Bushrangers, itinerant teachers and constructing educational policy in 1860s New South Wales

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how rural outlaws, known in the Australian context as bushrangers, impacted on the introduction of itinerant teaching in sparsely settled areas under the Council of Education in the colony of New South Wales. In July 1867 the evolving process for establishing half-time schools was suddenly disrupted when itinerant teaching diverged down an unexpected and uncharted path. As a result the first two itinerant teachers were appointed and taught in an irregular manner that differed significantly from regulation and convention. The catalyst was a series of events arising from bushranging that was prevalent in the Braidwood area in the mid-1860s. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on archival sources, particularly sources within State Archives and Records NSW, further contemporary sources such as reports and newspapers; and on secondary sources. Findings The paper reveals the circumstances which led to the implementation of an unanticipated form of itinerant teaching in the “Jingeras”; the impact of rural banditry or bushranging, on the nature and conduct of these early half-time schools; and the processes of policy formation involved. Originality/value This study is the first to explore the causes behind the marked deviation from the intended form and conduct of half-time schools that occurred in the Braidwood area of 1860s New South Wales. It provides a detailed account of how schooling was employed to counter rural banditry, or bushranging, in the Jingeras and provided significant insight into the education policy formation processes of the time.

“One Can't Live on Air”: Sarah McComb and the Problem of Old-Age Income for Single Women Teachers, 1870s–1930s

Alone in her last phase of life, Sarah McComb copied a poem onto the back of a postcard that read, “And now… what wait I for? No home, no welcome, nobody who needs me; no love, to which in my loneliness I can turn. And now… what wait I for?” She died in January 1937, not long after she “fell and broke her thigh” the previous December. She was ninety-one years old. Her hospital bills and funeral invoice, like most of her expenses, were sent to her brother's daughter. Her old-age dependency on extended kin, however, was not inevitable. As a single, childless, white middle-class woman, Sarah had supported her independence through itinerant teaching, traveling the American west including Alaska, with additional adventures to Guatemala and Cuba. As she approached her sixties, she pursued alternative strategies for income, intensifying her efforts to earn a profit through business ventures while continuing to teach for as long as she could. Despite her determination, Sarah faced old age without savings of her own; she would not be able to finance her independence once she stopped teaching. When that time finally came, she was seventy-six years old and had to turn to her brother for help. Securing his support, however, was a proposition fraught with familial tension and personal anxiety. Although women like Sarah valued their independence, they struggled to carry this independence into old age.

Folkelighedsbegrebet i praksis - en vandrelærers arbejde i 1920'ernes Sydslesvig

The concept of “folkelighed” in practice. The work of an itinerant teacher in the southern Schlesvig of the 1920’sThis article attempts to pin down the way in which an element of “folkelighed” was central to the wide variety of work carried out by itinerant teachers in southern Schlesvig. After the referendum of 1920 and the fixing of the national boundary with Germany, the occupation of itinerant teacher was established south of the new border for the purpose of strengthening, in conjunction with private tuition in Danishminded homes, elements of Danishness. Taking the activities of the itinerant teacher, Jørgen Jørgensen, as an example, we see how popular nationalism at grassroots level was just as clearly visible in games and woodwork lessons as it was in history and Danish. The concept of “folkelighed” was on a par with Christianity, and nationalist thinking was an indispensable part of the mental baggage that belonged to the period and to the area and was therefore a natural component of everyday activity. Jørgen Jørgensen made a very committed contribution. He was a firebrand, who devoted his life to itinerant teaching and his significance for local society can be compared to the earlier platoon commanders. His work can be seen as an example of the way in which the concept of “folkelighed” was acted out in practice. The article concludes with some thoughts on the subject of the concept of “folkelighed” in our day, which, however much its reduced emphasis on nationalist and Christian elements has made it less distinct, nevertheless remains in great demand.

Itinerant Teaching Using Mobile Classrooms

A special forum for individuals to respond in detail to material published in the New Outlook for the Blind or elsewhere, to present new ideas, or to raise issues which relate to the specialized field of work with blind and visually handicapped persons. Contributions should be 350-1000 words in length.