School Days
A free exhibition exploring the history of education in Victoria
at the Old Treasury Building Museum in Melbourne.
Featuring photos, videos, text books and memorabilia of Victorian
schools from the late 1800s to present, School Days looks at
school-life before and after the 1872 Education Act.
The Act made education free, secular and compulsory which was a first in the world and a first of its kind. More than 600 schools were built across Victoria within five years of the implementation of the Act.
The exhibition also looks at the role of Aboriginal schools, migrant education, women in education, teaching in the bush and the contribution schools made to World War I. Work included
- Research and curatorial assistance
- Development of interpretation and exhibition text
- Development of Culture Victoria content
- Archival snapshot- Walhalla School
View online components of the exhibition at
Culture Victoria
See my pieces on
Ragged Schools,
schools in the bush,
teaching in the bush
and
migrant education.
My major interest in this project was Ragged Schools, which would become the subject of my article '... From Squalor and Vice to Virtue and Knowledge ...': The Rise of Melbourne's Ragged School System
