The 'Queensland School Reader'
Textual Constructions of Childhood in 1930s and 40s Classrooms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600006437Keywords:
'Queensland School Reader', early school experiences, Queensland childrenAbstract
The Queensland School Reader series occupies a special place in the childhood memories of many Queenslanders, evoking mixed reactions from those who used them. The Readers were significant because in Queensland schools they were used, virtually unaltered, for close to fifty years. They were central to the early school experiences of at least two generations of Queensland children - central because for many years other sources of reading material were scarce - particularly in isolated areas. Consequently, teachers based much of their teaching on the Readers which, in turn, were carefully “rationed” out in small doses to ensure that they lasted the allotted time. Other sources, such as The School Paper, were used as supplements but textbooks were in short supply, particularly during the Great Depression and war years.
References
Thanks to Janine Collins and Kaye Nunan for assistance with aspects of historical research conducted for the study, and to Allan Luke and Daphne Meadmore for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter. Most of the texts analysed are part of the collection of Queensland University of Technology's One Teacher School Museum.
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Holthouse, H., Looking Back, The First 150 Years of Queensland Schools (Brisbane: Queensland Education Department, 1975).
Fitzgerald, Ross, From 1915 to the Early 1980s. A history of Queensland (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1984), p.141.
The Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader. Book I. (Brisbane: State Printing Office, 1914), p.iii.
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Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T., Reading Images.
Logan, G., “Irish, Royal and Red, the story of Queensland's School Readers”, The Educational Historian 2, 3 (1989).
Logan, “Irish, Royal and Red”, pp. 1, 7.
Royal Commission of Inquiry into Educational Institutions, Report with Minutes of Evidence QPP, 1875, p. 49.
Logan, “Irish, Loyal and Red”, p.7.
Queensland Education Journal, February, 1915, p.200.
Logan, “Irish, Loyal and Red”, p.7.
Holthouse, Looking Back, p.157.
Connors, Libby, “The Fonnation of Character. Queensland Schooling in the Inter-war Period”, B.A. Honours Thesis, History Department, University of Queensland, 1984, pp. 157–158.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Minister's Annual Report, 1944 (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1945), p.10.
Connors, “The Fonnation of Character”.
Phillips, J., “Death, discipline and duty. The world of the school readers”, The Educational Historian 2, 1 (1989): 1, 7.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, The State Education Acts, 1875 to 1900, together with the Regulations of the Department, General Instructions for the Guidance of Teachers and Others and Appendices, (Brisbane: Anthony Cumming, Government Printer, 1908) Schedule XII, Preface, p.52.
Queensland Department Public Instruction, The Syllabus or Course of Instruction in Primary Schools with Notes for the Guidance of Teachers, (Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer, 1914) p.6. [Hereafter The Syllabus]
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The Syllabus, pp.iv–vii.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader, Grade II, (Brisbane: David Whyte, Queensland Government Printer, 1939), p.viii. [Hereafter Grade II Reader]
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Amendment to Course of Instruction in Primary and Intermediate Schools (Brisbane: David Whyte, Government Printer, 1938), p.ii.
The Syllabus, pp. 2, 18.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader, New Series. Grade I, (Brisbane: A.H. Tucker, Queensland Government Printer, 1942), p.iii. [Hereafter Grade I Reader]
Syllabus Notes Committee of the South Coast Inspectoral District, Teachers' Companion to the Grade VI Reader (Brisbane: H. Pole and Co., 1937), p. 4.
Clarke, E., “Australian content in school curricula: an historical view”, Quest 40 (1986): 12–15.
Clarke, “Australian content in school curricula”, p.13.
Phillips, J., “Death, discipline and duty. The world of the school readers”, The Educational Historian 2, 1 (1989):7.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader. Grade IV (Brisbane: David Whyte, Queensland Government Printer, 1936), p.162. [Hereafter Grade IV Reader]
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader. Grade V (Brisbane: David Whyte, Queensland Government Printer, 1937), p.58. [Hereafter Grade IV Reader]
Grade I Reader, p.81.
Grade I Reader, p.80.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader. Grade III (Brisbane: A.H. Tucker, Queensland Government Printer, 1944), p. 86.
Grade I Reader, p.18.
Grade I Reader, p.12.
Grade I Reader, p.23–25.
Grade I Reader, p.56.
Grade I Reader, p.39.
Grade I Reader, p.81.
Grade I Reader, p.25.
Grade I Reader, p.41.
Grade I Reader, p.60.
Grade II Reader, pp.8–9.
Luke, A., “The secular word: catholic reconstructions of Dick and Jane” in The Politics of the Textbook eds. de Castell, S., Luke, A. and Luke, C. (London: Falmer Press, 1989), pp.245–260.
Queensland Department of Public Instruction, Queensland School Reader. Preparatory 3 (Brisbane: A.H. Tucker, Queensland Government Printer, 1947), pp.42–43.
Syllabus Notes Committee of the South Coast Inspectoral District, Teachers' Companion to the Grade VII Reader, (Brisbane: H. Pole & Co., 1937), p.4. [Hereafter Teachers' Companion to Grade VII Reader]
Teachers' Companion to Grade VII Reader, p.4.
Syllabus Notes Committee of the South Coast Inspectoral District, Teachers' Companion to Grade V Reader (Brisbane: H. Pole & Co., 1939), p.4. [Hereafter Teachers' Companion to Grade V Reader]
Teachers' Companion to the Grade VII Reader, p.4.
Teachers' Companion to the Grade V Reader, p.4. My italics.
Teachers' Companion to the Grade VII Reader, p.5.
Syllabus Notes Committee of the South Coast Inspectoral District, Companion to the Grade III Reader (Brisbane: H.Pole & Co., 1946), pp.4–5. [Hereafter Companion to Grade III Reader]
Queensland School Reader. Grade III, p.7.
Companion to the Grade III Reader, p.7.
Companion to the Grade III Reader, p.8.
Grade III Reader, p.8.
Connors, “The Formation of Character”.
Syllabus Notes Committee of the South Coast Inspectoral District, Teachers' Companion to Grade VI Reader (Brisbane: H. Pole & Co., 1943) p.4.
