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The Chinese school in Light Square, Adelaide, was run for over 40 years by the Adelaide Central Mission, and was unique in Australia. The school grew out of the work of Miss Sarah Lavis, who in the early 1880s began teaching English and Christianity to a Chinese hawker in her home in Wright Street. By 1883 the school had been put on a formal footing, operating from rooms in Light Square. From a Chinese population of around 200 in the city, about 15 students attended the school annually. Subjects included reading, writing, religious instruction, hymn-singing and book keeping, and were taught on a one-to-one basis by young missionary trainees and other church people. The main focus of the school was bringing the Chinese to Christianity. The Chinese people happily gave themselves over to learning English, regardless of the religious aspect. One of the school's teachers, William Fleming, was later murdered in China during the cultural uprising, while working there as a missionary.