Colonial Secretary Guide - Flipbook - Page 334
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32.
Copies of letters to the Denominational School Board, 4 January 1848 - 29 December 1866
1 vol
Copies of letters to the Board and its members. The Board consisted of a representative from each
of the four principal denominations - Church of England, Presbyterian, Church of Rome and
Wesleyan - and was responsible for the conduct and inspection of, and religious instruction in,
the various denominational schools.
The volume begins with a letter appointing the Board's members and it continues for the duration
of the Board's existence. The letters deal with any matters coming within the Board's province,
especially the establishment of schools, the supply of equipment for them and the money to be
spent on their maintenance.
33.
Indexes:
In front of volume
Location:
4/3701; microfilm copy AO Reel 2857
Copies of letters to the National School Board, 4 January 1848 - 27 December 1866
1 vol
The counterpart of the Denominational School Board, the National School Board or more
correctly the Board of Commissioners for National Education was set up under the Act of Council
11 Vic. no.48. Its duties were similar but it was entrusted more specifically with a system of
schools to be conducted under "Lord Stanley's National System of Education" which had been in
operation in Ireland since 1831. The Council voted 2,000 pounds in 1847 towards this object.
Plunkett, the Attorney General, was appointed chairman, and Nicholson, the speaker of the
Council, and W. S. Macleay its two members. The Board immediately set about putting the Irish
Scheme into effect but while the whole plan represented the first major act in establishing a
general education system it remained unsatisfactory largely because of the dual control of the
schools.
Most of the letters in the volume are of a fairly routine nature - school sites and buildings,
appointment of teaching staff and so on.
34.
Indexes:
In front of volume
Location:
4/3702; microfilm copy AO Reel 2857
Copies of letters sent to the Council of Education, 4 January 1867 - 9 December 1873
2 vols
Both the Denominational and National School Boards were dissolved by Parkes' Public Schools
Act and their functions were taken over by a Council of Education from the beginning of 1867.
This volume consists of letters to this Council from its creation until 1873, although the Council
continued to operate until it was abolished by the first Public Instruction Act of 1880 which
placed education directly under the control of a minister of the Crown.
Indexes:
In front of volumes
Location:
4/3703-04; microfilm copy AO Reel 2857
Shelf List:
See Appendix p. 355
