Ewing House School for Deaf Children (School No. 4834)

Full description

Ewing House School for Deaf Children (School No. 4834) (VA 5307) was founded in August of 1950 by a committee made up of four parents, following a visit from Sir Alexander Ewing, a Professor at Manchester University, England, and his wife, Dr. Irene Ewing.  

Ewing House School for Deaf Children went on to provide education and some residential services for deaf children. The school was situated in Wendouree, Ballarat and operated from 1950 – 2003.

Following the Ewing visit in August of 1950, four parents came together to form what would become the Victorian Committee for the Promotion of Oral Education to the Deaf.  During the Ewing visit, a teacher was offered a scholarship to train in Manchester. Recognising the need for more trained teachers, by October of the same year, the committee had sent two more teachers to Manchester for training.

By 1952, the formation of the initial parent committee soon brought inquiries and requests for assistance and land was purchased in Wendouree, Ballarat, on the North side of Lake Wendouree. With the assistance of a treasury grant obtained by the Minister of Education, the Honourable J.G. McDonald, the school began construction of three classrooms, a playroom, a test room, and office.

In 1958, a principle was appointed, and the Victorian Committee Education Council approached the Education Department (VA 714) with a proposal to take over the school's operations. This transition led to the election of the first school committee in 1959. That same year, the school’s hostel was opened by Sir Henry Bolte, the Premier of Victoria. The event marked the arrival of the first matron, accompanied by five children and an assistant.

In 1963, additional buildings were acquired, including a house on Gregory Street, which was repurposed as a second hostel. However, by 1967, enrolments began to decline due to the introduction of the Visiting Teachers program in Victoria which allowed children who were considered capable to complete their education in "hearing schools”.

In 1968, the Education Department (VA 714) designated Ewing House School for Deaf Children as an official training school for teachers from the Glendonald School for Deaf Children (School No. 4683; VA 3955), providing them with the opportunity for practice teaching rounds. 

Ewing House School for Deaf Children closed in 2003 and the Ballarat Deaf Facility was established with the relocation to purpose-built rooms at Forest Street Primary School (School No. 4936) and Ballarat High School (School No. 7540).