page_title: University of Queensland
section_title: Foundation of the university
hierarchical_section_title: University of Queensland / History / Foundation of the university
caption_attribution_description: English: Group of Queensland University students, pictured at the Brisbane campus, ca. 1912
context_page_description: The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the state parliament, UQ is classed as one of the six sandstone universities, an informal designation of the oldest university in each state. The University of Queensland is ranked second nationally by Excellence in Research for Australia and equal second in Australia based on the average of four major global university league tables. The University of Queensland is a founding member of edX, Australia's research-intensive Group of Eight, the international research network McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the global Universitas 21 network.
  The main St Lucia campus occupies much of the riverside inner suburb of St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane central business district. Other UQ campuses and facilities are located throughout Queensland, the largest of which are the Gatton campus and the Mayne Medical School. UQ's overseas establishments include UQ North America office in Washington D.C., and the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School in Louisiana, United States.
context_section_description: Proposals for a university in Queensland began in the 1870s. A royal commission in 1874, chaired by Sir Charles Lilley, recommended the immediate establishment of a university. Those against a university argued that technical rather than academic education was more important in an economy dominated by primary industry. Those in favour of the university, in the face of this opposition, distanced themselves from Oxford and Cambridge and proposed instead a model derived from the mid-western states of the United States. A second royal commission in 1891 recommended the inclusion of five faculties in a new university; arts, law, medicine, science and applied science. Education generally was given a low priority in Queensland's budgets, and in a colony with a literacy rate of 57% in 1861, primary education was the first concern well ahead of secondary and technical education. The government, despite the findings of the royal commissions, was unwilling to commit funds to the establishment of a university.
  In 1893, the Queensland University Extension Movement was begun by a group of private individuals who organised public lecture courses in adult education, hoping to excite wider community support for a university in Queensland. In 1894, 245 students were enrolled in the extension classes and the lectures were described as practical and useful. In 1906 the University Extension Movement staged the University Congress, a forum for interested delegates to promote the idea of a university. Opinion was mobilised, a fund was started and a draft bill for a Queensland university was prepared. Stress was laid on the practical aspects of university education and its importance for the commerce of Queensland. The proceedings of the congress were forwarded to the Premier of Queensland, William Kidston. In October 1906, sixty acres in Victoria Park were gazetted for university purposes.
  The University of Queensland was established by an act of state parliament on 10 December 1909 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queensland's separation from the colony of New South Wales. The act allowed for the university to be governed by a senate of 20 men and Sir William MacGregor, the incoming governor, was appointed the first chancellor with Reginald Heber Roe as the vice-chancellor. Government House (now Old Government House) in George Street was set aside for the university following the departure of the governor to the Bardon residence, Fernberg, sparking the first debates about the best location for the university.
  In 1910 the first teaching faculties were created. These included engineering, classics, mathematics and chemistry. In December of the same year, the senate appointed the first four professors; Bertram Dillon Steele in chemistry, John Lundie Michie in classics, Henry James Priestley in mathematics and Alexander James Gibson in engineering. In 1911 the first students enrolled. The university's first classes in the Government House were held in 1911 with 83 commencing students and Sir William MacGregor is the first chancellor (with Reginald Heber Roe as vice-chancellor). The University of Queensland began to award degrees to its first group of graduating students in 1914.
caption: A group of Queensland University students in 1912
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