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In her memoirs, an aunt writes of her nephew having no education. The time is late 1860s, an immigrant lad from England aged 20 when written. He arrived in Australia when 3 years, the son of a station hand on a property in Darlington Point, New South Wales.
As no school existed in the district before the 1880s, would no education indicate minimal home/property teaching or as implied, absolutely no learning.
If we assume that 1867 represents "the late 1860s" and "aged 20, when written" refers to that same time, then the nephew in question arrived in what is now the Riverina district of New South Wales in 1850 with a father who was to be employed as what was still called an Ag Lab (agricultural labourer) in England.
So the question is "What is the possibility that a working class child would have received any formal education in a remote location where no school was built until 30 years later?" The short answer is NIL.
Of course, we might need to consider the possibility of a private tutor. The two largest "runs" in the district between 1850 and 1860 were Cuba and Tubbo. This image from the National Library of Australia shows Cuba in 1868. This is not a grand country manor which would support schooling for the families of the staff.
In the context of mid-nineteenth century rural New South Wales, it is reasonable to interpret "no education" to mean "may be able to write his own name".
An aunt writes, describing a nephew having "no eduction." What could this mean?
Updated introduction: In her memoirs, the aunt conveys her impression of another family member. As part of evaluating what her statement meant you will (a) conduct research about the aunt to discover her possible bias and/or motivations, (b) seek other sources of information about the nephew, and (3) put all the information you learn about the aunt and separately about her nephew in a proper historical context.
Some helpful references follow. In particular, see the full article by Marion McCreadie, referenced below, as it explains how "education" was provided prior to the time public schools were available.
1. Who, what, where, why and when?
Kimberly Powell (About.com) does an excellant job of sizing up the challenge in her article, "Analyzing a Historical Document: What Does the Record Really Tell Us." In particular, see the discussion of her third consideration, "Who was the author or creator of the document," in which she concludes, "No source is entirely immune to the influence of its creator's predilections, and knowledge of the author/creator helps in determining the document's reliability." The example questions Powell presents in the extended discussion are directly on target:
- What was the author's purpose ...
- What was the author's knowledge ...
- [Was the author really a] neutral party ... or
- [D]id [they] have opinions or interests that might have influenced ....
2. Historical Context
Separate from the who, what, why and when, is the research advanced to place what you learn in historical context.
According an article, "History of Australian Education," by Aussie Educator, "Public School systems [developed first as] primary level schools, then expanding into the secondary area beginning in the 1880s. Universities first arose in the middle of the 19th century, with early childhood education in the form of kindergartens and preschools lagging well behind all other sectors."
The article by Marion McCreadie, Internet Family History Association of Australia (IFHAA), "The Evolution of Education in Australia" seems particularly on point. A very few extracts from the article follow
[I]n the 1800s ... [e]ducation was only available to the wealthier middle and upper classes, who could afford to pay tuition.
By the 1830s ... education ... was seen as a means of forging the penal colony of Australia into an organised and orderly society. ... imperative that the government set up schools so that all children could be taught, not only the three "R's," (reading, writing and arithmetic) but how to be good moral, law-abiding citizens. Opponents ... felt that the child of a blacksmith didn't need any more education than what was necessary for him to become a blacksmith ..."
Compulsory education was introduced in the 1870s and was difficult to enforce.
