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Mechanics' institutes of Australia

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An adult educational establishment in Australia

Rockhampton School of Arts, Rockhampton, Qld

Mechanics' institutes were a Victorian-era institution set up primarily to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working-class men, which spread to the corners of the English-speaking world, including the Australian colonies, where they were set up in virtually every colony. In some places, notably throughout the colonies of Queensland and New South Wales, they were often known as schools of arts.

Most institutes incorporated a library, and many of the old institutes evolved into public lending libraries, while others were converted for other uses or demolished to make way for modern buildings. This article includes a list of many past mechanics' institutes / schools of arts.

Background

The foundations of the movement which created mechanics' institutes were in lectures given by George Birkbeck (1776–1841). His fourth annual lecture attracted a crowd of 500, and became an annual occurrence after his departure for London in 1804, leading to the eventual formation on 16 October 1821 of the first mechanics' institute in Edinburgh, the Edinburgh School of Arts (later Heriot-Watt University). Its first lecture was on chemistry, and within a month it was subscribed to by 452 men who each paid a quarterly subscription fee. This new model of technical educational institution gave classes for working men, and included libraries as well as apparatus to be used for experiments and technical education, and by 1900 there were over 9,000 mechanics institutes around the world.

Mechanics' Institutes were sometimes called schools of arts in the Australian colonies, especially Queensland. The purpose of forming such institutes was to improve the education of working men, and to instruct them in various trades. They were also part of a wider 19th-century movement promoting popular education in Britain, at which time co-operative societies, working men's colleges and the university extension movement were established. The call for popular education in turn can be contextualised within the broader liberal, laissez-faire, non-interventionist philosophy which dominated British social, economic and political ideologies in the 19th century. In this environment, mechanics' institutes flourished as a means by which working men might improve their lot, either through self-education using the reading rooms in the institutes, or by participating in instructional classes organised and funded by institute members.

In Australia, mechanics' institutes were often run by the middle classes. The provision of reading rooms, museums, lectures and classes were still important, but the Australian institutions were also more likely to include a social programme in their calendar of events.

The first mechanics' institute in the Australian colonies was established in Hobart in 1827, followed by the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts in 1833, Newcastle School of Arts in 1835, then the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute established in 1839 (renamed the Melbourne Athenaeum in 1873). From the 1850s, mechanics' institutes quickly spread throughout Victoria wherever a hall, library or school was needed. Over 1200 mechanics' institutes were built in Victoria but just over 500 remain today, and only six still operated their lending library services as of 2010.

21st century revival

Across the world, there is a move to sustain and revive mechanics' institutes and related institutions such as athenaeums and schools of art, as subscription libraries, sometimes incorporating or expanding their earlier functions. There have been several worldwide conferences between 2004 and 2021, known as the Mechanics' Worldwide Conference, of representatives of, or people who have an interest in, mechanics' institutes.

In the state of Victoria, a group of Mechanics' Institute representatives met in April 1998 at the institute in Kilmore to exchange information and ideas about the future of their organisations, at a conference entitled Mechanics' Institutes: The Way Forward. From this arose an association, the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria, whose aim it is for mechanics' institutes to again play an important social and cultural role in their communities, as they did in the past. Mackay School of Arts

By state

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Sydney School of Arts, 1869

New South Wales

Epping School of Arts

The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1833, is the oldest school of arts in continuous operation, and largest in Australia Other institutes in New South Wales include:

Queensland

Maryborough School of Arts

South Australia

Institute Building, State Library of South Australia
Port Adelaide Institute
Mitcham Village Institute
Further information: State Library of South Australia § 19th century

There were two iterations of the Adelaide Mechanics' Institute in Adelaide, South Australia. The first was based on the traditional working-men's educational model (founded 1838; merged with Adelaide Literary and Scientific Association and Mechanics' Institute in 1839, folded 1844). The second was led by schoolteacher W.A. Cawthorne, founded in 1847, This organisation merged with the South Australian Library in 1848, creating the Mechanics' Institute and South Australian Library. and was the forerunner of the State Library of South Australia, the South Australian Museum, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Between 1847 and 1856, thirteen further institutes came into existence:

The South Australian Institute, incorporated under the South Australian Institute Act of 1856, became the support and lead organisation for the 350 institutes in South Australia. In 1975, the state government phased out funding for the institutes, replacing them with free school-community libraries, while local public libraries were supported by local governments. The Institutes Association ceased to exist in 1988; however, most of the old institute buildings remain, many as heritage-listed buildings.

Later mechanics' institutes in South Australia included:

Tasmania

  • The earliest and most prominent institute ïn Tasmania was Van Diemen's Land Mechanics' Institution, also known as Hobart Town Mechanics' Institute, Hobart (1827–1871), co-founded by George Augustus Robinson. The institute had a shaky start, but after the Presbyterian minister John Lillie became president in 1839, his lectures became very popular, described as "the high-water mark of learning publicly disseminated in the colony". However, it was not attended by working-class men, as the institute had gained a reputation for elitism and paternalism. After going bankrupt, it folded in 1871.
  • Launceston Mechanics' Institute, Launceston, co-founded in 1842 by Congregational minister, journalist and historian John West and designed by eminent New Zealand-born architect W. H. Clayton, was a very successful institute. When it was demolished in 1971, its books were given to the public library.

Others included:

  • Don Mechanics' Institute, Don, Tasmania
  • Ellesmere Mechanics' Institute, Ellesmere (later Scottsdale)
  • Emu Bay Mechanics' Institute, Burnie
  • Franklin Mechanics' Institute, Franklin
  • Huon Mechanics' Institute
  • Port Esperance Mechanics' Institute, Port Esperance
  • Queenstown Mechanics' Institute, Queenstown
  • Ringarooma Mechanics' Institute, Ringarooma
  • Waratah Mechanics' Institute, Waratah
  • West Hobart Mechanics' Institute, West Hobart (c. 1890), still standing as of 2011

There were other similar institutions, although not called mechanics' institutes, but with similar aims, at Bellerive, Campbell Town, Devon, Glenora, Green Ponds, Hamilton-on-Forth, Lefroy, Oatlands, Sorell, Stanley and Wynyard; and the Tasmanian Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Launceston, 1831), the Tasmanian Society for the Acquisition of Useful Knowledge (Hobart Town, 1845), and the Mechanics' School of Arts (Hobart Town, 1850) were also focused on providing similar educational functions.

Most of the institutes in Tasmania became social and cultural centres for the middle classes, including women. Over time, musical performances and various entertainments, such as penny readings took precedence over lectures, and their original educational aims were forgotten. Many of the buildings have however survived, now used as community centres or libraries.

Victoria

Melbourne Athenaeum
Lilydale Mechanics Institute
Sorrento Institute

Many mechanics' institutes, athenaeums, schools of arts and related institutions are well documented by the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria, Inc., whose members range from the well-resourced Melbourne Athenaeum to the tiny Moonambel Mechanics' Institute in Moonambel.

Past and present institutes in Victoria include:

Western Australia

Looking west along Hay Street, the original Swan River MI building

The Swan River Mechanics' Institute, situated in Perth, was the first such organisation formed in the colony on 21 January 1851, followed by the Fremantle Mechanics Institute on 8 August 1851.

Other mechanics' institutes include:

References

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