Historical information

These tie pins were made for the School on Mines Ballarat. The School of Mines was established in 1870, making it Australia's third oldest tertiary institution. The School of Mines had two divisions - a tertiary division and a technical division. The tertiary division provided higher education courses such as mining engineering, geology, education and business studies, while the technical division provided such programs as wool classing, plumbing and bricklaying. The organisation remained in that form until the 1967 when it was split into three institutions, Ballarat School of Industries, Ballarat Technical School, and Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education. They remained three entities until 1976.

Physical description

There are 5 small pins of green enamel on gold coloured metal with the letters SMB which have a with butterfly catch at the back. They are pinned to a buff coloured card with brown printing which contains information about the School of Mines Ballarat.

Inscriptions & markings

Printed on the card - The School of Mines Ballarat was established on 26th October, 1870 to provide for the educational and training needs of the gold mining industry. Today, SMB as a Community College of Technical and Further Education offers vocational, preparatory and enrichment courses for the local community and the Central Highlands Region.