Business Management / Commercial Studies
The rapid expansion of the railway system in the early 1900s called not only for skilled tradesman, but also for skilled office personnel. Shorthand was a highly recommended subject for railway cadets to learn.
‘...Stenographers are to be found on every hand in all the branches, but there is still room for more’ proclaimed the Railways Institute Prospectus of 1908. Western Australian Railway Gazette, Vol VIII, No 95, 20th June, 1908, PP3-4.
Shorthand was first offered at Midland Junction Technical School in 1908, along with classes in Bookkeeping. Shorthand teachers registered with the firm Sir Isaac Pittman and Sons, to keep them in touch will all the newest ideas and methods. The Instructor at the School was Mr W.P. Minchin who also taught Bookkeeping along with Mr L. Facius. Shorthand students learnt from The Pittman Instructor and were tested on speed and accuracy in the annual Technical School Examinations.
The names of scholarship winners, who became exempt from fees the following year, were published in the Technical School Annual Report. The first scholarship winners in Shorthand at Midland Junction Technical School were G. F. Hall and D. MacKinnon and the first in Bookkeeping were A.L. Alderson, R. Dewer and C.R. Tucker(Cecil). Cecil Tucker later applied his training in developing one of the most successful businesses in Midland Junction and has left his namesake in Tucker’s Arcade. Emma Bates, a Bookkeeping scholarship winner of 1910 was one of the early graduates from Claremont Teachers College.
Stenographers were in demand by a range of local businesses. Eunice Buttsworth who won a scholarship in Shorthand in 1915 worked in her family’s extensive newsagency and haberdashery in the heart of Midland Junction.
Leila Burrows, a Shorthand student at the School in1918 gained employment in the office at Padbury’s, a large department store in Guildford, where she worked until her marriage.
Shorthand and Bookkeeping were offered as part of the Continuation subjects, along with Public Service and Commercial English. From 1911 until the Depression, students over the age of 14 could attend technical schools for one year to study a range of general subjects that would lead into more specific trade or commercial training. (Andrews, C Report Upon Educational Organisation Perth Govt Printer 1912, pp 38-41). Miss A. S. Richards, one of the first students who studied Shorthand and Bookkeeping as part of her Continuation classes, went on to win a scholarship in the mainstream courses of Shorthand and Book-keeping.
Typewriting was another highly sought after skill for employers in the early 1900s. The first Remington typewriter with its own typewriting room was installed at the School in 1910 and Jasmine Mayhew was the instructor. By 1912 there was still only one typewriter available for five students. Despite the shortage, Miss V. Brown, Miss L. Bridson. Miss E. Anderson and Miss E. Bacon successfully completed Typewriting Preliminary. By 1919 an advanced course in Typewriting was being offered, but by 1924 the equipment that was once ‘state of the art’ was no longer suitable.
"The
typewriting machines are very old and obsolete in design. Both instructors and
students would very much like to have at least one new and up-to-date machine,
so that those doing advanced work could receive instruction on the latest style
of typewriter. Students going to work in offices from this school are greatly
handicapped when they are expected to make good on an up-to-date model. If
possible, I trust the school may next year have the benefit of a better type of
machine than those in use at the present."
This request continued to be made in every report for the next five years.
Women’s participation in the workforce significantly increased after World War 1, but during the Depression many felt the social pressure to give up their jobs for men. Office work however largely remained the domain of women. In 1938 Bessie Rischbieth a staunch advocate for women’s rights delivered the following statement to the Royal Commission on Youth Employment.
Girls in this work (Commerce) are usually expected to have a good all round knowledge of office routine – shorthand and typewriting, bookkeeping and be able to operate the telephone switchboard and various machines, which the modern offices are equipped. These girls, who in a short time become invaluable to their employers, rarely receive more than 50 to 54 per cent of the salaries being paid to men working the same hours under the same conditions on jobs that are similar.
During World War 11 women took over many of the clerical positions at the Midland Railway Workshops. However in the post war years railway cadets being trained for administrative positions were mostly men. Shorthand was still considered a necessary skill when Kevin Mountain, who later became a timekeeper at the Midland Workshops began his cadetship with the Western Australian Government Railways.
During the 1950s those wishing to complete the Junior Certificate who hadn’t been able to complete it at school were offered evening classes in Commercial Methods and Bookkeeping. For those wishing to complete their final school exam, the Leaving Certificate, English and Accountancy were offered. Mainstream evening classes were conducted in Bookkeeping and Accountancy 1, Commercial Law A, Accountancy 11, Shorthand Theory and Speed and Typewriting,
When Maureen McSweeny first taught the Commercial course at Midland Technical School in 1963 it was very popular and graduates were highly sought after by local businesses. The Pitman Instructor was still the main student text for Shorthand, but by the 1970s the idea that all office staff should learn this skill was waning. The Certificate in Commercial Studies was divided into two streams of clerk typist and shorthand typist. Other subjects included Arithmetic, Commercial Calculations, Bookkeeping, Audio Typing, Office Practical and English.
Girls were encouraged to wear frocks, stockings and nice shoes and they had their hands inspected as lecturers tried to ‘turn them into ladies’. Personal development included deportment and mock interviews conducted by the local bank manager.
The Technical Education Division struggled to keep up an adequate supply of Commercial teachers and retraining was offered to those with a business background. When Isobel Watt was suddenly widowed with five young children she was able to complete a refresher course in Bookkeeping at the Old East Perth Girls School. She then went on to replace Dott Ross as senior lecturer from 1968-73.The shortage of Commercial teachers continued through the mid seventies, prompting long term Lecturer, Myrna Mueller who had originally trained as a Latin teacher to retrain in Commercial subjects. For many years Myrna taught Accounting which was an area mainly dominated by men. By the late 70s there was a severe lack of facilities, so classes for Accounting were being delivered at the local high school.
While the seventies was the era of the electric typewriter, the eighties was the era of word processing through a personal computer. Word processing courses at what was now called Midland College drew large groups of high school students, clerical trainees and local business employees.
I
n 1986 Maureen McSweeny, who had returned to Midland, planned the office practice centre for the new training facilities at Lloyd Street. The Practice Firm has continued to evolve to the present day, allowing students to integrate practical skills with theory components of the course.Self-paced learning with cumulative assessments replaced the more rigid exam system during the eighties. In 1993 Office Administration was one of the first sections to implement competency-based training and assessment in Western Australia. Another first was achieved with the implementation of the 2001 Business and Services Training Package. A broader range of skills including Management, Human Resources and Marketing have been included with the training package which relies on industry based learning projects.
Courses specifically in Marketing and Management have been offered at Midland since the mid nineties when Business Management was transferred from the Central College in Perth. Accountancy is included under Business Management and a strong focus is now given to specific Accounting and Taxation software programs.
Thanks to Isobel Watt, Ellen Bradley, Maureen McSweeny, Myrna Mueller and Ron Leppard for assistance with this article.