Melbourne State College Project
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The Melbourne State College Project
After many years I have been looking at the current state of
teacher training in the state of Victoria I have been
looking back at times when the quality of training was of a
much higher standard than it is today. The former Melbourne
Teachers College, located on the site of Grattan and
Swanston Streets in Carlton, [now the University of
Melbourne], was a beacon in the training of teachers for
both classroom and in the case of the music department,
instrumental teachers. Other departments taught in all the
major facets of teachers required for Victorian schools.
After four years students graduated as fully qualified
teachers with a Batchelor of Education.In the visual and performing arts, this included Sculpture, Ceramics, Drama, Costume, Design, Music, Metalwork, Painting, Film and Television and Printmaking. Other departments taught Science, Physics, Mathematics, and Physical and Outdoor Education. A campsite was even set up at a remote location outside Noogee in the Gippsland area.
You can see some of the facilities that were available to music students in the newly constructed Arts Centre in 1974 below. Cutbacks to education funding saw the whole music department being dismantled by the University of Melbourne once it had taken over the site. Only a few staff were transferred to the University of Melbourne and the loss of teacher training knowledge was considerable.i
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| Equipment Installed in
a Student Listening Room There was a cassette player, Reel to Reel tape recorder, amplifier and turntable. Students were often supplied with 'listening tapes' which they could utilise this space to hear if they did not have access available at home. |
One of Four Consoles
Set Up in the Lecture Rooms Lecturers were able to replay material from a number of different sources including Reel to Reel, Cassette tape and disk. |
This site had been set up to try and find ex students and staff from the old Melbourne Teachers College, and the various names it had since, such as State College of Victoria [Melbourne], Melbourne College of Advanced Education, and Melbourne State College. If you have been either a student or a staff member of this college, please get in touch with me. I am interested in your experiences as either a staff or students [and in some cases both!] of this once great teaching institution.
Please use this link to send me an email and I will get back to you with further information on this subject.
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Tim Robinson Last Updated: September9 2025 |