The University of Melbourne: Foundation and Early Teaching

The establishment of the University of Melbourne involved several stages: a budget proposal, legislation, the creation of a governing organization, and the start of teaching. In 1852, Hugh Childers, Auditor-General of the colony of Victoria, included £10,000 for a university in his first budget. Together with Attorney-General William Stawell, he drafted a bill and helped secure its passage through the Legislative Council the following year.

In the table of statutes in his 1855 almanac, Andrew Murray listed the Act to Incorporate and Endow the University of Melbourne as Act No. 34, dated January 22, 1853. The accompanying institutional directory named Judge Redmond Barry as Chancellor and Childers as Vice-Chancellor. The participation of financial officials, members of the judiciary, and the legislature provided the university's initial organizational foundation.

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After its establishment, the university received an annual grant of £9,000 from general revenue. This recurring appropriation was distinct from the £10,000 in the preparatory budget. Government support enabled the university to maintain teaching appointments and instruction, while also creating a very direct institutional connection with the colonial government.

The first Council was appointed by proclamation on April 11, 1853, and initially exercised both rule-making and executive functions. The constitution also provided for a Senate of graduates, but it did not begin operating immediately. Only in 1867, after the number of graduates holding the specified higher degrees reached one hundred, was the Senate formally constituted by proclamation. It then began to make regulations and elect members to fill Council vacancies, among other duties.

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On July 3, 1854, Governor Charles Hotham laid the foundation stone for the university buildings north of central Melbourne. Plans included professors' residences and lecture rooms for students. The university now had a governing organization but did not yet possess a complete set of teaching premises. Completion of the buildings and legal establishment cannot be assigned a single date.

A formal opening ceremony took place on April 13, 1855. The first sixteen students enrolled at the Exhibition Building in William Street, with the entrance examination waived on that occasion. Classes continued there for the following months. Hotham did not formally open the university's own buildings until October 3. The transition from temporary city classrooms to the new campus was one of the practical circumstances shaping its earliest teaching.

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The first professors were selected by a committee in Britain and their appointments then confirmed by the university. Henry Erskine Rowe was responsible for Greek and Latin classics and ancient history; William Parkinson Wilson for pure and applied mathematics; Frederick McCoy for natural science; and William Edward Hearn for modern history, modern literature, political economy, and logic.

These teachers reached Victoria in late 1854 and early 1855, but Rowe died on February 5, 1855, and his replacement, Martin Irving, did not arrive until July 1856. The existence of four founding chairs therefore does not mean that all four holders were continuously teaching together when the university opened. The Professorial Board, which first met on February 21, 1855, comprised the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and professors, and dealt specifically with studies and discipline.

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The curriculum encompassed classical languages, mathematics and the physical sciences, natural science, and knowledge of modern society, but the relative standing of these fields remained unsettled. Drawing on contemporary correspondence and debates, Selleck notes that Barry insisted on Greek and Latin as important requirements for admission and Bachelor of Arts studies. Hearn and Wilson objected in 1855, fearing that compulsory classical study would impede other subjects and student recruitment.

Teaching in law, medicine, civil engineering, and other fields began progressively in the late 1850s and the 1860s. By the 1870s, law and medicine had acquired separate faculties with deans. An early university in which a few professors covered a broad range of courses gradually developed an organization of professors, deans, and subject lecturers. The connections between degree awards, professional training, and occupations in society consequently became increasingly concrete.

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The university's intellectual resources extended beyond the classroom. Its 1879 chronicle recorded that the library had accumulated a substantial collection, including books donated by other universities, scientific and literary societies, and individuals. Instruments, diagrams, and specimens used in mathematics, natural philosophy, natural science, and medical teaching had also accumulated over the years. Arranging books by teaching field helped bring these resources from outside the university into everyday study.

Examinations connected the university with the wider community. Before 1870, civil service examinations were administered by bodies with no fixed membership or timetable. Responsibility subsequently passed to the university, which used subjects from its matriculation examination, with English and arithmetic compulsory. Public examinations and degree examinations did not confer the same qualification, but their shared organization and examination material extended the university's influence beyond its enrolled students.

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The university's non-denominational character did not prevent religious bodies from establishing affiliated colleges on adjoining land. Records from 1879 show that the Anglican college was already operating and the Presbyterian college was under construction. These colleges supplied accommodation and tuition, while the university retained its own teaching organization. Selleck observes that, in practice, the principles of public provision, secular education, and selection by merit remained connected with the aim of educating men to lead society.

A shortage of space also persisted. Examinations were held across lecture rooms, the temporary library, and students' rooms, increasing the burden of invigilation. In his 1874 letter offering a donation, Samuel Wilson proposed a hall that would provide a venue for examinations and degree ceremonies. The early university's expansion thus involved more than adding new professional subjects: it also meant soliciting private funding, adding shared facilities, and adapting the conditions under which it operated beyond government grants.

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