University of Melbourne

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HISTORY:

The study of history has been part of the curriculum of University of Melbourne ofMelbourne since it began teaching in 1854. The study of history, and the history ofUniversity of Melbourne (150 years of academic excellence), makes some fascinating reading.

University of Melbourne of Melbourne is as much a part of the City of Melbourne as its people.

University of Melbourne of Melbourne was founded very early in the history of the colony of Victoria, less than 20 years after Batman and Fawkner arrived and less than two years after gold commenced the dramatic increase of population and wealth.

University of Melbourne itself was a direct product of the gold rushes. It was made possible by the wealth of gold and was a demonstration of how important Victoria now saw itself. It was a conscious move by the raw and young community to cloak itself with some of the culture and sophistication of the parent country, and to assert its equality with Sydney whose university opened in 1852. Melbourne's University was also intended to be an agency of civilisation - to improve the moral character of the colony.

Like so much else in the new colony, University of Melbourne was a state facility rather than a private or church enterprise. To avoid sectarian influence and jealousy it was made a purely secular institution - forbidden to offer degrees in divinity, there were to be no clergy among its staff and the numbers of clergy on the Council were limited. Provision was made for the churches to establish colleges - but they were marginalised to the northern perimeter.

The legislation establishing University of Melbourne of Melbourne was introduced late in 1852 and passed early in 1853, making it older than all the universities in Englandexcept Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and London, and older than most in the British empire. Its foundation was principally the result of the efforts of three men - barrister Redmond Barry, colonial auditor-general Hugh Childers and Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe.

The foundation stone was laid in July 1854, and the first four professors arrived early in 1855. The building was not yet ready so classes commenced in April 1855 in the exhibition building in William Street. University of Melbourne building was occupied late in the year.

Initially there only four faculties, each with its own professor, four talented men attracted by high salaries. They were:

1.      WP Wilson (Mathematics)

2.      Henry E Rowe (Classics and Ancient History), who died soon after arrival and was replaced by MH Irving

3.      Frederick McCoy (Natural Sciences)

4.      WE Hearn (Modern History, Literature and Political Economy)

University of Melbourne commenced with 16 students, subsequently dropping to 11 before rising slowly over the next few decades. In part, the low numbers indicate that there was little demand in the colony for a university education and that there were few secondary schools able to prepare students for the matriculation examination. The small intakes stimulated a continuing debate between those who wished to cling to a traditional classics-dominated curriculum and those who argued for more utilitarian, profession-oriented courses. In 1857 law was introduced, in the early 1860s medicine and engineering.

Government of University of Melbourne was complex, consisting of a Council, a Senate and a Professorial Board. The first Vice-Chancellor was Hugh Childers, then still in his twenties, but in those years it was a much less important position than today. University of Melbourne was largely dominated by the foundation Chancellor, Redmond Barry, who held the position until his death in 1880.

In 1881 legislation made minor reforms to the University, including allowing for the admission of women. This confirmed a decision previously made within University ofMelbourne after a long and bitter battle. At first women were confined to arts, the first woman graduate being Bella Guerin in 1883. In 1887 women were admitted to medicine.

The contentious issue of the role of University of Melbourne was still being debated late in the century, especially in the 1890s because of depression cutbacks and falling enrolments. There was some broadening of courses in areas of engineering and the sciences, but matters came to a head when it was discovered in 1902 that Frederick Dickson, the Bursar, had been siphoning off large sums of University money and that it was effectively bankrupt. A Royal Commission was appointed, chaired by Theodore Fink, into the governance and operation of the institution. The recommendations led to a broadening into more utilitarian courses in such areas as agriculture, dentistry and education, and a restoration of funding. There commenced a major period of renewal in the first decade of the century.

From then until 1945, University of Melbourne played two principal roles. One was to provide professional training (now including commerce) for young men and women of the affluent classes, and occasionally offering the chance for poor but brilliant scholarship students to rise professionally and socially. (Gradually, too, a few women gained a foothold on the staff.) The other role was as a significant site for research, an activity which had emerged late in the nineteenth century but which grew increasingly important as the twentieth century advanced.

Significant reforms of university government in 1923 legislation reduced the significance of the Senate and made the Council more clearly the pre-eminent forum. However, there was the continuing problem that the first officer was a part-time unpaid Chancellor. Finally the first paid Vice-Chancellor, Raymond Priestley, was appointed in 1936 and succeeded in 1939 by John Medley.

Arguably the most important period for University of Melbourne commenced after World War 2. A rapidly growing demand for higher education transformed University of Melbourne of Melbourne from a small and elite institution which was far beyond the reach of most people in the community to a huge institution drawing from broadly across the population and offering instruction in an ever-increasing and changing range of courses, and which was now essentially Commonwealth funded. From the 1960s it was only one of a number of universities, and beyond them was a mounting number of competing tertiary colleges.

The 1980s and 1990s brought amalgamations with a number of those colleges, including the Melbourne College of Advanced Education and the Victorian College of the Arts, enhancing the university's role as a broadly based teaching and research institution.

In the late twentieth century, University of Melbourne of Melbourne maintains its pre-eminent position among Australian universities and is increasingly international in its outlook and its reputation. 1998 saw the establishment of Melbourne's private arm, Melbourne University Private.

Melbourne and its graduates will continue to grow in the esteem of future generations in the new century, always proud of its fine history but always aiming to lead the way in higher education over the decades to come.

• 150th Anniversary: 150 years of academic excellence and the remarkable individuals that have been part of University of Melbourne of Melbourne.
• Archives: historical information dating from 1853, compiled of print, image and reference materials.
• Collections As well as its museums, galleries and libraries, University ofMelbourne owns a number of other research and historical collections available to students, staff and the wider community. These include the University’s own archival records at University of Melbourne of MelbourneArchives.
• The History of University of Melbourne Unit is dedicated to fostering research into the history of University of Melbourne of Melbourne and maintains a program of seminars and an annual round of study grants.