University of Sydney

The University of Sydney was established by an Act of the Legislative Council of the Colony of NSW, An Act to Incorporate and Endow the University of Sydney. It was passed on the 24 September 1850 and assented to on 1 October 1850.

Members of the Senate were appointed by proclamation of His Excellency the Governor General on 24 December 1850. The Senate met for the first time on 3 February 1851.

On 4 October 1852, the first matriculation examinations commenced. On 11 October the formal and public inauguration of the University took place. Teaching was originally held in what is now Sydney Grammar School. There were only three Professors (John Woolley, Morris Birbeck and John Smith) and only one faculty (Arts). The classes taught included Greek, Latin, Maths and Science. In 1854, an act authorised the establishment and endowment of denominational colleges. Three men's colleges appeared over the next twenty years - St Paul's (Church of England); St John's (Roman Catholic Church); and St Andrew's (Presbyterian Church).

In 1855 the Government gave the University land at Grose Farm, Camperdown. The first plans for the University's original building, the Quadrangle, were drawn up by architect Edmund Blacket.

Grant of Arms to the University was adopted by the Senate on 13 December 1856. The arms of the University of Sydney carry the motto "Sidere mens eadem mutato" which may be freely translated as "Although the constellations change, the mind is universal". The motto reflects the University's role in carrying on the great intellectual traditions of the western world in the southern hemisphere. The Royal Charter of 27 February 1858 resulted in degrees awarded by the University as having the same standing as degrees awarded by universities in Great Britain.

The University received a number of bequests and endowments which enabled the institution to expand. The 1880 Challis bequest by John Henry Challis of 250,000 pounds and resulted in chairs and lectureships in law, history, engineering, biology, anatomy, modern literature, logic and mental philosophy. Thomas Fisher's bequest in 1884 assisted in the development of the library. The current Fisher Library was built in 1962 and 1967, the reading room of the old library became the MacLaurin Hall, and the periodical room became the Academic Board Room. In 1896, Sir Peter Nicol Russell gave the first of two endowments to the Engineering School. A large bequest from Samuel McCaughey in 1919 enabled the appointment of new Professors and Associate Professors in Arts, Engineering, Medicine, and Dentistry, and the 1928 George Henry Bosch bequest funded new Chairs in various fields of medicine. A bequest of funds and paintings from John Power in 1962 made possible the creation of the Fine Arts Department, the EY Seymour Bequest in 1970 financed the Seymour Centre, and large donations to the Science Foundation led to important developments in teaching and research in computing, astronomy and nuclear physics.

A new University of Sydney Act 1989 changed the structure of the University and allowed for the amalgamations that resulted from the reorganisation of merger education in Australia following what were known as the Dawkins reforms, after the Commonwealth Minister for Education, John Dawkins. In 1990 the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Sydney College of the Arts both joined the University, as did the Cumberland College of Health Sciences becoming the Faculty of Health Sciences, Sydney College of Advanced Education's Institute of Nursing Studies which became the Faculty of Nursing, and the Sydney Institute of Education which merged with the Faculty of Education. In 1994, Orange Agricultural College linked with the University. In 2000, Senate approved the establishment of a Faculty of Pharmacy and a Faculty of Rural Management to replace the Agricultural College at the Orange campus. In 2004 that faculty became a part of the Charles Sturt University.