A trailblazer in science education

The young, bespectacled senior science master, tasked with supervising the running of the 1912 science wing, would have undoubtedly given the thumbs up to the concept plans for the STEAM Precinct's state-of-the art science facilities.

Robert Thwaites, an M.A. science scholar from Trinity College, Oxford, was appointed in January 1911 to oversee the fitting and equipping of what was also regarded as a leading art facility for its day.

He submitted a £500 budget for equipment as well as structural changes needed to the building plans, which were both granted by the Trustees.

The £6,000 science wing was officially opened on 26 July 1912 by His Excellency Sir William MacGregor, the Governor of Queensland, when he placed the last brick in position with an inscribed silver trowel.

Sir MacGregor said that the opening of the laboratories marked “an epoch in the history of education” in Queensland and showed that the Trustees were noting advances in education elsewhere.

George Payne designed the science wing, now the Administration Centre, as a contemporary and complementary interpretation of James Cowlishaw’s Gothic-inspired Great Hall, which opened in 1881.

The science wing comprised a large chemistry laboratory and smaller physics laboratory with timber galleries, store room and dynamo room. These classrooms were impressive double-storey height spaces with exposed roof structures, clerestory lighting and ventilation.

Headmaster Frederick Bousfield (1909-1927) said that the new science wing was the most important event in 1912, requiring extensive and beneficial changes to the School’s organisation and curriculum. Chemistry and Physics courses were extended to four years to prepare students for a range of scientific studies that might include engineering and medicine.

By the time Thwaites resigned in 1920, more than 250 boys were studying Science. His Sixth Form students were influenced by his inspiring teaching, not only in the Senior Public Examination, but also in their subsequent successes at The University of Queensland.

Thwaites was an avid researcher, a passion he pursued when he left Brisbane for Melbourne with his young family in 1921 to promote a scheme for making petrol. This prompted Chairman of Trustees John Laskey Woolcock to say that Thwaites could become one of the leading exponents of Applied Science in the Commonwealth.

In 1923 Thwaites published a book on producing liquid fuels from oil shale and coal in Australia, and in the mid-1920s relocated to Yallourn where he was employed as a research chemist with the State Electricity Commission for two years.

Thwaites later returned to teaching and was the principal of Ballarat College from 1933-1945 where he was responsible for a considerable revival in student numbers.

By Vivien Harris – School Archivist