Year

1989

Degree Name

Master of Arts (Hons.)

Department

Faculty of Education

Abstract

The following thesis attempts to describe the history of Trinity Grammar School, Sydney, Australia, from 1913 to 1976. It examines the foundation of the school, its demographic setting, and its continuity of religious expression from its establishment by the Rev. G.A. Chambers in 1913 to the appointment of its most recent headmaster, Roderick I. West, in 1975/76. In examining the history of Trinity Grammar School, this thesis postulates three themes which are consistent features of its narrative. First, Trinity was founded and sustained as an attempt to establish an evangelical school in an evangelical diocese, one in which the religious foundation of the school is consistent with the diocese within which it exists. Second, Trinity has been dominated, in the main, by particular individuals whose influence has been of the utmost importance to its progress. Chiefly headmasters and councillors, the most significant individual in the foundation of the school in 1913 was the rector of Holy Trinity, Dulwich Hill, Sydney, G.A. Chambers, whose influence was the dominant element of the school's governance for nearly thirty years. Finally, this thesis asserts that a proper understanding of Trinity Grammar School is impossible without due recognition of the demographic setting of the school. This school was set down in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, an area which neither valued nor desired the kind of education undertaken by Trinity. The fact that Trinity survived in spite of rather than because of its setting, has made an indelible impression on the history of this school. This thesis has implications for the wider study of the history of independent education, for the role of individuals within the governance of these schools, and for the history of the Anglican diocese of Sydney.

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.