Aust. Historical Medals

Lot 541    SESSION 3 (2.30PM TUESDAY 2ND APRIL)    Aust. Historical Medals

Estimate $1,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,700

NORMAL INSTITUTION, Sydney, 1844, plain disc in silver (50mm), with ornate coiled surround and a circular patterned scroll suspension (60.5x78mm), and also a similar patterned suspension loop, obverse inscribed, 'Normal Institution/Sydney/Decr 13th 1844./Henry Gordon/Head Master.', reverse inscribed, 'Presented/To/Walter De Arrietta/For/Superiority/In/Classics and Mathematics'. Toned good very fine and very rare.

The Normal Institution was founded by Henry Carmichael in 1834. Carmichael was born in Scotland in 1796 and after graduating with a MA in theology in 1820 he moved to London and worked as a private tutor. In 1830 he was engaged by Rev Dr John Dunmore Lang to teach at his proposed Australian College in Sydney. They both sailed aboard the Stirling Castle and arrived in Sydney in October 1831.

Initially the set up of the new college suited Carmichael but by 1833 he was disenchanted, particularly with Lang's management style. They disagreed on the separation of religion from the syllabus in a public education system. Thus, when his contract expired in 1834, Carmichael left to form his own school. The new school was sited in Elizabeth Street opposite Hyde Park and opened in January 1835. It was a boys' school catering for both day students and boarders. When he left the Australian College Carmichael took 45 of his students with him and in the ensuing years he and Lang entered into a public slanging match that was widely reported in the press.

As well as teaching reading, writing and arithmetic the institute also taught modern and Oriental languages, portrait painting, drawing, dancing, gymnastics, fencing, military drill and it also included the study of religious knowledge but making students aware of the history of all religions. By 1838 Carmichael had lost much of his enthusiasm and handed the management of the school to his assistant, Henry Gordon. In 1849 the school relocated to King Street east under the direction of Rev Thomas Aitken after the original site was sold and it closed its doors in the mid-1850s.

Walter De Arrietta was the son of Spanish Count Jean Baptiste Lehimas De Arrietta who lost his estates during the Peninsula Wars and arrived in New South Wales in 1821. Walter Lehimas De Arrietta was born at Camden (Douglas Park) in 1830. His father had influential friends in government and was owed money by the crown for services rendered. He received a large land grant in excess of 2,000 acres at Camden, now Douglas Park. After Walter's father died in 1838 his mother re-married. Following this his older sister Louisa, born in 1828, attended a ladies boarding school so Walter probably attended the Normal Institution as a boarder. Later, Walter De Arrietta worked all his life as a printer at the Government Printing Office and was a member of the 1st Regiment NSW Volunteer Infantry. He died on 16 December 1901 at Belmore, Sydney, NSW.

With research.