The Children's Hour (Australian magazine)

The Children's Hour was a periodical of 16 pages produced by the Education Department of South Australia for distribution in the State's primary schools, first published in 1889.[1] Oliver David Jones (died 1933) was principal contributor and editor from March 1892 to April 1912.[2] The magazine was started at the instigation of John Anderson Hartley (died 1896), South Australian Inspector-General of Education, and price per copy was one halfpence,[3] soon increased to one penny ("still cheaper than an English import"). Assistant Inspector-General Charles Lawrence Whitham (died 1908) was the first editor of the magazine,[4] which was generally well received.[5]

The magazine was intended for supplementary reading and recreation, supplying impeccably-written up-to-date information on current events appropriate to schoolchildren, with an emphasis on patriotism and good citizenship,[6] as well as stories, plays and poems, often introducing unfamiliar words to extend the child's vocabulary. Also included were a pot-pourri of jokes, puzzles and anecdotes of an "improving" nature. The editor was the source of most material and inclusion of contributions by schoolchildren was exceedingly rare. A reproduction of a famous painting was usually printed on the cover, otherwise it contained no illustrations.[1] Aquila Monk (1851–1914), headmaster of the Goolwa school, provided chess problems.[7]

Bertie S. Roach (died 1944), lecturer in history and literature and headmaster at Walkerville school and much else,[8] also served as editor from 1906 to 1915, when he was appointed Inspector of Schools.[9]

Phebe Watson was editor from 1931. When Adelaide Miethke retired as Inspector of Girls' Schools in June 1941, she took up editorship the following month.[10]

In the 1950s a braille version of The Children's Hour was made available to blind children at Townsend House slightly ahead of the printed version to other schools.[11]