Learning from the Past: Building the School of Arts Movement in Australia. An ADFAS in the Community Project Marlena Jeffery, Vice President, Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society and Marlena Jeffery and Helen Creagh
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This document summarizes the Schools of Arts movement in Australia from the 1800s onward. It describes how the movement began in Edinburgh and was founded on ideas to promote education and knowledge sharing among community members. It then provides examples of Schools of Arts and Mechanics' Institutes around Australia, detailing their aims, activities, fundraising efforts, library collections and the important role they played in communities. Records and artifacts are drawn from various archives to illustrate the rich history of these institutions.
Learning from the Past: Building the School of Arts Movement in Australia. An ADFAS in the Community Project Marlena Jeffery, Vice President, Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society and Marlena Jeffery and Helen Creagh
- 1. Learning from the Past: Building the School of Arts movement in Australia An ADFAS in the Community Project Marlena Jeffery Helen Creagh
- 2. What is ADFAS? The Association of Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (ADFAS) AIMS: The promotion and advancement of aesthetic education, the cultivation and study of the decorative and fine arts, and the preservation of our cultural and artistic heritage. www.adfas.org.au
- 3. QLD: Cairns Rockhampton Sunshine Coast Noosa Brisbane Brisbane River Toowoomba Gold Coast ACT: Canberra NSW: Byron Armidale Narrabri Mudgee Orange Dubbo Pokolbin Newcastle Scone Sydney Kuring-gai Blue Mountains Camden Bowral Shoalhaven Molonglo Plains Riverina VIC: Geelong Melbourne Yarra Mornington Peninsula Central Victoria Murray RiverTAS: Launceston Hobart SA: Adelaide ADFAS Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Societies There are 35 Societies around Australia
- 4. ADFAS in the Community - Local ADFAS Society Supports: Young Arts : education and development of young people in the local community * Church Recording: documenting the fabric and contents of local churches * Schools of Arts/Mechanics’ Institutes Project: research and documentation of social history and buildings in this movement * These are National projects endorsed by the Association - Association of ADFAS Supports: Patricia Robertson Fund: education and development for conservators of cultural heritage material Opera Australia: Schools Program Produces: ARTLIFE - ADFAS annual magazine
- 5. The Schools of Arts and Mechanics’ Institutes Movement………. circa 1800 AIMS: “The diffusion of literary, scientific and other useful knowledge and the literary advancement of members and the community generally, through the delivery of lectures, a library of reference and circulation, a reading room and the formation of classes.”
- 6. Where it all began…… Edinburgh Watt Institution and School of Arts Established 1821 George Birkbeck Scottish engineer The movement was founded on ideas he put forward at the turn of the 18/19th centuries
- 7. Mechanics’ Institute Hobart, est.1827 Known then as the Van Diemen’s Land Mechanics’ Institute Australia’s first institution Bookplate, Hobart MI See cautionary information for readers in the ‘Note’
- 8. What’s in a name? Qld: School of Arts NSW: School of Arts, Mechanics’ Institute, Literary Institute Vic: Mechanics’ Institute, Athenaeum Tas: Mechanics’ Institute, Institute, Free Library SA: Institute WA: Agricultural Hall, Mechanics’ Institute Also (not State specific): Miners’ Institute Soldiers’ Memorial School of Arts (post WW1 – 1920s) Community Hall ….. Public Hall …… These are often a later change; name may be related to government funding
- 9. Contributors The first volunteers from ADFAS Canberra country members Preparing accounts for Bombala, Braidwood, Bungendore, Goulburn, Queanbeyan, and Young Exchanging ideas; comparing notes
- 11. How to do this…. The project guidelines Layout and content Finding information Copyright Acknowledgements and References Presentation plan Suggestions about information to be included Where to look…….. Local or Regional Library Local Historical Society Local Council Local Identities; building custodians ‘Google’ Trove Information related to use of material
- 12. Minute Book School of Arts Bungendore NSW Page 1 records the first meeting where the decision was taken to establish a School of Arts Friday 8th June 1888 Also….. Names were put forward Moved and carried that - These comprise the Provisional Committee - Ladies be admitted to Membership Record held by the National Library of Australia MS663
- 13. Trove is an online resource trove.nla.gov.au Access Trove anywhere there is a computer Shows information held by libraries in Australia Your librarian will assist you if you need help Inter-library loans might be possible Trove Tells you about… Books Maps Photos Articles Newspapers Archives ..…… and more
- 14. Making the Institutions…. and their buildings Benefactor Berry NSW Community support: Laying the Foundation Stone 1916 Abermain NSW UoN Collections Committee 1951 Uppera Coomera Qld Centenary Celebrations 2012: Eumundi Qld Notecard depicting 100 years of activities
- 15. Fund-raising: Queen Competitions Historical Society Cooroora Qld
- 16. Aims of the Institution: 1900 “The mental and moral improvement and the rational recreation of members through the establishment of a library and reading room, and by the provision of lectures, the formation of classes, the maintenance of recreational facilities, and by such other means as seem desirable to the Committee.” New Lambton Mechanics’ Institute
- 17. On the cultivation of the Fine Arts with Practical Illustrations On the study of Physical Sciences On the Economy and Variety of Nature, illustrated by the hydro-oxygen microscope On the Progress of Civilisation as connected with the extension of Christianity On the Physiology of the Senses On Free Inquiry in relation to the natural Sciences On Pneumatics On Harmony and the Harmonious results of well-spent time On Vegetable Physiology Lectures in the program at the Hobart Mechanics’ Institute 1840s
- 18. Should Members of Parliament be paid? Would it be advantageous to disannex the colony from the British throne? Is the intellect of the sexes equal? Should the franchise be extended to women? A Bill for the better protection of Aborigines in this Colony. Has the stage a moral or immoral tendency? Whether the gold discoveries of Australia have retarded, or otherwise, its manufacturing industry. Program of debates at the Literary Institute Bombala NSW 1870s National Library of Australia MS 6373
- 19. Library interiors Newcastle School of Arts Est.1870 Newcastle Regional Library Hunter Photobank c.1900 ◄ 1935 ▲ ►
- 20. The Reading Room ▲ New Lambton NSW est. 1900 University of Newcastle (UoN) Cultural Collections ◄ West Maitland NSW est. 1854 Maitland Mercury 7 January 1933
- 21. Invoice from London supplier for Reading Room material June 15 1914 Bombala NSW Literary Institute National Library of Australia MS 6373
- 22. Lower Hunter Region NSW: Bookstock of institutions up to ca 1914 Date of Establishment of Institution also shown Charlestown Literary Institute Est 1877 1 443 East Maitland Mechanics’ Institute Est 1859 4 800 Hamilton Mechanics’ Institute Est 1861 5 080 Hinton School of Arts Est 1869 420 Largs School of Arts Est 1875 587 Merewether School of Arts Est 1882 4 210 Newcastle School of Arts Est 1870 25 222 New Lambton Mechanics’ Institute Est 1900 2 239 Paterson School of Arts Est 1868 1 018 Stockton Literary Institute Est 1894 3 000 Waratah School of Arts Est 1865 1 545 West Maitland School of Arts Est 1854 13 301 Woodville School of Arts Est 1876 750 Science Success and Soirees : Heaton, Preston, and Rabbitt. Newcastle History Monograph No 14 p.112 Newcastle Region Library ca 1990
- 23. 1888: Extract from a list of books held in the library of the Burrowa Mechanics’ Institute Boorowa NSW Published in the local newspaper The Burrowa News Friday 31 August 1888
- 25. Acknowledgements Our thanks to the volunteers from ADFAS Societies who have contributed to this project Much of the information and many of the photographs included in this presentation are from their contributions ADFAS in the Community Schools of Arts and Mechanics’ Institutes Project www.adfas.org.au