HISTORY OF THE CLASSICS DISCIPLINE

The Early Years, 1874–1927

Although the University of Adelaide was founded in 1874, teaching did not start until 1876. The Hughes Professor of Classical and Comparative Philology and Literature, Reverend Henry Read, a product of St John's College, Cambridge, however, arrived from England in 1874 to take up one of the foundation chairs and to assist in designing the Bachelor of Arts degree which admitted its first students in 1876. The degree, which required the taking of all five subjects offered in first-year, at least three out of five in second-year, and at least two out of five in third-year (students typically did more), offered Classics at all levels. Classics students studied Greek and Latin language, literature and history. Numbers were small and Reverend Read did all the teaching. In 1878, Read was involved in a scandal, the exact nature of which is unverifiable, and was forced to resign and leave the state. Clearly a versatile man, he qualified as a doctor, practised medicine, and died at 57 in 1888.

Read was succeeded in 1879 by David Kelly, an Irishman and product of Trinity College, Dublin, and Trinity College, Cambridge, ‘a strong defender of the educational value … of the Latin and Greek languages and literature’, and a deplorer of the growing trend towards ‘utilitarian’ subjects, and hence of the push to remove Greek from the secondary school curriculum. A notable University development that year was the introduction of a coursework-only MA in five fields, including Classics. From 1887, students could undertake an Honours degree, not by completing a fourth year (as now applies) but by doing extra work in the third year.