List: Historically bizarre rules for Aussie teachers

The mind boggling and frankly bizarre rules and regulations that our teachers were subjected to in the past have been laid bare.

The rules for teachers have changed a lot over the years. Picture: AI generated

The mind boggling and frankly bizarre rules and regulations that Aussie teachers were subjected to in the past have been laid bare.

We’ve taken a trip down memory lane to find some of the rules for teachers and punishments for students from as recently as 1974 – and as far back as 1879.

The Samford Museum in Brisbane’s west has given a glimpse to the harsh times inside classrooms at its state school from 1879 to 1974.

It included teachers being banned from keeping the company of men, wearing bright colours or loitering in ice-cream parlours.

See the lists of rules below >>>

The list of 11 rules for women teachers from 1915 also included “you must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless attending a school function”.

“You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother” was another rule.

“You under no circumstances dye your hair”.

A separate list for teachers from the year 1879 stated women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct would be “dismissed”.

The museum has also shown a “punishment register” for students from the year 1914 onwards which included strokes to the hand, cuts and strokes of cane.

Actions that resulted in strokes of cane included “telling lies repeatedly”, “continual talking” and “milking other people’s cows on road and repeated lying”.

“Racing horses on way home from school” and “taking money from school” were both listed as resulting in four cuts.

The set of rules were before corporal punishment – a form of physical force to berate children’s bad behaviour – were officially banned in 1995, according to the Department of Education.

Nowadays, there is no set list of rules and each individual student’s case is determined by the principal dependant on the circumstances.

Common discipline in schools however, include detention, expulsion, and suspension and school service, to name a few.

See the lists of rules below >>>

Rules for teachers: 1879

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys before beginning work.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the days session.

3. Make your pens carefully, you may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the children.

4. Men teachers may take on evening a week for courting purposes or two evenings to attend church regularly.

5. After 10 hours in school you may spend the remaining time reading bible or other good books.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside, from each pay, a goodly sum for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool and public halls or gets shaved in a barber’s shop, will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

Rules for women teachers: 1915

1. You will not marry during the term of contract.

2. You are not to keep company of men.

3. You must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless attending a school function.

4. You may not loiter down town in ice cream parlours.

5. You may not travel beyond the city limits without the permission of the chairman of the Board.

6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7. You may not smoke cigarettes.

8. You may not dress in bright colours.

9. You under no circumstances dye your hair.

10. You must wear at least two petticoats and your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.

11. To keep the school room clean, you must sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor with hot soapy water at least once a week, clean the blackboard once a day and start the fire at 7am so that the room is warm when the children arrive.

The rules around teachers have changed a lot over the years.

Originally published as List: Historically bizarre rules for Aussie teachers