Research Victoria's primary and secondary schools, text books and readers, past exams and results, curricula
This guide helps you to research the history of schools and education in Victoria. State Library Victoria holds many resources including books, periodicals, images, maps, online databases and indexes which may help you with your research. We also refer you to other organisations that hold relevant records.
Click onto the tabs across the top of this page for more detailed information on each topic. The suggested catalogue searches and resources listed will provide more detailed information.
Good luck with your research.
When Victoria became an independent colony in 1851, it inherited a dual system of publicly funded schools from New South Wales. The Denominational School Board administered the funding and regulation of church-based schools, and the National School Board oversaw government-funded secular schools.
Some children went to independent schools, others were educated at home with tutors. For the poorest families education was a luxury many could not afford. This led to the establishment of what were known as 'ragged schools'.
This period also saw the establishment of private school schools known as 'grammar schools', which emulated the English public school model, for example Geelong Grammar School (est.1855), and Melbourne Grammar School (1858).
The Board of Education was formed in 1862, at which point the Denominational School Board dissolved, and a system of common and rural schools established. When the Education Act (Vic) was passed in 1872, Victoria was the first of the Australian colonies to set up a central public school system based on the principles of free, secular and compulsory education.
All children aged 6-15 years were now required to attend school unless they had a reasonable excuse. Financial aid to church schools ended in 1874, with these schools allowed to continue independently. With the Education Act the Department of Education was established, led by Victoria's first Minister of Education.
Prep or preparatory grade, preceding grade 1, was introduced in January 1912. This was part of a uniform school year, standardised that year. For more see Vision and realisation : a centenary history of state education in Victoria (vol. 1, page 354)
Hornbrook ragged school IAN20/02/84/20
Detail from Boundary Road 2566 Grade Prep. [cropped] H2008.12/64
Hannah Barker, industry placement student in Masters of Information Management at RMIT, researched and provided content for the Images, Magazines & yearbooks, and Schools records tabs on this guide.
Nicole Scoble, industry placement student in Graduate Diploma of Information Management at Monash University, researched and provided content for the Buildings, Term Dates, and the Past Exams & Results tabs of this guide.
Kylie Best, Librarian, Victorian and Australian Published Collections
Katie Flack, Manager, Victorian and Australian Published Collections
Juliet O'Conor, Children's Literature Librarian
Sarah Matthews, Librarian, Victorian and Australian Published Collections
Barbara Carswell, Librarian, Information Services
Paul Dee, Collections Coordinator, Victorian and Australian Published Collections
Debra Hutchinson, Librarian, Victorian and Australian Published Collections
Hannah Barker, industry placement student, RMIT
Nicole Scoble, industry placement student, Monash University
