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The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) is the longest running School of Arts (also known as a "Mechanics' Institute") and the oldest continuous lending library in Australia. Founded in 1833, the school counted many of the colony's educated elite as members, and quickly positioned itself as a centre for social change and intellectual life of the city of Sydney with a program of public lectures, courses, lending library and other activities based on its mission of adult education. Now in new premises, the SMSA continues to offer public education programs and grants today. In 2011 the SMSA opened ''The Tom Keneally Centre'', which holds the research collection of world-renowned author Thomas Keneally from his private collection and memorabilia. ==History== By the early 1830s, Sydney Town had come a long way from its origins as a convict colony four decades earlier and free settlers were increasing in numbers. The Reverend John Dunmore Lang wished to build an Australian College in Sydney and sent Reverend Henry Carmichael to recruit craftsmen in Scotland. On the return journey in 1831 aboard the ''Stirling Castle'' Carmichael gave classes to some of these men. They formed the nucleus of a Mechanics' Institute when they arrived in Sydney. Mechanics' Institutes were a recent phenomenon – the first one had been set up in Scotland in 1821 – and their aim was the intellectual improvement of their members, through the diffusion of scientific and other useful knowledge, and the cultivation of literature, science and art. While it still had some 21,000 convicts, the free and freed population of Sydney was growing, and assisted immigration was helping to create a new society. The establishment of a Legislative Council to advise the Governor of New South Wales brought responsible government a step closer. Businessmen with a social conscience set up "civilising" institutions such as the Savings Bank of NSW in 1832. The following year the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts was founded after a meeting on the 22nd of March between Carmichael with Surveyor-General Major Thomas Mitchell and Dr Charles Nicholson who "...resolved to found an institution similar to those established in England by Dr. Bricbeck, Dr. Ure, and other distinguished promoters of popular education." The aim was to pursue further education for working men through public lectures and classes, and the establishment of a library. The colonial administration of Governor Richard Bourke soon recognised the efforts of the School of Arts and provided a land grant and a small annual subsidy to support its work. In 1836, aided by various philanthropists, the school was able to lease vacant land at 275 Pitt Street, and the inaugural lecture was given on 4 April 1837 by Carmichael, followed by a chemistry demonstration by Nicholson. Under the leadership of such men as Carmichael and Nicholson, Mitchell, engineer Norman Selfe, and businessman Thomas Barker (who had been elected to the council of the Australian College in 1831) the school flourished and became one of the leading providers of adult education in the colony with more than 1500 students attending lectures and classes. Among those who gave classes were suffragist Louisa Lawson, explorer Ludwig Leichhardt and poet Henry Kendall, and subjects included art, mathematics, architecture, anatomy and simple surgery. Officers and teachers of the school, such as Nicholson and Dr John Woolley, also played a role in the establishment of the University of Sydney. The school was originally incorporated under its own Act of Parliament in 1874 with the ''Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts Incorporation Act''. This was later replaced by an Act of the same name in 1886 that allowed greater financial freedom to the school's governing committee (namely the ability to borrow money and sell school assets) and amended in 1929 and 1940 to allow, respectively, the sale of the land granted by Governor Bourke and a reduction in size of the committee.〔 By the 1870s, some in the SMSA felt that the institution was drifting from its original purpose of educating the working class of Sydney and so proposed the expansion of its scope into technical education, and formed the Technical and Working Men's College. The college was built at the rear of the Pitt Street buildings on newly acquired land that extended back to George Street, and included a new hall, laboratories, classrooms, offices and a yard area. The college breathed new life into the SMSA, with courses on practical learning attracting workers back to the School. College enrolments rose from 720 in the first year to 1198 in the second, and continued to increase over subsequent years. However lack of space was a perennial problem and college courses were soon being held in other rooms and buildings around the city. In addition, limited funding hampered further increases in the program, and in 1883 the New South Wales government took over the college, transforming it into the basis of a new technical college, which became the foundation for the Sydney Technical College. This continued to operate from the SMSA building and other rented properties in the city until it moved to the purpose-built technical college at Harris Street in Ultimo in 1891 which in turn became the University of Technology, Sydney in 1988. The buildings are now used as the main campus of the Sydney Institute of TAFE, part of the State Government-run Technical and Further Education () college system. The original role of such Mechanic's Institutes was to provide education for adults who had received little formal education as children. Thus most of the Schools of Arts and Institutes had libraries attached, and in NSW the government provided grants for the purchase of books. But over the years, as the colonial (and later State) governments began to take greater responsibility for public education, this meant the end of most of these philanthropic organisations – a process that sped up when local councils also began to provide free public library facilities. By the 1970s, the SMSA was in financial difficulty with a large heritage building to maintain but a declining membership.〔 It eventually sold its original building to raise capital in 1987 and moved into new premises across the road in 2000. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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