The third decade 1920-1929
| Post war years |
| New opportunities |
| The need for new training |
| Midland Junction Technical School's role in the lead up to the Depression |
Student Profiles Industry Profiles Conditions of entry to classes in 1920 Staff for 1920
In September 1920 James Mitchell the Premier of Western Australia planted a grape-vine at Herne Hill in the Swan Valley to mark the opening of a returned soldiers land settlement scheme. The vine, called Optimism, symbolised the beginning of the decade that followed ‘the war to end all wars’. A Royal tour by the Prince of Wales on a royal coach fitted out at the Midland workshops reassured Australians of their ties with Britain and the Commonwealth. In Midland Junction, the tour was commemorated by gold medals, which were given to the Councilors by the Councilors, even though the train didn't stop. Several years later the Duke of Glouster's visit was equally supported.
Commemorative photograph of the Duke of Gloucester's visit.
(Front and Back of the photo) Photo courtesy of Ray Till.
Prime Minister Billy Hughes (5th from left) with Premier James
Mitchell (Centre).
Photo courtesy Battye Library.
Western Australia was promoted as ‘the land of
opportunity’ during much of this decade by many different groups -
immigration agents seeking to satisfy their quotas; trade unionists seeking to
secure the utopia that Australian servicemen had fought for; politicians and
businessmen seeking investment; and educationalists trying to inspire
educational pursuit. The Railways also promoted opportunities for career
advancement in the form of night school. When the Diploma of Engineering was
offered through Perth Technical School, most of the first graduates were
railway employees. Percy Ffarington, who became the Officer in Charge of
Midland Junction Technical School in 1920 gained his qualification in this
way. 
However despite the
strong encouragement apprentices received to 'better themselves' not everyone
availed themselves of the opportunities. 
(Click on these pictures to enlarge)
In the era of radio and the talkie pictures there were many ‘distractions’ available for young people. In a presentation at Midland Junction Technical School in 1926 parents were warned not to give their boys too much pocket money which they might spend at the local entertainments.
Motor cars and aeroplanes captured the imagination of the public to an even greater extent. Fabulous flights and new motor car purchases were regularly featured in the newspapers.
At the same time there was a strong community
determination not to forget the War. The Town Hall clock was erected on the
dome of the Council chambers and dedicated to the memory of the town’s
fallen soldiers. A statue of ‘Peace’ was erected at the Railway Workshops
to remember former employees who had died during the war, many of them also
former students at the Midland Junction Technical School. In 1924
advertisements in the local paper reminded Midland Junction residents of the
next fortnightly meeting of the local branch of the Returned Soldiers, Sailors
and Nurses Imperial League. In the same paper notification by the Commonwealth
of Australia advised all male persons who were born during the year 1909 to
1910 to register for military training or risk being fined £10.
Wheat and sheep farming was the main focus of the State at that time. With teams of horses still playing a key role in farming techniques, Blacksmithing was introduced at the Midland Technical School in 1921. Land to the east and north of the town was subdivided for soldier settlement farms, and since the relocation of the Abattoirs in 1914, the town had become an ideal centre for rural supplies. Local businesses such as Padbury’s Store in Guildford catered for all sorts of farming needs, and in turn created employment for Technical School graduates in Commercial subjects such as Accounting, Typing and Shorthand. The Commercial side of the technical school was expanded with the introduction of Commercial English in 1924. Complaints about the lack of typewriters were still being made. Shorthand, which was widely studied by railway clerks as well as those seeking secretarial positions was the ‘must have’ language of the day. It was so popular that a Royal Commission report on technical education in the State in 1921 questioned whether the economic conditions of Western Australia called for an army of nearly 2,000 shorthand writers a year.
The
Royal Commission had been set up to look at extending the training of youth to
provide industries with skilled workers necessary for their development and
maintenance. Germany’s lead in science and technology was still being quoted
and there were concerns to lift the economy which was still suffering from the
costs of the War and repatriation schemes.
The Report questioned several issues including the criteria by which the number of trade apprenticeships was limited to prevent a ‘superabundance of workers’. In a political debate on the subject of the lack of apprentices, trade unions were blamed for denying boys the right to learn trades. Reference was made to the iron trade unions and the Midland Junction Workshops. Other speakers in the House rejected these claims and blamed employers for limiting the number of apprentices. (Parliamentary Deb WA Vol. 69, 1923 pp 1862-1863)
The building trade particularly was lacking in apprentices and concerns were raised that there would be no skilled tradesman in the future. Woodwork classes were extended at Midland Technical School at this time. They were conducted at the Woodbridge House School.
The importance of attending technical school to learn
the theory part of a trade was widely acknowledged by the 1920s. Students at
the Technical School were often reminded of the advantage they would receive
before the Board of Selectors. In 1926 Apprenticeship Regulations made it
compulsory for apprentices to attend technical school at the employer’s
expense and in the employer’s time.
Also under criticism from the Royal Commission into Technical Education at that time was that training for wage earning should be the priority of free education and that anyone who was not training to enter industry should pay for their full instruction. The Report found that women students far out-numbered men. Cecil Andrews, the Director of Education strongly rejected the validity of the figures and also defended the role of technical schools in supporting home-making, ‘the largest single industry in the world’... ‘It cannot be said that classes which render the women of the community more efficient in their life work are to be considered of no value to the State...’
At Midland Junction a new Home Management Centre had been set up at the old teachers quarters on the State School site in 1910, combining cooking and laundry facilities. Girls who would otherwise leave school when they reached 13 or 14 were encouraged to attend the centre. One of the important aspects of home management was learning to be thrifty.
Financial insecurity was never far from the surface
during the twenties. Strikes were more prevalent and strikers were treated as
though they were disloyal to the ideals of society. High inflation and
extensive immigration, which impacted upon the number of jobs, created
tensions. Non-British immigration had always been seen by the Unions as a
threat to job security, just as non-white labour had in the years prior to the
White Australia Policy. It was to this environment that many of the displaced
people from all parts of Europe came. Italians in particular made their home
in the Swan Valley and many got jobs with the railways.
Reminders of Western Australia as a British colony were everywhere in the lead up to the centenary of settlement in 1929. Street parades, balls, Punch and Judy shows, cricket matches and church services were all part of the celebrations. But the Great Depression that hit at the end of the decade provided a sharp contrast to these festivities.
The most affected industries were agriculture,
building and the railways. Midland Junction was particularly affected. Though
Midland Junction Technical School continued to operate, the shortage of funds
at that time is apparent from letters and other records. Many employees at the
Workshops were retrenched. Single men were laid off first. Young men from all
over the State poured into Blackboy Hill camp – this time not to train for
war but to work for sustenance relief. By the end of the decade there were
more than 5000 unemployed men living at Blackboy Hill in tents and hessian
humpies. They were mostly employed making improvements to the John Forrest
National Park or on local roads. Poverty and hardship was widespread during
the Depression and it was not until several years into the next decade that
the State began to recover.
