Front page of the Canberra Times, 17 July 1962

In 1962 all seven of Goulbourn’s Catholic schools were closed, in what became known as a strike. The schools were protesting against a lack of government funding, that meant their school buildings were inadequate.

The Goulburn strike influenced Australian politicians, some of whom began to support the idea of giving government funding to religious and independent schools. In 1964, the Menzies government passed an Act that brought in federal funding for independent and religious schools.