He justified the severity of the punishment by recalling the parting advice Irving gave him before resigning as headmaster: ‘Andrew, don’t flog rashly, but when you do flog, flog well, that you may not be required to do it again.’ The court did not agree with this parting advice, nor with the energetic way in which Andrew had interpreted it, and fined him £5.
Andrew emerged from the court house not as a villain but as a hero. The Argus condemned the court’s verdict in an editorial on 25 February 1876. Corporal punishment, it argued, ‘is even more necessary here than it is in the mother country, because domestic restraints are so much weaker in Victoria, and the physical and mental development of the young proceeds so much more rapidly.’ Letters appeared in The Argus, mostly praising Andrew.
Fathers of large families saluted him as the protector of morality in the young and the unjust victim of ‘the sneers of the evil-doers’. Many envelopes containing money arrived at the newspaper office to defray Andrew’s legal expenses, one man announcing that he bad collected a shilling from each of seventy men after a few minutes canvassing ‘Under the Verandah’ – the place in Collins Street frequented by speculators and merchants. And the final halo was placed over Andrew’s head by a signed address from some sixty school teachers and educationalists, offering him their sincere sympathy and approval.
Professor H. M. Andrew certainly enhanced his reputation in the eyes of the stern parents who thought he was perhaps too young and inexperienced.”
Lawrence Arthur Adamson, Headmaster (generally regarded as having a claim to be Australia’s greatest headmaster): “Adamson extolled good form, and popular opinion soon swung behind his attitude. The story went the rounds that a first offender declined to avoid a beating by pleading it was his first offence. Adamson highly approved this unnecessary acceptance of the cane and commended his individual victim. ‘Could anyone fail a man like that?’ asked a contemporary scholar.
Another story was told of a senior boy who defiantly walked through a door reserved for prefects. Although he was a senior boy, Adamson beat him. Later the boy said Adamson was right. Again there was vast contemporary approval that bad form had been punished.”
“Junior boarders were pleased to find the discipline in the senior house less strict than that to which they had been accustomed – though still strict enough by any other standard. Official discipline was enforced with lines and the cane. ‘The man who tanned the hide of us’ was the housemaster alone.”
Geelong College. This is a different school from Geelong Grammar, though the two have often been confused. Indeed, Geelong College has sometimes been accused of deliberately using the confusion to attract pupils – Geelong Grammar was a much more prestigious school in the late 19th Century (even though the College achieved better results academically) and again in the 1960s and 1970s (after Prince Charles spent two terms at the Grammar).
Historically, Geelong College has been the smallest of the great schools, and was the last of the six greats to be admitted to that grouping (in 1908).
Again, this history is older than I would have liked (1961), and contains very little information on corporal punishment. But what there is may be of interest still. I’ll be moving onto other schools now, hopefully ones where I can find more information – but I wanted to do the six great schools of Victoria first. The book is “The Geelong College: 1861-1961” by G.C. Notman, and B.R. Keith.
Dr George Morrison, Headmaster: “He was President of the Debating Society at the University, and there acquired the power of expression which later made his little homilies to erring Collegians such terrifying ordeals. Most of his pupils preferred his gentle canings to his impressive lecturings.”
Mr Charles Norman Morrison (son of the above), Headmaster: “At the same time he was a strict disciplinarian. That was a day when corporal punishment was accepted as normal by both the parties concerned.”
Mr A.H. MacRoberts, Vice-Principal: “It was fortunate that Mr. A.H. MacRoberts, another “Morrison man”, had returned from military service and was available to take the position of Vice-Principal. He was a history teacher and before the war had also been cricket master and first editor of “The Pegasus”. He changed from the quiet, almost jocular man, to be the stern ruler whom the new situation demanded. In matters of discipline his attitude was complimentary to that of Mr. Rolland. He was to some extent, the iron hand in the velvet glove.
While the Principal worries over finance or architecture or public relations, Mr. MacRoberts grappled with the problems of internal order. His weekly inspection of the boys’ records caused even bravest hearts to quail. As flagellator-in-chief he had a remarkable eye for multiple underwear. The fact that he found it hard to relax as the position improved is some measure of his sacrifice for the College when a show of strength was needed. To the last he loved cricket, and the boys who made a good score in a Public School match would possibly be called to “the bookroom”, not for the usual dread purpose, but to receive a ten-shilling note. Mr. MacRoberts remained Vice-Principal until 1938.”
