Catholic response to the educational crisis, 1850-1900

Fogarty in his history of Catholic Education in Australia makes certain basic assumptions. In the first place he equates the decline of the denominational system of education and the consequent emergence of the national and secularised system of today, with increasing liberalism during the second half of the 19th century and its Catholic reaction. This may lave been so on the Australian mainland colonies, but its impact as far as Tasmania was concerned was practically negligible. As a direct response to this ideology, Fogarty implies that the system of Catholic education was a spontaneous rather than a deliberately planned occurrence. In all colonies the same principles and interests were involved, making the same forces operative. The validity of these factors in relation to Tasmania must be modified to a considerable extent. Here obstacles to the establishment and implementation of the Hierarchy's decrees, while probably more readily apparent, were possibly greater. Van Diemen's Land was one of the earliest of the colonies to be settled. Consequently no matter how primitive, the foundations of its educational system were laid during it's convict era. As well these penal origins were to have a marked bearing on the impact and primary purpose of education.