NRS-17237 | Visitors' Books [The Junction Public School]

The Public Instruction Act, 1866 authorised special religious instruction by visiting clergymen and their delegates (Public Schools Act, 1866, s. 19), and regulations under the Act authorised members of the public to visit schools during ‘the hours of secular instruction’ to observe teaching methods, teaching material and equipment (Regulations adopted by the Council of Education on 27 February 1867, s. 84-85). The regulations required every teacher to keep a visitors’ book ‘in which visitors may enter their names and if they think proper any remarks. Such remarks the Teachers are by no means to erase or alter.’ (Regulations … s. 86).The purpose of the visitors’ book was to create a record of the persons other than pupils or teachers who attended the school during business hours. Visitors’ books were divided into three columns – date, name and remarks. The remarks usually recorded the purpose of the visit which included religious instruction (by far the most usual purpose for visiting a school), school inspection, medical inspection, departmental officers visiting on business e.g. to inspect the buildings or equipment, and guest speakers. Occasionally visitors (particularly Inspectors) remarked briefly on the conduct or the ambience of the school.The series from The Junction Public School consisted of separate volumes for the Girls’ and Boys’ Departments. The overwhelming majority of entries in both of the Girls’ Department volumes, and in the first of the Boys’ Department ones, are the signatures of clergy and church-workers visiting the school in order to provide religious instruction to the pupils. After March, 1961, however, clergy signatures in the later Boys’ Department volume cease, making it seem likely that this division of the school may have maintained a separate Visiting Clergy Book after this time.An addition to the later Boys’ Department volume, at the end of the section covering 1958, is a letter of appreciation to the visiting clergy from the Headmaster, stapled to the last page of entries for that year.Of the small number of non-clerical visitors who appear in these volumes, the most frequent are Police Lecturers. Inspectors of Schools, though doubtless visiting the school on a regular basis, have signed only thrice, each time being accompanied by another visitor. Physical Education instructors visited the Boys’ Department on two recorded occasions, in 1943 and 1957, although, once more, it is likely that there were other, unrecorded visits. Health and Temperance Instructors visited the Boy’s Department in 1945 and the Girls’ Department in 1946, and an officer of the Aborigines Welfare Board was at the Girls’ Department in December, 1950.Other visitors to the school, of a non-official nature, included two sergeants of the Royal Marines in July, 1945, the captain of the Australian Olympic team in April, 1961, and a party from the Australian-Soviet Friendship Society in December of the same year. In October, 1960 the school observed its centenary, and some of the old pupils who attended on that occasion have added their names and, in two cases, the year of their attendance. There is also a record of visiting teachers from Tonga (June, 1941) and the Philippines (August, 1960). The signatures of all these have been entered in the Boys’ Department volumes.

1866年《公共教育法》（Public Instruction Act, 1866）授权来访神职人员及其代表开展专项宗教教学（参见《公立学校法》1866年版第19条）；该法案下属的条例则允许公众成员在“世俗教学时段”内到访学校，观摩教学方法、教材与教学设备（1867年2月27日教育委员会通过的条例第84-85条）。上述条例要求每位教师留存一本访客登记簿，“访客可在此登记姓名，若有意愿亦可填写评论。教师绝对不得擦除或修改此类评论”（该条例第86条）。

访客登记簿的设立目的，是记录非学生与教师身份、在工作日到访学校的人员信息。登记簿共设三栏：日期、姓名与评论。评论栏通常会记录到访目的，包括宗教教学（为最常见的到访缘由）、学校视察、医疗检查、部门官员因公到访（如检查校舍或设备）以及特邀演讲。部分访客（尤其是学校视察员）会简要评论学校的校风与环境氛围。

Junction公立学校（The Junction Public School）的该系列登记簿分为女子部与男子部两部独立卷宗。女子部两部卷宗以及男子部首部卷宗中的绝大多数条目，均为前来为学生开展宗教教学的神职人员与教会工作人员的签名。但1961年3月之后，男子部后期卷宗中不再出现神职人员的签名，这表明该校男子部或许在此时之后仍单独留存了访客神职人员登记簿。

在男子部后期卷宗中，1958年部分的末尾附有一封校长写给来访神职人员的感谢信，该信件被装订在当年登记条目最后一页的背面。

在这些卷宗中为数不多的非神职访客中，最常见的是警务讲师。学校视察员虽无疑会定期到访该校，但仅留下三次签名，且每次均有其他访客陪同。体育教师曾两次到访男子部，分别为1943年与1957年，尽管同样可能存在其他未被记录的到访记录。健康与禁酒讲师分别于1945年到访男子部、1946年到访女子部；1950年12月，原住民福利委员会（Aborigines Welfare Board）的一名官员到访了女子部。

该校其他非官方访客包括1945年7月的两名皇家海军陆战队（Royal Marines）中士、1961年4月的澳大利亚奥运代表团团长，以及同年12月的澳苏友好协会（Australian-Soviet Friendship Society）代表团。1960年10月，该校庆祝建校百年，部分返校校友参与了此次活动，他们在登记簿上留下了姓名，其中两人还标注了当年的入学年份。此外，登记簿中还记录了1941年6月来自汤加（Tonga）以及1960年8月来自菲律宾（Philippines）的来访教师。上述所有访客的签名均登记在男子部卷宗中。