MLC Business School

During WWI, Rev Dr William Fitchett recognised many roles traditionally held by men were being filled by women. This gave way to a strong need for specialised business training courses, specifically for young women entering the workforce.  

In 1917, the Fitchett Hall was completed and housed the new MLC Business School. It sat underneath the then Assembly Hall (which has since been the library and is now a drama space). It had its own rooms, staff and specialist subjects including shorthand, typewriting and bookkeeping.  

This was a remarkable moment in history for women in business and women’s education. The Harvard Business School only started admitting women in December 1962.  

From the 1930s to the 1970s, the Business School operated as a school within a school. It was open to MLC students, but also to students who had completed their education elsewhere and wanted to pursue business training to an MLC standard.  

There were two courses at the time: the full Business Diploma Course or the Partial Business Course. The subjects included Commercial English, Commercial Arithmetic, Typewriting, Shorthand, and Commercial Principles and Practices. Scripture, Physical Education, English Speaking and Choral Work were also included. There was an additional offer of Commercial Art and Handicrafts, which could be studied for an additional fee.  

The MLC Business School changed in the 1980s with the introduction of the HSC, and again in the 1990s with the introduction of the VCE and the VET.  

Roma Sampson (1964), was a graduate of the MLC Business School. She had wanted to go to university to study veterinary science. Unfortunately, having done the wrong subjects meant she either had to repeat a year or find an alternative. At a meeting with Dr Wood, he suggested she consider the Business School. It was the last thing she wanted to do – shorthand?! But “Mum decided that’s what I was going to do and Dad agreed”.  

Roma still remembers the loud sounds of the typewriters in the typewriting room – “just horrendous”. She marvels at how she managed to get the speed going on those old typewriters, having to bang away and pull the carriage across. She describes how, later, when she was working at the Alfred Hospital and electric typewriters were introduced, “I kept trying to pull the (non-existent) carriage across!” 

Roma graduated from MLC in 1964 taking out the Form prize and coming second in her year. She reflects on her six years at MLC and her mum’s voice echoes in her mind: “You’ll miss it when you leave”. She looks back in amazement at the opportunities the experience opened for her, considering she “was not interested at all”. To this day, Roma credits the MLC Business School with arming her with skills she has used throughout her entire life.