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THE FOUNDATION OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 

 FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TASMANIA. 



(By W. F. D. Butler, B.A., M.Sc, LL.B.) 



[Read 8th October, 1917. Received 1st October, 1917. 

 Published separately, 19th November, 1917.] 



The period with which this paper deals is that prior 

 to the establishment of responsible Government in Tas- 

 mania, and thus includes the early part of Sir William 

 Denison's Administration, as well as the Administration 

 of those Governors who immediately preceded him. 



Before proceeding to consider the actual formation 

 of these Institutions, we will first discuss the objects the 

 founders were aiming at. It is fii'st necessary to con- 

 sider the educational state of the Colony at the time 

 of their labours, and also prior attempts to found similar 

 institutions. The Colony of Van Diemen's Land, as it 

 then was, had a large convict population, which was year- 

 ly increased by the transportation of convicts from Eng- 

 land. From January 1st, 1831, to March 31st, 1847. no 

 fewer than 43,353 convicts of both sexes arrived in Van 

 Diemens Land, and at the close of that year the total 

 population numbered but 70,000, so that, making every 

 allowance for deaths and other casualties, a large pro- 

 portion of the inhabitants were either convicts or their 

 offspring, and were stated to be as many as 30.000 (West, p. 

 306). To raise the social status of this community, the 

 Government — and the different Churches — had systems of 

 primaiy schools which, though adniittedlv inefficient, were 

 doing useful work. A study of the proposed reforms 

 of these schools in the early forties of last centurv is most 

 interesting, and in some respects the views of the Gov 

 emor, e.g., in the founding of a Training College for 

 teachers, have only recently been carried into effect. A 

 discussion of the early history of primar\' schools is noi, 

 however, within the scope of this paper. 



Secondary education received no Government nelp at 

 all, there were no public grammar schools, but a few 

 private schools were conducted by various gentlemen, some 

 of which, considering the educational facilities available 

 to them, reached a satisfactory standard, whilst others 

 certainly could not lay claim to even this distinction. 

 These schools, however, suffered from a fatal defect from 

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