Philanthropy and the provision of technical education in Victoria 1860-1940

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Education.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. The hardcopy may be available for consultation at the UTS Library.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. ----- The aim of this thesis is to determine why technical education was so generously supported by a number of philanthropists in Victoria during the period 1860-1940 and to only a lesser extent in the other Australian states. The thesis looks initially at Australia overall before focusing upon Victoria, the field of philanthropy in general during this period is explored, the development of both general and technical education is outlined and the lives of the philanthropists involved are investigated. These aspects are set within the political, economic, social and cultural milieu of the period 1860-1940. It is largely an historical hermeneutic study; reviewing the literature in these three major areas and discussing the issues that surfaced. In relation to specific topics, quantitative surveys were also undertaken to determine the extent and value of philanthropic benefactions, the establishment of educational institutions particularly technical colleges and the lives and backgrounds of the philanthropists. The thesis endeavours to describe, analyse, identify, interpret and discuss the contributions made by major benefactors to vocational education in Victoria in the period between 1860 and 1940 within this overall framework. The thesis focuses on philanthropy as a particular phenomena and its links with society and technical and vocational education of this era in Victoria, drawing parallels with other colonies and states. It addresses the research questions from a point of view of how to understand and explain philanthropy in vocational and technical education. The primary purpose of the thesis is 'understanding' so there is a need to look critically at historical interpretations of philanthropy to see how they can provide a better understanding of social and cultural values and endeavours to relate social policy directly to the philanthropy of a given era. 1bis thesis is not just a journey into the past; it is an examination as to why, within a specific period, some persons found it incumbent upon themselves to organise and financially support technical education in Victoria. It pays belated tribute to these philanthropists who gave so much to technical education but whose contribution has never really been adequately acknowledged and the memory of whom has almost gone. It also attempts to record the 'unhonoured army' whose combined efforts in lesser ways were of tremendous importance to the development of technical education