Research Guide 7.1: Examples of some school and local history sources
and resources from Victoria
The following examples from the state of Victoria may help you think about school and local
history sources and resources relevant to your school.
Types of school and local history
sources and resources
State of Victorian examples
Secondary sources on Australia’s
and other nations’ experiences of
the Great War
State-based histories including
references to the war
Many.
Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Nelson, Melbourne,
1984.
Michael McKernan, Victoria at War: 1914-18,
NewSouth, Sydney, 2014.
Regional histories
John McQuilton, Rural Australia and the Great War:
From Tarrawingee to Tangambalanga, Melbourne
University Press, Carlton South, 2001.
Local community histories
Olwen Ford, Harvester Town: The Making of Sunshine,
1890–1925, Sunshine and District Historical Society
Inc., Sunshine, 2001.
Education Department general
histories
L.J. Blake, ed., Vision and Realisation: A Centenary
History of State Education in Victoria, 3 vols.,
Education Department, Victoria, Melbourne, 1973.
Departmental histories related
specifically to the war
Education Department, Victoria, The Education
Department’s Record of War Service, 1914–1919,
Albert J. Mullett, Melbourne, 1921.
Teachers’ training college histories
Don Garden, The Melbourne Teacher Training
Colleges: From Training Institution to Melbourne State
College, 1870–1982, Heinemann, Richmond, 1982.
Individual school histories
(Catholic)
Clare Percy-Dove, Brynmawr, the High Hill: The Story
of Sacré Coeur, Glen Iris, 1886–1975, Sacré Coeur,
Glen Iris, 1976.
Kathleen Dunlop Kane, The History of the Christian
Brothers’ College East St Kilda, Christian Brothers’
College, East St. Kilda, 1972.
Individual school histories
(Government)
Adrian Jones, Follow the Gleam: A History of Essendon
Primary School, 1850–2000, Australian Scholarly, Kew,
2000.
Philip Roberts, Duty Always: The History of Ballarat
High School, 1907–1982, Ballarat High School,
Ballarat, 1982.
Individual school histories
(Lutheran)
Charles Meyer, Nurseries of the Church: Victoria’s
Lutheran Schools, Then and Now, Monash University
Publications, Frankston, 1996.
Individual school histories
(Private)
Weston Bate & Helen Penrose, Challenging Traditions:
A History of Melbourne Grammar, Australian
Scholarly, Kew, 2002.
Ailsa Thomson Zainu’ddin, They Dreamt of a School: A
Centenary History of Methodist Ladies’ College Kew,
1882-1982, Hyland House, Melbourne, 1982.
Departmental magazines for
teachers
Education Department, Victoria, The Education
Gazette and Teacher’s Aid.
Departmental magazines for
students; also used in some private
and Catholic schools
Individual schools’ or teachers’
training colleges’ magazines
Education Department, Victoria, The School Paper,
Grades III–VIII, 1896–1929.
Catholic boys’ – Xavier College, The Xaverian.
Government secondary – University High School,
Record.
Private boys’ – Scotch College, The Scotch Collegian.
Private girls’ – Presbyterian Ladies College, Patchwork
in Prose and Poetry.
Training college - Melbourne Teachers’ College,
Trainee.
Government school inspectorial
district magazines
The Gap: A School Magazine Produced by Teachers of
the Bairnsdale Inspectorate.
Widely used textbooks of the time,
more commonly in government
and private schools
Australian – William Gillies, Stories in British History
for Young Australians, Whitcombe & Tombs,
Melbourne, [191-].
British – H.O. Arnold-Forster, The Citizen Reader,
Cassell, London, n.d.
Books read and used by teachers in
the three school types during the
war
Australian – The Story of the Anzacs, James Ingram,
Melbourne, 1917.
British - Daily Telegraph et al, King Albert’s Book: A
Tribute to the Belgian King and People from
Representative Men and Women throughout the
World, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1915.
Books of a general kind for young
readers, published and read during
the war in the three school types
Australian – E.C. Buley, A Child’s History of Anzac,
Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1916.
British – Elizabeth O’Neill, The War, 1915-6: A History
and an Explanation for Boys and Girls, T.C & E.C. Jack,
Edinburgh, 1916.
Teacher biographies or autobiographies:
Home front female – Fairlie Taylor, Bid Time Return,
Alpha, Sydney, 1977.
Home front male – Felix Meyer, ed., Adamson of
Wesley, Robertson & Mullen, Melbourne, 1932.
Battle front – George F. & Edmée Langley, Sand,
Sweat and Camels: The Australian Companies of the
Imperial Camel Corps, Lowden, Kilmore, 1976.
Home and battle fronts – Brian Williams, Education
with its Eyes Open: A Biography of Dr. K.S.
Cunningham, A.C.E.R., Camberwell, 1994.
Biographies of significant others
Many.
Archival sources
Teachers’ career record.
Official correspondence between departments and
schools and vice versa; memoranda, letters,
photographs.
Official as well as unofficial correspondence between
members of school communities, including teachers
and former students on active service overseas.
Military histories:
War memorials and honour boards
in schools, Returned Services’
League buildings and memorial
buildings in local communities
War service records.
C.E.W. Bean, ed, Official History of Australia in the
War of 1914–18, 12 vols, Angus & Robertson, Sydney,
1921–36.
Brighton Primary School.
Caulfield R.S.L.
Mysia Memorial School.
School honour books
Neerim South School Roll of Honour, 1917
[photocopy], Centre for Gippsland Studies, Monash
University.