The Working Men's College
Further information: Working Men's College of MelbourneIn 1881, prominent grazier and philanthropist, The Hon. Francis Ormond, proposed that a technical college would serve "useful" to City of Melbourne. Ormond, who had donated the majority of funds towards the foundation of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, offered £5,000 towards the establishment of a college on the proviso that the public contribute a "like sum".
A considerable sum was raised by the Council of the Melbourne Trades Hall, which rallied support amongst its membership of unions. Construction of the "Working Men's College" then began in 1886, on a site provided by the Colony of Victoria, next to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court, and adjacent the Melbourne Public Library on La Trobe Street. The College was officially opened during a gala ceremony on June 4, 1887 and, on the night of its opening, took 320 enrollments which increased to over 1000 in its first 12 months of operation. Ormond, a staunch believer in the values of education and a tireless campaigner for the College, served as its President till his death in 1889.
The College began offering full-time courses in 1899 and was incorporated under the "Companies Act" as a private college in 1904. Around the turn of the century, it began developing courses in engineering, applied science, chemistry, metallurgy and mining. Between the 1900s and the 1920s, the College expanded beyond its foundation building, and constructed two new buildings on nearby Bowen Street, a new Art School and also acquired the neighbouring, and recently decommissioned, Melbourne Gaol site for expansion.
During the 1930s, the College underwent further expansion with the completion of an Engineering School and a Radio School, and two more buildings constructed on Bowen Street. In 1934, the College officially changed its name to the "Melbourne Technical College" (incorporating The Working Men's College), after a representation from its Student's Association.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Royal Melbourne Institute Of Technology
Famous quotes containing the words working, men and/or college:
“The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What if we fail to stop the erosion of cities by automobiles?... In that case America will hardly need to ponder a mystery that has troubled men for millennia: What is the purpose of life? For us, the answer will be clear, established and for all practical purposes indisputable: The purpose of life is to produce and consume automobiles.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
“The mode of founding a college is, commonly, to get up a subscription of dollars and cents, and then, following blindly the principles of a division of labor to its extreme,—a principle which should never be followed but with circumspection,—to call in a contractor who makes this a subject of speculation,... and for these oversights successive generations have to pay.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)