My honours thesis, Queensland's Bible in State Schools Referendum 1910: A Case Study of Democracy, is now available to download from the University of Sydney eScholarship Repository. In it I explore a fascinating era of Queensland's history where women, Labour politicians and the Protestant clergymen of the Bible in State Schools League were key participants in a public debate … [Read more...] about Queensland’s Bible in State Schools Referendum – 1910
History of Education
Design 29: Creating a Capital
This is the year of Canberra. The celebrations of the centenary of its founding mark a point where Canberra can reflect on its past. The one hundredth anniversary which coincided with one of my daughters moving to Canberra has caused me to rethink my attitude to the city and recognise that as a place I should take it more seriously. A couple of months ago I wrote a review of … [Read more...] about Design 29: Creating a Capital
Quietly Pushing Barriers Aside
This week came the disappointing news that the participation in Maths by girls in their final year of school in New South Wales is declining significantly. In 2001, the first year when students were no longer required to study a Maths or science subject in year twelve in order to qualify for university entrance, 90.5% of girls studied Maths whereas 96.9% of boys did. The … [Read more...] about Quietly Pushing Barriers Aside
Historical Evidence – Sometimes we will never know
This post started as a simple report of a few presentations at last week’s Buildings, Books and Blackboards conference in Melbourne, then it became more reflective than a report before finally morphing into a discussion about how historians construct history. Conferences are gatherings where historians learn and share. However, as a result of writing these blog posts about … [Read more...] about Historical Evidence – Sometimes we will never know
Public Education: It’s Not Just About Schools
When we talk about public education we immediately think of schools. Increasingly we are recognising that education is a life-long endeavour and with the explosion of the internet learning outside of the classroom and formal education systems is gaining increasing prominence. Last week at the Buildings, Books and Blackboards conference in Melbourne we were encouraged to … [Read more...] about Public Education: It’s Not Just About Schools
