Queensland, Australia, School Admission Records, 1860-1992

About the QLD School Admission Records, 1860-1992

General collection information

This index contains the names of pupils who attended schools in Queensland, Australia, between 1860 and 1992. More than 1,200 schools are represented in the index, ranging from large city schools to one-room rural schools. The index includes students' names and the schools they attended. Many sources include information about the students and their families.

Using this collection

This index of records may include the following information:

A dash or "?" indicates that a name was not given or cannot be deciphered.

If you're researching First Nations Australian family members, you probably won't find them in this collection. Now referred to as "the Stolen Generations," many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly taken from their families. In many instances the cultural identity of children placed in schools has been lost. These institutions were separate from public schools and aren't represented in this collection.

Collection in context

The database that supports this index was created by Queensland Family History Society Inc. The information it contains was taken from primary historical sources, including school admission registers, school histories, and publications about significant school anniversaries. The original documents are housed at the society's library and resource centre in Gaythorne, Queensland.

In 1860, the Education Act centralised control of primary education in Queensland under the control of the Board of General Education, while the Grammar Schools Act supported the construction of schools for communities that raised the equivalent of about AU$100,000 today for the project. The first national schools of Queensland were opened in Brisbane in 1860, and the first local school was established in Ipswich three years later.

The Education Act of 1875 provided for free and compulsory education at public schools starting at age 6, but the compulsory provision wasn't fully implemented until 1900. The first high schools in Queensland were opened in Warwick, Bundaberg, Charters Towers, Gympie, Mackay, and Mount Morgan in 1912. That same year, the age when a pupil was allowed to leave school was raised from 12 to 14.

Bibliography

Logan, Greg and Eddie Clarke. "State Education in Queensland: A Brief History." Department of Education, Queensland. Accessed June 3, 2022. https://rest.neptune-prod.its.unimelb.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/14745479-efd1-5b4d-b808-61c42c6ea6c9/content.

Queensland Family History Society. "Queensland School Pupils Index (QSPI)." Accessed June 3, 2022. https://www.qfhs.org.au/resources/qld-school-pupils-index/.