The Advanced School for Girls was a South Australian State school whose purpose was to prepare girls to qualify for entry to the University of Adelaide. Founded in 1879, the school merged with Adelaide High School in 1907.
The Advanced School for Girls was a South Australian State school whose purpose was to prepare girls to qualify for entry to the University of Adelaide. Founded in 1879, the school merged with Adelaide High School in 1907.
From its inception, the University of Adelaide welcomed female students, although degrees were not available to females until 1880. At first, the only schools preparing girls to matriculation level were small private colleges such as Miss Martin's School and Parliament considered that education of women should be on a more structured basis, and the "Education Act of 1875" provided for establishment of a government-funded Advanced School. [1]
The first appointments were for a headmistress and assistant head: Jane Stanes and Edith Cook (both transferred from the Grote Street Model School), [2] followed by Rene-Armand Martin (French). Stanes resigned the following year, ostensibly due to ill-health, and Cook was promoted to head in 1882. A Government regulation, stipulating that the head must be aged 25, had to be waived for her to be appointed, as she was only 20. The Minister of Education (Thomas King) did not approve, but his successor (J. Langdon Parsons) pushed it through.
The school, in the two-storey former residence of Dr. Lambert Butler, Franklin Street, was opened on 7 October 1879 with sixteen students passing the entrance examination. [3] Additional appointments were made in 1880: Madeline Rees George (German), Ellen Thornber (assistant), Kate C. Brown (assistant). [4] By September 1880 the number of students was 92. [5] The following year, there were more applicants than places. [6] By 1882, girls from the school were prominent in the matriculation results: two of the top nine were from the Advanced School. [7] In 1883, both recipients of the Sir Thomas Elder prize for physiology were students of the Advanced School. [8]
Many criticisms were leveled against the school: that it robbed educated widows of a source of income as tutors; that by conducting an entrance examination and by not conducting junior classes it had an unfair advantage over other schools; and that by offering French and German rather than the more difficult (and essential for University degrees) Latin and Greek, it was gaining an inflated reputation and at the same time robbing talented women of opportunities. [9]
In 1891 a new purpose-built building on Grote Street was completed. The move from Franklin Street enabled the number of students to be raised from 124 to 150. [10] This building still stands today (2016).
The Grote Street Model School and the Training School (a teachers' training college) were amalgamated, forming the Continuation School for Boys, which then amalgamated with the Advanced School for Girls, creating Adelaide High School on 24 September 1908. [11] [12] The headmaster from 1909 until 1919 was W. J. Adey, later Director of Education. [13]
In 1951 the school divided into the Adelaide Boys' High School and the Adelaide Girls' High School under headmistress Mary Veta Macghey. [14]
Catherine Edith Macauley Martin was an Australian novelist who used the pseudonyms M.C. and Mrs Alick MacLeod, also published anonymously.
Sir Thomas Elder was a Scottish-Australian pastoralist, highly successful businessman, philanthropist, politician, race-horse owner and breeder, and public figure. Amongst many other things, he is notable for introducing camels to Australia.
Anna Montgomerie Martin, was a teacher and headmistress who founded Miss Martin's Girls School in Adelaide, Australia. When the University of Adelaide opened, she focussed on preparing her students for higher education, leading to them being among the first women to graduate with degrees. She played an active role in the suffrage movement.
Madeline Rees George, often written M. Rees George, was a teacher in Germany and in South Australia. She was at various times proprietor of her own school, and headmistress of the Advanced School for Girls and Adelaide Girls' High School. She was one of the best known figures in education circles in South Australia. Her sister Marian Rees George taught French at the same institutions and retired in 1936.
Edith Emily Dornwell BSc was the first woman in Australia to graduate with a science degree, the first woman to graduate from the University of Adelaide, and the first person, male or female, to graduate with a science degree at the University of Adelaide.
Adolphe Emile Marval was a French-born educator and art dealer in Adelaide, South Australia. His first wife Anna was a German-born educator; his second wife Caroline was a philanthropist and abortion care provider.
Ruth Edith Tuck was a modernist painter of South Australia, noted for joint exhibitions with her husband Mervyn Ashmore Smith, and her influence as a teacher of painting. The Ruth Tuck Art School, founded by her in 1955, continues to operate in Adelaide. She was related to the better-known Marie Tuck.
Phebe Naomi Watson was a South Australian teacher and educator, active in securing better conditions for women teachers.
Frederic Chapple was the influential headmaster of Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1876 to 1914.
Edith Agnes Cook, was in 1876 the first female student at the University of Adelaide, and second principal of the Advanced School for Girls in Adelaide, South Australia. She was later, as Edith Agnes Hübbe, principal of her own school in Knightsbridge, now Leabrook.
Ulrich Hübbe LL.D. was a German immigrant to South Australia, remembered for his part in framing the Real Property Act, which led to the Torrens title system of land registration.
Tormore School was a private boarding and day school for girls in North Adelaide, South Australia.
Caroline Jacob was a South Australian schoolmistress, remembered in connection with Tormore House School and Unley Park School.
Catherine Maria Thornber was the founder of a school for girls in Unley Park, South Australia.
Knightsbridge School was a school for girls in Knightsbridge, South Australia, which ran from 1886 to 1921.
Mabel Phyllis Hardy was a South Australian educator who, with Patience Hawker founded Stawell School for girls, which ran from 1927 to 1940.
James Lyall was a Presbyterian minister in the early days of Adelaide, South Australia.
William Moxon Cook invariably known as Moxon or W. Moxon Cook, was an Australian sports journalist who wrote as "Trumpator" for the Register and "Terlinga" for The Australasian.
Unley Girls' Technical High School was a secondary school in South Australia. It opened in 1927 as Unley Central Girls School and in 1965 merged with Mitcham Girls' Technical High School, moving to new premises. The development of the boys' section of Unley Central School and Unley Technical High School, which occurred in parallel, is mentioned in passing.
Edith Ulrica Hübbe, invariably referred to as Rica Hübbe or Hubbe, was a South Australian medical doctor and teacher.
This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, (Melbourne University Press), 1979
Relevant photographs held by the State Library of South Australia:
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