NRS-16572 | Punishment Book [Brushy Hill Public School]

Regulations under the Public Schools Act of 1866, adopted by the Council [of Education] 27 February 1867 regulated the punishment of children in schools by stipulating: “In the government of the pupils, all degrading and injurious punishments are to be avoided. The Teacher’s discipline must be mild but firm, his manner kindly, his demeanour cheerful and calculated to gain the confidence of his pupils, and his language marked by strict propriety. While he should overlook no offence, his aim should be to prevent the necessity for punishment by the improvement of the offender.”In relation to corporal punishment the regulations continue: “Corporal punishment should be inflicted in extreme cases only, and then as a last resource; and the teacher must keep a record of the time and place at which pupils were corporally chastised, the amount of such punishment and the nature of the offence.” Uniform stationery soon evolved to enable compliance with these regulations. This punishment book is a register of all cases in which corporal punishment was given to pupils. The information it details includes: the pupil’s name; age; nature of offence; amount of punishment (i.e. number of strokes); the instrument of punishment (invariably the cane); the date of the punishment; and by whom the punishment was inflicted.The single volume now comprising this series (there may have been an earlier volume covering the years 1880-1885) was originally the punishment book of Brushy Hill Public School, which ceased operating at the beginning of 1940. It is noticeable that the frequency of corporal punishment at Brushy Hill falls off significantly after 1899; thereafter it is by no means uncommon for three years or more to pass without any cases occurring.From 1956 to 1960 this volume was again being used to record corporal punishment inflicted at Aberdeen Primary School.