Volume 10 No 2 July 2007

THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH . . .

The September Reunion not only marks the 60th anniversary of Wagga Wagga Teachers Collegebut also the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Wagga Wagga Teachers College AlumniAssociation.

In that time the Association has achieved its goals, the renewed contact with all alumni throughthe regular production of Talkabout, the successful establishment of the Scholarship Fund whichhas already provided Scholarships for five years, the production of “Teaching Memories”, theencouragement of Session reunions, and the WWTC display in the Riverina Museum.

It has been decided to take up the suggestion by Professor David Green, Head of Charles SturtUniversity Wagga Wagga Campus, that we consider including Charles Sturt University TeacherGraduates in our Alumni Association.

A meeting was held with an Alumni delegation and a C.S.U. delegation and a proposed constitutionhas been formulated. The new title would be Wagga Wagga Teachers Alumni Association.

The decision for the proposed changes will be discussed and decided by members of WaggaWagga Teachers College Alumni Association attending the reunion at Wagga Wagga in September.

There are to be great benefits from such a proposal. As all members of our present Associationwill have retired by 2012 our membership will continue to decline until the last one of us drops offthe twig.

If our members decide to accept Professor Green’s suggestion then our work will be carried on.

The Scholarship Fund has reached $55,000, and if we close it at $60,000 our perpetual W.W.T.C.Scholarship is secured.

With the addition of 10,000 graduates from the Wagga Wagga Campus since 1975, the proposedobjective to build an Education Cottage at the Wagga Wagga Campus as a lasting memorial to allteacher graduates from Wagga Wagga seems distinctly possible.

The cottage – comprising eight bedrooms, two bathrooms and shared kitchen, laundry and commonroom, costs approximately $400,000 to construct.

The University will underwrite the cost of construction so that the cottage can be built at thestart of a ten year period. With the donors reimbursing the University over time, 10,000members each contributing $4 per annum over 10 years is $400,000.

…………………Something to think about!

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Four eligible applicants were interviewed for our 2007 Scholarships.In assessing applicants for a scholarship there are four aspects to be considered: Scholastic Rating (C.S.U. Results Sheet),Self Evaluation (Student), Needs (Hardship or Disability) and Interview.Once again the interview committee of Karen Jamieson, Roger Clements, Graeme Wilson, Malcolm Hanratty and LewMorrell, was impressed with the high standard of student talent.Two applicants were outstanding and both are studying for the Bachelor of Education (Primary) Honours Degree.

Ann Harris and Carolyn Scott have each been awarded a $2,500 Scholarship in their final year.Ann Harris gained 9 High Distinctions, 11 Distinctions and 3 Credits.Carolyn Scott gained 1 High Distinction 14 Distinctions and 8 Credits.

We feel that these students will be a credit to the teaching profession.

2007 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

WHERE ARE THEY NOWThe publication last July of the photo of the 1951 Australian Rules team created such a great interest we havedecided to go with another one of the same vintage. Thanks to Geoff Gorman for contributing a photo of the1951 Soccer team. It may also generate some interest.

Malcolm Hanratty, Bob Campbell, Col Simms, Geoff Gorman, Frank O’Sullivan, Phil BastickGordon Schliebs, Peter Herden, Peter Howard, John Woodger, Bob Hagan

Ann Harris Carolyn Scott

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From Ann’sM ailbag

Hi everyone. Yes, I am still looking for“lost” souls. With help from some ofyou more and more ex-students arebeing found and placed on the DataBase. The trouble is that more peopleare moving house and they forget tonotify us of their new address.

Well done to those who let us knowabout deceased members. Let us see ifwe can find more before the Reunion atthe end of September. Ann Durnan andKaren Connolly 71-73 were two whocame up with some of these.

As we get older more of our colleaguesare passing on. This time there weresix from the 47-51 Sessions. See InMemoriam.

Here is a list of some of the people whowere found since the February meeting.Raymond Anscombe 68-69, DoreenAngove nee McPherson 58-59, JohnBrewerton 60-61, Marcia Cheyne 50-51 who met up with Jan Walsh’shusband, Ann and William Durnan71-72, Loretta Dagg 71-72, RossLeany 61-62, Trevor and BeverleyMcGregor 68-69, Ross Vaughan 66-67, Mary Rule, Noeline Trotter 1965,and John White 56-57.

An apology! One of my well meaningcolleagues told me that RaymondMarkey 66-67 was a Professor atWollongong University, I put that in thelast Talkabout. Now he is a professor atAuckland University of Technology.

Recently Shirley Salter nee Morcom49-50 had a catch up coffee with twospecial friends Barry Michell 50-51and Alan Roberts 50-51.

She revived fond memories of collegedays with lots of laughter and fun. She

sent thanks to me for making the gettogether possible. Barry would like tomeet more from his session. This wasthe second time I had traced him.

Helen Crossweller nee Young 62-63thanked us for all our hard work for thelazy exstudents. She loves readingTalkabout but won’t be able to attendthe reunion.

Col Yarham 48-50 sends us greetingsfrom a very warm Chennai in India. Heis still very busy involving himself inthe Health Education Program forchildren. There are 14 million in theState Education System.

Geoff Walsh wrote to say that he alwaysenjoyed reading his late wife’sTalkabout. She was Janice Parkerfrom 60-61. He has joined us as anaffiliate.

Marion Fox (62-63) who died inWollongong was one of the “found”ones. Dorothy Hall nee Sturmer 60-61moved to Queensland. John Brereton60-61 and John White 56-57 both sentme their address.

Pat Limon 48-50 died last month. Hewas very popular in Narooma. Thanksto Ann Durnan for letting me know.Bob Kirk notified that Molly Vidgennee Darrington 50-51 had passedaway.

Doreen Angove nee McPherson 58-59can’t come to the reunion as she will beattending a wedding in Adelaide.

Michelle Webster notified us that hermother Lyn passed away on the 10th

August 2005 and her father on 14th

February this year.

The Alumni were well represented atChristel Wangmann’s funeral.48-50.

I hope to meet some of you at the reunionbut this will depend on my health.

I hope that you will have a great reunionand that a lot of your friends attend.

It isn’t too late to remind them.

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In Memoriam

Years go by, memories stayAs near and dear as yesterday.

David Dillon-Smithlecturer 1948- ?

Helen Mary Eadynee Coddington 1948-50

Patricia Dawn Eadynee Hoare 1948-50

Patrick Basil Limon 1948-50

Christel Wangmannnee Cox 1948-50

Dorothy (Molly) Vidgennee Darrington 1950-51

Lynette Joan Websternee McPherson 1959-60

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CONTACTS

President: Bob Collard MBE: 2 Louise Close, Ourimbah 2258Phone 02 43622764

Secretary: Dorothy Tanner: 282 Doncaster Ave, Kingsford 2032Ph 02 96633204 E-mail: netanner@optusnet.com.au

Research and Records Officer:Ann Smith: 24 Whitworth St, Westmead 2145Phone 02 96350449 E-mail: annrae@bigpond.net.au

Treasurer: Lindsay Budd: 4 Flemington Close, Casula 2170Phone 02 96013003 E-mail: lbudd@bigpond.net.au

Talkabout Editors:Lindsay BuddLew Morrell: 25 Grandview Drive, Newport 2106Phone 02 99971506 E-mail: lewismorrell@bigpond.com

Alumni Office: Michelle Fawkes: The Alumni Office, Charles Sturt University,Bathurst 2795. Phone 02 63384629. E-mail: mfawkes@csu.edu.au

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LETTERS PAGE

Dear Ann and Lew,I was delighted to meet up with JohnShields (1953-54) when exhibiting atInverell Art Gallery this year. He was inmy years at College and in the sameSection 5. His first appointment afterfinishing College was to a one teacherschool in the Inverell district, WallangraPublic School. He is well rememberedand regarded in the area. His resume isenclosed together with a couple ofphotos.I am also enclosing a photo of myselfwith Don Learmonth and Kath Noonan.We are all members of the InverellDelvyn Bridge Club and have funcompeting and socializing together.This information may be of use in yourTalkabout Publication which I enjoyand read from cover to cover.Regards,Barbara Lane. 1953-54

JOHN SHIELDSTraditional Artist

FELLOW OF THE AUSTRALIANINSTITUTE OF HISTORY AND ARTS

Barbara Lane, Don Learmonth, Kath Noonan

LIFE MEMBER AND PASTPRESIDENT OF THE MACQUARIETOWNS ARTS SOCIETY.EXHIBITING MEMBER OF THENSW ROYAL ART SOCIETY.LIFE MEMBER OF THEBAULKHAM HILLS ART SOCIETY.

John Shields received tuition at WaggaWagga Teachers’ College (1953-54).Except for this tuition he was self-taught, looking for his instruction to theworks of such well known Australianartists as Gruner, Streeton, Heysen andRobert Johnson. Their influence can beclearly seen in his work.The main characteristics of JohnShields’ work are ‘atmosphere andlight.’ His main interest is endeavouringto capture the varying light effects ofthe Australian landscape, be it the fog ormists of early mornings, the harshshimmering heat of mid-day, or theglorious glow and heat hazes of theafternoon. At all times he tries tocapture the subtleties of the Australianatmosphere,He has numerous art prizes to his creditand his work is included in manyprivate and public art collections inAustralia, Canada, Great Britain,Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea,Japan, South Africa, USA and WesternGermany, His work is exhibited in manygalleries in NSW and in his studiogallery.

Address: “Rosemount Lodge”,174 Francis Street, Richmond, NSW.

COLLEGE MEMORIES

To the Editors,

I have just subscribed to Talkabout buthave read a few previous copies, I haveenjoyed reading the reminiscences,particularly of Dawn’s account of life atBourke, John Rummery’s time atPooncarie and John Bourke’s weekenddetention of a pupil which was a classic.

Here are a few reminiscences of collegedays:

George Blakemore was responsible forthe well being of all students and inattempting to curb what he perceived asbeing too close a contact developingbetween sexes, he tightened rules ratherthan encouraging students to be mindfulof personal responsibility and selfdiscipline. As a result studentresentment grew, culminating in aprotest demonstration that palpablyunsettled the principal.

The idea which spread like wildfire,was to enter the dining room, eat ourlunch and leave in silence and for thewhole lunch period only the clatter ofcrockery and cutlery was heard, it was asilent but dramatic manifestation ofstudent discontent.

Our biology lecturer, a good naturedperson, had difficulty at times inholding his audience and so there wassome restlessness in his lectures. Intalking about moths and butterflies heintoned that the Wanderer butterfly wasfound in an area stretching fromAmerica to Australia, a wag asked couldthe butterfly make it in one flight.

On another biological occasion, todefeat the tedium of lectures, it wasdecided that at a precise moment wewould as one, raise our hands to ask apre thought up question, the timing wasperfect, every hand shot up wavingeagerly, every face clearly showing acommendable thirst for knowledge. Theprank took up the rest of the period, thelecturer urging us to be patient as hewould attempt to answer every question.

Still in Biology, slides were on theprogram and comfortable positions weretaken up, some sitting or reclining onthe floor; as the slides progressed acolumn of smoke suddenly curled upfrom the floor and drifted through the

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LETTERS PAGEprojector beam, someone had lit up aRothmans.

One of the students had procured acartoon by Joliffe entitled “Lassiter’sLast Ride”, it was graphically lurid anddefinitely not for publication but wasbrilliantly funny. As the word got roundthere was a steady beat of feet to thestudent’s room to view the prurientpicture.

Then there was the Great BromideAffair. Rumour had it that to combatrising testosterone levels, bromide hadbeen added to the milk which wascontained in a large steel jug on eachtable. It became a ritual for one of theboys to pour a glass of milk, bring theglass to his lips, his other hand raisedwith the forefinger pointing to theceiling. As he drank, the finger slowlycurled down and by the time the glasswas empty, the finger was pointing atthe floor.

We were told that art extended beyondthe drawing of a bowl of fruit but it waswith some scepticism that we grappledwith the thought that through art wecould express our innermost feelingsand emotions. Our first attempt atabstract art was therefore a challenge,the title was Music in the Wind and ithad most of us scratching our heads,furrowing the brows and lookingupwards for a glimmer of inspiration.

One student looked downwards at thefloor in despair and found hisinspiration. He was wearing what wasknown as a Swanee Yankee tie, aflamboyant fashion item that featuredswirl patterns in eye catching coloursand he surreptitiously copied his tiepattern onto the art paper. The lecturerfulsomely praised the student sayingthat the theme had been captured andsuitably expressed.

Come the final exams and one of thequestions in Art was to develop our ownideas in innovative house designs, onestudent described the concept ofelectrically warmed toilet seats but thelecturer thought the answer frivolousand I believe he failed the student. Thestudent has since been vindicated, hisidea was ahead of his time.

Barry Michell (1950-51)

WWTC REUNION 1961-62November 2006

Dear Lew,Eventually a follow up from the 1961-62 reunion held November 2006 on theTweed – the committee only had a ‘gettogether’ very recently … hence thedelay.Enclosed is an article I wrote for thereunion (slightly edited) which you maywish to use for Talkabout.Best wishes,Barbara Deece.

Looking Back in 2006 to WWTC1961-1962,

The sixties had just began. Bob Menzieswas in The Lodge, John Kennedy at theWhite House and Richie Benaud wascaptain of the Cricket team! And Australiaheld the Ashes! The queen was on thethrone very prim and proper !!!During our time at WWTC, the Berlinwall went up, Morris Iemma was born,and somewhere in Liverpool UK a fewyoung ‘would be’ musicians were struttingtheir stuff. Chubby Checker was doingThe Twist and a young Elvis Presley, RayCharles and Johnny O’Keefe wereplaying on our transistors - if we had one!Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose and Rod Laverwere household names on the sportingpages. The ‘Empire Games’ were held inPerth.... Not that we noticed! We atetrainsmash, meat 3 veg, custard and jelly.And during “pracs” we taught seven yearolds to read “Gay Days”.The meagre allowance we received wasin pounds, shillings and pence... and asfor teaching long division in the oldcurrency! Thank goodness for the 14th

February 1966!We had never heard of Vietnam, thecountry, let alone the war, conscription ormoratoriums. And as the sixtiesprogressed we saw the man land on themoon on our little b&w TV sets. Most ofwhat happened was brought to us eachevening by James Dibble on the ABCnews at 7pm. Or by Graham Kennedy.Many of us travelled “overseas” either tothe UK or to Canada by ship and thoughtwe were SO sophisticated and “knew itall”!The seventies brought us colour TV,Gough, ‘It’s Time’, Norman Gunston,Cyclone Tracey, Germaine Greer, Dame

Edna, Paul Hogan and ABBA. And a BIGEVENT in Canberra November 1975.Half a lifetime ago!The eighties remind of us of the America’scup, Bob Hawke, high interest rates andAzaria Chamberlain.Eventually we were all grown up, hadcareers, relationships (what were they?)families, kids, mortgages, good times andbad! We’ve travelled the world .. spreadfar and wide. Maybe many thousands ofyoung Australians (and English andCanadians etc) are better people forhaving been taught by teachers from theclass of 1962. I hope so.Fortunately, we also learnt a few thingsalong the way (many taught to us by thekids we taught as well as our own !) anda few new words crept into our vocab:..... technology, terrorism, environment,retirement, plasma screens, mobiles,superannuation, Thorpedo, Iraq,Makybe Diva...

It’s great to be alive! ….and have suchgreat memories!

Barbara (Todhunter) Deece 11/11/06Slightly edited April, 2007

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ALUMNI RECOGNISEDIN QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY

HONOURS

Awarded an AO:Mr Donald Malcolm Talbot, OBE,Currumbin Waters, Qld.For service to swimming, particularlythrough the development andimplementation of innovative coachingprograms.

Awarded an OAM:Mr Ralph Richard Bryant, NorahHead, NSW.For service to the community throughthe Rotary Club of Toukley and theCentral Coast Festival of the Arts.

Don was in the 1951-52 Session.Ralph was in the 1949-50 Session.

Congratulations to both Alumni.

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LETTERS PAGEDear Editor,I have just received a copy of the Marchedition of Talkabout and I think editorLew was looking through the mists oftime with rose coloured glasses when,in his editorial, he enthuses on theeffectiveness of our teacher training.Lew writes that the college wasdedicated to producing top line teachersand that Wagga produced some of thefinest teachers in the Department, wellno one ever left any college capable ofbeing judged thus, though the potentialmay have been there.Perhaps I was not paying enoughattention in lectures but the course,while it had its practical subjects was oflittle help in the real world of coping allday, five days a week with largenumbers, multiple classes and varyingstandards.The fact is that we didn’t cope, weweren’t anywhere near to beingeffective and anyone who thinksotherwise was kidding themselves, itwas only through teaching over a periodof some years, in many situations andall the while developing ourphilosophical ideals that we began thelong process of fully understanding thechallenges and our responsibilities andso evolving the skills necessary tobecoming an effective teacher.I resigned but returned in the 60’s, thenI did five years relieving then hadtwenty years on 6th class on every oneof 4 levels. The experience of five yearsrelief teaching and from being on theend the primary production line fortwenty years as well as from pupilstransferring from other schools,convinced me that there were, and nodoubt still are, many ineffectiveteachers in the service.And the Teachers’ Federation claim thatafter three years of probation teacherswere professionally qualified wasabsurd.

Barry Michell (50-51)

Dear Lindsay,Ray Fielder sent me a letter remindingme about the quite unexpected win wehad in the Rules comp and asking for aphoto.Naturally, I’ve managed to lose hisletter and, after much frantic searching,I’m hoping that you might have hisaddress and will be able to forward theattached photo on to him.

I do remember the victory celebrationafter the final. We were upstairs on theverandah of a pub down towards thebridge. Beer was in short supply and Iskulled a bottle of something that Ithought was a different brand calledFroveen? Proveen?Half-way through the second bottle Iread the label and realised it was a winetype with an alcoholic content ofsomething in the order of 14%. Thingsbecame slightly hazy after that.What a lot of pleasant memories I haveof those days.Regards,

Tony Morley 1950-51

Dear Ann,Re Janice Anne Walsh (Nee Parker)WWTC 1960-61As you have previously been advised byboth me and my sister in law CarolTaylor (nee Parker WWTC 1962-63 Ithink), my wife Jan passed away on 6April 2006. In fact, Jan’s death noticewas published in the last 2006 editionof “Talkabout”.Just a note to say that the publication ofJan’s death in Talkabout led to contactwith Marcia Cheyne (nee Watling) whoshared a dormitory with Jan way back inthe early 60’s. I think Lillian? (I suspectthe Lillian Chapman nee Daviesmentioned in “Ann’s Mailbag” inMarch) was heavily involved withMarcia in tracking me down. I had awonderful letter from Marcia followedby a couple of email exchanges - turnsout I worked with Marcia’s husband atBHP Port Kembla in the early 60’s.Small world! Jan’s mother and sisterhave also been in contact with Marcia

who lives in Thirroul NSW. All part ofthe grieving process for us. Jan is stillon the mailing list for “Talkabout”. Idon’t know what your rules are but Ireally enjoy reading the publication -particularly Teaching Memories - and Iwould like to continue receiving it. Ithink the subscription is $20 per yearand I am enclosing a cheque for thatamount .A brief history of Jan post WWTC.Jan’s first appointment was at KangarooValley followed by Warrawong thenWoonona all on the NSW South Coast.We met whilst Jan was teaching atWarrawong and married in 1967. In1969 I was appointed a BHP SpecialCadet which meant travelling aroundmost of BHP’s sites in Australia for 6months. Jan secured an appointment atMark’s Point on Lake Macquarie whilstI was in Newcastle and finished herteaching career there in late 1969.Wethen visited BHP sites in Tasmania,South Australia and Western Australia.A pregnant Jan and I arrived inMelbourne on 1 December 1969 for 6months - and spent the rest of our lifetogether here! Jan never went back toteaching - mainly because of herdevoted role as a mother of 3, possiblybecause Jan was 2 year trained and onehad to be 3 year trained to get into theVictorian education system. We have 3great children and 4 terrificgrandchildren. Jan’s skills as a teachernever left her - with teaching aids shewould have learnt at WWTC she taughtour 3 children to read /draw etc etc longbefore they started school. Jan alsodelighted in “teaching” thegrandchildren. We visited the oldWWTC site a few years ago - a pity tosee it looking so run down.Ann, I am enclosing photocopies of afew of the many photos Jan had of herWWTC days. In some cases Janrecorded first names - but not surnames- in others not. I am a little reluctant tosend you originals unless you have areal interest in some of the photos -perhaps for your 60th reunion. Let meknow.Keep up the good work - as I said aboveI enjoy reading Talkabout - being from asmall country town (Jamberoo) myself Ican sympathise with some of the storiesabout first teaching posts post WWTC.Kind Regards,Geoff Walsh.

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COLLEGE MEMORIESThe following are excerpts from WWTCCOLLEGE AND TEACHINGMEMORIES which was compiled by thelate John Riley.The first is by Christel Cox and theother two are memories of George byDr Vic Couch. Ed

GRAND ENTRY TO COLLEGE

The thing I remember most about mydays at Wagga Wagga Teachers’ College(apart from the cold weather) was theordeal of getting there and home againfor holidays. We used to live on a farmforty miles from Walgett and nine milesfrom Lightning Ridge. The WalgettRoad was probably one of the worst inAustralia — rough and dusty in drytimes, and impassable after rain. Inthose days the train came to Walgettthree times a week.My father didn’t want me to go toteachers’ college. He said he hadenough money, and that I should stay athome and help my mother, andeventually get married. His idea ofhelping mother was cutting burrs,mustering sheep, helping with theshearing, dipping, and lamb marking.He did finally relent, however, said Icould go, and signed my bond. The dayI wanted him to drive me to Walgett tocatch the train he found he had to dosome work on the farm, so I had to waitfor the next train. I had to catch thistrain to Central, then another to Wagga,to arrive two days late.When I finally reached College, GriffDuncan met me at the office. He saidthe students were having dinner, andescorted me to the dining room door.“Just walk in and find a place to sitdown,” he said. “Don’t worry if thestudents stand up and clap. They oftendo if you come in late.”I opened the door, tired and dirty fromthe long trip, and walked in. All I could

see was what seemed to be hundreds ofstudents sitting at tables covered bywhite tablecloths. For some reason Istarted to worry about having left mysilver serviette ring (with my initialsengraved on it) in my case.As I stood there, nervous as could be, atall, thin young man came up and askedme to sit at his table. He said theyneeded another girl. His name wasBarry Jackson, and I sat at his table forthe next two years. He carried on withsick jokes about chicken andmarmalade, and sometimes madeembarrassing comments, but we wererarely bored. To this day I have beenever grateful to Barry for rescuing me.

Christel Wangmann (Cox) 1948-50

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(Our highly respected former lecturer inEducation, Dr Victor Couch, kindlyrecorded on tape a number of humorousexperiences from his years at WaggaWagga Teachers’ College. Following isa sample.

The Gem of Them All

I had been invited by Norm Donnisonand the students to attend the football“do” at the end of the season - tohonour the team for its successes andNorm for his great work in coaching theteam. I was asked to say a few words.As it was an all-male affair, I thought itwould be appropriate to tell the storyabout termites in the Northern Territory.The Wet Season was approaching andthe termites had decided it was time tomake a mound out of buffalo dung.They were making heavy weather of itbecause the dung, being too moist,tended to keep sliding downhill all thetime.So the foreman termite assembled allhis workers and began gesticulatingwith his antennae. A termite fromanother colony was watching thisperformance. Intrigued, he walked overto the foreman and asked, “What’s all

that about?”The foreman replied, “I’m not sure I’mgetting my message through to them.The signal I’m giving is ‘Stop thatBULLSHIT; stop that BULLSHIT’.”I thought that would be the end of it, butwhen assembly came the followingTuesday and George stood up tospeak, every man and woman studenthad their antennae up.George was flabbergasted and, ofcourse, so was I. He could notunderstand what had brought on thisremarkable reaction. I felt I had to tellhim for his peace of mind that I had toldthe story, but not with any specialintent.Indeed, as I assured him, at my firstlecture after the football get-together, afew of my students had their antennaeup also!

In Loco Parentis

Because Ian Renwick and I lectured inPsychology, George sometimes soughtreassurance from us. He was concernedthat, although he thought he was tryingto do his best for his students, no matterwhat he did they criticized him.He often pointed out in his addressesthat he was “in loco parentis”, and Iassured him, “That’s right, George, butyou’ve got to remember that you’re thefather figure for both the men and thewomen students. You are getting thesame sort of reaction from the studentsas any father would get from his lateteenage son or daughter, but here it’smagnified a hundred fold.“And of course the relationship with thewomen students is a more delicate one,but nonetheless it’s the relationshipbetween father and daughter. With adaughter it’s much more complex,because a daughter at one stage ofdevelopment idolises her father, whileat a later stage she hates him. And it’san extraordinarily complex situation.”At the next College assembly Georgestood up to propound on the matter. Hisoutline of his role with the men wentover all right. When he started toaddress the women he got a bit mixedup and said,“I’m responsible for the condition ofevery woman in this College!”

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TEACHING MEMORIESUGANDA AND CAMBODIA

I have been very fortunate in myopportunities to teach overseas. Thisincludes Papua New Guinea, theSolomon Islands, Britain, China,Uganda, and Cambodia.

I retired from the Education Faculty ofGriffith University in 1989 and in 1991I flew to Uganda as a member of theWorld Bank’s Fourth Education Project.Uganda is a land-locked country inCentral Equatorial Africa, bordered bySudan in the north, Zaire in the west,Kenya in the east while in the south, itshares the vast Lake Victoria withTanzania. Once a prosperous country, atthe time of my visit it had not recoveredfrom the depredations of Idi Amin whowas ousted in 1979 when Tanzaniantroops invaded the country. To add to itseconomic problems, it was wracked bycivil war initiated by terrorist guerillas.

After flying to India by Qantas, I had towait at Mumbai (Bombay) airport for aplane from Ethiopian Airlines that wasto take me the rest of the way to Africa.In the terminal that night, I sat on a hardwooden bench for hour after hour,desperately swatting away at the cloudsof mosquitoes that swarmed around me.Finally it was time to board a mini-busthat was to take us out to the planesitting out on the tarmac some distanceaway. All the mosquitoes got on the buswith us, and then when we boarded, lotsof them got on the plane as well andpresumably some alighted with us whenwe stopped at Addis Ababa and again inEntebbe, the Kampala airport. Duringthe flight, passengers protested, ofcourse, to be met with a smile by theflight attendants – but no action.Apparently it was not unusual to givemozzies a free ride to and from Africa.

The Ugandan Education Departmentwas very corrupt. This started at thevery top with the Department’s ChiefAccountant. Teachers’ salaries weresent out – very irregularly - to theDistrict Inspectors who then sometimessent them on to the individual schools.Headmasters customarily inflated theirteacher numbers and the inspectorsadded in some more names, eachkeeping the extra money for himselfwhen it came. The World Bank’sconservative estimate was that therewere at least 20,000 ‘ghost’ teachers

throughout the country.

There is only one word to describe thestate of the many rural Ugandan primaryschools I visited all over the country.Appalling. Not one of them had a toiletor access to water, clean or otherwise.In some places, the teachers hadabandoned their classes and gone backto their villages because they had notbeen paid for months. Where schoolsactually functioned, there was often nochalk, blackboard, children’s exercisebooks or textbooks, and notinfrequently up to a hundred childrensat on an earthen floor in a windowless,thatched building or even under a tree.Moreover, many teachers werecompletely untrained. I recall one younggirl attempting to teach the nine timestable in English to a class of five yearolds. None of them could speak a wordof English, of course, and were justtrying to memorise it by rote.

At the time, the country was in themiddle of a guerilla war. In WesternUganda, the girls’ secondary school thatmy colleague and I had come to visithad been burnt to the ground. Welearned from villagers that afterdestroying the school, the rebel Lord’sLiberation Army had raped and thenkidnapped all the pupils. On the wayback to the capital, Kampala, ourLandrover was pulled up by an armypatrol of stoned and very aggressivesoldiers. Clearly we were not membersof the Lord’s Liberation Army, but thatdidn’t stop them from strip-searching usand removing everything from thevehicle in a search for weapons. Itlooked pretty hairy for a while, but thesituation was saved by the driver whopassed around a packet of cigarettes,and they let us pass.

While this was happening, it didn’t helpto recall an incident concerning the lastconvoy of trucks passing along thatsame road under the protection of theUgandan army. The army officer incharge had been riding in a vehiclesomewhere near the rear of the convoy.Tired of eating dust, he ordered hisdriver to speed up and go up to thefront. However when he approached theleading truck, its driver panicked,thinking that the convoy was underattack , and drove desperately to stophim passing. When the infuriatedofficer finally managed to get to the

front of the convoy, he stopped theleading truck, pulled out his pistol, andshot the driver dead.

When not actually in the field, weworked out of the Department ofEducation on the third floor of abuilding which had a lift, however theelectricity had been cut off because thegovernment had not paid the bill forsome six months. It was rare for anysenior officer to go out to schoolsbecause there was usually no money topay for petrol.

Finally, when I was to leave Kampala toreturn to Australia, it looked as though Iwould have to overnight in Nairobi,Kenya. I was warned that I would haveto present an International Certificatesof Vaccination booklet to KenyanCustoms to show that I had beeninoculated against cholera, smallpoxand typhoid or be refused entry. I didn’thave one, but that was no real problem,I was told by the Project accountant.The Project driver came to the rescueyet again. Asking me for $US5, hedrove me to a dilapidated governmentbuilding and asked me to wait in the car.Shortly he returned with a photocopiedbooklet endorsed with all theinoculations signed by the Director ofPublic Health himself! All thatremained was for me to write my namein the space at the front where it said“Issued to”. As it turned out, all I saw ofNairobi was the airport, so I didn’t haveto present my forged document after all.

My next consultancy experience, whichfollowed directly on from a six-monthsstint teaching the techniques of teachingand American Literature to a class ofaspiring Masters students in FujianTeachers University in China, was withthe Asian Development Bank inCambodia in 1994. This time, Shirleycame with me. The goal was to train agroup of ‘super’ educators who in turnwould then revitalize the nation’steachers college staff. First, though,they would be taught English by anotherteam of experts before our team arrivedin the country. The only snag was thatthis didn’t happen. The people whowere to do this were incompetent andgave up six months into their teachingprogram. The second flaw was thatinstead of picking the best people forthis group of allegedly superiorteachers, politics intervened and the

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TEACHING MEMORIESprime criterion for selection was activemembership of Prime Minister HunSen’s political party. The third flaw wasthat instead of people with teachingexperience being selected, theyconsisted of bureaucrats and clerksfrom the Department who were onlyinterested in making more money fromthe Project.

The curriculum ‘expert’, anEnglishman, who was allotted to theteam came with high credentials fromthe ADB, but was a greatdisappointment to me because he hadthe whole program mapped out beforehe came, based on former projects hehad done elsewhere in the PacificRegion. He wasn’t interested intailoring this pre-conceived program tomeet local needs, and we had a bitterfalling out over it. I argued in my paper,which was to be part of the finalsubmission to the ADB, that although itmight have worked in Samoa, simplygiving Longmans English textbooks toevery child was not the answer,particularly as they and most of theteachers only spoke Kmer!. Classroomconditions were appalling, teachertraining was poorly done, andconsequently teachers had little idea ofwhat they were supposed to be doing.

As in the case of Uganda, hygiene wasterrible. None of the schools I looked athad a toilet or anywhere to wash hands.

What was badly needed was afreshwater well and a decent system oftoilets in every school. Furthermore,mothers had little idea of health, andinfants and young school-age childrenwere frequently very ill andconsequently attendance was oftenerratic. A completely different kind ofeducation to the one being attemptedwas needed. However the ADB wasn’tinterested in rectifying any of thesebasic problems.

On a broader front, students were ableto buy their way into university and alsoto ‘pass’ exams by paying off theirlecturers, even in the case of medicalstudents. At that time, the governmentwas fighting the Khmer Rouge, theremnants of Pol Pot’s genocidal regime.The KR had three strongholds: one inthe south, one in the north on the Thaiborder and a big one in the west, againon the border with Thailand where theyretreated when under duress. There hadbeen a concerted effort to wipe out thenorthern base, and it was nearly donewhen the government pulled its wearytroops out and sent in fresh ones todeliver the coup de grace under ageneral with his own private army. Aswas customary, this particular man hadbeen collecting wages for his troopsfrom the government, but in fact had notroops at all. They were all “ghosts”!The KR escaped, of course, but theinteresting thing is that the general was

not indicted in any form. Whom was hepaying off?

Just one last thing about Cambodia.Early every morning Shirley walked forexercise past the Palace down by thewaterfront. It had rained overnight andthe sun glinted on puddles on the road.As she made her way, she saw a manlying on the road, which was notunusual; poor people in Phnom Penhoften slept outdoors like this. Howeverthis chap seemed to be lying in apuddle. When she got closer, she sawthat it was not water at all, but a largepool of blood. His chest had been cutopen by a row of bullets. Then, just afew feet away, she saw a soldier with awild-eyed look holding an AK47 andstaring directly at her. There wasnothing she could do but hurry on.

Both these Third World experienceswere extremely frustrating and left mewith a very disillusioned view of boththe World Bank and the AsianDevelopment Bank’s efforts andsuccess in improving education in theDeveloping World. When we returnedfrom Cambodia, we decided that fromthen on we really would be retired andinstead, spend time with ourgrandchildren.

It was a good move.

Nick Bricknell 1947-49

Kevin and Win Wilcox, John Cummings, Clare Hopkins, Graeme Wilson

ALUMNI LUNCHEON AT ICONS

On Tuesday 15th May, 23 alumnicongregated at the Marriott Hotel in PittStreet Sydney for the quarterly luncheonat Icons Brasserie.A few of the gathering including LewMorrell, Lindsay Budd, MalcolmHanratty, Kev and Win Wilcox, twoGraeme Wilsons, Margo and BrucePhillips, became thirsty on the way andstopped at The Ship Inn near CircularQuay for some refreshments.Everyone enjoyed an excellent buffetlunch and each others company at Icons.There were five Pioneers in the groupwhich seemed a good enough occasionfor a snapshot with the bar in thebackground.The next luncheon is on Tuesday 21stAugust at Icons. Everyone is welcome.Call Lindsay Budd a week before.

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TEACHING MEMORIESCUMMERAGUNJA ABORIGINAL

SCHOOL

Part 3

Robert Smyth continues the story of his firstappointment and the two years he spent asTIC of Cummeragunja.

Snakes.

Living along the banks of the Murray Riverin the Barmah Forest, you encountered a largenumber of highly venomous snakes. By farthe most numerous being Tiger Snakes. Inthose days, the only good snake you saw wasthe one you were looking at over the barrel ofa 12 gauge Shot Gun. In fact, killing snakeswas encouraged, especially ones in or near theschool grounds. One morning as I was ridingto school, I nearly ran over an enormous TigerSnake—over 5 feet long. I found a stick anddispatched it. I put it on the bike rack and rodeon to school where I put it in a large jar. Iborrowed some of the duplicator Metho andput it in.

When the kids came to school they told me allabout the snakes they had encountered, aroundthe settlement and inside their houses. Theytold me about all the different types of snakesthat lived in the area. I said that if they killedany others, would they bring them to schooland we would make up a set of specimens ofdifferent types of snakes. They all said, “Yes,Sir!”

The next morning I was inside preparing forthe day and one after another of the childrencame in, reached into their pockets and pulledout a snake! By the end of the month I had aspecimen collection which included the TigerSnake, a Brown Snake, two different BlackSnakes, a Tree Snake, a ‘grass’ Snake, (I neverdid find out exactly what sort it was!) and alegless lizard!!

I carried that collection with me for the next10 years and only threw them out when thesnakes started to disintegrate in the jars.

Swimming.

Even though the settlement was right on theriver, many of the children could not swim,so I decided that Friday afternoon sport duringSummer would be swimming. The only placeto learn to swim was the river and there was ashallow bank right next to the school. Therewere two problems. To get there, you had towalk across about 100 yards of flat groundthat was covered by the biggest cat-heads Ihave ever seen. The other problem was thebroken glass in the river. The only way I couldcope was to wear a pair of thick-soled DunlopVolleys. The kids just ran straight through thecat-heads in their bare feet. When one stuckin hard enough to be felt, they just hopped on

one foot, brushed the cat-head off with a hand,and ran on! At the end of the swimming lesson,all those with cut feet from the glass went backto the school for repairs before they wenthome. I was absolutely amazed at thetoughness of their feet. They had never wornshoes and had built up about a quarter of aninch of hard calloused skin under their feet. Ittook a large piece of glass to actually slice rightthrough this tough layer. You would almosthave to drill holes through it to stitch it. All Icould do was pour on disinfectant, thenMercurochrome or Acriflavine, and bandageit up. The bandage fell off in a day or two andthey just ran off happily, without any moretreatment. They were tough little kids.

My First Car.

When I started teaching, I thought I was rich!During my training, I was paid, by way of ascholarship, 17 Pounds a month. Ouraccommodation and food were provided, sowe could spend the money on clothes, sport,entertainment and teaching requisites. I waseven paying off my Saxophone! (That waswith what was left after you got past the ‘Fine”table at the Pay Room. But that’s anotherstory!)

My pay for my first year was 18 Pounds perweek! I had to pay all my expenses then—board, clothes, teaching requisites and mymonthly Saxophone payments!! My lovelygirl-friend lived at Barham, about another 100miles down the river. I could not get to seeher much but my good friend Alby Ballard (seelater in story) lent me his Volkswagen to goand visit Judith one week-end. He had justfitted a new motor and wanted me to ‘run itin’ for him. I had to stay under 60m.p.h. (100k.p.h.)

By the middle of the year, I had saved up therequired 100 Pounds deposit for my first car.My mate Alby and a mechanic friend of hisinvited me to travel with them to Melbourneto buy a car. We went to Kevin Dennis Motors.They rolled out several cars. The first one justmade it round the block. The next one wasn’tmuch better. The third one, in comparison, waslike a limousine. It ran beautifully, was clean,well looked-after and affordable! 800 Pounds!It was a 1957 FE Holden. It had been a taxi.The mechanic crawled in and out of it, peeredin the motor compartment, under it and droveit round and round and declared it an‘excellent’ buy! So I bought it and drove ithome.

(We found that it had a worn out motor, hadbeen filled with very heavy oil and the speedowound back. Later on, my Uncle Bill and myfather came to the rescue and put in a new‘short’ motor. I then drove it 50,000 mileswithout any further trouble.)

I was then independent and could get myselfto the football (I played for Picola Football

Club) the tennis (I played for the Picola TennisClub) and most importantly, I could drive toBarham!!

Principal’s Meetings

Now that I had a car, I was able to attend thePrincipal’s Meetings at Deniliquin. These werealways held after school as we were notallowed time off during school hours to attendmeetings. I had to let the children out at 3.30p.m., then drive like mad to try to get toDeniliquin by 4 p.m. I was always a fewminutes late but that was allowed.

On my first trip, I was coming home and outnear Mathoura, a truck passed me goingtowards Deniliquin. On the back was a pile ofmaterial from an old shed I think - beams,rafters, posts and a pile of old roofing iron. Icontinued on, at about 70 m.p.h., trying tocatch the punt before it closed for the night.Next thing, the car suddenly becameuncontrollable and I speared off the road andalong the table drain with the brakes full on. Istopped in a shower of gravel and grass andwhen my breathing and heart rate hadrecovered, I got out to inspect the car. Thefront tyre was blown out, with a roofing nailstill stuck into the tread. I was able to changeit where it was, then drive the car back ontothe road. Fortunately, I did not do any otherdamage other than a few scratches along theleft-hand side where it had scraped the bank.

The next meeting was during winter and Iknew that I would be late back fromDeniliquin. I arranged with the punt operatorto leave the punt on the NSW side of the riverso that I could get back home at about 10 p.m.I duly arrived back at the river to find the puntback on the other side. I blew the car hornuntil it threatened to flatten the battery, Iyelled myself hoarse trying to reach the puntman—to no avail. I tried to land a stone onhis roof but could only reach the garden. Therowing boat was also on the other side. To gethome by car would mean a 30 mile drive toMoama and Echuca, then another 56 miles upthrough the forest on the Victorian side to getto Barmah. Where I was standing was half amile from the house!

Being very hot and bothered by this time, Istripped off to my undies, dived into the riverand swam across. I thought of bashing on hisdoor to tell him what I thought of him, but,with only a wet pair of undies on and freezingto death, I decided he could wait until themorning. I tried to get the motor to start but,you guessed it, it wouldn’t start!! Idisconnected the chain, put in the windinghandle and wound the punt across the river.The exertion to wind it obviously kept mewarm enough—not to mention my renownedtemper! I got back to the car, hastily re-dressed, drove the car on, and wound it backto the other side. I drove off home, had a hotshower and slept like a log.

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TEACHING MEMORIESNext morning I was ready to throw the puntman into the river. When I pulled up, he stuckhis head out of the engine room with a greatsmile on his face and said,

“G’day, Robert! I left the punt on the NSWside as you asked and waited up until I heardyou come home at about 9.30 p.m. then wentto bed!! (And went unconscious I thought???)

I told him of my night time exertions and hejust looked at me dumbfounded. I told him tocheck out the number of stones in his garden!We found out later that one of the farmers hadarrived, found the punt across the river andbrought his car over and drove off! !

On another occasion, I had driven to Barhamfor the weekend and stayed over with theDavems, where Judith boarded. I decided tostay Sunday night, then get up early and driveback to Cummeragunja on Monday morning,in time for school. Great plan, but with onlyabout 2 hours sleep, I was a prime candidatefor going to sleep at the wheel! The morningwas clear and warm, the road wide and smoothand I drove with the window down to keepawake. As I drove through one dip, I saw alarge tortoise beside the road. I picked it upand put it on the floor of the car, intending toshow the kids then let it go in the river. Ofcourse it had pulled its head and legs in andjust sat there without moving.

I noticed a movement out of the corner of myeye and looked down to see a sinister lookinghead coming out from under the shell. Myimmediate thought was that a snake had comeout. I must have been looking at it and dozedoff for a few moments, because the next thingI knew was the car bouncing about over stonesand gutters on the OTHER side of the road!!!-heading straight for a solid wooden white post!

Being suddenly fully awake and with greatdriving skill, I ‘threw’ the car sideways backtowards the road, then swung it forward againand the car straightened up and swiped besidethe post, taking a bit of paint off the mudguardand bending the push-button door openercrooked! ! I was amazingly alert for the restof that trip!

The final ‘episode’ with my car (Making mewonder if it was such a good thing to get acar) was on the way to Nathalia. In those dayswe were paid by cheque and had to put it inthe bank ourselves. The nearest bank toBarmah was at Nathalia, some 20 miles awayin Victoria. I had to let the kids out at 3.30,drive to the punt, get across quickly then driveto Nathalia by 4 p.m.! The road was wide andstraight and by doing about 80 m.p.h. I couldjust make it. There was one slight bend on theroad and a farm house on the left hand side.As I steamed around the bend, I noticed thatall his ‘flock’ of chooks happened to be onthe right hand side of the road. I was hopinglike mad that they stayed there. They didn’t!!

They suddenly made a bee-line for the otherside, straight across in front of me. All I couldsee for the next few seconds, was whitefeathers!! I said something like, “Dear Me!”and continued on to the bank. When I returned,I called in to the farmer and asked him howmany ‘perished’ He said, in his best countrydrawl, “Only six!” I asked him what they wereworth at the markets and he gave me areasonable price, so I paid him and left. Hepromised to keep them on the house side eachFriday fortnight between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.!As I walked off he drawled, “You’re not thefirst one to hit my chooks, but you are the firstone that has come back, apologised, and paidfor them! Thaaaaanks!”

Sports Training and Sports Day.

I received information from the Barmah schoolteacher, about a Small Schools AthleticsCarnival that was to be held at one of the smallVictorian schools, and we were invited to takepart. I asked around and was told thatCummeragunja didn’t take part because thekids wouldn’t leave the settlement and run inpublic. I had seen the athletic ability of thekids and thought that they could do well. Iasked them if they would like to go to theSports Day and received an enthusiastic andwide-eyed NO! - because they used a GUN tostart the races. The kids were afraid of guns(for good reasons) and wouldn’t even thinkof going.

In those days, we used .22 blank shorts in asmall hand pistol. I told the kids that thecartridges had no projectiles in, so couldn’thurt anyone. They couldn’t understand, so Ibought some blanks and gave the children alesson on firearms. I had no pistol, but I didhave a .22 rifle. I offered to use this to trainthe kids to start with blanks fired from the rifle.The townspeople knew what I was doing andhad no problems with me riding my bike toschool with my rifle slung over my shoulder!

One morning, I had to post a letter on the wayto school, so rode up to the Post Office to postit. At the time, there was a new fuel tank beingput in, in front of the shop, and a large holewas being dug by pick and shovel. As I rodeup, a pair of ‘white’ hands on very black armsrose up out of the hole, followed by a hugely-grinning full-blood aboriginal head belongingto Pluto. He said, “OK, You got me boss. I’llcome quietly!” I realized that I had the rifleslung over my shoulder! We had a good laughabout it. He said that the kids must be prettybad if I have to go to school with a rifle!!

He thought it was a great joke to start the kidswith blank cartridges and suggested I get upclose and fire it at their backsides. “Boy, thatwould make ‘em run!!” Pluto was a ‘greatbloke’ and he was a very good friend to mewhilst he was at Cummeragunja.

At first the kids would not believe that nothing

came out of the barrel and I had to fire it at atin a few times to show that there were no holesin it after I had ‘shot’ it three or four times. (Idid think that I overheard one snide comment.“He can’t even hit the tin from about a footaway. We’re pretty safe anyway!”)

The kids would line up, grit their teeth, closetheir eyes and wait until I had fired it, thenhad to yell, “GO” as well. It took some timebut finally they became used to it and did someexcellent training.

As Sports day approached, the kids becamequite enthusiastic, but I had a small logisticalproblem—how to get them all to the sportsday?? I mentioned this the the Shop Keeper,Cliffy Maloney, and he said he would ask hisfarmer brother if he would take them on theback of his farm truck. He was ‘delighted to’.

Early on the morning of Sports Day, we allpiled onto the back of the truck, many parentsincluded, and drove off to the venue. Therewas no crate on the truck and we didn’t evenhave hay bales to sit on. We just sat on theopen tray of the truck. No one even lookedlike falling off.

When we arrived at the Sports Ground, theenthusiasm suddenly evaporated and the kidscrowded around me and said, ‘We can’t runin front of all these people!”

The first race was the open boys 100 yardsprint and Buddha Bux was our runner. I saidto him that he could outrun all these kids easilyand he just said, “I can’t run!” I said I wouldtake him to the starting line, then go down tothe end where he could see me. He was to keeplooking at me, and when the gun went off, torun straight down to me. He nervously agreed.I had all the others sit at the side and watch.

When the gun went off, Buddha, who had nottaken his eyes off me the whole time, boundedforward and left the others for dead. Half waydown the track, he was so far ahead that hethought it must have been a false start so hestopped!! I jumped up and down and yelledto him to ‘keep coming’ so he took off againand still won the race and broke the record!!He grew 10ft tall that day, and the rest of thekids went in all their events and at the end ofthe day, Cummeragunja Aboriginal Schooltook home 5 out of the 6 trophies awardedthat day.

Our Senior Girl, Janet Button, won the HighJump and broke the record. During training atschool, she would just run straight up to thebar, leap into the air, pull her feet up beneathher and sail over. I tried to get her to do thescissors jump or the western roll properly butshe couldn’t jump to save herself using correctstyle, so I just let her jump her own way.

It was a very proud day for our little school.

(to be continued in the next issue)

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HISTORICAL MEMORIESDear Lindsay,In 2002 a smallish school in the southwest of NSW held its centenarycelebrations. As part of the historicoccasion a small booklet was producedlisting items of interest during the onehundred years of public education. I amenclosing a couple of the extractsrelating to the staffing of the schoolbetween the years, 1902 to 1931. Pleasefeel free to use these articles inTalkabout should you feel that theywould appeal to readers – theycertainly did appeal to me, possiblybecause Joan and I spent four veryhappy years at this lovely little school.Best regards and hope to meet up withyou again come September in Wagga.

Roy Parker 1951-52

The School Opens.

The first teacher at the school, 22-year-oldJohn Falconer, was appointed as teacher ofMallan Provisional School with a salary of£88 on 17 April 1902. He had entered theteaching service three years earlier and cameto Mallan from Urana School east ofJerilderie. He made the journey on his ownhorse.

In the following year, on 4 April, a parent,Mrs William Callander, wrote to theMinister complaining that Falconer washitting the children severely around the hipsand shoulders for trivial misdemeanours.She added that ‘Mr Falconer has no cane, souses any stick or piece of Board’.As was usual in cases of complaint against ateacher, Falconer was asked to explain andon 29 April 1903 he wrote:“I admit that I have been somewhat harshin my treatment of my pupils but in defencewish to state that it would be not have beenso if my body was not tortured withrheumatism and lumbago.”

Having investigated the matter InspectorJames Murray reported on 9 May 1903:“After careful inquiry I am of opinion thatMr Falconer has been unnecessarily severein his treatment of pupils and that to a fairextent Mrs Callander’s complaint isjustified. At the same time Mrs Callanderadmits that she is very well satisfied withthe progress of her children. Mr Falconerpleads ill health and certainly looks ratherdelicate. The tone of his school appearsgood, & his work, apart from the questionof harshness, very intelligently andeffectively done. I estimated the efficiency ofthis school at 7.5.I think, in view of all the circumstances, thatif Mr Falconer were cautioned against

using corporal punishment unless as a lastresort the result would be satisfactory and Irecommend that course.”

Falconer was moved to Hill Plain Schoolnear Deniliquin at the end of 1904 and wasreplaced at Mallan by a 19-year-old teacheron his first appointment, James Millerd.Millerd’s salary was £72 and he was grantedan additional £12 as living allowance afterhe requested this, writing:“1. I am paying 17/- per week, for myboard, which is high.2. Any articles of clothing etc, which Irequire, must either be purchased in thenearest town, Swan Hill (Vic.) whereeverything is very dear; or brought overfrom Sydney or Melbourne, which isnecessary to secure obtaining any article ofimportance. This is an expensive alternativeowing to freight or postage.3. After paying my Insurance premiums thebalance of my salary is small.”

In July 1905 Millerd broke his collarboneand needed a month off school. During thistime the school presumably did not operate.

Mallan Provisional School re-opens

When Mallan Provisional School re-openedit did so with 25-year-old GladysMcDonald, who had trained at HerefordHouse at Glebe in 1919-20, as teacher. Shewas appointed to the school on 10 October1927 and remained only until the end of theyear when she was succeeded by 27-year-old Francis Saunders, who had been ateacher in Victoria until 1920.

Saunders stayed at the closest availableaccommodation which was with Mrs E.Turner, 4½ miles from the school.He travelled to school by car, describing theroute - for the purpose of claiming forageallowance - in the following way:“Four miles of the journey is on the mainroad from Moulamein to Swan Hill, and onemile is across an undulating plain, thewhole five miles would be classed as heavyin summer owing to dust, and very heavy inwinter owing to mud.There are two bridged watercourses tocross, these are crossable in all kinds ofweather.”

In July 1928 Saunders requested theDepartment’s permission to grow wheatexperimentally. He wrote:“As Mr E. Marshall has given mepermission to use eighty acres of clearedflood plain, securely fenced, for the purposeof growing wheat, I intend to fallow thisyear and crop with wheat next year, amquite willing to use a part thereof or wholepiece for experimental purposes in the

cultivation of wheat, would use severalvarities [sic] and thus ascertain the mostsuitable for this climate.I have had experience with a fordsontractor, horses, also farming and gardeningexperience. Farmers around Mallan haveoffered assistance. Usual seed planted = 60lb of wheat and 75 lb of manure per acre.As gardening is impracticable it would be ameans of assisting the community.Will the Department supply the wheat andmanure for experimental purposes and theconditions of same?Will the Department sanction the use of myleisure in carrying out the experiment,providing it does not interfere with myoccupation as teacher in charge?Have secured the use of the land, tractor,horses and combine.”

The Department replied that it ‘did notconsider it advisable for you to attempt tocultivate more than one half of an acre’.

In November 1929 Inspector Robert Taylorreported on Marshall’s building in which theprovisional school was being held:“The building is rented by the EducationDept. and is very dismal and depressing inappearance.Owing to the long continued drought theowner of the property recently flooded someof his land to induce grass to grow and thewater reached almost to the school door.This was apparently a last expedientresorted to to avert ruin but the conditionsas far as the children were concerned werenot at all satisfactory ...I recommend that the attention of the ownerof the property be drawn to the fact that theboys’ closet must be repaired and renderedsafe and that he be informed that if it isproposed to flood his property for irrigationpurposes with any degree of frequency itwill be necessary for him to have the schoolbuilding removed to a site where thechildren will not be inconvenienced by thewater.”

By December of that year Marshall hadrepaired the closets.

Perhaps the drought was breaking by 13May 1930 when teacher Frank Saundersreported:“Owing to heavy rain falling on Sunday,Sunday night, and Monday morning,making an average rainfall of 170 points to2 inches, I could not attend the aboveschool on Monday 12th May, 1930.I drive by car a distance of 14 miles eachday, and during a normal season, I havebeen able to hire a horse on wet days; butowing to the dry conditions the horse wasturned out.”

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Page 13

A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENT

Christel Katherine Cox was born on 1st

March (Saint David’s Day) 1929 anddied in her 79th year.She had been suffering from heartproblems for many years.She spent her early years at the 37 MileTank near Lighting Ridge until movingto the adjoining property of OpalDowns with her family. After a coupleof years of correspondence schoolingshe moved to Sydney and undertookmore formal education.Matriculating from Parramatta HighSchool in 1946, she subsequentlyattended Wagga Wagga TeachersCollege graduating some 2 years later.Teaching was not her first career choicebut a life long desire for knowledge, thepoor circumstances of many ruralpeople at the time and a scholarship nodoubt were factors in her decision. Herfirst appointment was to a small schoolin the Piliga scrub called Kenibri! Asshe once recalled at least she wasn’tsent to Tibooburra!While there she met and married RoyWangmann and they enjoyed a happyunion until his death in 1995.They had four children As is the natureof things, following their marriage, littlebundles of joy began arriving, the firstin 1954 at Dubbo and the theme wasrepeated in 1956. Sandra caused me tobe the middle child with her arrival in1959 at Texas, Queensland but I lostthat status in 1963 when Suzanne madeher appearance at Coonamble. As canbe seen we lived a rather mobileexistence as the ‘old man’ pursued hisbusiness ambitions.Mum was a person who always valuededucation especially for her children.

Christel Wangmannnee Cox 1948-50

She did not distinguish between gendersin this regard and I am sure that it wasalways a sense of achievement for herthat all of her children completed highschool, tertiary studies and forgedindependent careers for themselves. Ibelieve that she was also pleased withthe lasting marriages her children made.She touched the lives of many peopleand those not to be forgotten are thehundreds if not thousands of childrenshe taught over a long career interruptedmainly by her own kids and hereventual retirement.Before her health deteriorated, Mumpursued her love of travel withdestinations as diverse as Egypt,England, the United States as well asher regular sojourns to South East Asia.Her other interests included lawn bowls,painting and various forms of what shedescribed as “leisure learning”! Her lifelong love of books and reading was oneaspect of her life seemingly not affectedby her health problems.

By Jeff Wangman (Christel’s son)

Patrick Limon 1948-50

The death of Pat Limon has left a verygreat void in our town that will noteasily be filled.Pat Limon was a teacher at NaroomaCentral school and later Public Schoolfor 28 years from 1961 until hisretirement in 1989, teaching manyhundreds of students in this time.Many people who are new to our townmight remember him as the bloke whowas always out walking from townacross the bridge, along the Boardwalkto the rock wall, dressed in shorts,penguin shirt and cap and with his sockspulled up.His greatest gift to our community wasas a teacher and he became a legend atNarooma school. He taught at variousplaces out west like GulargamboneAboriginal School and Trundle beforearriving at Narooma Central School in1961.While other teachers were Mr This orMrs That Pat was always “Sir” andforever after ex-students who had grownto be adults would greet Pat with“G’Day Sir”.He was a brilliant teacher and was loved

by every one of the children he taughtand also by every teacher who taughtwith him.He taught the old-fashioned way with astrong emphasis on the 3 Rs and Godhelp anybody whose pencil grip waswrong.He expected the children he taught to dotheir best and told them: “If you aim atnothing you’re bound to hit it.”He was a great sportsman, loved allsports and always was the epitome ofcorrect technique, style and above all,sportsmanship.He was a single-figure golfer, a statechampion bowler, a stylish cricketbatsman and leg-spinner and anexcellent tennis and snooker player.His love of sport continued at :schoolwhere he coached the football teams andran famous boxing tournaments.He was the sort of teacher that everyschool really needed and Narooma waslucky to have him. At his retirement atthe Golf Club in 1989 the highlight wasa group of his ex-pupils singing: “To SirWith Love”.He was a great supporter of the StGeorge football team and his hero wasChanga Langlands. He would not hear aword of criticism about him.He felt the same about Frank Sinatra andhated all this modem rubbish on theradio. Pat’s bar room at his house inDalmeny was legendary and on aSaturday afternoon often resembled abusy pub bar with a TAB attached withsometimes more than a dozen visitors.On Rugby League Grand Final day youcould find half of Dalmeny at Pat’splace.There was a TV in the bar for theserious students of the game and no onewas allowed to talk while the game wason.More noise was allowed in the loungeroom but women and children had towatch in the family room.Despite a few ups and downs with hishealth Pat remained active, walkingmiles almost every day and playing golfand recently taking up bowls again.His death is a great loss to our town butthe legacy he left with his friendship andhis service to the education of ourchildren will never be forgotten.

By Bob Burnside

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NEWS FROM CSU

Charles Sturt University (CSU) welcomed the Budgetannouncement by the Treasurer, Peter Costello, of $65.1million in funding for a new School of Dentistry and OralHealth at CSU.

The new school is planned to open in 2009 with pre-clinicaland clinical facilities worth $54.2 million in Orange andWagga Wagga and Dental Education Clinics in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Dubbo in New South Wales. CSU willalso receive around $4 million for student accommodationand funding for 60 extra student places as part of the Federalfunding package.

CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter said that it waswonderful news for the people of inland NSW and a reasonfor them to smile.

“Through this decision, the Government has acknowledgedthat CSU has the demonstrated capacity and nationalacademic standing to provide a real solution to Australia’srural dental crisis.

“The scale of the funding also demonstrates theGovernment’s understanding of the challenges facing ruralcommunities and its commitment to addressing the ruraldental crisis. It is the largest capital investment in CSU by theFederal Government since the inception of the University.

“Like all great achievements, this initiative would not have gotoff the ground without the support of our inland communities,”Professor Goulter said.“In particular, I must pay tribute to Mrs Marj Bollinger and DrCatherine Errey, the co-founders of the Rural Dental ActionGroup (RDAG). The RDAG made rural oral health a keypublic issue. Without their efforts, this issue would

not have received the attention it has. CSU owes themembers of the RDAG debt of gratitude, as does inlandNSW.

“The support and advice of the Australian DentalAssociation (NSW), in particular its President Dr TonyBurges and Chief Executive Mr Matthew Fischer, wereinvaluable in ensuring the program would meet theneeds of the dental profession.

“Our thanks must also go to the 25 mayors and localcouncils across inland NSW who wrote to the PrimeMinister and advocated strongly on behalf of theircommunities for a solution to the rural dental crisis.

“We extend our thanks to the numerous members of therural dental profession who offered their counsel andadvice and gave generously of their time in the progressof this initiative,” Professor Goulter said.

“I also thank the many local members and senators whohave worked so tirelessly to advance this proposalsuccessfully, in particular Mr Kerry Bartlett, FederalMember for Macquarie (Liberal) who led a team of inlandmembers and senators in arguing for this funding.

“I would also like to thank Mr John Cobb, the FederalMember for Parkes (National); Ms Kay Hull, the FederalMember for the Riverina (National); Ms Sussan Ley, theFederal Member for Farrer (Liberal); Mr Mark Vaile, theDeputy Prime Minister (National); Mr Peter Andren, theFederal Member for Calare (Independent); Mr AlbySchultz, the Federal Member for Hume (Liberal); FederalSenator Fiona Nash (National); Federal SenatorConcetta Fierravanti-Wells (Liberal); and FederalSenator Bill Heffernan (Liberal) for their support.

CSU also welcomed an additional $3.5 million of Federalfunding for Clinical Science teaching facilities on theUniversity’s Orange Campus.

This funding was announced on, Tuesday 15 May, by theFederal Minister for Education, Science and Training, theHon. Julie Bishop, following the broad announcementsmade by the Treasurer, Mr Peter Costello, in the FederalBudget.

WWTC 60th Anniversary Reunion

There are some 280 attending the Reunion on the weekend of 28, 29 & 30 September

this year.

Receipts have been sent to all those who have indicated attendance.

Full payment is due on Friday 31st August, 2007

Direct all queries to:Michelle Fawkes - 02 63384629 or via email to:

alumni@csu.edu.au

A winning smile: CSU gets Dental School go ahead

Page 15

I would prefer to receive my Talkaboutby email

The Wagga Wagga Teachers’ CollegeAlumni Association Scholarship Appeal

KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE IN 2007 TO SECURE THE FUTURE

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The WWTC Alumni committee is seeking your continuing support for the Scholarship Fund in 2007. Although we havereached our target of $50,000, we are keen to see this expand and allow us to either have an additional Scholarship or tomake the present one more prestigious.

It is an important project as it serves not only to assist students who have affiliations with our members but also to perpetuatethe spirit and comradeship which was established so long ago and still exists. The WWTC Alumni Association will havedirect input as to how this Fund is managed and where the Fund will expend its monies. All information pertaining toactivities of the Fund will be communicated to our membership through ‘TALKABOUT’.

Your willingness and courage to ‘secure the future’ providing for the best possible education for members of the WWTCAlumni family is an outstanding goal.

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As you know, we pay for the printing of TALKABOUT and now we have to bear the cost of postage. It has therefore beendecided that an annual contribution of $10 per member is required and that this will fall due at the time of the March“Talkabout”. Remember to send your contribution directly to the Treasurer. If you require a receipt please enclose astamped addressed envelope.

The Alumni Office over the years has been a great supporter of the Association and will continue to provide what assistancethey can. They will still do the mailing of Talkabout. To assist them to cut costs you can opt to receive your “Talkabout” byemail. Simply tick the box on the bottom of your contribution form. The Alumni Office will appreciate your help very much.

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Page 16

If undeliverable please return to:The Alumni OfficeCharles Sturt UniversityBathurst NSW 2795 Australia

Place address sticker here.

Change of Address If your address details are incorrect please notify Michelle at:

alumni@csu.edu.auor

The Alumni OfficeCharles SturtUniversity

Bathurst NSW 2795 Australia

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