{"id":191,"date":"2020-02-05T02:22:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T02:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/?page_id=191"},"modified":"2025-12-11T17:28:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:28:28","slug":"western-australian-institute-technology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/history-facts\/history\/western-australian-institute-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Australian Institute of Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Finding a place to grow \u2013 and did it grow! From college to university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding a suitable location to build the new Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) proved difficult. Various sites had been deemed unsuitable, especially in the city where space was limited. Salvation arrived in the form of a bushfire south of Perth in 1957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fire burnt out a large section of the Collier Pine Plantation in Bentley, 6 km south of Perth. This fortuitous event, coupled with the unsuitability of other potential sites, led to Bentley\u2019s selection in 1962. Vin Davies, a Public Works Department architect, was chosen to design the initial buildings and work began in earnest. Davies\u2019 signature style, using bricks and off-form concrete, set the tone for future building designs and is still evident on campus today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The core infrastructure was built over the next four years and WAIT officially opened on 17 August 1966. The first students enrolled the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WAIT<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the mid 1960s tertiary study in Australia was based along a \u201cbinary\u201d concept \u2013 a system which divided higher education into two sectors: universities and technical colleges. This binary concept was the end result of a report by the Martin Committee which was tasked with examining the post-war tertiary education environment in Australia, and to make recommendations on its future. The Martin Report differentiated colleges from universities by their function: vocational and teaching oriented colleges on the one hand, and academic and research-oriented universities on the other. The report recommended the creation of Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs) as an alternative to building more universities. Established universities were given higher status and higher levels of funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1969 the Western Australian School of Mines (WASM), the Muresk Agricultural College, the School of Occupational Therapy (now the School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology) and the School of Physiotherapy (now the School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science) were merged with WAIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Western Australian School of Mines, located in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, was established in 1902 to meet the technical requirements for mining the newly discovered goldfields. Muresk, established in 1926 on the Muresk Farm, 11km from Northam, was the first state-controlled agricultural college to concentrate on training farm managers in Australia. The School of Occupational Therapy was established in 1961 and is still the only occupational therapy school in Western Australia, whilst the School of Physiotherapy had been in existence since 1953.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1966 and 1976 WAIT experienced an incredible expansion from 3,000 to 10,000 students. This carried the institute into the front rank of the new Colleges of Advanced Education receiving financial assistance from the Commonwealth Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WAIT emerged as one of Australia\u2019s largest and most innovative of these Colleges, indeed something of a flagship in the non-university higher education sector. Ironically, the success of institutes such as WAIT and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), would contribute to the eventual collapse of the binary system as they were expanding into areas traditionally associated with universities and the lines were becoming blurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the 1970s things were changing. Recession was starting to bite into economic prosperity. WAIT came under attack from both Commonwealth and State authorities, who were reducing public spending. As a result of this pressure, WAIT consolidated around large schools of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n