Scotch College, Melbourne

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Scotch College, Melbourne

• Educational

Scotch College is an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, providing education from preparatory to senior school.

The school was founded in 1851 by the Presbyterian Church of Victoria on the initiative of the first settled minister of the Presbyterian Church in the State, the Reverend James Forbes. Under the first Principal, Mr Robert Lawson, it was initially known as The Melbourne Academy. At this time, the school occupied a small house in Spring Street in the City of Melbourne.

For further information about history, see https://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/about/history.aspx

The Scotch College Archive and Museum were founded in 1985 under the direction of inaugural archivist, Geoffrey Samuel Tolson (1985-92), who undertook the task of gathering together information stored in various places around the school, as well as calling on the Scotch Family to donate relevant material.

Subsequent archivists have been Richard Rankin Briggs (1993-2006), Dr Colin James Mitchell (2006-11), and, since 2012, Paul Alexander Mishura (assistant archivist 2008-12).

Initially housed in a temporary timber building erected in World War II, the Scotch College Archive and Museum are now housed in two old brick houses, with several displays of museum material on display in different parts of the school.

Scotch College is a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act 1961 (Vic), operating under Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Articles provide that “the College and the business, affairs and property thereof shall be managed by a council to be called Scotch College Council (“the Council”). The members of the Council shall be the Directors of the College”. (See https://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/about/the-council-of-scotch-college.aspx)

Officer in charge: Archivist

The history and heritage of Scotch College and all members of the Scotch Family, eg students, teachers, past students, parents, non-teaching staff, benefactors, council members and other related people.

Material offered for donation is assessed on an individual basis, with consideration given to relevance to Scotch and/or its people, existing holdings, condition, and space constraints.

Scotch College holdings include:

• Biographical database, 1851- present (over 38,000 entries)
• Photographs, c1870- present
• Admission registers, 1857-1996
• School history, 1851- present
• School staff, 1851- present (incomplete)
• Attendance registers, 1857-1959
• Ledgers, 1857-1934 (incomplete)
• School magazines (complete), 1877-81, 1884-85, 1904- present
• Museum items including uniforms, badges, badged goods, classroom furniture and equipment, etchings and paintings, teaching aids, and sporting equipment.

Finding aids: The Mishura Biographical Database, with entries dating from 1851 to the present, has over 38 000 entries and is an important tool for finding specific information about a person associated with the college. It is continually expanded and improved, and has a file for every current student and Old Boy, with partial records on past and present staff members, School Council members, benefactors and any other person related to Scotch College (such as architects and artists). The database contains:

• Reconstructed admission records, 1851-1857
• Full admission register information, 1857-1904
• Key admission register information, 1905-1997
• Key admission file information, 1998- present
• Index references to school offices, sports team membership, catalogued items, photos, life stories, war service records and other information
• Biographical information checked against Birth, Death and Marriage, cemetery, probate and other records, with notes including a precis of over 25 000 hard copy files.

Contact the Archivist to ask for a search of the database. In some circumstances access to historic entries may be granted to visiting researchers.

The archives catalogue contains over 7 000 items and continues to have existing and new items added to it. Contact the Archivist to ask for a search of the database. Researchers may also search it in the Archives.

The Sir Thomas Ramsay Collection of antiquarian books, manuscripts and artifacts is catalogued, with over 20 000 items.

Contact the Archivist to ask for a search of the database. Researchers may also search it in the Archives.

Publications:

• First Hundred Years, Scotch College, Melbourne 1851-1951 (1952) by George Harvey Nicholson (ed.) gives a very detailed account of the first century.
• A Deepening Roar, Scotch College Melbourne, 1851-2001 (2001) by Dr Colin James Mitchell, is a more interpretive account of Scotch’s history, adding some details to the first century, and an account of aspects of the third half century.

Open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
Closed school summer holidays.

Except in exceptional circumstances, visits should be arranged by contacting the Archivist. Unannounced visitors cannot be guaranteed that they can be accommodated.

Topics and the purpose of the research are required to be advised. Access to records is dependent on the type and age of the record, and some access may require authorisation by the Principal or Bursar.

General reference assistance is available by phone or email. Detailed research services are available for a pre-paid fee, conducted by volunteers with the oversight of the Archivist.

Copying services available.

Revised 6 May 2018

• Education (Thematic area)
• Religion (Thematic area)