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From 1827, Mechanics' Institutes , Literary Institutes, Athenaeums and Schools of Arts played an important role in the life of early Australian communities. Among their roles was the provision of libraries and reading rooms, but as community institutions they also provided lectures and adult education.
The 'School of Arts' movement began in Britain in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The first School of Arts opened in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1821, with others in Glasgow and London in 1823. The first Mechanics' Institute was established in Glasgow in 1821.
The first such institution in Australia was the Van Diemen's Land Mechanics' Institute, Hobart, which opened in 1827. [1] This was soon followed by the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts in 1833. [2]
By 1900 there were 1000 Mechanics' Institutes in Australia with memberships of between 100 and 200 people. Most of these Institutes did not have large libraries, usually having less than 1,000 books. Their role in a country town was more a general focus for the community's cultural activities, not just that of a library. As well as membership subscriptions, the Institutes were supported by colonial governments and sometimes by local government, usually by land grants and cash assistance. The institution generally had a purpose built building in the town. [3] Many of these buildings are no longer home to those institutions but are used for other purposes.
The first Mechanics' Institute founded in Victoria was in Melbourne in 1839. The Institute at Portland was founded in 1843 and Geelong's Institute in 1846. Institutes were established at Beechworth, Kyneton, Prahran and Sandhurst (later known as Bendigo) in 1854, Castlemaine and Eldorado in 1855, Footscray in 1857, Ballarat and Creswick in 1859, Berwick in 1862, and Maldon in 1863. The increasing numbers of Mechanics' institutes in Victoria seems to have been a consequence of the expansion of settlement, in particular associated with the gold rushes, rather than from meeting any specific cultural, educational or recreational need. The Victorian government between 1860 and 1895 spent around £220,000 on grants. The increase in the number of institutes founded after 1860, especially in the country areas, was a direct result of the grants which were made available. The conditions attached to the grant, for the purchase of books and for public access, was influential in making the library the main activity of the institutes and achieved the aim of allowing many Victorians in the late 19th century to enjoy access to a reasonable library service. [4]
In 1912, a New South Wales committee was set up to examine whether the £10,000 subsidy paid annually by the government to Schools of Arts and similar institutions was money well spent. The committee determined it was not well spent and recommended phasing out or reducing the subsidy in metropolitan areas and municipalities and that local authorities take over schools of arts. There were not enough books, especially non-fiction, and services were limited under the current arrangements. However, lobbying saw the recommendations not implemented. Subsidies continued until the 1930s depression. [5]
Very few of these cultural institutions have survived to this day, their roles having been assumed by government organisations such as public libraries and TAFE. They have however left behind many historical buildings in cities and towns throughout Australia, some of which have been converted into community halls. For instance, over 1,200 Mechanics' Institutes were built in Victoria but just over 500 remain today, and only six still operate their lending library services. [6]
Bushrangers were armed robbers who hid from authorities in the bush of the British colonies in Australia. The earliest use of the term applied to escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlements in Australia. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using bases in the bush.
The history of Victoria refers to the history of the Australian state of Victoria and the area's preceding Indigenous and British colonial societies.
Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts, were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men in Victorian-era Britain and its colonies. They were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees. The mechanics' institutes often included libraries for the adult working class, and were said to provide them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.
Cadastral divisions in Victoria are called counties, which are further subdivided into parishes and townships, for cadastral or land administration purposes. Cadastral divisions of county, parish and township form the basis for formal identification of the location of any piece of land in the state. There are 37 counties and 2004 parishes and 909 townships. Parishes were subdivided into sections of various sizes for sale as farming allotments, or designated as a town and then divided into sections and these subdivided into crown allotments. However, many parishes do not follow county borders, some being located in more than one county.
Sydney Road is a major urban arterial in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early British colonial period of Australia's history. This started with the arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora, and the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire. It further covers the European scientific exploration of the continent and the establishment of the other Australian colonies that make up the modern states of Australia.
John Thomas Bigge was an English judge and royal commissioner. He is mostly known for his inquiry into the British colony of New South Wales published in the early 1820s. His reports favoured a return to the harsh treatment of convicts and the utilisation of them as cheap agricultural labour for wealthy sheep-farming colonists. Bigge's reports also resulted in the resignation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie whose policies promoted the advancement of ex-convicts back into society.
The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum at 188 Collins Street is an art and cultural hub in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1839, it is the city's oldest cultural institution.
The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria.
William Bland was a prominent public figure in the colony of New South Wales. A surgeon by profession, he arrived in Australia as a convict but played an important role in the early years of Australian healthcare, education and science.
John Bede Polding, OSB was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia.
Australian non-residential architectural styles are a set of Australian architectural styles that apply to buildings used for purposes other than residence and have been around only since the first colonial government buildings of early European settlement of Australia in 1788.
Edward Micklethwaite Curr was an Australian pastoralist, author, advocate of Australian Aboriginal peoples, and squatter.
Thomas Lenton Parr AM was an Australian sculptor and teacher.
The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) is the longest running School of Arts and the oldest continuous lending library in Australia.
Amalie Sara Colquhoun was an Australian landscape and portrait painter who is represented in national and state galleries. In addition to painting landscapes, portraits and still lifes, Colquhoun designed and supervised the construction of stained glass windows for three of Ballarat's churches, St Andrew's Kirk, Lydiard Street Uniting Church and Mount Pleasant Methodist Church. She studied in both Melbourne and Sydney, exhibited in England and Australia and taught in the school she started with her husband in Melbourne.
The Australian Subscription Library was the first library to exist outside of private collections in Australia. Started in 1826 as the 'Sydney Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room' it shortened its name to the 'Australian Subscription Library' in 1834, and then in 1853 changed its name to the 'Australian Library and Literary Institute’. Its assets were brought by the Government of New South Wales in 1869, and it became the 'Free Public Library'. As the collections and services provided by the 'Free Public Library' expanded it became the State Library of New South Wales, which includes the Mitchell and Dixon library collections.
The Wilcannia Athenaeum is a heritage listed, rusticated sandstone building in the town of Wilcannia, New South Wales. Built in 1883 and located at 37 Reid St, the Athenaeum was established to be an institution for community education, a school of arts and included a public library. It has served a number of functions including as a social centre, a library, a newspaper office, a municipal council meeting place, the Wilcannia Telecentre and is now a museum.
The Sydney School of Arts building, now the Arthouse Hotel, is a heritage-listed meeting place, restaurant and bar, and former mechanics' institute, located at 275–277a Pitt Street in the Sydney central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Verge and built from 1830 to 1861. It is also known as Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Mechanics' institutes were a Victorian-era institution set up primarily to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working-class men, which spread to the corners of the English-speaking world, including the Australian colonies, where they were set up in virtually every colony. In some places, notably throughout the colonies of Queensland and New South Wales, they were often known as schools of arts.
