Oh Boy!! I nearly missed this week which would have been devastating as I have dozens of old school photos. Coming from 4 generations of teachers (at least), I seem to have been gifted with a variety of these old memories. Problem is what to choose - some of them may have been shown here before.
My Great great grandmother Marianne Heyne came to Australia in Australia in 1851, having previously founded a school in Dresden. She joined her son Ernst Bernhard Heyne in Melbourne - he had arrived in 1848, travelling as a tutor to a family. He was a mathematician, a botanist and an accomplished linguist. He was then employed as chief plantsman at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, then as secretary to Ferdinand von Mueller, the director of the Botanic Gardens.
In 1868 he moved to South Australia and married Laura Hanckel whose father was a book binder and book seller. They had 5 children - one died in infancy, but the three daughters went on to becaome some of the best known teachers in Adelaide.Their son Carl established a nursery business which is still run by his great grandchildren. Three of Carl's children went on to become teachers, including my mother. A number of the next generation (mine) also became teachers, but as I had 33 cousins, many of whom either were teachers or had children who became teachers, I have given up keeping count.
But I digress - the photos.
This is a photo of my great Aunt Laura with her class from The Advanced School for Girls in Adelaide. Laura went on the become the Senior Science Mistress at Adelaide Boys High School - a first ever for a woman in an all boys school. One of her senior science students was the late Sir Mark Oliphant, one of the scientists instrumental in developing the atomic bomb.
This is an earlier photo of Laura with a younger class. This was probably a primary school in the country. All young teachers then and even in my early teaching career had to do country service.
Ida , the youngest of the three sisters became profoundly deaf in her teen years, but nevertheless had a wonderful career as a language teacher at a prestigious girls college in Adelaide. Even in her late 90's she was regularly visited by her old students, so beloved was she. She is on the extreme left in the front row with, I believe, a group of student teachers. And below, celebrating her 90th birthday with some of her ex-students.
Agnes the eldest of the girls was probably the best known and was certainly remembered as a brilliant scholar and teacher - at the same time raising a very large family with a frequently absent husband. This next photo shows the three sisters with Agnes' eldest child.
And so to the next generation - my mother's. She was one of 10 children, 3 of whom became teachers. Mum was a primary school teacher, retiring when she was 69. She taught in many schools, both country and city. Her first appointment was to Minlaton , a country town many miles from Adelaide. She lived in a boarding house, sharing a room with her land lady because the other bedrooms housed two bank clerks, a stock agent and a male shop assistant. The land lady divided their rooms with hessian curtains for privacy!! Mum had 60 students in her classroom - Years 1,2 and 3. The Headmaster had Years 4, 5, 6 and 7 in another classroom.
This photo is a later class. Mum is on the right with the very "modern" bob.
My turn. This is the only photo I have of myself at school. I had more, but they were lost in one of our many shifts in the early days. This is in 1953 in my first year at high school.I am in the front row, second from the right.
Three aspiring young teachers me, my cousin, Jan Heyne and my best friend Kate. I think we rather fancied ourselves in those days.
And just to show that teachers are not always stern and serious. The school staff at Lobethal Primary all dressed up for Melbourne Cup Day(Australia's most famous horse race.) That's me in the centre in my Op Shop pink special.
That's it for me. Better late than never. Please excuse any typos - I did this in a hurry.
Liz Needle linking with Sepia Saturday 645
What a great post about teachers throughout your family! Thanks for doing all this work gathering the photos!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of teachers! Maybe enough for a college? I imagine that starting teachers learned a lot about children and the art of teaching when assigned to rural schools. Here in America most female teachers in the 19th and early 20th century were single and required to resign after marriage. There were exceptions but it meant that the local school boards did not have to pay as much to single women.
ReplyDeleteJust this past week I've been clearing out my inherited stuff and came across one of my mother's lesson plan books. She taught elementary school art for over 28 years and introduced countless children to art, creativity, and fun. I decided to save this book because it's filled with seating charts, weekly lessons, and project ideas for every class in six grade levels. It's a remarkable example of her organizational skills. Unlike regular teachers she got to know every child and follow them through their first six years. Sometimes years after retirement she would meet a student who remembered her. She always impressed them (and me!) by being able to recall their name and class teacher.
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