The administration of the Department of Education in Victoria (Australia) went through many organizational structural changes in the period 1970-1986. This paper describes the sequence of these changes, identifies the persons and more general social forces behind them, and details their major effects on various levels of the educational system. For 100 years, until 1972, all functional, geographic, and subject areas of administration were incorporated under statewide central office directors of primary, technical, secondary, and special school education. In 1972, however, regional administration, based on geographic groupings of schools, was introduced, beginning a trend toward decentralization that intensified in the period 1979-1981, when extensive reviews of educational policies and concurrent goal setting resulted in the goal setting resulted in the location of decision making at the school as well as at the regional level. From 1982 to 1985 the primary focus shifted even more to the schools, accompanied by attention to issues of group accountability, equity, consultation, and participative processes at school, regional, and central levels. A Devolution Process Study undertaken in 1985 by the Ministry of Education urges cooperation among all sectors of education and emphasizes openness to continued structural change. Five figures are included and 51 notes are appended. (IW)