NRS-16570 | Punishment Book [Brunkerville 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. This punishment book is a register 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 (normally the cane, but occasionally a strap); the date of the punishment; and by whom the punishment was inflicted.

The volume held is the final volume of the series, covering the greater part of the history of the school (from 1899 to 1962). Noticeable is the Inspector’s recommendation “try to reduce,” which appears as an annotation in September, 1919, and the remark “a great success” added on his next visit the following year. There were in fact no cases of corporal punishment recorded between September 1919 and April 1923, as also between October 1935 and February 1948, and none at all after August 1950, where the entry ‘Nil’ appears during each of the last twelve years of the school’s operation.