NRS-16597 | Punishment Books [Bunnan Public School]

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Regulations under the Public Schools Act of 1866, adopted by the Council [of Education] 27 February 1867 regulated the punishment of children in schools by stipulating: “In the government of the pupils, all degrading and injurious punishments are to be avoided. The Teacher’s discipline must be mild but firm, his manner kindly, his demeanour cheerful and calculated to gain the confidence of his pupils, and his language marked by strict propriety. While he should overlook no offence, his aim should be to prevent the necessity for punishment by the improvement of the offender.”

In relation to corporal punishment the regulations continue: “Corporal punishment should be inflicted in extreme cases only, and then as a last resource; and the teacher must keep a record of the time and place at which pupils were corporally chastised, the amount of such punishment and the nature of the offence.”

Uniform stationery soon evolved to enable compliance with these regulations. These punishment books are registers of all cases in which corporal punishment was given to pupils. The information it details includes: the pupil’s name; age; nature of offence; amount of punishment (i.e. number of strokes); the instrument of punishment (invariably the cane); the date of the punishment; and by whom the punishment was inflicted.

The present series is represented by one volume, probably the second of an original two. It is noticeable in this volume that the frequency of corporal punishment falls off quite distinctly between 1918 and 1938, during which period there is only one year with as many as three cases recorded, and several years with none at all. The frequency is higher during the years 1944-1948, 1957-1960, and in 1964, but only two cases occur between 1948 and 1957, none at all between 1960 and 1964, and only three between 1964 and the closure of the school in 1973.