A considerable sum was raised by the Council of the Melbourne Trades Hall, which rallied support amongst its membership of unions. Construction of the "Working Men's College" then began in 1886, on a site provided by the Colony of Victoria, next to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court, and adjacent the Melbourne Public Library on La Trobe Street. The College was officially opened during a gala ceremony on 4 June 1887[1] and, on the night of its opening, took 320 enrollments which increased to over 1000 in its first 12 months of operation. Ormond, a staunch believer in the values of education and a tireless campaigner for the College, served as its President until his death in 1889.[1][2]
The College began offering full-time courses in 1899 and was incorporated under the "Companies Act" as a private college in 1904.[1][3] Around the turn of the century, it began developing courses in engineering, applied science, chemistry, metallurgy and mining. Between the 1900s and the 1920s, the College expanded beyond its foundation building, and constructed two new buildings on nearby Bowen Street, a new Art School and also acquired the neighbouring, and recently decommissioned, Melbourne Gaol site for expansion.[1]
During the 1930s, the College underwent further expansion with the completion of an Engineering School and a Radio School, and two more buildings constructed on Bowen Street. In 1934, the College officially changed its name to the "Melbourne Technical College" (incorporating The Working Men's College), after a representation from its Student's Association.[1][3]
Legend of Ned Kelly's remains
After the closure and partial demolishment of the nearby Old Melbourne Gaol, during the 1920s, the College acquired the site for future expansion. In 1929, the remains of Australia's most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly (who was hanged at the gaol), were believed to have been discovered during the construction of the Kernot Engineering School. These remains were later reinterred Pentridge Prison, and rediscovered in 2008.[4] However, no conclusive evidence of the remains suggest they are that of Ned Kelly's, and many historians believe his remains are still buried under the present day RMIT.[5]
Contribution to WWI and WWII
Radio Communication Building in 1950
The College contributed to Australia's war efforts both in World War I and in World War II. Initially, between 1917 and 1919, it trained over 1500 returned ANZAC service men from World War I in vocational qualifications for post-war life in Australia.[1] Between 1939 and 1945, during World War II, it made a greater contribution to Australia's war efforts by training 23,000 service men and women (approximately one-sixth of all trained in Australia),[1][6] mainly Royal Australian Air Force personnel in radio communications, as well as 2,000 civilians in munitions manufacturing. The Government of Australia also commissioned the College to manufacture parts for the Air Force's DAP Beaufort Bomber.[1][3]
After World War II, and during the 1950s, the College again trained returned service men and women for post-war life, which prompted the development of courses in food technology, transport studies, accountancy and advertising, and the revision of its art syllabuses. During this time, the College also embraced the Commonwealth of Nations' newly devised Colombo Plan, which increased its intake of South East Asian students greatly.[3]
Royal patronage and birth of RMIT
In 1954, the College was awarded royal patronage by Queen Elizabeth II - for its service to the Commonwealth in the area of education and for its contribution to the war effort; and was officially renamed the "Royal Melbourne Technical College".[1][3] It became (and remains to this day) the only higher education institution in Australia with the right of the prefix "Royal" along with the use of the Monarchy of England's regalia.[1]
In 1960, the Council of the College voted to begin the process of reconstituting the college as a tertiary institution. The name of the College was then officially changed to the "Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology".[1][3]
During the late 1950s and 1960s, the non-tertiary branch of RMIT was reconstituted as the "Technical College" (TAFE), and it was believed the Institute and the College would eventually separate. However, the two have remained as incorporated branches of RMIT to the present day. During the 1960s, RMIT's Art School established its reputations as an Australian leader in its field.[1]
RMIT celebrated its centenary in 1987 with a year-long calendar of events staged across the City of Melbourne, a time capsule set in the Bowen Street courtyard of the foundation building of the Working Men's College on La Trobe Street and a book called "The Tech: A Centenary History of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology", documenting the institute's 100 years of history, was also published.[1][3]
In 1992, RMIT was granted public university status by the Parliament of Victoria under the "Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act".[7] RMIT's newly appointed Chancellery officially adopted the names "RMIT University" for its Institute branch and "RMIT TAFE" for its College branch, during the early 1990s, and its Design School also established its reputation as an international leader in eco-friendly design.[3]
Expansion for the 21st Century
The historic former Melbourne Magistrates' Court was acquired by RMIT in 1995
Following its reconstitution as a public university, RMIT then underwent a large and rapid expansion where a number of other institutes and colleges became amalgamated with it, between 1993 and 1999, which included: Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne College of Decoration and Design, Melbourne College of Printing and Graphic Art and Melbourne Institute of Textiles.[3][8]
In 1995, RMIT acquired the neighbouring, and recently vacated, former Melbourne Magistrates' Court and City Watch House buildings on the corner of La Trobe Street and Russell Street, and renamed its expanding campus in Melbourne the "City campus".[3] It also established a new environmentally sustainable "country campus" around 20km from the City campus, in Bundoora, which opened in 1995.
In 1999, it acquired the derelict state heritage-listed Capitol Theatre in the Melbourne CBD, and refurbished it to its original design. It also established a specialised fashion and printing campus in Brunswick, on the site of the former Melbourne Institute of Textiles in 1999, and became a founding member of the Australian Technology Network, a coalition of leading Australian universities working with industry.[3][9]
At the turn of the century, RMIT was invited by the Government of Vietnam to establish Vietnam's first foreign-owned university. In 2001, it established "RMIT International University, Vietnam" (now RMIT University Vietnam) near the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, and a second campus in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi in 2004.[10] In its years of operation, the Government of Vietnam has awarded RMIT University Vietnam five Golden Dragon Awards for Education.[11]
During the mid-2000s, RMIT experienced financial problems, partly due to problems associated with its student administration system upgrade (A$47 million was spent in this effort). The financial problems eventually claimed the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ruth Dunkin. In 2005, RMIT appointed a new Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Margaret GardnerAO and, between 2006 and 2007, posted operating profits of A$50.1 million and then A$109.5 million each year respectively.[12][13] In 2006, it also became a founding member of the Global U8 Consortium.[14]
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria and the twelfth university in Australia. La Trobe is one of the Australian verdant universities and also part of the Innovative Research Universities group.
RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia.
Bundoora is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government areas are the Cities of Banyule, Darebin and Whittlesea. At the 2016 Census, Bundoora had a population of 28,653.
Francis Ormond was a Scottish-born Australian pastoralist, member of the Parliament of Victoria and philanthropist in the areas of education and religion.
The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings, and opposite the Russell Street Police Headquarters. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1845 and 1924, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger Ned Kelly and serial killer Frederick Bailey Deeming. In total, 133 people were executed by hanging. Though it was used briefly during World War II, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the jail being incorporated into the RMIT University, and the rest becoming a museum.
La Trobe Street is a major street and thoroughfare in the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and forms the northern boundary of Melbourne's central business district. The street was laid out as an extension of the original Hoddle Grid in 1839 and was named after Charles La Trobe. La Trobe Street extends from Victoria Street in the east to Harbour Esplanade in the west.
Melbourne Polytechnic, formerly NMIT, is a vocational education (TAFE) and higher education institute located in Melbourne, Australia predominantly in the northern suburbs but also in the south with a campus at Prahran. It has seven campuses located at Preston, Collingwood, Epping, Fairfield, Heidelberg, Prahran, Greensborough, training sites at Broadmeadows, and country training facilities at Eden Park, Yan Yean and Ararat.
RMIT University Library consists of six academic branch libraries in Australia and Vietnam. Its four Australian branches are located on the RMIT University campuses in Melbourne City, Bundoora and Brunswick; and its two Vietnamese branches are located at the RMIT University Vietnam campuses in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
RMIT University Vietnam is the Vietnamese branch of the Australian research university the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, known in Australia as RMIT University. It has three campuses located in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang.
The Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy was an Australian domestic science college for women, in Melbourne, Victoria.
RMIT Link is a division of RMIT University around student life and historically was an unincorporated entity, the campus union of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was formed in 1968 and currently it consists of branches: Arts and Culture, Sport, City Fitness, "Recreation", "Orientation and Transition" and Administration.
The Melbourne City campus of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology is located in the city centre of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is sometimes referred to as "RMIT City" and the "RMIT Quarter" of the city in the media.
RMIT Building 11, also informally known as RMIT Spiritual Centre, is a building located at the City campus of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and is part of the Old Melbourne Gaol. The centre is a place for students to practise mindful meditation, which is an activity organised by the RMIT Chaplaincy Service.
The RMIT School of Art is an Australian university art school located in Melbourne, Victoria, which is responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate education and research in fine art and photography at RMIT University. Established in 1917, it is the top art school in Australia and 11th in the world, according to the 2020 QS World University Rankings.
The RMIT Redbacks are the sport collective of the Australian research University the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), based at all campuses in Victoria and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The program is managed by the RMIT Sport team, part of RMIT Student Life.
Education in Melbourne may be divided into four groups: pre-school, primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. Melbourne is home to some of Australia's largest university and prominent independent schools. Entry to tertiary education for most students is through the Victorian secondary school system where students are ranked by the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) upon completion of Year 12.
The Working Men's College was an Australian college of further education located in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1887 by a prominent Victorian parliamentarian and philanthropist, Francis Ormond.
Ross, C. Stuart (1912), Francis Ormond: Pioneer, Patriot, Philanthropist, London; Melbourne: Melville and Mullen
Murray-Smith, Stephen; Dare, Anthony J. (1987), The Tech: A Centenary History of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1sted.), South Yarra (Melbourne): Hyland House, ISBN0-947062-06-8
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