Sydney Institute – history and heritage

Sydney Institute has a proud history of providing training to the people and industry of Sydney for over 100 years.

Sydney Technical College established – adopting the motto “manu et mente” meaning “hand and mind” or “doing and thinking” – to provide hands-on, practical training that is relevant to industry and the community.

The college provided professional training in dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary science, agriculture, mining and other primary industries. Also trained skilled tradespeople, such as mechanical and civil engineers, chemists, cooks and printers.

Petersham College opened as Petersham Branch Technical School in 1884, while St George College opened as St George Branch Technical School in 1886 with classes conducted at the local School of Arts.

The college added courses in road and rail carriage building as well as repatriation courses, free to disabled services personnel.

Sydney Technical College became a combined teaching facility, factory and army camp, providing training under the Commonwealth Defence Training Scheme.

Added training for technicians in areas as diverse as dental care, biomedical and office administration.

Randwick College was established as an annexe of East Sydney Technical College in 1954 and became a separate college in 1968.

Growth in courses for development of individual talents, leisure courses, special programs to help students overcome difficulties such as poor literacy or numeracy, intellectual disability or lack of previous educational opportunities. The largest college in the TAFE NSW system became affectionately known as Sydney TAFE or Sydney Tech.

Eora College was opened in 1984.

Dynamically evolving over the past two decades, Sydney Technical College first became Sydney Institute of Technology and then, in 2000, TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute. It now consists of seven world class training facilities – the Design Centre Enmore, Randwick, Petersham, Eora, St George, Sutherland and Ultimo Colleges.

From 300 students enrolled in the late 19th century, Sydney Institute currently enrols over 74,000 students annually.