StateLibQld 1 395493 Ipswich Grammar School sketch, 1873

The Grammar Schools Act 1860 was passed by Queensland's first parliament in 1860 and allowed for the establishment of a grammar school in any town where £1000 could be raised locally. Between the years 1863 and 1892, ten grammar schools were opened under the auspices of the Act. The first of these was Ipswich Grammar School, which opened in 1863. Brisbane First Grammar School

History of the Act

The Grammar Schools Act was the fourth bill of the first

parliament of Queensland The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

. Along with the ''Primary Schools Act (Qld)'' 1860, it aimed to bring Queensland under one general and comprehensive education system without prejudice. Toowoomba Grammar School, sketch prior to construction, 1875

Toowoomba Grammar School, sketch prior to construction, 1875

In the early years of Australian education,

denominational A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities. The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...

schools (particularly

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

schools) had a large influence. These schools were criticised over a number of decades for proliferating a social divide, and providing poor and biased education. By the time of the first

in 1860, there was a general feeling that any system of education established in Queensland should be free of denominationalism. The Act received little opposition in either House of Parliament – revealing its popularity. It found the approval of the public in general, and even among sections of the

community. The Act marked a departure from the education systems in place in Victoria and New South Wales, where schools were generally tied up with respective religious bodies or (in the case of schools such as

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...

) being provided massive, ineffective endowments, with little effort required from the community. StateLibQld 1 40063 Brisbane Girls Grammar School, ca

StateLibQld 1 40063 Brisbane Girls Grammar School, ca

StateLibQld 1 67156 Grammar School, Townsville, ca

The main points of the Act are summarised below. Basically, the Act allowed for the establishment of a grammar school in any town where £1000 could be raised locally. The Queensland Government then matched that figure. The Schools were to be administered by a seven-member Board of Trustees, of which four members were appointed by the Governor. The Act also made provision for public scholarships for students to attend university in Britain or the southern states of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

The act was repealed in 1975 and replaced with the

Grammar Schools Act 1975 In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domains ...

Schools opened under the Act

There were ten grammar schools opened under the Act – eight of which remain open today. In chronological order, they were: # Ipswich Grammar School for boys (1863) #

Brisbane Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , ci ...

for boys (1868) # Toowoomba Grammar School for boys (1875) # Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1875) #

Rockhampton Grammar School , motto_translation=Grow in character and scholarship , established = 1881 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Co-educational , head = Dr Phillip Moulds , city = Rockhampton , state = Queensland , c ...

initially for boys and girls, later only for boys (1881) #

Maryborough Grammar School Maryborough State High School (commonly abbreviated as 'MSHS') is an Independent Public School located in Maryborough, Queensland, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. The school is run by the Queensland State Government, and is split on either si ...

for boys (1881) #

Maryborough Girls Grammar School Maryborough State High School (commonly abbreviated as 'MSHS') is an Independent Public School located in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. The school is run by the Queensland State Government, and is split on either side of Kent Street. The s ...

(1883) #

Townsville Grammar School , motto_translation = Come In Good, Go Out Better , established = 1888 , type = Independent, day & boarding, IB , gender = Co-educational , denomination = Non-denomina ...

for boys and girls (1888) #

Ipswich Girls Grammar School , motto_translation = Diligence Overcomes All , established = 1892 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Girls , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , principal = Peter Britton , key_people = , ch ...

(1892) #

Rockhampton Girls Grammar School Rockhampton Girls Grammar School is a heritage-listed private school at 155 Agnes Street, The Range, Queensland, The Range, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Edwin Morton Hockings and built in 1890 by Mo ...

(1892) When it opened in 1881,

was co-educational. Only four years later, the Board of Trustees decided to exclude females from the School, leading to the construction of

. The latter opened on 11 March 1892 – one day after the official opening of

. (Females were readmitted to

in 1977 after a 92-year absence). In 1936, hit hard by the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Maryborough Grammar School and Maryborough Girls Grammar School were forced to close. They were subsequently taken over by the Department of Education, Queensland Government, and renamed the Maryborough State High and Intermediate School for Boys and Maryborough State High and Intermediate School for Girls. In 1974, these schools merged to become the Maryborough State High School.

Main Points of the Act

The main aspects of the Act were as follows: *That where £1000 was raised by donation or subscription in any district for the purpose of establishing a Grammar School, then the Governor (with the advice of the Executive Council), if satisfied with the proposed School, paid to the Trustees "a sum not exceeding the amount raised". *That when fees to the amount of £250 per annum were promised for a period of not less than three years, the Governor (with the advice of the Executive Council) shall pay out of the general revenue of the Colony £500 to the credit of the Trustees, towards the upkeep of the School. * A body of seven persons, to be called the Trustees of the School, were to be elected. Four of those seven were to be nominated by the Governor (with the advice of the Executive Council), whilst the other three were to be elected by vote of subscribers of over £5 to the funds of the School. *The Governor (with the advice of the Executive Council) was permitted to, in any one year, reserve 10% of the amount payable to a School to provide for scholarships to any British or Australian university. Such scholarships were awarded after public competitive examinations.

References

The grammar schools era (1860-1912)
– provided by the State of Queensland, Department of Education and the Arts {{reflist 1860 in law Queensland legislation Repealed Australian legislation 1860 in Australia 1860 in British law Education law 19th century in Queensland 1860s in Queensland History of education in Australia Education in Queensland