University of Sydney (original) (raw)

The University of Sydney is the oldest university in Australia and is in the state of New South Wales.

The University was established in 1850 and offered its first degree in liberal arts, in 1852. This degree required three years study of Greek, Latin, Maths, and Science.

The University has a number of campuses and is has continued to expand over the years. At present the campuses are:

Camperdown

Originally housed in what is now Sydney grammar school, in 1855 the government granted the university land in Grose Farm, three kilometers from the city which is now the main Camperdown campus. The architect Edmund Blacket designed the original gothic sandstone Quadrangle and Great Tower buildings, which were completed in 1862, although there are many departmental buildings now. The campus houses the headquarters of the University, and the schools of arts, science, education, medicine, and engineering.

Mallett Street campus

This holds the nursing faculty.

Lidcombe campus

Formerly an independent institution (the Cumberland College of Health Sciences) this was incorporated into the university as part of the higher education reforms of the late 1980s. This houses various fields ancillary to medicine, such as physiotherapy, speech therapy, radiation therapy.

Law campus

Near St. James station in the centre of Sydney, this is located just over the road from the NSW Supreme Court.

Conservatorium of Music

Located near the botanic gardens, the conservatorium of music was acquired in the 1990s. The conservatorium was the subject of a famous documentary called "Facing the music" dealing with the characters of this department.

Orange Agricultural College

Located at Orange in rural NSW, this joined in 1994.

Camden campus

Located on Sydney's southwest rural fringe, this houses research farms for agriculture and veterinary science.

Narrabri Plant Research Centre

Located at Narrabi, near the Queensland border.

Until recently, the university also operated the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The university's library, the Fisher Library, is the largest in the southern hemisphere and possesses one of the two extant copies of the Gospel of Barnabas.

Higher Education (Amalgamation) Act 1989

Under the terms of the Higher Education (Amalgamation) Act 1989, the following bodies were incorporated into the University of Sydney in 1990:

• the Sydney Branch of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music
• the Cumberland College of Health Sciences
• the Sydney College of the Arts of the Institute of the Arts
• the Sydney Institute of Education of the Sydney College of Advanced Education
• the Institute of Nursing Studies of the Sydney College of Advanced Education
• the Guild Centre of the Sydney College of Advanced Education.

The Orange Agricultural College was originally transferred to the University of New England under the Act, but then transferred to the University of Sydney in 1994, as part of the reforms to the University of New England undertaken by the University of New England Act 1993 and the Southern Cross University Act 1993.

The New England University College was founded as part of the University of Sydney in 1938, and separated to become the University of New England in 1954.