ton School, 1895 (Courtesy of Ray & Elaine Smith)

"2 d.N

3. external and internal appearance?8 Mr. Gallagher obvious— : ly was an exceptional teacher.

y At the time, education was pretty much the responsibil— ity of each community. A school district paid for construc— ting, furnishing and maintaining a school; it provided all teaching materials, and paid four—fifths of the teacher’s j, salary, including room and board. The salary in 1842 was fifty pounds per year.9 Two classes of teachers were recognized: the first class (lowest) could teach basic -: reading, writing and arithmetic, while the second class [ teacher was able to teach in addition to the above, the prac- 1 tical mathematical skills for surveying, navigating, ? geography, and Latin. In 1846 only two of the 120 schools 2 in BE]. had teachers of the second classl° In 1851 Mr.

17

Thistle and Shamrock SchooI (Courtesy of Irene and Amby McCarviIle)

Gallagher, still the teacher at Kinkora, still had only a first class license]1 Schools were non-denominational, although teachers could, and were encouraged by inspectors, to give readings from the Bible. A school inspector in 1847 stated: “Education is indeed of little value unless based upon Scriptures?12

Following the passage of a new education act in August, 1852, by the newly elected Liberal government of George Coles, several changes were introduced to education]3 All children between the ages of five and sixteen, regardless of ability to pay, were free to attend schools; distances bet— ween school districts were shortened from six miles to three; and the government assumed control over the train— ing of teachers, as well as the cost of paying their salaries.