Your child comes home talking about “school long ago” and asks whether you wrote on a slate. (You almost certainly didn’t.) So what was school like in the olden days in Australia? Here’s a guide to slates, ink wells, hand bells and one-room schools, when school became free for every child, and easy ways to compare then and now together.
What was school like in the olden days?
Children here were learning long before there were school buildings. The Victorian Government’s timeline of education begins: “Education in what is now Victoria began around 60,000 years ago with Aboriginal communities. Elders taught children the skills and values needed for life on their Country.”
The first colonial schools were small and varied: church schools, government-aided schools, and tutors at home for a few. But, as the Victorian Government puts it, “schooling wasn’t compulsory or free, so some children received no formal education.” On the goldfields in the 1850s, school might even be in a tent. State Library Victoria describes large tents “capable of holding 100 children”, which could move if the gold rush moved on.
When did school become free and compulsory in Australia?
Victoria went first. Its Education Act of 1872 made it “the first Australian colony to offer free, secular, and compulsory education for kids”, according to the Victorian Government. Fees were abolished, children aged 6 to 15 had to attend, and religious instruction was not allowed in school hours. The Act came into force on 1 January 1873, and the average number of children at school rose from 66,000 in December 1872 to 100,000 in March 1873.
Other colonies passed their own laws. Queensland’s State Education Act of 1875 made primary school free and compulsory for children aged 6 to 12, and New South Wales’s Public Instruction Act came into force in May 1880, for children aged 6 to 14.
What did children write with at school long ago?
Younger children wrote on a slate with a slate pencil, then wiped it clean. Sunshine Coast Council’s heritage library in Queensland explains that “the advantage of slates over paper was that they could be wiped clean and used again and again.” Children were meant to bring a cloth or sponge, “but often some would use their own spit and their sleeve cuff!”
Older children moved on to copybooks and nibbed pens. Desks had little ceramic inkwells, and blotting paper soaked up the extra ink so the page didn’t smudge. Later, ballpoint pens took over. Slates lasted longer than you might think: in New South Wales in the 1920s and 1930s, Fairfield City’s heritage collection notes, older children used pen and ink from Year 2 onwards while younger children still filled the room with the “squeak, squeak, squeak, scratch, scratch” of slate pencils.
What was a one-room school?
In a one-room school, big and little children learnt together in a single classroom with one teacher. They were everywhere: “By the 1920s, 83% of Victorian schools were one-teacher schools.” Hawkesdale, for example, opened in 1866 in “a one-room bluestone building”, where its first head teacher, Margaret Woodlock, taught around 30 students. In the early 1900s, the teacher at Mallacoota was in charge of 3 schools and rowed 24 kilometres between Mallacoota and Genoa every few days.
How did everyone know it was time to come in? Often, a hand bell. A record for a brass bell from the Vasse School in Western Australia explains that “a large brass hand held bell would be used to call students in, signalling the start of a lesson, or announce recess”.
How did children get to school long ago?
Mostly on foot or on horseback, sometimes a long way. In the mid 1860s, at the Sheep Hills property in Victoria, “4 children rode a horse 8 miles to reach their school.” On Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, schools set aside part of the grounds as a horse or pony paddock. Our post on transport then and now has more about horses, coaches, trains and trams.
| Long ago | Later, or now | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing | Slates for younger children; copybooks, dip pens and ink for older ones | Ballpoint pens took over, then computers |
| Paying for school | School wasn’t free before 1872 | Free government schools since the 1872 Act |
| Teachers | By the 1920s, most Victorian schools had one teacher | Small schools merged as roads, transport and car ownership improved |
| School year (Victoria) | Three terms until 1986 | Four terms since 1987 |
What has stayed the same at school?
Quite a lot. Children long ago learnt to read and write, sang songs and played ball games, just as they do now, and handwriting still matters, as our post on when kids learn cursive explains. The Victorian Curriculum even suggests “examining the traditional toys and games of Aboriginal Peoples, such as the weet-weet throwing stick game and the ball game marngrook”.
What children learn about school long ago
- In Victoria, History for Foundation to Level 2 (Prep to Year 2) includes “differences and similarities between students’ daily lives and how these have changed or remained the same over time” (VC2HH2K03). One suggested activity is comparing classroom equipment and playground games “through observations of provided artefacts and photos, and asking questions of adults from different generations”. Children also learn to “identify examples of continuity and change by comparing the past and present” (VC2HH2S05).
- In the Australian Curriculum (AC9), it’s in Year 1 HASS: “continuity and change between aspects of their daily lives and their parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods” (AC9HS1K02), including school life.
KidStudy’s History lesson School Long Ago, for Prep, covers slates, hand bells and one-room schools. Children sort things into long ago and now, spot what children did then and still do today, and put a school day long ago in order. Its 10-minute home activity, School long ago interview, has your child ask a grandparent or older grown-up what they wrote with and what games they played, then draw or write the answers.
Easy ways to explore school long ago at home
- Interview a grandparent. What did you write with? How did you get to school? What games did you play? Then ask your child to name one thing that’s the same now.
- Make a “slate”. A small whiteboard will do. Write a word, wipe it clean, write another, and talk about why reusing a slate was so handy.
- Old or new? Sort a few objects, like a pencil, a pen, an old photo and a phone, into long ago and now. Look for clues such as scratches and wear.
- Visit an old schoolroom. Sovereign Hill, which recreates the Ballarat gold rush, runs a Back to School session in its Red Hill National School on weekends and in school holidays, “complete with chalkboards, slates and strict teachers”.
Curious for more? The story of the city around us is a natural next step: see our history of Melbourne for kids.
Questions parents ask
What was school like in the 1800s in Australia?
Many children learnt in small schools, often one room with one teacher for every age. Younger children wrote on slates, and older children used copybooks and dip pens. Before Victoria’s 1872 Act, school wasn’t free or compulsory, so some children never went.
When did school become compulsory in Australia?
Each colony decided for itself. Victoria was first, with the Education Act 1872, in force from 1 January 1873 for children aged 6 to 15. Queensland followed in 1875 and New South Wales in 1880.
Why did children write on slates?
A slate could be wiped clean and used again and again, so children could practise without using up paper.
What is a one-room school?
A school with one classroom and one teacher, where big and little children learnt together. By the 1920s, 83% of Victorian schools were one-teacher schools.
Did my grandparents use slates at school?
Probably not. Slates were mostly used in the 1800s and early 1900s, although some younger children in New South Wales still used them in the 1920s and 1930s. Most grandparents wrote with pencils and pens.
Sources
- Key milestones in Victorian public education, Victorian Government
- 150-year anniversary of public education in Victoria, Victorian Government
- Rural schools explained, Victorian Government
- The history of school land and buildings, Victorian Government
- Hawkesdale Primary School (No. 766), Victorian Government
- Education Department (VA 714), Public Record Office Victoria
- Children on the goldfields, State Library Victoria (Ergo)
- Primary education (history), Queensland Department of Education
- Public Instruction Act 1880, NSW Department of Education
- School days, Sunshine Coast Council Heritage Library
- Victoria Street School, Fairfield City Heritage Collection
- Brass Bell, Vasse School, Busselton Historical Society (Collections WA)
- Back to School, Sovereign Hill
- Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0: History, VCAA
- Australian Curriculum v9.0: HASS, Year 1, ACARA
