The Advent and Adaptation of the Arnold Public School Tradition in New South Wales

Macarthur, an Anglican clergyman, was colonial born and educated. In the late 1850's and early 60's he had conducted a private secondary school first at Alexandria and later at Macquarie Fields. With the guidance and encouragement of Woolley he attempted to model this institution on the English Public Schools. See Macarthur G. , In Memoriam, Mar. 1866, a sermon, Sydney: Reading and Wellbank, 1866, and Rev. G. Macarthur to John Macarthur, Mar. 22, 1866, in Macarthur Papers, Vol. 30, 255. He was headmaster of King's from 1868 to 1886.

Vide Part I of this article for Bean's background. After leaving Sydney Grammar School he was headmaster at All Saints' from 1878 to 1888.

Robson had been educated at Repton and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was headmaster at “Shore” from 1889 to 1900.

Page was an M.A. from Melbourne University.

Aspinall was educated in the colony, but through his reading he became a great admirer of Arnold's work at Rugby. At the opening ceremony of the College he pledged that “the principles laid down by Arnold shall be our aims at Scots College”. In his addresses to the school he was fond of quoting Arnoldian principles. Vide Munro, May, In Old Aspinall's Day, 1893–1913, Sydney: Wentworth Press, 1961, vii et seq.

From its opening Newington was under the dual control of a President and a Headmaster. The President undertook the general leadership of the school, gave religious instruction, and apparently had the final decision on matters that were not important enough to be placed before the school's Council. The Headmaster was responsible for the secular instruction given in the school. Fletcher was President from 1865 to 1887 and Williams, Headmaster from 1884–1893. The latter was educated at Marlborough and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

In The Newingtonian, Mar. 1886, 148. See also Scots College Prospectuses 1899 and 1903; Prospectus of Cooerwull Academy in the Presbyterian College Manual, 1899, 45; and The Cooerwull Magazine, Apr. 1, 1896, 1.

The Australian Churchman, May 9, 1874.

Macarthur in Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 31, 1857 and July 4, 1858. See also Bean, E. and Sly, J. D., High Schools versus Scholarships, School of Arts Printer, Bathurst, 1886; The Torchbearer, Dec. 1900, 54 ff.; and Scots College Prospectuses, 1899 and 1903.

The Newingtonian, March 1886, 148.

Ibid.

Proceedings of Synod, 1893, “Shore” Council's Report, lviii.

Report of Scots College Council, 1893, in Proceedings of the General Assembly, 1893, 93.

Proceedings of Synod, 1892, 161. Report of the Council of “Shore”.

King's School Magazine, Sept. 1895, 612.

The Cooerwull Magazine, April 1, 1896, 1.

Gray became headmaster in 1886. He had had a distinguished career at Magdalen College, Oxford, and at the time of his appointment was a master at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire. Ill health caused Gray to resign from King's in 1889. On his return to England he subsequently became a master at Clifton, and later headmaster at Malvern.

Cumberland Mercury, June 19, 1886.

The Torch-Bearer, Dec. 1900, 54 ff. Similarly, at Newington College through the sermons he preached and through his day-to-day relationships with the pupils the Rev. Joseph Fletcher apparently had a considerable influence on their characters. See Prescott, C. J., “Education”, in Colwell J. (Ed.), A Century in the Pacific, Sydney: Beale, 1914, 627.

Quoted in Holme E. R. , ‘Shore’, The Sydney Church of England Grammar School, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1951, 71.

Scots College Prospectus, 1903.

The Cooerwull Magazine, Apr. 1, 1896, 1.

Prospectus of Scots College, 1903. Aspinall had established the prefect system in 1897. Report of the Headmaster of Scots College, 1897.

Prospectus, loc. cit.

Prescott C. J. , “Education”, in Colwell J. (Ed.), A Century in the Pacific, Sydney: Beale, 1914, 625. Proceedings of Synod, 1893, App. xxii, p. cix; The Newingtonian, Mar. 1895, 116; and Our Alma Mater, 1894, 151 ff.

See, for example, prospectuses of Scots and Cooerwull, 1899; the Diocesan Directory, 1893, 182 ff;

Echoes from St. Stanislaus', Dec. 31, 1890; Our Alma Mater, 1896; and Prospectus of St. Ignatius', 1887. The latter school also had special “playrooms” for such.“indoor games” as drafts, chess and billiards. Cycling was popular at Newington. Williams'Rept., Dec. 1888.

King's School Magazine, Sept. 1888, 3.

See, for example, the Headmaster's Report in The Newingtonian, March 1895, 116–117.

For example, at Newington, Fletcher introduced the black and white colours of Winchester; and at “Shore”, Robson adopted as the school's colours the diagonal blue and white pattern of his College at Cambridge. Holme, op. cit., 71. The Bathurstian, 1885, 150–152 and 174–176.

See, for instance, ibid, 125, and.

See, for example, Bathurst Free Press, Dec. 17, 1879, Bean's Address; and Williams' Report on Newington College, Dec. 19, 1888.

See, for example, Report of the Council of “Shore” to Synod, 1893; and The Sydney Mail, June 1899.

At Newington, for example, Williams formed a “Literary and Debating Society” and a.“Musical Society”. Williams' Report, Dec. 19, 1888.

S.M.H., Apr. 24, 1885.

Ibid., May 9, 1885.

The training of youth to be “scholars and Christian gentlemen” was a commonly stated aim of these schools. See addresses of Father Byrne, President of St. Stanislaus', in Echoes from St. Stanislaus', 1889, 6 and 1891, 21; St. Joseph's College, Our Golden Days, 1889, 52; statement on St. Ignatius' College in Australian Boys and Girls, 1895, 51; and Forster, M., “Lyndhurst and Benedictine Education” in the Australasian Catholic Record, Jan. 1947, 34.

St. College Joseph's , Our Golden Days, 1889, 31; Echoes from St. Stanislaus', 1889, 2 ff; and Prospectus of St. Ignatius' College, 1887, 6.

Moral tone and esprit de corps were deemed to be highly important aspects for a school to develop. Echoes from St. Stanislaus', 1891, 21; St. Joseph's College Annual, 1897, 21.

The educative importance of games, the cadet corps, school magazines, school colours and the like were all features of these leading Roman Catholic schools. See for example, Forster, op. cit., Apr. 1947, 121 ff; Prospectus of St. Ignatius', 1887, 16 ff; Echoes from St. Stanislaus', 1889, 7; 1890, 7, 1894, 31; Our Alma Mater, 1894, 151 ff; and St. Joseph's College, Our Golden Days, 1889, 52 ff.

Savigny conducted the Collegiate School at Cook's River during the 'fifties, moved the institution to Bathurst in the 'sixties, and taught there until 1873 when he was appointed Headmaster of the Launceston Grammar School, Tasmania. See Rait, B. W., The Story of the Launceston Grammar School, 1946.

Pendrill opened his Collegiate School, Glebe Point, in 1858 and conducted it until 1872. The Aganippe, March 1872, 4 ff.

Hillyar conducted the Bathurst Grammar School during the 'sixties. S.M.H., Jan. 2, 1862.

S.M.H., Jan. 6, 1851.

See his stress on turning out “Christian gentlemen”, on the importance of school tone, on the personal influence of the teacher, on the prefect system, and on the educational value of sporting activities, in Address of Principal of Eaglesfield, 1879, 6 ff, 13 ff.

Burstall S. A. Douglas M. A. (Eds.), Public Schools for Girls, Lond.: Longmans, Green, 1911, 11.

For accounts of the activities of the leading colonial secondary schools for girls during the second half of the century see History of Kambala Church of England Foundation School for Girls (typescript in the School's archives); Lang, A. G., The Story of Abbotsleigh (typescript in the School's archives); The Story of Ascham School, 1886–1962 (published by the Governors), Sydney: Epworth Press, 1963; History of P.L.C., Croydon; and S.C.E.G.G.S., 1895–1955, School Council, 1959.

Johnstone S. M. , The History of the King's School, Parramatta, Sydney: Sands, 1932, 222.

Bathurst Free Press, Dec. 20, 1879.

Bean E. Sly J. D. , High Schools Versus Scholarships, Bathurst: School of Arts Printer, 1886.

Ibid., 1.

Ibid., 2.

Ibid., 5.

Ibid., 8.

Vide The King's School Magazine, April 1892 and Sept. 1892, 347.

Bean C. E. W. , Here, My Son, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1950, 73.

S.M.H., Oct. 9, 1883.

School Files, Box P1826, Johnson to Minister, Sept. 13, 1888.

See Magazine of Maitland Boys’ High School, The Magpie, XIX, Nov. 1933, Special Jubilee Number, 1884–1934; and Wiedersehn, H. H., An Outline History of Sydney High School, Old Boys' Union, 1933.

N.S.W. Committee, “Education in Private Schools” in Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1914, 204B and 204C.

All that is known of Twopeny is that he styled himself as “Officer D'Academie de France, and Late Secretary of the Royal Commission for South Australia at the Paris, Sydney and Melbourne Exhibitions”. Vide his Town Life in Australia, London; Elliot Stock, 1883, Title Page.

Ibid., 130–131.

Ibid., 131.

Ibid., 136–137.

Board P. Vide , “The Development of Secondary Education”, Ch. I in Cole P. R. (Ed.), The Education of the Adolescent in Australia, Sydney: M.U.P., 1935.

See, for example, lists of distinguished “Old Boys” in Johnstone, op. cit., 340 ff.; and Steel W. A. Antill J. M. , The History of All Saints' College, Bathurst, 1873–1951, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1952, 127 ff.