In its early days the theory and practice of art education as a state primary school subject in Victoria was influenced by ideological pressures imported from abroad and implemented through a forceful central administration. In later years a group of local art educators slowly developed and secured influence over the subject. That influence came to have a concrete effect through the initiatives of some parent groups during the changing social climate of the 1960s when a new standard for art and craft facilities was achieved. During the 1970s the political opportunism of a governing party facing a state election introduced a new policy that promised to provide an art and craft facility for every state school with a significant enrolment. The honoring of that promise guaranteed the provision of suitable facilities to meet the needs and expectations of existing art education programs. It would therefore appear that through a substantial commitment to art education, the subject had secured an important place in the primary school curriculum.