The Armidale Teachers' College is a heritage-listed former tertiary college at 122–132 Mossman Street, Armidale in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by the New South Wales Government Architect and built from 1928 to 1931 by the NSW Public Works Department. The property is owned by the Government of New South Wales, and currently managed by NSW Crown Lands pending a permanent manager. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 8 November 2006.
History Armidale Gaol In July 1859 the Armidale jail was proclaimed, in the following year a tender was called for the construction and the facility received its first prisoners in 1863. The jail served the northern tablelands as the major prison until it was disestablished in 1920. The jail was allowed to fall into disrepair until the mid-1920s when the Government examined the possibility of housing sexual offenders in the facilities. This led to panic amongst nearby landholders, many of whom sold their properties. Nothing became of the plan and the jail was still disused in 1927 when the site for the new teachers' college was selected. David H. Drummond, minister for education, was determined to remove all evidence of the jail before the teachers' college was constructed, wanting no association between the two, and on 10 February 1928 it was decided to demolish the building. The jail was demolished in 1929 and the bricks were used in the foundations of the new college building, thus inadvertently retaining a physical association, despite Drummond's intentions.
Armidale Teachers' College
The political factors leading to the construction of the college illustrates the complex role of government and administration. The first steps in establishing a teachers' college in Armidale commenced when David Drummond, then the Progressive Party's member for the Northern Tablelands, arranged for a delegation to meet with the minister of public instruction, to put forward a proposition concerning a university college in Armidale.Belshaw 1979, p. 37 The government was resistant to the decentralisation of services and unwilling to spend money on a new teacher's college.
In October 1927, a NSW Coalition State Government was formed between the Nationalists and Country Party (formerly the Progressive Party) and David Drummond became Minister for Education on 18 October 1927. This partnership gave the Country Party enough power, for the first time, to spend money on country areas. Official approval for construction of an Armidale teachers' college was given at a meeting of the NSW State Cabinet on 13 December 1927 and on 30 December the establishment of the college was officially announced.
David Henry Drummond was born in Sydney in 1890 and, after a period of time as a ward of the State, he became a farm labourer in 1907 and then moved to Inverell as a farm manager. It was in Inverell that he became active in the Farmers and Settler's Association. This Association had pushed for improved country education facilities since 1895.
The membership of the Farmers and Settler's Association, his lack of education and his support for public education informed Drummond's views. The Queensland Northern Separation Movement, campaigning for improved education in the region north, was a further influence. Agitation by the New England New State Movement had led to the formation of the Cohen Commission into the New States in 1923/4. Some of the commission's recommendations included the creation of a country teachers' college, an external teaching university and greater local influence in education. Drummond was particularly influenced by evidence from William Holman, who stated "before you can have decentralisation you must first teach the teachers".Elphick 1989, p.9 Historian Belshaw believes that it was probably Drummond, drawing inspiration from the commission, who coined the phrase "A Country College for Country Kids" and certainly used it effectively.Newling 1973, p.66 in Belshaw 1983, p.51 It was Drummond who influenced the concept of country teachers' colleges and universities, written into the policy speech and presented at West Wyalong on 13 September 1927 by Country Party Leader, Ernest Buttenshaw. Drummond's appointment as Minister for Education in the first National-Country Party coalition was therefore not surprising. The college's establishment within five months of the election bears testimony to the power of the Northern interest groups and Drummond's ministerial influence. The main interest group influencing the site of the teachers' college was the New State Movement, of which Drummond was a founding member.
The New State Movement (NSM) was, as Elphick (1989, p. 11) explains it, "a political expression of the emotional belief held in the country areas that "N.S.W." stood for "Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong," and that the way to beat the power of the metropolitan areas was to separate from the parent state." The NSM never had enough power on its own to achieve its political goals, rather it relied on members being elected under the auspices of other political parties, mainly the Country Party, and furthering their goals through that party. Drummond was an executive foundation member of NSM, along with the Federal Member for Cowper, Sir Earle Page. Drummond and Page conferred on a number of projects to improve services and infrastructure in the region.
Drummond was keen to get the college operational as quickly as possible and thereby advance his New State agenda. Drummond saw the establishment of a teachers' college as the first step in the eventual creation of a University, a necessary piece of infrastructure for the New State to have. He was in office only five months before announcing the establishment of the college on 30 December 1927. Sydney Teachers' College was overcrowded and was unable to meet the demand for trained teachers. Drummond used this to his advantage, rushing the decisions through the political process.
Christmas delayed the appointment of the principal, Cecil Bede (C.B.) Newling, after whom the centre was later named, until 13 January 1928. Newling was a well-respected principal, students called him "Pop" and ex-students kept in contact with him, sending the letters telling of their exploits since leaving college. Today these letters are housed in the Heritage Centre, University of New England Archives.
Despite Drummond's haste, he did not want the college to be seen as the second rate and wanted to ensure that country students were given the same opportunities and facilities as those in Sydney. He was determined that the teachers' college should be a first-class training institution. In a Parliamentary debate on 5 December 1930, he said: "my policy in regard to the Armidale Teachers" College was that no student who passed through it should have any fear of reproach on the ground that it was a college less developed than the great Sydney Teachers' College'. Drummond rejected the government architect's suggestion that the extant jail is modified for use as a college and refused to stand down until demolition of the building was approved. He did allow some of the bricks to be reused, for a saving of 8000 pounds, so long as they were used out of sight – either in the footings or rendered. To save on time, Drummond instructed the Government Architect to base the plans for the college on the Sydney Teachers College (1925), altering them where necessary to take into account local conditions and experience with the Sydney building.
Construction began in 1928 and Drummond kept a close eye on the progress. He made several changes to the plans during the construction including authorising additional funds to slate the roof, rather than galvanised iron and to decorate the interior. As part of his commitment to providing the best possible facilities, the Gymnasium was designed with special care and professional advice. Colonel Alderson of Victoria Barracks in Melbourne was called in as an adviser. The Duntroon Military College Gymnasium, considered the best of its type at the time was the model on which the Armidale unit was based. Among other features, it was fitted with a specially mounted floor on elliptical springs to cushion impacts.Elphick 1989, p. 25
The first intake of students arrived in 1928 and lessons were held in a two-roomed weatherboard cottage known as "Siberia". Half of the college was ready for the class of 1930 and the building was fully completed in 1931. Drummond came under increasing and significant pressure regarding the funds spent on the college, given the economic depression. Even his local constituents, who had been happy to accept the building contacts, grumbled about the waste of money. Possibly as a consequence, there was no opening ceremony for the building, although two had been held during the centre's construction, one to mark the laying of the foundation stone and the other an Inaugural Ceremony to mark the first intake of student teachers.
The theme of celebration, however, dominates the history of the college. The first Easter Reunion was introduced in 1932, during the Great Depression. Officially and unofficially, it lasted for generations. No student was allowed to go home for Easter because the Reunion was regarded as an official function. Students from throughout New South Wales returned usually by train to their alma mater.
The teachers' college sought free plants from Canberra's Yarralumla Nursery in 1934 – applying for trees for their then-bare grounds. They were unsuccessful. The Yarralumla Nursery started a free plant scheme under Thomas Weston which grew from its local neighbourhood to the entire nation in the 1920s, often supplying members of Parliament. These often gave the plants to their electorates across Australia.Coltheart, 2013, 14
The tragic events of World War II dominated the life of the college. The students enlisted numbered 570, along with five lecturers and two gardeners. Of these, 68 students and two lecturers were killed.Elphick 1989, p.87 Deaths of students and staff members were acknowledged at college formal assemblies, parents of those college servicemen and women were invited to attend the Memorial Services dedicated to remembering those who had fallen. For parents who could not attend, the assemblies were sometimes broadcast on 2UD radio. The Friday Assembly became a regular feature of college life during the war and was refined as the casualty lists grew and more students were killed. During the War, plans were made for appropriate memorials. It was at the 1946 Easter Reunion that the first volume of the Book of Remembrance was unveiled. The second permanent memorial, gates at the main entrance to the college from Mossman Street, were unveiled by C. B. Newling at the 1949 Easter Celebrations, held on the 15 April. A memorial rosemary hedge is situated at the top of the main driveway leading from the memorial gates. Other memorials include a timber war service Honour Roll, unveiled in 2003.
The college was also used as a repository for the storing of works of art and artefacts during the height of the war. It was only after the war ended that Principal Newling informed the college deputy principal, the Armidale and NSW communities that treasures from the Mitchell Library and the National Art Gallery of New South Wales were stored in the college basement.
The college had an unusual involvement in World War Two. Under the leadership of manual arts lecturer H. W. Oxford, a group of college men won national fame making model aeroplanes for training the armed forces in the recognition of hostile aircraft. As a result of requests from the War Effort Coordination Committee, Oxford was released from duty at the college in May 1942 to manufacture a total of 1080 planes for the war effort.