Registrar's Department

The position of Registrar was established by the Council on the 11 December 1874 following a motion from James Hay. The first appointment was William Barlow BA as Registrar and Librarian, with a part-time salary of £250 per annum.

The statute covering the duties of the Registrar was adopted by Council on the 12 February 1875, and a separate Librarian and Accountant/Chief Clerk were appointed in 1900 as part of the Registrar's Department.

The Department gradually expanded to meet demand as students and staff numbers, income and expenditure and complexity of administration all increased.

Post-war growth and the new elements introduced by the Universities led to further increases in and specialisation of staff, along with the establishment of separate Academic and Finance branches and a Public Examinations unit (from 1951). This increasing separation of functions was formalised by Council on the 30 October 1964 at the suggestion of the Registrar, and upon the recommendation of the Vice-Chancellor and the Finance Committee a tripartite system of administration was installed.

Under the new scheme financial matters were transferred to the Bursar and responsibility for student matters and the servicing of committees and boards dealing with education and student matters was transferred to the Academic Registrar.

The new administrative structure came into effect on 1 March 1965 and was reflected in the adoption on 23 January 1975 of a new Statute "Of Senior Administrative Staff". This replaced the Statute of 1900, which had been used to regulate the Registrar's duties and responsibilities until that time.

Taken from University of Adelaide Provenance Record - UAR-0001