Corporate Body

Royal Commission for Promoting Technological and Industrial Instruction (1869 - 1890)

Parliament of Victoria

From
1869
To
27 February 1890
Alternative Names
  • Technological Commission (Also known as)

Summary

This Commission was appointed by the Parliament and Governor of Victoria for the purpose of promoting Technological and Industrial Instruction, by lecture or otherwise, among the Working Clases of Victoria. It arose out of the success of the Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866.

It proposed a Technological and Industrial Museum, and that was established in 1870 and in 1871 was housed in the hall built for the Intercolonial Exhibition.

The Commission had bold ambitions, but a lack of funding limited its operations. It did manage to establish a lecture and instruction program, that operated out of the State Library, and it supported more than 40 Schools of Design over a period of twenty years.

These Schools principally focussed on teaching mechanical drawing, construction drawing, representation drawing, and decoration drawing, and from 1887 taught and examined similar subjects sanctioned by the South Kensington Department of Science and Art, London.

From 1887 after the Working Men's College commenced instruction, any lecture and teaching functions that operated out of the State Library and Museum had moved there. Furthermore, from the early 1880s, many industry-based associations and organisations were being formed, reducing the need for the Commission to organise technical lectures. The 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition and the 1888 Centenary Exhibition had changed Victoria.

On 27 February 1890 the Commissioners were asked to tender their resignation, and responsibility for co-ordinating the programs for the many small Schools of Design were passed to the Minister for Public Instruction. And the Commission's collection of South Kensington drawings and casts were placed under the control of the Exhibition trustees.

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Details

Shortly after being appointed in 1869, the Commission reported its proposed actions that included:
* Periodically delivering lectures in Melbourne and other localities, that would diffuse information about the most recently approved scientific methods related to various arts and manufactures. The suggested subjects for early consideration were animal products, vegetable products, mining and mineral products (gold; coal, shale and mineral oils; sulphur; clay and sand; building stones), mechanics and machinery applied as hydraulics.
* The establishment of Schools of Design, that would connect the arts of drawing and design with manufactures and machinery, by teaching mechanical and decorative drawing and related subjects, such as geometry.
* The establishment of a Technological and Industrial Museum, where models, new inventions, patents, samples of materials used in manufactures could be permanently displayed. The Commission also proposed to collect samples and specimens for this purpose.

The Commission noted the House of Commons Parliamentary Paper of 1867 on Technical Education, as a suitable guide for its endeavours.

Lecture programs were soon initiated, and many small Schools of Design were established across the Colony, but other proposals, including coordinating instruction programs across the many Schools of Mines, faltered due to lack of funding.

Nevertheless, under its direction, and with only a small annual budget of £1,400, the Commission did manage to establish more than 40 Schools of Design over a period of twenty years, that principally focussed on teaching mechanical drawing, construction drawing, representation drawing, and decoration drawing. From 1887 the Commission, under the sanction of the Department of Science and Art in London, established a successful program werein certain teaching manuals, text-books, and examinations of the South Kensington Department of Science and Art were extended to Victorian Schools of Design and other technical institutions under the direction of the Commission. It appears that similar programs from the City & Guilds of London were explored.

The annual reports of the Commission, a few of which were printed as Parliamentary Papers, document its work and ambitions. Contemporary newspaper reports also describe its deliberations.

Related People

Published resources

Parliamentary papers

See also

  • Rasmussen, Carolyn et al., A Museum for the people: a History of Museum Victoria and its predecessor institutions, 1854-2000 (Carlton North, Victoria: Scribe Publications, 2001), 420 pp. 'Chapter 4 - Founding an Industrial and Technological Museum' pp.76-95. Details

Ken McInnes

Created: 12 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P007287b.htm

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