situation, technical education for state school pupils, previously

rejected on the grounds of cost effectiveness, could once again become the

order of the clay.

304

By the twentieth century, the schenes for technical education became

inseparably linked with the social efficiency novernent. As argued in

Chapter 5, the movement represented the ideolog.ical expression of the

increasing inter-inrperialist rivalry in the period before liirst l¡forld

lVar. Because of thc low level of industrialisaticln a.nd tlre sna11 scale

of j.nclustry, however, the concern with social efficiency took a particular

fonn in South Australia, and indeed in Australia as a whole.

lVith the possible exception of the rnining industry, intellectua.ls did not

concentrate on, and were not employed, as i.n the United States and

Britain, on redesigning tl-re work process itself. According to Tin Rowse,

it was not until Second tr\lorld War that there was a significant cadre of

corporate nanagelnent that could provide an auclience and rnarket for theories

whi ch appliecl sci eltcc to inclustrial relations. s 7

In tþe Unitecl States, intellectuals lil<e Taylor analysed the production

process within individual firns, and suggested how the introduction of

new technology, coupled with different organisation of work, might weaken

the workerts resistat'rce to increasing exploitation. Irrespective of the

attitudes workers brought rvith them to the factory or office, a ninute

subdivision of labour i.ncreased the ernployerst control over the pace of

work and the type of labour employed.

In Australia, on the other hand, the empliasi.s was placed predorninarrtly on

teaching children (and adult workers), the ideals of citizenship,

imperial unity, the fo11y and divisiveness of class consciousness, the

virtue of thrj-ft and hard work; as well as on increasing the future

workers' skill and knowledge of tec.hnical processes.

UnabLe to test and elaborate techniques of efficiency in the workplace,

the Australian proponents of social effic.iency lirnite<l themselves to

305

sclìemes designed to recreate and transforrn the character of individuaL

workers as citizens.sB llven here, the character of the local economy was

such that the intellectualst plans for the tscientific reconstruction of

civil achninistrationr were not implentcntcd cluring this periocl. se

The rcrisis of youthr, together with the strengthening social efficiency

novenent, gave a nerv brea.th of li.fe to botìì the liberal ¿r¡rd the techni-

cist arguments in favour of technical education. The rliberalsr,

following a conception prevalent throughout Australia in the 1870s and

I880s, advocated colrmon education of all children until about the age of

fifteen. 'lechrtical and scientific elernents would be added to such

conmon curriculum, but more as a way of educating children for a techno-

togically developed society than as a preparation for specific jobs. Some

proponents of this vierv, disregarding late níneteenth century analyses of

deskilling, based their position on a belief in the gradual disappearance

of all unskillecl work. As late as 1910 the Melbourne age could argue

thatThe system of -secondarl' education is of overshadowingimportance, because its prine function is to augrnent theinclustrial efficiency of the race and to banish thatfearful brake upon the wheels of industrial progress,the unskilled worker, by forcing all future citj.zensthrough the educative crucible of some art, science,trade or handicraft.6o

The ttechnicistt stTeam, in contrast, followed closely the specialised

conception of technical education developed in the last two decades of

the nineteenth centuty, and sought to fashion schools as closely as

possible to the actual needs of local inclustry. FoIlowing Scottish and

English prececlent,6l Australian educationists began to aclvocate a three-

tier system of post-primary education, the lowest level providing

306

separate and inferior schooling for working class childrerr, Pr-pils would

be selected into these junior tecl'rnical schools at the age of twelve and

follow courses which would. for some of them, provide a direct link to

apprenticeship and senior technical studies.

The Irinal lìeport of the Fink Corunission, publisherl in Victoria in 1901 ,

for example, asserted that

'Ihe class of students for whom provision would be nade bythe continuation schools would be largely the childrenof the rvorking classes who will ultirnately have tosupport themselves by manual work; and the instructionaffordecl would differ distinctively from secondaryeducation, which has for its nain object tbe trainingof young men clestined for the professions,62

According to contenìporary accounts, nost South Australian industrialists

were, by this time, indifferent to the helpful suggestions of both schernes

of technical eclucation.63 Between 1886 and 1916, specific items dealJ.ng

wíth technical education disappeared fron the annual reports of the

Chamber of Manufactures. In 1905 Bonython, president of the South

Australian School of lvlines and Industries, cornplained that the rnanufac-

turers toolt practically no i.nterest in its work.

The Council [of the school] had never been approached bythe lnanufactureïs, and the only associa.tion that took anactive int"erest in the schr:ol was the Master PlunbersrAssociation, which presented a gold nedal for cornpetiticn.6a

Six years later, the situation remained the same. To the surprise of

Bonytl'ron ancl his lal¡our alljes, manufacturers not only refused to send

their apprentices to trade classes organised by the School of Mines, but

woulcl not eveu di.scuss the rnatter. As he said,

A few of us have made the natter somewhat of a reli.gion,because we ïecognise its great valr¡e...I could turn youup references on the subject I have made over the years,in which l have expressed my surprise tltat the employersdid not take greater interest in the matter.o"

307

To explain such attitudes, it is important to look at the relative posi-

tions of primary and secondary industries in South Australia. 0n the one

ha¡cl, mclst of the specific tasks of technical education related to pastoral,

agricultural and mining activities, where modern nining techniques,

i.nrprovcrner-rt of thc wool clip and usc of fcrtiliscrs by ind-lvidual farmcrs

coulcl account for a substantial share of the value of procluction.66 On

the other hancl, manufacluring was not only far smaller in scale than the

primary industries, but also more amenable to alternative solutiorrs of its

specific problems. Richards notes that quite conplex machinery was

designed in South Australia long before first atternpts were rnade to intro-

cluce technical education,6T Linge points to the developmental v¡ork, often

cncouragecl by prizes, unclcrtaken by individual firrns, e-spccially in the

manufacture of farm machinery,6B the importing of skilled personnel for

specific pul-poses,6e and'rthe cornmon practice, aclopted both by govern-

ments and private enterprise, of acquiring scale plans and unscrupulously

purchasing sanrples from overseas firms to use as patterns".70 Incleecl ,

the hanclful of trained technologists educated by the south Australian

Schoot of lutines and Industries had difficulties finding employment.71

In the twentieth century, although South Australian nanufacturers rernained

lukewar¡n rvith regard to furthering sociat efficiency through some of the

proposed schemes of technical eclucation, they were by no means indifferent

to increasilg the. efficiency and competitiveness of their enterprises.

Continuecl immigration of skilled workers from Britain, inports of new

machinery, redesig¡ing of jobs so that worl< could be perfoTmed, without

much training, by unskillecl operatives, the denise of the apprenticeship

system ancl the employment of improvels should all be seen as alternative

- and less costly-neans towarcls the sane encl .72 Nevertheless, it should

be renemberecl that while tJre aclvent of federation in 1901 increased

308

competition between Australian states, rnanufacturers remained, to some

extent, sheltered against international competition behind tariff

barri ers .

The situation in p::imary industries l{as apprecialrly different. Unlike

most of tfie manufacturirrg sector, the expor'l-oriented mining industry

operatecl outsicle of the protection of tariffs, and fett much more urgently

the need to procluce at conrpetitive prices. As one of the largest South

Arrstralialr mine owners said,

In order that rve may be able to compete with the rest ofthe world in any of our great industries...we must attainthe hi-ghest possible degree of skiIl. This has beenrenderecl necessatry on account of the immense comrnerce and

interchange which exists to<lay, and the sinultaneous know-ledge, all over the globe, of prices in the worldrs greatmarkets, am<l which bring all lesser rnarkets into Iine.Prices cannot be adjusted her:e in Australia, so that we

must produce and supply our commoclities on the basis ofprice.i fixed and controlled by the fierce conpetition ofall countrics. It is this that conpels us to call to ouraid all that can tre got from science, experience and

obser:vation, coupled with al1 the earlestness, enthusi¿rsnanrl skill of rvhích we nay be capable.73

AncI ¡ere, technical education proved essential. lllhile workers were

encouraged to rlisplay earnestness, enthusiasm and ski11¡ science, experi-

ence and observation weïe called on to provide first-class technical

instluction for mining experts.

The replesentatives of the mining ir-rclustry wanted to keep such high-1eve1

technological training out of the universities. 'fheir traditional

pursuit of tpure knowledger, they felt, made it improbable that these

rcraclles of philosophical thoughtr would produce ra fruit of cornnercial

usefulnessr . Put bluntlY,

The main object of .the technical man acquiring knowledgeis that he shall be able to make the money invested returna higher rate of intelest in a given time. If he does notfu1ly seize this point he will soon find'..that all his

309

carefully acquired scientific knowledge receives noappreciation whatsoeve".. .

-4

In this respect, technical schools, and especially scltools of mines, mtrch

rnore closely controlled by the mining industry than the university could

ever be, could be trusted to procluce the correct blend between scientific

knowledge and tlie profit motive. For exanple, they could teach rnining

engineers how to increase thc pace of production and cut safety nar:gins:

"The young mining engineer nust be very careful not to waste his rnoney on

too mtrch strength of pennanencyrr. Ts rrWe do not always like this rush,

and the fiurry that iS involved", llancock added,rrbut we cannot escape

the result of fierce industrial competition".T6

On their part, nost Labor parliamentarians, advocating the extension of

general ruseful education', rem¿rined aligned with the first, rliberalI

stream of technical education up til1 the end of the first decade of the

twentietþ century. When, in 1910, liberals such as Young tentatively

argued that

The professions to which most degrees of the Universityled nru-st contain only a slnall percentage of tlìe people,or ttrcy woulcl becomc uncomfortably crowcled. 0n theothe:: hand, technical education could offer a materialgoal to the bulk of the people. It could make themprofficient ín the trades which they proposed to enter,and would not educate them out of one class withoutputting them into another.. .The natural inclination ofnany people to turn their children fron skilled tradesto clerical work did not always prove to the advantageof tlie childrenTT;

they g6rld.still nreet spirited opposition front some mentbers of the Labor

Party. Arouncl that tine, however, many of thern became converted to the

Itechnicistr stï:eam, far more closely reflecting the needs of enployers

than those of the workers. Murray-Smith, who has, in a few cases,

followed this change of policy, argues that its catalyst was the conver-

sion of Alfred Wi.llians to the technicist point of vierv during his

310

oveïseas trip in 1907. As a Director of Education, he was instrumental

in fornulating policy which the Labor Party adopted' 78

In his 1910 Report, Williams elaborated a hierarchy of post-prinarl¡

education for three different I classes of pupiì"st - those leaving school

at the age of 14 or earlier; those remaining till the age of 16, and then

entering on tvork reqr-riring special training; and those remaining to age

of 17 or 18.

In the first g1'oup, night continuation schools would be provided for boys

only tleaving at 14 and engaged at work by dayt . I'he -second group would

be catered for by higher prinary and higir schools, agricultural hígh

schools, trncl tradc schools ivith attondance of apprentices. For the elite,

there rvould be scholarships to University, and advanced courses of

Adelaide School of Mines and Agricultural College, and research scholar-

ships for post-gracluate work. 7e

An almost identical scheme was endorsed in the Final Report of a Labor-

appoir-rted Education Commission in 1915, and eventually embodied in the

Labor Goverrunent's Education Act of 1915.

.l'he Corunission quoted approvingly Frank Tate, the Victorian Director of

Education, nho was hcpeful of harring found a solution to the problem of

extending boysr schooling u¡ithout enabling them to opt out of the

necessity to find ma¡ual occupations.

...yoì-r must get holcl of the boy sornewhat earlier than you

would get him from a high school or a secondary school,and cliiect his attention towards inclustrial work fron the

311

Accepting a sirnilar rationale, the Corrnission reconmended the setting up

of five distinct kinds of post-primary institutions for young people

over the age of 13 who did not enter either the Police or Railway Traffic

Service. B r

'Ihe 19l5 Education Act reorganised the Education Department into three

divisions; primary, secondary and technical, each under a sepa1ate

superintendent. Dr. Charles Fenner, the bright young Principal of the

BaIlarat Scl"roo1 of Mines was appointed, in 1916, as the new Superintendent

of Techriical Eclucation. Fle was not only given responsibility for the

country sc|ools of mines which the Educati.on Departnent took over, but

e¡rtrusted with creating and overseeing a system of technical schools.

The Eclucation Act gaye the responsible ninister wide povrers regarding the

establishment of technical schools. Irive t)?es of institution were

rnentionecl specifically; elementaïy and advanced technical and trade, and

domestic arts schools, ancl agricultural schools. FIowever, "Ie]lementary

tec¡nical scl1ools ancl elementary clonestic arts schools nay be established

either as separate institutions or in connectíon with any other public

schoolsrr, and the Minister may establish'rschools of such (if any) other

kinds as are prescribed".E2

In the perio<l the Act was pa.ssed, educationists had come to accept the

realities of a capitalist division of labour. It was no longer assumed

that all unskilled work would clisappear. On the contrary, Education

Department officials realised that

Along with the clevelopment of industrial means of produc-tion has cone the rninute subdivision of labour thatrequires frorn the few the ability to direct, and fronl themany the ability to do some small thing.83

Figure 2.

312

System of state education proposed by the Royal- Corunission on

the Adclaidc l.Jnivcrsity and highcr education

ÉÀf

41rc

SKILLTD TRÀOÊ.SMÀ(Leaving Ccntificat,e

INTTRMEDIATE CERTIFICATEDOMESTIC ARTS

INTERMEDIATE CERTIFICATE

Advanced DomesticArts School

SKILLED IN D ARTS(!eaving CerLifì cate)

IFYINC(5rìr c

IIICATEss)

N

)

SKII_LED ACRI CULTURIST

ERTIFICAT

,\rt,s Seience Law Mediðino

(Lea.vin g CerLiticabe)- LTAVINO C

Primary School(z uo ts¡

ContinuaLionSch ool

PoliceRII Traffrc Scrvice

Junior DomesticArLs School

High ScnoolAg riculturalHrgh School

Junìor TechnicalSchool

StaLe CottegeRo'seworthy

Agric. CollefeTechnical

Colle (e

Teachers Trai n i ngCol I ege

IJniversity

SAPP, 1915, No.75, P.xxxiii

Musio Teaching Commerce

313

In South Australla, the Director of Education wrote that

...quite a large najority of boys enter occupations whichneed very litt1e training, even though they are calledskilled trades. Further, in rnany of the hives of industrya ntan may, and actualty does, perforn the same operationyear in and year out. Such occupations need very little,if *ny, technical eclucation. 8\

Together with this realisation went a more precise assessment of the

place of trade instruction in schools. In 1916 Donald Clark, Ch_i9f

Inspector of technical schools in Victoria and one of the forenost propo-

nents of the technicist sclreme of education, was invitecl to report on the

technical educat-ion system in South Austîalia. LJ¡r1ike earlier exhorta-

tions about the importance of technical education in the'battles of the

Enpirer, Clarkrs report advocated a tight link between technical educa-

tion and the actual needs of South Australian industry; it was rtnecessary

to deternine for each trade or industrial branch of work in what way and

under what conditions the most suitable and adecluate form of trade can be

supplied".8s It was not enough for educationists alone to deternine

what these needs were, industrialists were to be closely involved in

forecasting the numbers of employees needed in each tr¿¿de, and in deter-

mining the type of training required in each case.

To cater for such detai led needs, both the dominant conceptions of tech-

nical education had to be radically a.ltered. In other words, technical

education should be seen neither as a general extension of primary

education, nor as a second-cÌass schooling for those unable to take up

academic studies. On the one hatrd, it was only necessary to provide

rigorous, and expensive, technical education for a srnal1 fraction of the

workforce; the vast majori.ty could get by r^Iith solne form of cheap civic

training:

3t4

There are some employments of an exceedingly sinple char-acter to which boys are apprenticed for six and even sevenyears. Very 1j.ttle skill is required, and any elaboratetechnlcal school training is not necessary. Some industriesare so subdivided that at the end of five or six years theapprentice only Iearns how to perforn a comparativelysimpte operation, which an intelligent youth could learnin a few weeks or a few rnonths . lVhat is needecl by themajoricy of these young people, who are engaged at Tepeatoperations, or who are simply attending to some particularmachine, is not a technical training for the work on whichthey are engaged, but some forn of continuation educationwhich will keep their mental faculties alert, and whichwill make then better citizens.u'

In contrast, the boys selccted to attend the juni.or technical schools

shoulrl be of outstanding intellcctual ability:

...there is a strong tendency to pick out the brightestlads ¿rnd send them in for academi.c courses of work, whichvery often divert the lads from industry...Yet. no technicalschool will do the best work if it is to deal with theculls of the elemcntary school. Pursuance of such a polic.ymust lead to retrogression and national inefficiency. u'

Money could not only be saved by the exclusion from technical eclucation

of less intelligent boys but of most youttg r\Iomelt as wcll.

In the one-ha1f page of the eighteen-page report which deals with

ttechnical education for girlsr, Clark asserts that 'rllone duties must

alwa the nain tasl<s for wornen". B B Nevertheless, he recornnencls the

setting up of specialised junior technical schools for girls rvhich would

train wolïen in the several oc cupations rei-e-tye{ for them:

Girts during the second year should take up courses ofwork designed to train them for housekeepers, institu-tional rnanagers, matrons, cooks, laundresses, or fordomestic service, or fo:r needleworkers, milliners anddressmakers, or for craft ancl art workers

In close agreement with Clarkrs ideas, Fenner worked out, in 1918, what

he believed to be tra satisfactory scheme of technical education". After

colnpiling a census of "a11 the children who hacl left school in the

315

metropolitan area, and in certaj.n country towns, in the past twelve

months're0 and consulting the census and the topinions of representative

men in commercial and industrial concernsr, the scheme provided for a

I'branching off into separate types of schools...in nearly all cases for

the early years of adolescence, coÍtnencing between 12 and 13 years of

âggrr. s ¡

However, when it came to implementing the new scheme, Fenner was suddenly

faced with a nulritude of pr:oblems. Arnong these were linited education

funding, appointment of a Director of Education Inore sympathetic to the

tliberalr than the rtechnicist' understa¡rding of technical education, and

last l¡ut not least the prefcrences of the students themselves.

In a situation where the massive growth of industry which the plan was

supposed to prepare for did not materialise, noney for irnplenenting it

was hard to come by. Not only was technical education voted very limited

funds in the state budgets, the successive ninisters of education were

unwilling to spend even those funds which were available.

While rural voters retained overwhelming electoral power and landed

capital clominated the staters economy, liberal governments chose "extending

educational facilities in country areas to consolidate rural support

rather than appealing to urban industrial interests by subsidizing iunior

technical schoo1s".e2 As Fenner wryly observed, t'[i]n January, 1924, the

first departmental Junior Technical School was opened in the building

erected at Thebarton for this purpose in 1919".s3

Inst,ead of 'separate types of schoolt', J_r=!i1¡n

McCoy,_ !_ltg 1"" Director

of Education, started implenenting a scheme of differentiated education

hrithin conmon institutions, Students would be chosen for the di fferent

courses on the basis of tability, interest and occupational needsr. To

516

Figure 3. Schene of technical education proposed by the Superintendentof technical education

5678910YEARS OFlr 12 13 t4

AC E.15 16 17 18 19 20 22

J UN IORTECHNICAL

sc H00Ls.

JUNIORCOM MEFCIAL

SCHOOLS.

JUNIORDOMESfIc

ScHOO L S

c0MMtRCIAL SClio0Ls

00MESTIC SCh!

SAPP, 1919, No.44, p.28.

TRADE SCHOOLS.

PRIMARY

SC H OOLS.

H ICHÊ,qPß IMARYCRAOES.

HlcH scHooLs

5lNll¡nscr

RU AALTECHNICÂT

sc Hoots

317

make such choice carry nore weight, a systen of vocatj-onal guidance was

inaugurated I'to advise students on the type of course most appropriate to

their capabilities and job requi.renents". e4

Even this nrore tliberalI scheme was dela¡,ed for nìany years

It was not until 1932, when 16 higher primary schools wereestablished in the rural areas, ancl until 1925, when 18central schools begun in Adelaide, that post-primarycourses r\rere being offered along commercial, industrialand domestic lines with the aim of equipping students fortheir fut.ure vocations. ss

When it was fi¡ra11y implemented, accor<lì.n¡¡ to llyans and Bessant, it

tendcd to bc subvcrted by thc prcfcrences of pupiJs ancl their parcnts.

While the directors, the press and the parlianentarianswere engrossed in providing post-primary educationsystems which would help provide the skilled labour tostrengthen Australian agriculture and industry, thesystems that actually developecl were nore closely linkedwith the aspirations and traditions of the academic,private seconclary school. Parents and pupils favouredthe prestigious academic courses, leaving the specifi-ca1ly vocational courses generally with little support. ..the new groups who sought secondary education...did notsee their chilclrenrs advancenent up in the social scalethrough the technical and industrial courses provi<led ínthe new seconclary schools.e6

Sinrilarly, evening continuation cLasses, supposed to cater for alI young

people rvho left school at fourteen, had formidable difficultiòs in

attracting t-heir customers. Althougir the Education Department managed to

enrol ra rea-sona.ble proportion of the available adolescentst, only a

fraction of then stayecl on to contplete tlie three-ye'¿T part-time corrtse.tt

According to Fenner,

Boys anci girls, freed from the influence of conpulsoryschool attendance at the age of 14, are reluctant to takeup continuative evening studies, and are wjth the greatestdiffj culty brought to realize the value of such additionaltrai.ning. Visits to the various classes in countrycent.res are usually most depressing on account of thismarked zrpathy and lack of desire for the courses provided. 9B

318

As in the case of elementary schooling half a century earlier, conpulsion

seemed to be the only way to deal wíth those relucta:rt to receive the

benefits of schooling.

T'he point to be enphasized is that voluntary systens ofpart-time adolescent education are difficult of administra-tion, and are relatively wasteful and ineffective.. .

The conclusion to which one is forced is that the nextessential step forward in continuative education of thistype is some form of conpulsory part-tine classes, sâI,for 2 or 4 hours per week, up to the age of 17 or 18, forevery boy and girl who is not attending a day school.se

The cunrulative result of these trends was that, in spite of sporadic

attempts to upgrade the status of industrial training, technical education

for children becane consolidated into a for:m which already started appear-

ing in the late nineteenth century. Gradually, instead of ascr:ibing

different education to pupils on the basis of their class, different

kinds of s chooling came to be seen as suitable for different levels of

intelligence. According to'fhrethewey,

The 1920s. . .witnessed a change in the concept of technicaleducation from that of specialised preparation for inclus-trial and commercial occupations to that of an educationappropriate for children with certain aptitudes. r00

Put bluntly, whereas before working class children received truncated

elementary schooling so they would not rrise above their classr, now they

were channelled into the one-way stxeet of technictl edrrcttion because of

their supposedly iriferior intelligence.

The development of apprenticeship training followed a markedly different

path from that of the rest of secondary education. While South Australia

retained much longer than other states a general as opposed to specialised

system of post-primary schooling, it led Australia in the introduction of

comprehensive apprenticeship training legislation.

319

The 1912 conference of the Unitecl Labour Party, concerned both about

ridle youtlìr and i.neffectual apprenticeship systenì, called for

...an arnendment of the Factories Act, providing that thefornl of indenture in that Act shal1 contain a provisionthat employers nust give facilit.ies to thej.r apprenticesto attend a technical schoo1...one afternoon each week;failing that, lessons by correspondence subject toexanlination by approved inspectors, and that the appren-tice shal1 devote one evening per week to the samepurpose. I o I

An almost identical sche¡ne was elaborated in the Final Report of the

Education Comnissiolì. I o 2

By 1916, thc unious, governrncnt ancl manufactrlrcrs reached broad agreement

about the desirability of separate courses for the technj cal education of

apprenti.ces. Woken from their pre-war rindifferencef, the Chanber of

Manufactures passed a resolution to the effect

'lhat a technical and a commercíal education are abso-lutely essential to the development of AustraLian indus-tries, and in the light of experience gained by the war,it is essential that ever:y effort should be maele tosecure technical efficiency by a conpulsory system oftechnical education in each state.103

lhe manufactueres were, however, determined to naximise the benefit to

themselves of any sr¡ch scheme of technical eciucation. In their long

fliglit from responsibility for thc training of skilled workers,l04 tnost

were anxious rìot to become burdened with any material contribution to the

proposed technical education of their employees. ("The touch-stone to be

applied to the matter from t.he point of view of the employer is this -does it pay?rr t o s,

In palticular, the employers objected to the clause regarding conpulsion

for apprentices to attend technical schools in the daytirne at the employers'

expense. As one of their representatives saì.d,

320

We object to pay, however, the cost of the benefits whichthe worknen and the state receive in the future. If thesebenefits are worth having, let the cost fall on those whoare benefited. We have no quarrel with the scherne exceptin the regard mentionecl.106

The objections were only partly listened to.

The Assembly rnodified the wording of section 5, so thatportion of the cornpulsory clauses, instead of requiringattendance at technical classes for Inot less than one-half day a week, and not less than one evening a weekl(as passed by the Legislative Council) were altered toInot rnore than one-half day a week, and not Tnore than oneevening a week¡¡. lo7

Indeed, both Murray-Smith and Trethewey argue that, when a mo<lest system

of technical education for apprentices was introduced in South Australia

in 1917, ten years before comparable developments in other states, it was

because of the weaker position of industrial bourgeoisie in South

Australia. I08. This comparative weakness can help explain the persistent

general enthusiasm about strengthening the position of the statets manu-

facturing industries, as well as the inability of the rnore conserwative

anong the manufacturers to amend the scheme to one more immediately

suited to their interests.

I

32t

Notes

4. South Australian Chamber of Manufactures,

5 SouEh Australiall Clramber of Manufactul'es,p. 3.

;APP,1888, No.44,porating technical

S. Murray-Smithpp.476-7 .

For a history of thesc approaches, see s. Murray-srnith: 'rA historyof technical education in Australia'r.Teachers clid not always unclerstand this distinction. In 1901, fo1exarnple, an i-nspector wrote that I'There was generally in each

schoãt a good clisplay of fancy and useful articles, but I am notquite surã that tire real object of rnanual training is understood.ft it not intended to teach a professio¡ to each child, but sirnplyto develop his faculties. The carpenterrs bench and the printingpress can be ernployed without wishing to tul:n out carpenters and

printers." iAPP, 1901, No.44, P-25.

Among others were the South Australian School Society, the Adelaide

Nbchánics Institute, the Port Adelaide Mechanics Institute, theAclelaide PhiLosophical Society, and the School of Arts and Design'For a survey of |¡ese organisations see S. Murray-Smith, op" cit-,ch.8,74.; J. Parfitt: ,'Technical education j-n south Australian(tlnpub. IvlEd research e-ssay, Flinders university, n.d.); G.M. Smjth:

"An historica.l survey of technical education in South Australiail(Llnpub. thesis for senior Teachership, Departrnent of Education,Soutìr Australia, 1956) -

Perhaps the most important of t}rese occurred in the matter of tariffsSince 1870, there hãct been a gradual increase in the amount of pro-tection given to the nanufacturi-ng sector'The 1870 schedule lengthened the list of mater-ials used in secondary

procluction and importõd free of charge, and imposed a duty of 10% on

many inports. Uni;-f 1885, however, tl-re tariffs were aimed nainly atraising- tevenue. It was only in that year that the Downer Minist'ry,facing a cash cleficit of 9709,000, introduced nelv scheclules contain-ing a 15% að valorem ch.rty on many products which were, o1. could be,

mairufacturecl in the colo¡y. By i887, support for protection' as

well as the govemmerrt deficit and enigration of skilled workers toother colonies increase<l, and the new ministry was able to introducea strongly protectionist tariff. G.J.R. Linge:' Industrial- awakening,

pp.616-21.

2

3

Bth AnnuaT Report, 1877.

l-7th Annual RePort, 1879,

6 p.3. Inspector Dewhirst was opposed to incor-education into prÌnary c.urricula.

"A history of technical education in Australia",7

8

9

Soutlr Australian Chamber of Manufactures , LTth Annuaf Repott, 1886,

p.2r.

'l'hc e:Êfic.Lcncy ancl unification of the German systen was often oveT-

estinated. see, for exanple, I.C. WiIson: "Flducation and politics'rín oxford Review of Education (VoI.3, No'1, 1977)'

322

10. Register, 24 .4 .I873.

11. South Ar-rstralian Chamber of Manr¡factures', l-7th AnnuaJ- Report, 1886,p.26.

12. Register, 28.1I. I870.In 1870, ,it was argued in Victoria that children who were comrnittedto such ilrstitutions should have tl'rei.r sentences extended until theage of fifteen, because shor:t committals tended to cause inconveni-ence to the enployers: trsome of tl'rem are consequently released wí.tha very irnperfect training which discredits the sy-stem and occasionsinconvenience to the enployers. The latter would prefer apprenticessubject to longer terms of supervi-sion, and so thoroughly convlncedis Mr. Duncan of the same necessity that he recommends an enactmentempowering Magistrates to recomrnit all children now in the institu-tion whose ternìs witl expire before they are fifteen years of age.trRegister, 29 .6 .1 870.

13.

T4,

15.

sÄPP, I BB 2, No . 27, pp . 140- 1 .

l-oc. cit.

In 1883, for example, the Charnber obtained materials on technicaleducation from England, and asked Mr. Rees to prepare two publiclect.ures on them. South Australian Charnber of Manufactur:es , l-4thAnnuaL Report, 1883, pp.8-9.

16. Between 1B70 and 1876, for exanple, the RegÍstez'alone carried nine-teen articles on eclucation in Victoria, and eight on New Southl{la1es, Ta..;marria ancl Queensland. Anong the 53 articles on educationoverseas there were 2B concerned with education in England, 11

dealing lvith USA, 6 rvith Germany - and one with Eg1at. Computedfrom ?åe Regrister - Education Index, Years 1870-1880 (FlindersUniversity, School of Eclucation, n. d. ) .

L7. South Ar:stralian Chanlber of Manr.rfactures , l-2th Annual- Re¡>ort, 1881,p.9.

18. ì?egrister, 15.4.I873.

19. S. Murray-Sntith, op. cit., p.458.

20. sApp, 1882, No.27, p.89/4BgB-4903.

21. Register, I5.5.I886

22. Register, 15.4.1873. As it was, one footwear nanufacturer grumbledir-r his evidence to the Corrunission on Intercolonial Fr:ee Trade,"[t]he unions [in New South Wales] do not seem to ha've troubled thern-selves about the c¡uestion of machinery as they do in Adelaide andMelbourne. They can introdrrce any kind of labour-saving macl'rinerythey like in Sydney without agreeing with the unions to do so.r'Royal Comrnj.ssion on fntercolonial Free Trade, 5.9.1890, quoted inG.J"R. Linge, op. cit., p.627.

.5¿ 5

23. In 1886, t-lead Master of the Kadina Public School called for theestablishment of workers I tec.hnical hì.gh schools. 'r. . .such schoolsif conbinecl in a kind of Trade Uni,versity would raise the status ofour artisans, and give a dignity to lairour which at present it doesnot possess. For why should we tamely follow in the footsteps ofpast yeaïs and only give degrees for literary worth? Surely itrequires as great an effort of mind to make a machine as to trans-late Florace; as great an effort to invenl nachinery as to write a

poem - to cultivate the land to the best advantage as to know allthe intricacies of the Greek language.rr Register, 30.8.1886.In 1888, Rowland Rees I'argued strongly for an industrial universityfor the working class which would concentrate on applied sciencewitfiout the distractions and preoccupations of acaclernic generalisa-tionr'. S. Murray-Srnith, op. cjt. , p.481.

24. These issues have been discussed rnore fully in Chapter B.

25. For a discussion of this problem, .see J. McMahon: "Industrialorganisations ancl apprentice trade training in Victoria, 1898 to1928", paper prcsented to the 1978 ANZI-IES Conference, andR. Gouttnan: I'The attitude of the Labor: Party in New South Wales toerJucation, 1900-32" (Unpub. MEd thesis, University of Sydney, 1969).

26 The resolution advocated "The extension of the principle of statetechnical education on absolutely free basis...The acceptance by trade uni.ons of certificates of prbficiencyobtained i.n state tecl'rnical colleges as equivalent to indenture ofapprenticeship. The raising of school leaving age in variousprovinces of thê federation...to such a standard a.s the <iifferentcouncils rnay deem necessary, in order that the above reconunendationsre technical education may be availed of to the fullest extent.r'Quoted in l-1. Palmer: 'rSome aspects of the influence of the labournovement in the stïucture and content of education in Australiail(Unpub. BEd thesis, Unì-versity of Melbourne, 1951), p.67.

27.

28.

,o

30

1APP, 1887, No.33, p.11.

us¿PP, 1888, No.33, p.vi.

T|o l-lead Master of the Kadj-na Public School was speaking for nost ofhis colleagues when he told a meeting of the Yorke Peninsula TeacherslAssociation that I'We have neither roorn enough, time enough, norteachers enough. In the najority of cases our buildings are barelylarge enough now; no teacher could be expected to he as conversantwitþ the various handicrafts as to be able to teach them; and itwould require the very material nodification of our present code,for the results of thi.s yearrs examination tend to show that it isbeyond the reach of our schools already." Register, 30.8.1886'

One eniployer - a blacksmith, engineer and boilermaker, for example,wrote to the 1887 Technical Education Board that he "Would not takea boy a-s an apprentice who had been using any kind of tools, becausethe clrances are I would have great trouble to unlearn hirn" . SAPP,

1887, No.53, Appendix, p. 13.

3I. SAPP, tBBB, No.42, p.1, lìo.1504.

324

32. SAPP, 1890, No.75, p.5, no.147. In addition, in the years followingthe ínquiry, a School of Mines and Industries was established in

-- AdeJ.aide, and snaller institutions of a sinilar kind were set up inseveral other South Australian towns. S. Murray-Smith, op. cit.,pp.422-516.

33. SAPP, lBB7, No.33, p.42.

34, 'APP,1887,

No.33, pvi.

35. îAPP,1898-9, No.44, p.15.

36. Register , 50. 8. I 886.

37. Herald,11,6.1898. This line of argument was not usually present inHeraJ-d articles on education.

lB88, No.33, p.v.58. 9APP,

39. Loc.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

cit.

Loc. cit.

SAPP, 1888, No.55, p.vii.

SAPP, 1887, No.33., p.I0.

Register, 12.9.1896.

Register, 29,12.1898.

Register, 72.9..1896.

Register, 15.9. 1887.

Register, 26.10.1900.

l-oc . cit.

foc. cit -

s¿,rG, 1905, p. f 16 .

51. Register, 26.L0. 1900.According to Professor Fluxley, the often quoted ideologue of merito-cratic, racially pure society, "The great end of life is not know-ledge but action. What men need is as nuch knowledge as they canassinilate and organize into a basis for action; give them nore, andit nay become injurious...Therefore, as the sum and crown of what isto be done for technical education, I look to the provision of a

nachinery for winnowing out the capabilities and giving then scope.'l. Register, 9.9.1905.

52. Register, 2L.12. 1900.

53. Register, 5.9.1887.

54.

55.

56.

57.

325

Register, f2.9. I896

Register, 12.9.1896, nìy ernplìa-sis ,

Àdr¡ertise¡ r 16 .2 .I905 .

Advertiser, 16.2. 1905

T. Rorvse: .Austral.ian fiberalism and nationaf character fKibbleBooks, 1978), pp.62-3.

58. ibid., p.65. Sone others, notably Elton Mayo and C.H. Northcott,left Australia to find application for their theories overseas.

59. In nany ways, people elaborating these schemes can be seen as earlyideologues of the rising urban industrial bourgeoisie: trT'hat is,thel' atliculate policies and i<leologies that are especially c.onsis-tent lvj.th that sectorrs interests: schemes for conciliating theworkforce, for state expenditure orì social overhead capital - aneffective subsidy to the wage bill of companies in urban areas.

60. Tlre llçre, 25,9.1910, quoted in Il.K. Ilyams and Il. Bessant: schoofs forthe peopJe?, p.96.

61. I'The Bryce Commission which enquired into secondary education inEnglancl in 1895 had defined secondary education finclusive of tech-nical edrrcation) as teducation conducted in view of the speci-allife that has to be lived rvith the express purpose of forming aperson fit to live itt. The Commission rvent on to outline threetypes of seconclary schools - the rlrirst Grader, whose special func-tion was the creation of atlearned or literary, and a professionalor cultural classr, the rsecond Grader, providing for those enteringcommercial or industrîial life where adaptatjon to the loca1 require-ments of induscry and comnìerce was important, anci the rThird Gradetfor traj,ning in manu¿rl instructiorr or the rhigher hanclicrafts' .

Taters scherne of post-primary education followed this generalpattern rvl-rich, like Board, he recognised as being best illustratedin the Scottish educatiol system, whereby provisiorì was rnade fortthe forms of education necessaïy for every class of occupation,skilled or unski11ed." B.K. Hyans and B. Bessant, oP- cit., p'95.Frank Tate was appointed, in 1902, as the first Director of Educationin Victoria. Peter Board was Director of Education in New SouthWales until 1922.

62 Quoted in A.G. Austin and lì.J.W. Selle ck i The Austral-ian governmentschoof , p . 1B6, tny emphasis .

tvlurray-Smich argues that during this period technical education was

not, as j.t tencled to be i-n Victoria, iclentified with urban, manufac-turing interests. S. Mtrrray-Smith, op. cit., p.891. One clue tothe manufacturersrincli.fference is given in L. llonythonts evidenceto the 1913 Eclucation Connti"ssion: 'rThe systeln nay be all very wellat pïesent, but in years to cone it will prove increasingly disa-s-trous both to employers and employés." ;APP, 1913, No.75, p.xxi.

63

64.

65. SAPP, 1911-12, No.27, p.45.

s26

66. S. Murray-Smith, op. cit., pp.890-1. The Roseworthy AgriculturalCol1ege, where many of the new approaches had been pioneered, was

established in 1884.

67. E. Richards: r,The genesis of secondary inclustry in the SouthAustralian ecìonony to 1876r' , p . 118 .

68. J.lì.. Linge, oP. cit., PP.6,598-9.

69. ibid., p.602

70, ibid,, P.B.

7L. S. Murray-Srnith, op. cit., p.896.

72. An outstarrding example of this process was the developnent of theSouth Austr¿rlian firn of motor body manufacturers, Holdenrs. Incooperation with the 'nlost anicabler Vehicle llui tders Union, theco*þany fought the Amatgamated Engineering Union (AEU), which was

strõngly opposecl to any dilution of skilIs. rrAs early as 1928 thecoachnakers sought to break the...agaeement under which the AEU hadthe right to provide ¿r11 errgineering labour at Flolclenrs, In ensuingyears ihe industrial union sought to gain a monopolistic position inthe motor trade labour rnarket by bringing pressure to bear on indivi-rlual AEU members to join its ranks." T. Sheridan: rrThe AmalgamatedIìngineering union" in R. cooksey (ed.): The great depression rnauÀtra-Zja (Atr-stralian Society for the Study of Labour History,1970), p.65. 'lhe gains ntade by the company union helped Holden towin, for those years, a remarkable victory. As he said, "[w]e have

really broken down thc ski1l requir:cd by sectionalising the work,so that there was rìo extrene amorrnt of skill required. I w¿rnt toacknowleclge publicly the assistance that the union has bee¡r to us

in this respect.. .rr J. OrConnor: rrProductive ancl unproductive1abour", P.41 .

73. Leigh G. ll¿rncock speaking at the anrìual certificate distri.bution oftlre Moonta School of lvlines: observer (Country Supplement), 15.7.1905.

74 . ]oc. cit.

75. foc. cit.

76. Loc. cit.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

IAPD, 1910, pp.506-7.

S. Murray-Smith, op. c.Ít., p.907. In Cfiapter 8 of ny thesis, it isargued that such transforrnation was made possible by the palticularshape of the South Australian labour movement at the time.

îAPP, 1911-12, No.44, p.39.

SAPP, 1915, No.75, p.xxii.

SApp, 1913, No.75, p.xxxiii. See figure 2 reproduced on page 312.

327

82. Education Act - 1915, part III, 1t33, p.I2,

83. B.K. Hyams and B. Bessantt op. cit., quoting Peter Board, the New

South Wales Director of Educati.on, in 1909-

84 lvleno from Director to Minister of Education, 26/2/23 LD no. 670,1919,quoted in L. Trethewey: "Post-prinary technical. education in SouthAustralia, 19I5-45'', P.69.

85. iAPP, 1916, No.59, p.3. According to Trethcwey, it was on

recomnendation that Fenner was appointed as Superintendent o

Technical Ëducation. L. ThretheweY, oP- cit., p,58.

ktsClarf

86.

87.

BB.

89,

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

SAPP, 1916, No.59 , p.7 .

SAPP,1916, No.59, p.9.

SAPP, 1916, No.59, p.L7.

l-oc. cit.

'APP, 1918, No.44, p.40.

S.APP, 1919, No.44, p.28. See figure 3 reprocluced on page 316.

L. Trethewey, op. cit., P.65.

SAPP, 1925, No.44, P.30. The pre-war consensus about the shape ofpost-primary schooling was only inplemented in the late 1930s, when

ã politicatly strong bourgeoisie was able to launch a process ofilrdustrialisation and Fenner h/as appoìnted as DiTector of Educati.on.

L. Trethewey, oP. ciÈ., P.B.

B.K. Flyams and B. Bessant, oP. cit., p.105.

ibid., p.106.

In 1923, the Superintendent of Technical Education presented thefollowing returns for part-tine evening classes:

Table 26ENROLMENTS rN ]MNTNG CLASSES, l-923

l-. Total nrunber of enrol-ments in Grade I2. Number that attend.ed" a fr-rll year3. Number sitting for Grade I examinationsl+. Number passed. Grade ],. Nwnber entered for second, Year6. Nunrber sitting for Grade fI examinationsT. Nrimber passed Grade IIB. Number enterecl for third Year9. Nr,mber sitting for Grade III examj-nations10. Number passed. three-year course

f'5305Br)+:l+

s\z29'1)aIJI

f09Br

3t

SAPP, I92r, Nc¡.1+\, p.29

328

98. Loc. cit.

99. foc. cit.

100. L. Trethewey ¡ op. cit., P.107.

I01. Quoted in sÀP.P, 1913, No.75, p.xxi.

I02. See Recornnendations 58-66, IAPP, 1913, No.75, pp.xxxix-x

103. South Australian Chaml¡er of Manufactures:Appendix, p.f7.

47th Annual Report, l-91-6,

104. 'rln the past, the training of the young learner in the variousskilled tracles and handicrafts has been regarcled by nany as anindustrial problem, rather than an educational one.r' C. Fenner:Apprentice training (Education Department Bulletin No.1, Adelaide,L924), p.s.

105.

106.

r07 .

ibid. , p.24

ibid., p.25.

ibid., p.8. See also 49th Annual- Report, 791'8, of the Chanber ofManufactures.

108. This was all the more rena¡kable in view of Donald Clark's oppositionto the concept of compulsory-technical education for apprentices inhis 1916 report. L. ThretheweY, oP. cit., PP.72-5. S. Murray-Snith,op. cit., pp.925-8. For an early atteÍpt to deal with apprenticetraining, see K. Karim: 'rThe development of government directedapprentice training in South Australia, 1917-I940tt.

CIIAPTER 8

THE LA,BOUR MOVI]MENT ÂND EDUCATÏON

330

'l'he enemies of education are the foes of liglit andlibcrty, ancl the friends of darkncss and slãvery. I

Professor ltuxley said in 1871 -'I should like to have an arrangenent by which a

passage could be secured for children of superiorability to schools in which they could obtain higherinstruction than in the ordinary schools. I believeno educational system. . .wi11. . . fulfil the greatobjects of education unless it is one which estab-lishes a great ladder, the bottom of which will bein the gutter and the top in the universi!/'.That ti;] the icleal. . .of the Labor Party.2

The prececting chapters dealt with the interplay between schooling and the

lives of i.ndividual members of different class fractions. In this

cþapter anothcr perspcctive is adcled: the attitude to schooling adopted

by organizecl labour. As in the previous sections, it is not intended to

give a comprehensive account of the topic, but rather a critical frame-'

work which can inforn further research, At the same time, the chapter

focuses alnlost entirely on the one most vjsible aspect of labourrs stand

on schooling -the position adopted by the succession of South Australiars

labour newspapers.

As Johnson points out in the case of England, nineteenth century working

class movements possessed a lively and varied educational tradition

which, far from relying on rprovidedrforms of instruction, was often

defined in direct opposition to them.3

A continuous critique of philanthropic, church and state institutions was

complemented by an alternative definition of knowledge itself as rreally

useful knowledger, an integral part of a radically new way of transforrning

the world.

331

WhiIe the primary ernphasis was on reducating women and nen as the citizens

of a more just social orderr, the raclicals became increasingly concerned

with teaching children and improvising new means for this purpose'

tRealIy usefult knowleclge, as defincd by this traclitiolr, was transmittecl

in a multiplicity of ways. The most widespread and diffuse of these were

informal, drawing on the eclucational resources of neighbourhood ancl the

place of work:

...thefanilyitselfwhereliteracywasalreadyacquiredancl could be 'inheritecl'; tlre knowledgeable friend,relation or neighbour, t"he tschol.arr in the neighbouringtown or village, the work-p1ace discussio¡1, the extensivenetwork of private schooling ancl not rrlcomnonly theSunclay School...q

Some forms of education, howeVer, had nÌole Structure and pernanency'

Inclucled here were semi-format discussion group-q, readj-ng facilities in

pubs, coffee-houses or reacling roolns, occasional takeovers of rprovidedr

facilities such as nechanicstinstitutes or even churches, and above all

the radical Press.

A history of these developments is not yet written in Australia, although

there are maìly indications that similar - although less extensive -

educat-ional networks developed }rere as well. As in England,5 the last

quarter of the nineteenth century h,ritnessed an uneasy truce between the

labour nìoventcnt and the providers of stat-e schooling. As elsewhere, the

shape an<I exteut of thís truce in South Australia can only be understood

against the background of the history of the loc¿rl l¿r'or:ur novenent'

Accorclingll,, this section j.s prefacecl by an elaboration of some events

already sketched in chapters 2 and 5. It briefly outli.nes the circum-

stances in lvhich the Lhrited Lal¡or Party was established in South

Australia, ancl strrnma::ises najor trends in the first two decades of its

development,

332

A moderate workerst party

As argued earlier, the late 1880s and early 1890s sa\^/ nany changes in the

South Australian economy. A profound econonic crisis was accompanied by

a marked concentration of industry and agriculture. Together with

gradual reorganization of the work process, these two trends not only

contributed towar<ls a sharper definition of class boundaries, but also

reduced the possibility of upward social mobility through economic rneans.

As South Australiats long boorn came to an end, the need to organize along

class lines gradually became apparent to both workers and employers. In

conparison with othor countries or cven other parts of Australia at this

time, the political organization of both sides exhibited signs of

remarkab 1e moderation.

0n their part, the enployers were not noderate without a cause. In his

thesis, Bowes argues that in the late 1BB0s, the Ernployersr Union was

doninated by shipowners who stood to lose business both through other

members' nilitancy and later their 'own moderation in trade disputes.6

In the first case, disruptions of production would almost invariably be

reflected in a decrease of shipping trade. During the maritime strike,

on the other hand, the Adelaide Steamship Company chose an inflexible

attitude, and refused to negotiate with the unions. Although it was

itself in a strong financial position and could not claim to be driven to

the wa11 by workersr denrands, it had strong economic aeasons for support-

ing the militant attitude of shipping companies in other states.

According to Bowes, this was because

.. .it was affected by economic slump in the othercolonies, which had reacted on the freight rates. Asthe only possible way of maintaining the existing scaleof charges was by mutual agreernent between the companies,it was obvious that the conpany would be cornmittingfinancial suicide by refusing to stand by her partners. T

333

The relative mocleration of the Employerst Union meant that, before the

uraritime strike, tnost of South Australiars trade unions had litt1e

experience of direct class conflict. As argued earlier, such conflict

was al::eady limitecl, since Australiats imperialist connections contributed

to a unique pattern of clevelopnent where capital accumulation had to rely

less on depressing wage levels and living conditions of workers than was

the case in other capitalist countries. Thj.s macle possible more anicable

relations between workers and ernployers and 'rwas conducive to the inte-

gration of the unions into the bourgeois state and the Labor Partyrs

integration into imperialisn". I

At the sane time, it is important to remember that, at least up to the

1BB¡s, local unions developed and operated in a pre-industrial economy,

where the organizati.on of production itself gave many workers and

employers large areas of shared interest.

paradoxically, the expansion and transfornration of inclustry which changed

these conclitions at the close of the long boom fostered a rapid glowth of

craft unions, which helped to preserve within the labour novement

ideology, structure and leade::ship nore appropTiate to the previous

economic conditions.

In his thesis, Boures concludes that

...until the maritine strike, there was probably genuinebelief that interests of labour and capital were identi-cal: on this illusion were built attempts at concilia-tion, and wishes for unity on both sides which wouldfacilitate this. e

Kiek makes a sinilar point. He argues that South Australian delegates to

the intercolonial trade union conferences made no notable contribution to

the debates. By the same token, they do not seem to have been deeply

impresscd by I'linchcliffe's expositions of class war, or William Laners

s34

socialist theories. on the contrary, there were in Adelaide nany

examples of class collaboration. Furniture trades manufactuters and

employees belorrgeci to the same Protection Association, and the sane was

true of the buitclers and the cartet''to In 1890, the secretary of the

TLC respectfully pointed or.rt to the cartersr Association that

...t,lreretverememlrersoftheirassociationwhowouldbest consult their own interest by naking applicationto the Employersr Union' Shou1d difficulty arisebetween the two sections of the Associatiot.t, theCounci I coulcl not give its support equally to bothparties. I I

up to the 1890s, the south Australian laboul movement limited its

politi.cal involvenent to endorsing already standing and othenvise inde-

pendent candidates. This practice was not limited to trade unions but

was followed - more or less rigorously, depending on the prevailing

econonic conditions -by a wicle range of pressure groups. In the lB78

elections, for example, the Working Menrs Political Association 'racted as

a usual pïesslrre gloup...it questioned candidates and bestowed support ol'l

those found to be worthy of it".12 In the 1880s, this kind of suppolt

was given to candidates who actually promised to work for the implementa-

tion of a platform drawn up by the TLC' Flowever, the Council seemed

mostly to have supported liberals who were certain to be elected with or

wittrout TLC endo::sement. In addition, according to Dickey, none of

the electecl candidates acknowleclgecl the TLC as theiT political guide once

the elections were ov"r.1'

$lhen, in 1890, the happy clinate of class co-operation was shattered by

the maritime strike, such limited involvement in politics becane glaringly

inadecluate. on the one hancl, in the clrastically changed econornic

conditions, tl-re enployers no longer had the me¿1ns to pulsue conmon

335

interest with the workers. 0n the other hand, in the large-scale

industrial disputes of the early 1890s, the workers suffered a series of

defeats. Altlrough in sorne of its struggles the organized l¿rbout rnovement

was ideologically supported by their liberal allies in parliament, such

support r:are1y gave birth to concrete action. According to Coghlan, the

unions learnt that rra general interest, even enthusiasrn for a social

policy fwas] more likely to issue in exhaustive debate than in vital

aetionrr. 14

This, it shoulcl be stressed, was a noticeably different situation front

that of tþeir colleagues in the eastern states, especially in New South

lVales and Queensland, where the government legislated against those who

took part in the maritime strike, and used rnilitary forces, including

a¡ti11ery, for the protection of employers. Far fron blaming the legis-

Iature for its inactivity, rrthe men openly claimed that but for the

intervention of the government they would have won the figh¡rr.ts In

South Australia, on the other hand, during the wave of strikes of the

early lB90s, rtlabour synpathisers...looked to Parlianent to give r:eality

to the principles of conciliation and arbitration which had for so long

been a matter of barren discussiont'.16

In the 1890s, the shape of the union movement itself began to change.

gne of the rnost powerful lessons of this period arose out of the use of

non-union laltour to brcak strikes. To cope with this weakness thcre was,

in the period following the maritine strike, a serious attempt to alter

the st.ructrlre of trade unions. In the past, trade societies were able to

replace 'indj.vidual' by I classr selfishness:

336

'fhese uni.ons or socj-eties often rendered each other greatmonetary assistance, and thereby irnproved very nateÎiallythe condition of their class, which helped to mark rnore

distinctly the already defined position of skilled fromunskilled labor. lT

Now il'r the 1890s, however, "[u]nionism must necessarily be more united.

The skilled and unskilled must march together...freedcjn rnust be given to

every worker to raise and elevate hinself if possessed of energy, ability

and tact to do so". I B

As D.M. Charleston argued in a fa:nous lecture onrNew Unionismr, such

organi.zatiotr was not only nrrr:e just, it was nade necessary by changed

econonlic coltclitions. At tlie time, skilled workers were rapidly losing

the leverage whi.ch had, in the past, enabled then to win rnany concession-s.

Two conclitions in particular no longer applied - ¡¡eneral shortage of

labour, and a sharp distinction between skilled and unskilled work.

Accordi¡g to Charleston, 'rskilled nachines and keen conpetition will, in

spite of all attenpts to preverìt it, prove themselves great l-eveffers of

class distinc.tion among wage eaTners".le At the same time, if unions

rtassune an air of selfish exctusiveness by demanding high entrance and

contribution fees in order to exclude applicants for adrnission to wolckrr,

they wi.l1 in time fincl the excluded workers "rising in judgement against

us, by assisting our opponents to o'r¡erthrow our citadel and render us

defcnceless ancl hoPeless" .2 o

As tl-re lessons of tl-re strikes receded into the past, however, many unions

reverted to their old position of rclass selfishnessr. An article printed

withotrt cornrnent in the Herafd revealed graphically the way in which trade

unionisn hetped to maintain the gap between the two major sections of the

working class. tvith regard to unskilled workers, the paper wrote:

337

anong them is a sordid scrarnble for a base ancl bareliving. It is wirolly dentoralising, inducing in all a

nal'Tow baseness of view, forcing the winners to harden

T'he craftsnìen, jealousty guarding the entTance to their tracle, we1'e

regarded in a much rnore favourable light:

The position of the trained artisan is somewhat differ-ent. lle is always in danger of falling out of theranks of skillecl ancl decently-paid labour into the abyss

Although in the 1890s the labouT movenent as a whole decided to get

involved in politics, it is not surprising that its various sections

unclerstood this involvement differently. It was the lrew rnass urrionsl

who, having the weakest tinks with the existing structure of political

representatì.on, i.nitiatcd the setting up of labor:r pzrrties througltout

Australia.23 The livi.g ancl worki.ng conc¡.tiol'ts of their nembers made

conmon aspirations rvith progressive bourgeoisie much less 1ikely than was

the case with city craft unions, and tJreir policies often had markedly

socialist leanings. In addition, the two wings of the labour movement

often hacl a clífferent unclerstancling of the link between industrial ancl

political action. According to lan Turner,

338

...whi1e the rnass uniotìs saw parliamentary action ascomplenentary to industrial action, and were insistentupon stïengthening the trade unions to prepare them foreven nore general strike, the craft unions saw politicalaction as substitute for the strike and sought theestabli.shnent of machinery of conciliation and, Iater,compul sory arbitration, 2 q

A furt}rer clivision of interest existed over the question of tarjffs. The

mass unions, whose rnembers (rniners, agricultural workers, shearers ancl

wliarf labourers) often produced for the export market, tended to favour

free trade. Most manufacturing production, on the other hand, occurred

in conpetition with irnport trade, and its workers were solidly

protectionist.2s

South Austraiian trade unions, howevet, were not the only founding

members of the new political party. In South Australia, the ULP grew out

of a wide and diverse democratic movernent, of which the unions were often

neither the leading noT the most radical elements, and in which they

often had clifficulty asserting thernselves. In the depressed economic

con{itions of the late lBBOs, Coghlan notes that, next to the various

trade unions, ra hundred societies sprang upt in Adelaide. Among these

were a Society for the Study of Christian Sociology, the East Adelaide

Mutual Inprovement Society and Model Parliament, the Glenelg Political

Association, the Literary Societiesr Union of South Australia and Model

Parliament, the South Australian Fabian Society, the North Adelaide

Social and Patriotic Association, the Single Tax League, Allgemeiner

Deutscher Verein ancl the Adelaide Dernocratic. C1ub.26

Once createcl from an trnsysternatic and often contradi.ctory nixture of

trade union, liberal and radical demands, the parliamentary labour parties

started assuming a Iife of their own, and increasingly came into conflict

with their tindustrial wingr.

339

While the rnew uni.onsr took najor initiative in the setting up of the

ULp, they tackecl effective clay-to-day links with the centre of political

power. As in the other Australian colonies, "the novement that founded

the Labor Party...hacl been largely confined to skilled tradesrnen and the

metropolitan area".2 7

In spite of its nixecl parentage, the UL,P started its life with sornething

of a class analysi-s, and enthusiastic working-class support.

To the practical lessons of the strikes and the depression, culminating

in the financial collapse of 1893, r^/as added the class analysis developed

at two important confercnces of Australia-wide new unions which were held

in Adelaide in early 1891: the First Conference of the General L¿rbourersl

Union, and the Fifth Conference of the Arnalgamated Shearerst Union. In

the same year, while South Australia was not di.rectly involved in the

shearersr strike, representatives of the ASU toured working-class communi-

ties i.n the country seeking moral and financial support for the striking

workers, and explaining the principles of unionisrn.2E Throughout 1893,

"[c]1ass consciousness was kept alive by the economic depression and

exhibited at laïge rneetings of the unernployed and by constant agitation

for a large-scale public works programme".2e

Nevertheless, a series of factors coutbined to moderate the ULPrs political

outlook. In the first place, the Labor Party in South Australia had to

define itself i¡ alliance with, and not in opposition to, a major liberal

movement. On many issues, it joined liberal sections of the bourgeoisie

to face a conmon enemy: the conservative tEstablishmentr, represented in

P¿rr1i¿unent by the NationaI Defence League.

During thc large-scaIe strikes which, in other colonies, unambiguously

divided major political and economic forces into rtwo great cantpsr, South

340

Australian goveïnntent rnaintained an anbiguous position. While the

governing liberals offered no concrete assistance to the strikers, they

were far more reticent than their eastent colleagues in their help to the

employers - who, on 'lheir part, spared no effort to nagnify the goveln-

mentts 'radicalismr.

Although tl're South Australian governnent used police to protect free

labour during the naritine strike and, towards its end, called in the

permanent rnilitary force in anticipation of civil riots, it was strongly

criticised by the ernployers, especially for its refusal, in October 1890,

to enrol special constables for the protection of strikebreakers.30

SiniIarly, in I892, the short-lived Holder ninistry, although willing to

provide police escort for tfree labourr , refused assistance to New South

l!'ales 1:olice contingents during the Ilroken FIill strike. 3l

By 1896 the Liberal premier Kingston could publicly speak of rthe good

old Labor Partyr and deny that Liberals and Laborites could in any way be

distinguished.

Four years previously, the same nan challenged Richard Baker, founder of

the conservative National Defence League, to a duel,32 and in 1890 acted

as a clefence counsel for unionists arrested during the maritime strike.

From the workerst side, cordial relations with a liberal government were

a mixed blessing. As a HeraLd editorial put it in 1897,

Four years of associat.ion with a friendly nínistry haverobbed us of some of the fighting spirit ancl brought us

down to the dead level of respectability. Instead ofcutting out a poticy of our own ìue have been too dis-posed to follow ministerial lead. We have been a littletoo considerate of the opi.nions and feelings of others.33

Elenents within the IJLP itsetf contributed towards i-ts growing respect-

ability ancl weakened working-cIass identity. The original constitution

34r

of tl-re ULP stipulated that or"rly bona fide working men were eligible to

stancl for pre-selection. However sympathetic and enthusiastic fhey Inay

have been, the rniddle-class supporters of the LaLnr Party could not

represent it in parliament. This situation began changing in I893. In

that yeat, at a conference of the ULP and the rnany democratic associations

wl-rich supportecl i.t, the non-r.mionists assumed a leading position. During

the discu-ssion, "the future of industry was scarcely touched on, almost

every speaker insisting that thc break-up of the land monopoly was a key

to social reconstrnctionrr.34 At the close of the cottference, against much

opposition of the trade union section, an amendnent was carried allowing

rany rnember of any association affiliated with the ULPr to stand for

pre-selection in the next Legislative Council elections. In the event,

but after much internal struggle, none of the non-union nominees was

elected, but the clause all.owing then to stand for pre-selection was

retainecl .3s

A countervailing force to the liberal mernbers of the Labor Party were the

socialist-nj-ndecl rnew unionsr . llowever, these were wea]<er in South

Australia than i¡ the other colonies and, as elsewhere, partici.pated only

sporadically in the day-to-day running of their party,

During tlie 1890s, three norninees of what were essentially country new

unions were returned to parliament - Ri chard Hooper, a miner from

Wallaroo; E.A. Roberts, a wharf labourer from Port Pirie; and Alex

poynto¡, secretary of the Port Augusta Shearerst Union. Nevertheless,

these menbers remained independent of the ULP, and their organizations

were either not affiliated to the Adelaide Trades and Labor Council or,

Iike the shearers, were represented by delegates who attended meetings

orily irregularly ancl werc not closely involved in the workings of the

TLC. 3 6

342

The slow drift towards moderation weakened the ULPts working-cl.ass

support. Alreacly in I892, unenployed workers became dissatisfied with

what they saw as a fallure of ULP parliamentarians to represent their

interests adequately. In the same year, during the Broken Hill strike,

several Labor MPs who attempted to persuade the striking rniners to return

to work founcl their viervs in conflict with those of the strike committee

and the workers - so much so that at sonìe meetings they could not get a

hearing.3T

The economic situation itself had gradually changed. While it would be

wrong to make a sirnplistic connection between depressed econonic condi-

tions and heightene<l class consciousness, it is significant that the

depression started lifting by 1896, at least as far as skilled workers

were concernecl.3s Moreover, partly as a result of the moderation of ULP

parliameutarians, there were virtually no strikes in South Australia

between 1892 and 1910. In that year a wave of inclustriaL unrest, culmi-

¡ating in the clriversrstrjke of 1910, indicated that unions ceased to

rely on the'political wing'of the labour movement for economic reforms.3s

Instead of class distinctions, the attention of the labour movenent becarne

increasingly clrawn to racial confli.ct. It night seem strange, the labour

papers carefully explained, that instead of sinply advocating equal wages

and conditions, dernancls were made for t.he total exclusi.on of Asian workers

ancl the boycott of their goods. a o

What was at stake, they urged, was more than sirnple wage justice- It was

preservation of the Australian way of li-fe, morality, indeed survival of

the white race itself. According to the HeraTd,

343

It is the duty of the worker to rise up and clemand theexclusion of the cheap and nasty races to protect hinselfand his wife and weans frorn an irresistible competition -ntacle irresistible lìy the low wages acccpted by thc man

of colour. 'the fundanental racial objection is, holvevcr,worthy of general consideration. The true patriot wishesto keep the race pure ancl strong and free more than tokeep the King upon the throne. Are the free customs,institutions, manners, and high modes of thinking andliving of Europeans to break down before an alienintrusion which brings with it savagery, darkness andmoral filth?...'fhe poisonous colour already darkens theblood - it must be expelled before the heart of the raceis paralysed and stilied.qr

At the same tine, the ULP ceased to be the only political organization

clainring to represent the workers - âncl, indeed, the only political party

in the colony. Between 1890 and 1893, the Labor Party alone I'formed a

structured extra-parlianentary organj-zation, bound its candidates and

representatives to tl're party and party princi¡rles, anci set out to appeal

to tlÌe electorate for support for the partg",42 By the turn of the

century, the National Defence League had more branches and members than

the ULP, and was ::eaping success from its enrolment campaign, publicity,

and 'self -eclucationt lectures .4 3

One measure of disenchantment with the parliarnentary Labor Party was the

steaclily falling turnout of working-c1ass constituents at Legislative

Council elections. In the 1897 elections, for example, only 54e" of those

entitled to vote did so in the Central District, in nrarked contrast to

tlre elections of 1891 (54%), 189 3 (82e") ancl 1894 (73eù.4\ In the 1901

Legislative Council elections, only 42% of the electorate exercised its

right to vote, while the second-lowest percentage of votes recorded

(39.9e") was in the union stronghold of Port AcJelaide.\s

As a result of all these factors, after 1897 the spectacular electoral

success of the ULP was slowly reversed, tn-rtil it was decimated at the

344

Ig02 House of Assembly elections. As a reaction to its increasing lack

of electoral appeal, the ULP becane rrealistict, Unwj-tling to opt for a

vigorous socialist policy and not being atrle to count on the enthusiasn

of the whole working cla-ss, the party fashioned itself to the inage of

tlre electorate at large - a policy which its paper, the weekly Herald,

ha<l by then advocated for several years.

The turning point carne at the 1904 ULP conference. 0n initiati.ve of the

Parliamcntaly caucus the païty, recovering frorn defeat at the 1902

ge¡eral elections, made significant changes in the composition of its

governing council. In paraLlel rvith the imbalance of voting power in

state elections, country representation was sharply increased, and the

council was ,rreleased from the leading strings of the TLC".46 Subsequently,

several non-unionists stood for pre-selection in netropolitan seats, and

some were elected as Labor Partyrs representatives to Parliament. This

redistribution of power gave focus to the energing conflict between the

parliamentary and the industrial wing of the movernent. Cornpared to the

situation in other states, this conflict until then hacl bareJ.y existecl.+7

After its reorg¿rnization in 1904, the Labor Party gainecl enough seats to

be able to forni a coalition governnent with the Liberals as junior

partners. Tom Price, South Australiars first Labor prenier, was by this

time a moclel of mocleration - ancl proud of it. A.lthough he might have

presented a somewhat more raclical face to his elect.ors, to his peers he

never tired of advocating his sensible, gradualist approach and his

profouncl lespect for bourgeoi.s institutions - as long as they opelated

'efficiently'. As he Put it,

Ile rvas looked upon as a socialist, who would shut outprivate enterprise and aIlow the government to do

everything, so as to provide men with luxurious living

34s

and give them a gtorious time in the service. That sortof talk mi.ght be good enough on the platform, to ple¿sethe crowd, but there was no one in the house who thoughtIre was anxious for suc'.h a statc of things. IIis socialismamounted to this, that when a rnonopoly stepped in andcrushed the general taxpayer the state ought to interveneand assist the general taxpayer, He would go no furtherthan that. a I

1þe Premierrs actions, far from contradicting his assurances, earned hinl

the praise of many rvho were strongly opposed to the ains of a socialist

labour movernent. One of these, A.S. Cheadle (a businessman and menber of

the Chanrber of Manufactures), paicl tribute to Price as

...a gentleman who managed the business of the state ina ¡nanner which was not inferior to the capacity shown byl'ris predecessors . With responsibi 1ity, Mr. Price hadbeen able to take larger views. IIe saw things notmerely front his own standpoint. FIe was a.strong man

with the interests of the state at heart.ae

After the return of prosperity jn 1904, gTeat changes occurred in the

trade union movement. The most far-reaching of these was the rapid

growtli of state-rvide unions of ullskilled workers - the Australian l{orkersr

Union and the United Laborersr Union. When they amalgamated in 1914 the

AWU hacl five and a lialf thousand nenbers and the ULU three and a half

thousand.

By the time radicalisn returned to the labour movement, however, it was

no longer as a part of the ULP leadersliip - indeed, this had set itself

up as a bulwark against revolutionary soci.alism. In March 190'2, the

HeraLd

...called the attention of public servants to thedesirableness, in their own interests and those of theState, of giving a solid support to Labor and Liberalmenbers at the approaching elections. We pointed outthe dangers of the present financial situation and thepossibility of a rBlack Mondayr or revolutionary policyif the Conservatives stepped back into power. ""

346

Reforming an unjust system

ln 1891, the United Labor Party ¡nade history when three of i.ts members -Charleston, Kirkpatrick and Guthrie - were elected to the Legis lative

Council. In the same year, its repr:esentatives contribute<l to passing,

with a majority of one, the rFree Educationr Bil1.

The Labor Party was all the more enthusiastic about this neasure since,

during the long years of depression, it was justly seen as a very

precarious achievement. As the partyrs newspaper explained:

There is no room for doubt tha,t one of the directions inwhich all the strength of the Natj-onal Defence Leaguewill be exerted will be the abolitiern of the boon offree education. ..The struggle to obtain this greatnational boon lasted nany years, and it was not untilthe Labor Pa'rty was directly represented in parliamentthat it rvas found possible of achievement...The organi-zation of labor, which led to free education, also 1edto the gTganization of capital, which opposes thesystern. "'

The Bill was passed during a few nonths of sudden and short-lived

prosperity. As soon as the colony relapsed into depression, the twealthy

classesr , represented in Parlianent by the National Defence League, tried

to have it repealed, arguing that rfit is unjust to tax them to educate

other peoplers children, and [that] the reimposition of fees...is the

best means of balancing the finances of South Australia'r.s2

The labour movenentrs interest in educatj-on had a long history.s3 In

1867, a remarkably radical farmer argued eloquently that

In fact, most of the enonnities of the world are hiddenby the cloak of respectabiLity...but thanks to educationand the march of intellect, to science and the inculca-tion of virtue, the men of labour are beginníng to awake,though slowly.5+

lle was restating sentiments which had for years formed the basis of

working-c1ass ideology throughout the wor1d, and which were repeated again

347

and again in the labour press. In 1887, the editorial of the first issue

of the new Soutl'r Australian democratic newspaper OUI Commonweafth

announced that it rvould work in the cau-se of popular education:

Ilducation is spreading rapidly anongst the toiling masses)and with the diffusion of knowledge discontentrnent is evergrowing..,Every day reveals a new fact, and each new factis to the toiler a bearn of light which-dispels the nistthat hicles from hjrn his true position.55

Several years later I'he Voice, a radical t'ree-trade newspaper, reiterated

thattr[n]ot. the oppressors, but the want of knowledge by the oppressed as

to their real power is the reason why they have rernained so long in

bonclage" . s 6

At finst, such lil:erating knowledge was seen to reside above all i-n

labour newspapel's, parnphlets, Popular lectures, Mechanics t Institute

classes or private reading. our Comnanwealth, in inviting its readers to

send in titles of books consj.derecl to be of use to young democrats, Put

the matter sc¡uarely: unless they rnake a serj.ous and organized effort to

emancipate thenselves, people will renain tthe machine slaves of idlers

ancl wasterst; in this effort, the first golden rule states that rknowledge

is power'; to gain that knowledge, the article continued,

...you will, after having left the primary school, whereyou have received only the nerest rucliments of educati.on,continue your studies into manhood by attending theclasses at meclianicsr institutes, the UniversityExtension Lectures, or whatever special rneans of educa-tion the locality affords. But by far the more inportantpart of your education will be that rvhich you will giveyoursel f at lrorne. s 7

Over the yeirrs, nÌany proposals were made for such tuseful knowledget to be

transmitted in institutiorls cont.rolled by the workers themselves. In

1873, the Regrjster reported a proposal for worknen to educate each other

through a Mutual Improvenent. Society and eventually a tlnion Co1lege,

348

which would invite outside lecturers.sB Sone of the societies noted by

Coghì.anss uncloubtedly took this form. Sirnilarly, during the sitting of

the ]loarcl of Encluiry into Technical Education, it became evident that

sonle unions weïe firmly in favour of Trades IIall administration and

control of any technical education relating to specific trades.60

Sometines, holever, the school education of children was given greater

prominence. In 18786r The Labour Ad.vocate, the short-lived newspaper of

the Labour League, carried a hard-hitting editorial against those who

charged working people with being rignorant, vulgar and dangerous to

societyr. To change their position, it was first necessary that working

people have enough means to be able to educate their children -rrEducate

the buds of hunanity before their rnin<ls are filled with the idea that

the¡, were born tç; be slaves as well as their fathers before them."62

Ily tl-re end of the nineteenth century, there were enough aware working

people to be able to organize a network of trade unions, a regular weekly

newspaper, and their olvn political party. But through their everyday

experience, the latrour activists becarne sharply aware of the apathy and

apparent irrationality of those who should have 1ogica11y been enthusiastic

in the labour cause.

Perhaps it may be said that the worker j-s able to takecare of himself . I{e know clifferently. Many there arervho are working bravely for a change, but they are over-shadowed by the host who are always indifferent ti11their individual turn comes. We know what it is tocontend rvith the apathy of the masses. The rnajority ofthem have yet to learn even how to sacrifice a singlecopper for a paper which has been brought into existenceto fight for them and their rights. . . o "

With the introduction o,f free schooling, the perennial problem of workersr

apathy ancl ignorance seened to be suddenl.y resolved. Now that education

34f)

was within everybodyrs reach, it was only a matter of time before labour-

ing people perceived the full extent of their oppression, and the rneans

of ending it. In the same \¡ray that it will rigorously trai.n thern to

solve aritl-rmetical problens, it was hoped that free and compulsory

schooling would enal¡le workers to discover the ways in which they were

exploited. According to the HeraTd,

The death kne1l of nonopoly was souncled that noment thefirst righteous demand of labour received a concessionin the shape of free education. Gradually the light ofTersorì is being applied by workers to problems whichthey before never had the temerity to grapple with, andthe consequence is the mask is being dragged off therotten and inhuman systen which afflicts all conununitiesof the so-cal1ed civilized worl.d.5a

Indeed, the new systern of schooling was represented as so powerful that

it coutd accornplish, through educaling all children, what <lecades of

i.mperfectly-utilised workersr educational nedia had failed to achieve.

The Hera-Zd l-roped that

...when the present generatjon of school goers take theplace of the present clay breadwinners, the thc polver isproperly felt of those who have just emerged frorn thecontrol of the schoolmaster, we shall indeed get thereforms vúe so much desite.65

In particular, rreducation must necessarily tead to mechanical appliances

being usecl in the interests of labour:".66

Thc very vehemcnce of reactionary opposition to free educati.on strengthened

the Labor Party'-s faith in the soundness of the content of state schooling.

According to the Herald,

It is the very thoroughness and high quality of teachingin our State schools which forms the greatest danger tothe system. It is the danger that children soenlightened will no longer submit to the slave system oftheii fathers that the plutocrats fear

350

In this grand..iision, parents who failed to send their children to govern-

ment schools, or who condoned their irregular attendance, were seen as

sabotaging the accumrlated achievenents of years of labour struggles

According to K. lVimshurst,

Labor nien recalled the limj.ted opportunities for formalschooling in their own childhoods and marvel"lecl at theprogressive school system they had helped to create formodern youth. Ungrateful parents and children whorefused to ful1y embrace what was offered simplyrequired extra compulsion in their own interests. Thissensc of angry clisappointment among reforners was notedby the Superintendent of School Visitors in his 19f0repolt vrhen he likened the state school system to theparable of the king who prcparcd a feast and was furiousivhen the invitecl guests ã".i¿"¿ not to attend.68

'lhe labour movement, however, supported state schooling for more particu-

lar reasons. In Chapter 4, it was argued that the Eclucation Departrnent

opt.ed for free education rnainly as a u/ay of eliminatingtinefficientr

private schools, rvhose conti.nued existence hampered the general imposition

of a unifo¡m system of schooling. Such change, aimed at rcivilizingt

worker:s into modes of thinking and behaviour nore congruent with their

life in a capi-talist society, was seen by Inspector-General Hartley as a

progressive social measure - a redistribution of wealth which would

benefit the rich ancl poor alike. As he said in one of his yearly reports:

I take it. . . as a practical fact that popular educationmust to some extent be a charge on the general or loca1taxes. And it might fairly be argued that it is but oneway in which the r.nec1ual distribution of wealth nay besomewh¿rt- counterl¡alanced; communisnt, if you will, but a

conmunism which results in a benefit to the rich as wellas to the poor, if there is any truth in the vj.ew thatthe better education of the people tends to the irnprove-ment of the commonwealth as a whole. It is too late inthe rvorldrs history for us to gravely maintain that ourcivilization is to be basecl upon rkeeping downr thehumbler classes, especially...where general suffrage isthe law of the land.6e(It wasntt too late: he forgot women.)

351

If perhaps not agreeing with the fine details of l{artleyrs policy, the

organized labour movenent would have endorsed its general outline. In

other words, it would have supported not only free education but, in nany

instances, the explicit intention of the schoolsr rhidden curricular.

There rì/ere several reasons for this.

General eclucation, leadj-ng to an effective workersr organization, would

do more than increase peoplers living standards. It would, in various

hrays, contribute to the health and stabilíty of the whole society. As it

was, while the capi.talists were growing fat on their profits, the

unemployed were driven by their desperate conditions to criminality and

revolution. The Heral,d argued that, during the depression, the rrincreasing

difficulty of beilrg able to live by honest neansrr was the inrnediate cause

of a u¡ave of petty larcenies. In the long run, this was "the logical

result of a vicious systen which enriches a class at the cost of the

moral, social and physical debasement of the masses'r. In other wotds,

rr[i]f we persist in a systenì which subjects men and u¡onen to the alterna-

tive of cri¡ne or starvation we must not be surprised if they decline to

starve while surrounded by plenty...rr7o

The choice was "[w]ait titl there are sufficient unemployed to bring about

a revolution, or tackle the problem and solve it intelligently anrl with

reason?tt 71

For most of the ernployed, stubbornly respectable, enlightened and

politically active supporters of the ULP figured that they stood to lose

by a revolution. T2 llre resultant policy was acceptance of capitalism,

but by no means through the ideology of classless society. Indeed, the

veïy survival of capitalism was seen as dependent on the existence of a

strong, self-conscious, politically active and organized working class

352

vrl'rich, in alliairce rvith a progressive bourgeoisie, would reforn capitalj,sm

so it could be preserved.

The avoidance, until the turn of the century, of the ideology of classless

socj-ety hinged on the current explanation of capitalism, which tecurred

again ancl agairr in speeches, letters and articles printed in the ¡JeraLd.

Briefly, this took as its starting point one of the basic contradictions

of capitalisn - as society produces nor.e weaLth, everybody should be

logicalty better off. Instead, with increasing mechanisation, the workers

get more in¡roverished because the employers, through their ownershi-p of

the rneans of production, are able to retain the benefits of technology

for themselves.T3 In other words,

'fhe actual trouble...is not in the i.ntroduction ofmachinery, but in making each appJ.iance serve theinterests of capital at the expense of the workman.t,Ihat we want to do is to make .Ít serve the inte.restsof both.7 )

In a similar vein, an edi.torial deali.ng with the bootnakerst dispute

arguecl that whj.le strikes r,/ere an evi1, they could not be condenured in

the present econornic conditions. 'Ihis was because

...under the competitive systein the machinery has gotinto the wrong hands, and it is being used forLheenslavement of the worker instead of to his advantage...First it enslaves the worker, then it ruins theenployer, u'hile tutder a more equitable systern it--shoulcl be ancl would be to the advantage of both. "

The article argued that the solution 1ay in the co-operative use of

machinery, through which both nasters and nen would receive fair remunera-

tion for their services, and the consuners would receive a well-made

article at a fair price. In otheï words, although the problen was traced

to the private ownership of the rneans of production, the solution concen-

trated not so nuch on rernoving this basis of capitalism as on alleviating

its results through redistributive mechanisns.

353

In surnmary, the nrajor working class political organization of the day --

the United Labor Party --favoured reforn and not revolution. Nevertheless,

there remained a possibilíty that, as the wrongs of capitalisrn became

transparent to t.he newly educated workers, these would opt for revolution

in alliance with the unemployed and rsoci.alist agitators', instead of

opting for tìte ballot ancl orderly reform in alliance with the parliamen-

tary ULP and Kingstonian liberals. And here again, education was the

answer - this time its thidden curriculumr. According to the Herald,

There are many who sirake their heads and vehementlystate that education to the labouring masses meattsanarchy and revolution in the future, but we enphati-caIly deny that such calr possibly be the case. Educa-tion will refine the mind; abundant, not disconnectedand lean knowledge, witl purge the masses of al1 theevil concomitants of ignorance, superstition, bigotryand brutal clualities and passions. Knowledge willbuild up a standard of labour which will eradicate thedenagogue, the agitator, and the general scum ofloafers and idlers from the ranks of toil - will purgethe chaff from the wheat.76

In other words, it was not enough to wait until improved working and

living conditions civj.lized the poor and the unemployed; the poor had to

be civilized en route, so that the reformed society would itself be

achieved in a civilized manner: rrnot with the accompaniment of riot and

bloodshed, but with the steady and powerful influence of the electoral

lawt' ,7 7

It is necessary to stress that the moderate ULP leadershi,p was not alone

in voicing such concerns. To some extent, they wcre the misgivings about

the lunpenproletariat expressed by Marx and Engels in the Cammunist

man.ifesto, and about the relationship of English socialists and the

rresiduumt described by Stedman Jones in his book outcast London. In

boLh cases, the sarne transiency and uncertainty of income which uias at

354

odds with regular school attendance of the children impeded the effective

union organization of their parents. According to Stednan Jones,

The ever pressing demands of the stomach, the chronicuncertainty of employment, the ceaselessly shiftingnature of the casual labour market, the pitiful struggleof worker agai.nst worker at the dock gate, the arbitrarysentence of clestitution, and the equally arbitrarycascade of charity provided no focus for any lastinggrowth of collective loyalty upon which a stable classconsciousness coulcl be based. Brought up to treat lifewlth the fatalism of the ganbler, the casual poorrejected the philosophy of thrift, self-denial and self-l'relp preached to them so insistently by the CharityOrganization Society. But, by the sante token, theyrejectetl qualities which, for different reasons, rverealso esselrtial to the strength of the labour novement.Di-spirited leaders of the New Dockers' Union at thebeginning of the 1890s found it ten times easier tobring ìnen out on strike than to collect union dues.78

Next to removing tl're unjust privil"eges of the wealthy indirectly, through

the ballot box, educati.on would also have a more irunediate impact

It. is because...from the ranks of the intelligent poorwill be found candidates for positions now the specialpercluisites of the chilciren of the rich and becausethe teaching of our schools will eventually lead tothe downfall of the privileges of wealth that so strongan outcry is raised ãgainst the system.Te

The controversy about this issue was not linited to conservative opposi-

tion. While the rich were agonising about there not bej.ng enough menials

to clean their boots, the labour press on occasions spoke strongly about

the need for educated workers to stay with their class - According to an

article ilr the Labur Advocate,

The working nren of brain-power and education nust not belost to their class; the manual labour or trade will betretter and more skilfully done by these men, and as theyinprove and ennoble their trade so in proportion willtheir condition irnprove, and they will also raise othersof like craft with thern.so

ùl another occa.sion, the same paper concluded "if labour is to be properly

causett. 8lrepresentecl, we must have educated labourers to advocate the

555

In the nid-1890s, however, such sentiments were conspi.cuously absent front

IleraLd articles on education. As in the case of a peaceful transition to

a better society, respectable tradesmen, white co11ar workers an<l snall

employers who supported the ULP were able to form an alliance with the

progressive liberals. This was possible especially since the schools

rrattract[ecl] more and more children fron well-to-do parents on account of

the ad¡nirable instruction that is given in them".82 As was argued in

Chapter 4, it was fron these groups that school routines tvere likely to

select out successful pupils. It was to them, therefore, that the

equalising pronises of the school appeared most seductive - and the

current reorganization of production most threatening:

If the schools we::e inferior, we should hear less aboutthe heavy cost of then, but their very excellence leadsto their being feared, for they give that equality ofopportunity which threatens the^monopoly of the classesin the better-paid occupations.8 3

Elements of a criti ue

These two far-reaching ambitions for the education system - social

transformation and equality of opportunity - presented no problens as

long as they remained on a general level. But any attempts at detailed

fo¡mulation soon revealed a lack of consensus within the ULP on nany basic

political questions. In acldition, by implicitly showing up shortcomings

of the public school system, the points raised in nany articles started

clashing with the Iaudatory tone of most ULP commentaries on state

schooling.

The schools might have been excellent, but a writer for a childrenrs

column in the fterafd felt that there was a pressing need to establish a

separate rPolitical. Iland of Floper and rPolitical Training School' for

356

working-class chi1c{ren. At the ''Iraining Schoolr the course of instruc-

tion was proposed to include -How to speak, hotv to debate, how to typeh/rite, how towrite shorthand ra1:idly, how to keep the memory good,and make bad ones better, how to keep accounts, how toorganize, how to think or reason easily, how to keepthe body healthy and how to cure the diseases ofothers by sinrple ancl cheap rnethods. 8b

In his series of articles, the writer clid not once mention the public

schools. Ancl yet, taken together with contemporary descriptions of the

classroom, they constituted a strong critique of schooling. In some

cases, the inspectors thenselves clocumentecl how school routines acted

against various ingredients of the proposecl political course of instruc-

tion. l{ith regard to the lability to speak and debater, for example, the

schools seem to have inpeded, rather than developed, the childrents use

of language. As Inspector Neale v,rrote in 1899,

The power of oral expression is not very good. In manyschools a niserable whisper is allowed, and there is ageueral lack of ability to speak rnore than the baldestof simple sel)tences . o'

Similarly, even if there had been equality of educational opportunity

within the public eleinentary schools (there was not), the schools by

thernselves could not make tequatity of opportunityr, symbolised by the

reducational ladclert, work. Firstly, ancl quite sirnply, there was no

provision for: the 'intelligent poorr to obtain the secondary and tertiary

education which blocked their entry into the professions. As the then

leader of the Labor Party, E.L. Batchelor put it, there was a gap between

the state schools and the

...higher form of education which was to be received atthe University, an institution blessed with very consid-erable state endowments...a gap the practical effect ofwhich was to deprive the poorer classes of any chance ofentering the professions. At present that was -a privi-ledge cónfineã to the children of the wealthy.86

357

Five years after expressing unrestrained optirnisn about tlie power of

state schools to br:ing about eqr:ality of opportunity, the HeraLd becarne

aware of irnperfer:tions in the educat j.onal ladder it was trying to construct:

The greatest want in the colony is the provision for thecontil'ruation of eclucation after the primary stage ispas-sed. . . By the offering of exhibitions etc., everyencouragenrent is given to the specially promising youthlaII 24 of them], wìrether he be the c.hi1d of a laboureror a landlord, but climbing to the topmost rungs of theIadcler shoulcl be a rule and not thc exception. B7

Sonre conrrìerìts, irrclccd, irnpl icitly cast doubt on thc practi cality of using

a laclder to improve the lot oJ: the whole working class:

Those people who say that every one who is indust.rious,physi-cally and mentally strong and sound, can workthemselves into a good position in life, believed in afal1acy, because in the race for life there aîe afavoured few who get enormous handicaps whilst the manyhave so nany obstacles to overcome that tliey becornedisheartenecl before they get half way.BB

To many rvo::king people, the existing secondary sc.hools and universities

lvere thenselves objectionable. According to E.L. Batchelor, not only were

many secondary scìrools denornjnational, most were tclass schoolst, and as

such gave boys rthe wo::st kínd of training', Class schools, Batchelor

explained, had such irigh char:ges that on1¡' children of the wealthy could

attend then.

It was not only the fce charged, but there was a standardof dress and a standard of pocket money. No son of poorparents cared to attend a school where all the otherscholars could ,spend money on crickr:t clubs and othermatters...the pupils v¡ere saturated with class prejudicesbefore they were out of their teens. ltrey found rnany ofthose rvho had passed through the colleges confirmed littlesnobs . B e

The universiti.rl-s were condemned on similar grounds. While tertiary

training was a prerequisite to entry to rnany professions, only a privi-

leged few could afford to buy it for their children. At the same time,

the content of Llnj.versity courses was often directed to ornarnental rather

358

than practical purposes: "many rnen with a university education were not

fitted for the battle of life, and were beaten by men of lower attainment

but more practical ideas".eo

Sometines the elements of a critique were even further apart. The ULP

attitucle to conpetition can be taken as a case in point. Although at

times ambiguous on this issue, the lteraLd repeatedly condemned compctition

in the larger society. In 1898, the paperts readers were told that

"conpetition means that the stairway you rnust climb, rough shod, to the

precarious hei.ghts of success is made of quivering hurnan ltearts". et Two

yeaïs 1ater, a si¡nilar thene was reasserted:

The workers of the rvorld ar.e pressing forward to thetime rvlren competition will be fully recognized as a

defeater of its own ends, a libertine, and a suicide;and when a beneficent system of co-operation willpeaceful.ly take the place of the old war nethods.s2

Yet a school systen rvhe::e aIl were compelled to compete and the rnajority

were destined to faile3 was described in the same year as

.. .unsunpassed in elementary educational organizations

. . . educational authorities from other countries come tocr:iticize, and they lose the critical faculty in spon-taneously evoked admiration... un

Sirnilar discrepancies, this tine regarding the content of state schooling,

were ïevealecl cluring the Enquiry into Technical Education. The unions,

anxious to prevent rovercrowdingt of their particular trades, were firmly

opposed to the introduction of manual instruction for chitdren under the

age of 13 to 14. To make their point, they repeatedly expressed unquali-

fiecl satisfaction with the curricula of state schools. Yet the president

of the TLC reported that the Council supported introduction of technical

classes

359

...for the purpose of irnparting instruction upon scien-tific subjects havi.ng a bearing upon trades, includingnechanical and free-hancl drawing, the application ofscj-ence and art to manufactures, chemistry, mineralogy,engineering and physics generally.'u

Under questioning - especi.ally from Rowland Rees - it became evident that

he, as well as several other union representatives, in fact saw some

aspects of tlie ex,isting curricula as objectionable. I'To put j-t in plain

languagcrr, R. lìogers explained, analysis in grammarrris a \¡Jaste of tine".96

Ilees himself nade the point

State, race and social efficiency

The conservative attacks on the state education system continued until

1905, when the Ëclucation Department was expanded and reorganized under a

Labor-Liberal coalition government. Throughout the period, the ULP

continued its defence of public schooling, Over time, however, several

aspects of its position changecl. In the first place, the Herald eulogies

to schooling grew ever more enthusiastic:

...instead of teaching a boy to rattle off dates, thenumber of Queen Victoriars children and their ages,you wouJ.d encourage observati.on and scientific training,which woulcl be useful in after 1ife.e7

It is one of the grandest achievernents of Australianliberalisrn, it is a rnagnificent heritage to hand downto our descendants. Its praises are sung almost theworld over in educational circles. . . e I

Yet this was precisely the time when rnembers of the inspectorate itself,

taking their inspirabion from the ideas and practices of tNew Educationr,

started mounting a devastating critique of the state education system.

Secondly, the grounds on which the ULP defended education gradually

changed.

360

As argued earlier, by the turn of the century the parliamentary ULP,

unable to count on the enthusiastic support of the whole working class,

started attempting to make the party acceptable to rrniddle-classt and

rural voters. During this time, class terminology disappeared from

Herafcl articles on education, and was replaced by nore general, apparently

neutral terms. At the same time, the paper continued its advocacy of an

issue rvhicl'r seemingly transcended questions of workersr exploitation:

tire rlVliitc ¡\ustr¿rliat policy. ee

lVhen, after 1905, the paperrs comnents on education became more realistic

a¡d explicitly critical, they were set against a bacl<ground of a signifi-

cantly different way of undetstanding society. Gradually, education

ceased to be clefencled on the grounds that it would restructure capitalism

to make it more just and worth preserving. Perhaps capitalisrn could stay

the same if inciivicfuafs could be made to work harder and more efficiently.

lqhat was an isolated conment in the Heral-cl i.n 1895100 became an orthodoxy

in the sarìe paper ten years later. As W.F. Coneybeer, the Labor Minister

of E<lucation, put it: rtboys wilt becone better wotkmen by being educated.

I naintain that, individuals being put to that for which they are best

fitted, all the duties of society will be performed rnore satisfactorily

than they are rìotl". l o I

Education, instead of enabling workers to restructure the pattern of jobs

through industrial or parliarnentary action, was now seen as a possible

means of reconcili.ng the¡n to a, work life of rnindless drudgery. As the

Labor Minister of Eclucation explained in noving the second reading of an

education bi11,

For the sake of economy, through rapidity of production,ancl for the sake, too, of perfection of production, ithappened that boys and men found thernselves solely

361

occupied in sonle simple operation, which prorrided novariety and no exereise for tlie understanding, or forfinding out means by which difficulties rnight be over-conìe. 'fhe work became rnonotonous and drearily dull.'fhe clextcrity reqrrircd was gai.ncd at the loss of i.ntel-lectual" and other abilities. Sonething must be done tocounteract such tendenci.es, and lre could conceive ofnothirìg which would have a greater effect in thisdirection than an educa'Eion whicl'r woulcl p,ive the work-man such knowledge concerning his work that he would beable to see it from beginning to end, and be able torealize the value of every step in the process. tt' t

In this context, the defence of schooling was no longer conductecl in

class terms, but in those of state, Iace and sociaL efficiency. In 1902,

the He.ralcl declarecl questions of pararnount irnportance to be: 'rDoes free

education pay the State? Is it a good investnent yielcling handsome

returlts?"I03 A th::eat to the rwhole cause of educatiortt assumed especi-

ally menacing significancc since the paper w¿rs convincecl that education

was lone of the most potent factors in the upward movcment of the race". l 0 ''

Indeed, in a diatribe against a. vocal socialist group within the local

labour movetüent, the Herafd came close to equating socialism with racial

purity, 'Ihe paper confronted head on the arguntents of "[m]any of our

friends, who stylei thernselves revolutionary Socialists, [and] sneel at

what they are pleased to tenn the timidity and middle-class methods of

the Labor Party, particularly fhat of South Australia".r0s It'cheerfully

adni tted t that nrost of i ts l egi.s lati on r{as pal liative . But- such precis ely

was the road to socialism. In parti.cular, aided by an accumulation of

srnall reforms, socialisrn would come through generations of selective

breeding:Shorter hours of labour, better pay, better hones, andeducational facilities ensure race improvemenl; thenext gener:ation coming straight to these conditions willbe better citizens, able to lift the race sti11 furtherahead, and each succeeding crop will advance ever morerapidly until - why, Socialism will have a::rivcd and aIlrvilI agree that it is good.'uo

362

Social mobility through education was defined in a similar way. The

familiar themes about the individual and collective emancipation of

workìng people are conspicuously absent; they are replaced by exhortations

to increase thc effi.ciency of the state and of its individual units.

According to this new understanding, r'Ii]nequality of opportunity not

only fetter:ed the inclividual in the race of life.. "it infllj.cted a loss

upon the conntrnityrr. l0 7 "lVhy'r, the HeraLd. sairl , ttshould not the state

have the full benefit of all its vigor, all its intellect, al.l its

physical power ancl skill?"I08 'Ihe parallel with a well-run business

enterprise was obvious and tempting. In 1910, in a stirring speech, the

Labor Minister of Education offered the workerst brains to be trained in

the service of capital:

No great business could be successfully carried on if tJrestaff was stupid and ignorant. No state could bo greatif its people were dlrll and unready to see an<l to use thebest means. . . It was the cluty of the state to develop thebraj.ns of the chi1d, irrespective of class.l0e

He later joined the Liberal Union!

Early in 1905, this substitution of state for class interest had gone so

far that the fJera-Zd published a lengthy argument proving that better

education need not be feared on the grounds of giving rise to struggles

to improve working conditions:

Of course the movilrg factor fof conservative oppositionto the expansion of schocling] is the fear that educatedpeople will demand more of what they earn and generallyimprovecl conditions. Yet the whole trend of the worldis against this theory

Instead of education mal<ing workers realise that they have a conmon

interest and facilitating their organi.zation, the president of the ULP

sirnply hoped thatrrwhen aIl menrs brains receive the highest development

of which they were capable, despotis¡n woulcl die".1l t

s63

When in 1906 Alfred Williams was appointed as the new Director of

Hducation, the IleraJ-d was enthusiastic - not, as one might expect,

because the appointnent might furtl'rer the labour cause, but because

Willians lvas t'a strong man...a man seized of the transcendental importance

of an educated community and with the courage and organizing ability to

effect what he knows the nation requires""112'

Imperfect education i n a classless society

In the same period, the IIeraTd. seerned to discover the first flaws in the

magnificent edifice of South Australiars state education systen. At

first, following the line talçen by the te¿rchersr union, any deficiencj-es

weïe seen as aberrations caused by the ineptitucle of the current depart-

nental admj.nistration, and especialty of Inspector-General St-anton.

For nany years the State led in primary e<ltteation workin Austratia. Mr. tiartleyrs abilities. ".raised oursystem of elementary educati.on to an enviable position...But where are rve? Not advancing as all live systemsshould, but marking time, content, like the Chinese, totive on records of the Past.,."

After star.ting witl'r simple, clear-cttt issues, the critique gradually

revealed nore deep-seated problems.

In the first place, education spending was deficient. In 1900, the f/erafd

haci applaucled the fact that the cost of education per child i¡r South

Australia was lower than in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland or

Western Australia. rrWhen it is considered that such superior results are

obtainecl", the paper arguecl, I'a little extTa cost rnight be fairly borne.

But even here there is no room for complaint.trllr+ By 1908 the same

situat.ion was un|esitatingly identified as a failing: r'Certainly there

is ample roorn for improvement, as South Australia spends less per head on

364

education of its growing citizens than any state in the Corunonwealth,

with the exception of Tasmania".lls

Secondly, the administration was representecl as not nerely incompetent,

it was Itin some directions unconsciously...hearrily tainted with ci.ass

privilegerr.ll6 Although the connection was not explicitly made, such

bias woulcl have very serious consequences, explaineci in another Heral-d

article:The training of an early intellectual bent will some-times dominate a mants life, warp his judgement, andhold liim in a condition of nental slavery, despite athousand ev:idences of the weakness of his position.ll7

Thirdly, there was the realization that conrpulsory and free schooling

alone would lead neither to the workersr emancipation, nor to theirecononic advancement. The wheel had turne<t ful1 circle. In an article

directed at workj-ng class parents, the Heral.d wrote, echoing pre-1g90

sentinrents,

...don't think your children are educated when they havepassed the compulsory standard of our state schools.They have tl-ren but placed one foot upon the first rungof a long ladder. If. ..you can afford to carry themstill further, by all Ìneans do so. It will repay ahundredfold. And don't neglect their worldly, theirgeneral and political education. Many well-educated -scholastica.lly - citizens are mere infants at politics.tls

Indeed, the twin goals of social transfornation and individual rnobility

through education have themselves become questionable.

With regard to the educational ladder, there was a return to the realiza-

tion that the I'great mass of the working classes gain little by any system

...that merely tran-sfers the brì.ghtest among thern to other sphere5rr. rls

Sirnilarly, faith in the automatic power of education to transform society

had les'sened, and the very j-mage of the desirable society itself had

365

undergone a transformation. Thirteen years after proclairning that the

tdeath knell of monopoly was sounded the moment the first righteor.rs

demand of labour received a concession in the shape of free educationt, a

lleraJ.d editorial stated:

'l'he best educated nation is the most prosperous nation,but the prevailing understanding of the tenns educationand prosperity will have to undergo sonre readjustnentbefore anything of great national Tnoment can beachieved. I 2 o

Even after such readjustment, instead of expecting the newly-etlucated and

enlightened cjtizens To transform the world to their image, the goverwnent

was called upon to reshape society to fit in with the education system and

íts (by implication) politically naive products.

To educate a young citizen in a celtain manner and to turnhim into a conpetitive chaos to which his training has not-fitted irim would be worse than futile. The Governrnent ofthe State should endeavour to moulel the social andnational life so that its citizen-nanufactory would notbe working in vain. l2r

The official L;rbor weekly newspaper, however, never got around to inte-

grating the various aspects of a critique of the South Australian educa-

tion system into a coherent ulholc. Workers could, on the sicle, attenpt to

get their children to unlearn poljtical apathy and naivety. Those who

failed in, or opted out of, the race up the educational ladder, could

rrface with rvjsdom the unresolved problems of their present position" and

be I'of service, not only to the rnanual workers of their own c1ass, but to

the whole community, which suffers for their ignorance, and which will be

stTengthened by their increasing wisclon".122 But there seemed to have

been no ambition within the IJLP leadership to redefine erlucation so j.t

would selve the explicit interests of the working class. Fout years

before the outbreak of the First Wc¡rld IVar, parliarnentary Labor aspired

instead to

56ó

...a prescient statesmanship...which will spare neithervested interests nor sentimental bias in the single-mincled effort to pass on to posterity a still richerheritage of human fitness. The first result of suchconsideration is to enphasize the necessity of treatingthe education of the whole of the nation as a singleproblem...We are not concerned with the happiness orwelfare of individuals...and still less with that ofparticular social classes, but with the betterment ofîhu rrc", an<l the greater efficiency of the state.r23

367

Notes

1. HeraJd,24.II.1900.

SAPD,1910, p.189, T. Ryan

R. Johnson: r'rReally useful knowredget; counter education: the earlyworking-class trad.ltion, 1780-1848tr in Radical- Ed,ucatÍon (No.7, I976;No.B, 1977). See also R. Johnson: 'rrReally useful knowledger:radical education and working-class culture, 1790-1843r'.

4

5

R. Johnson: "rRea1ly useful knowledget; counter educationtt, pt.1,p.2r.

2

3

6

7

B

I

See, for example, B. Sinon: Studies in the hístorg of education,7780-1870, Ch.7.

K.R. Bowes: rrThe 1890 maritime strike in South Australiail.

i.bid., p.I25.

B. McFarlane: I'Australiars role in world capitalisJtì", pp,S2-3.

K.R. Bowes i op. cit. , p.156.

L. E. Kiek: "l-listory of the South Austral.ian labour unionsil (Unpub.IlA thesis, University of Adelaide, 1948), p.31.

ibid., p.11.

D.H. Jaensch: 'tPolitical representation in colonial South Australiarr,p.486.

B. Dickey: "South Australia'r in J.D. Murphy (ed.), Labr in ¡nlities:the state Labor parties jn åustraJia, 78B)-J920 (University ofQueensland Press, 1975), p.237.

T.A. Coghlani Latuur and industrg in ^Austral.ja, p.Lg27,

J.I. Craig: "History of the South Australian Labor party to 1917',(Unptrb. BA thesis, University of Adelaide, 1940).

T.A. Cogh1an, op. cit., p.1926.

D.M. Charleston: rrNew unionism; a lecturerr, reprinted in The pioneer,L3.12.I890, p.34.

ib.id ., pp . 34 -5 .

ibid., p.37.

ibid., p. 36.

HeraTd, 23 .5 .1908.

10

11

L2

13.

14.

16

17.

t5

lB.

19.

20.

2r.

1')

., 'r.

3(rB

foc. cit.

rr...the new unions attended the 1891 Intercolonial Trades UnionCongress in force, deterrnined to perfect their organization ancl tocl-rallenge the hold of the ernployers on the machinery of government.The 1B9l Congress affirmocl that rclass questions required classknowledge to state them, and class sympatl-ries to fight for themr,and urged the extension of the ALF throughout the Australian coloniesand New Zealand to secure tunity of purpose and actionr, an essentialelement of which was the direct representation of labour inparlianent.'r I. Turner: fndust-rial- fabour and poTitlcs (ANU Prcss,1965) , p.I2.

24. i'hid., pp.LB-9.

25. Loc. cit.

26 T.A, Coghlan; op. cit., p.1914. No research has been done on thesocial composition of these c1ubs, but fragmentary evidence suggeststhat their nrenrbership ranged frorn enlightened men of propertypropounding sing1e tax to labourers interested in social change ands e 1.F- educat ion .

27 . J. B. I-lirst: Adefai.de and the countr-1l P.194.

28 J. Scarfe, "T'he I.,abor weclge'? (Unpub. BA thesis, Univcrsity ofAdelaide, 1968J, p.73.

29 . ibid ., p. 33

See, for example, T.A. Coghlan: op- cit., p.1917; P.G. Peter:'rltlilitancy and mocleration: a comparative study of the trade unionmovements i.n New Sout-h Wales and South Australia in the 1880s'r(Unpub. BA tliesis, University of Aclelaide, 1959), p.B1; J. Moss:rrSound of trurpets: history of the labour movement in SouthAustralia" (typescript, Adelaide, 1980) .

31. See'l'.4. Coghlan: op- cit., p.1920; J. Scarfe:. op. cit., p.324.

-\¿ To the chagrin of historian-s, the duel did not eventuate becauserrBaker conmunicated with the police, and sent word to Kingston thathe would attencl. Kingston arrived in Victoria Square, revolver andall, at the appointecl hour and hlas promptly arrested by a couple ofdetectives, ancl when Baker arrived a few minutes later he found hisopporrent safely disanned. , ." T,A. Coghlan i op. cit., p.f926.

33. IIerald, 50.4.1897.

34. T.A. Coghlan: op. cit. , p.2277 .

ibid., pp.2277-9. tUncIe Dickr, an influential contributor to theIIeraLd, rìrrote in 1898, after spending over a year erçlainingpolitical economy according to single tax: rrlt has often grieved neto hear of the antagonism between the Single Taxers and the LaborParty. Personal jealousy has been partly resporrsible, and the magni-fication of minor differences. Both sides are to blane, and today

30

35

369

they are almost openly hostile." LIe acknowledged that I'those whocall themsclves Single Taxers have become distasteful to the workersby the nìannetr in which they advocate their principlesrr, but did notadnrit that these clifferences had any economic basis . IIeraTd,23 .7 .1893 .

36 J. B. Ilirst: op. ci.t., p.155. In addition, most wr:iters dealing withthe periocl qrgue that rnel unionsr in South Australia were weakerthan their counterparts in the othel col onies .

37. J. Moss: rrSound of trumpetstt, p.142. Similarly in 1894, a letterfrom Charles Stewart, the ]âte secretary of the Unemployed SustenanceFund, pointecl out that the r.rnemployed rr...have little to thank tlieTrades and Labor Council for" They have verìy guardedly held then-selves aloof, lest they should in any way stain their garmerìts, orsoil their spotless characters. lVith the exception of settling afew fami.lies upon the lancl , our much lookecl up to Labor members haveaccomplished but Iittle...rr The voj.ce, 30.3.1894.

J. Scarfe: op. cit., pp.139-40.38.

39.

40"

See, for example, Kiek: op. cit., pp.10B-10.

In 1901 the HeraLd, never tire<l of extolling the virtues of unionism,greeted the founcling of a new union with these words: r'1he veryl¿rtcst joke from piebald Queerrtsland is - a kanakars union. t{callythese fellows nust be getting civilized"'r flerald, 23,1.1901.

Herald, 2.2.I90I.

D.H. Jaensch: I'Political representation in colonial South Australiarr,p. 610.

ibid. , p.6L2.

J. Scarfe: op. cit. , p" 141.

ibid., p.56.

J.I. Craig: op. cit., p.54

rrAcutely sensitive to public opinion and unimaginativel), cautious,the Labor Party found itself at loggerheads with a smal1 but voci-ferous group of enthusiastic socialists who began to regardrgraclualisn' as being too gradual and cleprecatecl the lack of anycornprchcns:ive guiding theory. . .Sinnrltaneously militan't tradeunionists dissatisfied at the apparent failure of political action,State soci¿r1ism alrd arbitration turned their eyes towards inrlustrialaction. 'I'lrus a gulf lvas created between the mj litant wing of thelabour movenent and the reformist mainstream, a division and conflictwhich has cnclur:ecl to the present day.'r J, Playford: I'l-listory of theleft-wing of the South Australian labour movement 1908-56" (tJnpub.BA thesis , University of Adelaicle, l958) , pp.4-5 .

41.

^a

43.

44.

45.

46.

47"

48. îAPD, 1902, p.207 .

49.

50.

s1.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57,

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70.

7r.

72.

370

ÀdverÈiser, 7,1 .1908.

HeraTd, 15.3.1902.

Herald, 20.12.1895.

Herald , 2 3 . I 0 . I 89 5 .

see R. Johnson: rrrRealty useful knowledger,; B. sinon: studjes jnthe hjstorg of education 1780-1870.

.ådvertiser, 23.3.1867.

Our CornnonweaTth, 22 ,5 .1886 .

The Voice, 5.5. 1893.

Our CornmonweaJth, May 1887, p.371..

Register, 17 .4. t875.

See p. 538.

See, for example, sApp, 1888, No.SS, p.6/LZB7-gO,

Itrhen the conrpulsory education debate was stil1 fresh i.n everybodyrsnind.

Labour Advocate, 16. 5. 1878.

Herald,4.1.1895.

Herald, 11.1.1895.

l"oc . cit.

Loc. cit.

HeraLd, 27 .12. f895

K. lvinshurst: 'rstreet children and school attendance in southAustralia, 1B86-1915", p.106.

SÀPP, 1887, No . 44, p . xxi .

HeraTd , 3 . 9 . I 89 7 .

Herald, 4.1 .1895.

In the pr:evious section, several econornic and historical reasonswere presented for this.

The Herald even quoted Marx to rnake the point: r'Machinery,considered alone, shortens the hours of labour, but when in theservice of capital, lengthens them. In itself, it lightens thelabour, but employed by capital, heightens t-he intensity of labour;

IJ

37r

in itself, is a vi-ctory of man over the forces of natu::e, but in thehands of capital rnakes man the slave of these forces; in itself, itinc::eases the wealth of proclulcers, brrt in thc hands of ca¡rital makesthen paupers ,rt HeraLd, 4 . 1 . 1895 .

74. HeraLd, 4.I.1895, my emph¿rsis.

HeraTd, 26 .3 .1897

Herald, 11.1.1895

l-oc. cit. As an influential contributor to the Herald put it withrespect to the rdrinl< evilt, "ft]here aÌ:e sone worthy folk...whothink that if the drink evil were abolished there would be no morepoverty...Then there are others who regard the drink evil as but asymptonì of sociaL debility, and they would neglect local treatmentaltogether and doctor the constitution. They would remove theunjust ineqr.rality in the possession of wealth, and allow its accorn-parrying results to adju-st thenlselves. This, it seems to me, isunnecessarily vicarious. Rather let the policy be a combination ofconstitutional and local treatment .rr Herald, 1 3 . B . f89 7 .

78. G. Stedman.Iones: Outcast Í,ondon, p.344. According to this author,the crowds that had gathered to l-rear t.he revolutionary message ofthe Social Democratic Fede::ation in London in the 1880s rrwere nottlre factory proletarians described in the Communist manifesto, butthe traclitional casual poor of the netropolis; and their hunger anddesperati-on resulted not in the discì-plined preparation for socialistrevolution but in the frenzied riotì.ng of February l886...Havingcompleted its work, this crowcl made its way back to the East End,singing tRule Britanniat - an eloquent testirnony to its confused andlinited level of political consciousness. r' l-oc. cit-

79. Herald, 27 .12. I895

80. Lalsour Advocate, 26.I ,1878.

75.

76.

77.

81.

82.

83.

84.

Labour Adr,,ocate, 16. 3. 1878.

Herald, 27 .9 .1895.

HeraTd, fac. cit.

Iletal-d, 22.5 .1896. SimilarIy, wi Ëhou't once mentioning the publicschools, the Heral-d advocated-the establishment of a daily labourpapel'becauserrwe must not expect the capitalist paper to take thetrouble to teach us that our interests and their greed are essen-tial1y antagonistic...There are great and important questions weought to know something about, fot they affcct us vitally, such asland laws, industrial legi-slation, taxation, finance and otherbranches of political economy. Our own paperf would place thesenatters before us in a way that we can unclerstand, as the otherpapers canlrot and will not do.r' Herald, 10,311906.

sAPp, 1899, No.44, p.16. These issrres were discussed at length inChapter 4.

B5

372

86.

87.

88.

89"

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

SAPD, 1898, p.171.

Hera-Ld, 8.9.1900.

HeraJd, 10.6.1899.

sÀPD, 1898, p.171.

9APD,1B9B, p.402.

.l/eraJd, 19.3.I898.

HeraLd, 7.4. 1900.

See Chapter 5.

HeraTd, 24.II.1900.

SAPP,1888, No.33, p.5.

SAPP, l8BB, No.33, p.7/L335.

SAPP, 1888, No.33, p.13/1511.

Hetafd , 1 5 . 3 . 1902 .

As ll" McQueen noted, racial issues dorninatecl the labour rnovenent tosuch an extent that when the Objectives of the Federal Laϡor Partyrvere adopted in I905, 'rthe cultivation of an Australian sentinentbased on the nlaintenat)ce of racial purity and the developrnent inAustralia of an enlightened and self-reliant comnunity" took prece-dence over rrthe securing of the full results of their industry toall producers by the col lective ownership of monopolies and theextension of the industrial and economic functions of the state andElre Municipality". FI. McQueen, A new Britannia, pp.52-3. See alsoR. Markey: 'rPopulist politics: racisn and Labor in New South Walesl880-1900't in A. Curthoys and A. Marcus (eds.), V,tho are our enemies?Racism and the working cfass j.n Austral,ia (Ilale and Ironrnonger,1s78).

100. rtlndeed, it is not now regarded as good policy, even amongenlightened conservatives, that the people should be ignorant. Afair degree of education, such as ís provided by our system, nakesa nan a better ploughrnan, a better farmer, a better tradesman.rlHeraLd, 20 .12. 1895.

101. HeraJd, 15.5.1905. Things worked out differently for girls: I'Owing

to keen cornpeti.tion and the condition of things as they are today,boys in particular neecl to be well eclucatedrr . Herat"d, 15.5.i905.

I02. SAPD, 1910, p.976

105. Heral.d, 2 .B .L902.

I04. Herald, 15.3.1902.

105.

106.

107.

IOB.

109.

110.

t1t.

ILz "

1r5.

114 .

115 .

r16.

117 .

118 .

119. HeraJd,

L20. ueraTd,

I2I. Herald,

122. HeraTd,

15.5.1909.

1B . 7. 1908.

18.7.1908.

15. s.1909.

373

Herald , 29 . 8 . 1 9 0B .

Loc. cit.

HeraTd, 20.4. i90f.

Herald, 7. 10. I901 .

SAPD, 1910, pp.504-5.

IIeraJd, 8.7.1905.

HeraLd , 20 .4 . 1901 .

Heraldn 6.1.1906.

Herald, 15 . 7. 1905 .

Herald, 24 ,Il.1900.

Hera7d,18.7.1908.

Herald, 18 .5 . 1907.

Herald , 10 . 5 . 1906 .

Herald, 18.5.f907. Already in 1901, an editorial. on federal educa-tion policy for Labor pointed out these inadequacies: rrln theAustralian coloni es we have what is known as conpulsory free educa-tion. But it has little effect, because it does not go far enough.. .This writer is not arguing in favour of a cranrning system.Education is only valuable so far as it provides knowledge...andevery facility for the acquisition of knowledge should be availableto all. . .To have free education in a true and adequate sense we nusthave free universities, free libraries, and free instruction to thepublic . . .rt Herald, 26.I.1901 .

123. sÄPD, 1910, p.975. Conybeer, Labor Minister of Education, quotingFI.1'. Mackinder, of University Col1ege, Reading.

CONCLUSION

37s

In 1836, white settlers from Britain expropriated a vast area of land

inhabited by Aboriginal tribes to establish a new colony - South Australia

From the beginning, lhe new settlement was unambíguously capitalist. Îtwas not only closely integrated into British imperialisn as consumer of

rnanufactured goods and exporter of prinary produce, but developed a

social and economic struct.ure based on wage exploitation.

The rnass education system established in South Australia was affected by

the conflict-ridden capitalist relations of production on many levels.

It was designed and staffed by people who grew up and lived in a capital-

ist society. It was resisted and used by people in their attempts to

cope with life in a violently cyclical econony. It influenced the struc-

tures of meaning through which people perceived their environment. Most

importantly, by becoming the focus of attempts to resolve fundamental

problems of capitalist development, it had a bearing on the .såape of

class struggle.

'The first major problem assigned to schooling arose out of the wage

relationship, with all its ramifications, between the bourgeoisie and the

labouring poor. While profits enabled one group to employ servants and

lead a tmoralr, orderly farnily 1ife, it condernned the other to a precarious

existence held together by 'vicioust habits which impeded efficient

capitalist developnent. As the workj.ng class assumed a more threatening

character, its tmentalityr became the target of bourgeois school reformers.

In 1851, the wealthy colonists entnrsted the education of the working

population to an Education Board which haä a limited power to intervene

376

.il I ifrel g!uca!i_o4 rnarketJ in order to support refficientr schools.

It was the Iifestyle and norality of the bourgeoisie which contributed

l!9 t-t_ t g_-!! * d_9 fj4 i !,i-q¡ a- f . e f f ici ent-s.chooling-

The Boardrs major charges, the labouring poor, rnight have liked to liveI

in one i:lace and send thcir nicely dressed ehildren regularly to a

government-supported school. As it was, however, they had to move around

the colony in search of wotk, frequently needed their childrents assistance,

and rarely had money for luxuries such as boots. And the schools theg

preferred to attend were often the ones that lost the Boardrs support.

By its own logic, the Board of Education thus reduced school accornmodation

precisely for those children it was rnost anxious to educate.

ll:__g"_ld__s¡hools thenselves, having devel.oped in tune with patterns of

life alien to labouring people, often failed to educate their children.

The problem could be conceptualised in terms of poverty and the unsuit-

ability of tefficientr schools to the needs of many working class pupils.

The educators, howevet, tended to rxrderstand it differently: in terms of

the deficiency of the childrents moral environrnent.

When, in the prosperous econornic conditions of the 1870s, a realignment of

pofitical power in the province led to the passage of a new Education Act,

the dissonatìce between refficient' schooling and peopler.s lifestyles was

redefined in a new lega1 and administrative franework" Henceforth, all

children uJere conpelled to attend schools which enforced the conception

of knowledge as private property, standardised time and school language,

and attempted to achieve the rutter subordination of the scholars to ruler.

The mismatch between the standardised curricula and working class culture

was aggaavated by the Departmentrs efforts to standardise the teachers

through devices such as payment for results.

377

Opposition to state schooling - in the form of irregular attendance or

patronage ofrdamet schools, conti.nued to be condemned in moral terms.

But besides nroral exhortations and ever more frequent exams, school

reforrners now could use the legal power of the cotnpulsory clauses to

combat the 'evei:yday habits of the childrent, define pupils as unintelli-

gent, and, indirectly, undercut the subsistence patterns of their families.

Visible class conflict in the form of union agitation for shorter working

week and higher wages was one of the factors which led to the passage of

the 1875 Education Act. Its implementation could be understood as

involving another, more diffuse forn of class (cultural) conflict -

labouring familiesr everyday struggle for existence against bourgeois

attempts to renould working class nentality through urriversal schooling.

Towarcls the turn of the century, conflicts accompanying a profound trans-

fonnation of capitalism became the source of further atternpts to change

the education system" The 1890s witnessed a concentration of agriculture

and industry, tightening of class boundaries, clisruption of the apprentice-

ship system and the beginnings of a process of deskilling. One nanifesta-

tion of the crisis in strategies for the transmissi,on of econonúc security

frorn one generation to the next wa.s the increasing use of educational

quaJ.ificati.ons in-Iestricting entïy to scaïce occupations, and a paralle1

atternpt to extend the provision of primary schooling. This development

created considerable Cension between short-term and long-term ambitions

ofì many working class fanrilies. They needed their childrenrs earnings to

supplement the family incorne ancl perhaps help pay off a house or a farn.

Yet they also would have liked to invest in the educational prerequisites

of white collar jobs.

378

In material sense, the provision of exhibitions and bursaries was insig-

nificant, although it strengthened the ideological assertions about the

existence of an educational ladder to the top positions in society. Fifth

and sixth classes, on the other hand, wer:e attended by a significant

minority of working class children.

'Ihe decision to invest in their childrenrs schooling was rnacie differently

in different occupational groLrps, and for boys and girls; the daughters

_of labourers having the least chance of ¡rrogressing to hì-gher grades.

The i.cleology of the dependent child coul.d be traced to some of the sarne

conclitions as thc chang:ing nexus between school and work. MechanisatÌ,on,

dcskilling, changing patterns of yor.rrh enploynent, longcr stay at sclrool

and new popular psychological theories all contributed to a new perception

of young people between puberty and ,tnarriage.

In South Aust::alj.a, juvenÌIe employurent r:ates had nnt changed to the same

extent as was the case in more industrialised countries. Nevertheless,

popularised arnong others by the State Childrenfs Council, the ideology of

the dependent child calle to dominate the thinking of social reformers but

also nany teac.hers, youth leaders and parents. T'he perceivcd inadequacy

of the family j.n dealing with adol,escents underscored dernands to extend

the provision of tsuitable' schooling beyond the elementary school.

While ado-[escence and extensions of, elenenta,ry schooling are often seen as

autonomous educati.onal events, technical eclucation was trnderstood to be

irunediately relevant to fundamental economic problerns by both conternporaries

and historians of education.

In the 1870s, the manufacturersr concern wlth technical educ.ati.on as onc

of the many \À/ays of fostering colonial industries was elevated into an

ideology whiclr endowed technical education with the power to transform the

379

colonial economy. In one stroke, i-t woul.d raise tire general 1eve1 of

skilI of the lvorkforce and restrict working class people to traditional

avenues of enploynìerìt.

Froln the 1880s an alvarerìess of the speci.fic condition of South Australian

economy and the implications of the changjng capitalist di.vision of labour

led to a reappraisal of the role of technical education: only a minority

of workers required extensi.ve training, and rnany other factors beside

eclucation deternined the results of econcllnic competition.

Around the turn of the century, a general enthusiasm about technical

eclucation on the part of educational ::eformers retutned, fuelled by the

socj.al efficiency ìnoventent ancl the concern wi th controlling adolescents.

Mrile the problems of industrialisation, supply of skilt<:d labour, cornpeti-

tiveness of local indus[ry and opposition to deskitling started to be

resolved elsewhere, technical education in schools was gradually defined

as a second grade extended schooling for rless intelligent childrenr.

Fron the perspective of the working class, schooling was significant on

many, not always compatible, levels.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a strategy for the ernancipation

of the whole working class included as a najor if indirect component the

new mass education systen. This strategy, forrnulated above all by the

skilled, unionised section of the labour novement, hoped that free and

compulsory schooling r^rould reveal to workers the full ext€nt of their

oppression. United, they would successfully agitate for a range of

legislation directed at removing the contradiction between higher mechaní-

sation ancl irnpoveri.shnent of workers. Compulsory attend¿tnce would not

only ensnre that aLL future workers were enlightened, it would give then

the discipline necessary for successful union and political organisation.

380

The sectional interests of artisans would be served by a different, not

entirely cornpatible form of instruction, directed both against employers

and unskilled workers. Restricted and closely controlled schemes of

technical education would naintain and restore the ski11s, coflpetence and

autononìy which it was impossible to defend through strj.kes or other

indus Erial" nreans.

The strategy of individuals was different again. For the majority, it

involved irregular attendance, disregard for the schoolsr idea of Correct

English (and behaviourl, or at least a defence of the lax attendance

provisions in case of grave need. A significant ninority of parents opted

out of the state school system altogether by patronising small, 'ineffi-

cientr private s cl'rooIs . Another nilrority, privi leged in terms of income,

resj.dence and lifestyle, helped its children move out of the blue collar

workforce through the acquisition of educa.tic¡nal qualifications in a

fiercely competitive exarnination system.

At the turn of the century, the ULP leadership began to subscribe

enthu.siastical 1y to the ideology of social efficiency, which apparently

integrated all these approaches and removed their conflict.

'Io use tintelligencer to its fullest extent, selection for secondar:y

education would be based on nerit, not inheritecl wealth (although the

prerogative of wealthy parents to buy private scl'rooling for their children

hras carefully acknowledged) .

'Ihose unable to compete their way out of the working class would, during

their dangerous and impressionable aclolescence, recei.ve technical education

and in this rvay become better workers an<l citizens.

'Ihe rising 1eve1 of eclucational provision would do more than increase

general procluctivity. Individuals wi.th 'educatedr brains r¡¡ould no longer

submit to the 'tyranny of the pastf.

381

Such tempting harrnony, for those who suhscribed to it, was acconplished

at a price. It diverted much of the inclividual and collective energies

of the labour novement to an institution far more congruent with the

needs of tl're bourgeoisie 'Lhan with those of the worke:rs, an institution

-so far renroved fron the everyday struggles of the workplace that ít could

promise to make class conflict redundant.

Yet, in another serìse, the harmony went too far. It contributed to the

dj-sillusionment of many workers with the United Labor Party, and to the

formation of a distinct left wirrg of the labour movement,

The picturc prcsented in thj-s thesis cli ff:crs cnphatically from a mecltan-

istic caricature of marxism. Both people and instituti-ons retain a

significant clegree of autonony. Just as the capitalists do not exercise

tsocial controlr and workers do not end rç with a one-dinensional

consciousness, ther:e is no tidy deternination of a cultural tsuperstruc-

turetby an economicrbaser. This, however, signifies the use of a

sophì-.sticated marxist theory, rather than a return to the world of

spirits and sentine:rts enrployed as causal agents by conventional histories

of education.

Capitaì.ist relations of production do profoundly influence the workplace,

and are not confined tc¡ it: they fo1low people out of the factory gate

in the characteristics of naterial and cultural products and practices,

as conrnrodi ties , environment and eve'ryclay behaviour. Si mi larly, clas s

conflicL exists outside of organised activity in the fonn of much more

diffuse rclass cultural conflict'. At the sane tine, major struggles

arising in the sphere of production are continuously heing di-splaced

into other institutions and spheres of human activity.

382

The history of the relationship between educational and social change in'

South Australia is far fron complete. Little is known about tho attitudes

to schooling of specific occupational groups and class fractions. No

systematic treatment exists of the changing shape of the labour process in

various trades, or of the development of class fractions in colonial South

Australia.

I hope that rny thesis will encourfage the asking and answering of such

questions.

383

T'ABLE ISOUTFI AUSTIìALIA -. ST/trPLE EXPORTS 1836-1890

staple produce e xported

tot al(Ê)

37 3 ,842545,040540,962736, 899731,595694,422686,953

867r840411653266394873s6537657723095826438297861087

breads tuffs(Ê)

38,3r27 3 ,359

2I2,566257 ,L44316,217236,400556,37I

, 840,398,265,I02,7Bg,24L,116,593,480

645,401

woo 1

(Ê)

770350

8,74035,84522,03645,56842,76972,235

106, 51056,13098,582

108,53913r,73II4B,73I1 15,036236,877r82,020283,4194I2,479504, 163420,520484,833573,977623,368

10, 84 334,07194,97616,17l

minerals(Ê)

t276,436

19,020143,23r174,0r7320,6242I9 ,775365,464310,916374,778t76,74494,831

155,557408,042458,839373,282411 , 0lB446,537452,I72547 ,619542,39369r,624620,rr2824,501753,3I3624,022627,r525 74, 090648,569806, 364770, 590700,323762,386602,772565,099409,749353,781347 ,246

rainfall(inches )

19.8424.2317 .9620.3217 .I916. 8818. B326.8927 .6119.7425.4419 .5130.6327 .3427 .0015 .3523.I524.022I.1621,.5214.8519 .6725.t922.8422.9219 .4s14.7519.9419.3517.8814.7323.8323.2422.6220 .9917 .2229 .0713.4324.9422.0820 .7022.22

1836t83718 3818 391 8401841tB421 843r 844r 8451 846I8471 B48t 8491 85018511852185 31 854I 8s5L B56185 7185818.5 9

1 8601 86119621 86318 641 8651866r 8671 8681 8691B 7018 7lTB72r.873I87 41B 75IB76rB771B 7B

1879I BBO

r,037 ,568,890,47

I,2586

1,7L)7

,68

08549134382842924274633I9967t6368628I12

85, I 9168,27542,I0038,95922,96298,0345 7, 85429,577

5,0409, 165

15, 65040,56129,A7066, 16082,268

131,8002B 7, 059275,IIS465,978

755trtc554499712633747

I,464r,228

,398,,744,,355,,502,,576,,838,, 920,, 095,,015,,754,,539,,776,, 603,7))

,I23,

1

I1

1

1

tI)32

2

2

2

2

2

3

3

43

4tl

3

43

4

635,0077rs,270775,935B2r,656990,482

lI1

1

1

1

2

2

5

2

Õ

4

5

9

I9

B

t

89,24,

07.)

01

00

919,1731 , 305,5321 , oog, 2go

902,696I,r70 ,753r,647 ,8851,617,5887.,762,987I , 833, 519r,547 ,2682r01r81r6L17

,988,,184,,672,,648,,469,720

(continuecl)

584

TABLE 1

SOUTH AUSTRALIA - STAPLE EXPORTS 1836-1890 (cont.)

staple produce exported

tot.a1(e)

breadstuffs(Ê)

woo I(Ê)

minerals(Ë)

rainfal I(inches )

188 I18 82r 88318 841 B851 8861887188 B

1 BB9I 890

3,365, B3

3,1'14,843,942,352,763,922,845, 65

)q,

13B9

49537701s69774

3r61r95r0B'76,76r6Br9lr2Br4713

L,336,76Ll, 551, 1061,030,4962,49r,8962,195,057

633r,0902,I97

9572,0r8

,426

I , 606, 3061, Blgr 537r ,692,143

420,558462,270402,25049 1,950344 ,451275,280519 ,954369, BB9348,940284,893

18.1915.7026.76L8.7315 .8814.4225.70L4.5430.8725.77

I , 864,r,417 ,r,447 ,

,358,

90324597L116,8

,7,5,7

3I35B519

1

III

,353,632,541,972,353,762

Statistjca-Z Ëegister of South AustraLia, l-890: I'Summary of SouthAustralia from its forurdationrr.

385

TABLE 2

ËMPLOYMENT IN SECONDARY INDUSTRY IN SOUTTI AUSTRALIAIN CENSUS YEARS

totalpopulation

17,19622,46065, 70085, 821

1 26,830t63,452185,6262L3,27r

)

secondaryindustry

employment

B6*89**8lt67+'fOB

3

totallabourforce

5, 9369, 506n. a.n. a.

50,40657 ,S7L65,48 1

79, 008

9o col. 2

t,o col . I% col. 2

to col. 3

54I

L8441 846t 85l1855lB611 866187 r1 876

5.736.184.364.525 .685 .415.816.79

16.6114 .61

91r5114r01')

B,B10, B

14 14

5l4089

14 .3015.3816.5518.34

* Mechanics and artificers (probably includes niners).** Mechanics and artificers (169 miners have been omitted).t Meclranics and artificers, brewers, ni11ers, shoenakers, täilors,

tanners, sadcllers. I,333 niners have been ornitted. This nay leadto arbitrary distinctions. For example, at Burra in 1B5l the I,042miners included 27L ore dressers, 24 catpenters, 6 masons, etc.(Inforrnation by courtesy of Mr. Mel Davies, University of Adelaide.)

'tj' Includes special fenale occupational categories for the first time.

.Source.' Census RePorts.

E.S. Richards: rrsecondary industry in the South Austral,ian economy to1876'r, p.135, table 2.

TABLE 3ESTIMATES OF NEW CAPITAL FORI"IATION AND REPLACEMENT OUTLAYS FROM TTIE PUBLIC SECTOR

IN SOUTH AUSTRALTA, 1861-90* (8.00Û)

new or water and bridges and cief,ence public othert"pt":"r"""t t"il* .g" h

1861-65 new 100 33 94 26 5 83 15 356

replacement 155 S 6 14 6 63 252

1866-70 new 577191

s59332

2,924447

3,73r745

2,469959

808

36730

20150

t4937

r2256

111t_1

31414

572+I

1,0331C3

985

LI244

28L24

6-q536

65538

r989

5

1

l1

161

108I

12

¿

27827

785

57418

42835

20219

9t0

30

L3

11

496

L,266292

L,640405

5, 1oos72

ó, 115959

4,4951, 078

I87L-75 new

replacement

replacement

newreplacement

ne\'^J

replacernent

1 876-80

1881-85(¡læo\

1886-90 newreplacement

Toral 13,263 1,101 3,357 2,092 377 1,753 647 22,534

* Excludes lccai governinent expenditures except in the case of water and sewerage. The original source should be

consulted for an explanation of the derivation of these estinates and related qualifications. Expenditure on

roads is excluded fron this tabt¡Iation.

Source: Butlin, AustraLian cìomestic ptoduct, passim-

G.J.R. Linge: Indusxrial- awakening. A gægîaphg of Austral-ian nanufaeturing J-788 to f890' p.594, Èab1e 15.3.

TABLE 4ESTIMATES OF NEYI CAPITAL FORMATION AND REPLACET.ÍENT OI.]'TI..A,YS FROM TTIE PRIVATE SECTOR

rN sourH AUSTRALTA, 1861-90* [8000)

new or shoPs and agriculturâLtAt.."^""a t"ttd.

1861-65 new 1,896 160 95 145 2,296replacement 91 101 6

- 156 354

1866-70 new I,748 I2S 89 483 4 2,449replacement 1I1 I19 23L 466

L87I-75 new 1,894 406 36 1,505 I07 3,948replacement 150 154 5

- 390 699

fB76-80 nev¡ 4 ,456 575 68 500 3,412 1 15 9 '126replacement 186 190 5 120 9I7 I,418

t88l--85 new 2,139 114 126 153 1,658 27 4,217replacement 239 237 10 164 1,517 2,L67

1886-90 new L,67I 7L8 73 165 675 3 1,955replacenent 252 240 10 L76 1,548 2,226

Toral L4,833 3,139 528 1,278 II,287 256 31,32L

* The original soulrce should be consulted for an explanation of the derivation of these estimatesand related qualifications. Data for mining not available-

t Includes hospitals, asylums, hotels, guest houses and other inhabited premises.5 Includes too1s, rnachinery, and equipment and physical improvernents such as darns' tanks, fences

and fann buildings but excludes livestock, the clearing of land and land itself.source: Butlin: .Austral.ian domestic product, passim-

G.J.R. Linge: IndusÈrial- awakening. A geogtaphg of ÀustraLjan manufacturing 7788 to f890, p.195,table 13.4.

(rlæ\¡

388

TABLE 6

SOUTII AUSTRALIA - 1VHEAT PRODUCTION AND PRICES 1860-I890

acreageyield per acre

(bushe 1s )averageprices

t 860r 861r8621 863r 864I 865I 8661 8671 86BI 8691 8701871r8721873r87 41B 751B 76r877187 81 879t 880IBB 1

I8 82188 3lBB4r 8851 B86188 71 BBB

r 889I89O

273,510 ,320,335,390,

6726361607s8836

1310T2

L411

117

111l

577

94447

7

5

93

7

5

4s9

000

4420204245304430s245572446I

475834135632T2304B545537

4/r3/T-2

'7 l')6/B4/B4/ to8/68/t6/24/s7/rs/-s/3s/Ls/6s/ss/64/ss/r6/Lrs/ss/24/s4/ rrs/ 10s/043/s3/84/73/s4/-

410,608457,628580,456533,035532,L35604,76L692,508759,811784,784839,638898,820

r,093,732r,L63,6461,305r8811,459,096r,733,542L,768,7811,746,5311,846,151r,942,453

8

T44I5

115

1,I,1,1,1,1,

ó3097095060s842673

,000,000,000,000,961,573

K.R. Bowes; Land seËÈi.ement in South Aust,ral-ia, appendix B, pp.282-3

389

TABLE 9

SOUTI{ AUSTRALIA _ PROPORTION OF BOYS AND GIRÍ,SIN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS 1851-1875

% boys

55 .855.1.55.154.255.153 .953.453.053.8s4.7

55 .5

% girls

44.2

44.5

1B5I185 21B 551 854185 5I Bs6185 7

r85818591 860186 1

1862186 3IB6418651866IB671B 681B 69I 870I 871r872LB7 3t874L875

4445444646474645

9B

91

602

J

55.3s4.4

44.74s "6

434444

6.45.65.3

5

55

647

44.744.344.645.1

55 .955 .75s .454 .9

Compiled fron the Annual Reports of the CentraL Board of Education,1852-1875 in s¿*up and sacc.

390

TABLE IOSOUTH AUSTRALIA _ I]DUCATION VOTE AND THE NUMBER

OF GOVERNMENT SCIIOOLS AND PUPILS ATTENDING TFIEM

no. of school.s no. of pupilseducation

vote(Ê)city

corp.towns *

2426272931

allschools

6911rL25138t47r67

corp.tovms *

allpupi 1scity

18511 8521B 53IB54185 51 856r857

11

J532JJ3540

r,497L r777L,6021, 750I,9371,979

1,2851 ,4101,305r,3781,458

2834A2773039516480

3

5

5

667

t

t

t

t

t

I (1)I 85818 591 860tB61I 8621 86318 64186518661867I8 6BI 869

r82198210219227247267279292308325330

l,8701,8591,829r,7841,580

s675684ó5509451s53427

8,2379,2829,843

10, 71 III,4I7LL,769

14, 500373t:34322S

242322222222l9

3331JJ5¿I414t4I718162l2l

II1

1

1

t

t

,,

1

I1

II

II1

III1

,52I,510,461,440,075979

13,87512,B501 3, 500

9852323161s5446555

2

J4456

1

1

I1

II

,959,680,690,600,657

328

450900150000615961750

1513I5I7191B

19

t

,,t

,t

(1)l81B 71IB72IB731874

L313t21614

5, 1085, 791s,r231t'r')7 ,426

1

I B, 25018, 25027 ,75433,336

1B

2223¿/

307s07315320

1,19797L

1,362

r,452L,74r2,277

II1

I

Conpiled fron the Alrnual Reports of the Central Board of Education,1852-1875 in S.4PP and S\CC.

* before 1858, suburban corporate towns only(I) change in the base of statistics collected

391

TABLE 11SOUTH AUSTRALIA _ METROPOLITA}¡ POPULATION 1846-1921

persons

9o ofmetropolitan population city

persons rnetÏopolitan population

rate ofpopulation

growth

1846I851I 856186 I1 866I 8711 876188l1 891189 619011911192T19 7B

25,89366, 538

133236445461

7L10245/5l61

53.6s1.533 .935.433.235.133 .837.642.242.945.346.451 .6

15.294.46

10. 784.L74.60)))6.823.471.810 .030 .583. 0B2.r9

,886,BI2,907,644,560,971,72I,067

r07130168rBB2242853243525s9419501

,B,8,5,B,2,3

1823273l3837

I B, 259

,503,300,208,57 3,479,837

39,240

I 3, 400

,330,392,742

7r,794r03,942L33,252150,929L62,26r1 89, 646255,375

Conpiled from Statisticaf Registers of South AusÈrafja and the CensusReturns.

TABLE 12PLACE OF RESIDENCE OF MEMBERS ELECTED FOR COTJNTRY SEATSIN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY 1868-1896

Residence 1868 1870 1871 1875 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 189ó

electorateelectorate,

then Adelaideother cor.rntry district

total cornt,ryAdelaide

% country residents% Adelaide residents

8721112 789132L2223

61

61

52

545411

30I

915

(r¡(.oNJ

3960

31

1

37 .5 54 .2 50.0 45 .5 3362.s 45.8 50.0 55.5 66

1511

t2L2

1518

1L22

2018

2S13

2711

2

1

1320

1622

-4 42.r 52 .6 65.6 57 .9 47 .4 34

.8 7L.l

.2 28.978.92T.L

J.B. Ftirst: Adelaide and the cauntrg, p.73.

395

TABLE 13SOUTH AUSTRALIA _ GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES 1853-1916

(a)

governmen t enployees - civil servants

cI as si fied unc las s i fi ed total

185 3185518571 8s9/ 6o1B60/6 I1864/6s186IL87L187 5I 875I 87618 791.88 3

1 BB5188 81 890189 2

1 8941900I90 2

19111916

L22LI22322653133BB549442467579s9475686489567L686693664

250370350370420410390480570

480640660760970Bs0860

1 ,0601, 1601,610850

l" ,500L,2701,100I,200

2r32rrr171r8

60707090

2,L603,306

1,145r,63r

1 ,5oo

25696

r,3781,049

253

(b)

government employees - othergovernment grand

railways other total total

360520740780

3,4004, 8105, 1505 ,8505,182

1 8s9/601864/6s1 868I 8711B 791 8B5rBBBI 8941900

180230390550

r,7402,3005,1503,7203,292

180290550230

,660, 510,000, 130

,890

I2

2

2

1

1,0001,2801, 7101, 6305,0106,9806,9208,010B, 490

G.N. Flawker: 'rThe development of the South Australian civil service1836-1936" , p.470.

394

TABLE 14MAJOR OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS IN THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENTS,1857-1899, AT TIMES OF HOUSE OF' ASSEMBLY ËLECTIONS

occupational categories as percentages of total nembership

Council Assenbly

agricultural (pastoral only)

Council Assenbly

cornrnercial and professional

lBs7186 01862I 8651 868I 87018 711 875I 8781 BBlI 884I 887I 8901 8931 896I 899

4044JJ3939JJ33222222T7

(35)(3e )(28)(35)(33)(33)(3 3)(1 7)(r 7)

G7)(13)(8)(4)(8)(4)( B)

l725I725i9191924

615567565461617B72738075847l7L7I

/55B7270707275748074697974606161

L7

(6)(14)( 8)( 11)(B)(B)(6)(e)(2)(7)(4)(6)(4)(4)(2)(. 2)

2It72T

T72L

242719262219))

D.fl. Jaensch: "Political representation in colonial South Australia",table 5:27 , p.220.

395

TABI,E 17SOUTH AUSTRALIA _ APPROXIMATE SIZE OF FACTORIES 1B9O

no. of workers no. of factories

K. R. Bowes: rtThe 1890 naritirne strike in South Ar¡stralia", p, 16.

396

TABLE 18NUMBERS EMPLOYED IN THE PRINCIPAL FACTORIES OF ADELAIDE 1890

Boot trade

Hunter & Co. 2L0A. Dowie 160F. Tonkin 20

i.e. the above 6 factories employed 725cf. S.A. total 12 factories enployed 819

Iron manufactures

J. Hooker 250A.M. Simpson 230May Bros. & Co. (Gawler) 200*

i. e. the above 5 factories enployed 1,355cf. S.A. total 40 factories employed 1,645

TinLrer trade

T. K. Stubbins 100Walter & Morris 60Reid & Enes 2A

i.e. the above 5 factories enployed 300cf. S.A. total 25 factories enployed 423

Clothing trade

D. Murray & Co. I25Martin Bros. (Adelaide) 100J.W. Hitl 25J. Moss 25Chapnan Ç Rogers 10

i.e. the at¡ove 9 factories ernployed 500cf. S.A. total 45 factories employed 1,651

Tobacco manufactures

W. Cameron & Co. 80R. Dixson Ç Co. 25

these 3 factories were the total in S.A.

Tanneries

J. Reid 60D. Reid 35P. Cul1en 30

i. e. the above 5 factories enrployedcf. S.A. total 29 factories ernployed

G. G R. WillsD. Murray & Co.F. Slade

G.E. Fullton & Co.J. Martin & Co. (Gawler)

Lion YardsAmey Ê Co.

W.T. Mclean & Co.G. & R. WillsJ.T'. BayleyMrs. Larsorr

A. DowieW. Peacock û Sons

Dungey, Ralph ü Co. BO

200I20

15

200475

6060

60100

2S

30

4035

200274

(continued)

397

TABLE 18NUMBERS DMPLOYID IN TI.IE PIìINCIPAI, FACTORIES OF ADELAIDE I89O ICONI.)

Leather oods

J. Colton Ê Co. LzS

i. e. the above 2 fact,ories enployed 245

cf. S,A. total 37 factories enployed 516

Mis ceI laneous

J. Dunne & Co. (milling)Adelaide Hat factorySands Ê McDougatls Ltd.

(printing)Lion Brewing Co.F.H. Schlork & Co.

(dye works)rAdvertiser' (printing)Frearson & Brother

(printing)Islington Railway Works

J.C. Genders & Co.

T. Grosse (nilling)Dry Creek Smelting worksW.H. Burford & Sons

(soaP)J. Duncan (carriage-

bui lder)S.A. Gas Conpany

' Register' (printing)A.W. Dobbie Ê Co.

(machinis ts )L. Conrad (butcher)

10l5 0*

60600

r20

50250

BO

5570

6090

175*

15050

10060

* indicates approxination onlY

Statistics for individual factories hrere gained from newspaper referencesand for the total in South Australia from the Statistical Register for189I.

K.R. Bowes: "The 1890 maritine strike in South Australiart, table I,pp.14-5.

398

TABLE 19EXHIBITIONS AND B.URSARIES OFIIERED FOR COMPETITION BY TI'IE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT 1876-1906

boys r1s

totalplaces

totalcandidates

totalplaces

totaLcandidates

I 876LB771 8781 879I 880188II 882I 883188 4

rB851886r BB718BBI 889189 0r89I189 218931 894189 5

189 6189 7

189 B1 89919001901190 2190 319 0419 051906

ó666

666

2B252226

252533

6666666

t2T2

L2

24242424

26391518IB22t7202040

109126143165

3

64

2

t2l2T2

6T2

8T2

T2

I222

6594

r36104

24242424

Compiled frorn Annual Reports of the Minister Control.ling Education inS.APP, 1876-1907.

399

TABLE 20SOUTI{ AUSTIìALIA _ NIJMBER OF PUPILS EXAMINED IN STATE SCHOOLS

gained

àrko(r¡

Ft+r)jr.l ÈfrEooEO

certificateas % of totalno. examinecl

a){JßJU,¿

l+{$) 'rl'Fr phlrooEl c.¡

dØoØÉ(d.rl FiÉO(dX-do+J

t.r)

oÉÉ.¿

!Dr/¡(dFiu

+Jrn

.¡

o

xþoØ"<o,oE+¡o(üoo

' r-{rJ t+io.¡É{J.¡ l.{dq)bôo

.dØoØr:d

'rl FlEc)Cdx.cOP

Ê ..r

o.úÊo'-{ . -{dÉ{Jdoxpc)

IBTB18 79I 880188 r1 882r BB3I 884lBB5188 61 887188 8

1889189 01891189 2189 3

19 , 33920,09322,3t023,290

26,83827,614

28,3042g,09729,7I434,42631 003

1,9191,907

r26

47r48s496643

809765

674

966

r,617 454

2,5I7

BB3

,103,360,793,73I

III1 6.1

4.L4.9

6.55.55.4

444

346930

9I5 1 674 2 688

I 39, 48189 sI 896I 897

40,86242,004

5

6642 924

(r)909192738 3 224

602,520

434593

3

3

2

2

4

6I8 (?)

I 780Bs3826855064759915845509

9557583438416sB

793BB2

3,3,3,3,2,).,)2,)t

I49

l8991 900190119021903I 9041905r906r90 7

44, BB045,45444 ,99045,40645,39344,r0342,L68

1, 3651,553L,9521,6111, 850L,72r

666

7

66666

2.02.53.03.44.33.74,4

8.47.46.35.96.56.46.0

r,I32

2,0653,1823,5503, 6864,2494, 3994,2984,6264,499

2730

060

339

B

5

031

Compiled fron Annual Reports of the Minister Controlling Education insÄPP, 1876-1907 and sAPD, 1890, p.1419.

(1) indicates the irnposition of l/- fee in sth classes(2) indicates the abolition of the fee

TABLE 21T}TEBARTON PRIMARY SCHOOL _ OCCUPATION OF PARENTS OF CHII,ÐREN IN CLASS 5, ].895'1905

recodeno. 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 I905

1

21

1

234

professional andproprietor

merchant and agentbusiness enployeegoveûuaent and

institutionerployee

seller of servicesand semi-professional

manufacturer andmaster

skilled workertransport workerlabourer, unskilled

workerservantprimary industry

proprietorprimary industry

workerother enployednot employedr¡rrknown

4)1

I

21

I35

1

3

1

II

2

1

2

5

5

1

3

1

11I

t3

I

2

1

4

261

22 I5

6

7I9

1

2

72

2211

2

3

1

31

371

5

t2

ÞOo

1

23

1

3

2111011

I2

I51415

2 I1

1I

totals 7 ,8,9,10,12

total all categories 7

13l-21013191110s

182726262819178

Conpiled from the Aùnission Regi-sters of the Thebarton Priniary School, 1893-1905-

TABLE 22HINDMARSH PRIMARY SCHCOL I89O-1899. CHILDREN IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORIES

I1IHO PASSED COMPULSORY CERTIFICATE AND THOSE ENROLLED IN GRADES 5 AND 6

COMPARED TO TI.IE REST OF THE SCHOOL

comDulsorv certificatepassed did not Pass

MFMFoccupational categorY

total

grades5and6

grades Ì-,2 3 an<i 4

M F total

no. 4859o 100*

489100

4,236100

3,609100

M

s37100

F

269100

4,384100

3,829100

8,2r4100

7.8 10.8 5.r 5.05.8 6.7 4.2 4.4 7 -r

8.0 11.5 5,1 5.3 428nerchant and agentbusiness enployeegovernment and institution

employeese1ler of services and

seuri -profess ionalmanufacturer and masterskilled workertransport workerlabourer, unskilled workerprimary industry proPrietorprimary industrY worker

have been left out.

5.4 2.5 2.I

8.2 4.2

2.5 7.4 4.L 2.0 2-4

4.4 354

181

333106

3.453616

r.763

4.11"5

42.012

2L.L1.02.5

4.01.1

42.L7.8

2r.8.7

3.4

).6

q,

.81

.¿

.6

52

4t7

92

2

.7,)

.5

.4

.t

.2

.2

4I

397

131À

.¿

.5

.B

.0

.6

.0

.5

4I

4T7

2T1

2

4.7L.¿

4r .97.7

2L.7.8

3.4

4.31.8

42.99.2

Ll.2L.22-5

5.9.8

41 .97.8

16.5)

5.1

èOts

68242

* The total 0f percentages in each column does not add up to 100 because some occupational categories

ER.DC-funded Hindrnarsh pro j ect .

TABLE 23souTH AUSTRALIA - EMPLOYMENT 0F ADOLESCENTS IN 1891, 1901 AND 1911

(a) Females 5-14

specifiedl workingtotal occupations no. 9o

39, 999 38,614 r,47644 ,2rr - 1,379

^39,262 39 ,226 r,449'

domesticno. 90

industrialno. %

2732r3533

industrialno. %

pr1maryno o,.o

189 1

190 I1911

924748700

204300

79

3.83.13.7

2.4L.71.8

0.70.5L.4

0.50.70.2

[b) Fernales 15-20 3

totalspecified

occt4lations

18,437

2l,I2O

workingo.'o

domestíc prlmary èON)no 90

23.6 2,34022.t 2,86518.0 2,944

1,026r,0471 ,438

no o,'ono

189 1

19 0119I I

18, 66823,8892I,350

8,57110,6918,588

46. s44.840.7

4,3445,2723,800

644688965

8931, 1r3

193

L2.712.O15.9

2.517

3.6

r.61.52-4

9.79.8

11.1

4.84.70.9

(c) Males 5-14

specified working commercial industrial primarya.ad "¿W"at""t t

40,981 40, 383 3,92744,949 4,41540;059 39, 769 4 ,4132

1,6142,108r,537

4.04.73.9

189119 01191 1

(continued)

TABLE 23SOUTH AUSTRALIA - EMPLOYMENT 0F ADOLESCENTS IN 1891, 1901 AND 1911 [cont.)

[d) Males 15-203

189119011911

totai

18 , 35123,6252L,524

17 , 0012r,77618, 885

94.4o) ')

92.3

2,6223,4353,r52

5,3586,6L76,325

6,5739,7446,640

3ó .537 .0J¿.J

specifiedoccupatiorrs

18, 00 8

2A.4SL

workingno 90

cornrnerci alno. 9o

i-ndustrialno. 9o

prr-naryno o.ro

292830

14.614 .515 .4

.8

.0

.9

Iwhere applicable, calculations are rnade from tspecified occupations t ratheï than total of age

^ gïoup

'in 1911,3in 1911,

Conpiled from Census of xhe CorwpnweaLth of AustraTia, 1891, 1901, 1911.

3 girls and 15 boys were erployed in the 5-9 age groqpdata is given for the 15-19 rather than 15-20 age group

ÞOtr

TABLE 24N{ETROPOLITAN ADELAIDE _ EMPLOYMENT fu\D SCHOOLING OF ADOLESCENTS IN 1911

% working

notindicated

asrecei''¡ing

instruction

4, 1954995

238l, 3962,417

neitherworking

norreceiving

instruction-uota1 working

age peïsons males fernales persons rnales fernales persons rnales females persons % persons* %

10-141011t2L314

17 ,3673"5053,6573,2163,3r93,672

8,599 8,768 2 ,7L4 1,960 754 15 .6 22 .8 8 . 6 24 1 ,481.7.0.1.4.J

8.52

4104369

èO*This figure probably substantially underestimates the true situation, since children could be entered as

both receiving instruction and being enrpl-oyed. The 1911 censr.rs instructiorrs specified that "Children beingeducated are to be designated rscholart, if not engaged as well in any industrial pursuit; but if followingany such pursuit during portion of their time, âs, for instance, delivering or selling newspapers, nindingcor^rs, Çc., before or after school hours, are to be set down as followi-ng that pursuit, the entry on linef3(a) sufficiently showing that they are also receiving education.r' (Census of the ConvnonweaLth ofAustraTia, 79If, VI, p.348.

Conpiled fron Census of the CotrntonweaLth of Austrafia, IgLL.

40s

TABLE 25SOUTH AUST'RALIA _ EMPLOYMENT IN FACTORIES REGISTEREDUNDER THE FACTORIES ACT

(a) All trades

mal es

total 13- 16 eo 13-16

females

total 13-16 %o !3-!6

19 04I 90519 0619 07

I 3, 899 IIII

445

I1

I

650958748

r33683555147

10.511.611.I10.1

,2I4,485

39s365

oo

109

B

71

J7

444

5

43rs44504s20 (1)

19I 90919 101911L9T219131914r915191 61917

326032842541163476ss7215

r,032948930849912

I ,000826841

4,700004327

60162872465370970L5626L7

12.T2,13.L2.

9.17.97.26.36.46.96.66.9

10l1I2T213T4T4I2L2

5

5

5

55

45

,415,492,276,647,074

12.13.L2.L2.

B

5

6

1

931

2

(2)I91B19 191920T92L1922

19 25

11,80914,512

16,033I 6, I95

b9/738

865837

950 4.4 6,474 80r 12.4

5.95.1

5, 5506,026

5, 7595,677

583781

820846

r0 .913.0

5.45.2

14.214 .9

2r,364

(1) nretropolitan non-government factories only after 1907(2) change of age group fron 13-16 to 14-16

(continued)

406

TABLE 25SOUTTI AUSTRALIA _ EMPLOYMENT TN FACTORIES REGISTEREDUNDER THE FACTORIES ACT (cont. )

(b) Boots and shoes

no. offactories

rnales females

total 13-16 e. 13-16 total 13-16 % 13-16

19041905190619 07

105103r05

91

r,r23L,0771,174

939

180156lsB

78

16.014 .5r3.58.3

s405135L7469

TT2108110

B1

20.72I.I2r .317 .3 (r)

190819 091910191 i1912191 319141915

8I878183B1

9689B2

798703620554543535526477

8'¿

795444333244J¿

10.3TI.28.77.96.06.18.46.7'

432368293241243255246198

85B7604019

5I3046

19.72s.620.516 .67.8

20.412.2¿J. ¿

(c) Mechanical engineering anclironfounding

no. offac-

tori es

nales

total 13-16 eo 13-16

(d) Plurnbing and gasfitting andgalvanized iron working

no. offac-

toriesmales

total 13-16 eo L3-I6

190419 051906190 71919091910r 91119r21913t9 14191 5

60616154

33J)

045206I04976

2TB3262L91754I2B13t416133239

596t65s5

6s6668715725

L29r32r34r20

2

2

II

7

0

75

1

19 .719 .818.716.6 (1)

4833J/41515150

1922101B

8

9r17rs788728925

1,061935

45

i1

2

I34

5

IB

B

2

402

5262535968

280228252301

6.89.64.06.0

(continued)

407

TABLE 25SOUTH AUS'IRALIA _ EMPLOYMENT IN FACTORIES REGIS'TERtsD

UNDER THE FACTORIES ACT (cont.)

(e) Printing and bookbinding

ma1 esno. offactories

females

total 13-16 0," 13-16 total 13-16 u" I3-L6

19041 905190619 07

53585754

L,0441,1061, 055

915

110116t22140

10.5 31532234r442

0.51.65.3

tII

39403280

12.5L2.49.4

18. 1. (1)I 908r909t9 101911191219I3I 914191 5

474s454B49595960

7637187487768438738878r3

155128L2311393

1049989

11.11.It.10.

2872s928B560397353262294

7861839897B8

t54B

)1 ')

23.628.B27 .224.424.927.916. 3

I7T7r.6t4

7

B

46

0I2

I

(f) Tea and coffee blending (S) f¡urniture making

males

total 13-16 eo L3-I6

no. offac-

tori es

mal es

total 13-16 eo I3-L6

45.54.44.341 .04r.739. B

41 .337 .337.935.7

no. offac-

toriés

605B516367t57763

486528635668632614668775950

,079932692

190419 05r 906190 71908I9 091910191l19L219r 3

19 141915

10T2L211

r781851862L0

55586474

B58484

114

I642

3

4645

48545348 (1)

908

9

2

42

T2131515161B

1B

20

r671732041811891692s2r85

747l857278638B

66

4338485769595432

1

667

7

7

5

5

4

B

')

2

43

5

B

6

(continued

TABLE 25SOUTH AUSTRALIA _EMPLOYMENT IN FACTORIES REGISTERED UNDER TT{E FACTORIES ACT (cont.)

(h) Clothing trades

dres singmakingand millinery

shirtnakingand whitework

no. offac-

toriesfemales

over 16 15-16

no. offac-

toriesfemales

over 16 13-1ó

no. offac-

tories

tai loring all trades combined

females fenales

over 16 13-1ó total 13-16 %13-16

1904190s19 06190 7

135166r68r67

855r,4291,203

25292729

23465281I 202

109L33143L20

118123tr7110

r,4281 ,5147,294

987

L07r5710044

185299508384

2332

8.811 .19.58.7

707178100818

239336295245

1)r9019091 9101911T9T2191319 141915

r4910517r184204197174

862995

L,A7Ir,raz1,082

963835

10rtr7118148161153138

4435286235334834454rt

9687

138837s9374

99101107103139138t34

832886958

I,0461, 1851, 1521, 004

2,3632,6592,9693,0043,0722,9052,527

226250337323322345277

9.69.4

11.410 .810.str.911.0

262B282822¿523

41468192869965

Þooo

[continued)

409

TABLE 25SOUTTI AUSTRALIA _ EMPLOY}4ENT IN FACTORIES IìEGISTEREDUNDER THE FACTORI'ES ACT ('cont. )

(i) Clothing (ready made)

no. offactories total 15- 16 eo L3-I6

190419 0519061907I 9081909191 0191rTgL21 91519141915

1tl7L7l9191516t7T7

42656079371672r69668060s6r0

1910897

1089566666260

4.519.3L2.2

L3.29.5

15.1

Tables a-i compiled fron Appendix A to the rrAnnual Report of the workingof the Factories...Actrr, 1904-1930 in SAPP.

410

APPENDIX 1 " DAME SCIIOOLS IN MANCHESTER

In the 1830s the statistical societies investigated educational facilities

in a number of to\^Jns. This report, dealing with Manchester, is typical.

The Comnittee beg to call the attention of the Society to the following

remarks on each different class of Schools that have been visited during

the enquiry:-

DAME SCFIOOLS

Under this head are i.ncluded all those schools in which reading only, and

a little sewing, are taught. This is the most nurnerous class of schools,

and they are generally in the most deplorable condition. The greater part

of them are kept by fernales, but some by old men, whose only qualification

for this employrnent seems to be their unfitness for every other. Many of

these teachers are engaged at the same time in some other ernploynent, such

as shopkeeping, sewing, washing, etc. which renders any regular instruction

among their scholars absolutely impossible. Indeed, neither parents nor

teachers seem to consider this as the principal object, in sending the

children to these schools, but general,ly say that they go there in order

to be taken care of, and to be out of the way at horne.*

These schools are generally found in very dirty unwholesone roons -

frequently in close danp cellars, or old dilapidated garrets. In one of

these schools eleven children were found, in a small roorn, in which one of

*Yet it is curious that a very frequent objection made against InfantSchools both by the parents and teachers, was, that the children l-earnnothing there, the dames themselves naturally regard these schools andall sinilar innovations with a very hostile eye, as encroaching on theirprovince, and likely, before very long, to break up their trade entirely.

411

the children of the Mistress was lying in bed ill of the measles. Another

child had died in the sanìe room, of the same complaint a few days before;

and no less than thirty of the usual scholars were then confined at home

with the same disease.

In another school all the childrsn to the number of twenty, were squatted

upon the bare floor there being no benches, chairs, or furniture of any

kind, in the room. The lvlaster said his terms would not yet allow him to

provide fonns, but he hoped that as his school increased, and his circum-

stances thereby inproved, he should be able sometime or other to afford

this luxury.

In by far the greater number of these schools there were only two or three

books among the whole number of scholars. In others there was not one;

and the children depended for their instruction on the chance of some one

of them bringing a book, or a part of one frorn hone. Books however, are

occasionally provided by the Mistress, and in this case the supply is

sonewhat greater; ltut in almost all cases, it is exceedingly deficient.*

Occasionally, in sone of the nore respectable districts, there are still

to be found one or two of the old prinitive Dane Schools, kept by a tidy,

elderly fernale whose school has an appearance of neatness and order which

strongly distinguishes it fron the generality of this class of schools.

Tl're terms, howevet', are here somewhat higher, and the children evidently

belong to a more respectable class of parents.

*One of the best of these schools is kept by a blind man, who hears hisscholars their lessons, and explains then with great sinplicity, he ishowever liable to interruption in his acadenic lahors, as his wife keepsa mangle, and he is obliged to turn it for her.

4r2

The terms of Dane Schools vary from 2d. to 7d. a week, and average 4d.

The average yearly receipts of each Mistress are about Ê17. 16s.

The number of children attending these Dane Schools is 4,722; but it

appears to the Comnittee that no instruction really deserving the name, is

received in then; and in reckoning the nunber of those to be considered as

partaking of the advantages of useful education, these children rnust be

left almost entirely out of the account.

COMMON DAY SCFIOOLS

These schools seen to be in rather better condition than those last men-

tioned, but are sti.l.I very little fitted to give a really useful education

to the children of the lowet classes. The Masters are generally in no way

qualified for their occupation;* take little interest in it, and show very

Iittle disposition to adopt any of the improvernents that have elsewhere

*f'he rnasters themselves have generally a better opinion of their ownqualifications for their office. One of then observed, during a visitpaid to his school, that there were too many schools to do any good,adding, 'tI wish government would pass a 1aw, that nobody but them as i-shigh Tarnt should keep school, and then we night stand a chance to dosome good. I'

lilost of the Masters and Mistresses of these schools seerned to bestr:ongly inpressed with the superiority of their own plans to those ofany other school, and were very little inclined to lísten to any sugges-tions respecting improvements in the systen of education that had beenrnade in other places.- tt'l'h¡e olcl road is the best," they would'sometirnessay. One master stated, that he had adopted a systern which he thoughtwould at once supply the great clesiderata in education-"it is simply,r'he said, 'rin watching the dispositions of the children, and putting thenespecially to that particular thing which they take to"'r In illustrationof this systen, he called upon a boy about ten years of age, who had takenÈo Hebrew, and was just beginning to learn it: the Master acknowledgingthat he hinself r^ras learning too, in orcler to teach his pupil. 0n beingasked whether he did not now and then find a few who did not take to anything, he acknowledged that it was so; and this, he said, was the onlyweak point in his system, as he feared that he should not be able to make

much of those children.One of these Masters, who was especially conscious of the superior

excellence of his establishment, as soon as he was acquainted with theobject of the visit, began to dilate upon the various sciences with whichhe was farniliar; among which he enumerated Hydraulics, I{ydrostatics,

413

been made irr the system of instruction. Theterms are generally low, and

it is no ullcommon thing to find the Master professing to regulate his

exertions by the rate of payment received from his pupils,-saying that

he gives enough for 4d., 6d. or 8d., a-week; but that if the scholars

r,Iould pay ìrigher. he should teach them nore. The payrnent-s vary frorn 3d.

to 1s.6d. per week, the greater nurnber being from 6c1. to 9d.; and the

average receipts of the Masters are 16s. or 17s. a-week.

Though the sc.hools in the accornpanying tables ar:e classed as Girls'and

Boysr Schools, there are very few in rvhich the sexes are enl.irely rlivided;

al-nost every Boyst School containing some gir1s, and every Girlst School a

few boys. They are chiefly the children of mechanics, wa::ehousemert, or

s¡nal1 shopkeepers, and learn rc'acling, writing, and arithmeti.c; and in a

very few of the better description of schools, a little grammar and

geography.

In the great rnajority of these schools there seems to be a complete want

of order and s¡,5¡srn.* 'lJrc confusion arising from this defect, aclded to

the very 1ow qualifications of the Master, the number of scholars under

(cont.) Geography, Etynology, ancl Entornology. It was suggested to himttrat they had better perhaps take the list of queries in their order. 0nconing to the subjects taugl'rt in the schoc¡ls, he was asked- Do you teachReading and ttlri ting?- Yes ! Arithmetic?- Yes ! Grammar and Conposition?-Certainly ! French?- Yes ! Latin?- Yes ! Gr:eek?-- Yes, yes ! Geography?-Yes, etc.; and so on tj. 11 the list of Qr.rerics uras exhausted, answeringevery question in the affirmative. As he concluded the visitor renarked,'rThis is mul.tum in parvo indeed,rrto which the Master immediately replied,t'Yes, I teach that: you may put that down loo.rl

*In one of these setninaries of learning, where there were about 130 children,the noise and confusion was so great as to render the replies of the Masterto the enquiries put to him totally inaudible; he made several attenrpts toobtain silence trut without effect; at length, as a last effort, heascendecl his desk, and striking it forcibly with a ruler, said, in astrong Hibernian accent, trIr1l te11 you wh¿rt it is, boys, the first I hearmal<e a noise, f'll call hin up, and ki11 him entirely;" and then perceivingprobably on the countenance of his visitor sone expression of dismay atthis lnurderous thleat, he acldod quickly in a nore subdued toìte,'ralmost I

414

the superj.ntenclence of one Teacher, the irregularity of attendance, the

great deficiency of books, and the injudicious plans of instruction, or

rather the want of any plan, render: them nearly inefficient for any

purposes of real education.

Religious i.nst::uction is seldont attended to, beyond the rehearsal of a

catechism; and noral eclucation, real cultivation of mind, and improvernent

of character, ar:e total ly neglected. rrMorals!'r said one Master, in answer

to the enquiry whether he taught them. I'Moralsf How as I to teach rnorals

to the 1i l<e rrf tirese?rr*

The GirlsrSci'rool-s are gerìerally in much better condition than the Boys'

Schools, and have a greater appearance of cleanliness, order and regularity

This seens to arise in part from the forner being more constantly employed,

and thc scholars being fewer in nunbcr to e¿rch Teachcr.

(cont.) will.r' FIis menace produced no rnore effect that his previousappeals h¿rcl done" A dead silencrl succeeded for a minute or two; then the',lhispering Ìecommencecl , ancl the talking, -shuffling of feet, and generaldisturbance was soon as bad as ever. 'Ihe Master gave up the point,saying as he descen<Jed fron the desk,rrYou see the brutes, therets nomanaging them!rr

*The Committee met with two instances of schools kept by Masters of someabilities, but much given to drinking, who had however gained such areputation, in their neighbourhood, tlìat after spending a week or a fort-night in this pastime they could always fill their school-roons again assoon as they returned to their post, 'lhe children during the at,sence ofthe masteïs go Eo other schools for the week, or play in the streets, orare employed by thei.r parents, in running errands, etc. 0n anotheroccasion, onc of these Instructors and Guardians of the norals of ouryouth, was rnet issuing fron hj-s school room at the head of his scholarsto see a fight in the neighbourhood; and instead of stopping to reply toany educational queries, only uttered a breathless invitation to comealong ancl see the sport

Repnrt of a Commi-ttee of the Manchester S'f-atistical- Societg on the State ofEclucation jn tåe brough of Manchester in .L834 (2nC ed., 1837), quoted irtJ.M. GoldstTom: tlduc;ation: e.Iementarg educati.on 1780-1900, PP.9B-102.

415

APPENDIX 2. FORMATION OII TRADE UNIONS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

(1) Prior to 1890

(circa)

Year thesociety

disbanded

A. In the metropolis of Adelaide and Gawler

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and JoinersAmalgarnated Society of Engi.neers (Adelaide)Operative Masonsr and Bricklayersr Society

(Ade 1ai de)Shipwrights' SocietyPort Àdelaide lVorking Menrs AssociationBuildersr Labourersr SocietyRetail Grocersr Assistantsr Society(becanc the Iìetai.1 Assistantsr Associationin 1881) 1886Saddle and l{arness-makers' SocietySmithsr and Farriers' Union 1886Typographicaì .Soci,etyTailorsr Society 1875Operative Journeymen Bakersr Society 1888Enginemenrs and Firemenrs Association 1879Seamenrs UnionAmalgamated Society of Engineers (Port

Adelaide)Marine Engineers SocietyUnited Boilernakers I and lron-shipbuilders I

, Society*Operative Tailorsr SocietyCooperst Society 1886-7Draperst Assistantsr Society (which mer:gedinto the Retail Assistants' Association 1881) 1886Mercantile Marine Service Assoc ation tB90Operative Plasterersr Society 1886-7Plunbersr and Gasfitters' Society 1186-7Port Adelaide Labourersr tJnion not knownAnalgamated Society of Railway Servants

in South Australia 1886-7Operative Painters¡ and Paperhangersr Society 1886-7Operative Bootmakersr UnionCoachmakersr SocietyUnited Tinsmiths I and Ironplate Workersr SocietyOperative Masonsr ancl Bricklayers' Society

(Port Adelaide) 1887Ironmouldersr SocietStewards I and Cooksr UnionBrickmakersr Society 1886-7Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners

(Port Adelai de)*South Australian Locomotive Engine-drivers I

and Firemens I Association

r872

187 3

rB7 4

(before) l8751B 76

1 860r 8641B 70

1B 7918 80

18811882

r883

1B 84

18 8s

4L6

Year thesociety

disbanded

1 B86(circa) 1886

IBBT

1 888

(circa) 1BB B

1 889

February

June

Coasting Seamen's UnionTanners I union rB87Curriersr Union 1887Sail, Tent and Tarpaulin Makersr SocietyPort Adelaide Drivers' AssociationSouth Australian Railway and Trarnway Service

It4utual AssociationShipmasters I and Officers' Association(nerged into the Mercantile Marine OfficerslAssociation IB90)United lronworkerst Assistantst Society

(Adelaide)Analganated Society of Carpenters and Joiners

(Norwood)Tobacco'l\^listers I UnionJourneynen Butchers I UnionSouth Australian Railway and Tramway Service

Mutual Association (Port Adelaide)United Sawmill and Timberyard Enployees' Unj-onAnalgarnated Society of Engineers (Gawler)Felthattersr Union

*Brickmakers t and Yardmenr s Association*Ämalgamated Tannersr and Curriersr llnion*Operative Painterst and Paperhangersr Society

(Ade laide)Shearers' Union (Adelaide)South Australian Trarnway Enrployees AssociationUnited Furniture Trade SocietYCarpentersr and Joinersr Progressive Society

(Adelaide)United Ironworkerst Assistants I Society (Gawler)

(circa) IBB9

In addition there were the

Licenced Cartersr Association (by 1881)South Australian Coastersf Association (by 1886)

both of which were affiliated with the Maritime Labour Council, but whichincluded employers as well as enployees.

(2) Durin 189 0

January Adelaide Clickers' SocietYWorking Womenrs Trade UnionAdelaide, Suburban and Port Road Driversl

Association*RetaiI Assistants I UnionSouth Australian Gas Company's Enployeest

As s oci ati on*Coopersr SocietyUnited Millersr and Mi11 Ernployeesr Union

*Journeymen Bakers t SocietY

4t7

Year thesociety

disbanded

JuIy

August

Novenber

B. In the country

1B B3

I 886

1 BB7

1 888

188 9

TB9O

JuneJuly

August

Septenber0ctober

*Operative Plasterersr SocietySmeltersf Enployeesr tJnion (Port Adelaide)Storenenr s, Packers I and Porters I Union

(Port Adelaide)Dry Creek Smelters' UnionStoremenrs, Packerst and Portersr Union

(Adelaide)Agricultural and Implement Makerst and Shoeing

and General Snithsr UnionUnited Millers t and MilI Enployeesr Union

(Gawler)Operative Painters I and Paperhangersr Society

(Port Adelaide)*Plunbersr, Gasfittersr and Ironworkersr Society*Mercantile Marine Officerst AssociationBrewersr Employeesr UnionAerated l{ater Manufactutersr and Cordial Makersl

EmployeesrUnion

(*indicates a refornred societY)

Operative Masons I and Bricklayers I Society(Port Augusta) 1887

Shearersr Union -branches at Port Lincoln,Clare and Port Augusta

Working Menrs Association (Port Pirie)South Australian Railway and Tramway Service

Mutual Association - branches at MurrayBridge and Petersburg

South Australiarr Railway and Tramway ServiceMutual Association - branches at Quorn,Bordertown, Port lVakefield, Mount Barker,Naracoorte, Port Pirie, Terowie, andWal laroo

Amalganated Miners t Association (Moonta)Working Men's Association (Port Wakefield)

Shearersr Union (Stratha1bYn)Woodcartersr and Woodcutters I Union (Strathalbyn)Port Pirie Smeltersr and Refinersr UnionUrrited Millersr and Mi11 Enployeesr Union --

branches at Port Pirie, Port August andBalaklava

Working Men's Association (Naracoorte)Associated Wharf Labourersr Union of Port Pirie

K.R. Bowes: "'l'he naritime strike in South Australiarr, appendix B, pp,172-4.

CIel

418

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420

Murray-Smith, S. 'rA history of technical education in Australia" (LJnpub.PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 1966).

Palner, H. rrSonte aspects of the influence of the labour moyement in the ,?structure and content of educati-on in Australia" (Unpub. BEd thesis,Univcrsity of Mctbourne, 1951).

Parf itt, J. "'l'echnical educ¿rtion j n South Australiar' (Unpub . MEd i?research essay, Flinders University, n.d.).

Peter, P.G. "Militancy and noderation: a comllarative study of the tradeunion movenents in New Soutl'r Wales and South Australia in the lBBOs"(Unpub. BA thesis, University of Adelaide, 1959).

Playford, J. I'l{istory of the left.-wing of the South Â,ustralian labourmoveme¡rt 1908-36'r (Unpub. BA thesis, University of Adelaide, 1958).

Rowan, N'l . rrl'he theory of education in School.ing i.n capitalist Americatl(lìoneo paper, Department of Pliilosophy and llistory of Education,Hartley College of Aclvanced Education, 1978).

Saurders , G . E , I'John Anclerson l.lart l ey and education in South Aus trali a"(Unpub. BA thesis , University of A<lelaicle, 1958)

. I'Public eclucatio¡r in South Australia in the nineteenth centuryrr -(Unpub. Nl/r thesis, lJniversity of Adelaide, 1964) .

Scarfe, J. 'rThe Labor wedgerr (tJnpub. BA thesis, Unir¡ersity of Adelaide,re68).

Smith, G.M. "An historical survey of technical education in South ?Australia'r (Unpub. thesis for Senior Teachership, Department ofEducation, South Australia, 1956) .

'I'hompson, M. J. "Government and depression in Sout.h Austra.liarr (Unpub. Ir4A

tJresis, Irlinders University, I972) .

"l'rcthewey, L. I'Post-primary technical eclucation in South Australia, *1915-45r' (Unpub. MEd thesis, Flinders iJníversity, 1977).

Vick, M. "The Ëclucation Department in South Australia, 1852-1875" *-(Manuscript, University of Adelaide, 1980).

Wait, R.N. I'lìeactions to demonstrations and riots ín Adelaide, 1928 to *1932" (Unprrb. MA thesis, Univer-sity of Adelaicle, 1973) .

Walters, M.J. rrPolicies, production and peopler' (Unpub. BA thesis, /University of Adelaide, 1971).

Willianrs, E. 't'lhe foundation of univer-sity adult eclucation in Aust'ralla, ¿1BB6-1916" (Unpub. BA thesis, University of Aclelaide, 1966).

lVinshurst, K. "Nineteenth century Hindmarsh'r (Unpub. BA thesis, Univer-sityof Adelaide, 197f).

trFormal scl-rooling and social structure in a working class *municipality: Flindnarsh in South Australia 1895-1910'r (Roneo paper,School of Education, Flinders t.lniversity, 1977) ,

. 'rStrect cìri Idren ancl school attendance in South Australia, ø1890-l915rr (Unpub. MEd thesis, Flinelers University, 1979).I'Cl-rild-saving and urban school reforrn in South Australia,

1B86-1905" (Typescript, l9B0) "

?

42t

Articles

Abbey, 8., and D. Ashenden. "Explaining inequality" ín enz Journal_ ofSocioTogg (Vo1.14, No.1, 1978) .

Alexander, S. rrWontents work in nineteenth century London: a study of theyears 1820-1850" in J. lrlitchell and A. Oakley (eds.) rne rightsand wrongs of women (Ha::mondsworth, 1976).

Althusser, L. "Ideology and ideological state apparatuses" in B.R. Cosin(ed.) Education, structure and societg (Penguin, Ig72). -.

Andersen, G.E., R. Friedland and E.O. Wright. rrModes of class struggleand the capi.talist staterr in rapitafistate (No.4-5, 1976).

Asad, T., and I'l . l/olpe. rrConcepts of inodcs of productionr' în Economq anclsocietg (Vof.5, No.5, 1976) .

Ashenden, D,, and B. Abbey. r?Review: School-ing in capitaÌist America,S. Bowles and II. Gintis" in AusÈral-ian Left Review (No.54, 1976).

Balbus, I. 'rRuling elite theory vs. marxist class analysistt in Monthl-gReview [VoÌ.25, No.1, 1971).

Bessant, B. 'rAn independent working class educationtt in ANZHES Journal-(Vo1.2, No.1, 1973) .

I'The Australj.an labour novement and edueation prior to 1914r' inHistorg of Education (VoI.3, No.2, 1974).

Blackburn, R. "Brief guide to bourgeois ideology,' in A. Cockburn andR. Blackburn (eds.) student power (Penguin, 1969).

Brecher, J. I'Ur-tcovering the hidden liistory of the American workplace" ínRerzjew of Radical- Pol-iticaL Economics (Vo1.10, No.4, 1978).

Cantor, H. rrStories Ieft to tell: progressivism revisited" in Educational-Theorg (Vof .28, No.3, 1978) .

Cass, B. rrWomenrs place in the class structurert in E,L. hrheellvright andK. Buckley (eds, ) Essays in the ¡nJiticaT economq of AustraLiancapitaJism, Vo1.3 (ANZ Book Company, 1978).

Charleston, D.M. "New unionisnrr in rhe Pioneer, 13.12.1890.

Cohen, S. "The history of the hist.ory of American educationtt in HarvardEducational- Review (Vo1.46, No.3, 1976).

Col1ins, J. rtFragmentation of the working class'r ín E.L. ü/heelwright andK. Buckley (eds.) eolitical- economg of Austral-ian capitaJism,Vo1.3 (ANZ Book Company, 1978).

Connell, R.W. rrOn the wings of history" in Arena (No.55, 1980).

Cook, P., I.E. Davey and M. Vick. I'Capital,ism and working class schoolingin late nineteenth century South Australiatt ín ANZIIES JournaL(Vol.B, No.2, f979).

Davey, I.E. rrTrends in female school attendance in mid-nineteenth centuryOntario'r in Social. Historg (VoI.1B, No.l6, 1975)

Dickey, B . 'rSouth Austra 1ia" in D. J . Murphy (ed . ) Labor in plitics: thestate Labor parties in Àustralia, 7880-1920 (University ofQr.reensland Press, 1975) .

Dos Santos, T. rrThe concept of social classesrr in Scjence and Societg(Vo1 . 34, No . 2, 1970) .

a

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Eclwards, R.C. rrThe social relations of production in the firm ancl labourmarket structr¡rerr in po-¿itìcs and. societq [vol.s, No.1, 197s).

Esping-Andersen, G., R. Friedland and E.0. wright. .Modes of classstruggle and the capi.talist staterr in capitaListate (No.4-5, 1976).

Featherstone, J. rrcomnentary on school.ing in capita).íst Àmericar inHistorg af Education euarterTg (Vof.17, No.2, Ig77).

Fentler, C.A. "App::entice education" in coÍunonweaLth JournaL of Scienceand tndttstrg (Decenrber 1919).

Fie1d, A.J. rrEducational expansio¡r in mid-nincteenth century Massachusetts:human-capital formation or structural reinforcement.?" in Harvard.Educational- Review (Vol.46, No.4, 1976).

Freedlnan, Ir. r''l'lte internal structure of the American proletariat" inSocial-ist RevoZ_ution (No.26/Vo1.5, No.4, 1g75) .

Gitlis, J.lì. 'rrhe evolution of juvenile delinquency in Englancl, Igg0-1914r' j-n past and present [No.67, 1975).

Gold, D.4., c.Y.Fl. Lo and E.o. I{right. rrRecent developments in rnalxisttheories of tl're capitalist stateil ín uonthl_g Review ltol.zT, No.5,1975; YoI.27, No.6, 1975).

Henrlerson, P" rrCla-ss struct.ure and the concept of intelligence't in R. DaIe =2(ed.) sc:hooTing and eapital.is¡n (Ror.rtledge ancl Kegan paul, 1976).

llobsbalrn, E.J. 'rFron sociar history to the history of society" inDaedal-us (VoI.100, No.1, i97I).

flyans, B.K. I'The teacher in South Australia in the second half of thertineteenth centuryrr ill .åustral-ian Journal of Education (Yol .15, ?No.3, 1971).

Jessop, l). rrRecent theories of the capitalist staterr in cambridge Journa.Iof Economics (Vo1 . 1, No.4, 1977) .

Johnson, R. I'Educational policy and soci.al control in early VictorianEng.lanclrr in .east and present (No.49, lg70).

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rrrReally useful knowledger; counter education: the earlyworki.ng-c1ass tradition 1780-1848" in Radical- Education (No.7, Lg76;No. B, L977) .

rrrReally useful knowledger: radicaL education and working-classculture, 1790-1848" in J. Clarke (ed.) working-cLass curture(lìutchinson, 1979).

Jones, I{. rrlVonen at work in South Australia, 1889-1906r' in Journal of theIlistorical Societg of SoutIt Aust.raLia (No.2, 1976) r2

rrProgressive education and the working classil in Rariica-ZEducation (No.6, 1976).

rrPiunacle of the state school system:Girls, Adelaiderr in ANzHES ,JournaL [Vo1.4,

Katz, lv{.B. I'The origins of public education: a reassessmenttr in Historgof Education euarterTg (Vof . 16, No . 4 , fg 76) .

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Katz, M.8., and LE. Davey. "Youth and early industrialisation in aCalradian city. in J. Demos and S"S. Bocock [ecls.') rurning ¡nints:historicaf and socÍological essags on tåe famÌ.79 fl.lniversity ofChi.cago Press, 1978) .

Koyré, A. rrlntroductionrt in G.E.M. Ansconbe and P.T. Geach (eds.)Descartes: phiJosophical writings (Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1954) .

Laqueur, T.W. "Working class denancl and the grorvth of English elenrentaryeducation 1750-1850r' in L. Stone (ed.) SchooJing and societg:studies in the historg of education [The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress , 1976).

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Lonie, J., and D. lr{cBachern. rrA classless party for a classless statetþin .arena (No. 29 , 1972) .

lr'tcl;arlanc, B. "Austràliars tolc in world capitatism'r i.n J. Playfor<J andD. Kirsner (eds. ) ar,rsÈ::aJ ian capita.i.jsm (Penguin , L972) ,

McIntyre, S. "Radical history and bourgeois hegemonyr' ín Intervention(No.2 , L972) .

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Markey, R. "Popul,ist politics: racism and Labor in New South Wales 1880-1900'r in A. Curthoys and A. Marcus (eds.) who aîe our enemies?Racism and working class in AustraJ-ia (HaIe and lronmonger, 1978).

N{arx, K. rrPrcrface to a contribution to the criticlue of political economyilin K. Marx and F. Engels Sel-ected works (Iioreign LanguagesPubli.shing House, 1951) .

Mitchel1, T.J. "J.W. lVainwright: the industrialisation of SouthAustral-ia 1935-40" in rhe .Aust¡a]ian Journaf of Pol,itics andÍtistory (Vo1.8, No.1, 1962).

Moss, J. I'Soutir Austr:a1ian colonial labour movement't in Journal- of theIlistorical Societg of South Austral-ia (No.6, 1979).

Musgrove, F. 'rThe invenEion of the adolescent?r in F. Musgrove (ed.)Youth and tåe sociaJ- order (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964).

0fConnor:, J. rrProductive and unproductive labouril in paLitics and societg(VoI .5, No.3, 1975) .

0tShaughrÌessy, T. "Some recent conflicts in the ruling classrr inrnterventian (No. I0-11, 1978)

0stertnan, P. rrEducation and labour ¡narlcets at thc turn of the century'r inPoLitics and Societg (Vo1.9, l{o.1, 1979).

Pike, D. 'rEducation in an agricultural stateil in Il.L. French (ed.)MeLbourne studies in education, 7957-8 (Melbourne University Press,1ss8).

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Ryan, '1. rrThc educational ideals of the Labor Party of South Australia't 72in sÄPD, 27 .7 .1910.

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1868, No.56, I'Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Workingof the Education Actrr.

1875, No.52, rrReport on Education Act, lB51'r.

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1882, No.27, rrProgress Report of the Commission on the Workingof the Education Acts'r.

t883-4, No.27a, rrFinal Report of the Conmission on the Workingof the EducaEion Acts'r.

1887, No.33, trFi.rst Progress Re¡rort of the Board.. .into thebest means of developing a general systen of technical (includingagricultural) education in the Province'r.

1888, No.33, trReport of the Board of l3nquiry ínto TechnicalEducationr'.

. 1908, No.65, rrPreliminary Report of the Director of Educationon a recent vjsit to Europe and Anerica't.

. LgLz, No.12, ttFirst Progress Report of the Shortage of LabourConmission in the clothing and boots tradesrr.

1913, No.75, rrFinal Report of the Royal Commission on theAdelaide University and higher educationrr.

1916, No.59, tlReport on technical education in South Australia'r.. 1926, No.57, rrFirst Progress Report of the Royal Commission on

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M,, A

1s77)

1852-1875.

429

. Annual Report of the Minister of Education, 1875-1926.

. Annual Report of the working of the Factories...Act, 1904-1930.

South Australia. Minister of Education. Education Gazette, 18B5-1915[relevant issues].

Australia. Bureau of Census and Statistics. Census of the Co¡nnonwealthof Australia, 1891, 1901, 1911.

. Production BulIetin, 1907-1955.

Thebarton Primary School. Adm:ission Registers, 1895-1905.

South Australian Chamber of Manufactures, AnnuaL Repott, 1870-1918.

Newspapers

?he AdvertiserTlrc Labour Advocate (7877)

The Observer

our Cotmnonwealth (1886-87)

The Pioneer (1890-92)

?åe Soutå .Austra-lian Register (aegÍste¡ fron 190i)

The Voice (1892-94)

The Weekl,s Herald (1894-1910)