AGY-3623 | National Fitness and Physical Education Branch

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In 1937 the Department of Public Instruction decided to proceed with the organisation of physical education on a statewide basis. At this time greater recognition was being given “to the national importance of a high standard of physical fitness among peoples, and measures for promoting the standard of physical education are being taken by every progressive country…The Department aims at bringing school physical education activities into harmony with those of outside organisations.”(1) A Physical Education Advisory Committee was set up, complete with sub-committees and advisory groups, in order to make recommendations to the Minister.(2) The State Council for Physical Fitness was then constituted in 1939, replacing the earlier Advisory Committee.(3) The Council’s function was to promote physical fitness in the general community and advise the Education Department on physical education in schools. In 1938, a Director of Physical Education was appointed and in 1939 the Department of Public Instruction established the National Fitness and Physical Education Branch (also known simply as the Physical Education Branch).(4) Throughout 1939, physical education within schools was expanded and extended to embrace sections of the general community.(5) As a result, the National Fitness and Physical Education Branch was responsible for physical education within schools and for physical fitness outside the schools. The responsibilities of the Physical Education and National Fitness Branch were the supervision of physical education throughout schools, conducting weekly and vacation swimming schools, the organisation of training courses in Physical Education, and liaison with the school cadet corps.(6) The Branch was also responsible for National Fitness Camps located (in 1961) at Broken Bay, Commodore Heights (Pittwater), Lennox Head, Midway Cabins (Hawkesbury River), Narrabeen Lakes, and Myuna Bay and Point Wolstoncroft at Lake Macquarie. The camps were maintained for school and vacation camping, training camps and as recreational and training centres for sporting and youth organisations. Programmes provide instruction in recreational activities, swimming, field-work, bushcraft, craft work, and social education. In 1955, following a policy to extend educational services to the community, school gymnasia were made available to sporting and youth groups for educational and recreational activities after school hours.(7) The Physical Education and National Fitness Branch also conducted play centres in co-operation with local government authorities in either school grounds or public parks. The play centres provided the following activities for children aged five to fifteen: sports, craft, singing, stories, art, and excursions. The Branch organised classes on how to play, coach and administer various sporting activities in order to assist groups who wanted to establish clubs or associations aimed at the encouragement of healthy recreation. The Branch also conducted leadership courses and conferences on sport, recreation and physical education. The Branch also provided the following ancillary services to approved sporting organisations: film and book libraries, pamphlets, advisory service, sports directory, and a meeting room.(8) The Physical Education and National Fitness Branch and the National Fitness Council became closely associated. The Council was funded by the Commonwealth Government and its responsibilities included subsidising training programs in Universities, advising the Minister for Education on the development of physical education and recreation programs, stimulating and initiating programs on physical education and youth leadership, and undertaking a public relations role.(9) The Department of Education allocated funds towards the encouragement of national fitness for the first time in the budget for the financial year 1941-42.(10) For the 1943-44 financial year, national fitness is listed in the Budget Papers as a separate section under the Department of Public Instruction.(11) In the early 1950s, a revised Physical Education curriculum was introduced. The activities of the Branch expanded, attendance at school camps increased, and the Holger-Neilsen resuscitation method was introduced to many schools. A record number of students attended weekly and vacation swimming classes. The National Fitness and Physical Education Branch was also responsible for establishing vacation play centres during summer vacations at schools, show grounds, sports grounds and recreation halls throughout the state.(12) In the early 1960s, the Director of Physical Education was responsible to the Director-General of Education and the Minister for Education for carrying out the approved departmental policy. The Director of Physical Education was assisted by the two positions of Deputy Director and Assistant Director of Physical Education. The Senior Administrative Officer of the National Fitness and Physical Education Branch, who was in charge of the clerical administration of the Branch, also acted as secretary of the National Fitness Council.(13) The Branch’s clerical staff dealt with all submissions, reports, correspondence, finance and services provided by the Branch in regard to library, film service, training courses, the administration of camping, vacation swimming schools, and play centres. Physical Education and National Fitness was decentralised by the appointment of professional officers in each of the Department’s regions. Regional advisors provided advice, demonstrations and general services to teachers and three-fifths of their time was devoted to schools and two-fifths to the extension of physical education in the community.(14) Regional Physical Education and National Fitness Advisors were responsible to the Area Director of Education, but they received their instructions from the Director of Physical Education.(15) Among the duties of the professional staff of the Physical Education and National Fitness Branch were “the training of teachers in refresher courses, the assessment of instruction in schools, the periodic revision of syllabus requirements, the provision of assistance to teachers in the form of advice and demonstrations, and the development of physical education generally.”(16) The Commonwealth Government provided grants to the Department of Education for the provision of physical education. The grants were administered by the National Fitness and Physical Education Branch and were divided between: training teachers in the theory and practice of physical education, provision of bursaries to enable selected teachers to undertake University courses, development of Health and Physical Education in practising schools and Teachers’ Colleges, production of publications and films, and developing school camping.(17) By the late 1960s, “the two functions of physical education and national fitness within the Department of Education developed into two almost separate units. In 1969 the position of Director of Physical Education and National Fitness was replaced by the new positions of Director of Sport and Recreation and Chief Inspector of Physical Education.” Following this, the National Fitness and Physical Education Branch ceased to exist and separate branches were established. During January 1970, the National Fitness and Recreation Service (Department of Education) was formed.”(18) ENDNOTES
1. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1937 Parliamentary Papers 1938-39-40, Vol.1, pp1150-1151.
2. loc. cit.
3. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1939, Parliamentary Papers 1940-41, Vol.1, p141.
4. Concise Guide to the State Archives (L-O): National Fitness Council; Young, Gordon (Director of Physical Education), The Administration of Physical Education in New South Wales, Lectures to the Students of the Diploma Course in Physical Education, Sydney Teachers’ College, p1, in papers relating to the History of the Department of Sport and Recreation, State Records Accession 4154.
5. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1939 Parliamentary Papers 1940-41, Vol.1, p155.
6. Paper on the Origins of the Department of Sport and Recreation by K McGuiness, Research Officer, Department of Sport and Recreation, State Records Disposal File 88/220D.
7. Physical Education, a pamphlet on the development of Physical Education and National Fitness published by the Physical Education Branch of the NSW Department of Education in1961, State Records Accession A4254.
8. loc. cit.
9. Paper on the Origins of the Department of Sport and Recreation by K McGuiness, Research Officer, Department of Sport and Recreation, State Records Disposal File 88/220D.
10. Budget Papers 1941-42, Parliamentary Papers 1941-42, Vol.2, p261.
11. Budget Papers 1943-44, Parliamentary Papers 1943-44, Vol.1, p281.
12. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1952 Parliamentary Papers 1938-39-40, Vol.1, pp1150-1151.
13. Young, Gordon. 1962, Physical Education in Australia: A study of the history of physical education in Australia and a forecast of future development, Master of Education Thesis, The University of Sydney, p168, copy located in State Records Accession A4135.
14. Physical Education, a pamphlet on the development of Physical Education and National Fitness published by the Physical Education Branch of the NSW Department of Education in1961, State Records Accession A4254.
15. Young, Gordon. 1962, Physical Education in Australia: A study of the history of physical education in Australia and a forecast of future development, Master of Education Thesis, The University of Sydney, p168, copy located in State Records Accession A4135.
16. loc. cit.
17. Young, Gordon (Director of Physical Education), The Administration of Physical Education in New South Wales, Lectures to the Students of the Diploma Course in Physical Education, Sydney Teachers’ College, p6 in papers relating to the History of the Department of Sport and Recreation, State Records Accession 4154.
18. Paper on the Origins of the Department of Sport and Recreation by K McGuiness, Research Officer, Department of Sport and Recreation, State Records Disposal File 88/220D.