Interpreting School Admission Registers

 Following on from our last post about our School Admission Records in our Library Holdings we put together some notes on the use of the records.

Do you know how to milk every last bit of information from that school record you have just found?

 Here is how to interpret the information in the columns. Over the years there were different requirements in the information given. At first the information was given orally and later there was a form to fill in. When the child left the school to go to another school a transfer form with the information was filled out.

The admission register does not always follow the following format as the columns may come in a different order. The very early books do not show the name of the parent or a very detailed address. 

1919 Register

1877 Register 

Click on any of the images above to enlarge.

School Admission Registers

 

Early pupils Toowoomba North State School

Photo Coutesy John Oxley Library

We are lucky in Queensland in so far as so many of our public school students admission register have been deposited at the state archives. Over the years TDDFHS has purchased many of the registers and made them available to members and visitors. These include many small schools which no longer exist and many well outside our area.

We have an ongoing indexing project to ensure their easy accessibility.

The information on the registers has varied throughout the years but will include a date of enrollment ( and usually leaving), date of birth or estimate  of age, religion,  guardian or parent's occupation, (name in later rolls) and importantly their residence. Other children enrolled gives a snapshot of families in the district.

Link to .pdf  file of a listing of what is available at TDDFHS.

Image courtesy of QSA

Click on image to enlarge.

In the above register information included a note about the school closure due to the 1919 Influenza Epidemic. ( the Spanish Flu) A note against one child also indicates that he sat and passed the state scholarship examination to proceed to secondary school.

 We also know that the younger boys in  Class one were educated in the Girls and Infants part of the school, so it is worth checking information in those registers the year before.

Checking school registers can reveal so much about families!