History of The Act
The Grammar Schools Act was the fourth bill of the first parliament of Queensland. Along with the Primary Schools Act (Qld) 1860, it aimed to bring Queensland under one general and comprehensive education system without prejudice.
In the early years of Australian education, denominational schools (particularly Anglican 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 parliament of Queensland 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 amongst sections of the Anglican 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) being provided massive, ineffective endowments, with little effort required from the community.
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.
The act was repealed in 1975 and replaced with the Grammar Schools Act 1975.
Read more about this topic: Grammar Schools Act 1860
Famous quotes containing the words history of the, history of, history and/or act:
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
“The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“New York has never learnt the art of growing old by playing on all its pasts. Its present invents itself, from hour to hour, in the act of throwing away its previous accomplishments and challenging the future. A city composed of paroxysmal places in monumental reliefs.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)