History of Australian education and welfare
Introduction
This guide has been compiled to assist students in Eduf313 (Historical
& Philosophical Perspectives of Early Childhood), but will also help
others searching for historical information on Australian education and
child welfare.
Definitions, historical overviews, facts and
figures
Online dictionaries and encyclopedias
Some encyclopedias, subject dictionaries and handbooks are available as
ebooks (fulltext) via the Library Catalogue. Useful titles include:
To search for other titles try a broad Keyword search on the Library
Catalogue (For example: education) and limit to Material Type option Ebook.
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Print dictionaries and encyclopedias
These reference books are interfiled with the books for loan on Level 1
and are identified by a 'Not for Loan' sticker on the spine. Useful titles
include:
| The Australian Encyclopaedia (8 volumes) |
919.4/51 |
| Australians: An Historical Library (12 volumes) |
994/150 |
| Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: in History and Society (3 volumes) |
305.2303/1 |
| International Handbook of Early Childhood Education |
372.21/83 |
To search for other titles try a broad Keyword search on the Library
Catalogue (For example: education) and add the limiting terms encyclopedia*
or dictionar*
Alternatively try browsing the shelves at relevant subject numbers for
education, child care, welfare and social history:
- Child and developmental psychology at 155.4
- Social groups (including children) at 305
- Child care and welfare at 360 - 362
- Primary education at 370 - 372
- Biographies at 919
- Australian encyclopedias at 919
- Australian history at 994
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Authoritative web sites
Check the web sites of educational/welfare organisations, government departments
and archives for authoritative background information and historical overviews.
Useful sites include:
Finding other web sites
If using a search engine such as Google use the Advanced
Search to limit your search to specific types of sites.
For example: Type a relevant name in the phrase box (such as School
of the Air) and type .edu.au in the domain name box to limit your search
to Australian educational sites or type .gov.au for Australian government
sites.
Remember it is important to critically
evaluate all information found on the Web.
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Finding historical statistics
Check for related statistics in historical encyclopedias and sources such
as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yearbooks in the Serials Collection
(Level 2):
| Australians a Historical Library: Historical Statistics |
994/150 |
| Year Book Australia (editions from 1901+) |
S 319.406/2 |
| NSW Year Book (editions from 1904+) |
S 319.4405/3 |
Some Australian historical data is also available online. For search
tips refer to the How to
find Australian Statistics guide.
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Books and documentary histories
Eduf313 students - remember to also check the books that have been placed
in the Short Loans Collection specifically for this subject!
Search the Library Catalogue
Try a Keyword search on the Library
Catalogue. Use broad keywords, and truncate your search terms with
the * symbol where appropriate to broaden your search to find all the variations
of a particular word (use the ** symbol to truncate beyond more than 5
letters). For example:
- (education or school*) and history and australia*
- child care and history
- education and (church* or religio*)
- welfare and aborigin* and child*
- educator* and biograph*
To find primary sources such as documentary histories, biographies
and oral histories, use a broad Keyword search in combination with one
or more of the primary source related search terms listed on the How
to Find Historical Primary Sources guide. (For example: biograph* finds
biography, biographies, biographical account etc.)
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Further search tips
- Try broader keywords. Many books with older publication dates are
listed on the Catalogue under very broad subject headings (For example:
education australia history)
- When looking for Australian books try searching on both 'australia'
and the names of individual states and territories (For example: new south
wales)
- Find books on your broader subject area and look for references to your
topic in the tables of contents and indexes
- Look through the books' bibliographies for mention of any further
related sources
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Finding books in other libraries
Try keyword searches in other libraries' catalogues:
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Journal and newspaper articles
Search the Library's databases to find education
and welfare related articles.
Start with these Australian databases
Other useful Australian databases
Useful international databases
Remember a broader range of databases is also
available.
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Finding newspaper articles
For newspaper sources and searching tips refer to the How
to Find Newspapers guide.
Additional sources for finding older articles
For references to older articles pre 1980s also try searching the following
print indexes in the Level 2 Compactus ('C' location prefix).
| Australian Education Index (1959-1979) |
C 016.3705/1 |
| APAIS (Australian social sciences) (1955-1979) |
C 016.99406/1 |
| Index to Journal Articles on Australian History (up to 1983) |
C 016.994/5 &
C 016.994/16 |
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Found a reference to an article, but it's not fulltext?
Some databases do not provide the fulltext of the article, only the citation
and an abstract (summary) of its contents.
To locate the article, use a Journal Title search on the Library
Catalogue to look up the name of the journal. This will tell you if
the Library holds that journal either electronically on one of its fulltext
databases or in print (hard copy) in the Serials Collection.
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Education journals and gazettes
Try browsing the shelves in the bound Serials Collection (Level 2) between
S 370 - S 379. This is where many older education journals are held.
A number of old education journals and gazettes are also held in the
Archives Collection. Some titles date back to the early 1900s.
To display lists of these titles on the Library
Catalogue try a Subject search on phrases such as:
- education periodicals
- education australia periodicals
- education new south wales periodicals
- teaching periodicals
- reading periodicals
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Government reports
Search the Library Catalogue
If you have the name of a specific government report try a Keyword search on the Library Catalogue. Type
in some words from the title (For example: children and project care).
Books useful for identifying specific titles of education, health and
welfare related reports include:
| Australian Reports on Education 1900-1975 |
C 016.379/1 |
| Bibliography of Australian Medicine and Health Services to 1950 (4
volumes) |
C 016.610994/3 |
| Education in NSW: A Guide to State & Commonwealth Sources 1788-1992 |
370.9944/24 |
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Look in Parliamentary Papers
Many government reports have also been released in 'parliamentary paper'
versions. If you can't find a particular report listed on the Library Catalogue,
check if a copy is included within the Library's holdings of the relevant
Parliamentary Papers series - Commonwealth (federal government reports)
or NSW (state government reports). For search tips refer to the Indexes
to parliamentary papers guide.
Be aware of name changes
Many government departments have changed their names over the years. For
example in NSW:
NSW Department of Education and
Training (1997+) was earlier named:
- Department of School Education (1989-97)
- Department of Education (1915-89)
- Department of Public Instruction (1880-1915)
NSW Department of Community
Services (1976+) was earlier named:
- Department of Youth, Ethnic and Community Affairs (1975-76)
- Department of Youth and Community Services (1973-75)
- Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare (1970-73)
- Child Welfare Department (1923-70)
- State Children's Relief Board / Relief Department (1881-1923)
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Archival collections
A small range of education and school related archives are held in the University
Archives Collection. For example:
- D233 - Doris Chadwick Collection
(History of School Education in Australasia 1890s-1960s)
- D191 - Mary Tow Collection (History
of Education in the Illawarra 1880s-1980s)
- D76 -- Gina Palmer Collection (Family
Day Care and Child Care, Wollongong City Council 1973-1976)
To look for other related items within the University Archives Collection
follow the tips on the Searching
the UOW Archives guide.
Need further help?
Contact Research Help staff.
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