Bishop Hale was as ‘anxious as his fellow Australian bishops to develop leadership within the community he was called to serve, by founding a suitable school to which leading families could send their sons’. (de, Q Robin, 1982)
Whilst in England for his consecration in 1857 he began looking for a school master; the school opened on 24 June 1858 with twenty-three pupils. Initially known as Bishop’s college and later as the Church of England Collegiate School, it was the first secondary school in the colony. (Bishop Hale’s School 1930)
The school was located on St Georges Terrace with Bishop Hale buying the land and buildings which made up the original school.
‘The syllabus was heavily weighted on the classical side… designed to give the student both a sense of heritage with Christian values and the capacity to think and express himself clearly’. (de, Q Robin, 1982)
The school continued to operate with the financial backing of Bishop Hale until March 1872. In a letter to his daughter, Hale remarked
You will be sorry to hear that the collegiate school, after all the labour, anxiety and money I have spent on it, has come to an end. There is no such thing as convincing the people that education pays….the parents won’t use the school, so its no use to keep it struggling on’.(de, Q Robin, 1982)
Bishop Hale was also involved in establishing a girl’s school under the leadership of Mrs William Knight and Miss Cowan. The school also suffered from financial difficulties and was closed in 1871.
Bishop Hale’s achievements in Education extend beyond the establishment of schools. He was a member of the Board of Education serving the cause of community education (de Q Robin, 1976). “The highest claim that can be made for him is that he was the father of secondary education in Western Australia. The least that can be said is that he was willing to match his educational ideals with money and personal effort” (de Q Robin, 1976)
References
Bishop Hale’s School. (1930, June 28). The West Australian https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/33352512?searchTerm=bishop%20hale%20school
Robin, A.deQ. (1976). Matthew Blagden Hale the life of an Australian Pioneer Bishop Hawthorn Press.
Robin, A.deQ. (1982). Matthew Blagden Hale: Father of Secondary Education. In Fletcher, Laadan (Ed), Pioneers of Education in Western Australia (pp Chapter 2 39-64) University of Western Australia Press.
Williams, A E. (1989). West Anglican Way, Province of Western Australia of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Reprinted from August 2021 Messenger