I started at MHS in 1965. The Principal was Mr Ivan Theodore Maddern. I believe his headstone may read thus: Hus of Elsie (nee JONES); father of Marian, Dorothy & Philippa; 2nd son of Esther (105) & David (106). "Educator, Esperantist, Historian - A man ahead of his time" I would agree. He was a controversial man with many ideas ahead of his time. For instance, he introduced a Study Day - can't remember at what year level it came into force, but it meant we only had lessons on four days a week, with the fifth day for private study, homework etc. He also thought examinations were abominable and an unfair way of assessing students' abilities. So I had no exams until I got to Form 5 and 6 when we had to sit the State exams for Leaving and Matriculation. Our assessments were cumulative throughout the year. But he was a very authoritative man with some decided ideas about what was acceptable and what wasn't. I remember one male student a couple of years ahead of me who had long hair. After refusing to have his hair cut he was expelled. It was two years later that Laurie returned to complete his schooling. He was then in our Form 5 class. Ivan T also had firm ideas about boy / girl relationships. The school captains lost their positions when he saw them talking to each other (they were an 'item' I believe) outside her house one weekend. I still have a copy of a letter sent to all parents 'explaining' how important the matriculation year was, and how parents were NOT to expect students to do chores around the house, nor allow them to socialise as these activities would detract from their studies. He also decreed that girls were only allowed to walk to and from school with their brothers - no other males. |
| John Murfett |
Some of the other teachers I remember (most fondly, some less so) were Elsie McMaster, Ian Fry, Madmoiselle Harney, Peter Caplan, Sue Smith (? Art Teacher), Glenys Hartnell and her husband, Sally Milner, Max Alvin, John Murfett, Peter Pickburn, Mr Creagh, Mr Withoos, Mr Winkler, Mr Day, Mr Clemens, Mr Traill, Mr Edmonson, Miss Benjafield, Mrs Lawrence, Mrs Dennis, Mrs Cafiso and Mrs McLaren. I still keep in touch with Glenys Hartnell, now Glenys Warner. We met up at a Principal Accreditation Program - she was being accredited as a Vice Principal in a large secondary school, I was being accredited as a Principal of a small rural school, but we undertook the same program.
I remember being allowed to go home on the day Man first walked on the moon, so we could watch it on TV as there was only one TV in the school library and we wouldn't have all fitted.
In Form 4 I went on an excursion to Broken Hill. More of that in another post methinks.
Esperanto! As stated on Ivan T's headstone, he was an Esperantist, with grand ideas about the value of the so-called International language. I still remember the first line of Waltzing Matilda - Kai lee kantis kum lee kushas apud billabong - not sure of the spelling though. Just found this on the net - my line doesn't appear exactly as I remember it (should be the line "And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled" - although on reflection billy boiled and billabong are two different animals!)
Gaja vagabondo kampis apud bilabong
kie la Coolabah ombris por li
kaj li kantis atende gxis bolos en la billipot
Vi vagas valsa Matilda kun mi
Venis sxafido por trinki en la bilabong
kaptis vagulo kun gxoj` plena kri`
kaj li kantis sxovante la sxafon al la mangxosak`
Vi vagas valsa Matilda kun mi
Aperis farmisto sur pursanga al cxeval
Venis gxendarmo unu, du, tri
"Kies bela sxafo, tiu en la mangxosak"
Vi vagas valsa Matilda kun mi
Tuj la vagoulo saltis al la bilabong
"Vi vane kaptas vi min," diris li.
Kaj fantomon vi auxdos pasante cxe la bilabong.
Vi vagas valsa Matilda kun mi.
A.B. Paterson
Trad. En Esperanto: Ralph Harry
Here's an audio version.
Trouble was, Ivan had to cajole other teachers into taking the classes - he taught them the lesson one day,and they taught it to us the next! We had one text book, and we began at page 1 in Form 1, and began at the same page 1 in Form 2. It is the only subject in which I ever 'cheated' - as did most of the class. Sorry Ivan, but we thought it was a bit of a joke. It was a compulsory subject in Form 1 and 2, in Form 3 if we took French we also had to take Esperanto. In Form 4 I opted out of French because although I enjoyed the subject I didn't particularly like the teacher - but guess what, that year if you didn't take French you had to take Esperanto. I was finally free of it in Form 5. But in four years we only ever used the one text book, and always started from page 1! It was a small tan coloured soft covered book.
Learn more about Esperanto here.
Another innovation of Ivan's - for which I bless him - was his belief that everyone should know how to type. In those days once you got to Form 3 you began to specialise depending on which direction you were heading. For those (usually girls) wanting to go into commerce such as the bank or as secretaries they took the commercial subjects like typing and shorthand. Those wanting to go into the professions took the professional subjects like English Literature, Geography, History etc. But we all got to do Personal Typing. We weren't expected to become proficient touch typists, and only had one lesson per week instead of many like the Commercial classes but we were taught the correct fingering and could attempt speed tests if we wished. I remember I achieved 25 words per minute. I don't use all the proper fingering, but I am not a hunt and peck typist, and do use both hands.
In those days we had Prefects who had certain responsibilities, but also privileges, such as the Prefects Room where we could store our books and go for quiet study when we had a free period. I was a Prefect, and still have my badge in a box in the spare bedroom. Also have my prefect ribbon that was sewn onto our blazer, and my school badge.
I was an inmate 1964-69 under commandant IT Maddern. He was ahead of his time in some ways and back in the Victorian era in others. Glenys Hartnell was one of my favourite teachers. She was my teacher for form 5 & 6 English Lit.and was a very good but perhaps a beginning teacher. I think half the boys were in love with her. Many other names bring back many memories. Like Mr Murphett, who, despite his grey hair, could always beat the football team boys across the oval. Mr Caplan, who'd go out to his car to listen to the radio to see if his horse had won. I came across him in Chapel St several years later. He described himself as a professional punter, with a big house over the road from Caulfield racecourse. I found out later, he'd won the lotto. I could tell a story about most of the names you've listed, but don't want to right a book !
ReplyDeleteBye, Keith Boyle, Eudlo, Qld (boylios@mail.com)
One time I was waiting to go into a class, and Mr Caplan was coming out. He was carrying cleaning products, so I said, thinking I had a good relationship with him, "That must have been a dirty lesson."
ReplyDeleteHe hit me in the eye with a bottle. I had a grey, puffy swelling around my eye. When I got home, my mother said,"Have you been in a fight?" I told her the story and I thought she might make a complaint to I.T. She said, "That will teach you to be a cheeky bugger, won't it ?"
Another time the class was waiting for Cappo's commercial lesson in a typing room. He was 20 minutes late, so somebody took a felt mat out from under the type-writer and threw it like a frisbee. Shortly, every one did the same . When Cappo arrived he wasn't happy, so he selected two students at random, one of which was me, and gave them 6 of the best with the strap. I couldn't believe how unfair and unjust this was ! And also...how did he know I started it ?
Anyway, I still liked the guy because he was a character, a good teacher,(although he sometimes wore his bedroom slippers to class,) and was a great coach of the footy team. His fake race call on Melbourne Cup Day was legendary. (Boylio)
PS: Peter Caplan was mugged sometime in the 80s, coming home from the races to his house in Caulfield. He was jumped , bound and tied to a chair and thumped until he revealed the whereabouts of his safe. I think the muggers got around $20,000.
DeleteOne more story for today : I was a student of Glenys Hartnell in form 6 Eng.Lit.(1969) She was terrific and we hung on her every word. She was a dedicated and professional teacher. She could be occasionally playful and told us at the end of term 1 that she had made a mistake with the curriculum and that Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which we had spent nearly the whole term studying, was now not going to be on the external, end-of-year exam. The whole class groaned and some asked questions, whilst others were too stunned. On the whole, we were remarkably forgiving. A plan of how to catch up the lost time was beginning to be discussed.Then she said, "What day is it ?"
ReplyDelete"Tuesday Miss."
"No, what date is it?" You guessed it, April !.
At the end of the year, 3 of us (boys) went around to her house where she lived with her husband,Ross, also a teacher at the school. He was a nice guy and he stayed in the next room, probably much amused, and to save her embarrassment. We wanted to thank her and say goodbye. I think we were given soft drink and cake. When it came time to leave, one of us (probably Ieuan Mapperson), said,
"Can we give you a kiss goodbye, Miss ?"
Glenys thought about this for a short time, and I don't know whether she was wondering if it should, or how it could happen. Anyway, she said yes and pulled up a wooden kitchen chair, which she promptly stood upon. This was a clever response, because looking down at us from a height made the relationship status very clear. We each gave her a peck on the cheek and probably never saw her again. It was a very kind and sweet thing to do for a trio of naive , innocent schoolboys.
boylio
Deiter Winkler was an Art & History teacher. He only taught me for junior subjects, but he was the biggest influence on me of any teacher. Being a left-wing idealist, with Communist leanings, he taught me how to question and how to think. He also managed to keep me on the straight and narrow when my behaviour in the middle years could be a bit wayward. He also took students on trips to Melbourne and locally in his own time. For example, he took a car load of boys, including me, to the drive-in to see "Coolhand Luke", because it had a strong message about standing up to authority when that authority was corrupt.
ReplyDeleteBoylio
In 1964, Brian Boyd hit puberty and became a hero. The previous year, we were at Crinigan Rd State School. A couple of boys picked on Brian and I think he became a good distance runner because of it.
ReplyDeleteWe were walking home from Morwell High one day, when a boy from the Tech., one of Brian's persecutors, spotted him. He crossed the road with a few mates in tow, obviously aiming to impress them by tormenting Brian. What he didn't know was that Brian now had testosterone on his side. Puberty had hit. After a few insults, he threw a punch at Brian, who blocked it and returned a blow that knocked the kid clear over a low brick fence. The tech. kid was in shock and I was in awe.
There was an English phys.ed. teacher at Morwell who used to walk into the dressing sheds and blow a whistle at the end of a swimming pool class. This mortified us pre-pubescent boys. Embarrassment and humiliation. We asked Brian if he could help put a stop to it because we knew he had bushy pubes. Next week, we positioned Brian right near the door, so that when she came in and blew the whistle, Brian turned around and faced the teacher. She said, "Oh", and spun around and left the sheds, never to return as an interloper. Brian was hero for a day. The last time I saw him, he was the only person arrested at an anti-war Moratorium in Melbourne. (1972) A mounted policeman was intimidating the crowd with his horse, as they so often did. Brian threw a rolled up Age and it hit the policeman. Brian became a union organiser and I read that he helped to stop the destruction of the Regent Theatre, sitting in his car night after night in case Whelan the Wrecker arrived.
Boylio.
When I was in Form 4 (1967) a boy from another class appeared in our doorway and pegged a blackboard duster and it hit my on the shoulder. The compressed felt duster was "loaded" with yellow chalk. I re-loaded it and took off in pursuit. I entered the assassin's classroom and unleashed the loaded duster. Let's call it collateral damage - it hit Philippa Maddern right between the eyes. Perhaps if it was any other girl I would have apologised immediately, but I always found Philippa a bit intimidating : she was highly intelligent, spoke "posh" (especially by Morwell standards) and she was THE PRINCIPAL"S DAUGHTER !
ReplyDeleteWhen I got back to my classroom and confessed to mates what I had done, they said, "You're finished, you'll get kicked out.' I didn't think this was likely, but I thought it was possible from a principal who regularly suspended 10 guys at a time because their hair touched their collars or their sideburns were below their ear lobes. A kid was expelled, even after 2 haircuts. (The story made the Melbourne papers.)
What would he do to a kid who assaulted his daughter ? I waited for my call to the office, but it never came. May be a week later, Mr Winkler, my form teacher, came to see me to tell me that Speech Night was the following week and that I had gained an academic award. However , he explained considerately, it would not be presented. (The revenge of Philippa ?) He said he was not able to tell me the reason. Mr Winkler asked that I not get too angry or upset. He was, I think, surprised at how I accepted this with such magnanimity. It was certainly preferable in my mind to telling my parents I'd been expelled. In year 12 I got to know Philippa a little and discovered that she was actually quite nice. She never seemed to feel the cold, and only wore a shirt, tie and skirt even in the middle of winter.
Boylio
Mr Withoos , obviously Dutch, was my woodwork teacher. At that stage , most of my friends were Dutch and I even played for a Dutch soccer team. His nickname was "Smootie" Withoos, because he often said, "Sand it until it is as smoot as a baby's bum." Sometimes he would just tell us to sand our wood smoot and some wag would ask, " As a baby's bum, sir?" He would also ask us to plane the wood down to "two turds tick." (2 thirds thick.) We would quietly snigger. Once I arrived late and work had begun. I asked Paul Coleman what we needed to do and he said, "Two turds."
ReplyDeleteMr Withoos had some novel, but effective methods of classroom management. If two boys had a fight in the woodwork room,( a dangerous practice ) the 2 boys would be made to stand on a desk in a pugilistic stance without moving for 10 minutes. If any other boy saw one move, he could hit him on the leg with a piece of dowel. Needless to say, there were few fights. When I was in form 4, Smootie arranged for 4 boys, including me, to go out to the Morwell SEC and dismantle huge wooden crates to salvage the timber for use in the woodwork shop. The others were Paul Coleman and Ieuan Mapperson and one other - perhaps Peter North or Harvey Dinelli. On the way out in Mr Withoos car, we came around a bend and narrowly missed a cow standing in the middle of the road. Anyway, we were left to our devices as he returned to school and we wrecked the 2m & 3m high crates with jemmy bars and claw hammers. Imagine even thinking of doing that today ? At the end of the day, a truck came and loaded the wood in and went back to school, sitting in the back of the truck with the wood.
Boylio
Just curious, which soccer team did you play for? I played for Fortuna. I was at MHS in 62 & 63.
DeleteJohn Cornelis. corneyau@yahoo.com
I played for Fortuna also. Right back, but i wasn'r very good. But a couple of years later than your dates.
DeleteLike some of the teenage boys at MHS, I.T. Maddern , Principal, was obsessed with sex. They were obsessed with the idea of getting some, and he with the idea of stopping it. I.T. would drive around the town watching for boys walking home with girls. Several of my friends were stopped and asked, "What are doing walking home with a girl ?" "She's my sister, Sir !"
ReplyDeleteIvan Theodore would stalk the "Karma Club" on Saturday night, with his hat on and his coat collar pulled up, watching for senior students having a good time instead of studying. He sacked the school prefects who were talking after dark : she standing in her front yard and he leaning on the fence from the street.
Boylio.
(OK, may be I do want to write a book.)
I thought he was a nutter, but perhaps he had good reason. Apparently, there were many teenage pregnancies occurring, and I.T. was doing his best to stamp them out. An MHS office lady had a friend in common with my mother who told me this story after I'd left the school :
Mr Maddern had a pregnant girl in his office and demanded to know who the father was. She said she didn't know. He said, "What ? How can you not know, you had sex with him !"
"But Sir, it was not just one."
"I want the names of both of them."
"It was three, Sir," she admitted.
"What ? You had sex with three boys ?"
"Yes, but not at the same time," she claimed in her own defence.
The three boys were called in and lined up, while I.T. game them a dressing down and a lecture on personal responsibility.
One of the boys put his hand up and said," It could not have been me Sir."
"Why not ?"
"Because I wrapped mine in gladwrap, Sir."
There were NO "glad-wraps" back in the karma Club days, bro! Just ruined your otherwise 'credible' yarn there (for me at least:). :)
DeleteBut yeah, Maddern was a sneaky perving creep, in my days at Moe High in the late 1950s as well, the prick!!
No , Maddern wasn't a "sneaky perving creep". He was worried about teenage pregnancy. Secondly, Bob, Gladwrap was available Australia from 1966 onwards, so , no, you didn't ruin my story. Check your facts. My story is true.
DeleteIn form 4 we had a History teacher who was less than competent. Just before he arrived for class, we locked Richard Skerrit in the coat locker at the front of the room. The teacher began teaching but was interrupted by a "hiss". He re-started and was again irritated by a loud hiss. He demanded to know who was hissing, not realising it was coming from behind from the coat locker. We were better behaved than usual, sitting quietly so we could hear the hisses, smirking away, watching the teacher becoming more furious. At the lesson's end, we were told that unless the hisser gave himself up, we would be kept in. (It was last lesson.)
ReplyDeleteOur classroom had bike racks behind/ below it, and Ralf Cossack came to get his bike. it had a flat tyre, so he began to pump it up with a " hiss, hiss." The teacher stuck his head out the window and said, "It was you, Ralf Cossack. Get in here right now ! Class dismissed ! "
We remembered to let richard out of the locker as we rushed out.
Boylio.
Also when I was in form 4 (4P3) we had a blonde, possibly middle-aged Maths teacher (or seemingly so to a teenage boy ) with glasses who seemed to have a perpetual cough. She challenged us to ask any maths problem that she would then solve in her head. Occasionally, say if it was a trig. question, she might use a piece of paper, but only the size of a postage stamp.
ReplyDeleteThe wet, mucousy cough seemed to last all winter, and she'd cough into tissues all lesson. As soon as she entered the classroom, she'd head for the heater to the far side of the room and sit on it. That meant that our Maths lessons were all done verbally, as the blackboard was on another wall. The visual learners were missing out and while her bum was nicely heated, we all froze. Someone thought up a solution to this problem : he got a handful of fine dust from under the building and placed it on top of the horizontal fan. When the teacher arrived, the fan was off and she headed over to the heater as usual and turned the fan on as she sat down. A great plume of dust rose up around her and started a coughing fit. She eventually left the room and didn't come back. Next lesson, nothing was said, but she never sat on the heater again.
Boylio
Does anyone know the name of the Modern European History teacher from the late 60s ? She lived in Yinnar. She was my teacher in 1969 and she was great. She was a great story-teller and was always quoting the demi-God, Graham Stuart Worrell of Monash University.
ReplyDeletewas it Mrs Jensen?
DeleteThanks for that, that could be right. Not sure why I can't remember her name . Great teacher. She always quoted Graham Stewart Worrell from Monash and his name was on handouts. He was a god. Graham was her lecturer/tutor at Monash in its infancy days. He even went to her wedding. When I got to Monash, I had him as a tutor also, and he offered to hide me at his house, as I was a draft resister. ( Albeit late in the war and there was huge backlog, so I was in no danger of getting a jail sentence.)
DeleteMr Traill was known as "Tracker" and he was a keen coach of the athletics and cross-country teams. Roderick Hill , a student, was the Australian cross-country and one mile Champion. I remember a time when he had a fight after school with Alex Ruskuklic, who played for Fitzroy and Carlton.
ReplyDeleteMr Fry was a teacher of French, and he used to wear his academic gown intermittently, and swoop around the corridors like a bat. He played football for either Morwell or Yallourn. In class he would play Francois Hardy on the record player and wax lyrical , then swoon over her.
Another French teacher when I was in junior school was very attractive and buxom. I think she used her charms as a method of classroom management. She wore low-cut , floral dresses and smelled of perfume. When she came over to answer a question, she bend over one's desk and the sight of her bosoms and the smell of the perfume would send the pubescent boys into paroxyms of delight. You never seen so many form 2 boys so interested in French.
Boylio.
RE : the photo above. I think the room on the right of the sign was the library. I think the needlework etc was one block back on the path before the sign. These schools were known as "chicken coop style."
ReplyDeleteBoylio.
It may be easier to recall people and events at Morwell H.S. if there had been a school magazine. However, instead of students writing articles about the school year, Mr Ivan T himself wrote The History of Morwell High School, Vol.1 Vol. 2 Vol.3 and so on.
ReplyDeleteBoylio.
I never had Max Alvin as a teacher, but I sometimes talked to him at sports' carnivals - he was interesting and slightly eccentric. Mr Hirstgood hardly had the joie de vivre : in fact , he was a bit of a sad-sack. I had him for form 4 English. I realise now, that he was probably suffering from depression. I never appreciated what he managed to teach me until much later. I learnt about sonnets and Shakespeare and all kinds of stuff. Thanks Mr H. It came in handy later on !
ReplyDeleteHe was my form teacher in form 5. One morning I was sitting in the front desk, close to his and he was marking the roll. I was writing in an exercise book when his pen ran out. he attempted to snatch my pen and when I hung on, he wrested it from my hand, broke in half and then did the same to my red pen. Not satiated, he tore my exercise book into pieces. I sat and fumed for a few seconds, then I rose and walked two steps towards his desk and said ; "You haven't heard the end of this !"
I asked for an appointment with the principal and waited on the wooden bench. Shortly after, Mr Winkler arrived and talked me out of proceeding with the complaint. I had great respect for him, so I complied. Every now and again, you could get through to Mr Hirstgood with a well-timed joke. He was generally sad, but if you caught him off-guard you could make him laugh. He was a good fellow underneath.
Boylio.
Why is it that there are no comments from girls from that era of Mr Madden. Remember talking to your boyfriend on opposite sides of the toilet block at lunch
ReplyDeletetimes ? Remember how long our Skirts had to be ? Socks pulled up girls !!! Had to get my sister to stand up for me once when I was called into Mr Maddens office accused of coming to school on the back of a boys motor bike !! It was my sister dropping me off, while she was on holidays from Melb, on the back of her Lambretta. Very fond memories of Morwell High. I hated Esperanto!!
In matric I was walked to school by my boyfriend.We were told this was not acceptable.Undaunted he used to drive me to and from school.This was in 1966
DeleteWhy no females replying? Maybe they don't appreciate talking/texting to/with ANONYMOUSES!!! Comprendez?
DeleteI was a founding student (1956), has to travel to Traralgon in a semi-trailer bus for the first year. Used to catch it on the corner of McDonald street and Vincent Road. The original MHS was in old Traralgon High in Grey street. Moved to Morwell in 1957. I remember John Murfett fondly, he taught me woodworking, metal work amd maths. Mr Morris was the principle, a tough nut with a wide leather strap. The other teacher names have faded with time. I do remember Geraldine Horne and Miss Davies (someone put potatoes up the exhaust of her VW on her first day of teaching.
ReplyDeletePeter Tatterson and Nina DeBono were the prefects. John Murfett was also the sports master and under his tutilage MHS had a better than average football team. Swimming was compulsory, but why was the pool not heated.
Joined the State Bank in 1960, Retired 2008, Lecturer Information Technology, Charles Darwin University, Darwin
Wayne Stonehouse, Forcett, Tasmania
I was also an inaugural student at MHS. The first Principal was a Mr Slattery followed by Arthur Morris who was regarded by the students as the town drunk.
DeleteWayne might remember that I was the captain of that better than average football team as well as the cricket team. Later I was School captain and Dux of the school in 1962 but apart from these attributes I swam like a brick.
MSc at Melbourne Uni, Lectured in Physics and some maths at Monash Uni (Gippsland) until 2016. Also had a pilots licence and flew a practical science program around outback stations and schools for 10 years (2001 to 2010 - Google; Flying Scientist). Still playing seniors cricket at 80 (took a hat trick in 2014).
Some other teachers I remember; "Slogger" Mitchell, Keith Maughan, June Goodwill, Doc Bowden - "Higgins, take your desk and get outside" - Les Dale and the gorgeous Miss Carmichael - I have now been married to her mother's younger sister for 23 years!
Some other inaugural students I recall were Noel Weightman, Julian Land, Geoff Padfield, David Swainsbury, Steve Broughton, Rick Foster, Glenda White, Faye Temple, Connie Vrieze, Joy Mitchelmore. Pretty good years really.
Phill Higgins Hazelwood South
Hi
ReplyDeleteJust came across this blog when, for some reason, I was thinking about Ivan T and looked him up on the internet. What an interesting collection of memories. I was a student at MHS from 1960 to 1965 and I think I really enjoyed my time there, although maybe my glasses are rose coloured.
I also remember Peter Caplan and Ian Fry very well. One year Mr Caplan entered a Morwell High team in the under 15's weekend football competition and I was a member of that team. Roger Glass and Andy Demetriou (not the AFL boss) were two of my team mates.
Mr Fry and Mr Caplan used to go to the local dances at the RSL club quite often a little bit under the weather. It used to amuse all us teenagers watching their antics trying to impress the girls. But I guess we had some sort of affinity with them, and I know I liked them both as teachers and as people.
The two teachers who I remember the most were Roger Doyle and Jeff Robinson, and it was through their influence that I became interested in musical theatre and drama. I will ever remember the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas that I was in every year except for 1963 when my voice was breaking. But even then I worked backstage with Mr Robinson. Both inspirational!
I was never a prefect. Ivan T would not consider me because I used to smoke and walk home with girls. How he knew this I don't know. But that's what he told my friend Philip Bowen who was head prefect and tried to get me appointed when there was a vacancy sometime through the year. But I still liked the guy, and I can remember him pulling up in the middle of the street to congratulate me when I passed my Matric exams. Maybe I wasn't the reprobate he thought I was.
By the way, my sister was a teacher at MHS for a while when I was a student. Does any-one remember Miss Robson, or Mrs Pryde as she became? I had to address her by these formal titles if I wanted to speak to her at school
Great memories...........Cheers................Geoff Robson
I really liked and respected Miss Robson, she was by far one of my favourite teachers, a lovely lady, and a great teacher, a big influence on my life. One of the few teachers that I still remember.
DeleteJohn Cornelis.
Hi John
DeleteSad to say Dorothy (Pryde) Robson developed dementia a few years ago and resides in a care facility in Bairnsdale. Her husband, Don, died earlier this year. Glad to hear you remember and liked her. Cheers...........Geoff Robson
Keith Boyle. Fabulous memories of MHS. Really enjoyed the read.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Peter Budge
pbudge@secnat.com.au
I grew up in Morwell and attended from 1962. I remember Mr. Doyle and Miss Robson really well. If I remember Miss Robson taught math. I also took part in all the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. Do not know if anyone remembers Dr. Bowden (not sure on spelling), every Monday morning inspection from her. Dress length, socks, no nail polish etc. etc. I remember the music room where we would hide and also held dances in there for 6 pence at lunch times. We had look outs for the prefects (their room was up the passage). One day we got sprung. There was a mass evacuation out the windows. Sheila Roberts (never forget her) was tall and skinny, she got stuck trying to get out. Needless to say we were all dobbed in and I can remember having to clean out the girls toilets. I have lots of memories all good stuff. When my parents split up Mr. Maddern offered to take me in (oh no) as a border. He must have thought he could save me from myself. Lots of fond memories, great to find your page. Cheers Barb Collie kooyoora@activ8.net.au www.campkooyoora.com
ReplyDeleteHi Barb
DeleteDid you know that Dorothy Robson was trained as a Primary School teacher (Burwood Teachers' College) and was horrified when she was posted to the High School. She was only able to teach Forms 1 and 2.After she got used to it, I think she enjoyed her time there very much. Sadly, she now suffers from dementia and is in a nursing home in Bairnsdale.
Sorry to hear that, she was a great woman, and I'm a better person for having been lucky enough to have been taught by her.
DeleteThanks John Cornelis
corneyau@yahoo.com.
I was a student at M.H.S.from 1961 to 1966.My brother,Michael,was a few years ahead of me,starting in 1958.Waiting to be picked up by Dad outside the post office,I was flicking Michael's tie.Imagine my humiliation when I.T.walked up to us and said,"Little girl, why dont you go home and stop annoying people."Did my brother spring to my defence? No way.....I always Knew he was mean!
ReplyDeleteI attended the 60th Year reunion of MHS this past weekend, it was great to catch up with such a lot of original pupils from 1956..we may all looker older but the sense of fun was still there! And so was Miss Goodwill, she looks so well . Eryl Harris (nee Fletcher)
ReplyDeleteThey were good years when we were young and naive and had the world at our feet.maybe not so much pressure as the current generation has. I was mates with Grant Williams,Ian Edwards,Phillip Mcroberts and can remember Clem D'Alessandro Greg May and a few others. Bill Traill is now living in Wodonga and is active in trying to get a rail service to actually get here without breaking down. I can remember Mac Alvin wearing the same loose knit jumper day in and day out. I got sprung by Ivan T walking a girl home, I wonder if he actually fell for the "she's my sister" storey. A lot of the girls used to hitch their skirts up under their belts ( much to the delight of the boys) , then let them down when it came to skirt height inspection time where they had to kneel on a cushion and the head mistress would measure skirt length with a ruler. Of course we had the hair issue where it wasn't allowed to be over your ears and you were threatened with expulsion if it was too long.Good times
ReplyDeleteI went to your school at a young age , I think it was when I was about 12 / 13 years old , and now I'm aged 44 , and I was just wondering if there were any photos in your archives anywhere that I could get a copy of as I have no older photos of myself to show my children , my full name is Jonathon Dean Edward mckinnon and my date of bi
ReplyDeleterth is 26/06/1975, it would be greatly appreciated if anyone could help in anyway as I have no photos that I want to add to my biography that I want to give to each of my children as I don't see them much and I'd like for them to know my life story from my point of view, thank you kindly , Jonathon mckinnon
Sorry, but Ivan Madden was an idiot. It was a disgrace that he was allowed to waste students’ time on his personal fetish - the utterly useless language of Esperanto. His nickname of Elmer Fudd was an insult to a much loved cartoon character. Very glad I got expelled on the first day of form five (for having hair that barely touched my collar), which allowed me to spend the next two years at the liberated and liberating Maryvale High School at the other side of town.
ReplyDeleteMay be Esperanto wasn't a waste of time. It was a potentially good idea. History has proved it to be of no use. Learning a language is good for growing minds. We had to learn German for a term and French for much longer. I never used them, but that did not mean they were useless. Je ne parle pas français !
ReplyDeletePS: I think Lawrie Love was the famous/ infamous student expelled from MHS for not having his hair the required length. His story made the Melbourne papers. He had a couple of haircuts, but this did not not satisfy I.T. Lawrie was a good student. I didn't know him, but this episode made me feel sick in the stomach because of the injustice.
ReplyDeleteBill Trail died a week or so ago in Wodonga. He was my geography teacher in form 6 and an all round nice guy. I can still remember what all the clouds are called and will never forget his embarrassment when Greg May asked him what urine was.
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ReplyDeleteI left Morwell high in 1966 to work in the ANZ bank in Commercial Road. I try to remember my time at the school but I have to admit all is a little hazy these days. I discovered this blog this afternoon and have had many chuckles. I.T. was a different sort of man. I was suspended for my hair being long at one stage and after my father made me have a very embarrassing short back and sides I was allowed to return .
ReplyDeleteI have little story about a teacher I had I think about 1965. Her name was Miss Jacob’s. She was young slim and to us boys a bit special. She wore short skirts and had a habit of sitting on the teachers desk cross legged at the front of the class room. Knowing she was coming there was always a scramble for the front desks. On this occasion I won. During the lesson questions were put to the class and if you remember we all put our hands up to answer, some of us boys very strenuously. I had a small sharpened down pencil in my hand and the fellow behind me accidentally knocked the pencil out of my hand. It flew through the air and went down her blouse front. I could not believe what happened and neither could she.
After she pulled it out she asked “who did that” I had no alternative but to own up. Out I went closely followed by Miss Jacob’s. I said I was sorry however I am sure she did not believe me. I could not have got that pencil where it landed if I tried a million times. All was forgiven in a short while however I was a sort of hero for a while.