The child, the chair and the table: furnishing schools in New South Wales, Australia, 1940s–1980s

Design, manufacture and supply of school furniture in the Australian state of New South Wales following the Second World War occurred in a context of population growth and new ideologies of teaching and learning. This article addresses the particular situation in New South Wales, where administration of schooling remained highly centralised. The influence of little known educator, Herbert Oxford, his support for centralised furniture production and supply and his interest in ergonomics was crucial. In the 1960s, he coordinated planning for a School Furniture Complex that eventually operated in the 1980s. The Complex’s demise meant the end of a state service to education. The article contributes to research concerned with materialities of schooling and the argument that objects are both valuable sources and legitimate subjects for the historian. Department of Education documents located at State Archives, Departmental publications and Oxford’s writings inform the research.