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| William Stewart, C19th oil, The Dominie |
Sometimes, Dear Reader, I just cannot resist a bit of trawling on Trove, for the pleasure is two-fold. I get to correct the garbled auto-transcriptions of old newspapers and gazettes (so satisfying), and delight in the masterful language that went hand-in-glove with the lost Art-formerly-known-as-Journalism. Similarly, for a reader some two hundred years ago, another two-fer. Casting a glance over said newspapers of the day, anxious to keep abreast of the doings of the nascent Colony in Australia, one would always find plenty o' news from "home", too. Imagine the rejoicing upon reading this bit of good news:
Last year's report of the Society for Education of the Poor in the Highlands, read at the general meeting held in Inverness, in October last, and just published, states that the number of schools amounted to 511, and they were attended by 37,000 scholars. These schools are rapidly dispelling the dark clouds of ignorance that have so long hung over those romantic but benighted regions, and effecting a salutary change in the moral habits of the Highlanders.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 22 October, 1831
Image credit: Paisley Museum and Art Galleries
The number of schools and pupils sounds very large considering it was a very remote area 200 years ago.
ReplyDeleteHere a new TV series has just begun called "The Ten Pound Poms" which is proving to be a real eye opener. I wonder if it will be heading your way soon?
Yes, those numbers do seem extraordinarily large, dear Rosemary. Perhaps it was ever thus a case of not believing everything you read in the newspaper?
DeleteFunny you should mention "Ten Pound Poms" for I saw a billboard poster for it just this evening at the bus stop. It's on a streaming channel we don't have, tho' - boo!
I love the way the Sydney Gazette got in its insulting dig (the "salutary change in the moral habits of the Highlanders") while praising the effectiveness of the education program.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Isn't it marvellous, dear Jim? The journalists of old were such wordsmiths.
DeleteThat sounds like a lot of schools, dear Pip! But being an optimist (in this case looking backward...) I want to believe it.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher looks a bit exhausted, the children very relaxed.
At the moment I seem to be "haunted" by Inverness (which I visited in 1970 with husband ) - yesterday they showed it in a documentary series on going by train through Scotland, and now I see it mentioned here - must be high time to visit again - I love Scotland so much!
And I adore your fitting description "the Art-formerly-known-as-Journalism." Indeed!
Rosemary also got me thinking about the veracity of these numbers, dear Britta, but I suspect some, if not many, of the schools were probably single-teacher (the Dominie in the pic) with just a handful of pupils. Plus a quick search of population data last night for the area at that time suggested around 300,000 people were living in the Highlands, so just over 10% as being eligible for school sounds quite feasible.
DeleteThinking one thing and writing another led to the lost word "lost" from the hyphened phrase (duly installed now), but I'm still not sure the phrase does the job I wanted from it and may need to be amended. But you got my drift :) And I hope your Scottish haunting leads to a Booking!
The word "lost" would be a nice example for that lecture at the University of Erlangen I wrote about: Perception.
DeleteI - without noticing it - in my mind instantly added the word "lost".
Perceptive of you, indeed!
Delete"Rapidly dispelling the dark clouds of ignorance that have so long hung over those romantic but benighted regions.... moral habits of highlanders". Very intense language for a formal report.
ReplyDeleteDear Hels, I expect the lovely language is a bit of editorialising on the part of the journalist, although I'd hardly expect less to be found in an official report. Nineteenth-century writing is a world away from modern sterile reportage, and even when rich in bias (viz. always, hahah), it is delivered with such style. I just love old newspapers for their entertainment value. Journalism today is so clunky and unimaginative by comparison.
DeleteHa ha. 1831 must have been a thin year for more important news. I love the language used, and often despair at today's equivalent.
ReplyDeleteOh, me too, dear Cro!
DeleteI enjoy reading good news as we are so often innudated with only bad.
ReplyDeleteMe too, dear Urspo. I fondly remember the Good News stories that used to come at the end of the evening news, back in the olden days. Heart-warming stories about migratory birds showing up, vintage car rallies, jacarandas blooming, old-timers doing cute stuff etc etc.
DeleteGOOD NEWS TODAY COMES VIA INSTAGRAM WITH THE ANIMAL ACCOUNTS!SO HEART WARMING AND CUTE..........
ReplyDeleteI RECALL READING THE WANTS ADS AS A CHILD!I LOVED TO FIND MYSELF A JOB!
Dear Contessa, animal tales always gladden the heart, even via Instagram :) I, too, remember reading the jobs section in the paper, fascinated by the rich variety of occupations out there. Good for you that you had your sights already set!
DeleteAhhh, don't get me started signora Pipistrello!!!
ReplyDeleteWell. Just a tiny bit.
Why the art once known as journalism has been lost has, like so many things, a simple reason. Just imagine the following as an excerpt from a diary):
Three months ago I didn't know how to write shornaliszt, and today I already am one.
Wot? No spell-checker for your diarist, dear Sean? However will they cope out in the world of words wherein they seek a livelihood? On a related note, I heard a university lecturer in Journalism (I know, I know, whatever happened to cadetships) speaking on the wireless one day (probably post-2010) listing the reasons his students (prospective journalists, mind) didn't like newspapers: broadsheets too big to hold and manage; newsprint makes for dirty hands; articles too long to read etc etc. Goodness only knows what they intend to write for, and why they want to be Journalists in the first place! I failed to hear the reasons given as I was laughing too hard at their complaints.
DeleteHey you! Wanna an update!
ReplyDeleteStill want an update !
ReplyDelete