Speech day and prize-giving, 18 December 1889

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 December 1889, p 5:

SPEECH DAYS.

ANNUAL PRIZE DISTRIBUTION AT THE HIGH SCHOOL.

The annual distribution of prizes and University certificates to the students attending the High School took place at noon yesterday, when the Minister for Public Instruction (Hon. J. H. Carruthers), who presided, made the presentations and delivered an address. The chairman called on the headmaster (Mr. Joseph Coates) to read the annual report.

Mr. COATES, who was well received, said:—

In thanking the Minister for Public Instruction for giving us a little of his valuable time to attend here to-day, I regret that our limited accommodation prevented us from inviting the parents and friends of the boys to meet us on this occasion. (Hear, hear.) This is not such an important occasion, with us as it is at some schools. We have no prizes to present, except a few special ones presented by myself and some of the other masters. I have always been opposed to the indiscriminate system of prize-giving as practised in many similar schools, and all that I would ask from the Department of Public Instruction under this head is that one dux prize should be given to each form. It is scarcely necessary for me to give a detailed review of the year's work, as the whole school was examined about two months ago by inspectors connected with the Department, and the result of this inspection will have already been embodied in a report and presented to the Minister. I may, however, briefly state that during the year 320 pupils have been in attendance, the highest number in one quarter being 246. At the University examinations this year 31 boys passed the junior, 6 the senior and 9 the matriculation examination, making a total of 46, which I believe is the largest number from any one educational establishment. (Applause.) Our most successful candidate in the junior examination was A. B. Davies, who passed in the maximum number of subjects, and obtained two silver medals; in the senior examination J. H. D. Brearley also passed in the maximum number of subjects (10), obtained the J. B. Watt exhibition and one medal, and H. O'Reilly obtained first-class honours in the matriculation examination. I would especially draw attention to the very satisfactory success which has attended our pupils in science subjects, especially physics, all the medals in this difficult subject having been carried off by pupils from this school during the last three years. (Applause.) I therefore strongly endorse Mr. Legge's application for a laboratory and improved apparatus. (Applause.) We have been accused sometimes by the heads of denominational institutions of being pampered by the State and of having money lavishly expended on this school. Now, the reverse has been our actual experience, and we have had to struggle for existence. Notwithstanding our miserable and insufficient accommodation, the school has gone on increasing in popularity and in numbers, and during the last five years upwards of 250 of our pupils have passed the various University examinations. (Loud applause.) There is one other very serious disadvantage with which we have to contend. Speaking generally, the parents of our boys cannot afford to keep their sons at school sufficiently long for them to enjoy to the fullest extent the advantages of a High School education, and we have to try and accomplish in two or three years what other schools do in five or six years. We had 246 boys on our roll last quarter, and in looking through our admission register I find that only 21 of those had been in the school a period of three years, whereas many of the boys with whom they have to compete are considerably older, and have been in attendance at the same school for seven or eight years. ( Hear, hear.) I have very great pleasure in testifying to the exemplary conduct of the boys, and to the excellent feeling which exists between masters and pupils. It has been the honest endeavour of myself and colleagues not only to import a high-class education to the boys who enter this school, but also to inculcate noble thoughts and principles, which will continue to exercise an influence after the boys leave school, and assist them in becoming good and useful citizens; and this, we try to impress upon them, is what the State looks for and has a right to expect. (Loud applause.)

Tho Hon. J. H. CARRUTHERS then distributed the certificates and medals, complimenting each boy upon his success, and urging him to maintain the honour of the school in the future.

The following is the prize and honour list:--Senior examination: J. H. D. Brearley, H. Seale, A. Green, S. Drummond, V. Clonting, C. Watt. Junior examination: A. B. Davies, W. J. Doak, F. E. Barraclough, H. Thornton, G. B. Sheridan, F. Pulsford, R. Wildridge, F. Harris, H. J. Renwick, D. H. Gilfillan, A. J. Merrington, E. H. Palmer, W. T. Farrell, J. Asplund, W. Nelson, W. J. Forsyth, A. L. Flashman, J. Houston, F. Pile, S. V. Hall, F. Shenstone, O. U. Nickless. A. Robbins, W. H. Cotter, E. Pole, H. Herborn, C. F. H. Broderick, F. Mance, H. Bower, H. Bowden, J. C. Lee. Medals: Senior examination—Gold medal, J. Brearley; silver medal (physics), Brearley. Junior examination—Silver medal, A.B. Davies; silver medal (geometry), Davies; silver medal (drawing), Davies; silver medal (physics), W. J. Doak. Prizes: Physics, senior, W.J. Doak, J. H. D. Brearley; junior, H. J. Renwick. German, C. N. Mell, F. Barraclough; classics, S. Drummond; mathematics, A. Green; English, A. Green; arts and sciences, H. Seale; junior examination, W. J. Doak; drawing, F. Shenstone, A. H. Davies, G. M'Knight. Honour certificates: Sixth form-A. B. Davies, J. Brearley, J. Stevenson; V. A—T. Muir, G. B. Sheridan, W. Liggins; V. B—W. Stevens, W. H. Cotter; A. C. Robbins; IV. A—O. U. Nickless, T. Bowmaker, D. Stewart; IV. B--J. B. Holdsworth, R. Farrell, S. Bryan; IV. C--G. Brentnall, J. M'Master, E. Sheedy; Remote—J. C. Irish, A. C. Hosie, G. T. M'Master; III. A—G. Montgomery, W. Fleming, A. Fletcher.

The Hon. J. H. CARRUTHERS, who on rising to speak was loudly applauded, delivered an address to the students. He said he was very glad to pay this his first visit to the Sydney High School. At the same time he could not fail to be struck with the inadequacy of the accommodation, and with the difficulties which surrounded the headmaster and the teaching staff in carrying on the operations of the school. It might afford some satisfaction to the boys and to their masters to know that the Parliament of the country had very generously appropriated the sum of £30,000 for erecting new High Schools, and that the Department had already purchased a large and valuable block of ground in close proximity to the Sydney railway station and right in the centre of the thickly populated metropolitan area. Plans were being prepared which would result in a short time in their having the operations of the High School carried on on a site and in a building worthy of the purpose for which they were in existence. (Applause.) He knew that the difficulties with regard to the accommodation and so forth were difficulties which reflected themselves in the actual results of the school, inasmuch as if there was not a proper laboratory they could hardly expect the studies of physics and chemistry to keep pace with the times. He therefore hoped that in the near future--great and glorious as the past had been--the Sydney Public High School would rank high and far above all other schools in New South Wales as shown by the success of its scholars. (Applause.) Their headmaster had spoken of a charge made against those schools of being pampered at the expense of the State; but he (Mr. Carruthers) knew very well that this school was almost self-supporting; it hardly cost the country a single pound to carry on its operations. So far as this view of the matter is concerned there could be very little in the charge hurled against it. They were not pampering these schools by State aid, but he was determined so long as he held office that every assistance which could be given to carry out the system of public instruction in its integrity with regard to high schools should be rendered. He thought that when a system of State instruction, State supervision, and State inspection, without respect to class or creed, was carried out with the aim of affording instruction to our lads, the system should be carried on with vigour, with energy, and without reproach from anyone. Only within the last few days they had heard their public school system denounced, not outright, but by innuendo. Men occupying high clerical positions; who dared say very little against them openly, were coming forward and telling them that they were brooding atheism and other things inimical to the welfare of the people. He would like these attacks made in plain language, then he, as Minister for Public Instruction, would show that by their system of public education--so far from doing what it was alleged to be doing--they were raising up here day after day, as was proved by the moral and criminal statistics and other records, a nation which was being improved in its life blood in every respect. He desired to say very little on this subject, as it was not his nature to be in contention with any class in the community; but it was only yesterday that they heard from a high clerical authority something about the general tendency of the State schools to promote discord. He asked the lads present if there was anything in the training of this school which tended to alter their faith in their Creator, to sap their religious beliefs, to make them less moral in their behaviour, less godly in their notions, and less worthy as the rising citizens of this country? They knew that the lads they had sent forth from these schools had done, and were doing, noble work for the colony; and they knew further that no charges could be raised against these institutions, which had done much to elevate the moral, religious, and general tone of the citizenship of the country. (Applause.) As the head of the Education Department, he said the results of this system of public instruction were such as could not be condemned. More than that, they were determined to carry it on in the future with vigour in spite of all opposition and condemnation. (Applause.) Having alluded to the fact that the late Dr. Badham and other eminent men had honoured the Sydney High School by their presence in the past, he addressed a few words of advice to the students, urging them to act as men, and to do their duty fearlessly and honestly in life. In conclusion, he begged them to strive to make the world better than they found it, and to go forth from this school with a burning desire to do good for the country of which they were citizens, and to reflect honour upon the school in which they obtained their education. (Loud applause).

Cheers were then given for the Minister and for the headmaster, after which Mr. Carruthers acceded to the request of the boys to grant them an additional week's holiday.

See also The Daily Telegraph, 19 December 1889, p 6.