The second decade 1910-1919
| Midland Junction Technical School: a modern training institute. |
| Wartime implications. |
| Continuation Classes |
| A new home with the Railways Institute |
| World War I |
| After the War |
Newspaper Articles Student Profiles Scholarship Winners 1910 Director's Report 1911 Director's Report 1914 Students 1915 Staff 1916 Exam Results 1916 Staff 1917 Staff
By 1910 the modern technological era was ready to explode.
As this next decade unfolded telephones became common place, aeroplanes took to the skies
and motor
vehicles largely replaced the horse and cart. These changes created new
industries, which called for new levels of training. A basic primary education was no longer seen as adequate for economic progress.
In the lead up to WW1, it became apparent that the might of Germany was based on the technical training of its workforce. As early as 1903 the Director of Technical Education Alex Purdie had ‘hoped that our colonial system of Technical Education may come to compare favourably with even the much vaunted German scheme’. Photo Courtesy Battye Library
Community interest was echoed in this 1910 newspaper article from the local Swan Express.
‘The point need not be laboured that the youth with a knowledge of the technical side of the iron trades, for instance must have an incalculable advantage over one who is ignorant even of the methods by which the breaking strain of the materials with which he works may be arrived at.’
Midland Junction Technical School was rapidly establishing itself as a modern
training institution within the region. Rail transport was still the town’s
major industry, and a large portion of the students were railway apprentices.
The Government Railways had set an example to other industries in 1908 by
releasing apprentices for day classes. The move not only boosted attendance at
Midland Junction Technical School - it lifted its status in the broader
community. The arrangement between the Railways’ and the Technical School was
often quoted by educators, unionists and politicians alike in their attempts to
gain day release training for apprentices in other industries. Photo Courtesy Battye Library 225.251P
While improved training of trade apprentices was considered one of the keys to economic advancement, continuation classes in the evenings for those who had entered the workforce were seen as an essential bridge towards technical training in industry and commerce. Most students still left school at the primary level and did not have an adequate general education, particularly in mathematics.
The Director General of Education, Cecil Andrews wanted to make it compulsory to attend these classes. He was concerned that ‘youths feeling a freedom of restraint when they leave school can readily fall into undesirable ways of occupying their spare time, and in the process forget much of what they have been taught at the State Schools’.
Home-making was the other main reason for introducing continuation classes. Andrews believed that "if attendance were compulsory for all girls who might leave school before 16 ‘it might do much towards the improvement of our national life’."
‘National interest’ over ‘individual rights’ was at that time the
subject of much debate. On the international front, tensions were mounting with
the build up of naval warships by Britain and Germany and the conflict in the
Balkans. Australia, as a loyal supporter of Britain, introduced compulsory
military training of cadets for youths between the ages of 12 and 18. At first
this scheme was widely supported. Andrews saw it as being beneficial in bringing
boys under compulsion and discipline and preparing them for his proposed
compulsory evening classes, which he believed would prevent them from ‘degenerating
into lazers and unemployed’. Photo Courtesy Battye Library
By 1912, parents and boys were being prosecuted for failing to register, and an organised campaign against compulsion was mounted. The concept of, ‘training children for war’ was resisted by many groups, while unionists argued that boys from working class families who had to hold down jobs as well as attend drills were penalised. The local paper in its review of classes at Midland Junction Technical School in 1913 highlighted the impact of military training for students. Photo Courtesy Battye Library
"In the continuation classes for instance, the Education Department makes it a condition of free instruction that three subjects should be taken. This necessitates attendance at school on three nights of the week, which is quite as much as a youth can be reasonably expected to give to serious work. Attendance at military parades demands either further inroads on his spare time or else interrupts the continuity of his studies, which is manifestly undesirable."
|
|
|
Picnic day for
Continuation students |
Continuation classes at Midland were set up in 1911 in Cookery, English, Geography, History and Needlework. By 1913, thirteen continuation subjects were being offered - further increasing student numbers and stretching the resources of the Technical School. Community agitation had been growing for some time to secure a separate technical education building - conditions had long been inadequate in the State School building. Shared classrooms were hampering State School classes as well as technical classes and a lack of special facilities was preventing some technical courses from being run.
On 17 June 1910 it was reported in the Swan Express that, 'A deputation from the Midland Junction Council waited on the Minister for Education a few days ago in order to urge the erection of a technical school at Midland Junction at an early date.’
However, according to the paper: 'The Minister for Education in the course of a sympathetic reply, regretted that the state of the finances would not permit him to place a sum on the Estimates for the erection of the school during the current year.'
Community pressure and political lobbying continued. The Midland Junction Railway Workshops had also been calling for their own Railways Institute building for recreational and instructional purposes. Negotiations began to provide a shared resource. Finally on Friday March 1, 1912 the following announcement appeared in the local paper.
NEW RAILWAY’S INSTITUTE AND TECHNICAL SCHOOL
TO BE ERECTED IN MIDLAND JUNCTIONAmongst the proposed works shortly to be undertaken by the Government is the providing of a two-storey building in the workshops’ yard, to serve the purpose of Railway’s Institute and Technical School, the entrance to which will be both from the main road and from the yard.
By May 1914 the local paper proudly proclaimed its opening. Midland Junction Technical School had its own classrooms on the top floor of the building shared with the Railways Institute. Twelve classes in all were being taught to approx. 150 students. The day classes for the apprentices of the Government railway and Midland Junction Railway Workshops involved between 110 to 120 youths. At the opening, the Minister for Education passionately heralded the role of education in solving the problems confronting the world: ‘Not in the smoke of conflict, nor the clashing of arms, was the conquest of the world to be accomplished, but in the training and the disciplining of the mind’.
But three months later "education" became a forgotten issue. Germany invaded Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany. Australians were pledged to defend the mother country to ‘our last man and our last shilling’. A recruiting camp was set up at Blackboy Hill on the York Road near Midland. This became the main training ground in Western Australia for troops being sent overseas. Young men reported for military duty immediately, including large numbers of railway employees. In 1915 the Railway Workshops were described by Premier Scadden as ‘a prolific recruiting ground’.
Other railway employees supported the war effort at home -part of the Railway Workshops were converted into a munitions factory where explosives and heavy artillery were manufactured. Military Service and the long working hours required of the remaining railways apprentices greatly impacted upon the Technical School. War time rules and restrictions became part of daily routines and every day the newspaper published photographs of those who had lost their lives. Sometimes there would be pages of them.
As the war progressed compulsory conscription for overseas service was advocated from many quarters. ‘Every fit man is wanted’ the Sydney Bulletin proclaimed in the issue of 12 August 1915. One of the arguments against compulsory conscription was that a withdrawal of man-power from industry would destroy living standards and labour organisations. After much debate that created bitter divisions within political and church groups and Australian communities generally, Labour Prime Minister, Billy Hughes presented a Referendum. The rhetoric for and against was fierce and so were the threats of the repercussions from both sides. While the overall outcome of the referendum was a ‘no’ vote, more than double the number of West Australians voted for conscription than against. In 1917 another Referendum on the issue was presented, and once again rejected.
After that the number of volunteers dramatically decreased but the number of casualties continued to rise. By the time the war ended in 1918 every community had a long list of those who never returned. Midland Junction with its workshops and technical school was no exception.
Slowly but surely things returned to normal but they were never as they had been. Social structures were forever changed. Young women outnumbered young men and class barriers had been greatly reduced. During the war Britain’s Prime Minister Lloyd George had talked about ‘a land fit for heroes to live in'. Returned servicemen expected a better deal for the working man. In filling the gaps left by the men who went to fight, women had been exposed to new roles and independence. Expectations for a greater share of the labour market were created, which in turn influenced training.
By 1919 classes at Midland Technical School included the following subjects:
 | French (two nights) |
| Art (Light and Shade Model Freehand, Design and Painting) |
| Typewriting ( First Grade and Advanced) |
| Shorthand (Theory and Speed) |
| Millinery (Household Management) |
| Bookkeeping |
| Dress cutting (Household Management) |
| Accountancy (1st, 2nd and 3rd years) |
| Elementary Mathematics |
| Elementary Carpentry (Woodwork) |
| Woodcutting (at Guildford Grammar School) (Woodwork) |
| Car and Wagon Building (Woodwork) |
| Mechanical Drawing (1st, 2nd and 3rd years) (Engineering) |
By the end of the decade support for increased training in science and technology became even stronger - especially in the wake of Germany’s effective U boat and mustard gas campaigns. The need to produce new weapons of war stimulated scientific research which was later applied to industry. Chemicals, electrical goods, glass production and the output of aircraft began to assume a new importance which carried over into the post war years.
