Room for Improvement
The West Maitland School of Arts and its 1860 Rule Book and Catalogue
One Thursday evening, in 1860, the Reverend James Robert Thackery (1827-1902) was surely pleased to present to his committee this revised edition of the West Maitland School of Arts Rule Book and library catalogue. The Reverend took great interest in this organisation for almost two decades. He believed deeply in its aims, which included the ‘mental and moral improvement’ of its members.
The West Maitland School of Arts grew out of the Maitland Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society, formed in the early 1850s. But it was short lived and in 1854 a new group formed – made up of old Improvement Society members and new members – to operate under the banner of the West Maitland School of Arts. Reverend Thackery led this group after his appointment at the newly established St Paul’s Anglican Church, West Maitland, in 1856, which was built following the division of the West Maitland Anglican Parish into two divisions.
From its beginnings to the 1930s, the West Maitland School of Arts maintained a steady membership. Members joined to access a library and reading room, attend fortnightly lectures and other social and recreational activities. Its purpose was in keeping with the the School of Arts Movement’s intent of the self-improvement of ‘all men’
The West Maitland community’s enthusiasm for education was strongly encouraged by Thackery, who had real empathy for its mining and merchant class families. Thackery was born in a mining community in Yorkshire England and his first appointment in Australia was as the first Anglican cleric appointed to the gold mining town of Ballarat, Victoria.
Throughout his 19 years at the West Maitland parish, Thackery gave routine lectures at the School of Arts. His lectures were popular, and he evidently had a knack for knowing how to reach his working class audience. Among the lecture series he gave on the history of music Thackery spoke in detail about the music and lyrics made and loved by everyday Irish men and women.
Thackery’s want to aid and uplift society’s ‘underdog’ communities extended to the inmates at the Maitland Gaol – where he was Gaol Chaplain for 12 years. Accompanying him on visits to the gaol was his daughter Emily, where she led the inmates in Evensong – the singing of prayers and text from the bible.
