This study undertakes a close examination of the first two major national schemes of Federal aid to schools. These were the Commonwealth science laboratories scheme, promised by Prime Minister Menzies during the 1963 Federal election campaign, and the Commonwealth libraries scheme announced in August 1968. The study is in two parts, the first dealing with the origins of the two schemes and the second with aspects of their implementation at Commonwealth and State level. Acknowledging the extremely important 'state' and 'Federal aid' precedents established by Menzies' science laboratories promise, the study seeks to explain this dramatic reversal of Federal Government policy. Chapters I and II describe the background context of growing centripetal pressures in the Australian federal system and the increasing involvement of the Federal Government in education, despite its being a power supposedly 'reserved' to the States. Chapters III and IV then narrow the focus to the crucial years between 1956 and 1963. During these years, the study argues, there occurred a gradual convergence of three major pressures which ultimately forced the Menzies' Government to reverse its policy and introduce Federal aid. These pressures were for state aid, Federal aid and science aid for schools and, essentially, came from independent school representatives, State school representatives and professional scientists and industry respectively. Chapter IV also deals with the more immediate events and electoral circumstances which contributed to Menzies' promise. Chapter V examines the pressure group activities and circumstances which led to the second Federal initiative, the libraries scheme in 1968. implementation of these programs. Chapters VI to IX examine the Part II, Implementation, deals with certain aspects of the early years of the science scheme from 1964 to 1968. The aim is to describe what happened in this novel situation in which the Commonwealth Government in the first instance, and then its agencies in the States, commenced to plan and implement a new and complex Federal-State enterprise in a sensitive area of traditional State and independent school autonomy. It describes and analyses the political, legislative and administrative developments of this crucial formative period during which evolved a set of structures, policies and procedures at both Commonwealth and State levels, for the implementation of the program. Chapter X provides an examination of some key features and problems of policy formulation and administration in the early years of the libraries program. Particular emphasis is placed on developments at Commonwealth and State Departmental level. Another theme which runs throughout the whole of the implementation section is the evolution of Commonwealth- State relations in education as reflected in these programs. The study concludes with a brief discussion of some possible implications, some possible areas