A Row of Goodly Pearls, One Hundred and Twenty-five Years of Loreto in Melbourne

A Row of

goodly pearls One Hundred and Twenty-five Years of Loreto in Melbourne

Jane Mayo Carolan

First published in Australia and New Zealand

by Allen & Unwin in 2014 Copyright text © Jane Mayo Carolan 2014 Copyright images © individual copyright owners (see Picture Credits, page 428), 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Email: info@allenandunwin.com Web: www.allenandunwin.com Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.trove.nla.gov.au ISBN 978 1 76011 073 4 Cover and internal design by Pfisterer + Freeman Index by Karen Gillen Printed and bound in China by Everbest Printing Co., Ltd 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the women of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Melbourne

Contents vi Acknowledgements vii Foreword viii

Time Line

1 I

One Family Loreto in Melbourne

13 II

Out of Ireland The Pioneering Loreto Sisters

23 III

Mother Gonzaga Barry Educational Visionary

67 IV

Floreat Collegium Central Catholic Training College and St Mary’s Hall

107 V

A New Idea Loreto Free Kindergarten

135 VI

The Right Thing to Do The Closure of ‘Maria Regina Angelorum’ at Albert Park

157 VII

Builders of a Home of Peace and Culture Loreto Toorak Pioneers

193 VIII Useful and Gracious Women

Living through the Economic Depression of the 1930s 241 IX

Valiant Women Working through the Shadows of War

277 X

Polish without Pretence School Life in the 1950s

313 XI

The Wider Apostolate What to Do When You Leave School?

357 XII CHALLENGING TRADITIONS Changes and Innovations 397 XIII REACHING FOR THE STARS

Loreto Toorak in the Modern Era 416 Appendices 422 Notes 427

Select Bibliography

428

Picture Credits

430 Index

Acknowledgements Previous pages iv–v: An autumn stroll Left, Mother Francis Anthony Matha with her girls; right, Mother Aloysius Cosgrove with her boys

The history of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak is inextricably intertwined with the story of the arrival of the Loreto Sisters in Melbourne in 1889. This was an initiative of Mother Gonzaga Barry, the first Provincial of Loreto in Australia. In 1886, when Mother Gonzaga began to think about a Melbourne foundation, she introduced Eucalyptus Blossoms as a way of communicating with her Australian students and her Loreto colleagues overseas. In the second issue of this remarkable paper, published on 10 December 1886, the feast day of Our Lady of Loreto, she wrote an introduction entitled ‘A Mother’s Letter to Her Children’. In this letter she used the simile of a row of goodly pearls, describing the precious souls of her students as pearls of great price to be strung on a triple cord, strong and sure.

This work tells the evolving story of the Loreto education in Melbourne. An institution as old as one hundred and twenty-five years deserves to have its history written, in part because it has much to tell us about innovative approaches to the education of Catholic women and in part because it illuminates and uncovers a special social history of Melbourne. Researching and writing an educational history is not just the work of an author. It relies on the active participation of the whole community. In this I was richly rewarded. So many Sisters, parents, staff and past students gave generously of their time, expertise and above all their encouragement. Numerous stories, anecdotes and photographs enhanced the narrative. I have only been able to select a portion of these accounts and reminiscences, but many others that have not been quoted assisted in building the atmosphere for each period. All of their contributions formed A Row of Goodly Pearls.

I am indebted to the Principal of Loreto Toorak, Dr Susan Stevens, for initiating, commissioning and guiding this history with great enthusiasm. A large part of the research material for the early chapters was lovingly provided from the Loreto Province Archives by Robin Scott, a professional archivist. Robin’s knowledge of this rich collection and her prompt answers, combined with her good humour and gentle suggestions, were invaluable. Equally generous was Steven Stefanopoulos, Heritage Collection and Records Manager of Loreto Toorak, who opened the doors to his treasures and compiled the appendices. A raft of others at Loreto Toorak generously contributed their skills in unexpected ways. Those on reception took messages and sent parcels, and willing assistance was given by librarians, technical staff and others, who answered my endless and at times bewildering questions with grace and good humour.

Many non-Loreto people were instrumental in forming this book. For comradeship and special insights I owe a great deal to my fellow council members of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. In particular my publishers, Allen & Unwin, were unfailingly understanding and generous.

The book came alive under the astute direction of Tracy O’Shaughnessy and with the invisible mending of editor Eugenie Baulch, the proofreading of Lily Kiel, the index of Karen Gillen, the designs of Hamish Freeman and Klarissa Pfisterer and the photography of Nicholas Quin. But this detailed and lengthy project could not have been undertaken without the unstinting support of my family, especially my husband, Kevin, who read every word and provided sage advice.

Jane Mayo Carolan May 2014

vi

Foreword A Row of Goodly Pearls: One Hundred and Twenty-five Years of Loreto in Melbourne by Jane Mayo Carolan celebrates our rich and varied heritage. Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak forms an integral part of a long and proud tradition with an interesting and at times adventurous history. Our school mirrors the greater history of the Loreto Order itself, a history we know so well and one which contains many stories of forward-thinking, faith-filled women, committed to the education of girls and young women and dedicated to working for justice to make the world a better place.

These women were, and still are, our beloved Loreto Sisters, whose mission and tradition is now in our hands.

Our place within an extensive worldwide network of Loreto Schools and missions is significant. For over four hundred years the Loreto values of Justice, Sincerity, Verity, Freedom and Felicity have formed and guided young minds and hearts. These have given an unshakeable foundation to the value-based philosophy of Loreto education which continues today.

The work of the Loreto foundations in Melbourne, leading to the opening of Loreto Toorak, commenced from humble beginnings. In each Loreto foundation in Melbourne there was a striving for justice and educational excellence. The early days involved risk, determination and sacrifice, called for hard work from members of the wider Loreto community, and tested the vocations of the Sisters. The Loreto Sisters identified opportunities that would allow them to undertake works they saw as vital, always with a mission to assist those in most need in society.

One inescapable insight, which emerges throughout the decades, is that the Sisters were capable businesswomen. Their dealings with civil and Church authorities alike required skill, patience and a great deal of strategic thinking. With gracious determination, they ensured that the standards and quality, now synonymous with the crest of Loreto and our very name, have endured and continue to flourish through the lay members of our community.

Behind Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak is a vast network of alumnae, community, supporters, current staff, students and families. All who have been part of this story will be inspired at different times in reading this detailed history. Loreto Toorak owes its fine reputation to the Loreto Sisters and our graduates, women of ethics, standards and quality in every sense. It is now the mission of the lay members of our community and our graduates to continue to foster our Loreto traditions.

Dr Susan Stevens Principal Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak

vii

TIME LINE LORETO IN MELBOURNE

1888 Members of the Ballarat community settled at Mononia, Merton Crescent, Albert Park, forming the first Melbourne Loreto foundation.

1889 On 4 February classes commenced at Our Lady of the Angels, Albert Park.

1890 On 10 August Our Lady of the Angels convent and school in Albert Road was blessed and opened by Archbishop Thomas Carr. On 10 October Archbishop Thomas Carr blessed and laid the foundation stone of the new Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne.

1891 On 26 September Saints Peter and Paul’s School was opened.

1915 Mother Stanislaus Mulhall was appointed as Provincial to succeed Mother Gonzaga Barry, who had died on 5 March.

1918 On 7 March St Mary’s Hall, established for university students, was officially blessed and opened at Barbiston, The Avenue, Parkville.

1923 The Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten moved into a house next to Emerald Hall, South Melbourne.

1924 On 12 August the Loreto Sisters purchased Mandeville Hall and opened Loreto Toorak. Our Lady of the Angels, the Central Catholic Training College and the convent in Albert Park were closed in this year.

1895 Claremont (known as the White House), next to Our Lady of the Angels, was leased and became the junior school.

1906 On 1 May the Central Catholic Training College opened in Albert Park. The official opening occurred on 5 August.

1907 The Claremont property was purchased.

1912 On 29 August Lady Norah Fuller, wife of Sir John Fuller, the Governor of Victoria, opened the Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten in Albert Hall, South Melbourne.

1928 On 12 May Archbishop Daniel Mannix celebrated the first Mass in the Chapel of Christ the King.

On 10 October the Chapel of Christ the King and St Cecelia’s Hall beneath it were blessed by Papal Delegate Cardinal Bonaventura Cerretti. The chapel was consecrated by Archbishop Daniel Mannix on 24 October.

1929 The Loreto Past Pupils’ Association was convened at Mandeville Hall.

1933 The first issue of Mandeville Hall Greetings was published.

1935 In February a kindergarten at Loreto Toorak was opened.

1925 Senior classrooms were built at the rear of Mandeville Hall.

1926 A statue of the Madonna, donated

by Monsignor Richard Collins, was placed on the balcony above the front door of Mandeville Hall.

1927 On 25 September the foundation stone of the Chapel of Christ the King was laid by Archbishop Daniel Mannix.

1952 Extensive alterations and additions were made to the junior school’s Delprat house.

1953 The Loreto Toorak Past Pupils’ Association was formed from the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association of Victoria.

1954 In April the first issue of the magazine Toorakanrooin, for senior students, was published. In June the Wayside Shrine in the gully was built.

1955 In September St Joseph’s Convent Wing for the Loreto Sisters was completed. In November the first conference of the Federation of Loreto Past Pupils’ Associations was held at Loreto Toorak.

1937 On 12 May a new building for the Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten, South Melbourne, was opened by Acting Premier of Victoria Francis Edward Old.

1956 The Senior Library in the Indian Room was extended into the adjacent room, St Luke’s Study, with a new doorway to the right of the fireplace.

1940 In May the junior school moved to the Delprat house, next to the front gates.

1960 The Parents’ Association was established. The umbrella tree was relocated to enlarge the oval, but unfortunately the tree died in the following year. The houses were expanded from three – St Teresa, St Gertrude and St Michael – to four and renamed Barry, Mornane, Mulhall and Ward.

1944 The final issue of Mandeville Hall Greetings was published.

1945 The first issue of the magazine Loreto was published.

1946 The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was built.

1961 The Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten, South Melbourne, was closed.

1963 Four classrooms for Grades Five and Six were built in front of St Omer (Brash house).

The Loreto Commercial College, South Melbourne, opened.

1964 In August Reverend Walter Ebsworth blessed the new tennis courts on the corner of Clendon Road and Millicent Avenue. The final issue of Loreto was published.

1965 On 29 May the foundation stone of the new St Mary’s College at the University of Melbourne was laid by Archbishop Justin Simonds.

1966 On 6 March the new Senior School Building, later the Mary Ward Building, was blessed and opened

by Bishop Lawrence Moran. The Senior School Library moved to St Cecilia’s Hall. St Mary’s College was opened in Swanston Street.

1975 The last group of boys were educated in the junior school and the former kindergarten was converted into an indoor sports area for the junior school.

The Loreto Advisory Board was established.

1977 The Loreto Commercial College, South Melbourne, was closed.

1978 On 9 April the new Library and Administration Building was blessed and opened by Archbishop Francis Little.

1981 The Parents’ Association became the Mothers’ Association. The Fathers’ Association was established.

1968 The first issue of the school magazine Mandeville was published.

1970 The first issue of Up and Out, a magazine for junior school students, was published.

The Loreto Toorak kindergarten was closed.

1971 The first school newsletter was published.

1972 In January the gully and grotto were demolished and the War Memorial Oval created.

In December the Chapel of Christ the King was altered to embrace the new liturgies.

1973 In December the boarding house was closed. Loreto Cottage, Blairgowrie, was purchased for the Sisters by the Past Pupils’ Association.

1992 The School Council was inaugurated. On 3 June the extensive renovations to the junior school were opened by the Provincial, Sister Deirdre Rofe.

1993 The community of Loreto Sisters moved from Mandeville Hall to the corner of Orrong Road and Mandeville Crescent.

1994 The Ian Potter Foundation at the University of Melbourne was appointed to oversee the restoration of Mandeville Hall.

1996 A property master plan was developed.

1997 The Parents’ Association was formed through the amalgamation of the Fathers’ Association and the Mothers’ Association.

1983 On 23 October the Junior School Multipurpose Room and Library were opened by the Provincial, Sister Noni Mitchell. The first junior school newsletter was published.

1985 On 14 September the Patricia Schaefer Physical Education Centre, together with art and craft and audio-visual studios and a rooftop garden, were blessed

by Archbishop Francis Little.

1986 In May the first issue of Mandevillian was published.

1988 A senior school pilgrimage to Central Australia took place to celebrate Australia’s bicentenary.

2003 ‘Winnie’s Wing’, named in honour of Mary Ward’s companion Winifred Wigmore, was erected and Cafe Mandeville was opened.

2005 On 9 August the refurbished basement of Mandeville Hall was opened as the Drama Centre.

2006 On 22 August the Sister Ruth Winship ibvm Science Centre was opened.

2008 The Chapel of Christ the King was refurbished. In September a life-size bronze sculpture of Mary Ward by Meliesa Judge was unveiled in The Glade. A three hundred thousand–litre water tank was installed under the oval.

1999 The school celebrated its seventyfifth anniversary and published A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999.

2001 The former St Joseph’s Convent Wing was demolished. The first international music tour took place.

2002 On 19 May the Mother Gonzaga Barry Sports Centre was opened

by Archbishop Denis Hart together with the Provincial, Sister Deirdre Browne. In partnership with St Peter’s Parish Toorak and St Kevin’s College, Toorak, the St Peter’s Early Learning Centre was opened on 30 January by Principal Dr Anne Hunt and the Principal of St Kevin’s College, Brother William Wilding cfc. The Glade was reconstructed.

2009 Loreto celebrated four hundred years of Mary Ward Education.

Loreto Cooks was published.

2010 The extensions to the junior school were completed. On 21 May the former Multipurpose Room was named the Sister Toni Matha ibvm Hall.

2011 The Glade was further developed to include an amphitheatre.

2013 The Loreto Sisters moved out of Loreto Toorak. Cooks@Loreto was published.

2014 The construction of the new Mandeville Centre commenced.

The school celebrated one hundred and twenty-five years of Loreto in Melbourne.

i One Family Loreto in Melbourne

Mary Ward – a woman beyond compare, given to the Church by English Catholicism in its most sombre and blood-stained hours.

Pope Pius XII, 1876–1958 1

2

A Row of Goodly Pearls

T

he genesis of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak lies in small steps of faith taken over four hundred years. The dynamism of Loreto ministries in Melbourne can be found not only in their writings but also in their lived experience.

Task-oriented, task-driven Loreto Sisters found their meaning in service. The job at hand, that of leading children through an education system determinedly different from that offered by the state government, was demanding and all-encompassing. The Loreto environment was largely free of models of male leadership, and thus provided opportunities for all kinds of special qualities to flourish. There were those in Loreto who were radicalised and feminised through the Second Vatican Council of 1962–65 and others who took a vigorous stance on political, social, community and educational issues. Loreto’s significant contribution to the Church in Melbourne, to Catholic education and to the wellbeing of Catholic families cannot be measured. During 2009 Loreto Toorak embraced with gusto the significance and importance of four hundred years of Loreto education worldwide. The school theme for 2009 was ‘Enlightened by our history, United for the future, Living Loreto’. It was an extraordinary year in the life of Loreto Toorak. Mary Ward, the founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was given centre stage in Loreto Toorak’s history and traditions.

Loreto Toorak joined the larger Loreto family in celebrating with great joy and jubilation the legacy of Mary Ward.

The festivities began with the installation and unveiling of a life-size bronze sculpture of Mary Ward, sculpted by Meliesa Judge. It was a tangible way to engage with the heritage, mission and purpose of Loreto Toorak. In January 2009 the students who participated in Loreto Toorak’s third International Music Tour became aware of belonging to a larger Loreto story through visiting Loreto schools in Germany, Austria, England and Ireland. Sixty Loreto Toorak musicians played at these schools, where they were welcomed and provided with billets and hospitality. The tour concluded with these students taking part in the Mary Ward Feast Day Mass in Mullingar Cathedral, Dublin, with fifty other Loreto schools.

In Melbourne, the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association held an afternoon of reflection on the thoughts and writings of Mary Ward in the Oak Parlour. This was presented by a Loreto Toorak past student, Sister Anne Byrne. Anne shared a number of

Mary Ward leading new generations Matilda Barons and Olivia Ivana Bourke in 2009 with Mary Ward’s depiction in bronze, a sculpture created by Meliesa Judge for Loreto Schools in Australia Previous page x: Neat and tidy The winter school uniform in 1940 (detail, see page 256)

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The Loreto crest and motto A Loreto school crest and motto was introduced in 1851 by the Provincial General, Mother Teresa Ball, at Loreto Rathfarnham, Dublin. The crest included two Latin mottos, one acknowledging the Mother of God as ‘Mary Queen of the Angels’ and the other affirming Jesus Christ as the Saviour with the words ‘As long as I live I put my trust in Christ who died for me’. The interior depicted the hearts of Mary and Jesus, with a sword and anchor symbolising trust in God’s love. All Loreto secondary schools in Australia adopted this crest as a sign of their unification under the umbrella title of ‘Loreto’, the name adopted by Mother Teresa.

4

A Row of Goodly Pearls

Mary’s prayers and meditations, giving her own gentle insights into their significance. St Francis’ Church in the city was packed to capacity by past students for the Landing Day Mass to celebrate the arrival in Australia of Mother Gonzaga Barry and her brave band of Loreto Sisters. The Loreto community hosted this celebration which featured an exhibition about Mary Ward’s life and Loreto in Australia. A special Feast Day Mass for the whole school was held in St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne.

A generous member of the school community donated funds for the inaugural annual St Omer Scholarship. This scholarship was named after the town in which a young Mary Ward had established her first community, in 1609. The scholarship was open to recent Loreto Toorak graduates and gave the recipient the opportunity to participate in the newly formed Volunteer Program run by Mary Ward International in Australia. The Loreto Toorak Development Office undertook a special fundraising project. To commemorate four hundred years of Loreto education worldwide, the Development Office produced a collaborative cookbook.

Recipes were submitted from several generations of Loreto Toorak cooks from around Australia and overseas. On 15 November 2009 Loreto Cooks was launched at Loreto Toorak. Following the success of this project, a second volume, Cooks@ Loreto, was produced in 2013. Cooks@Loreto was judged as the Australian winner in its category of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

A woman beyond compare On the international stage, a contingent of Loreto Sisters and supporters undertook a pilgrimage to Rome to strengthen and deepen an awareness of Mary Ward and to pray for the grace to continue her humanitarian and missionary work. It was a large gathering of Loreto Sisters and Sisters of the Congregation of Jesus, from thirty-nine countries.2 Their need for affirmation was deep-seated. Through her actions Mary Ward had illustrated how easily women’s desire to express the freedom and energy of the Gospel could be frustrated by cultural prejudice, dressed as traditional wisdom. The visitation of the Sisters to Rome offered an opportunity for a renewed engagement with Mary Ward’s life and her responses to an intransigent Church. Rome was the key to understanding Mary’s ability to patiently wait for official approbation of the rules for her community that insisted on freedom from enclosure, from monastic patterns of life and from set forms of penance. In October 1621 Mary and a small band of sisters had set out for Rome to place this bold plan before the Pope. Their astonishing journey of some fifteen hundred miles, accomplished on foot through snowy passes and warring armies, ended on Christmas Eve, when the little company, in pilgrim garb, entered the city.

Celebrating Mary Ward The 2009 Annual Music Concert took place at the Arts Centre. This concert was a Loreto extravaganza, inspired and supported by the Principal Dr Susan Stevens, an award-winning pianist and lover of music. Students from Preparatory to Year Twelve participated in a tribute to the school’s musical history, spanning eighty-five years at Loreto Toorak. With visual representations accompanied by stories and musical performances, Mary Ward’s powerful legacy came alive. It was truly a Loreto Toorak community event, featuring more than one hundred past students in the choir. Past students, parents and staff also joined the orchestra for a specially commissioned Loreto medley. In the finale, singers from St Kevin’s College joined fathers and staff for a rousing rendition of the Policemen’s Chorus from the musical Pirates of Penzance. The Director of Music, Mary O’Driscoll, with the help of enthusiastic members of Loreto Toorak’s staff, produced a tour de force.

Mary was the eldest daughter of Marmaduke Ward and Ursula Wright and was connected by blood to many of the great Catholic families in Yorkshire. Born in 1585 in Reformation England at the height of the penal laws, Mary belonged to a tradition of resistance. Her family placed a higher priority on the right to follow Catholic religious beliefs and spirituality than on status and comfort. In 1606 Mary illegally crossed the English Channel to join the Order of Poor Clare at St Omer in Flanders. She lived as a lay sister for a year, begging from door to door.

This year of poverty heightened her respect for the poor and she founded her own Poor Clare community for English women in Gravelines, near the township of St Omer. While this community flourished, it soon became clear that this choice of cloistered austerity and prayerful solitude was not to be her vocation. Mary felt that God could be found in everyday encounters and in the service of others. This approach was beyond the confines allowed to religious women in the Church.

Mary returned alone to London in 1609, where to preach the Catholic faith was treason. She worked in secret assisting beleaguered Catholics, providing food and necessities, visiting foul prisons where many Catholics were incarcerated, and teaching girls. Mary attracted a group of like-minded and well-educated women

A woman beyond compare Mary Ward (1585–1645), founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Congregation of Jesus

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There is no such difference between men and women, that women may not do great matters, as we have seen by example of many Saints who have done great things; and I hope in God, it will be seen that women in time to come will do much.

Mary Ward

and began to think about a different form of religious life. Her followers took assumed names, and dressed sometimes in bright taffeta or rich brocades and sometimes in the modest frieze of the poor. They taught religion, prepared converts for the sacraments and visited the sick. In Europe there were groups of pious women, leading a common life and sharing a common apostolate. This mode of living appealed to Mary. Their hallmark of religion and good works acknowledged these women as capable of personal responsibility and integrity. With a group of supporters Mary returned to the Continent in late 1609, where she established a community at St Omer with a house for boarders, a free day school for girls and religious classes for adults.

During 1617, on one of her frequent visits to London, Mary’s boat was captured and she was briefly imprisoned. Mary’s fundamental belief in the dignity of women led to the establishment of similar communities in Liège, Cologne, Trier, Rome, Naples, Perugia, Munich, Vienna and Pressburg, as well as maintaining a hidden presence in London. At a time when religious vows were maintained by external restraints, strict law and enclosure, Mary sought for her women a formation that would enable them to be true to their calling, whether they were living in a rich household, in a servant’s lodgings or in a religious community. These proposals caused a scandal. Her women moved around without habit or enclosure and presumed to engage in works which were the preserve of men. They were tagged ‘the Galloping Girls’. Mary’s wonderful speech about the role of women was in response to a priest who said that her fervour would decay, because, after all, she was only a woman. Mary said, ‘There is no such difference between men and women, that women may not do great matters, as we have seen by example of many Saints who have done great things; and I hope in God, it will be seen that women in time to come will do much.’ 3 The Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury considered that she was doing more harm than six or seven Jesuits.

A league of their own Tensions between enterprising women and religious and church authorities were not unusual but Mary and her followers were in a league of their own. They disturbed accepted norms and crossed boundaries. The women engaged in pastoral work, operated in different countries and were not under the direction of the clergy or the bishops. The words ‘freedom, justice and sincerity’ captured their spirit. Mary was convinced that her society should be properly constituted, and wished to adopt the Jesuit-style rule of self-governance. She did not seek a legal or structural link, only the right to use the Jesuit Constitutions. Jesuits and non-Jesuits alike were dismayed. This was a step too far for the Jesuits and for the Vatican. Conflict came to a tragic head when a Papal Bull of Suppression was 6

A Row of Goodly Pearls

signed on 13 January 1631. It was unequivocal – it sought to ‘completely suppress and extinguish them, subject them to perpetual abolition and remove them entirely from the Holy Church of God’. Effectively this was a spiritual martyrdom. Mary and her followers were seen as heretics. The Papal Bull described her communities as ‘free from the laws of enclosure they wander about at will, and under the guise of promoting the salvation of souls, have been accustomed to attempt to employ themselves at many other works which are most unsuitable for their weak sex and character, to female modesty and particularly maidenly reserve’. As Andrew Hamilton writes, ‘In those days they made contempt into an art form.’4 Mary was imprisoned for three months in a small, filthy cell at the Munich convent of the Order of Poor Clare, where no one was allowed to speak or communicate with her.

Mary’s houses and schools were closed, except for the one in Munich and her undercover house in London. Her two hundred sisters, most of whom were English, were turned out with no money, no means and nowhere to go. Mary returned to England and died in York at the age of sixty, but she never lost hope that her communities would be recognised by the Church. About twenty of her English ladies remained living in Rome, Munich, London and Paris, and in 1650 the small group from York moved to Paris. By the end of the seventeenth century a series of images with Mary as the subject, known as The Painted Life, had been compiled. These played a crucial role in preserving Mary’s story. Within fifty years of her death there emerged a thriving organisation of fifteen houses across Europe.

The community at Bar Convent, York, was established in 1686, but until the penal laws against Catholics were repealed in 1788, their lives reflected closely those of Mary Ward and her first companions. In 1810 the Superior of York heard of the Papal Bull, possibly through French émigré priests who fled to England following the French Revolution. She stripped Mary Ward of the title of founder, and destroyed all traces of her in the York house, including her pictures, letters, books and memorabilia. The community then accepted enclosure, adopted religious names and came under the jurisdiction of the local Bishop.

Loreto Abbey In 1804 a young Irish girl, Frances Ball, the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant, became a boarder at the Bar Convent in York. On her return to Dublin, Frances decided that she would like to enter the community at York. Her confessor and family friend, Dr Daniel Murray, coadjutor Archbishop of Ireland, had long hoped that the York Sisters would come to Ireland. He asked permission for some members of their community to assist in establishing an affiliated foundation there. This request was refused. Dr Murray then proposed that Frances be sent to

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York for her novitiate in preparation for leading a foundation in Ireland. The York community accepted her on the proviso that they would not support an Irish community and that the purpose of her training be kept a secret. With two Irish companions Frances entered the novitiate in York, and after she was professed as Mother Teresa she returned to Ireland with her Irish companions.

The response from the York community set the independent tone for the first Irish foundation at Rathfarnham, Dublin. In 1821 Mother Teresa named this foundation ‘Loreto Abbey’ after a shrine in Loreto, Italy, devoted to the Virgin Mary and Holy Family in Nazareth. Mystery surrounds the choice of ‘Loreto’ by Mother Teresa, though Mary Ward had visited the shrine at Loreto on two occasions during her long pilgrimages to Rome to attempt to have her constitution for a new religious community ratified. While in York, Mother Teresa had carefully copied Mary Ward’s version of the Jesuit Constitutions, as outlined in the 1707 constitutions. Mother Teresa’s choice remains a mystery. It is possible that the 1707 constitutions were pointed out to her in the Bar Convent library by one of the older members still loyal to Mary Ward. Yet thirty years after the founding of Loreto Rathfarnham, Mother Teresa stated that she had never been informed about the merits of their founder. Ironically, Mother Teresa was unaware of the part she played in preserving precious connections with Mary Ward.

The Irish foundation began on a different legal footing, as it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of the diocese where it was founded, rather than under a Mother General as outlined in the 1707 constitutions. Before Mother Teresa died in 1861 she was instrumental in the founding of twenty convents and schools across Ireland and she sent missions to several outposts of the British Empire. In contrast, the community at York remained separate from Ireland, and their Bar Convent is the oldest extant convent in England.

Mother Teresa’s success was attributed to her solid spiritual formation and her genial, loving and strong Irish character. The name ‘Loreto’ set her foundations apart from the English organisations and in time the role of the Irish as the founders of the Institute in Ireland became so entrenched and ingrained that the works of an English woman, Mary Ward, were forgotten. Being Irish and Catholic were synonymous, whereas there were divisions among the small Catholic communities in England. Over the decades the continuing fight for Irish self-governance, independent of England, and the importance of Catholicism to the Irish reinforced the separation of these Irish foundations from their English counterparts. The desire for Irish independence even permeated religious life. Fathers, uncles and brothers were often at odds with the English over politics, economics and land rights and fought in wars against the British. The abbey at Rathfarnham became the epicentre of a new order for educated female Irish Catholics, but in the process lost vital connections with its venerable but humble beginnings.

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A Row of Goodly Pearls

Loreto in Australia Remarkably, the Australian Loreto pioneer, Mother Gonzaga Barry, brought with her to Ballarat in 1875 a copy of Mary Ward’s constitution and rules with their Jesuit spirit, which had been painstakingly copied fifty years earlier by Mother Teresa Ball. Maybe it was Mother Gonzaga’s love of history or her insistence on searching for the truth that had prompted this interest. Perhaps even at Rathfarnham, during her senior school days, heroic stories about Mary Ward were being passed down from generation to generation. The public silence about their

A young and happy Frances Ball, 1808 Mother Teresa Ball founded Loreto in Ireland

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founder was finally broken when a scholarly work on the life of Mary Ward was published in two volumes in the early 1880s by Mother Catharine Chambers.

Catharine had been an Anglican nun for twenty-eight years. When she left the Anglican order she was received into the Catholic Church and entered the Loreto convent at Haverstock Hill, London. Founded in 1872, Haverstock Hill was an affiliate of the Nymphenburg Branch in Germany and was independent of the York convent. The apostolic communities founded by Mary Ward were finally confirmed by the Church in 1877 under the name of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There remained some reticence about the role of Mary Ward among members of the Institute, as lifelong beliefs could hardly be suspended overnight.

A lengthy account of the history of the Loreto Sisters appeared in the Victorian Catholic press during 1892, without any reference to Mary Ward.

When Loreto Toorak was founded in 1924 the spirit of Mary Ward, passed down by Mother Gonzaga, was silenced and a great sadness was experienced within the community. The idea of one founder, one institute and one allegiance was dismantled. In its place there developed two factions: those who privately venerated Mary Ward and those who openly believed that Mother Teresa Ball was the real founder of their community. When Mother Gonzaga first came to Australia, Mother Teresa Ball, the Irish founder and teacher, was her model. But as Mother Gonzaga came to discover the world of Mary Ward, she shared Mary’s story and spirit among her community. The appointment of a new Provincial for Australia, Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan from Ireland, coincided with the foundation of Loreto Toorak. She transferred the Provincial House from Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount to Loreto Toorak to be close to Archbishop Daniel Mannix, who supported her views on reaffirming Loreto’s Irish roots. Mother Teresa Gertrude had experienced the Easter Uprising in Dublin and arrived from Ireland with fresh stories of atrocities by English soldiers. As had happened in York many years earlier, Mother Teresa Gertrude forbade any devotions to Mary Ward. This ban was lifted in the late 1930s but the residue of divided allegiances endured far beyond the cessation of the Second World War and left an indelible scar on the Loreto Toorak Sisters.

Just as Mary Ward had worked at keeping her dispersed flock connected, Mother Gonzaga Barry visited all of the Australian foundations on a regular basis and wrote copious letters. She became an inveterate traveller, but on nowhere near the scale of the journeys undertaken by Mary Ward. Excursions to and from Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount became a regular feature in Loreto Toorak’s early days. Interstate visits to and from other Loreto schools were an annual event by the 1970s. Typical was the long weekend in June 1972, when Loreto Toorak was besieged by twenty-six girls from Loreto Marryatville in South Australia. Saturday was filled with debating and basketball matches and on Sunday morning the 10

A Row of Goodly Pearls

bleary-eyed group croaked their way through Sister Anne Kelly’s guitar-playing at Mass, before resuming more serious competition on the basketball court.

This interaction between Australian Loreto schools was broadened and formalised during the 2009 Mary Ward celebrations. The Loreto Schools Australia Committee commissioned Sister Deirdre Browne to compose the music and lyrics for a new hymn, ‘Lead Us on Mary Ward’, to become part of each Australian Loreto school’s liturgy. The committee introduced a Loreto ring and launched Mary Ward Connect, an annual program of exchange and sharing. This is a visitation network for Year Ten students, enabling girls and teachers to both visit and host students from other Loreto schools. The girls who took part in the 2009 program noted that each Loreto school – regardless of its location in Australia or variations in its uniform (Loreto Toorak hats and ‘t-bar shoes’ were widely envied) – shared common values and ideals, including a strong commitment to social justice. Students from all Loreto schools did ‘connect’ and enjoyed their experiences.

The active involvement of Loreto Toorak students in projects for social justice formed an integral part of the celebratory year. Loreto Toorak girls were involved in walk-a-thons, lectures, debates, fundraising for aid programs and ministering in hospitals and nursing homes. Following in Mary Ward’s footsteps, new generations of ‘the Galloping Girls’ were born.

Sharing the history of Mary Ward’s travels In 2009 Loreto communities around Australia shared a replica of Mary Ward’s backpack, which was welcomed in South Melbourne by Sarah Vanderkley, Julia Walker, Siana Madden and Stephanie John

One Family

11

Ii Out of Ireland The Pioneering Loreto Sisters

We shall be truly repaid only when our pupils grow into women and men of simple pursuits it may be, but of lofty aims, individuals whose characters will exert lasting influences in the world in which they move.

Mother Gonzaga Barry, 1901 1

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A Row of Goodly Pearls

T

he spirit of Mary Ward was faithfully carried to Australia by Mother Gonzaga Barry. Mary Barry was born on 24 July 1834 in Wexford, Ireland, the eldest of the seven children of John Barry, a prosperous banker, and his wife, Elizabeth Cowan.

Her early years were spent at Enniscorthy, County Wexford, and Kanturk, County Cork, where her father was a manager of the National Bank of Ireland, which was established in 1835. Initially Mary was educated with her brothers by tutors at home. She delighted in natural beauty and acquired a taste for music and literature.

Throughout her life Mary was able to recall and quote selections from eminent writers that she had studied in her youth. Mary was also taught practical skills, including cooking and housekeeping, and details about finances and bookkeeping.

In Australia she developed a reputation as an astute financier and refused to surrender the deeds to any Loreto properties. Although Mamie, as she was known to her family, was only eleven when the Great Irish Famine occurred, her memory of the poverty and suffering was vivid. Her parents gave generously to charities and to those in distress. They emphasised to Mary, and her siblings, the importance of self-denial and the responsibility of those with wealth to help the poor.

History fascinated the youngster and Mary often asked her father, who had a gift for storytelling, to recount major historical events in Irish history. She in turn inherited this skill and also her parents’ great charm and wide sympathy for those in need. She continued her studies at Loreto Abbey Gorey and completed her schooling at Loreto Rathfarnham, Dublin, where she became an accomplished musician. In 1853 she entered the novitiate at Gorey and was professed as Mother Mary Gonzaga.

Her practical piety and talent for administration were soon recognised and after some quiet years in schools where she displayed zeal and ability, she was appointed Mistress of Novices. She was the Superior from 1867 to 1872 at Loreto Gorey and Superior from 1872 to 1875 at Loreto Enniscorthy. Holding these leadership positions was rather exceptional, as she suffered from headaches and was profoundly deaf. Much to the intrigue of her young Australian students, she carried a small hearing trumpet on a sash around her waist. While visiting Rathfarnham during 1887, Mother Gonzaga was introduced to a young Jesuit scholastic, Reverend Charles Delaney SJ, of Milltown Park, Dublin. He had volunteered for the Australian mission following his ordination. Reverend Delaney complimented Mother Gonzaga on her deafness, saying it was the best gift for a superior!2

Mother Gonzaga Barry Pictured here with her comforting rosary beads and ear trumpet, 1888 Previous page 12: A sensible school for girls The first pupils of Mary’s Mount, 1876 (detail, see page 19)

Out of Ireland

15

Mother Gonzaga in Australia A worthy role model Elizabeth Barry, née Cowan, beloved mother of Mother Gonzaga Barry, 1890s

16

A Row of Goodly Pearls

Throughout her time in Australia Mother Gonzaga faced two great challenges: securing funding and finding suitable staff for her fledgling schools. The year of 1872 in Victoria was often referred to as the year of the great divide, as the government withdrew funding from all denominational schools. Universal education in utilitarian, secular subjects, free of charge, presented an attractive vision of a more democratic society in which schooling would gradually cease to be the privilege of the more affluent and become the right of every individual. The Catholic Church in Victoria would not accept the secular education of government

schools. Opposition to secularism was by no means confined to Catholics. Many other denominations, especially those strong in the Anglican tradition, were insisting on the necessity for religious instruction in schools.

The Catholic Church in Australia established an alternative education system, united by class and ethnicity as well as religious belief. The Church’s members were overwhelmingly working class and Irish by national heritage. Catholic education borrowed the structure of its institutions from Ireland, but in each colony the transplantation became a reconstruction, as Irish models were modified or new models were developed to meet local needs. Most convent schools developed a curriculum based on accomplishments which at best included English language and literature, history, science and modern languages – a richer curriculum than the classics offered to boys, though not one that would lead students towards political or economic power. By the 1870s the day of mere accomplishments was over and the Catholic schools themselves, sensitive to the prevailing mood of the community at large, were anxious to refute the charges of unreality and aloofness levelled against them.3 In 1874 the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat was created in Victoria and Dr Michael O’Connor was chosen as the first Bishop. Having worked as a parish priest at Rathfarnham and chaplain to the Loreto Sisters there, he was well acquainted with the work of the Loreto Sisters. He asked the Superior General in Ireland to provide help for his new but distant mission. This was granted and Mother Mary Gonzaga was selected as the leader of this new foundation. With seven Sisters and two postulants she arrived in Melbourne in July 1875. The group were welcomed by the Superior of the Jesuits, Reverend Thomas Cahill SJ, and his companion Reverend Michael Watson SJ. Later the Sisters were joined by Reverend Joseph Dalton SJ, who was the uncle of one of their group, Mother Berchmans Stafford. Forging strong connections with Australian Jesuits was to prove beneficial for the success of their Ballarat venture and during their successive foundations around Australia.

Loreto Mary’s Mount At Ballarat the Sisters purchased, with Bishop O’Connor acting as negotiator, a substantial property for £2,750 on the shores of Lake Wendouree. The property belonged to Edward Agar Wynne, a mining pioneer and founder of the Ballarat Gas Company, who played a leading role in the layout of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. The house was situated a mile from the city and close to the gardens.

Mother Gonzaga named the convent Loreto Mary’s Mount, later referred to from 1888 as Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount. The house was sufficiently large to accommodate the Sisters and a few boarders. Mother Gonzaga later arranged for

Out of Ireland

17

additional schoolrooms, a novitiate and a chapel to be built. Mary’s Mount attracted pupils not only from Ballarat but also from around Victoria and neighbouring colonies. Gradually the first Loreto community grew through reinforcements from Ireland and vocations from Australian-born postulants. No concessions were made to the dramatic variation in climate between Ireland and Australia, so obedient Sisters sweltered under yards of heavy black serge and stiffly starched linen headbands, no matter how high the temperature. Climate and clothing notwithstanding, the situation was so promising and attitudes so positive that within a year of the pioneers’ arrival further plans were afoot.

A short time after establishing Loreto Mary’s Mount, Mother Gonzaga founded a day school called Loreto Ladies’ College in an elegant house in Dawson Street, in the centre of Ballarat. At the same time she recognised that the makeshift parish school, conducted by lay teachers at St Patrick’s Cathedral, was struggling.

In 1877 she established St Joseph’s Primary School to accommodate the cathedral students. This school was built on the Dawson Street site in separate new premises.

More than three hundred and fifty students enrolled at St Joseph’s in the first term, with fees for poorer families kept to a minimum. This was followed in 1882 with the added responsibility of teaching and running a nearby school, St Aloysius Primary School, in Redan, Ballarat. During 1884 Mother Gonzaga founded a convent and school in Portland on the Victorian coast after spending time there convalescing during the summer of 1882–83. The community purchased Bayview Cottage, which had been used during the 1860s by Mary MacKillop and her sister, Annie, as a school.

Opposite, top: An astute purchase The former home of Edward Wynne in Ballarat became Mary’s Mount, Loreto’s first Australian foundation, 1875 Opposite, bottom: Offering affordable education for local townspeople, 1876 Loreto Ladies’ College, a school for day students, was located in Dawson Street, Ballarat Below: A sensible school for girls The first pupils of Mary’s Mount, 1876

Out of Ireland

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Mary MacKillop In 1866 Mary MacKillop took the first steps towards a commitment to religious life. Together with Reverend Julian Tenison Woods, she founded in humble circumstances in rural South Australia a distinctly Australian religious congregation, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. With her sisters she hoped to deliver Catholic education to a population that was widely scattered and had little access to formal schooling, nor often the means to pay for it. These sisters clearly filled a need in colonial Australia, for by the end of the nineteenth century there were more than four hundred women living the Josephite life. In 1889 the Sisters of St Joseph opened their first Victorian foundation for a parish school at Numurkah, in the Diocese of Sandhurst. In the following year, at the invitation of Reverend Daniel Horan from the Archdiocese of Melbourne, they

founded St Bernard’s Primary School and St Joseph’s Convent at Bacchus Marsh. Bacchus Marsh was located in one of the oldest farming districts in Victoria, its development spurred on during the gold rushes when it helped to supply the needs of miners on the nearby Ballarat goldfields.

The railway from Melbourne reached Bacchus Marsh in March 1890, stimulating further demand for local agricultural produce for the metropolis. Mary MacKillop corresponded with Mother Gonzaga about her concerns on managing and financing the two early Victorian foundations. During 1891 Mary MacKillop invited Mother Gonzaga to travel to Sydney with her and stay with her congregation in North Sydney, while Mother Gonzaga was making arrangements for the purchase of a property in Sydney for a Loreto foundation.4

Overcoming obstacles Mother Gonzaga, like her companion Mary MacKillop, experienced many obstacles. She also shared Mary MacKillop’s views on the importance of providing spiritual guidance, education and practical welfare for the needy. In 1878 Mother Gonzaga formed a sodality in Ballarat, the Confraternity of the Holy Family. She organised regular Sunday afternoon meetings, where the mothers of the St Joseph’s Primary School students could gather in prayer, receive religious instruction, share their domestic experiences and be provided with practical help. Sodalities were often viewed as the province of the clergy, who in turn considered spiritual direction the domain of priests. Mother Gonzaga was shocked and hurt when Bishop James Moore, without discussion, ordered her to disband this group in 1896 when there were four hundred members. Mother Gonzaga also concurred with Mary MacKillop’s view that primary school teaching was more important than secondary school teaching. In 1890 Mother Gonzaga wrote, ‘Mind the lower ones and the higher will mind themselves, with any good teacher.’5 Good Catholic lay teachers, however, were in short supply. In 1884 Mother Gonzaga added a two-storey brick wing to accommodate a training college for primary school teachers at Loreto Dawson Street.

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A Row of Goodly Pearls

From Ballarat, Mother Gonzaga established affiliations in Melbourne, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia. The work of this expansion was directed by her and she was described at the time of her death in 1915 as possessing ‘intellectual gifts of a high order, vivid faith, singleness of purpose, humility, confidence in God and a gift of sympathy that made her a strong, gentle, gracious, loyal, glad-soul woman and a true religious’.6 The foundation of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak in 1924 owes its origins to Mother Gonzaga’s extraordinary sense of purpose and her broad vision for expanding the work of the Loreto Sisters in Australia.

Bayview Cottage, 1885 The former home of one of Mary MacKillop’s schools became Loreto Portland

Out of Ireland

21

iIi Mother Gonzaga Barry Educational Visionary

If God bless it, and for His Mother’s sake he will, I hope this may develop into something important for religion, and afford opportunities of doing good to many.

Mother Gonzaga Barry, 1887 1

M

other Gonzaga Barry was a remarkable woman with a gift for anticipating educational change. She believed that women should be educated companions and contribute to society. Her Albert Park foundations were modelled on Loreto’s successful Ballarat enterprises, covering both primary and secondary education through a dual system of running an independent Loreto college and a parish school. Our Lady of the Angels, often referred to as Loreto Ladies’ College, was founded in Albert Park in 1888 as a fee-paying day and boarding school run by the Loreto Sisters. In 1891 Mother Gonzaga wrote to Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran: ‘I never like to see a Loreto Convent without a School for the Poor; at present arrangements are being made about our Sisters in Albert Park taking charge of the Girls’ Parochial School in South Melbourne.’ 2 For guidance, in both spiritual and temporal matters, Mother Gonzaga frequently sought the help of an Irish priest, Reverend John Ryan, SJ. He had studied for the priesthood in Rome and began his secular priestly mission in the Australian Diocese of Bathurst, New South Wales. In 1879 Reverend Ryan joined the Jesuits and completed his training with the Jesuit Society at Sevenhill, South Australia. He was appointed to St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, where he taught Latin, Greek and Italian. At Mother Gonzaga’s request he travelled from Sydney to Ballarat to conduct a retreat for the Loreto community in 1883 and another for the students in 1885. From 1885 to 1890 he was Rector of St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, where his administrative and financial talents were highly valued. He was appointed prefect of studies and the director of the Apostleship of Prayer and the Sodality of Our Lady, and was founder of the periodical Australasian Messenger of the Sacred Heart. Reverend Ryan’s initial support for the success of Mother Gonzaga’s proposed Melbourne venture was to offer Mass on 2 August 1886, the feast day of Our Lady of the Angels.

Reverend Ryan evaluated possible Melbourne locations for Mother Gonzaga and gave gentle directions on how to deal diplomatically with the hierarchy and the clergy – all of the time exhorting her to keep praying. He wrote a frank letter to her about the offer of the parochial school in South Melbourne:

Meditative and prayerful Mother Gonzaga Barry poses on the front steps of Mary’s Mount for a photograph taken

by Countess Elizabeth Wolff-Metternich, benefactor of the Ballarat community, 1898 Previous page 22: Built on faith, nine stalwarts The early Albert Park community, c. 1888. (detail, see page 40)

The conditions seem stiff and hard and to be altogether on one side. Supposing the schools will not pay expenses, how will things stand then? In all cases as far as I know, at least expenses are guaranteed. And considering the present state of

Mother Gonzaga Barry

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Opposite: The new school was Queen Anne in style Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne, 1907

affairs it is not at all certain that the school fees will pay the expenses. I think if the support of the sisters (say £50 each annually) and the current expenses of school and teachers are guaranteed you should take over the school. But suppose no such guarantee will be given, would it be wise to refuse? For certainly another religious body would be brought in and you would have an opposition High School under special patronage in a short time.3 After lengthy negotiations the Loreto community agreed to take on the added responsibility of teaching the junior girls and boys in the girls’ section at the parish school of Saints Peter and Paul, South Melbourne.

A Loreto foundation in Melbourne At the time that Mother Gonzaga first began thinking about establishing a Loreto foundation in Melbourne, the city’s public confidence was high. During the 1880s changes occurred in Victoria’s settlement patterns. By the end of the decade Melbourne’s population had swelled to three hundred and fifty thousand residents.

One-third of Victoria’s population were living in Melbourne, while the goldfield regions’ share of the population was decreasing. It was a time of unprecedented growth and considerable prosperity. In 1885 a visiting British journalist, George Augustus Sala, coined the term ‘Marvellous Melbourne’. The phrase echoed the extraordinary growth of the city, its dominance over the other Australian capitals and its distinctly metropolitan ethos. Melbourne had become the mercantile centre of Australia, attracting investments from overseas. New manufacturing industries were replacing British imports. The city was a scene of frenzied activity generated by wealth accrued through gold and wool. Easy capital, prosperity and optimism, along with ever-increasing expenditure on railway and cable-tram routes, combined to produce a land boom. Land and property prices on Melbourne’s fringes spiralled as investors bought up and attempted to sell off suburban dreams.

Immigrants and settlers from the country, many of whom were Catholics, filled the city and surrounds, and vocations to the Loreto community increased.

But by the time Loreto had begun their work in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, there were signs of an economic downturn – the bubble had burst. In 1889 the land boom collapsed. Land that had been bought and sold for enormous sums in recent years became worthless, and many speculators, as well as thrifty citizens, lost their savings. During the next year a prolonged maritime strike brought the docks to a standstill and threw many workers out of work. No sooner had the phrase ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ caught on than the critics adapted it to less rosy estimates of the city’s progress. Sanitarians bemoaned the stink of a city still without sewers 26

A Row of Goodly Pearls

Saints Peter and Paul’s School In October 1890 Archbishop Carr had blessed the first stone of the new primary school of Saints Peter and Paul’s School. The two-storey brick building with contrasting bands of lighter brick was designed by ecclesiastical architect Edgar Jerome Henderson. It was Queen Anne in style with two adjoining sections: a single-storey hall that could accommodate seven hundred and fifty students and a two-storey section for four hundred girls and boys up to First Holy Communion stage. This section included an infant gallery, and junior and senior classrooms. The Loreto community began their work in the new facilities

on 26 September 1891. In 1905 a similar two-storey school, designed by William Tappin, was built as a separate boys’ school on the opposite side of the hall to the girls and junior boys. Loreto continued to teach the boys until the end of Year Two, when they were transferred to the new boys’ section under the supervision of the Christian Brothers. Saints Peter and Paul’s School was built adjacent to the church and was under the jurisdiction of the incumbent parish priest. The Loreto community collected modest fees from those who could afford to pay and received a small stipend in return from the parish.

This dual school system was not without its difficulties for Loreto. There was an economic and social divide between the two school communities of Saints Peter and Paul’s School and Our Lady of the Angels. The parallel system reinforced existing

class distinctions. Students at Our Lady of the Angels came from professional families of doctors, lawyers, academics, public servants and successful businessmen. Of course there were a few girls of quite different backgrounds, such as the daughters of tradesmen who had made good, hoteliers and commercial seafarers. Those at the parish school were often from transient families with fathers who were out of work. These families were very poor and life was difficult. Mother Gonzaga recognised the educational importance of the parochial school in helping to lift these families out of poverty. As the 1890s depression deepened, the divide between the two schools became more marked.

Unlike Ballarat, the Melbourne Loreto Sisters lived as one community and this provided, on a day-to-day basis, a deep connection between their two schools. On school mornings John Bannan, the proprietor of a local cab in Anderson Street, Albert Park, would deliver his daughter Honora to Our Lady of the Angels in Albert Park and then drive the teachers to Saints Peter and Paul’s School in South Melbourne. In the afternoons he would reverse the journey. The community shared ideas, lesson planning and teaching aids. They ran identical junior sodalities and prepared boys, as well as girls, for their First Holy Communion at each school.

Between 1891 and 1924 more than fifty girls who showed academic promise at the parish school were transferred to Albert Park. In many of these cases their tuition fees were waived or significantly reduced. With limited resources but motivated by a strong conviction, the Loreto community worked to give the many non-Catholics enrolled in both schools a sense of their own dignity and worth based on Catholic values.

Mother Gonzaga Barry assigned three teachers to run Saints Peter and Paul’s School. The first Principal was Mother Hilda Benson. She was an apt choice, having already successfully managed the opening of three parish primary schools in Ballarat and Portland. Louisa Benson was born in York, of non-Catholic parents Christopher Benson and Mother Gonzaga Barry 27 Mary Stein. As a child she lived near the Jesuit school, Stonyhurst College. Apparently she became

28

fascinated with their Catholic ceremonies and converted to Catholicism. After graduating from the Notre Dame Teachers’ Training College, Liverpool, she entered the Institute at Rathfarnham, rather than York, because she so loved England. She had actually packed her bags to leave the novitiate and was stepping into a carriage to return to her life in England when a providential meeting with a priest changed her mind. After profession she became the Principal of Loreto National School, Dalkey, Dublin.

She clashed immediately with the local Dalkey school inspector, refusing to make her Irish children read the strongly nationalist English texts. Later she watched with satisfaction as the children danced around a bonfire of the offending books. In 1876 she volunteered for Ballarat and became the only Loreto nun in the Australian province with formal teaching qualifications.

Mother Josepha Molonly became the head teacher of the primary and sub-primary departments at Saints Peter and Paul’s School. Mary Catherine, daughter of Ellen Slattery and Daniel Molonly, a surgeon, was born in 1862 in Nervinn, County Tipperary, Ireland. Her early education was at the Ursuline Convent in Sittard, Holland. For five years Mary lived on the continent, where she became proficient in French, German, Spanish, music, fine arts and drawing. She came to Australia as a novice in 1887 and was professed at Ballarat. Mother Josepha was trained by Mother Hilda when she was the Principal of the Loreto Training College at Dawson Street. She qualified to prepare students for Matriculation examinations at the University of Melbourne and in music, vocal and instrumental examinations for the Melbourne Conservatorium, the Royal Academy and Trinity College. Mother Hilda and Mother Josepha became a formidable team. In 1892 Reverend William Ganly, the parish priest of St Bernard’s, Flemington, was appointed as the inspector of Catholic parochial schools.

He was a native of the Aran Islands in West Ireland, educated at the Irish College, Paris, and was a parish priest for the Archdiocese of Tuan before coming to Australia. He was a brilliant scholar and prominent in Gaelic revival circles in Melbourne. In July 1893 he inspected the school and recommended that Saints Peter and Paul’s be raised from its A Row of Goodly Pearls classification in the second class of schools to a high place among the first class. In December 1893

Martin Howy Irving, professor and civil servant, conducted examinations in the higher classes and reported on the school’s progress in glowing terms.

In keeping with the suburb, twenty-six families from Saints Peter and Paul’s School lived in hotels.

Bob Powell and his wife, Anastasia, ran the Shannon and Shamrock in Bank Street for Patrick Mornane from 1906 until it was closed in 1926. Their children, Robert and Margery, and niece Nellie Gaffney attended the school. Among the early students were many who lived constructive lives. Reverend John Joseph Lonergan worked unobtrusively from St Patrick’s Cathedral on a wide range of administrative tasks. He cut a fine figure in the slowly growing band of Catholic clergymen born in Australian working-class parishes. Sadly he died before being able to take up his posting as the Bishop of Port Augusta. His cousin, Josephine Lonergan, taught in Catholic schools for fifty years, twenty-five of which were spent at Saints Peter and Paul’s School.

The children of Archibald Allen, a surveyor with the Board of Works, also gave their lives to service.

Theresa and Mary entered the Loreto Order and Thomas became a Franciscan friar in Queensland.

It would appear that by the beginning of 1894 Mother Gonzaga had some misgivings about the Loreto Sisters teaching at Saints Peter and Paul’s School. She wrote to Mother Xavier and Mother Dorothea, ‘I would not be at all surprised if Saints Peter and Paul’s School were offered to the Sisters of Charity or the Josephites [Mary MacKillop’s Sisters of St Joseph were often referred to as Josephites], and I would not be sorry, it will never be anything but a source of trouble to the Albert Park community, which trouble will increase as time goes on. We have proved we can manage the school fairly well and we should be content with that. Fees are bound to go down this year and then with less income how is the school to be worked. You have very little freedom regarding Religious training of the children and none with the young girls of the Parish.’4 The Loreto community continued to run Saints Peter and Paul’s School over the next fifty years, through two world wars and another depression. In each given year there were three Loreto members assisted by lay staff members, many of whom were teachers in training, known as ‘pupil-teachers’. More than one hundred and ten Loreto Mothers and Sisters contributed to the running and success of this challenging school.

as ‘Marvellous Smellbourne’. With mounting typhoid casualties and the bank crash of the early 1890s, financiers had to endure the odium of having created ‘Marvellous Smellboom’. In just a few years the chorus of praise had become a lament. Though the depression of the 1890s was a worldwide phenomenon, it hit Melbourne severely. Throughout the 1890s there was widespread unemployment and misery in Melbourne, and industrial South Melbourne in particular became an area where there was destitution and despair.

In the June 1888 issue of Eucalyptus Blossoms Mother Gonzaga wrote: ‘What a joy to think we shall soon have in Melbourne a Loreto Convent of our own, where we can go often to see the Nuns and meet each other when we want to organise some work of charity. Oh it will be a return of the happy school days.’ 5 Mother Gonzaga was clearly delighted with the prospect of a Melbourne foundation, but there were to be many setbacks and much anxiety before this dream was realised.

Almost immediately after Mother Gonzaga and her flock had arrived in Ballarat there had been offers from Melbourne parishes for Loreto to establish schools. In 1876 Reverend Joseph Dalton, SJ, who had greeted the Loreto community on their arrival in 1875, invited Mother Gonzaga to establish a convent in Richmond.

His argument was that he did not want the Loreto community to be dependent on Ballarat alone.6 Another early suggestion was to purchase a large allotment of land for sale in Oakleigh. The property was promoted for its proximity to Melbourne and its suburbs and because it was situated on the only rail outlet to all of Gippsland.

This scheme was deemed unsuitable, as the asking price of £3,000 was beyond the order’s means and the property did not include buildings. Similar offers followed from the parishes of Brunswick, Essendon, Carlton and St Kilda.

What a joy to think we shall soon have in Melbourne a Loreto Convent of our own, where we can go often to see the Nuns and meet each other when we want to organise some work of charity.

Oh it will be a return of the happy school days.

Eucalyptus Blossoms

South Melbourne: new church and old school The first approach for the Loreto Order to come to South Melbourne came from a mover and shaker, Patrick Mornane of Elmville in Nelson Road, South Melbourne.

He was referred to by the Loreto community as ‘Old Mornane’ to distinguish him from his first cousin, Patrick Mornane of Clonlara in Victoria Parade, East Melbourne. Patrick Mornane of South Melbourne was actually fifteen years younger than his cousin, but the title persisted in Loreto correspondence to avoid confusion with the Patrick Mornane who died in East Melbourne in May 1888, leaving an estate valued at £190,000. Patrick of South Melbourne had witnessed this gentleman’s last will. Patrick married Mary Grace in Ireland and the couple arrived in Victoria during December 1857 and settled in South Melbourne. In 1858 Patrick joined the Victorian Customs Department and remained in the civil service until his retirement in 1892 on a pension. From 1887 until 1903 he was the licensee of the Shannon and Shamrock Hotel in Bank Street, South Melbourne.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

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Eucalyptus Blossoms When Mother Gonzaga launched her own magazine, Eucalyptus Blossoms, for Loreto schools in June 1886 Reverend Ryan sent her a cheque accompanied with the words, ‘A small token of my sincere appreciation of the Eucalyptus Blossoms, to which I wish, from my heart, many years of great prosperity.’ 7 Eucalyptus Blossoms became Mother Gonzaga’s special vehicle for communication between her Australian foundations and Loreto internationally. Her thoughts and concerns were expressed in ‘A Mother’s Letter to Her Children’.

Using the title of a quintessentially local blossom for her magazine was an odd juxtaposition given the strong Irish heritage of the Australian foundations.

The magazine was produced by Australian-born schoolgirl editors in Ballarat. These student writers came from states other than Victoria, as many girls were sent interstate to do a ‘finishing year’ at Loreto Mary’s Mount. The magazine fostered within the Australian schools a sense of belonging to the wider international family of Loreto. Gradually it included contributions from each new Loreto school as it was founded. Articles covered an intriguing mixture of Loreto events alongside Irish news and sentiment.

Eucalyptus Blossoms flowered twice a year (December 1890 edition) The magazine was written by schoolgirls and linked to the Irish branch through the old-fashioned spelling ‘Loretto’, traditionally used in Ireland and Australia until the end of the nineteenth century

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A Row of Goodly Pearls

Patrick Mornane became a great supporter of Reverend John O’Driscoll, who was appointed in March 1864 to the Emerald Hill district. Reverend O’Driscoll was born in Cork and had served as a chaplain in India for twenty years. One of his first works in South Melbourne was to raise funds to build a church to replace the church school that more than one hundred students attended. In August 1866 Reverend O’Driscoll formed a lay committee to raise funds for a new church. This committee included the expertise of Patrick Mornane, who acted as trustee of the land set apart for this purpose by the Catholic Church in South Melbourne. Local Catholics embarked on a highly organised collection scheme, with the town divided into eight sections which were regularly canvassed. The opening of the new church in 1872 coincided with the passing of the ‘Free, Compulsory and

Secular’ Education Act, which abolished state aid for religious schools. While many saw the splendid new church as a monument to the diplomatic as well as pastoral success of Reverend O’Driscoll, the school was in a parlous state.

The school continued in the old church building, which measured sixty feet by twenty feet and was inadequate, as the population of South Melbourne was rapidly growing. This school had previously come under the earlier Common Schools Act of 1862 and received aid through the government’s Board of Education. To be eligible for funding, a local committee, including the parish priest and Catholic laymen of probity, had been established. Patrick Mornane became a founding member of the South Melbourne Common Schools’ Committee. At the same time this committee ran night classes with an enrolment of thirty. These classes were to cater for men who were making up for the education which had been denied them in their home country. The teachers in both the day and night school were lay Catholics. The new 1872 legislation presented great difficulties for the South Melbourne parish as it removed the annual grant of £1,000 for teachers’ salaries.

Situated in a poor district, the parish school was one of the largest in Melbourne. By the late 1870s it was struggling to cater for more than five hundred and sixty students in cramped, unsanitary conditions. There was a clear need for new premises and the strain of paying and maintaining an efficient lay teaching staff in unsuitable premises was becoming an additional pressing problem. In 1879 South Melbourne was made a Deanery and Reverend O’Driscoll was appointed as the first Dean and a member of Archbishop Thomas Carr’s Diocesan Council.

Patrick and Mary Mornane were sodalists and worked for the poor through the St Vincent de Paul Society established in South Melbourne. Their seven children attended Saints Peter and Paul’s School and they understood first-hand the challenges facing Dean O’Driscoll. Once again Patrick offered his services in helping to secure the necessary funding and he suggested to the Dean that a new school would need the support of religious teachers.

Reverend Ryan warned Mother Gonzaga that once it became public that she was seek­ing a Melbourne site there would be a rush from priests to secure a Loreto community for their own parish work and she would need to be discerning.

Reverend Quirk and the St Kilda West offer In March 1888 Mother Gonzaga received a persuasive letter from Reverend William Henry Quirk, the parish priest of Sacred Heart, St Kilda West. This concerned a property for sale directly opposite his church. The allotment consisted of a two-storey house set on three-quarters of an acre of land, and the asking price was £3,000. Reverend Quirk understood Loreto’s philosophy and in particular what was important to Mother Gonzaga:

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Above and right: ‘Genuine good nature and kindliness … was particularly noticeable’ The 1898 reunion of Loreto past students, held at the Albert Park Convent

Do you think that aided by your kind influence I could induce Sisters of your esteemed Order to come out to me and then in time pay the purchase money?

The property could be secured for the Sisters now. A good day school would be, of course, the sole source of revenue. In time you would doubtless add a work such as the reception of Trainees for School Teaching, sea bathing is a ten minute walk for delicate Sisters and pupils. A centre for many of your old girls to meet you again! Such are the advantages worth considering.8 After receiving Reverend Quirk’s letter Mother Gonzaga wrote immediately to Archbishop Carr in Melbourne seeking his approval for the St Kilda venture.

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A Row of Goodly Pearls

A healthy meeting place for Loreto Sisters and students Mother Gonzaga wished to establish a foundation in a location that would benefit the health of her students. Part of Mother Gonzaga’s rationale in establishing the foundation in coastal Portland in 1884 was to provide for a place where the Loreto community and students could convalesce. The health of the Loreto community weighed heavily on her mind. Later, in 1890, Mother Gonzaga organised for the purchase of land at Mount Martha to establish a convalescent home. She commissioned Ballarat architect William Tappin to prepare a design scheme that would include a laundry for a ‘hydrotherapy establishment’ for ladies.9 With the onset of the depression and existing heavy commitments in South Melbourne, this venture did not go ahead and the land was sold. Earlier, in 1884, Mother Gonzaga had established the Loreto Training College at Dawson Street, Ballarat, the first Australian Catholic teacher training college, where demand was so high that the girls came on a six-month trial basis.

Mother Gonzaga kept in touch with groups of past students and their families in Ballarat, but longed for a central location in Melbourne to hold gatherings for those living in other areas of Victoria.

The rapid extension of the railway system made Melbourne a logical meeting place. The first gathering

for past students in Melbourne was held in June 1890 at the Good Shepherd Convent in Abbotsford. In Melbourne Cup Week, 1897, Countess Elizabeth Wolff-Metternich, who was planning to join Loreto Mary’s Mount as a student and teacher, came down from Ballarat to Albert Park. She was the daughter of an aristocratic German family and descendant of St Elizabeth of Hungary. Elizabeth had been invited to stay as a guest of Lady Janet Clarke at Government House. Perhaps inspired by the festivities surrounding the races, a gathering of past students from all over Australia was held at Albert Park at the end of the week, with the Countess as guest of honour. Mothers Gonzaga Barry, Bertrand Lawlor and Stanislaus Mornane came down from Loreto Mary’s Mount especially for the evening. It was not until 1898 that a committee was formed to organise an official reunion during Cup Week. Mother Gonzaga wrote of her delight: ‘Indeed the genuine good nature, kindliness and absence of stiffness, affectations or worldliness, pleased me more than anything, and it was particularly noticeable in our young matrons, who made themselves all to all and quite at home with everyone and who, although in many instances strangers to the greater number, felt they were with Loreto Pupils and that was introduction enough for them.’ 10

Carr responded that he had recently secured the Sisters of the Sacred Heart (Sacré Coeur, Balaclava, in the St Kilda parish) and the Sisters of Charity (Catholic Ladies’ College, in East Melbourne) to establish new convent schools in Melbourne. The Archbishop did not think that it was desirable to have two convent schools situated close to one another. He recommended that she should first consult with the Bishop of Ballarat, Dr James Moore, before making any decisions about a Melbourne foundation.11 Bishop Moore would prove to be a stumbling block for Mother Gonzaga. The instigator for the first Loreto foundation to Ballarat had been Bishop Michael O’Connor. He took special care of the Loreto community and during Easter 1876 presented them with three acres of

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land and a wooden house that adjoined Loreto Mary’s Mount. He was well known for his charity to the poor and his kindness to his young clerical assistants.

The Bishop found that his energies were taxed to the full, with the great distances and difficult travelling conditions involved in his extensive diocese. Between 1875 and his death at the age of fifty-two in 1883, the Bishop had opened forty churches and a large number of schools.

Bishop Moore Bishop O’Connor was loyally supported in this work by his Vicar General, Reverend James Moore. Reverend Moore was born in County Kerry, Ireland, and educated at All Hallows Missionary College, Dublin, where he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Melbourne. After serving for a time in Melbourne he was appointed to Ballarat in 1866, where he was appointed Dean in 1869. In 1873 Dean Moore accompanied Archbishop James Alipius Goold to Rome to make the arrangements for the new Diocese of Ballarat. In Rome, Dean Moore was presented by Archbishop Goold as his first choice for Ballarat. However, the Pope selected Reverend O’Connor and Dean Moore was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity. Dean Moore went on to become a Monsignor in 1883 and administered the diocese after Bishop O’Connor’s death. On the 27 April 1884 Monsignor Moore was consecrated by Archbishop Goold as the second Bishop of Ballarat.

Bishop Moore had served a long apprenticeship in the diocese. Unlike his predecessor, he was tough and forceful, a resolute and fearless builder who insisted that his subordinates carry out his instructions to the letter. One of his hardworking priests in the impoverished Mallee district, Dean Edward O’Sullivan Goidanich, described His Lordship as gracelessly conscious of his dignity and the power of his office, more than any other Bishop in Australia.12 Bishop Moore held the view that further Loreto foundations would weaken their existing flourishing schools in the Ballarat diocese by drawing talented teachers away to other jurisdictions. By 1888 the Loreto foundations included the mother house of Loreto Mary’s Mount, the day school and teacher training college in Dawson Street, three parish schools and a convent boarding school at Portland.

A secondary problem was that the Bishop was overseas when the St Kilda project was raised, which caused a considerable delay. In November 1887 the Bishop had departed to make his ad limina visit to Rome, carrying with him an ambitious plan for the expansion of his diocese. This entailed recruiting priests, sisters and brothers in numbers and he was successful. He returned in November 1888 with a party of twenty-eight Irish religious, including one Loreto, Mother Bernard Burke. Sarah Burke was the daughter of Jeremiah Murphy and Maria Balfe of County Cork.

Sarah married Lord Joseph Burke, a barrister and Master of Chancery, who died in 34

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Faith and fatherland: Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde and John Dillon A convent school established by an Irish order at the behest of an Irish Bishop in a Victorian town with a strong Irish identity could hardly avoid an Irish stamp. In 1889 the girls reported in Eucalyptus Blossoms, Mother Gonzaga’s magazine for the school, on the stirring visit to the Loreto Ballarat schools of two Irishmen, Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde and John Dillon. Sir Thomas was well known to Mother Gonzaga, as she had taught him as a youngster and prepared him for his First Holy Communion at Loreto Gorey. His family lived at Ballynastragh House in County Wexford and were patrons of the Church of St Michael in Gory.

Accompanying the delegates to Loreto Mary’s Mount was Bishop Moore with a large retinue of Catholic priests and laity from Ballarat. The delegates were Irish politicians visiting Australia to promote Home Rule and an agrarian protest movement known as the Irish National League. These visitors sought funds from the colonies to support those imprisoned in Ireland during the struggles that saw tenant farmers evicted and to campaign on the

broader issues of Irish parliamentary representation and Home Rule.

John Dillon captivated his audience and made a great impression on the girls. He entirely fulfilled their ideals of what a leader of a great national cause ought to be. They described him as tall in stature and of pensive mien, with deep-set melancholy eyes which looked as though nothing short of Home Rule could ever make them glad. He expressed delight to find that the daughters of Irish parents in a distant land were being trained to love Faith and Fatherland.

‘The children of the Redan primary school, touched by the account Mr Dillon gave of the sufferings of the little ones of their own age, evicted from their poor cabins in Ireland, collected among themselves a little hoard of pennies and sixpences, which amounted in all to about twenty-five shillings, which they forwarded to Mr Dillon, with many prayers for the success of his mission. Mr Dillon received the children’s gift with as much pleasure as they had in sending it, and wrote a letter telling them that it would be acknowledged in the Irish papers.’ 13

1864, leaving her with one son who later became a Dominican priest. Lady Burke entered Loreto Fermoy and paid for a church to be built for their convent.

Mother Gonzaga approached Mick Mornane, a loyal supporter of the Loreto Sisters, and Reverend John Ryan, asking for advice about the possibilities of other locations for her Melbourne foundation. Reverend Ryan reported in May 1888 that he was looking at the option of South Melbourne as a location: I saw Fr Hegarty [Reverend James Hegarty of St Kilda East parish] on Friday and he of course promised to do what he could. He was agreeably surprised when he heard that you had asked for no £.S.D. [no money] and said he was sure that Dean O’Driscoll would be delighted at the conditions. This evening I called on Fr O’Connell [Reverend James O’Connell of Emerald Hill] and gradually led up to the subject of means. I told him he had a grand chance if he

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Mornane family

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Mother Gonzaga had forged some powerful allies among the Catholic lay community in Melbourne.

On her arrival in Melbourne in 1875 she had been warmly welcomed by the Mornane family, originally from County Clare, Ireland. Patrick and Anastasia Mornane and their family were successful licensees of the Clare Castle Hotel in Exhibition Street and built during 1880 a twenty-two-room villa designed

by William Ellis, called Clonlara, in Victoria Parade, East Melbourne. This villa was next to the Eastern Hill Fire Station and opposite St Vincent’s Hospital.

The family became conspicuous for their support of many charities for the Catholic Church, including St Vincent’s Hospital and the Mercy and Loreto foundations. Their eldest daughter, Catherine Agnes, entered the Mercy Sisters at Fitzroy, and as Sister Mary Angela taught at The Academy in Nicholson Street before working at the St Vincent de Paul Orphanage at Emerald Hill, where she died at the A Row of Goodly Pearls young age of twenty-nine.

Their second daughter, Anastasia, known as Annie, was taught at The Academy by her sister before becoming a boarder in the first intake at Loreto Mary’s Mount. In 1879 Annie entered the Abbey and was given the name of Sister Joseph Stanislaus.

She was the second Australian-born vocation to the Loreto Order and received her religious training from Mother Gonzaga Barry and Mother Xavier Yourelle, who was then Mistress of Novices. Mother Stanislaus was later posted to Loreto Convent Albert Park from 1902 to 1905 as a teacher of mathematics and religion, but always managed to take time out to listen to the reports on the Melbourne Cup! Her discipline and mathematical accuracy made her invaluable in Albert Park community life. Patrick and Anastasia Mornane also had three sons, two of whom died at a young age.

The third son Michael, referred to as Mick, attended St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, and studied law at the University of Melbourne. He was admitted to practice in 1882, founded his own law firm and devoted great energy to advancing Catholic interests. He became the first president of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Melbourne and, with Dr Augustus Leo Kenny, a great supporter of the Loreto Order, was joint secretary of the Second Australasian Catholic Congress held in Melbourne in 1904. In 1882 Mick married Anne, daughter of Abigail and John Dynon, an importer of china and merchant in Melbourne, who both became benefactors of the Loreto Free Kindergarten. Anne was the same age as Mick’s younger sister, Annie.

They had been boarders in senior class together at Loreto Mary’s Mount. Mick also became known in Melbourne as a generous contributor to many Catholic causes. Later Mick’s ten children travelled daily from East Melbourne to attend Loreto‘s first Melbourne foundation at Albert Park. The East Melbourne Mornane family’s connections with the Loreto Sisters were to become extensive and of long standing. Mick’s son, Michael, joined his father’s law firm and became Loreto’s negotiator during 1924 for the purchase of the Mandeville Hall property from the Tremearne family.

would take the ball on the hop – ‘The no £.S.D. condition’ is a powerful factor.

He took to the idea at once and told me he had seen a house. He says there is a magnificent house near the University which is at present used for a private hospital. It would suit admirably. He says he will go to see you on Thursday and I am to preach for him that night so as to let him off. There is likely to be a scramble for you before long. I thought it well to irk Fr O’Connell on, so that if South Melbourne fails there will be another chance. Besides, it will help His Grace to make up his mind all the sooner.14 At this time Patrick Mornane of South Melbourne was a member, together with a young Mick Mornane, of the Archbishop’s committee for St Patrick’s Society. Comprising leading Catholic laymen, the society was a spiritual and temporal fraternity that helped to raise funds for the Archbishop to complete the building of St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne. At the instigation of Reverend John Ryan, Mick approached his cousin about the possibility of Loreto coming to South Melbourne. He arranged with Patrick to interview a few of the leading Catholics of his parish with a view to introducing the Loreto Order to Melbourne. Mick wrote to Mother Gonzaga, ‘Father Ryan’s enthusiasm is really catching for Mr Mornane. He entered immediately into the spirit of the whole thing and my difficulty was in restraining his ardour.’ 15

Father Ryan’s enthusiasm is really catching for Mr Mornane. He entered immediately into the spirit of the whole thing and my difficulty was in restraining his ardour.

Mick Mornane

Loreto’s first foundation in Melbourne Over many years the Loreto Mary’s Mount family, through the Loreto Sisters, past pupils and parents of boarders, had established strong links with Melbourne residents, and it was natural that these friends would wish to have a Loreto convent in the metropolis. A great deal of soul and physical searching took place before Loreto decided to rent Mononia in Merton Crescent for their first foundation.

Mononia was situated in what is now known as St Vincent Place, near the Albert Park railway station. Newspaper advertisements referred to this foundation as a branch from Loreto Abbey, Ballarat.16 Indeed, a group of Loreto Mary’s Mount past students had collected £120 to help establish the school. A special Melbourne supporter, William Brinsley Tobin, wrote to Mother Gonzaga: ‘It is, I trust, needless for me to assure you how pleased I am at the announcement of the foundation of your illustrious Order in the City of Melbourne. I thank God that my long wishes and aspirations are on the eve of accomplishment; and I heartily congratulate you and your community on this auspicious event.’ 17 William Tobin was a successful property developer and a generous benefactor to Loreto during the 1880s. His two daughters, Minnie and Angela, were sent to board at Loreto

Opposite: A lifelong devotee of the Melbourne Cup, 1879 Anastasia Mornane gave her life to teaching mathematics in Loreto schools as Mother Joseph Stanislaus

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An innovative curriculum At Loreto Mary’s Mount, Mother Gonzaga had founded a Matriculation class for those wishing to study for university entrance. She did not envisage that this would be a large class. Her aim was to educate girls by forming their tastes, strengthening their judgement and encouraging the habit of serious reading. Accordingly she devised a secondary curriculum which included studies towards university entrance and ample provision for music, needlework, drawing, domestic economy, dancing and physical development. In 1889 Mother Gonzaga established a Sloyd room – a concept devised by a Swedish teacher, August Abramson, the word ‘sloyd’ meant skilful.18 Part of the room was set aside for woodwork and a printing press. Students were encouraged to sketch their designs freehand as well as draft plans for making models. Sloyd fitted into a wider scheme of studies at Loreto. It was not so much the production of household utensils as the process of learning along the way. In a culture where worldwide the Arts and Crafts movement was influencing design and the selection of materials, Loreto girls were encouraged

to learn about nature by using native materials, going on nature walks and drawing freehand their observations of woods, leaves, fruits and flowers.

All of this Mother Gonzaga believed would be impossible if the children were obliged to keep exclusively, or at too early an age, to the textbooks prescribed for public examinations. She considered that if a girl had no other education than what she had obtained by the mere study of textbooks she was unlikely to have acquired a taste for intellectual pursuits.19 For Mother Gonzaga it was not so much the public examinations that she deplored but what had to be jettisoned in order to make room for them.

Her ideal for a great school was one where manual work and brain work would receive equal attention.

She described this balance as a ‘Sensible School for Girls where school might culminate in a great university for women that would, like Girton and Vassar, open its spacious halls for the study of arts and sciences on one side, and on the other, by its domestic college, ennoble manual work and help much to the solution of a difficult social problem between employer and employed, mistress and maid.’20

Mary’s Mount. Minnie entered and was professed as Mother Ignatius, but died in 1900 at the age of thirty-one. In 1891 William was declared insolvent, due to the land boom and bust. His remaining assets were acquired by a court order to pay off his debts. Undaunted, William slowly repaid his creditors and devoted the remainder of his life to the foreign missions as a volunteer, raising funds for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

The first members of the new Albert Park community arrived from Ballarat in early December 1888 to prepare the house for a school. They organised for a tiny oratory, where the congregation would need to kneel in the passageway. The inaugural Mass was celebrated by Reverend John Ryan on 8 December and two days later Archbishop Thomas Carr celebrated Mass and blessed the house. The school commenced on Monday 4 February 1889 with Mother Xavier Yourelle as Superior. She was a member of the 1875 pioneer band who came from Rathfarnham. Bridget Yourelle was born in Dublin in 1849, the daughter of 38

A Row of Goodly Pearls

It is, I trust, needless for me to assure you how pleased I am at the announcement of the foundation of your illustrious Order in the City of Melbourne.

I thank God that my long wishes and aspirations are on the eve of accomplishment; and I heartily congratulate you and your community on this auspicious event.

William Brinsley Tobin

Thomas and Rosetta Gossen. She entered in 1865 and became the first Mistress of Novices at Ballarat and later Superior. Her calm and practical approach in both positions was providential. Mother Xavier had a beautiful voice, both when speaking and singing. She was an insightful teacher, able to give help and advice to many of the pupils and staff. There were some heartfelt reservations in Ballarat circles about the loss of such an asset.

Ostensibly, the transition from Ballarat to Melbourne should have been a simple matter. After all, it was merely a translation from one Victorian city to another. But in January 1889 Mother Gonzaga received an unexpected letter from Bishop James Moore of Ballarat. The letter stated that he was withdrawing his consent for Loreto to establish a convent in Melbourne if Mother Xavier was to be transferred. He argued that Mother Xavier had been professed for Ballarat. He also indicated that Archbishop Carr would be free to use the same authority in similar circumstances.21 Mother Gonzaga responded with diplomacy and firmness.

A family concern The children of William Brinsley Tobin – Minnie, Gracie, Angela and Bertie, pictured here in 1889 – were great supporters of Loreto

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Built on faith, nine stalwarts The early Albert Park community, c. 1888.

Back row, left to right: Dorothea Felkins, Francis Tobin, Angela Breen, Josephine Bolger; middle row, left to right: Xavier Yourelle, Gonzaga Barry, Berchmans Stafford; front row, left to right: Ethelreda Breen, Dorothea Walker

She explained that when a Loreto Sister was professed she had to declare that she would go to whatever house in the province that her superiors deemed best, otherwise she could not be professed. Mother Gonzaga wrote: My only wish in having Mother Xavier Yourelle as Superior was that I believed she would always have a lively interest in the well-being of the Convent here.

You may remember, My Lord, that in speaking of this Foundation in Melbourne in the past, we agreed that the success or failure of it would reflect very materially on our schools in Ballarat, and that nothing should be spared to make it a success and a help to Ballarat Loreto. But if you, My Lord, adopt the course you suggested in your letter yesterday, I don’t see how this can be, at least as far as regards this convent if we do not assist the new Foundation, we cannot expect it to assist us in the future, and the organisation of our Institute is based on mutual support between all our houses in union with the Mother House in Rathfarnham.22 The matter ended there.

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Loreto and the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition Early in 1888 Mother Gonzaga was asked if the Loreto schools would like to take part in the Catholic schools’ contribution to the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. It was an ideal opportunity to show in the metropolis the breadth of culture open to students in Loreto convent schools.

In a letter to Reverend Dr Patrick Graber, inspector of schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Mother Gonzaga outlined her proposed topics, drawing material and exhibits from Loreto Mary’s Mount and Loreto Portland. Mother Gonzaga was interested in displays on domestic economy, collections of botanical and mineral specimens, demonstrations of scientific apparatus, student exercises in languages, mathematics and logic and kindergarten activities.

The Advocate reported that the exhibits from Catholic schools drew large crowds and testified to the high quality of their work: ‘They had no state aid or patronage to help them on and no highly salaried instructors in art to coach them for the occasion.’23 Mother Gonzaga wrote, ‘It seems to me nothing so occupies the minds of Victorians at present as the

Melbourne Exhibition, and though Nuns are not expected to be in the fashion, still we, who have the education of youth confided to us, must so far keep up with the times as to understand and sympathise with every great intellectual or educational movement going on in the world, particularly when it comes so near to us as to be capable of being utilised as a teaching power for our pupils. Hence, I would like you, my dear children, to visit this Great Exhibition with well-prepared minds, eyes and ears, trained and cultured to understand and admire the beautiful, as seen in the thousands of specimens of Art there collected, or heard in the exquisite music provided to charm your ears. But I would not like you to rest quite satisfied in these things, No, let them raise your hearts to that place where alone is found perfection of beauty and the enjoyment that satisfies. We are told that the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart conceived the joys God has in store for us in our home above, when the sights and sounds of this world shall have passed away.’24

The second Superior at Albert Park, appointed in 1890, was Mother Berchmans Stafford, who came to Australia with Mother Xavier and was experienced in supervising building projects. Both Mother Berchmans and Mother Xavier served second terms as Superior of Albert Park before Mother Dorothea Walker was appointed as the last Superior of the community. Two years younger than Mother Xavier, Anna Stafford was born in New Ross, Wexford, and when she entered in 1870 she took her religious name from the seventeenth-century Jesuit saint, John Berchmans. Mother Berchmans kept a diary of the sea voyage to Australia. She indicated how Mother Xavaria (as Mother Xavier was known in the community) was forced to make some concessions. During their long and uncomfortable voyage, clothed in their long, black serge habits, all felt the heat keenly. Even at the age of twenty-six Mother Xavaria was a dignified nun. Mother Berchmans recorded how on one occasion, after meditation, the community went on deck to get a breath of air: ‘We generally walked in pairs, before setting out Mother Xavaria requested

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Encouraging spiritual growth and social responsibility Mother Francis Tobin recalled that one of the first initiatives of the Albert Park community was to establish a Lady’s Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, composed in a great part of former pupils of Loreto Mary’s Mount and others who wished to join.

A preliminary meeting was held in early March 1889. The members undertook spiritual direction and devotions under Reverend John Ryan. They ran sewing circles to make clothes for the poor and assisted in visiting the sick in hospitals and in homes around South Melbourne.

The parish already ran an adult sodality and were opposed to the idea of a second one in their mission. The Archbishop wrote to Mother Gonzaga, ‘I take for granted that yours will not so interfere, and therefore I shall be glad to encourage it.’25 The Loreto community viewed their adult sodalities as works of zeal in the poorer and less fashionable areas of South Melbourne and as a vital extension of their mission.26 One of the sodality’s other good works was to assist the Loreto community in running their evening classes for converts.

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Mother Gertrude (Mary Quinn) to walk behind her as she had no stockings on, fancy prudent Xavaria doing such a thing, of course, we were all shocked and she had to put on her stockings after breakfast.’27 Normal decorum was quickly restored.

During the voyage Mother Berchmans cared for her companions when they were seasick, often for weeks on end. According to her diary, their fellow passengers and the captain convinced the Loreto community that champagne was the best cure and were generous in sharing their supplies with them.28 Mother Kilian Ball, a niece of Mother Xavier, was appointed as Mistress of Schools at Albert Park. Mary Ball was also born in Dublin and came to Australia in 1878 at the age of twenty-five. She had trained at Loreto College St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, and was qualified to teach from sub-primary to Matriculation. The community included a recent arrival to Victoria, Mother Bernard Burke, who volunteered for the Australian missions and had come from Ireland during November 1888. The early days of the first community also included Mother Dorothea Walker, who briefly stayed to help set up the junior and senior classrooms.

Later, as Superior at Albert Park, Mother Dorothea was instrumental in the founding of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak.

An Australian, Mother Francis Tobin, was assigned to the new convent. Lizzie Tobin was born in Melbourne, the daughter of Thomas Tobin and Mary Slattery.

She was a member of the first class at Loreto Mary’s Mount and entered the order in 1884. She was well known in Loreto circles as the chronicler of Mother Gonzaga’s letters, which she completed in 1923 in three volumes. Lizzie had matriculated at the University of Melbourne in 1879 and trained as a secondary teacher in languages and sciences. She was also adept at typewriting and shorthand.

Although highly educated, as Mother Francis she carried poverty to extremes. She would patch her handkerchiefs and even her slippers.

In January 1890 the Albert Park community received five new members. Kate Lawlor was born in Dublin and entered in Ireland in 1865, becoming Mother Bertrand. She came to Ballarat in 1882, where she taught in day schools. In 1887 Mother Ethelreda Breen arrived in Victoria. Mary Josephine Breen was born in Enniscorthy, Ireland, taught music and played the organ with vigour. At Loreto Mary’s Mount her enthusiastic organ playing had led to the lifting of the chapel floor tiles, which had to be replaced with parquetry. Mother Ethelreda later returned to the Albert Park community to teach at Saints Peter and Paul’s School.

Annie Fallon was born near Albury, where her father ran a vineyard. She was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount, entered in 1884 and was professed as Mother Benedicta. In 1892 she became part of the founding community of Loreto Ashton Hall, Randwick, and in 1897 of Loreto Normanhurst, where in the early days there was no electricity and working conditions were primitive. Musically gifted, Mother Benedicta’s title included Mistress of Music among her duties.

Lizzie Tobin had a profound influence on Loreto girls The first Australian Loreto student to join the novitiate in Ballarat as Mother Francis in 1884

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I only hope we here in Melbourne may not take God’s work out of anyone’s hands – but just try and do the best we can for our own little field and Ballarat which will always be dear to us old Sisters, though I must say we have spent more on Ballarat than the people of Ballarat ever gave us and so we are poor now and in debt to begin this Mission which we would not be if we had saved up and kept for the community instead of spending on the schools and the fun of it is as we are thought to be so rich; no one dreams of helping poor us.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

Behind the teaching scenes were two faithful workers. The household was run smoothly and quietly by Sister Laurentia Marnell. Catherine Marnell was Australian born, the daughter of Richard and Anastasia Cullinan. Her chief responsibility at Albert Park was as laundress. Prayerful, hardworking and gentle, she possessed a happy nature and a great simplicity of spirit. She later fulfilled similar household duties in the early days of Loreto Toorak. Sister Laurentia was joined by Sister Thecla Clay. Ada Clay was born in Richmond, the third of the nine children of Bernard, a gardener. She was reared in the Methodist Church and all of her life she loved singing their rousing evangelical hymns. She was given the job of laundress and housemaid and sang while she worked. These Sisters were greatly loved by the students, as they were supported and nourished by them. The Albert Park community had been founded on the eve of deep economic depression, when food prices rose steeply and many were out of work.

In these circumstances the Loreto household domestics had a challenging and unremitting role, not only for their community but for the homeless and destitute who knocked on their doors.

In December 1888 Mother Gonzaga wrote from Merton Crescent to Mother Boniface Völcker: I only hope we here in Melbourne may not take God’s work out of anyone’s hands – but just try and do the best we can for our own little field and Ballarat which will always be dear to us old Sisters, though I must say we have spent more on Ballarat than the people of Ballarat ever gave us and so we are poor now and in debt to begin this Mission which we would not be if we had saved up and kept for the community instead of spending on the schools and the fun of it is as we are thought to be so rich; no one dreams of helping poor us.29

An influential delegation Among the first to enrol at the Albert Park school were the children of the gentlemen who had formed a delegation to petition Archbishop Thomas Carr for a private Loreto school to be established in South Melbourne. The idea for a delegation to meet first with Dean O’Driscoll and later with the Archbishop came from Patrick Mornane of South Melbourne. These meetings had been held during May 1888.

The petitioners were scions of Catholic society. Merchant James Nicholson was a former South Melbourne town councillor, a committee member of the South Melbourne Mechanics’ Institute and a longstanding Justice of the Peace.

His children, Annie, Rose, Eileen and later George and James, walked to school from Coolola, St Vincent Place. Francis Henry Mason, a newspaper proprietor 44

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who lived in Canterbury Road, had two children, Esther Louisa and Ernest William. Eugene Rogers Barry, a retired grazier, and his children Viva, Eugene, Cyril and Beryl also came from Canterbury Road. Barry visited Loreto Mary’s Mount with his daughters to plead the delegates’ cause. Mother Gonzaga wrote, ‘Yet another attempt to get us to Melbourne.’ 30 In the event, Barry’s daughters completed their schooling at Loreto Mary’s Mount. There was also one outsider among the group of delegates who had waited on Archbishop Carr. William Charles Towsey, an Anglican, was the manager of the National Bank of Australasia in South Melbourne. He attended to Mother Gonzaga’s banking needs and gave sage advice about the prices of the properties that Mother Gonzaga was viewing to either purchase or rent.

William Towsey was a cultured Englishman who played the cello and was a concert singer. While working for the bank in Dunedin, New Zealand, he married Annie Jones, a widow. Their three sons died at a young age, leaving only one daughter, Mary Isobel, referred to as Dollie, who was an accomplished organist.

On the recommendation of Reverend John Ryan, William approached Mother Gonzaga and asked if Dollie could attend Loreto Mary’s Mount. Dollie became a pupil in 1888 at the age of fifteen. She loved the Loreto community, which she

A special gift Silver wafer box donated by Laura Mornane, December 1903

Anastasia Mornane: practical philanthropist The Albert Park community found a fairy godmother in the person of Anastasia Mornane, widow of Patrick of East Melbourne. She was a practical philanthropist.

Anastasia had inherited a £5,000 annuity which she generously shared. She would travel frequently to Albert Park from her home in East Melbourne for a visit, a cup of tea and a chat. This was likely on the pretext of finding out how her only daughter was faring, but also to observe how the Albert Park community were managing. It was her small way of discovering what they might need. After she left, the community would find some surprising gifts:

eggs, sides of bacon, beef and lamb, boxes of fruit and vegetables, garden implements, hampers for Christmas dinners and sweets. Often supplies of coal and kerosene or elegant furniture and a piano would be delivered following these visits. She also looked after the Loreto community through annual financial contributions and supported their fetes and bazaars.

Her son, Mick, donated the Sanctuary Lamp and his daughter, Laura, the wafer box for the hosts, for the Albert Park chapel. These gifts are used in the Chapel of Christ the King at Loreto Toorak and a collection of the Mornane family furniture graces Mandeville Hall.

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You must remember that it is only a beginning and do not expect it to be like your grand convent. The ground is very limited and the house small, and so in consequence, is the number of children. We pray each day that we may get a large house with plenty of ground, but this I am afraid will not be easily procured. The first day there were about twenty of us, and I can assure you we all felt quite proud of being the first to attend Melbourne Loreto.

Minnie O’Donnell

described as charming, and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of the abbey.31 Later William studied for the Anglican ministry and became the Vicar at Mathinna, near Devonport in Tasmania. Dollie married John Low, a farmer near Devonport.

Their only child, Stanley, educated at Melbourne Grammar School, was killed during the First World War. Patrick Mornane, the veteran campaigner for Catholic causes in South Melbourne, insisted on a press release about the deputation to the Archbishop, even before the matter was finally settled. It was a masterstroke. The Archbishop had accepted the delegates’ visit on the understanding that there would be no public appeal to fund the Loreto initiative in Melbourne. Perhaps Mornane’s insistence on an announcement helped to sway the Archbishop’s view. The following account appeared in The Argus and The Advocate the day after their meeting: A few representative Catholic gentlemen from South Melbourne to whom the Archbishop of Melbourne granted an interview on Tuesday, requested his Grace to establish a branch of the Loreto in that suburb, the Catholics of the district undertaking to make the necessary provision for the foundation. Dr Carr said that he was well disposed to comply with their request, and it seemed to him probable that he could do so, but he could not immediately give them a definite answer. After thanking His Grace for the reception they got, and expressing their satisfaction at the result of it, the deputation withdrew.32 Success was finally announced in December 1888: An earnest desire of the Very Reverend Dean O’Driscoll is now satisfied – South Melbourne has got a convent of nuns. On the Feast of their order, which fell on Monday last, the Archbishop of Melbourne installed a colony of Loreto nuns from the parent house in Ballarat in present premises in Merton Crescent, which at least for the present, are to serve them as a convent. His Grace celebrated Mass on the occasion and several old pupils of the Ballarat house had the gratification of receiving Holy Communion at his hands.33 The Loreto community had encountered many difficulties while searching for a suitable Melbourne location and even greater anxiety followed in their first years in South Melbourne. In correspondence about these foundations Reverend John Ryan referred to St Teresa of Avila’s foundation at Burgos, where there were dissenters from within and without. Mother Gonzaga used the initials MRA, Maria Regina Angelorum (Mary Queen of Angels from the Irish Loreto crest), in her community correspondence about South Melbourne. She chose Our Lady of the Angels as the name of her first Melbourne foundation.

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Our Lady of the Angels During the inaugural year of 1889 forty-four students enrolled in Our Lady of the Angels. The majority lived in South Melbourne and Albert Park, with a sprinkling travelling from St Kilda, South Yarra and further afield, including Parkville, Carlton, East Melbourne and Coburg. Their ages ranged from four to sixteen but the majority were in the middle and upper grades. Edward O’Donnell, a grocer in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, who had purchased a St Kilda property for Loreto in anticipation of their arrival in Melbourne, became a staunch supporter of Loreto Albert Park. His daughters, Mary Josephine (Minnie) and Lucy, became foundation scholars. Minnie O’Donnell, later Lady Hugh Devine and parent of two Loreto Toorak students, wrote of the new establishment in Eucalyptus Blossoms:

Foundation students Pupils enrolled in Our Lady of the Angels in February 1889 Opposite: Gifts and donations Loretto Convent ‘Burgos’, 1888

You must remember that it is only a beginning and do not expect it to be like your grand convent. The ground is very limited and the house small, and so in consequence, is the number of children. We pray each day that we may get a large house with plenty of ground, but this I am afraid will not be easily procured.

The first day there were about twenty of us, and I can assure you we all felt quite proud of being the first to attend Melbourne Loreto.34

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Albert Park alumni The enrolment at Albert Park included the children of William O’Driscoll, licensee of the Munster Arms in Park Street; Cecil Weston, proprietor of the Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser; John Gilligan, a retired grazier; Justin Drouhet, an engineer; Henry Engelbert, owner of Malahide in St Kilda; and Henry McDonough, a grain and produce merchant in Flinders Street.

Twelve-year-old Hetty Leddin travelled from Hanover Villa in Charles Street, St Kilda. She matriculated and specialised in art, completing a diploma in art and design at the Kensington School of Art, London. Hetty became a pupil-teacher for seven years at State School 1253, Dorcas Street, South Melbourne. There were more than a thousand students on the school roll and truancy and arson were continual problems. In 1905 Hetty transferred as an assistant teacher at Loreto Mary’s Mount before entering the novitiate. As Mother Jerome she taught in primary schools conducted by the Loreto Sisters for forty years before retiring to Loreto Toorak.

Ten Albert Park students followed her example and joined Loreto. The first vocation to the priesthood was Edward Hagemann. He was the son of John, a

Hanoverian refugee, and Mary, an Irish-born Catholic, of Bank Street, South Melbourne. Edward attended Xavier College, studied for the priesthood and became a Jesuit theologian in Rome. Eight other Albert Park boys followed his lead and became Jesuit fathers.

The children of Anne Walsh and Patrick Jeremiah Nolan, a civil engineer of Park Street, South Melbourne, were high achievers. In the first class of Albert Park were Mary, Annie and Bernard, and they were followed over the years by Lucius, Thomas and Redmond. Mary married Thomas James Alston, whose mother, Mary Alston, later became the president and benefactor of the Loreto Free Kindergarten. Gifted with figures, Annie assisted Mary Alston, acting as the treasurer of the kindergarten before entering the novitiate.

As Mother Veronica she spent her religious life as a teacher and Procuratrix at Loreto Marryatville.

Bernard became a solicitor and Loreto’s legal advisor for Albert Park and Loreto Toorak. Lucius became an engineer with the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works, Thomas a lawyer and Redmond a crown solicitor. Generations of their children became Loreto Toorak students.

Mononia in Merton Crescent quickly became too small and cramped for the number of students enrolled over the first year. The sanitary facilities were inadequate and the recreational areas limited. There were no grounds, except for a few feet of grass and a path where the students or the community could take outdoor exercise. In addition to school classes, the community prepared converts for baptisms and the sacraments and ran evening instruction for external students preparing for Confession and Holy Communion. At this time it was estimated that around one-third of Catholic children resident in South Melbourne were not attending Catholic schools. In spite of the overcrowded conditions, the pioneer students of Loreto Albert Park were a happy and promising bunch. The community rejoiced in their efforts and willingness to adapt to Loreto ways. The seeds for academic achievement and personal fulfilment were sown.

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The first year ended on a tragic note with the death of Mother Veronica O’Gorman. In spite of the efforts of Dr Michael O’Sullivan, an eminent Catholic physician, and later father of three students at Our Lady of the Angels, her life could not be saved. Mary O’Gorman was born in Limerick, Ireland, and had volunteered for the Australian missions in 1887 at the age of thirty-five. She died of typhoid, which was sweeping the colony unchecked. The poor drainage at Merton Crescent was thought to be the cause. Having decided that Albert Park was the appropriate location for her school, Mother Gonzaga began searching for a safer and larger house in the area. At the same time she looked at vacant blocks that could accommodate a large building. When the school year finished in December 1889 Mother Gonzaga moved the community to Matthias Larkin’s house on Canterbury Road. It was yet another upheaval, but the house was considerably larger and better appointed than Mononia. The atmosphere was optimistic, as all were looking forward to a successful and productive year.

Mother Gonzaga had omitted to tell the Jesuits of her change of address.

Reverend Michael Watson, SJ, recounted in January 1890: I went to South Melbourne today in the afternoon without knowing that a change of residence had been effected from Merton Crescent to the new home.

It was locked and I had not a notion where the good nuns had gone. Fortunately a little girl was just passing by and she turned out to be one of your pupils (I think her name is Hanslow) and she came with me a part of the way. She prattled away in a very artless and charming manner. I couldn’t make out anything she said, but that did not matter, we got on famously together. ‘Well’, said I to her, ‘is it not a wonderfully fortunate thing that I met you. How could I find the nuns without you?’ She assented to it all, with a wise shake of her little head.35

MatthIAs Larkin Matthias Larkin, a city councillor, magistrate, real estate manager and secretary of the South Melbourne Building Society, was the father of Loreto student Annie Cormack Larkin, known as Cissie. In 1890, when the community were looking for a new property to accommodate Our Lady of the Angels, Larkin rented his house Lake View in Canterbury Road to the school. This property was midway between the Albert Park and Middle Park railway stations. Larkin speculated heavily during the building boom and embezzled clients’ funds. Following the bank crashes he was convicted of fraud and imprisoned. Lake View became known as Fraudville. The authorities of Saints Peter and Paul’s Church indignantly returned a cheque for £100 which Larkin had donated towards a new bell. This was the only amount of Larkin’s estate that was recovered in full.

His beguiling guide was seven-year-old Florence Hanslow of Merton Crescent.

Florence was the daughter of a Swedish-born grain merchant and she later attended Loreto Mary’s Mount.

Behind the scenes in June 1889 Mother Gonzaga had visited a house for sale, Claremont, at 286 Albert Road. The owner, Edward Drinkall Heather, lived in Montague Street and had purchased a section of Sir William Clarke’s land and built this house in 1884 as an investment. Heather was born in South Melbourne and ran a book and stationer’s shop before becoming an investor. His father had founded a commercial circulating library. Heather grew up with a deep interest in books, as well as all kinds of sports, a rare combination. In 1862 he established a free library and reading room for the Mechanics’ Institute, which in 1887, with local government assistance, became the South Melbourne Free Library. Heather, then mayor of South Melbourne, became the honorary secretary and librarian for

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For some time now the temporary premises used by the Loreto nuns at South Melbourne have proved altogether inadequate for their requirements, and the nuns have decided to erect without delay a more commodious and suitable building. With this object in view they have purchased a large block of land in Albert Road, South Melbourne, and tenders have been accepted for the new convent. The architects are Messrs Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy, and the work will be gone on immediately.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

Above: A great honour and responsibility Members of the senior sodality, the Children of Mary, at Our Lady of the Angels during the 1890s Opposite: Talented supporters of Loreto Architect William Tappin with his sisters Pollie (Mary), Teth (Elizabeth) and Pothie (Annie), students of Mary’s Mount, 1889

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the next seventeen years. The asking price for his two-storey mansion with a central tower and thirty-two rooms was £7,000. Mother Gonzaga made an offer of £4,000 to his real estate agent, Matthias Larkin, which was not accepted. She then approached Heather’s father-in-law, Robert John Mills, a fellow municipal councillor, to see if he could intercede on her behalf. Heather decided not to sell Claremont and moved his family to Albert Road. His daughters May and Daisy became Albert Park students in October 1890 when Loreto opened their new convent and school next door.

While visiting Claremont with Mother Xavier, Mother Gonzaga stood at one of the windows looking out at the vacant adjoining allotment used as a paddock, occupied by a calf and some geese. It consisted of half an acre with frontage of one hundred and thirty feet to Albert Road, and faced the parklands, the South Melbourne Cricket Club and the artificial lagoon with its islands and swans. Mick Mornane approached Sir William Clarke (father of Joseph Clarke, later owner of Mandeville Hall) and negotiated the sale price of £3,000, with Sir William making a rebate of £264 as his donation towards the proposed convent.36 A few years later it was revealed that Mick Mornane had paid for the purchase of the land as his contribution to Loreto. There was a precedent: in 1872 his father, Patrick, had sold his seventy-acre paddock in Kew to the Jesuit fathers on very generous terms. This enabled the priests to sell off allotments to finance their buildings for Xavier College, designed by William Tappin. Mother Gonzaga in turn commissioned Tappin for her new Albert Park venture.

William Brittain Tappin and family William Brittain Tappin was born in Ballarat in 1854, the only son of James Henry and Rose, who ran a store at the Eureka gold diggings at the time of the stockade and uprising. The couple became farmers near Geelong and then Ballarat before retiring to Melbourne. Tappin’s early education in Geelong at the new boys’ grammar school, later known as Geelong Grammar School, was to be influential in

later life. He was taught art by Edmund Sasse from Brussels and classics by Charles Orlando Helm from Worcester, who predicted a great career for his pupil. In Ballarat Tappin attended William Stallard’s Commercial College, before being apprenticed to a Ballarat architect, Henry Richards Caselli. Among Caselli’s public commissions were seven churches.

Tappin’s early designs included the Gothic gateway to Loreto Abbey and extensive additions and alterations to existing buildings, including a purposebuilt steam laundry.37 Other important ecclesiastical commissions followed. Tappin went into partnership with Charles Gilbert and Richard Dennehy and opened an office in Melbourne. Richard Dennehy lived in South Yarra and when the Albert Park building was completed, sent his daughters, Frances and Dorothy, to Our Lady of the Angels.

Between 1898 and 1902 William Tappin worked on designs for the convent chapel at Loreto Mary’s Mount, which was stylistically comparable with his magnum opus, the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, of the same era. Tappin’s youngest sister Annie was equally artistic. She attended Loreto Mary’s Mount for six months in 1876 with her sisters Mary and Elizabeth. At the age of sixteen she began studying at the Ballarat School of Design and then at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School.

Annie became proficient in painting, drawing and wood carving. Examples of her mural decorations and stencilling can be seen in the panels in front of the gallery of the chapel at Loreto Mary’s Mount, behind the altar at St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne, and in the Convent of Mercy, Geelong.

Her niece, Mary Rose Dowden, became Mother Celestine at Loreto Normanhurst. For many years Annie became a visiting teacher of painting and drawing at Loreto Albert Park and later at Loreto Mary’s Mount.

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For some time now the temporary premises used by the Loreto nuns at South Melbourne have proved altogether inadequate for their requirements, and the nuns have decided to erect without delay a more commodious and suitable building. With this object in view they have purchased a large block of land in Albert Road, South Melbourne, and tenders have been accepted for the new convent. The architects are Messrs Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy, and the work will be gone on immediately.38

Albert Park Convent

Above: The beginnings of beautifying Albert Road Loreto Convent Albert Park, designed

by William Tappin, 1890 Opposite: The grand oak staircase Thirty young Albert Park girls and boys waiting to welcome visitors at the convent’s main entrance, 1890s Below: A precious relic The sign that graced the Albert Park school from 1890-1924

On 10 August 1890 Albert Park Convent was officially opened and blessed by Archbishop Thomas Carr. The gathering at the opening was estimated to be more than seven hundred people. A trio of bishops, a swatch of Jesuits, an assortment of parish priests, a brace of knights and a sprinkle of parliamentarians and local officials gave this crowded event suitable status. The convent, costing £10,000, was a three-storey brick building of Gothic design and contained classrooms on the ground floor, which by an ingenious arrangement of folding glass doors could be formed into one large, ornamental and commodious hall. At the rear of the was a corridor giving access to a staircase. The first floor was reached by a broad staircase (see opposite), which parted at the rear of the building into two flights leading to the reception room, infirmary, chapel and accompanying sacristies and confessionals. The second floor contained the community’s cells and community room. The roof was arranged to form a promenade extending the whole length of the building and was reached by another staircase. Surrounding the promenade

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was a brick balustrade and rising above the roof was a tower reached by open steps.

Mother Gonzaga was delighted with the building: A parapet wall makes it all quite safe to walk or sit on as any of the rooms below; and then the glorious view all round – at one side the sea and the Bay with its ships, at the other St Kilda, Brighton, Sorrento. In front, quite at your feet, seemingly, the lake in the Park, with its boats and yachts; inland there is a view of the whole city, including its Parks, Government House, Botanical Gardens, etc. So if our Sisters in Melbourne have very little land to enjoy a walk on, they at least can enjoy the air and view from a height on their open roof.39 On the south side of Loreto was a home owned by Sir William Clarke which he leased to tenants. The Sisters referred to it as the White House. With their number increasing, the community prayed that they might be able to lease this building. In what is possibly an apocryphal story, the community began throwing medals from the roof of their property onto the tin roof of the house next door to disturb the tenants. In December 1895 the property was vacated and Loreto took over the lease, paying fifteen shillings a week. They began renovations and repairs for this house to become their junior school.40 In 1907 Loreto purchased the house from Lady Janet Clarke, who was a capable trustee of her late husband’s estate. A decade earlier in 1897 Loreto Albert Park had been described as one of the eighteen ‘Superior Schools for Girls’ in the Archdiocese of Melbourne’.41 Advertisements for ‘A Ladies’ College, Loreto College’ in Albert Park were placed in The Argus newspaper: ‘The course of studies is arranged according to the most approved principles of psychological training as adapted by the syndicate of the Cambridge University. The Matriculation class has special facilities for acquiring conversational French and German. The younger children are taught according to the kindergarten system.’42 Not surprisingly, numbers continued to grow and the school became patronised by prominent local families of both liberal and conservative persuasions. May McLean from Beaconsfield Parade was the daughter of the Honourable Allan McLean, member of the Legislative Assembly for Gippsland and Premier of Victoria in 1890. Clare, Harry, Amy and Margot lived at Manhattan in Barkly Street, St Kilda. They were the children of Sir Bryan O’Loghlen, who was a member of an ancient Irish family. O’Loghlen arrived in Melbourne in 1863 and became a crown prosecutor, working on criminal cases. In 1877 he unexpectedly succeeded to the family baronetcy and was elected to the House of Commons for County Clare. Instead he decided to play an active part in Victorian politics, becoming attorney-general and acting premier. An older daughter, Frances, was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount before entering the order as Mother Francesca.

Two younger daughters, Ella and Doreen, attended Loreto Toorak.

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Representatives with political leanings towards Labor included the family of Joseph Francis Hannan, a pipe moulder and commercial traveller. He held many prominent positions in the labour movement, including presidency of the Trades Hall Council and the Victorian Labor Council. His children, Elsie, Vera, Kitty and Hugh, began their schooling at Saints Peter and Paul’s School when the family lived in Coventry Street, South Melbourne. The girls became boarders at Loreto Albert Park when their father entered politics, serving as a Labor Party member in the House of Representatives, a member of the Legislative Assembly for Albert Park and later as a senator. Trade unionist and councillor in South

A small cohort, 1890s Junior school members of the Divine Infant, St Joseph’s and Holy Angels’ sodalities at Our Lady of the Angels

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A successful student Olive Donnelly received prizes in the Easter examinations of 1899

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Melbourne Frank Gerald Hartley was well known in the local community as the founder of the Blacksmiths’ Society. In 1891 he established a land and real estate business in Park Street, South Melbourne, and sent his children, Nelly, Julia, Frank, Kathleen and Dorothy, to be educated at Our Lady of the Angels.

During the thirty-five years of its existence the school educated one thousand, one hundred and ten pupils, fifteen of whom died while students at Loreto Albert Park. The pupils were predominantly Catholic and Australian born. The school register dates from 1889 but the Sisters only began to record the pupils’ religion from 1902. Of the seven hundred and forty who were registered from 1902, one

hundred and fifty-five were non-Catholics. Fourteen of these pupils were of the Jewish faith, while the remainder represented other Christian denominations, predominately Anglicans. These included Nonie and Dorothy Maitland, daughters of a captain with Huddart Parker’s shipping company, and Olive Moreton, daughter of a bicycle manufacturer, while Elsie and Keilor Kerr’s father was the general manager of Australian Paper Manufacturers. Dora and Victoria Aitken were the daughters of a tobacco manufacturer and lived at Dalkeith, Albert Road.

Dorothy Britten, the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, completed her secondary education at Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School. She spent her adult life in voluntary work for the Anglican Bible Class Union, Girl Guides’ Association and as secretary of the Mothers’ Union at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The proximity of established Jewish synagogues in South Yarra and St Kilda attracted Jewish families to reside in the neighbouring suburbs. Pupils of Jewish faith included Marie and Louise Mayger, daughters of the owner of the Mitre Tavern and Epsom racecourse; Rachel Mitelman, daughter of a tailor in St Kilda; Vera Sabelberg, daughter of a St Kilda solicitor; Helga Breidahl, daughter of a dentist in Brighton; and Isabel, Teresa and Nellie Mark, daughters of a secretary for several building societies in South Melbourne. Sigmund Franklin, the father of Rita and Charles, and Edward Smith, father of Ena, worked in partnership with a single man, Julius Kronheimer, a city tobacco merchant and Jewish philanthropist.

He also supported many Catholic causes, including orphanages and the Loreto Sisters in Melbourne. It is intriguing that many of these Jewish and Protestant students were listed as winning the annual prizes in Christian doctrine.

In each year there were several senior girls who boarded, while others commuted or walked on a daily basis. For example, in 1903 at the age of sixteen, Mary Curtis joined the boarders. She was one of nine children of farmers William and Annie Curtis of Bolinda, Sunbury. After matriculating Mary became the sole teacher at St Mary’s Catholic School, Riddell Street, Sunbury. Mother Gonzaga would often come from Ballarat to Albert Park to prepare the First Holy Communicants, who were overawed by having to pick up the little tasselled trumpet hanging by her side in order to speak to her. First Holy Communicants were presented with small badges that were individually painted by the community as a commemoration of this special event.

One student, Lucille Meehan, recalled Mother Gonzaga’s regular visits, especially her creamy skin and beautiful eyes. She described her as having a gentle, elegant manner and a graceful way of settling her train as she sat down.43 Lucille was the eldest of the nine children of Mary Theresa Barry and Cornelius Gregory Meehan, proprietor and editor of the Record in Emerald Hill and a printer of many literary journals. Cornelius was prominent in the affairs of the Catholic Young Men’s Society with Archbishop Carr and Bishop Patrick Phelan of Sale. All nine

The first blue uniform During the first years there was no school uniform at Loreto Albert Park but stockings, not socks, were mandatory. On arriving at school the students had to change into softsoled shoes to avoid scuffing the highly polished floors. Mother Gonzaga later introduced a tucked, navy blue frock, with tiny white collars and cuffs, and a straw ‘gem’ hat with a school badge. In summer the dresses were of tussore silk and all wore non-uniform large, shady hats.

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Meehan children attended Loreto Albert Park and Cornelius’ grandchildren, Antoinette, James and Philip, and great-granddaughter Lisa, became students at Loreto Toorak. Lucille did not marry but became involved in a wide variety of voluntary works for Catholic causes, particularly those of Loreto. Giving to others was a fundamental creed of Loreto Albert Park. The daughter of a draper in Williamstown, May Ward married John James Liston, a Melbourne city councillor and successful businessman. During the 1930s depression they undertook many unpublished acts of kindness. Gladys Roche married businessman Sir Norman Myer, who became chairman and managing director of the Myer Emporium.

During the Second World War the couple became very active in the Victorian division of the Australian Red Cross Society and the Australian Comforts Fund.

The school’s diversity was reflected in parental backgrounds rather than in location or religion. Seventy-eight students attending Loreto Albert Park lived in hotels where their parents were proprietors or licensees. Among them were the children of the Parer, Barbeta, Whelan, Herrick, Nathan and Fingleton families.

Their premises had a certain polish in keeping with their boom-style buildings and were often architectural landmarks. The hotels’ advertisements suggested that they were suitable for private families or single gentlemen and retirees who might desire a residence by the seaside or near the city. The Albert Park Hotel in Dundas Place, run by John O’Brien, was a fashionable and friendly setting for young Marie’s birthday parties with her Loreto friends. John Mahon opened the threestorey Middle Park Hotel on Canterbury Road in 1889, which was designed by architect Walter Scott Law, with private lounges and dining rooms for residents.

John sent his four daughters to Loreto Albert Park. In 1897 his girls helped to organise a children’s bazaar at the hotel in aid of the Children’s Hospital.

Apparently the little workers had a great deal of pleasure as well as success in imitating their elders.44 Bleak House, on Beaconsfield Parade overlooking the bay, was owned by Jeremiah O’Brien, who was a devotee of Dickens and the uncle of student Kathleen Pitt. Kathleen remembered the fuss when, as a small child at Loreto Albert Park, she corrected the rudeness of one of the imperious permanent hotel guests.45 As associate professor of history at the University of Melbourne, Kathleen became an inspired and inspiring teacher who exerted a powerful influence on generations of students. Grace Shields lived in one of the grandest hotels, the Prince of Wales, in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda. She became the envy of her classmates in 1912 when she went on a tour of America and visited a Loreto convent near Niagara Falls. The Washington Hotel, in Nott Street, Port Melbourne, was home to the eight daughters of Hiram and Sarah Draper who attended Our Lady of the Angels.

Emma studied at Loreto’s Central Catholic Training College and St Mary’s Hall, became a solicitor with Bernard Nolan and accompanied him to finalise the legal 58

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details for the purchase of Mandeville Hall. Maria became a violinist and married Reginald Weichard, a flautist. Their three daughters and granddaughter attended Loreto Toorak. Lydia and Rita completed their primary training at the Central Catholic Training College and Carmel was school captain at Loreto Albert Park in 1924 before transferring to Loreto Toorak. Carmel played the cello in the Loreto Toorak orchestra. She married John, the brother of a colleague also in the Loreto Toorak orchestra, Lena Duck. Her four daughters and granddaughter, Jane Shannon, went to Loreto Toorak.

Dignity and integrity counted A group of serious middle school students at Albert Park, 1890s

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The arrival of the American naval fleet For three weeks during September and October 1908, Melbourne, as the interim federal capital, was brought to fever pitch by the visit of the American naval fleet, consisting of sixteen battle ships and fourteen thousand sailors. Australian flags and the American stars and stripes floated from the buildings along Albert Road and the students were entertained by many of the twelve hundred Catholic sailors hurrying to be on time for Sailors’ Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral. This group was followed by the Australian Light Horsemen marching past.

As a special treat the students were allowed to view the night-time proceedings from the roof of the school building. The notes in Eucalyptus Blossoms included: ‘Friday, 8 p.m.

– Crowd collecting for Albert Park Lagoon; fireworks display. Cabs, carts, cars, bicycles, soon hidden by huge drags and vans block the three wide roads as far as one can see and overflow into Clarendon Street. Little preludes of beauty – an illuminated yacht on the dark water, with festoons like fireflies, a gondola of Venice, tiny boats; one can almost see the brownies rowing, rubies and diamonds shining in their red caps. Here a house is lit up with limelight from the street, now red, now gold.’46

Opposite: Household duties Practical lessons, 1890s

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School life at Our Lady of the Angels In 1906, when Loreto Albert Park was registered as school number 382 under the Registration of Teachers and Schools Act, there were only three boarders out of seventy-nine students. From a longitudinal perspective, Albert Park would seem to have been a very small school. Apart from the routine of formal lessons, Loreto students were encouraged to develop a sense of citizenship in the British Empire and pride in their Irish heritage.

Albert Road had a family-style atmosphere. The pace of life was gentle and the pleasures simple. It was a select school, with between eighty and ninety pupils attending each year. Mainly they were the children of a fairly small group of families in the area. The Loreto community and the people of Albert Park were very close. The children, who knew few others apart from their school friends, forged strong bonds. The school rules were very strict and a high standard was demanded. Academic achievement was encouraged but not forced and cramming for examinations was frowned upon.

While the atmosphere was firmly academic, students were encouraged to experience and pursue a range of activities. Monsieur Paul Bibron, a graduate of the Grand Opera, Paris, and his wife, Mademoiselle Angile Kate, a Melbourne girl educated at Genazzano Convent FCJ, taught dancing, physical culture, calisthenics and deportment. Monsieur was a very imposing figure in frock coat and black gloves, known for his jollity and Gallic charm. His dictum when teaching the students to walk without stooped shoulders was ‘buckles in, brooches out, young ladies’. This saying provoked constant laughter. The Bibrons gave their instructions in French and insisted that learning the graceful movements of the waltz was absolutely necessary for anyone in polite society. Less formal dancing classes were taken by Sarah Hyams, whose main interest was utilising her talents to help those in need. She prepared concert items for her Loreto Albert Park students to perform at local parish bazaars to raise funds. A more vigorous and physical approach were the sets of exercises taken by instructors from the Bjelke-Petersen Institute, founded in Melbourne in 1909. These lessons were introduced in 1912 and continued later at Loreto Toorak. Elocution lessons in the correct methods of articulation and enunciation were taken by a visiting teacher, George Lupton.

In 1892 a series of cookery classes were held on Tuesdays after school for mothers and their daughters. Admission was one shilling and six pence. These classes were expanded to include practical lessons in ‘Household Duties’. Held on Saturday afternoons, the three courses had a broader focus. The first course included washing, starching, scrubbing and cleaning. The second course covered polishing, renovating furniture, stain removal and how to cook and serve a meal.

The third course looked at the refinements of arranging fruit and flowers, how to

Educating girls Girls’ secondary schooling in pre-war Melbourne was far more domestic in setting and tone than that provided for boys. After 1902 Australian women were full citizens of the Commonwealth (though they could not vote in Victorian state elections until 1908), allowing them to take a new and important place in public life. The elevation of women to the status of citizen had educational consequences. If they were to cast votes and determine who was to rule the country, they needed to be sufficiently educated to make such momentous choices. Though the world of Loreto Albert Park girls remained essentially a private one, the door to a career was ajar and participation in the public sphere of work slowly took shape, with increasing numbers of women finding work in offices and an expanding public service.

answer the bell and announce visitors, the presentation of meals with fancy dishes and the management of sick rooms and diets for invalids. Students were also prepared for practical examinations conducted by the Melbourne Institute for the Advancement of Plain Needlework and for music examinations held in connection with the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne.

A frequent feature of life at Albert Road were its concerts, enhanced by the magnificent hall, grand staircase and good stage lighting. The orchestra, of a high standard, featured many talented students who went on to pursue successful musical careers. Violinist Felice Crozier entertained returned soldiers during the First World War. Edna Davis, a musical prodigy, toured Australian capital cities in the 1920s playing the xylophone to rave reviews. In the 1930s she achieved considerable success as a composer, notably with the 1934 Centenary March, celebrating Melbourne’s centenary.47 Mancell Kirby became Australia’s first professional harpsichordist. Cecilia Kilduff was appointed as a violinist with the State Symphony Orchestra. A contralto, Violet Somerset, gained the respect and admiration of music critics through her art of singing beautifully in the simple setting of concert halls. Initially Violet was sponsored by Octavious Frederick Wimpole, proprietor of the George Hotel in St Kilda, whose granddaughters attended Loreto Toorak. The Superior at Loreto Albert Park, Mother Magdalen O’Hagan, later remembered with affection as Superior at Loreto Toorak, quickly identified the musical ability of May Broderick. May became a concert pianist and

St Patrick’s Day and the Victoria Cross winners It was a great day for Irish Australians on 20 March 1920 when ten thousand Catholics participated in the St Patrick’s Day procession through the streets of the city of Melbourne. Pride of place was taken by fourteen Australians with Catholic-Irish associations who had been awarded the Victoria Cross during the Great War. The winners were mounted on white chargers and they surrounded Archbishop Daniel Mannix in his limousine. They wished to honour him and to publicly demonstrate the patriotism of Catholics. On 28 March a special afternoon tea and concert took place at Albert Park in the presence of the Victoria Cross winners, the Archbishop and parents.

The school hall was decorated with green streamers and shamrocks, and the students performed musical items, including Irish jigs and dances, accompanied by flautist Reginald Weichard, to a packed audience.

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Previous pages: Unity and uniforms Our Lady of the Angels girls on the steps of the Albert Park Convent in 1922 Right: An afternoon’s entertainment Concert programme, 1902

generously played in numerous fundraising concerts for Loreto. In 1924 May Broderick drove the community over from Loreto Albert Park to Loreto Toorak for the school’s opening celebration when Benediction was held in the Oak Parlour.

The stage attracted other Loreto students. Maxwell Metzler became a singer and actor in the Theatre Royal, while Grace Finegan, who graduated in singing from the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne, performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Mascotte Ralston pursued musical comedy before becoming known as Hollywood film star Marcia Ralston. Doris Fitton, actress, producer and theatrical director, founded Sydney’s Independent Theatre as a training ground for young actors and playwrights. In 1982 she was recognised for this work as Dame Commander of the British Empire. Eileen Brenan, dancer, teacher and producer of concerts at Loreto Toorak, told her niece, Ann, a Loreto Toorak student, about one amusing episode that occurred at school during 1902. As Ann recounted: She had been chosen to recite a poem for the visit of the Mother Provincial to Albert Park. She was a plump child and was dressed in yellow organdie.

Apparently the community considered that her dress was too short and sewed yellow tissue paper around the hem. She started her poem ‘A happy feast day, Mother, a day of sun and cheer’. She looked up and saw members of the community smiling or laughing, so she stomped off and said ‘finish it yourself ’.48

Distinguished alumni Anita Magan studied at Hassett’s Business College, Prahran, and Eileen Finn at Zercho’s Business College in the city. Edith Peacock became the matron of the Wagga District Hospital and a committee member of the Melbourne Orphanage.

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Isabella Ada Phillips and Mavis Engelbrecht graduated in medicine. Isabella became the first female superintendent of the Melbourne Hospital and Mavis became a medical officer at the Adelaide Hospital. Brothers Haslett and Roy Grounds became architects and served in the forces during the Second World War. John Augustus Clarebrough studied dentistry, served in both world wars, and his grandchildren attended Loreto Toorak. The six children of Michael O’Bryan, manager of the National Bank, South Melbourne, attended Albert Park.

His son Norman served in France during 1917–18, where he was wounded. He studied law and later became a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. His sister Catherine entered Loreto. As Mother John Gabriel she became a junior-school teacher at Loreto Albert Park and was particularly successful with the education of young boys. A lawyer, George Ryan, lived at Hollyford, St Vincent Place, all his life and was a stalwart of the South Melbourne parish. Margaret Ann (Nellie) Barrett was a boarder from Birregurra, the home town of Dr Mary Glowrey. Nellie studied pharmacy and entered the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As Sister Peter Julian she assisted Dr Glowrey in founding the School of Pharmacy in Guntur, India. Albert Park’s Roll of Honour includes Wyndham Somerset, Alfred Stein, Harry Viccars, Spensley Hintze and Victor Lusic, who died while serving their country during the Great War.

Fashionable bob hairstyles in the 1920s Senior girls in summer uniforms at Saints Peter and Paul’s School

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iv Floreat Collegium Central Catholic Training College and St Mary’s Hall

It was a gigantic undertaking, but courageous hearts were not wanting and owing to the hearty co-operation of the Suffragan Dioceses which followed their leader in Melbourne enthusiastically, the college ran up almost miraculously and so far has met with a success that exceeds the most sanguine expectations.

Freeman’s Journal, 1907 1

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he foundation by Loreto of a flourishing college (Floreat Collegium) for the training of Catholic teachers in Melbourne during 1906 was a bold and unusual undertaking in Australia. This initiative encompassed all female religious orders, Catholic lay students and Prot­estants. Loreto engaged lecturers of high calibre, both Catholic and non-Catholic, and provided courses for professional teacher training and university accreditation. A growing concern for a general improvement in secondary education and the need to lift the status of the teaching profession had led in 1905 to the formation of the Incorporated Association of Secondary Teachers of Victoria. The association stated their case: In the wilderness of secondary education in Victoria there are many voices crying in vain for light and leading, some for a better organisation of the whole system, some for better status and a securer tenure for teachers. We do not seek to save the incompetent teacher and the inefficient school. The liberty we seek to retain is the right of each school to keep its individuality, to maintain its wide curriculum, to guard the last remaining stronghold of religion in our scheme of education in this state.2

Above and page 66: Professional and personal development Pupils of the Loreto Training College, Dawson Street, in 1912: Mary McCarthy, Mary O’Connor, Vera McErvale, Kitty Moore, Kathleen Molloy

What is perhaps most interesting about this body is its early preponderance of women teachers. They outnumbered men forty to fifteen at its inaugural meeting.

The position of women teachers was particularly poor. Their lowly status was reinforced by lesser pay, larger classes and heavier teaching loads than those given to men. Loreto membership of this new association included Mother Gonzaga Barry and Miss Barbara Bell of Ballarat; Mother Stanislaus Mornane and Mother Margaret Mary Hughes of Albert Park; and Mother Aloysius Macken of Portland.

Members published articles in The Argus; arranged lectures on the theory and method of teaching; established a lending library and a journal with papers on teaching methods and discussions on the content of the secondary syllabus; and conducted medical inspections, model lessons and an analysis of the proposed changes to education in government legislation. Loreto’s involvement with such a body indicated their strong interest in teaching as a profession for women and the provision of a serious academic education for the girls in their care. The Loreto

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community, and their lay associates, were happy to accept the public examination system standards and to work within the conditions set down by the council of the Incorporated Association of Secondary Teachers of Victoria.

By 1900 education had become a matter of national interest. There was a concern that national development hinged on a better level of education throughout the community. It had also reached the point where state governments began to provide schooling beyond primary level. Education had become a responsibility, not merely a privilege. In Victoria, the first major change in the role of the state in education which affected Loreto was the Registration of Teachers and Schools Act 1905 (no. 2013), passed in parliament in December 1905. From 1906 nongovernment schools were, for the first time, subject to government control regarding the qualification of teachers and the condition of their buildings. Health inspectors assessed schools for proper access, drainage, light, ventilation, sanitary conveniences, playground sizes and fire precautions. The long-term aim was to improve the quality of schools, give parents some guarantee that their children were receiving an adequate education and raise the status of the teaching profession.

In the short term all practising teachers automatically received registration, irrespective of their qualifications or skills. Under the Act, a Teachers’ Registration Board, consisting of ten honorary examiners, determined the level at which educators could teach and inspected school premises. It would still be a long time before most secondary teachers had university qualifications, especially in girls’ schools, and even longer before most of these schools had trained teachers, as teacher training courses were only in their infancy.

The financial depression which hit the world community in the early 1890s seriously curtailed educational development in Victoria. The state closed its teacher training college from 1893 to 1899 due to financial constraints. When economic stability returned at the turn of the century, parts of the community, including the University of Melbourne, agitated for improved teacher qualifications among non-government schools. The pupil-teacher system, in which the potential teacher was trained ‘on the job’, had been common in both state and church schools.

Archbishop Thomas Carr supported the registration of teachers but was concerned about submitting the nuns to examinations because of their cloistered life. He was ready to open his primary schools unreservedly to state inspection. In 1887 Carr appointed his own inspector of schools, Reverend Dr Patrick Graber, while arguing, at the same time, for the continuance of visits of state inspectors to ensure that the Catholic schools were of the same standard as their counterparts. What irked the Archbishop was that the same rigid requirements for teacher registration did not apply to those in state schools. This was based on the grounds that state teachers had to conform to department regulations. Moreover, the pupil-teacher system still existed in state schools where trainees received salaries, while equivalent 70

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trainees in Catholic schools were not paid and had to pay for their training as well.

Carr used every opportunity when speaking in public to draw attention to what he claimed were intolerable inequities.

The training of Catholic

women teachers in Victoria In 1877 the Loreto community organised a course of teacher training for novices in Ballarat. When finances permitted, they erected a residential two-storey block in Dawson Street for £1,000, which was opened in January 1884. The first director of the Loreto Training College was Mother Hilda Benson, who later went to Saints Peter and Paul’s School in South Melbourne. Candidates were admitted from the age of fourteen for a residential course of training extending over a period of five years. There was an entrance examination and a compulsory six-month probationary period. During the first three years, the candidates were known as ‘pupil-teachers’ and worked full-time in local primary schools. Loreto instruction in learning the science and art of teaching, as exemplified in the schools, took place on weeknights after dinner, with extra tuition on weekends. Classes in school management were gradually developed side by side with general instruction in subjects. For the last two years these residents were known as ‘students’ and their main work was devoted to study and self-improvement, and if talents justified it they were prepared for the Matriculation examinations.

Mother Gonzaga held strong views on this: ‘It seems to me if the time spent preparing Pupils for Matric was spent in trying to make them good teachers, the result would be much better. Matric is an advantage to the Student personally & perhaps to the school, but it does nothing towards making a Teacher.’3 By May 1885 the accommodation at Dawson Street was at full capacity with some thirty boarders, and the Loreto community made an appeal to friends in the diocese for additional funding. The tuition fees for Dawson Street were £20 per annum with a £3 entrance fee and £4 for music. Mother Gonzaga provided six scholarships.

Although the college was for lay girls, a large proportion of the students entered religious orders. Of the original eleven students in 1884, two joined the Loreto Sisters, two the Mercy Sisters, one the Sisters of Charity and one the Brigidine Sisters. Many of the girls entered the college intending to join an order, which was often the order that had given them their primary education. The Loreto training facility at Ballarat filled a specific need in training Catholic primary school teachers.

Other earlier Catholic training colleges also began as pupil-teacher centres.

From 1864 the lay pupil-teachers from the parochial schools under the care of the Sisters of Mercy in Geelong would assemble at Sacred Heart Convent on Saturdays

It seems to me if the time spent preparing Pupils for Matric was spent in trying to make them good teachers, the result would be much better. Matric is an advantage to the Student personally & perhaps to the school, but it does nothing towards making a Teacher.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

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to discuss methods and details of class management. The scope of this work was gradually extended until the centre became a residential college in 1881 for those studying to qualify as teachers in Catholic schools. Known as St Aloysius’ Teachers’ Training College, it trained not only the lay teachers for Catholic schools but also the religious. In 1885 the Faithful Companions of Jesus began their own teachertraining facility in Richmond. These religious communities were known for their ability in the classroom and for their hard work but they could barely keep up with the demand for the training of pupil-teachers. These humble beginnings of Catholic teacher training were hampered by the lack of adequate staffing and funding. The 1905 Act for teacher registration gave the necessary impetus to the establishment of a more adequate and comprehensive form of Catholic teacher training. In an age when the dangers of secularism appeared to churchmen to be everywhere threatening the Church, there were a handful of highly qualified Catholic lay people in the field of education. Only the religious orders were seen as offering continuous opportunities for the secure development of spiritual values.

In 1895 Mother Gonzaga invited an Irish friend, Barbara Maude Bell, a recent graduate of the Teachers’ Training Syndicate at Cambridge University, to come to Ballarat to conduct in-service training for Loreto novices. Barbara was born in Dublin, the third child of Hamilton Bell, a well-known teacher and a member of the Irish National Council of Education. She was educated by the Dominican nuns in Dublin and matriculated from the Royal University of Ireland, specialising in languages and music. She became a teacher in Ireland, England, Belgium and Holland with the Ursuline Sisters. At the age of twenty-five Barbara arrived in Victoria convinced that teaching should be seen as a dedicated profession. The general public thought that high academic knowledge was sufficient training for teachers. Gradually Mother Gonzaga extended Barbara’s services to include other Loreto foundations in Victoria.

Obtaining highly qualified personnel to train teachers for Catholic schools was not confined to the Loreto Order. In 1899 Dr Patrick Delaney, as coadjutor Bishop of Hobart, invited Barbara Bell to work with Catholic teachers in his jurisdiction. She spent three years working with the principal convent schools of the island, including the Presentation and Mercy Sisters, giving lectures and demonstrations as well as advising on the organisation of their schools. Archbishop Thomas Carr invited Barbara Bell to undertake a similar service for Melbourne.

During four years in the archdiocese Barbara worked with the Sisters of Mercy at Geelong, Fitzroy, North Melbourne, Brunswick, Kyneton, Lilydale, Mansfield and South Melbourne; the Presentation Sisters at Elsternwick, Windsor and Daylesford; and the Faithful Companions of Jesus at Richmond, Hawthorn and Kew. By all accounts Barbara was an exacting taskmaster, expecting her students to read learned articles embracing new educational ideas, prepare weekly notes 72

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and lesson plans and present lessons to be critiqued. She also made a habit of making 8 pm the deadline for the nuns’ work to be handed in and sent some pretty stern memos to the latecomers. Barbara expressed her concerns to Archbishop Carr about qualities she found lacking in some of the nuns: their sparse knowledge of the subjects they taught, their lack of understanding about human nature and their dearth of knowledge of the society in which the children lived. The early educational work of Barbara Bell, as well as that of her sister Mollie, was of great value in guarding against isolation and narrowness of outlook. This was during a period when the sisters, by reason of their enclosure rules, did not have the advantage of attending external colleges or lectures, as the barrier between church and state schools was formidable.

When Mother Gonzaga Barry began her search for a Melbourne property in the late 1880s, she had in mind the founding of a teacher training college in conjunction with her own school, Our Lady of the Angels. During her negotiations for the property on Albert Road, Archbishop Carr raised the idea of a teachers’ college on this site with her mentor, Reverend John Ryan SJ. Reverend Ryan

The Bell sisters During the years 1900 to 1902, Barbara Bell’s younger sister Mary Bridget Bell was employed

by Bishop James Gallagher of Goulburn, New South Wales. Mary, known in the family as Mollie, matriculated at the Royal University of Ireland and in 1899 gained her diploma in secondary teacher training from Cambridge. She assisted in convents at Albury, Yass, Goulburn and Wagga Wagga. In February 1903 she joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Loreto Abbey, Ballarat. After her profession as Mother Baptista, she continued to work in Loreto schools in Adelaide and Sydney before becoming a lecturer at the Central Catholic Training College and later a teacher in Western Australia. She was a fine educationalist, gentle, firm and thorough

with a great breadth of vision. Barbara’s youngest sister, Eleanor Catherine Bell, had matriculated from the Royal University of Ireland and trained as a primary teacher at Notre Dame School in Southwark, London. In 1907 Eleanor joined the Central Catholic Training College and completed the one-year primary registration course while her sister was Mistress of Method. Eleanor returned to Dublin, where she became a governess and cared for sick family members. Another sister, Elizabeth, taught in 1908 at St Aloysius School, Redan, under the care of Loreto, before returning to Ireland to be married. After retiring from the Central Catholic Training College, Barbara joined a French order, the Religious of the Sacred Heart in Sydney, and was placed in charge of their teacher training.

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A dead secret Reverend John Ryan advises Mother Gonzaga to keep her plans for a training college confidential, 7 July 1889

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advised Mother Gonzaga to keep this idea confidential until she could afford to act on it: ‘I think you should keep the Archbishop’s reference to the Training College a dead secret. If it becomes known a hundred difficulties are sure to crop up. I would suggest that even Dr Delaney should not hear of it at the present stage.’4 At this time Dr Patrick Delaney was the private secretary to Bishop James Moore of Ballarat. Bishop Moore was later appointed the coadjutor Bishop of Hobart in 1893 and Archbishop of Tasmania in 1907. Under Loreto’s constitution Mother Gonzaga had full authority over her community but Bishop Moore wanted to control all aspects of the Church in his diocese and Archbishop Carr was reluctant to cross him.

Mother Gonzaga had long been pressing for improved training methods. She outlined her ideas for the training of secondary teachers in a paper entitled Suggestions – A College to Train Teachers for Secondary Schools. Her ideal was to find a place near the university where teachers could receive instruction within the precincts of a convent from qualified lecturers and take university subjects. She felt that this could be achieved through extensive advertising to attract bright students and through soliciting the assistance of past students.5 It is not surprising that Archbishop Carr and the bishops of Ballarat, Sale, Sandhurst and Tasmania turned to Mother Gonzaga and the Loreto community in 1905 to provide the backbone for a new teacher training facility. The community graciously agreed to transfer their Dawson Street training college to the Albert Park site, which was considered to be close enough to the city and the university.

Central Catholic Training College Archbishop Carr’s idea was to establish a central college for all religious orders and for laywomen. The college would impart the highest training to intending teachers and serve as an intellectual centre for Catholic schools and colleges. In his inaugural address for the Central Catholic Training College Dr Carr praised the extent of the curriculum, which embraced all of the elements found in the higher education of men. It was progress indeed from the time when the higher education of women contained only accomplishments and amiability. Before accepting this new responsibility Mother Gonzaga Barry laid down her conditions. Namely, the work was to be entirely under the control of the Loreto Order through the appointment of Mother Hilda Benson as the Principal, in charge of moral and religious training, and Miss Barbara Bell as Mistress of Method, in charge of the curriculum and the official business between the Education Department and the students. Barbara Bell was subsequently appointed as one of the ten examiners of the Teachers’ Registration Board under the 1905 Act.

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Mother Gonzaga wrote to Archbishop Carr: Were we to hold a subordinate position and be merely responsible for the Board and Lodgings of the Students, our influence would count for little indeed; and even if the Religious and Moral Training were to be placed in our hands, the day might come when a Secular Principal, less conscientious than Miss Bell, might draw a very marked line between our duties and hers, and might resent as interference what might in reality be needful of attention to questions of far-reaching importance.6 The Loreto Sisters agreed to her conditions and added one of their own: that the Loreto Order would not be allowed to receive into their novitiate any student who entered the training college with the avowed intention of going into any other community. While the idea of having the Loreto Sisters in charge was agreed to, the future of the college was dependent on all teaching orders agreeing to send their members to a community establishment.

A prospectus was sent by the bishops to parish priests and convents announcing the establishment of a Catholic Training College for Women Teachers – In accordance with the announcement made by us some months ago a Training College will be opened in Loreto Convent, Albert Park, Melbourne on 1st May, 1906. The object of the College is to supply a sound theoretical as well as practical course of professional training for women who are desirous of adopting teaching as a profession, either as members of a Religious teaching community or as seculars.7 Mother Gonzaga received a congratulatory note from Cardinal Patrick Moran: I wish you every success in your good work that begins today. It will have many difficulties to contend against, but if such a college is to succeed anywhere it ought to attain that success at Albert Park. The title ‘Training College for Women Teachers’ does not appear very attractive. I suppose that its special purpose will be to meet the requirements of the aspirants to our Religious Communities. ‘Normal College for Young Ladies’ would appear to be better suited. Of course in the present unsatisfactory state of the Education system, Primary, Secondary & University, our aim must be to make every Novitiate a Normal School.8 A ‘Normal College’ was the name used widely in Europe and North America for a school created to train secondary graduates as teachers. Its purpose was to

Were we to hold a subordinate position and be merely responsible for the Board and Lodgings of the Students, our influence would count for little indeed; and even if the Religious and Moral Training were to be placed in our hands, the day might come when a Secular Principal, less conscientious than Miss Bell, might draw a very marked line between our duties and hers, and might resent as interference what might in reality be needful of attention to questions of far-reaching importance.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

Opposite: Affirmation and advice A letter from Cardinal Patrick Moran congratulating Mother Gonzaga Barry, 1 May 1906

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establish teaching standards or norms. The Cardinal’s advice was taken and the name was altered to the Central Catholic Training College and registered as school number 383 on 26 July 1906. There were seven classrooms, thirteen student boarders, eight teachers, four of whom were members of the Loreto community, and four lay teachers. Combined with the staff of Our Lady of the Angels and Saints Peter and Paul’s School, there were eleven Loreto members in the Albert Park community and two student-teachers, Katherine O’Brien and Violet Monger, who both came from Loreto Norwood, in South Australia.

Immediately, work commenced on modifying Loreto Convent Albert Park to accommodate extra classrooms and private residential facilities for students. The initial renovations cost £1,690, with the bishops contributing £300 in the first year. The remainder was incumbent on Loreto. By the time of the official opening on 5 August 1906 the cost of the improvements had reached £2,358, a further financial impost on the community. Archbishop Carr was exceedingly generous in offering scholarships to help defray this debt and other bishops followed suit.

Laymen Daniel Slattery and Count Thomas O’Loughlin founded their own scholarships and another was later established by the Victorian branch of the Australian Catholic Federation. Eleven students enrolled on 1 May 1906. Two main streams of teacher training were offered. They were a one-year course for sub-primary and primary registration for the teacher’s certificate of the Registration Board and a two-year secondary training course run through the diploma of education at the University of Melbourne. Students in the latter course were examined by university personnel. In addition, students were encouraged to enrol in university subjects and attend Saturday morning extension lectures at Albert Park. The Faithful Companions of Jesus were the first congregation to avail themselves of the Saturday lectures.

Initially the college did not accept continuation students sitting for Matric­ ulation, which had been renamed the Junior and Senior Public Examinations in secondary schools. These qualifications were required for teacher training. There was a pressing need to provide tuition in the top levels of secondary education, as only four per cent of Victorians in 1905 were receiving secondary schooling.

By the end of the first year there were fifteen Central Catholic Training College students: three completed the diploma of education, nine the primary registration course and two were secondary students. The fifteenth student was Louisa Barry, a residential student who was combining a teaching diploma with a law degree at the University of Melbourne. She was the granddaughter of Sir Redmond Barry, the first Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Louisa had been a student-teacher for a year at Dawson Street, Ballarat. Her father, George, was the proprietor of the Victoria Hotel at Alberton in Gippsland. After completing her studies Louisa applied her legal skills to forming a constitution for the 78

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Loreto Free Kindergarten and lobbied for the formation of Loreto’s St Mary’s Hall at the University of Melbourne, becoming a generous benefactor of both foundations.

The difficulties alluded to by the Cardinal soon came to pass. In 1906 Bishop Patrick Delaney wrote to Mother Bertrand Lawlor, a member of the Central Catholic Training College staff: My trouble about the Training College is the jealousy of the other Orders and the impossibility of overcoming it so long as any one Order starts with the pretension of leading them. I wish I could give them the grace to see their error, but that is a vain hope. It is not the first time that our Catholic Orders have arrested and even marred the work of God by their corporate jealousy.9 Bishop Joseph Higgins of Ballarat also wrote to Mother Bertrand explaining that Dr Delaney considered they had made a tactical mistake in appointing Barbara Bell as second in charge and this appointment had led to dissatisfaction among some of the orders. But Bishop Higgins was convinced of the prudence of Miss Bell’s appointment: You must not allow Dr Delaney’s letter to discourage you. I am sure he is most anxious about the success of the College; but if he were acquainted with all of the difficulties to be contended with he might not feel so strongly. Dr Delaney says the public will not allow ‘so important a responsibility to any community no matter what’. But my reply is, why not allow it? Your Convent at Stephen’s Green, Dublin asserted its right to a place, second only to the University College at the Royal University Ireland examinations for the highest degrees and before those won by three Queen’s Colleges, Blackrock or the other competing Colleges.

I believe your Sisters in Australia should be able to repeat this success, and if so to satisfy the demand of the most exacting critics.’10

My trouble about the Training College is the jealousy of the other Orders and the impossibility of overcoming it so long as any one Order starts with the pretension of leading them. I wish I could give them the grace to see their error, but that is a vain hope. It is not the first time that our Catholic Orders have arrested and even marred the work of God by their corporate jealousy.

Bishop Patrick Delaney

This undercurrent of dissension upset Mother Gonzaga and she was beginning to have second thoughts. Having embarked on running a continuation school, providing two levels of teacher training and university tuition side by side was challenging. She was firmly of the view that these strands should be offered at Loreto Albert Park and that none of her students should attend the government equivalents or Albert Park would become merely a boarding house. In October 1907 Bishop Joseph Higgins wrote: As to the Training College, I am much disappointed to find that you take a hopeless view of it. Practically it is costing you nothing, and you still tell me it

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The true Teacher, with a firm grasp of first principles, a just judgement, a trained power of reasoning, a cultured appreciation of all that is true and good and beautiful, the true Woman with a clear, reverential sense of her duty to God, herself, and her fellow creatures. These are the aims which have called this college into existence, and which we feel it is our duty to hold constantly before the mind of the Student from the day of her entrance until the final hour when the seal of approval is placed upon the conclusion of her College course.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

must be closed. If so I beg of you to let me know in time, so that I can make arrangements for the coming year. I must confess I am sadly disappointed in the attitude of some of the Religious bodies of the Diocese. In a time of crisis like this I expected more broadminded assistance.11 Fortunately Mother Gonzaga found great supporters in three orders whose isolated efforts to raise the teaching standards of their enthusiastic members had lacked the necessary uniformity, drive and concerted efforts to achieve widespread success. The Presentation Sisters sent thirty-seven of their nuns to live and study at the college, the Mercy Sisters sent ten sisters from the country and interstate, and six of Mary MacKillop’s Josephite Sisters came from Tasmania in response to Dr Delaney’s intervention. Two Mercy nuns came from Singleton and boarded for two months during the 1908–09 summer vacation. Between the two sisters they had forty-eight years of teaching experience. Barbara Bell remarked that they gave great satisfaction and left her nothing to do! These arrivals were an affirmation of Mother Gonzaga’s twofold ideal of the true Teacher, with a firm grasp of first principles, a just judgement, a trained power of reasoning, a cultured appreciation of all that is true and good and beautiful, the true Woman with a clear, reverential sense of her duty to God, herself, and her fellow creatures. These are the aims which have called this college into existence, and which we feel it is our duty to hold constantly before the mind of the Student from the day of her entrance until the final hour when the seal of approval is placed upon the conclusion of her College course.12 The centralisation of a college at Albert Park, open to all Catholic female religious, made for the conservation of resources, a certain broadening of outlook, a degree of uniformity and greater facility in administration. The syllabus clearly set out the goals for a Catholic education, with the study of Christian doctrine, Bible history, Church history and philosophy compulsory for all students. There was meditation and Mass for all boarders in the mornings and spiritual reading in the evenings. Reverend Patrick McCurtin SJ, Prefect of Studies at Xavier College, described the Central Catholic Training College in 1909: Distinguished experts in science and education and assistant professors were engaged; provision was made for the housing of resident lady students and a certain number of scholarships were provided. This institution has already done very valuable work. It enjoys the confidence and respect of the Registration Board and has enhanced the reputation of the Catholic body in the sphere of Education.13

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Visiting lecturers In addition to the Loreto community, an extra­ordinary range of visiting lecturers were employed at the Central Catholic Training College for their specific expertise. Religious studies were in the capable hands of Jesuits: the parish priest of Hawthorn, Reverend James Colgan SJ, assisted by two brothers, Reverend James O’Dwyer SJ and Reverend Thomas O’Dwyer SJ, who were the rectors of Xavier College and St Patrick’s College, and later Reverend Albert Power SJ, Rector of Newman College. Teaching methods were covered by members of the University of Melbourne staff, all of whom were non-Catholics. These included Martin Hansen, MA, LLB; Leslie Wrigley, MA; Florence Wrigley, BA, DipEd (who always wore a hat when lecturing); Thomas Palmer, MA, LLB; Catherine Remington, MA; Arthur Gwillim, MA, DipEd; Julia Young, MA, DipEd; Amy Williams, MA, DipEd; and Olivet Morrissey, BA, DipEd. Others were secondary teachers in independent schools, including Lawrence Arthur Adamson, MA, Headmaster of Wesley College; Quintin Smith, MA, Headmaster of Hawthorn College; and Susie Mitchell, BA, DipEd, from Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School. Isobel Macdonald, MA, Senior Mistress of History at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, taught history with a passion and later became Headmistress of Fintona Girls’ School in Balwyn. William Hoggart,

BA, of Melbourne Grammar School, conducted demonstration lessons in the science of gravity.

An Anglican clergyman, William Lamprey Bowditch, MA, taught mathematics; Stanley Browning Vial from University High School taught commerce; Alfred Sissons, BSc, DipEd, took science classes; John Leach, DSc, taught nature study and geography; and Charles French, a government horticulturist, took lessons in entomology. Dr Leo Kenny, an ophthalmologist, gave talks on painting, sculpture and music, and Bertha Merfield gave demonstrations on drawing plant life, while Benjamin Hoare spoke of his career as a journalist for both secular and religious papers. Two professors of classics, Thomas Tucker and Edward Boulger, discussed Latin and Greek treasures and introduced lessons to the students on Shakespeare. A science master and Shakespearean scholar, Alfred Hart, lectured on teaching methods and literature. Drama and literature lectures were delivered, with a great zest for life and a slight taint of the eccentric, by Isabella Dorothea Marshall, MA. Musician Lorne Campbell Macarthur, MA, a lecturer at the Working Mens’ College, taught the theory of music and took sessions in piano, organ and singing, while John Felstead took instrumental lessons and the choir. In addition, special musical courses in the art of teaching, interpretation and examination work were conducted during the summer vacations.

Advocates of women’s higher education were careful to point out that educated women made the most agreeably cultured companions and conscientious mothers; but women who achieved the difficult balance between the demands of marriage, motherhood and career were rare. Only thirty-two out of the three hundred and fifty-one Central Catholic Training College students were recorded as marrying after their training. The students wrote that the very atmosphere of the college breathed Catholicity. Holy Mass and the Sacraments worked their mighty influence unseen and the graduates were sent out with the breastplate of faith.14

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Top: Gaining a different perspective An opportunity for students of the Central Catholic Training College, Albert Park, to study nature in the Royal Botanic Gardens, 1922 Bottom: Rowing on Albert Park Lake Recreation for students from the Central Catholic Training College, 1922

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Activities at the Central Catholic Training College During term time the students rowed on Albert Park Lake; played tennis on a court donated by Archbishop Carr; and were taken on excursions to the Royal Botanic Gardens and an exhibition of fine china and antique furniture at Government House. They attended a piano recital by Herr Edward Goll, a classical orchestral recital by Paul Howard and a concert by Valentine Vousden, an Irish impersonator and ventriloquist. A visit to the Geological Museum in East Melbourne was followed by looking at lava flows along the Yarra River and specimens of glacial denudation at Bacchus Marsh. A morning was devoted to the study of instruments and scientific apparatus at the University of Melbourne. The students formed the Aquin Literary Club and celebrated Mother Hilda’s feast day in 1909 with a French soiree: ‘The scene from Molière’s Bourgeois, Gentil Homme was cleverly acted and Lis Djinns of Victor Hugo, a quaintly fantastic poem, was very artistically rendered. A French song and some music by French composers on violin and piano completed the programm (sic).’15 Students attending the Central Catholic Training College were also exposed to the less salubrious aspects of teaching. One of Mother Gonzaga’s main aims in all of her foundations was caring for the poor. In 1905 Reverend John Ryan described her spirit and actions as throwing a halo around poverty and privations.16 For some of the more genteel women the experiences gained at the Central Catholic Training College were confronting. The visits to St Vincent de Paul’s Boys’ Orphanage, South Melbourne, were an eye-opener for many as it was the first time that they had seen the breadth of the gap between the haves and the have nots. Although described as an orphanage, few residents were true orphans. Typically the orphanage provided temporary accommodation to children of widowed or destitute parents who might re-claim their children when their circumstances improved. The Christian Brothers made judgements on the basis of need and the availability of beds. The only restrictions were known illegitimacy, children younger than two years and those in the care of the criminal system.

Because the boys were educated within the orphanage and participated in most of their activities within its grounds there was little opportunity to break the monotony of daily life. The lack of refinement and discipline of the boys and the shock of the sight of boys forced to use the gutters because of the orphanage’s inadequate sanitary facilities were among the most lasting and distasteful memories of the students’ time at the Central Catholic Training College.

Lesbia Keogh Not all of the students remained faithful to their roots. Lesbia Keogh was educated by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart at Clifton, Malvern, and at Mary’s Mount before attending the college as a continuing student for two years. While studying law and arts at the University of Melbourne she rebelled against her family’s staunch Catholicism.

After graduating, instead of practising law and despite a congenital heart condition, she married a non-Catholic and went to work in a clothing factory to experience the conditions of working girls first-hand. She became involved in union politics and joined the Industrial Workers of the World. She wrote lyrical poems, often set to her own musical compositions, about her wartime and union experiences. These were published by journalist Nettie Palmer long after Lesbia’s death from tuberculosis, at the age of thirty-six.

Education Act 1910 After the first four years of steady progress the winds of change were in the air.

Vigorous debates about amending the 1905 Act governing the registration of

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Emily Ruth Goddard Emily Ruth Goddard was born in London, one of seven children of non-Catholics Captain William Goddard and his Irish wife, Susan D’Arcy. Emily’s early education was on the high seas, followed by formal schooling at Loreto Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland. In 1885 she studied languages at the Royal Institute Nymphenburg, Munich, followed by two years of teaching art classes there. Nymphenburg was the town in which Mary Ward had established a branch in the 1620s. While in Munich Emily became steeped in the story of Mary Ward and, as a Loreto in Australia, became an outspoken advocate for her recognition. Emily achieved the highest awards in Munich for humanities, including drawing and painting. With the idea of becoming a painter she enrolled in the Slade School of Fine Art, London. She graduated with a teacher’s certificate in art and joined the Bloomsbury Group of writers, philosophers and artists in London.

In 1896 Emily arrived in Sydney on her father’s ship, Macquarie, and gained employment as an art teacher, also painting local scenes. She entered the Loreto Order at the age of thirty-three. As a member of the Central Catholic Training College staff, her

demonstration classes, lessons and constructive criticism of students’ work were interspersed with English humour. Her catechetic lessons were very popular. She described these as ‘the tightrope course’, in which she distinguished between the essentials and non-essentials of the Catholic religion. With the air of a duchess she organised the students’ entertainments, assisted with their drama productions and painted their murals and scenery.

She loved the theatre and this inspired the plays and the ‘living tableaux’ style of concert she produced at Albert Park. In December 1915 she travelled with Mother Elizabeth Forbes to Loreto Claremont to conduct a series of lectures over the six weeks of the summer holidays for the sisters of the surrounding primary schools. In 1918 students of the Central Catholic Training College performed ‘tableaux vivants’ to an appreciative audience at the Cathedral Hall, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, to raise funds for the Catholic Women’s University College, later called St Mary’s Hall. The hand-painted programs, presented to the prelates, and the scenery were described as works of art.17 Loreto Toorak later implemented Emily’s approach of ‘living tableaux’.

teachers and schools began to appear in the press and parliament during 1908. In January 1911 the Education Act 1910 (no. 2301) was finally passed. It empowered state inspection not just of school environments but also of curriculum and teaching. The Teachers’ Registration Board was replaced by the Council of Education, which was made up of paid members with greater accountability to government. More significantly it legalised the introduction of state secondary schools, thereby legitimising the activities of a number of institutions already operating in Victoria. This included the Melbourne Continuation School in Spring Street, Melbourne. With fees of £6 a year and buildings and equipment that compared favourably to many non-government schools, the state enterprises posed a potentially damaging threat to the private sector. For students to pass public examinations all schools required specialist teachers, while building modifications demanded a heavy and constant input of capital, usually beyond the 84

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reserves of a small privately run school. Many schools were forced to close and those relegated by registration to primary status created a glut in the market. As a result, the number of independent schools in Victoria fell from nine hundred and forty-five in 1898 to almost half that number by 1912. Between 1905 and 1924, the previously ad hoc conduct of non-government girls’ schools took on a new formality for the first time as the curriculum, the classroom and the profession of teaching became uncompromisingly regulated by legislation. This new Act imposed a rigorous form of schooling designed to destroy the inefficient and to strengthen those most competitive in public examinations.

Perhaps the prospect of increased government intervention in curriculum and governance led to the resignation of Barbara Bell, Mistress of Method, at the end of 1908. Mother Elizabeth Forbes was appointed Vice-Principal and assumed a large portion of the burden of running the college from an ageing Mother Hilda Benson. Mother Patrick Callanan was appointed Mistress of Staff, while Leslie Wrigley, Principal of the University Practising School, supervised the implementation of the appropriate teaching methods. Both Mother Elizabeth and Mother Patrick had been in the first intake of Central Catholic Training College students and in 1908 had completed their diplomas of education.

Catherine Forbes had already completed an honours degree in classics in 1897 at the University of Melbourne before entering. Eileen Callanan had undertaken studies in pedagogy at Cambridge and in art, specialising in watercolour and still life, at the Kensington School of Art in London before coming to Australia.

In 1915 Mother Catherine Goddard joined the staff. The inspector of schools, Martin Hansen, dubbed the trio of Mothers Elizabeth (Australian), Patrick (Irish) and Catherine (English) as his ‘United Kingdom’.

Above: Fresh air and sunshine Playing tennis on the Central Catholic Training College court donated by Archbishop Thomas Carr, 1922 Top, left: Enjoying the view Students atop the flat roof of the Central Catholic Training College, 1922 Top, right: Serious studies The library at the Central Catholic Training College, 1922

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Non-Catholic student-teachers Left: An outstanding teacher and organiser Mother Elizabeth Forbes, c. 1935 Right: Formal attire Seventeen student-teachers of the Central Catholic Training College, 1922

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From the outset, the college received great support from local Protestant ladies’ colleges whose principals, like Mother Gonzaga, were members of the Incorporated Association of Secondary Teachers of Victoria. The Central Catholic Training College was the only choice for student-teachers in non-government schools because the Education Department and the Melbourne Teachers’ College would train only those who wished to work in government schools. St Michael’s Collegiate School, in Marlton Crescent, St Kilda, was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church, an Anglican religious order. It was a fee-paying day school supported by Dr Alexander Leeper, the Warden of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. After gaining registration as a secondary school in 1906, St Michael’s added a boarding house. The sisters encouraged their graduates to pursue teaching and to return to their old school. Hazel and Dorothy Bradshaw had been boarders at St Michael’s after their father was killed in a railway accident. After attending the Central Catholic Training College, Hazel became a primary teacher at St Michael’s Collegiate School and Dorothy taught senior English and history there before being appointed as Headmistress.

Also teaching at St Michael’s were Central Catholic Training College students Florence Walker, who taught drama, and Madeleine Levick, who taught physiology and later completed a science degree. A Jewish lady, Ursula Cohen, was a pupil of Our Lady of the Angels before completing her Central Catholic Training College primary registration. She provided unstinting loyalty for two decades in the junior school of St Michael’s. At the same time Barbara Mullen and Mollie Dombrain from the Central Catholic Training College also worked in the preparatory school. Gwynne Sylvia Rusden was taught by Amy Williams at

The Hay sisters Iris and Olga Hay were the daughters of Reverend Joseph Hay, a Presbyterian minister. The girls boarded at Oberwyl and later at Clyde Girls’ School, St Kilda. The Hay family were not well off and the girls needed to become self-sufficient. Iris worked as a governess before coming to the Central Catholic Training College and was later appointed to the staff of Clyde, Woodend. After attending the Central Catholic Training College, Iris and Olga graduated in 1924 with arts degrees from the University of Melbourne. Iris had a quiet, shy temperament that made teaching difficult and she struggled to keep control in the classroom. She was greatly loved by the students and staff but was rather overshadowed by her forceful sister. After working in many senior positions in non-government schools in Victoria, Olga was appointed in 1937 as Headmistress of Clyde, Woodend. Among Olga’s charges were girls from some of the wealthiest families in Australia, yet Olga had worked as a cleaner and maid and had earned her living all

of her adult life. She had a blunt, no-nonsense manner and no time for affectation.

While studying at the Central Catholic Training College Olga had lived at Ingleton, a boarding house. This was opposite Fairlight Girls’ School in Alma Road, St Kilda, where she was employed as a resident junior mistress. Not only was she studying for her diploma of education, she also had to study for the Junior Public Arithmetic Examination which she had failed at Clyde. Olga recalled that Loreto opened a new world to her through visits to the poor at the Loreto Free Kindergarten, South Melbourne, and to the Deaf and Dumb Institution, Prahran.

She described Mother Patrick Callanan as the most vibrant and memorable teacher of literature that she had known. Olga remembered giving a lesson on Alfred Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade during the annual inspection conducted by Martin Hansen. The inspector described her rendition of this poem ‘as spoken like a funeral oration by one ignorant of language’.18

Aldworth Girls’ Grammar, Malvern East, an Anglican foundation covering subprimary, primary and secondary levels. After completing her training at the Central Catholic Training College Gwynne returned to Aldworth and taught primary classes and music. Beryl Lindsay was educated at Cromarty Girls’ School, a private dames’ school in Elsternwick. She completed her diploma of education and taught at Methodist Ladies’ College, Kew, before being appointed VicePrincipal of Methodist Ladies’ College’s Elsternwick campus. An extraordinarily energetic woman, Beryl, as president of the Assistant Mistresses’ Association of Victoria, was largely responsible for achieving equity in pay and superannuation for female assistant teachers in non-government schools.

The first Central Catholic Training College intake included Elizabeth Ogilvy (Betty) Curwen from Oberwyl, St Kilda. This school was run by Isabel Henderson, who supported the idea of an independent system for teacher training. She encouraged members of her teaching staff at Oberwyl and later at Clyde Girls’ School, St Kilda, to attend the Central Catholic Training College. In turn she welcomed Central Catholic Training College students to her schools for practice

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Criticism lessons were formidable in a less tolerant age A Central Catholic Training College criticism lesson in 1914, with the students grouped at the side of the room

lessons. In 1906 Oberwyl was one of the largest private schools in Victoria, with an enrolment of one hundred students from Kindergarten to Matriculation. This number included eighteen boarders and a permanent staff of thirteen. After completing her teacher training, Betty spent a few years as a governess before returning to teach with Isabel Henderson. She became a founding mistress of Clyde. Betty had a wonderful rapport with children and a gentle and courteous manner. Also from the Oberwyl and Clyde stables of excellent pupils were Catherine Remington and Julia Young, who both lectured at the Central Catholic Training College, and Constance Derepas and Adele Hacke, who each graduated with a diploma of education from the Central Catholic Training College.

Iris and Olga Hay, the daughters of Reverend Joseph Hay, a Presbyterian minister, boarded at Oberwyl and later at Clyde, St Kilda. Olga’s time at the Central Catholic Training College involved a punishing schedule. In 1966 Olga wrote: The main purpose of the student was ‘to fill in the half hour between the bells’.

In these lessons discipline was never a problem as a nun was always present.

Forty-five years ago ‘Chalk and Talk’ was still the chief method and one was expected to prepare and present each lesson according to a definite plan, using five headings: Aim, Preparation, Presentation, Recapitulation and Application.

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Aids to teaching, apart from an occasional map, a few pictures and drawings on the blackboard, which was never very large, were not encouraged. Students had three weeks’ continuous practice in an approved school. Each student had to give ten ‘Criticism Lessons’ before her colleagues and one or more supervisors.

The criticisms were often quite devastating in an age less tolerant than the present one. At the end of the year students gave a lesson before the Education Department Inspectors, who had the power to grant registration. Once one became a registered primary teacher one was allowed to teach at a secondary standard also. Registration not knowledge was the essential qualification.19 Between 1906 and 1924 thirty-eight Loreto members at the Central Catholic Training College assisted in the training of three hundred and fifty students. One hundred and fifty students entered religious orders, including two for Loreto Africa, one for Loreto India and another for the Missionary Sisters for China. Not all graduates pursued a career in teaching, but they used their training experience in other fields, with three becoming nurses. Peggie Shawcross became a senior secretary in a wool broking firm in London. She cut short her career and returned to Melbourne after the death of her sister to care for her nieces and nephews. Her youngest niece, Elizabeth Maher, attended Loreto Toorak and became a nurse.

Persistent ill health prevented Nora Heerey from fulfilling her dream of becoming a Loreto nun. She had attended Our Lady of the Angels and the Central Catholic Training College before St Mary’s Hall, where she studied accountancy and worked for many years in the federal taxation department. Nora became the treasurer of the Past Students’ Association of St Mary’s Hall, established in 1945, and business manager of The Horizon, the magazine of the Catholic Women’s Social Guild, later known as the Catholic Women’s League of Victoria.

The College Councillors, 1913 Back row, left to right: Mary Cleary, Irene Jones (Mother Brigid), Eileen Doherty; seated on the step, Millie McPhee (Mother Aquin)

A Catholic ladies’ hostel for university students

The foundation of St Mary’s Hall in 1918 owed its origins to Mother Gonzaga’s vision. She believed that university students should be housed in a separate hostel or hall near the university and to this end she worked and planned. The issue of higher education for girls was candidly debated at Loreto Mary’s Mount. One student, Daisy Cussen, wrote an article in Eucalyptus Blossoms about ‘The Intellectual Training of Girls’. Daisy argued that mental culture in women did not, as some people imagined, infer a corresponding neglect of ordinary duties. Her article came to a stirring conclusion: ‘No nation ever yet was great whose women did not glory in its greatness’.20 Daisy entered Loreto and as Mother Teresa became an

No nation ever yet was great whose women did not glory in its greatness Daisy Cussen

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Practical domestic skills A cooking class conducted under the watchful eye of Sarah Barry, Mother Gonzaga’s sister, seated on the right, 1896

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artist, taught mathematics and espoused the cause of Mary Ward as their founder.

During her leadership Mother Gonzaga travelled widely in Australia and abroad, always keeping her community informed about new methods of teaching and administration. On a visit to England and Ireland in 1894 Mother Gonzaga heard about a newly established Catholic women’s hostel at Cambridge University. She began to quietly advocate for a similar institution for the University of Melbourne.

When Mother Gonzaga returned to Australia she was accompanied by her only sister, Sarah Barry. At Mother Gonzaga’s instigation, Sarah rented a twostorey terrace house in June 1895 to accommodate Josephine Murtagh and her mother, Mary, the widow of Gerald Murtagh of Dublin and sister of the late Bishop Michael O’Connor of Ballarat.21 Mother Gonzaga’s plan was for these three ladies to share the commodious rooms with Catholic female university students. She designated Mother Berchmans Stafford to oversee this foundation.

Mother Gonzaga saw this arrangement as providing the students with the protection of the Church in a home-like atmosphere situated near the Fitzroy Gardens at 17 Burlington Terrace, Landsdowne Street, East Melbourne.

Burlington Terrace had been designed by architect Charles Webb and built for a Jewish investor, Henry Philip Harris, as a residential terrace divided into sixteen apartments. The Harris family lived in the corner apartment, which curved around

into Albert Street. The other apartments were rented to prominent Jewish businessmen. By 1895 the tenants were mainly Jewish ladies, although Maurice Brodzky, founder of Table Talk, which was considered one of Australia’s raciest publications, lived in an adjoining apartment.

The idea of establishing a university hostel was warmly supported by the coadjutor Bishop of Hobart, Dr Patrick Delaney: The one supreme merit of the plan as regards your own Community lies in the opportunity it will afford the younger sisters of following a course of studies without leaving the convent or in any way coming under the eye of the public.

Of course, they will not hear the University lectures proper, but you must have at least one or more University graduates in the house and this teaching will provide all they need to pursue their studies. Then you will have ample opportunity of cultivating personal relations with the University staff; and these personal relations count for much in life’s success.22 Archbishop Carr appeared to be in two minds about the hostel, agreeing verbally, but subsequently writing to Mother Gonzaga about his reservations.

Mother Gonzaga‘s response to Archbishop Carr was full of the humble phraseology that religious women used to address their ecclesiastical superiors.

She pointed out that in the beginning there would not be any outlay on their part but that with his patronage the initial difficulties could be surmounted: ‘As the students of this hostel will have to attend lectures at the university and some classes in day school, whilst at the same time will probably require more liberty out of study hours than would be compatible with the regularity of conventional life, I thought the hostel would be better under the management of secular ladies in their charge.’23 She then took the project directly to the Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Sir Anthony Brownless, asking for his support for the proposal of a Catholic university hostel and to recommend suitable applicants. In a community in which relatively few Catholics held prominent positions, Dr Brownless, a convert to Catholicism, was continually called on to represent his church’s interests.

In May 1887 Dr Brownless had visited the Loreto convent and school at Ballarat.24 Other university connections followed. When the University Extension Lectures were introduced in 1891, Professor Edward Morris gave a lecture on the ‘Romantic Movement in English and French Literature’ to the girls at Loreto Mary’s Mount.25 Female undergraduates had first been admitted to the University of Melbourne in March 1880. Julia Margaret (Bella) Guerin was the first female to graduate there and the first female to graduate from any Australian university.

She achieved this distinction in December 1883, eight years after matriculating.

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Two years later she completed a master of arts. Bella was the daughter of Irishborn parents Patrick Guerin, chief warder of the Ballarat jail, and Julia Kearney, who educated Bella at home. After graduating, Bella became a teacher at Loreto Mary’s Mount, edited the early issues of Eucalyptus Blossoms and wrote a number of articles on the role of women. Bella urged for the establishment of higher education scholarships for Catholic girls to produce ‘a band of noble thought­ful women as a powerful influence for good in the persons of our Catholic girlgraduates’.26 Bella later became a feminist and socialist and moved from Catholicism to rationalism, discarding orthodox religion as irrelevant.

At her graduation ceremony, the then Vice-Chancellor Dr Brownless had expressed his personal gratification in being privileged to admit the first lady bachelor of arts. Perhaps these words of welcome were sincere, but Brownless was certainly no advocate of females entering the university and his record in promoting their participation was mixed. In 1871 he had fought a single-handed battle to allow women to matriculate, which served in practice both as university entrance and as a school exit. However, Dr Brownless did not approve of women enrolling at the university – he had been one of three councillors to vote against the admission of women three years earlier. In particular he had no desire to welcome any women into his own field of medicine and voted against their admission to the medical degree. Whether or not it was prudent for Mother Gonzaga to rely on the support of Dr Brownless, no university students were forthcoming. The Loreto ladies moved from East Melbourne to Ballarat, where they undertook good works for Loreto. Sarah Barry lived at Loreto Mary’s Mount, where she taught domestic economy and acted as a chaperone, escorting the girls to visits to the doctor or dentist. Sarah died after a decade of faithful service to the Loreto Ballarat community and students.

The Newman Society of Victoria It was not until 1910 that the Catholic men and women attending the University of Melbourne formed a society for the discussion of religious and social issues.

Three prominent women joined their inaugural committee: Louisa Barry and Anna Brennan were law graduates and Lucy Verdon was the first Catholic science graduate. The students named the new association the Newman Society of Victoria, after Cardinal John Henry Newman, and Archbishop Carr became their first president. Carr introduced the annual University Sunday at St Patrick’s Cathedral, where graduates and undergraduates would gather for Mass, followed by hospitality and musical items. In his sermon on 11 May 1913 Carr promised the members of the Newman Society that he would found a university college. In 1914, subscriptions were opened to finance the new college and a committee of 92

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members of the hierarchy, prominent laymen and donors was formed, which included Mick Mornane, a strong supporter of Loreto, who became their treasurer.

In April 1915 the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Bonaventura Cerretti, addressed the Newman Society, saying how pleased he was to learn of their project for a Catholic college at the university. As The Argus reported, ‘He regarded it as absolutely necessary that the youths of both sexes of the nation should be thoroughly trained for the work of the future, not only for the benefit of religion, but for the country as well.’27 In May 1915 the committee decided to suspend their campaign for a university college until the end of the war. When they received a donation from Thomas Donovan of £30,000 towards bursaries for poor men’s sons to attend the college, which they graciously accepted, the committee quickly reconvened.28 No public discussion took place about specific arrangements for a separate hostel or college for women, although women generously subscribed to the appeal. In 1917 Anna Brennan presented a strident paper to the Catholic Women’s Social Guild about this omission, as the college was almost an accomplished fact. She referred to the provision for the training of Catholic teachers at the Central Catholic Training College but that laywomen wishing to undertake other professions or positions in public life were being denied educational opportunities. Anna argued that equal facilities should be given to women students at the university, including the right to compete for scholarships.29 The guild endorsed her stance. Her paper on the ‘Need of University Training for Women’ was published in full a week later. She wrote: ‘I think it would be no more than justice to allow women to compete for all scholarships, resident or non-resident, subject of course, to any conditions imposed upon the scholarships by the donors. Until a hostel is established within the college itself, these girls could be arranged in boarding houses.’30 She stated that university women ‘will do their creditable best in giving the death blow to that lingering legacy of early Victorian days, that discreditable spectre which lurks still in our secondary schools – the idea that the woman who works with hand or brain is inferior in social status or in public credit to the woman who lives at ease on somebody else’s money’.31 In March 1915 Mother Gonzaga Barry died and Mother Stanislaus Mulhall was appointed her successor. Barbara Mulhall was born in Carlow, Ireland, and educated at Loreto Gorey, entering the novitiate at Rathfarnham. At the age of twenty-four she volunteered to accompany Mother Gonzaga to Australia but her offer was refused and she remained at Gorey as a music and general teacher for another eight years. Arriving in Victoria in 1883, Mother Stanislaus was appointed as the Mistress of Novices at Ballarat with the task of laying the spiritual foundations for Loreto’s visible works to flourish. On her shoulders rested the responsibility of negotiating further with the hierarchy to bring to fruition the

He regarded it as absolutely necessary that the youths of both sexes of the nation should be thoroughly trained for the work of the future, not only for the benefit of religion, but for the country as well.

The Argus

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plan for establishing a college for women at the university. Mother Stanislaus discussed her position first with Archbishop Thomas Carr and then, following his death in 1917, with his successor, Archbishop Daniel Mannix.

In February 1916, Mother Hilda Benson, who strongly supported Mother Gonzaga’s aim for a women’s university college, wrote to Ireland for information about the Loreto university residence in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. The reply to her request was delayed first by the Easter rebellion in Dublin and then by the events of war, which further interrupted correspondence. An answer was finally written in November 1917 giving full details of the Dublin Loreto hostel and including copies of the rules of the first three Catholic residences established for women in England, two at Cambridge – Girton and Newnham – and one at Oxford – St Frideswide’s Cherwell Edge.32 Loreto’s choice to run a Melbourne college was based not on their overseas commitments and experience but on their local enterprise. The dual role of the Central Catholic Training College – training teachers and providing accommodation and tuition for university students – emphasised the importance that Loreto gave to furthering the education of women. Through the Central Catholic Training College Loreto had provided a practical precedent, centralisation and a focus for the movement towards a Catholic university college.

The first residence for St Mary’s Hall On 4 April 1917 Archbishop Mannix visited Mother Stanislaus and the community at Albert Park. He instructed the Loreto to make arrangements with their lawyer, Mick Mornane, to secure a house near the university which would be suitable for a women’s residence. The choice was Barbiston, opposite Royal Park, Parkville, built for a Scottish gentleman, Richard Gibson, a grazier and stock and station agent in Queen Street, Melbourne. During the 1870s Barbiston was designed as a city residence for Gibson’s wife and four children by architect William Henry Ellerker and later extended by architect Lloyd Tayler. Barbiston comprised a two-storey residence of fifteen rooms and a detached coach house with a stable and loft, built on three allotments facing Royal Park near the corner of The Avenue and Walker Street, Parkville. The Italianate cast-iron lace and mosaic-tiled floors of Barbiston were in stark contrast to the size, setting and style of Walter Burley Griffin’s modernist designs and fittings, which included a dining hall under a circular dome, for the new men’s residence, Newman College, at the University of Melbourne, Swanston Street, Parkville.

In December 1917 the property was purchased for £5,500 by the Roman Catholic Trusts Corporation for the Diocese of Melbourne and entrusted to Loreto. Mick Mornane, a member of the trust and treasurer of the first Newman 94

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College Council, suggested that the community should buy the property themselves on the grounds that they might be held accountable for debt if changes were made in ecclesiastical authority.33 But already heavily committed at Albert Park, Loreto accepted Archbishop Mannix’s proposal and renamed the property St Mary’s Hall.

Archbishop Mannix instructed the Loreto Order to furnish the house modestly, as the archdiocese was drawing from funds (collected for a Catholic college) which the grandiose Newman College was rapidly absorbing. Archbishop Carr had insisted that Newman College ‘must be externally and internally, architecturally and organically, worthy of the purposes, the nursing mother of universities to safeguard manhood from the dangers and temptations of university life’.34 An early community member of St Mary’s Hall, Mother Mildred Dew, was interested in history, and in retirement, as archivist and historian, she compiled a centenary publication of the Australian foundations entitled From Ballarat to Broome.

This book included a story about St Mary’s Hall. It recalled how following Richard Gibson’s death in 1886 Barbiston was placed on the market. Apparently, when Mother Gonzaga first came to Melbourne to search for a suitable house for her new foundation, she saw Barbiston and fell in love with it, but the asking price was too high and it was purchased by a bed-and-spring manufacturer, James Munro.35 After Munro’s death some thirty years later, once the legal formalities were settled with the executors of his estate, a group of students from the Central Catholic Training College assisted the community in preparing the rooms at Barbiston.

Stately Barbiston in Parkville The first home for St Mary’s Hall and Loreto’s university students, 1918

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Mother Patrick Callanan The first Principal of St Mary’s Hall was Mother Patrick Callanan, who remained in this position for twenty-five years. She was a gifted and fascinating Irishwoman with a great sense of humour and the

ability to argue a case. Eileen was the eldest of the ten children of Thomas Callanan, a farmer at Ardfield, County Cork. She was educated by the Loreto in Dublin and studied for her first degree at University College Dublin. Two of her younger sisters entered Loreto, but Eileen was turned down by Loreto

Fermoy due to a limp caused by a back injury. In 1900 she came to Ballarat, where she was accepted into the novitiate. After completing a diploma of education and a bachelor of arts at the University of Melbourne she was appointed as Vice-Principal at the Central Catholic Training College. Her personal scholastic ability, both as a university lecturer and college organiser, helped to lay the foundations of the hall’s reputation. Tutorials were enhanced by her beautiful reading voice, and her enthusiasm for history and literature was infectious.

Mother Patrick’s social ease at St Mary’s Hall was perhaps what most marked her as a woman with spirit before her time. Her guests included Walter Burley and Marion Mahoney Griffin and Vance and Nettie Palmer. Her skills in communicating at all levels were exceptional. She attended lunchtime debates at the university, during which she did not hesitate to stand and interject. She enjoyed a cup of tea with students in the Union canteen, an unheard-of practice for Catholic religious sisters in the 1920s. She was also practical. During the depression of the 1930s Mother Patrick made it possible for poorer students to be awarded scholarships. In 1942, when the United States Army established Camp Pell in Royal Park opposite the hall buildings, Mother Patrick opened St Mary’s Hall to the 4th General Hospital’s personnel.

At the same time, through a contact in Dublin and with her former pupil Olga Hay, she assisted in the relocation of refugees fleeing from Nazism.

Running St Mary’s Hall A bush outing Mother Andrew Bell and Mother Patrick Callanan, c. 1930s

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The first community of six, under Superior Mother Dorothea Frizelle, moved in on 4 March 1918. They were a talented group. Katherine Frizelle was born in Dublin and five years after entering Rathfarnham came to Australia with Mother Gonzaga. She was an experienced secondary teacher in English, history, geography, French and botany. She served in six Loreto schools before her appointment in

1915 as assistant to the Provincial, Mother Stanislaus. Mother Patrick Callanan, the first Principal of St Mary’s Hall, was assisted by University of Melbourne graduates Mother Mechtilde Farrell, who had a diploma of education and was teacher of mathematics at the Central Catholic Training College, and Mother Elizabeth Forbes, who held a bachelor of arts and diploma of education, had been a Principal at the Central Catholic Training College and became second Superior at St Mary’s. The first community also included Mother Mildred Rose Dew, who was born in 1892 at Randwick, New South Wales. She completed an arts degree at the University of Sydney before entering the Loreto order in Ballarat in 1915.

During 1917 she returned to Sydney to complete a diploma of education. In 1919 Mother Mildred moved to the Albert Park community and taught at Saints Peter and Paul’s School and the Central Catholic Training College before being appointed from 1929 to 1936 as third Superior of St Mary’s Hall. The youngest community member and tutor was Mother Catherine Dowden, who had been a student at the Central Catholic Training College and was studying for her science degree in pure mathematics at the University of Melbourne.

St Mary’s Hall was officially blessed on 7 March 1918, with Mass celebrated

by Reverend Thomas O’Dwyer SJ, while his brother, Reverend James O’Dwyer SJ, offered the first Mass at Newman College on the same day. Though separate in administration, St Mary’s Hall was affiliated with the Jesuit-run Newman College.

The girls participated in sports carnivals and examinations under the Newman banner. They also enjoyed dances and socials and performing in joint concerts. In other ways the women of St Mary’s Hall were a race apart, separated by distance and timetables and busy forging their own traditions. Annie Brenan, of Mount Ievers, Royal Parade, convened a committee of influential Catholic women to

Higher education for women St Mary’s Hall, 1919, where the students were determined to be as efficient as men.

Back row, left to right: Mona Murphy, Lucille Bloink, Eileen Mardling, Ursula Clinton; middle row, left to right: Iris Shield, Lorna Barry, Florence Pitt, Kathleen Mardling; front row, left to right: Mavis Englebrecht, Aileen Murphy, Sheila McDermott, Marie Tiernan

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Above: The expansion of St Mary’s Hall Mother Elizabeth Forbes in the garden of Les Buissonnets, with the new functional extensions at the rear of Barbiston shown on the right, 1924 Opposite: A convivial garden party at St Mary’s Hall The event was held on 3 October 1928 to welcome Cardinal Bonaventura Cerretti, the Pope’s Delegate for the Sydney Eucharistic Congress

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support St Mary’s. Annie was the widow of Alderman James Joseph Brenan from Kilkenny, Ireland, who had been a successful real estate agent in Carlton. They had eleven children, including Jennie, Margaret and Eileen, who were prominent in theatrical circles. Annie recruited Abigail Dynon and Mary Alston, workers for the Loreto Free Kindergarten; Countess Kathleen O’Loughlin, noted for her generosity to Catholic causes; May Ward, an Albert Park scholar and wife of John James Liston, a civic leader and successful entrepreneur; Emilie Hoare, wife of a prominent Catholic journalist; and Dolly Castles, well known in Gilbert and Sullivan opera both in Australia and abroad. Annie had two aims for her committee: to provide musical and cultural entertainments to raise funds for St Mary’s and through running events provide training for the students to take their place as future Catholic leaders in a wider social world.

In the first year of St Mary’s Hall there were nine residents and ten non-resident students enrolled. In contrast, Newman College in 1918 had fifty-six residents, predominately drawn from Melbourne, with three from interstate and three from overseas. Among these pioneers were four students from the Central Catholic Training College: Ena Smith studied arts; Mary Cantwell and Emma Draper studied law; and Eileen Caswell, originally from a wheat and oat farm in Deloraine, studied arts and teaching before joining the Presentation Order in Tasmania. The Loreto influence was evident in that three students came from Loreto Mary’s Mount, one from Loreto Portland and two from Loreto Albert Park. Sheila McDermott came from Queensland and returned there to enter the Mercy order and teach at All Hallows School, Brisbane. There were also three non-Catholics: Ariel Seligson came from Perth to study music; Phyllis Busst came from Bendigo High School to study medicine; and Jean Grant came from University High School, combining her medical studies with working as a telephonist to pay her fees.

As numbers grew, St Mary’s Hall students came from the country, interstate and the city in almost equal numbers between the years of 1918 and 1923. Barbiston was filled to capacity, with the loft above the stables being converted into sleeping quarters for the community. In 1923 a neighbouring property, Les Buissonnets, was purchased. It was a two-storey home built in the 1870s for Thomas Reynolds James, manager of the Electric Telegraph Department. In 1924 functional extensions were added at the rear of Barbiston. These included a common room on the ground floor and two floors of study bedrooms above, increasing the accommodation to sixty residents. St Mary’s Hall students contributed to the inaugural edition of the university student paper, Farrago, in 1925: ‘A new year, a new garden, a new singer, a new and exuberant Irish terrier, new exuberant freshers and new leaves falling firmly over all. May our ancient peace abide. On Sunday our extern students came to tea and looked over the new house. Afterwards the Rector [Reverend Jeremiah Murphy SJ] gave his inaugural address – grave but pleasant.’ 36

St Mary’s Hall alumni

St Mary’s Hall alumni became lawyers, doctors, scientists, social workers, musicians and members of religious orders. Lawyers included Marie Tiernan from Brighton and Janet Byrne from Ballarat, who both worked in their family law firms.

Mary Hiscock became a professor of law at Bond University. Solicitor Mollie Winter became the first president of St Mary’s Past Students’ Association.

Three fourth-year law students, Helen O’Brien, Judy Moore and Cathy Serpless, were selected by the university to study conditions in India during the long vacation at the end of 1962. They worked in a leper colony, when lepers were considered as outcasts in Hindu belief, constructing a store of bricks and mud. The trio wrote: ‘We tried to show

these people that at least someone cared for them and we were also in contact with surrounding villages so we were able to get the people there interested in lepers. Our work received a lot of Indian publicity, because we were the first group of volunteers to live with the lepers.’37 Early medical graduates included Jocelyn Gorman, Patricia Joyce and Noni Mitchell, who completed medical and science degrees and won the Dwight Prize for Education. Noni was later the Australian Loreto Provincial from 1974 to 1983. Scientists included Dr Frances Hackney, Carmel Montgomery, a lecturer at the University of California, and Nanette Kelly, who became the Mistress of Scientific Method at Sydney’s Secondary Training College. Lucy Frances Kerley, a research scientist at the University of Melbourne, became a Member of the British Empire for service to the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. Hazel Gunson won a scholarship from the University of Western Australia to continue her studies at the conservatorium. Norma Fitzgerald was chosen in 1953 to sing at the Queen’s Coronation in Westminster Abbey. Margaret Collins became a lecturer in drama at the University of Bristol.

Margaret Pell became a violinist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Carina Flaherty, a Loreto Sister, completed a music degree and was awarded an Ormond Exhibition in Music and later a diploma of music from the Paris Conservatorium.

Anne McPhee, an advocate for social justice, became Mother Magdalen and Mistress of Schools at Loreto Toorak before her appointment as Loreto’s Australian Provincial from 1984 to 1989.

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Mother Patrick continued as Principal of St Mary’s Hall until 1943, retiring to Loreto Toorak where she taught with flair and planned a series of Catholic History Readers for Schools. Failing health prevented the full realisation of her plan but she lived to see the first published just before her death in 1947. Her successor as Principal at St Mary’s Hall was Mother Francis Frewin.

St Mary’s College

Preparing endless meals Mother Mercy Hubery and Mother Lois Elwood at St Mary’s Hall, c. 1950s

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Mother Francis’s real career was in the formation of Catholic university students and community at St Mary’s Hall and St Mary’s College over twenty-five years, as Superior to the community and Principal, tutor and mentor to her students.

Mother Francis had a talent for instant recall. She knew everyone’s name, knew everyone’s courses and subjects and would regularly enquire about their academic progress. When a student wished to go out with a young man in the evenings they had to seek her approval. Her interest was due to her responsibility for their care, rather than exercising rigid control. For many country students she was a substitute mother. In 1958 a young Loreto Sister, Margaret Manion, was persuaded by Mother Francis not to study English and history, but fine arts. Margaret became a professor of fine arts at the University of Melbourne. The chaplain for St Mary’s Hall, Reverend Edward Storman SJ, described Mother Francis as witty and cultured and would enjoy her conversations during breakfast after he had said Mass. He wrote that ‘sometimes I think that the poor Rector at Newman despaired of ever getting his car back, while we worked out some matter of theology, or talked about writers, or historic persons whom we both admired’.38 There were difficulties about the position of St Mary’s Hall, a mile from the university, and about the viability of its size. Increasingly Mother Francis began to feel that, in terms of a residence, they were the poor relatives of the university colleges.

Many of the girls travelled by tram to the university, taking cut lunches with them.

The accommodation was restricted, with the number of applicants far exceeding the number of places available. After the Second World War a greater emphasis was placed on the importance of higher education as an integral part of national economic growth. During the 1950s the federal government established the Australian Universities Commission to fund the expansion of universities and residential accommodation. Mother Francis found herself in an excruciating position. Money was being pressed on her by the commission to build, but if she built on the distant current site, St Mary’s Hall would remain in permanent exile. On the other hand, there was five acres of vacant land adjacent to Newman College. This formed part of a section of the University Reserve granted to the Catholic Church in 1882 by the Government of Victoria. The vacant land was located at one of the most strategic spots in the university, on the corner of Swanston Street and Tin Alley.

Mother Francis Frewin and Mother Clare Birrane Emily Margaret Frewin was born on Christmas Day in 1894, the daughter of William Joseph and Ellen Mary Greenaway. She was educated at the

parish school of St Joseph’s, South Yarra, and by the Good Samaritan Sisters at Santa Maria College in Caroline Street, South Yarra. At the age of eighteen she attended Our Lady of the Angels for a year, where she completed her Junior Public Examinations with distinctions in English, French, history, geography and arithmetic. During 1916,

as a Dr Joseph Higgins Scholar, Emily completed her primary teacher qualifications at the Central Catholic Training College before entering the

novitiate at the end of the year.

After profession Mother Francis taught parttime at Loreto Toorak from 1925 to 1928. During this time she studied for an arts degree at the University of Melbourne, where she graduated with first-class honours in English. Later this qualification was converted into a master’s degree. In 1929 Mother Francis, with Mother Clare Birrane – also a teacher at Loreto Toorak and a graduate from the Central Catholic Training College – studied a course in French civilisation at the Sorbonne in Paris for a year. Mary Birrane was educated at the Convent of Mercy, Kyneton, and before entering the novitiate had taught for four years at Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne. While in Paris the women took the opportunity to visit wonderful churches and places of historical interest. In 1930 they returned to Loreto Toorak and completed their diplomas of education at the University of Melbourne while teaching French, in addition to other specialties, during the 1930s at Loreto Toorak. Both retained a love of the French language and history throughout their teaching lives. Mother Francis was admired by her Loreto Toorak pupils, although she was quite reserved and dignified.

Initially there was no enthusiasm on the part of the Newman College Council to allow St Mary’s to build on this land. There was also a complete veto by the grand nonagenarian, Archbishop Daniel Mannix, who had facilitated the purchase of Barbiston, but was not certain that it was a good idea for girls to be going to university at all. Reverend Storman recalled:

Special colleagues Mother Francis Frewin with Mother Clare Birrane, c. 1930s

In one of the rare passages of arms in which the veteran of many battles came off second best, Mother Francis was able with perfect courtesy but unerring aim

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Why live in college?

In 1955 Maria Favoloro, an honours arts and education graduate, wrote an article titled ‘Why Live in College?’ ‘Let no one ever believe that a College is merely a collection of individuals who happen to be University students, living in a convenient place of abode. Students in college must be prepared to live on two levels – as individuals and as members of the corporate body whose honour is their honour, whose glory is their glory, whose shame is their shame. If St Mary’s Hall, or any other College, is to live up to its position as part of the University of Melbourne, its

members must work for a strong College spirit. They must also be able and willing to act as individuals in the University, for their world must not begin and end with their room-mates or their next-door neighbours in College. The Hall should be an entity within the University, not within itself, so that the broader interests and achievements of its members may be brought back and shared by the others. There must be interplay of interest and information between college students and other University students. Above all there must be a spirit of loyalty to both institutions.’ 39

to tell him that it was not a question of whether girls should be there or not; they were there. The question was what to do about providing suitable accommodation for them and a happy and sympathetic milieu for their lives.40

St Mary’s Hall Student Committee, 1947 Left to right: Sally Seward, Helen Gibson, June Aitkin, Maureen Christie

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Mother Francis had to do the hardest thing of all: to wait while everybody expected her to act. Her community and students were well aware of her dilemma and were intensely supportive and loyal.

In 1959 Mother Francis Frewin was appointed to the Newman College Council, the first female member of the council in its forty-one-year history.

Finally in the last year of his life, in June 1963, Archbishop Mannix changed his mind. With the support of Archbishop Justin Simonds, who for many years had represented the elderly Archbishop Mannix on the Newman College Council, the college agreed to her request to relocate to Swanston Street. At the same time Newman College was urgently in need of new accommodation and conducted their own expansion in such a way as to not block the future St Mary’s Hall. The new St Mary’s was designed by Thomas Payne, the architect of Newman’s chapel, and the inner and external gardens were faithfully laid out by Bert Stephenson, a man of all trades. One room was set aside as a chapel, where the woodwork and furniture was the work of a German artist craftsman, Schulim Krimper, the son of a Rabbi. On 7 March 1966 the Council of the University of Melbourne voted for St Mary’s to become an independent college affiliated directly with the university.

It was registered as St Mary’s College and an inaugural college council was appointed. Close associations continued with Newman College, with the Rector of Newman College appointed to the St Mary’s College Council and the Principal of St Mary’s appointed to the Newman College Council.

The new college, consisting of two wings, opened for the 1966 academic year with ninety students, two resident tutors and eight residential staff. The staff included the companions and assistants of Mother Francis, Mother Louis Elwood and Mother Mercy Hubery. Mother Louis was Mistress of House and Bursar for twenty-five years. Before entering, Teresa Elwood trained in secretarial and business studies in Adelaide where she had excelled, winning typing and shorthand competitions. In 1928 she travelled to London, where she became secretary for the Catholic writer and publisher Frank Sheed. She travelled widely through the British Isles and Europe and wrote witty and descriptive letters about her experiences. Mother Mercy was born at Wilgarup, in the south-west of Western Australia, where her father was a farmer. She loved the outdoors, kept chooks and for twenty-five years prepared endless meals for the community and students at the hall and college. Students loved and admired her and were especially grateful for her cups of tea and invalid trays when they were ill.

Further wings and a library were added in 1969 and in 1973, which included facilities for the first residential male tutors, with the college becoming coeducational in 1977. At St Mary’s College there were degrees of liberation. In 1967 slacks were permitted, but never to formal dinners, wine was served at high table and mortarboards were abandoned. Students from the Pharmacy College and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology joined their ranks. Gentlemen were allowed to visit but had to leave by six o’clock or dark, whichever came first. The proximity to Newman College had some unexpected consequences. Never the authoritarian, Mother Francis was able to see the cleverness and funny side of the boys’ pranks. Her reaction to a St Patrick’s Day escapade, when the Newman boys left a shamrock on the pillow of every bed in the college, including her own,

A lively and varied group in which even the dog is happy Mother Francis with her helpers at St Mary’s Hall in 1948

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From hall to college Mother Andrew Bell and Mother Francis Frewin in the courtyard of St Mary’s College in 1966 with Newman College Chapel in the far background

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was typical. Rather than demand their punishment, Mother Francis simply pinned her shamrock to the shoulder of her habit, and wore it there all day.41 Closer proximity to the other colleges on the crescent did lead to greater participation in sports, debating, plays, evening lectures and tutorials. Much more time was involved in campus activities, discussing the morality of war in Vietnam, the design of cities, the fledgling bushland conservation movement, civil rights, women’s liberation and scholarships for Aborigines. Life was more relaxed without the twenty-minute walk to lectures and new traditions emerged. College Day, Valete Mass and dinners for visiting lecturers were recorded in the college’s own annual magazine instead of the few pages allotted to St Mary’s Hall in Newman College’s magazine. Mother Francis, always affectionately known as ‘M.F.’ to her students, and often nicknamed ‘Iron Lace’, set high standards in behaviour and manners but was solicitous and encouraging to freshers. The Loreto community aimed for unfailing integrity and intellectual endeavour combined with elegance, wit and taste, which form an integral part of St Mary’s ongoing traditions.

Over the years, connections between Loreto Toorak and St Mary’s College were many, forged through the community teaching at both foundations and through the intake of college residents educated at Loreto Toorak. Mother Patrick, during her time teaching at Loreto Toorak in the late 1940s, impressed on her students the importance of higher education. In particular, Mother Francis had strong and lasting ties with Loreto Toorak. In 1982 students from Loreto Toorak formed a guard of honour at her funeral. Helen Healy, who completed an arts degree and a diploma in social studies at St Mary’s Hall, recalled how Mother Francis would frequently visit Loreto Toorak to talk to the students about university education.42 Diana Gardini studied arts and education, appearing frequently in the honours lists. Until her arrival at St Mary’s Hall she had never heard of ‘flat meat’, the term used to describe the extremely finely carved roast meals often on the menu. She

qualified as a solicitor and became mayor of the City of Mildura. Elizabeth O’Keeffe studied law, and Alice Aird, a violinist, graduated with an honours degree in science.

The first Loreto Toorak students to study arts at St Mary’s Hall included Meida Manly, Joan Manly, Margaret Crosbie, Mary Prendergast, Patricia Grant and Patricia Brady (Mother Veronica), and science degrees were pursued by May McCarthy, Moira Shelton and Georgina Thornton-Smith, while Felicity Wakefield Kent became a doctor. Veronica Lake, a brilliant pianist from Western Australia, studied music while a student at St Mary’s Hall. She married John Andrew Feeley, who graduated with a science degree while at Newman College and became chief librarian at the State Library of Victoria. After their daughters had finished their schooling at Loreto Toorak, Veronica became a music teacher at Toorak. Penny Schaefer, daughter of Loreto Toorak Sports Mistress Patricia Schaefer, completed a degree in arts and social studies and became a social worker at the Alfred Hospital, working with migrants. While academic achievement at St Mary’s was central, developing a social conscience along the way was emphasised.

When Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, anarchist and pacifist, who fed and housed thousands of homeless people in New York, visited Melbourne, her talk was hosted by the Loreto Sisters at St Mary’s College.

While girls commencing at St Mary’s are no longer required to provide for themselves a trencher, dinner dress, evening dress, a dinner wrap, initialled cutlery and serviette rings, today the customs of formal dining, etiquette and hospitality have endured. A visiting journalist wrote:

The graceful Mediterranean Georgian building was the home of a hundred and twenty interweaving lives of fun and fury, study and sadness, all the unpredictable joys of student existence.

Something less than a home, it was much more than boarding school.

It was overshadowed by, definitely independent of, yet secretly befriended by the ancient and venerable Newman College next door.

Elizabeth Gallagher

Many brilliant graduates have issued from St Mary’s Hall. The writer of these lines once heard one well qualified to express an opinion on the matter saying: I have met a large number of men with degrees whose knowledge of literature was, to say the least, patchy. But I have yet to meet a girl from St Mary’s Hall who has not a real love for and understanding of it.43 In 1969 Elizabeth Gallagher, from Loreto Toorak, was awarded the Julia Flynn Prize for achieving the highest Matriculation mark in a Catholic School. Elizabeth described her first year at St Mary’s College as a community of scholars with contrasting influences, from the civilising effects of the community to the excitement of the girls: ‘The graceful Mediterranean Georgian building was the home of a hundred and twenty interweaving lives of fun and fury, study and sadness, all the unpredictable joys of student existence. Something less than a home, it was much more than boarding school. It was overshadowed by, definitely independent of, yet secretly befriended by the ancient and venerable Newman College next door.’44

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v A NEW IDEA Loreto Free Kindergarten

In a house made of corrugated iron in the very early days of the city, and now condemned as unfit for habitation, lives a family of four children, one a very precious baby. The boy of four is an artist to his fingertips producing drawings of great interest with firm flowing lines. Summer came with its dread toll of infant life in that district and in that oven of a house the baby sickened and died.

Loreto kindergarten volunteer, c. 1914 1

O

n the evening of 7 December 1911 a group of Loreto past students and parents made a momentous decision. They voted to establish a Loreto kinder­ garten in South Melbourne, the first Catholic kindergarten to be founded in Australia. The founding of this kindergarten was an important early social service undertaken by Loreto in Australia. What set it apart was that the governance and running of the kindergarten departed from previous Loreto foundations: the organising committee, staff and volunteers were Catholic laywomen. Their goals and aspirations were guided and supported by the Loreto community but the financial, educational and day-to-day running of the kindergarten rested with Loreto past students and their extended families. It was a bold initiative, sustained by individual enterprise and the generosity of the many who aimed to serve the poorer families in South Melbourne through running a free kindergarten.

Although school attendance in Victoria was compulsory only for children over six years of age, Loreto schools had long accepted children as young as four and a half years, and at Loreto Portland accepted even younger ones, from all denominations, into their infant classes. A few families in Melbourne’s middleclass suburbs had benefitted from the impact of what was known in Europe as ‘New Education’. The New Education movement made two fundamental points: that in all education the personality of the child was an essential concern, and that social inequality could be lessened through education. Devotees sought to make the early years of schooling more fulfilling and productive to the individual and to society. For the preschool child, this New Education began with the work of Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852), a German teacher who researched and wrote on the importance of the early training of the child.

Froebel’s most significant work, Die Menschenerziehung, written in 1826, was translated into English in 1877 as The Education of Man. For Froebel young children needed pleasant surroundings, physical training in suitable spaces and self-activity.

Through a series of ‘gifts’ (play materials) and ‘occupations’ (activities) for younger children he aimed to amuse and instruct children simultaneously and bring out the individuality of each pupil instead of stifling it. His approach emphasised the importance of the pupils’ capacity to understand and reason, rather than to memorise. Froebel identified women as key educators who could focus on the child

A generous benefactor Mary Georgina Alston understood and forestalled many of the Loreto Free Kindergarten’s needs, c. 1930s Previous page 106: Kindergarten life during the Great Depression An informal kindergarten group on the front verandah of the cottage, c. 1930s (detail, see page 133)

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The First Exhibition of Women’s Work Victorian women were brought together on an unprecedented scale by the First Exhibition of Women’s Work. It was held in the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings during six weeks in October and November 1907.

Celebrating the contribution of women in the world of work, it was one of the largest exhibitions of its kind ever held. A quarter of a million people viewed the sixteen thousand exhibits by women from around Australia and overseas. The emphasis was on trade exhibits of applied and fine arts, horticulture, shorthand and typing – all relating to paid occupations rather than hobbies. A popular attraction in the schools and colleges section was a kindergarten arranged by the National Council of Women. Between sixty and ninety children were cared for each day and showcased this important branch of what was seen as women’s work – that of teaching.

Demonstrations and lectures on health and hygiene and the care of young children were given.

Beware of setting before you in the future a mere butterfly existence; to do so would be to fill your life with bitter disappointment – you are too well instructed, I should say educated, to fall into this error.

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rather than the subject. The child, to Froebel, was like a flower: the task of the educator was to provide the appropriate climate for the flower to flourish. The schools developed by followers of Froebel were called ‘kindergartens’, literally German for ‘children’ and ‘gardens’. The kindergarten was in essence an educational institution, yet only a handful had grasped the concept of the intellectual training of the very young. Mother Gonzaga Barry was one of the few teachers in Australia to recognise this. Public acceptance of the concept did not become widespread until the great immigration program of the 1950s impacted on educational philosophies.

A visitor to Loreto Ladies’ College, Dawson Street, Ballarat, in 1885 wrote about their teaching methods in the infant classes: The Sisters kindly showed and explained to me the different articles used in teaching under the Kindergarten System. In a large box I saw cubes cut in half, short sticks, square corks called peas and circles and half circles of wire. With these the children are taught how to construct houses, ornamental work and geometrical figures of all kinds and forms. Besides these I was shown pieces of paper of diverse colours with which by means of elastic bands they are taught a sort of weaving. After they have acquired some proficiency in constructing the several figures, they are required to draw the same on slates.2 The Loreto teachers explained to the visitor that as this equipment had to be imported, it was very expensive – a boxed set for each child cost £1 10s 0d. The community was dependent on charity to undertake this program. Later their kindergarten work formed part of an educational display for the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition of 1888–89. Catholic schools were invited to participate in the exhibition at short notice and many could not respond. The exhibition jurors made a specific reference to Loreto’s detailed, practical kindergarten demonstration.3 Kindergarten work was viewed as legitimate women’s work, as it had to do with children and caring and was a suitable training for marriage. Many of Mother Gonzaga’s graduates came from established homes where it was normal for unmarried females to be supported by a father or a brother. In a variety of ways Mother Gonzaga encouraged her students to take up improving interests and involve themselves in charitable works. She was concerned that as past pupils they might be caught up in the ever-increasing worldliness and materialism of their daily lives. She urged members of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association, formed at Loreto Convent Albert Park in 1898, to become unselfish, devoted, valiant women: ‘Beware of setting before you in the future a mere butterfly existence; to do so would be to fill your life with bitter disappointment – you are too well instructed, I should say educated, to fall into this error.’4

The beginnings: Julia Young

and Isabel Henderson

The idea for Loreto to found its own kindergarten in Melbourne came from a student-teacher at the Central Catholic Training College, Julia Hannah Young.

She was a graduate with a master of arts from the University of Melbourne and was a member of the Secondary Teachers’ Association of Victoria. Julia was educated at Mt St Joseph’s College, later known as Vaucluse Convent FCJ, Richmond, by the Faithful Companions of Jesus and matriculated in 1884. Before becoming a student-teacher at the Central Catholic Training College from 1907 to 1908, Julia had taught Matriculation English for ten years at private secondary schools Oberwyl in Burnett Street, St Kilda, under Isabel Henderson, at Toorak College in Douglas Street, Toorak, under Ellen Pye and at Ruyton Girls’ School in A’Beckett Street, Kew, under Helen Daniell. Julia became a close friend of Helen Daniell and together they attended the Imperial Conference of Teachers’ Associations at Caxton Hall, Westminster, in 1912. On her return Julia came back to the Central Catholic Training College as a visiting lecturer.5 Julia had taught in schools which included separate infant and kindergarten sections that were small but well organised. At Ruyton Annie Westmoreland had established the first kindergarten training institution at their kindergarten in Barry Street, Kew. It provided an accredited course extending over two years and costing two guineas a term. The first examinations were held in 1903. This training scheme was the forerunner to the first Kindergarten Training College established at Mooroolbeek, Kew, in 1921. Julia mixed well with all age groups and was described by her colleagues as an amiable, good-natured and capable young woman. Before travelling to England Julia had re-joined Isabel Henderson in 1910, but in a new venture, Clyde Girls’ School, in Alma Road, St Kilda.

Isabel Henderson took an interest in all educational sectors from preschool to tertiary. She was concerned about preschool children and the lack of training for childcare workers. She became one of the founders of the Free Kindergarten Union, formed in 1908 as an amalgamation of several charitable inner-city kindergartens. The union aimed to rescue poverty-stricken children by providing free kindergarten education, health checks and nutrition programs. Isabel encouraged her past students at Oberwyl to participate in the voluntary work of the Fitzroy Mission Kindergarten, run by the Presbyterians, and the Clyde Old Girls’ Association, founded in the school’s first year of operation, took on that responsibility. The kindergarten later became the Isabel Henderson Free Kindergarten. In 1911 Julia suggested to the Loreto Sisters at Albert Park that the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association could undertake their own kindergarten project.

The Sisters kindly showed and explained to me the different articles used in teaching under the Kindergarten System.

In a large box I saw cubes cut in half, short sticks, square corks called peas and circles and half circles of wire. With these the children are taught how to construct houses, ornamental work and geometrical figures of all kinds and forms. Besides these I was shown pieces of paper of diverse colours with which by means of elastic bands they are taught a sort of weaving.

After they have acquired some proficiency in constructing the several figures, they are required to draw the same on slates.

The Advocate

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Mary Alston The daughter of a shopkeeper, Mary Georgina Sophia O’Sullivan married James Alston in 1874 at Warrnambool. James was an agricultural implement-maker and blacksmith. He was a formidable capitalist but was also known for his fair, paternalistic managerial skills and his ability to train and keep a skilled workforce. James and Mary Alston had three daughters who became pupils at Our Lady of the Angels, and four sons who completed their educations at St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne.

James concentrated on business affairs while Mary ran his large house at Montalto and later at Majella, St Kilda Road. Mary became wholeheartedly involved in many charitable activities which included crèches, kindergartens and homes in South Melbourne where destitute children were boarded.

She became a member of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the City Newsboys’ Society.6

Mother Gonzaga agreed and at a gathering of Loreto past students at Albert Park on 10 December 1911 she heartily endorsed their plans. The inaugural meeting held on 7 December 1911 to discuss the formation of a kindergarten was organised

by Mrs James Alston at her home Montalto at 197 Danks Street, Albert Park.

While the students at Our Lady of the Angels were comparatively well off, Mary Alston was aware that others were less fortunate. Although economic conditions in South Melbourne were improving as new factories and businesses were introduced, not everyone shared in the increasing prosperity. There was an economic and cultural divide. Before government support for preschooling or welfare schemes to assist those who were unemployed, Mary knew of families in South Melbourne and in the adjacent area of Port Melbourne who were living in poverty. During 1913 a plain-clothes constable, Michael Kelly, gave evidence about conditions in South Melbourne to a parliamentary committee on housing.

He had found people huddled together, sometimes eight or nine in a tiny threeroomed house, sharing rents of around six or seven shillings a week. Sometimes the families sub-let a room to a widow with young children to generate a little income. The houses, on streets that flooded in heavy rain, were mainly built of wood and iron, and often the interior walls were falling down, the flooring was poor and the verandahs were ramshackle. Few houses had room for gardens and there were no coppers, baths or sheds. The majority of tenants were the families of foundry workers, wharf labourers or coal heavers paying a low rent from an income which was small and uncertain.7 Mary and her supporters were concerned with the total education of the young child: the development of the mind, the uplifting of morals and the cleaning and feeding of the infant. It was a tall order. Martin Hansen, a lecturer at the Central Catholic Training College, considered that the social and philanthropic work carried out through the establishment and running of kindergartens for disadvantaged children was more important than the educational side.

Loreto’s inaugural kindergarten meeting The concept of kindergarten work had found some acceptance with Melbourne’s educated middle class and it was among these people that a kindergarten society began in 1902 and developed into what became the Free Kindergarten Union, an association that believed their kindergartens should provide free tuition. Members of the Free Kindergarten Union held a religious and philosophic conviction about the importance of providing a better start in life for the children of the poor. Mary Alston invited two members of the Free Kindergarten Union to address Loreto’s inaugural meeting. Marion Champlin, director of the Collingwood Mission Free Kindergarten, drew from her kindergarten training in North America and her 112

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experiences in Collingwood. It was an engrossing, eye-opening account. She warned her audience that the union kindergartens were not for nice, clean, wellspoken children from tidy, well-fed families: they were kindergartens opened deliberately in overcrowded, working-class suburbs to assist overworked parents with low or uncertain incomes and to try to keep preschool children off the streets.

The second guest was Dr Edith Helen Barrett, honorary medical officer for the Free Kindergarten Union and a general practitioner who lived in Howe Crescent, South Melbourne.8 Her practice was never extensive and she barely made a living from her work. Edith devoted her energies to voluntary work, trying to improve the medical and social conditions of poorer women and children.9 At the close of her presentation Dr Barrett graciously agreed to become a patron of the proposed kindergarten. In the event, she lent not only her name but also medical expertise and financial support. Mary Alston asked Prior Joseph Alphonsus Kindelan, a trained primary school teacher as well as the parish priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park, to chair a formal meeting to establish a kindergarten committee.

Prior Kindelan was a humble and familiar figure in the community, as he did all his rounds on a rickety bicycle. Mary Alston was elected as president of the kindergarten committee and her daughter Rose (who had been a pupil at Our Lady of the Angels in 1897) joined the committee. Other office bearers included former students of Our Lady of the Angels Ethel Roche, Lena McCauley, Annie

The magic of storytelling Loreto Free Kindergarten, 1913

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The Carmelites The Carmelites had first come from Dublin to St Joseph’s Mission, Port Melbourne, in 1881 and their jurisdiction extended as far as Middle Park. In 1909 Prior Joseph Alphonsus Kindelan moved the priory, established in 1886, from Beaconsfield Parade to Wright Street, Middle Park, near their church. The original site became a novitiate and a new school, Kilbride, for the Brigidine Sisters. Later, in 1917, Prior Kindelan established Mount Carmel Boys’ School in the Alston’s former home, Montalto.

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Nolan (who in 1913 entered the novitiate in Ballarat and became Sister Veronica), Cissie McManamny, Eily Deegan and Beryl Hennessy. Beryl resigned from the committee in 1918 to study arts at the University of Melbourne and became a foundation student at Loreto’s St Mary’s Hall. Establishing a working committee with a harmony of interests was just the beginning – securing sufficient funds for accommodation and staffing was fundamental.

Finding a home and a patron In their midst, quietly listening to the proceedings, was a shrewd and capable administrator, the local parish priest. Reverend Richard Collins was born in Ireland in 1859 and trained at All Hallows, Dublin, where he was ordained. He arrived in Victoria in 1883 and served in several curacies before being appointed to Saints Peter and Paul’s School in 1902. By 1903 he had paid off the parish debt and announced building plans that at the time had no parallel in the Melbourne archdiocese. Between the years of 1903 and 1911 he oversaw additions to every Catholic entity in the parish.10 In 1907 Reverend Collins purchased from Lady Janet Clarke the Albert Hall in Bank Street, later known as Emerald Hall. This building was intended to serve as the parish hall and meeting place. The land, originally owned by Sir William Clarke, was leased to George Lauder in 1873.

Lauder, formerly an instructor in the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, sought permission from Sir William to build a riding school. Sir William, landowner, stud breeder and philanthropist, readily agreed. By 1874 a brick complex was completed. It included a caretaker’s residence, seven rooms, stables, a riding school and gymnasium. For thirty years Lauder and his daughter Sybil Watt conducted a ‘proper and elegant’ equestrian academy, charging seven to ten guineas for a course of lessons. From 1897, when cycling became increasingly fashionable as a leisure activity, Sybil converted the facility into a bicycle riding school.

Reverend Collins organised for alterations to the interior, including the installation of a stage, and converted the stables at the rear of the building into rooms. While the parish children made good use of the main hall, the caretaker’s residence was leased to John Joseph Behan and his wife, Catherine Madden, who were both active in parish and civic affairs. Their daughters, Mary and Olive, attended Saints Peter and Paul’s School. Reverend Collins offered the kindergarten committee free use of two back rooms, the supper room upstairs measuring fortysix feet by fifteen feet and a room downstairs with a piano, plus they could share in the use of the large renovated hall with other parish groups. While far from ideal in some respects, it was manna from heaven. Although the play equipment would need to be packed away and reassembled daily, the kindergarten would have a roof over its head and a friendly, sympathetic landlord.

Loreto and the Free Kindergarten Union In a letter of encouragement and support Mother Gonzaga Barry exhorted her dearest children to persevere: How glad and proud I felt when you told me of the generous devotedness of many dear old pupils of Loreto who have co-operated with the Nuns in Albert Park, and the kind ladies who have devoted their energies in so praiseworthy a manner to the founding of a Free Catholic Kindergarten, which with the blessing of God, has proved such a success. It is the first Catholic Free Kindergarten I believe in the

Enjoying a well-deserved rest Mother Patrick Callanan relaxing in the government bush reserve at Portland, c. 1940s

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It is the first Catholic Free Kindergarten I believe in the state.

I hope others may follow the good example, for what is taught children at an early age is never forgotten. I wish we had a similar one in Ballarat Mother Gonzaga Barry

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state. I hope others may follow the good example, for what is taught children at an early age is never forgotten. I wish we had a similar one in Ballarat.11 With enthusiastic support from two Loreto teachers on the staff of the Central Catholic Training College – Mother Elizabeth Forbes, a classicist, and Mother Patrick Callanan, co-author of a children’s page in The Advocate and founder of a school paper, Children’s World – the committee decided to seek affiliation with the umbrella group, the Free Kindergarten Union.

The perceived benefits of joining the Free Kindergarten Union were many: drawing on their expertise, sharing community interests, receiving advice on equipment and methods of furnishing, tapping recruits from their fledgling kindergarten training program and replicating their model of forming local committees and engaging volunteers. Loreto was conversant with the kindergarten movement and the Free Kindergarten Union. Earlier, in 1908, Mother Elizabeth Forbes had appointed Florence Adelaide Wrigley, BA, a Methodist from England with impeccable credentials, to lecture at the Central Catholic Training College. Florence presented material on new infant teaching methods, considered an important and growing sector in the United Kingdom, and on other topics such as the place and function of kindergartens in national education. She argued that no system was more essential than that which provided for the earliest formative years when the child was more impressionable to his environment and more susceptible to influences than in later years.12 Florence and her husband, Leslie James Wrigley, MA, a Central Catholic Training College lecturer on secondary schooling, were both Free Kindergarten Union Education Committee members.

Mother Patrick was appointed as the negotiator for the Loreto kindergarten to become a member of the Free Kindergarten Union. It was the rule of all kindergartens in the Free Kindergarten Union to open the day’s work with a hymn and a prayer for children and that scripture be taught without reference to creed or belief. The new supervisor handling requests for affiliation with the Free Kindergarten Union was Ethel Lett. She was a distinguished student from Bradford Training College, England, who had founded the first kindergarten in Scotland, spent some years introducing the movement in Ireland and was instrumental in establishing the first kindergarten in Shanghai. Her forte was in training teachers and establishing new ventures. In her application Mother Patrick did not attempt to disguise that some Catholic practices would be observed in their kindergarten. She stated that they were starting a free kindergarten in connection with the teacher training at the Central Catholic Training College which Loreto had conducted since 1906. The atmosphere would be Catholic but children of every denomination would be freely admitted.13

The union had established set rules and regulations for affiliation to ensure some semblance of quality control.14 Premises had to be approved, and guidelines on the payment of the director and assistant had to be strictly adhered to. The salaries of directors and assistants were very low. They were set presumably with the object of keeping some uniformity among the various kindergartens to avoid more wealthy committees enticing staff from the less wealthy. At the same time they wanted to keep the directors’ salaries within a tight range so that the pittance they could afford to pay the assistants would not appear too incongruous. In 1911 the annual salary for a director was £70 and that of an assistant £30. All of this appeared equitable to Mother Patrick – but her prime concern was freedom in religious education and worship.

Mother Patrick explained that the morning prayers would be in a slightly different format, as they would include stories from the Old Testament and material on the nativity before Christmas. She argued that the inclusion of these stories would make a difference in tone, but in every other detail theirs would be like all the other free kindergartens. She added that the Loreto past students were interested in slum work and crèches and if Protestant families objected to Catholics visiting them, the past students would arrange to send someone of the family’s own faith. She was distressed that affiliation might not be possible – hers was, after all, a teaching order. She also explained that they would be disappointed if the answer was no because the girls would be unable to have communication with other teachers, which would be very helpful. She made it clear that, with or without affiliation, the Loreto kindergarten would start. She described the rooms as bright and sunny and that there were children waiting to begin.15 But there was another big factor in the equation. In 1910 the state government via the Education Department began supplying an annual grant to the Free Kindergarten Union of the then substantial sum of £1,000. In their rules the Free Kindergarten Union did not commit itself to financial help as a right of affiliation but distributed what funds they had to those kindergartens that they considered were in most need. Philanthropists were concerned about the dangers of state aid, fearing the injection of state funds might lead to a reduction in charitable donations and a fall in the number of volunteers and members of the local committees.

Rumours were circulating that Loreto had in their request for Free Kindergarten Union affiliation applied specifically to gain a share of the government grant and had been refused.16 This placed the Free Kindergarten Union in a quandary. In the anti-Catholic climate present in some quarters, it would appear that it was Catholic devotions rather than church connections which alarmed the Free Kindergarten Union. Martin Hansen understood the work of the Loreto community in his earlier role of school inspector at Our Lady of the Angels and Saints Peter and Paul’s School. He recommended that the Free Kindergarten

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The first director Bessie Gladys Holder was appointed as the first director. She was the eldest daughter of Mary Jane Anderson and Edward Irving Holder, a merchant in Collins Street. Her family lived in Lyall Street, Hawthorn, and worshipped at the nearby Augustine Congregational Church. Bessie was educated at Grace Park Ladies’ College in Mary Street, Hawthorn, a small but well-recognised establishment for Hawthorn’s middle-class girls run by Hilda and Ernestine Hoelscher, members of the Secondary Teachers’ Association of Victoria. In 1903 Bessie passed with honours the senior section of the Church Schools’ Missionary Examination organised by the Church of England to prepare young people for

missionary work. In later life she became a secretary, and while working in Geelong and Bendigo became an active member of the Young Women’s Christian Association. Her assistant at the kindergarten, Elsie Shelton, was one of the seven children of Henry and Susan Shelton, from County Clare, Ireland.

Henry had graduated with an arts degree from the University of Melbourne and was a senior inspector of schools for the Victorian Education Department.

Elsie was educated at Loreto Ladies’ College in Dawson Street, Ballarat. During the first year of the kindergarten’s operation her brother Dr Grantley Shelton gave an interesting discourse on hygiene in the home to the kindergarten Mothers’ Meeting.

Union consult the Education Department for a ruling. While waiting for a decision, Isabel Henderson, then Headmistress of Clyde Girls’ School and acting honorary secretary of the Free Kindergarten Union, wrote a letter of explanation to the editor of The Age.17 She refuted the suggestion that Loreto had applied for funding and stated clearly that they had founded a free kindergarten and that their application for affiliation was still under consideration.

The Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten Affiliation was granted. The Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten opened on 15 April 1912 with thirty little ones and by October there were eighty-three on the roll. This was made possible through community donations and subscriptions amounting to £153 and an extraordinary array of gifts to outfit the rooms. Many supporters were neither local nor Catholic. Donations were received from the Hon. John Meagher of Bathurst, theatrical entrepreneur James Cassius Williamson, the firms of Swallow & Ariell and A. Hoadley & Co. and the Jewish Ladies’ 118

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Guild. Ever-generous Mary Alston provided the pictures, friezes, toys, biscuits, clothes, boots, afternoon tea set, model ships and dolls’ tea sets. Others arrived with blackboards, pot plants, dolls, toys, tea towels, basins, jugs and vases. John Dynon & Co., importers of china, provided four dozen cups, saucers and plates and offered a room in their warehouse for storage of goods for jumble sales. But the children’s favourite was the canary and cage donated by the nuns of Presentation Convent, Windsor. The Free Kindergarten Union had secured vice-regal patronage and so the public seal of approval came for Loreto when Lady Norah Fuller, wife of Sir John Fuller, the Victorian Governor, formally opened the kindergarten in Albert Hall on the 29 August 1912. A large crowd of dignitaries attended, including Archbishop Carr, a bevy of priests and nuns and Director of Education Frank Tate. The mother of two sons and four daughters, Lady Fuller took a great interest in child welfare. She commended the good work done through Loreto’s kindergarten methods and stressed that habits formed during early childhood left their indelible mark on character.

Bessie Gladys Holder was appointed as the first director and staff members were enthusiastically supported by eighteen volunteer helpers, seventeen of whom were young, single graduates from Our Lady of the Angels. Margaret Alston, the sister-in-law of Mary, was the only mother in the group. The volunteers were unfailingly helpful. They would supervise the handwork, block building and painting. As there were no paid cleaners, at the end of each session the volunteers would assist the staff in sweeping, dusting and washing the tables and chairs and equipment and then packing it all away. They also established and ran a guild, a club for older children to keep in touch with their kindergarten through afterschool activities. Kindergarten classes were held in the mornings only and cleanliness, orderliness, honesty and polite manners were part of the kindergarten curriculum. The afternoons were for home visits, a chance for the director to see inside the homes of her charges and get to know the mothers and their problems and needs. In the days before state welfare departments, a kindergarten was often the means whereby needy families were introduced to a charitable body best suited to their requirements. In addition, the directors and assistants offered much practical help, such as providing fresh milk, warm clothes or lending a sewing machine. At the Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten the staff averaged thirty to forty home visits each month.

Notable Catholic families in Melbourne gave financial assistance. Among these were the Mornane, Buxton, Dunlea, Hoare, Nolan, Wren, Vaughan and O’Loughlin families. Salaries for the director and assistant were also raised through their fundraising efforts. The Loreto supporters held a bazaar in 1912 raising £124, which more than covered the combined salaries of £103 for the first year. For the first six years the committee, volunteers and supporters were

Desmond Rowan Fitzgerald Desmond Rowan Fitzgerald was the youngest of fourteen children born to Irish settlers Catherine Rowan and Edward Fitzgerald of St Vincent Place, Albert Park. Edward was on the staff of the Victorian Parliamentary Library and on his journey to work the boys travelled with him on their way to St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne. In 1914 Desmond married Blanche Sheehan, who had been a senior student at Loreto Albert Park in 1889. While he was on his honeymoon his brother Joseph handled the kindergarten books. Desmond’s daughters, Therese and Blanche Fitzgerald, became students at Loreto Toorak.

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A day in the life of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Free Kindergarten ‘A roster of Old Girls living round Melbourne gave the voluntary helpers a morning weekly or fortnightly. On your day you arrive at the little swing door in the wall and after folding yourself up to get through you find yourself in the yard where several little girls and boys are playing; others are pushing through the door after you, some with their mothers. A great many of them are “boarded out” and you are only beginning to realise for the first time in your nineteen years the terrible fact that people are sometimes cruel to children. The few mothers in the yard hurry away and the door closes, leaving the children in the enchanted land of kindergarten. Today you have foolishly worn your white linen dress and only perceive your lack of judgement when tiny Thelma runs up and clasps you round the knees in a sudden excess of joyful affection. You picture your soiled skirt, but not for a fashion prize would you reprove that dirty little face pressed against your knees.

The day’s program begins: prayers, songs, games but where is Bobby? There he is. The Directress calls on him to show how the farmer sows his seeds.

He stands up, touching in his little man’s efforts to overcome his shyness, and leads the baby action song, folding his arms at one part to show how “the farmer

takes his case”. His eyes are shining now; he didn’t know that he could do all this. And that is how you will always remember Bobby, for the other picture you cannot bear to remember; that first day when he was brought scuffling and terrified to kindergarten.

For in his life every new experience has been fraught with fear. Bobby is back in his place in the circle on the floor. He looks about smiling: it’s a fine world.

What’s next – a chord on the piano, a march? They all wobble to attention.

When kindergarten is over for the day at 12.30 you take them across the street for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. They clatter up the tiled church as if shod with lumps of iron. You arrange them with seemliness in rows, after a few of them have nearly rolled over trying to genuflect. Then you make an action of adoration for them and with them. Bare heads, mushroom hats peer through the arches in the seats before them. You send out your own silent cry of love and petition towards the tabernacle. A boy beside you whispers, “What will I say, teacher?”

“Ask Our Lord to help you to be good.” And suddenly you are aware of all this world of children that must be brought to God. You feel very humble and happy, because incompetent as you are, your hands have been turned to the little ones.’18

responsible for obtaining all of the funds necessary to run their kindergarten.

From 1918 to 1936 the salary of the assistant only was paid via the Free Kindergarten Union from the annual government grant. For the first twenty years the accounts were organised by an honorary auditor, Desmond Rowan Fitzgerald.

The first two appointees, Bessie Holder and Elsie Shelton, resigned at the end of 1913. Bessie found a position closer to home, becoming the director of the free kindergarten in Auburn, known as Upper Hawthorn. Elsie became the director of a kindergarten in Ballarat, the first country kindergarten established by the Free Kindergarten Union. In 1919 Elsie resigned after she married Hubert Murphy in 120

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A beach and sailing outing for the little ones Staff, volunteers and students enjoying an excursion in 1913

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Wattle Day Mary Alston enrolled the kindergarten in Wattle Day, founded in 1910 and supported by the Free Kindergarten Union. The Wattle Day League was established as a charity group to raise money for needy causes through the sale of wattle in city streets annually on 7 September. For teachers it was a way to talk about civic responsibilities and national pride. In an era when white Australia was worried about its identity, planting wattle trees and wearing wattle were powerful naturalising agents for new settlers among the Loreto kindergarten family. In particular, Mary was drawn to Wattle Day because of the local nature focus and because it avoided the ambiguity of Empire Day, confusing to some and an anathema to others. Proceeds from their first collection amounted to £10 and became a yearly fixture.

St Francis’ Church, Melbourne. Murphy was an assayer and metallurgist and a lecturer for forty-three years at the Ballarat School of Mines. Finding replacements for these competent women was problematic. There were few qualified or experienced kindergarten teachers and even fewer Catholics in this emerging discipline. A series of temporary, short-term appointments followed but as the routine had been embedded the energetic volunteers kept the Loreto kindergarten afloat. In particular, the input of Mary Alston was crucial. She financed and organised picnics to Brighton Beach and Christmas parties, ran jumble sales where goods were sold at a lower price to kindergarten parents, hosted euchre parties and invited prominent Catholic writer Marion Miller Knowles to speak to the mothers. Marion was a poet, a member of The Advocate staff, to which she contributed columns for women and children, and was also the honorary secretary of the committee for St Joseph’s Home for Destitute Children, Surrey Hills.

The relationship with the Free Kindergarten Union proved beneficial in many ways. The yearly free medical check by Dr Edith Barrett improved the health and attendance of the students. Dorothy Bethune, director of the nearby Montague kindergarten run by ladies from the Toorak Presbyterian Church, and Nora Semmens, director of the first Free Kindergarten Union undertaking in Burnley, were unstinting in their assistance with lesson planning and gave informal talks to the mothers. Froebel’s methods were put into practice. The children were taken on excursions to nearby parks and gardens, by cab to the Fitzroy Gardens and visited a local blacksmith and bootmaker. These visits gave concrete illustrations of subject matter for songs, games and stories in their weekly program. In 1913 the committee purchased a new piano. Mary Alston remarked that singing and dancing were novel joys for many of the little ones.

The First World War The Great War cast a shadow over all. The kindergarten’s income gradually fell while the number of pupils rose to ninety. Life changed dramatically for the parents. Many fathers were away at the war instead of being in uncertain or lowpaid work and the mothers took the piecemeal factory and cleaning jobs vacated by the men. The kindergarten became a ‘war nursery’, with many families needing moral support and reassurance. The kindergarten committee voted not to make any special appeal to its patrons, as the war effort became a priority. Consequently the kindergarten’s funds were at times very low. The Australian Army was 10,000 miles from home. This meant that the men had few comforts, no tobacco, no preventative medicines or extra clothing. To fill the gap, many of the kindergarten’s volunteers began patriotic work for the Australian Comforts Fund and the 122

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Australian Red Cross Society, attending working bees and fundraising meetings in the Albert Hall. These loyal kindergarten helpers began burning the midnight oil. By Easter 1917 the number of volunteers had halved and the kindergarten lacked a much-needed pianist. It was a trying time for the staff. There was no precedent for women to join the armed services except as auxiliary nurses. At the end of 1915 Director Elinor Mary Palmer Archer resigned to study nursing. She was a great storyteller and was sadly missed. Elinor came from a literary family; her mother Laura was a journalist with The Argus and The Australasian.

In 1916 the committee appointed Ida Fawcett as director of the kindergarten to replace Elinor. It was a felicitous appointment. Ida was the daughter of James, Chief Architect of the Victorian Railways, and Alice, a Free Kindergarten Union council member, vice-president, founder of the free kindergarten at Burnley and a member of the Children’s Welfare Organisation. Ida was educated by the Misses Taylor at their family home Rolyat in Creswick Street, Hawthorn. The school was founded in 1889 by a young Jeannie Taylor, a tiny, energetic and inspirational teacher with a passion for literature. In 1901 she married Aeneas James Gunn and sailed with him to Port Darwin, where he was to run a cattle station. Aeneas died a year later and Jeannie returned to Hawthorn and became a novelist. Ida remained close friends with Jeannie and loved to read passages of We of the Never-Never to her pupils.

Ida attended the Melbourne Teachers’ College in Melbourne from 1907 to 1908 and graduated with an infants’ teaching certificate. Her love was preschooling, and after leaving college she spent three months studying at Froebel College, Sydney, to gain further experience. Ida’s lecturer, Emmeline Pye, described her as a student with unflagging zeal and originality and a natural love and capacity for kindergarten work.19 Her first position was at the Collegiate School of St Michael’s in St Kilda. She then became the founding director in 1910 of the Fitzroy Free Kindergarten, situated in the hall of St Mark’s Church of England. But this foundation did not survive and Ida then became director in 1912 at a kindergarten in West Melbourne associated with St James Old Cathedral. It must have been a baptism of fire, as conditions could not have been further removed from those prevailing at St Michael’s and at Fitzroy. Yet Ida felt that the children at the cathedral flourished in their primitive, ordered, loving environment: After the bustle and unceasing change in the streets, the Kindergarten was a place where some lovely things were done, in much the same way, day after day; where questions were answered, and where unity was always found. In his new environment the child learned how to look up to God and how to look down to little children and pets, his ideals unconsciously became higher in an atmosphere of love and tenderness.20

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Hard at work Students at the Central Catholic Training College preparing materials for use at the Loreto Free Kindergarten in 1914

The Loreto committee introduced a hot midday meal when it was discovered that some children were coming to kindergarten without breakfast. Monthly Mothers’ Meetings became social events, as it was difficult to find suitable speakers due to the many people involved in war service. The staff and children at Our Lady of the Angels rallied and in June 1916 they held a fete at the school which was opened by Archbishop Carr. Through their untiring efforts they raised £211. The following winter of 1917 was an extremely cold one, and the Loreto Ladies’ Sodality provided gifts of large bundles of clothing and boots that were sent at once to poor families, with the remainder sold at a nominal price. But 1917 ended on a sad note. In December the kindergarten closed its Bank Street rooms with eighty-one students on its roll. The increasing use of the rooms for the war effort highlighted a pressing need to extend and refurbish Albert Hall. No other suitable premises for the kindergarten could be located in South Melbourne.

New kindergarten premises in Fitzroy Kindergarten Vice-President Mary Elligett from Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount, Ballarat, suggested to the committee that they approach Reverend John Barry, the administrator of St Patrick’s Cathedral and Chancellor of the archdiocese. Mary 124

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was the daughter of Charlotte Emily and Patrick Harold Elligett, the police magistrate, warden and coroner for Ballarat. Mary lived with her brother in Chrystobel Crescent, Hawthorn, and was happy to personally present their case.

Reverend Barry was an efficient organiser and a congenial and considerate host.

He suggested that the committee lease some of the rooms in the Cathedral Girls’ Club, situated at 14 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, adjacent to the Cathedral Hall. The club was established in 1903 to benefit girls in employment aged twelve and upwards. Many were country girls who lived in lodgings and were employed in menial tasks. Each evening volunteers conducted activities to help the girls to socialise and establish friendships. Organisers also conducted sewing and typing classes and established a registry of suitable jobs for new arrivals.

The rooms were large and airy and had the advantage of a grassy playground and some flowerbeds. While this relocation meant severing ties with the local mothers, children and benefactors, the committee agreed to accept this offer of a central city location. The expenses for the removal to the new site were paid for by Mary Alston. Volunteers developed the outdoor area, planted more garden beds and added a sandpit and a climbing frame. Reverend Barry organised for the rooms to be repainted, paid for by the archdiocese. Members of the Free Kindergarten Union were cautious before agreeing to the new venue. With six inner-city kindergartens already operating, the supervisor, Jessie Glendinning, inspected the district carefully and reported that there were many children who were not attending kindergartens. Jessie was also careful to check the standards of Loreto’s temporary premises and made three additional visits to the rooms, where she suggested various improvements which the committee promptly carried out. In the April 1918 report to the Free Kindergarten Union, Jessie gave a careful, detailed account of the transplanted kindergarten. She devoted a major section to describing the small religious services and stated that she had failed to find any religious teaching or hymn singing to which the union could take objection. During prayers and the blessing before meals she observed that the atmosphere was reverent and simple.21 On 5 February 1918 the kindergarten opened with a few children, and the numbers slowly rose to forty. Ida Fawcett and Amy O’Halloran, with the assistance of voluntary helpers, began home visits, and steadily attendance increased at the Mothers’ Meetings. There was some sadness when Dr Edith Barrett resigned from her post as honorary medical officer, as she felt the new rooms were too far from her residence. The committee was delighted when one of their own volunteered to take her place. Nellie Winifred Haynes was a senior pupil at Our Lady of the Angels in 1904. Nellie had spent her childhood at Beechworth. Her father, Abraham, had studied medicine in Edinburgh and became a country doctor. After sixteen years Abraham established a new practice at Bentham in Church Street, Richmond, where Nellie lived while studying at the University of Melbourne.

Jessie Glendinning Jessie was born in Yorkshire in 1874. She was fluent in German and French was a member of the National Froebel Society of London and had worked in kindergartens in England and South Africa. She was interested not only in kindergartens, but in children’s welfare and social reform. She was an enthusiastic member of the Church of England.22

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She graduated in 1917 and while working at St Vincent’s Hospital gave her time generously to the kindergarten.

Proximity of the kindergarten to the city had some advantages, as the children could make frequent visits to the Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens. They also visited the Children’s Hospital, to which they took fruit, and St Vincent’s Hospital to participate in the annual Egg Day. In 1918 a clinical psychologist and educator, Stanley David Porteus, examined the children. His specialty was to identify students who were suffering from physical or intellectual defects. While a young teacher in Gippsland, he had developed novel but simple methods to assist children in acquiring basic linguistic and mathematical skills. He made suggestions about suitable treatment for some of Loreto’s little ones. Stanley invited staff and parents to his free lectures in experimental education at the University of Melbourne. Psychology was a new discipline and Stanley drew from the work of Dr Maria Montessori, a devout Catholic who had pioneered a new approach in Italy. Elements of her approach were adopted by the Free Kindergarten Union and disseminated through their training programs and kindergartens.

The Catholic influence A Jesuit, Reverend William Joseph Lockington SJ, who had a passion for social justice and sympathy for women, addressed members of the Newman Society at the University of Melbourne. He stated that the free kindergartens were doing valuable work in the community but unfortunately they were almost entirely lacking in Catholic influence: The old girls of one of our convent schools have founded and maintained a kindergarten, but it is a striking fact that even there they have been compelled to employ a Protestant teacher, because no Catholic has the qualifications which are demanded by the Free Kindergarten Union before a kindergarten can be recognised by the union and can participate in the grant which it makes to each school. And apart from the professional kindergarten there is an ample field for workers in the existing free kindergartens where they would be able to bring a much needed Catholic influence upon the children of many poor Catholic homes.23 Reverend Lockington was referring to Ida Fawcett, a committed Anglican.

In April 1916 Ida heard a talk given by Dr Mary Glowery which would have far-reaching implications on her life, as it combined practicality and spirituality.

Dr Glowery, an ear, nose and throat specialist, addressed the kindergarten mothers 126

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The Spanish flu While the interns were always busy, the workload of Dr Nellie Haynes was complicated by the outbreak in December 1918 of a virulent flu known as Spanish Influenza. The flu was thought to have been brought to Australia by soldiers returning from the war. The strain was first identified in Kansas in the United States but spread rapidly, and the pandemic infected millions. Hospital beds quickly filled and the emergency prompted the creation of a makeshift hospital at the nearby Melbourne Exhibition Buildings. Surprisingly, it attacked young healthy adults rather than the old and infirm. In January 1919 the state government placed Victoria in quarantine,

which forced all schools to close. The kindergarten did not reopen until March of that year. The flu epidemic affected the health and strength of the children and attendance was poor for the following three months.

Amy O’Halloran became one of the victims. She made a slow recovery but was forced to take extended leave during 1919 and resigned at the end of 1920 due to continuing ill health. In 1921 Nellie Haynes married a surgeon, Charles Stanley, who had interrupted his medical studies to serve with the ambulance unit of the Light Horse Regiment at Gallipoli. Together they worked at the Bendigo Base Hospital and their only child, Joan, became a boarder at Loreto Toorak.

on the treatment of minor ailments in children, on methods of relieving pain and on the method of administering conditional baptism in circumstances when the mother or nurse would be called upon to give it.24 During July 1916, in the midst of the Great War, a small group of women were given the impetus by Reverend Lockington to found the Catholic Women’s Social Guild, and the inaugural president was Dr Glowery. The guild’s first objectives were to provide for the poor through a rest home for sick children and respite care for overworked girls. In 1920 Dr Glowery migrated to Bangalore, India, where she joined the Congregation of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and carried out missionary work until her death.

With the blessing of Loreto Ida resigned in 1919. She sailed on the SS Suevic to England, where she undertook religious studies with the Loreto Sisters and the Jesuits and converted to Catholicism. In August 1919, Amy O’Halloran, the kindergarten assistant, was appointed as director in her absence.

Amy was the youngest daughter of Charles Dennis O’Halloran and Catherine Mary Daley. She was born in June 1892 at Woodcliffe in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn. Together with her sisters, Amy had been a boarder at Loreto Mary’s Mount. Kathleen, the eldest in the family, joined the Sisters of Charity. When Ida returned in 1921 Amy became her assistant again. That same year Ida joined the Catholic Women’s Social Guild, where she gave talks and contributed articles to their magazine, The Horizon. The guild gave Ida a voice for her twin interests of Catholicism and the children of the poor. While abroad, Ida had discovered the Catholic Library at Bexhill, East Sussex. In Melbourne she found that she missed the easy access to Catholic literature which she had enjoyed in England. She

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petitioned Archbishop Daniel Mannix about opening a library and became instrumental in the foundation of the Central Catholic Library in 1924. Ida remained as director of the kindergarten until her retirement in 1938, following which she pursued other Catholic causes.

The Loreto Past Pupils’ Association formed a Kindergarten Scholarship Fund in 1919. At the end of their first year they presented the Loreto community with a cheque for £110 to form the nucleus of a fund for training Catholic teachers for kindergartens. In 1920 Mother Elizabeth Forbes joined the kindergarten committee as honorary treasurer. She was the first Loreto Sister to become a member of this committee. From 1918 to 1919 Mother Elizabeth had been the inaugural administrator of St Mary’s Hall, Parkville, where she maintained the accounts. Her appointment to the committee was not only an apt choice, for Mother Elizabeth had been supportive of the kindergarten’s foundation, but had the added bonus of reuniting the committee with South Melbourne families and more closely with the work of the Loreto Sisters. While working at Loreto Albert Park Mother Elizabeth had held the positions of Mistress of Schools and later Superior and Principal of the Central Catholic Training College.

Catherine Ellen Forbes was born in 1874 in Carlton, the daughter of an accountant. She was educated at home before attending the University of Melbourne, where she graduated with a bachelor of arts. The early female university students were a marginalised group. There were a few residential places for women at the Church of England Trinity Hostel, an annex of Trinity College. Catherine attended tutorials at Trinity College but women were excluded from much of the social life of the university, which was centred on male clubs and sports. In 1888 a group of female students formed their own society, the Princess Ida Club, in a room allocated to women above the law lecture theatre. Catherine joined this club and enjoyed their debates, musical events and literary society meetings.

After completing her studies, Catherine taught for a year at the private school Iona Brighton Ladies’ College, Middle Brighton. The school was run by Martha Haines and members of her family for resident and day students and was eligible to take girls on secondary government scholarships. This school was the forerunner to Firbank Church of England Grammar School. In 1897 Catherine moved to Loreto Mary’s Mount, where she taught for several years before entering the novitiate. During 1906 she attended the Central Catholic Training College and completed her teaching qualifications. Mother Elizabeth was a tall, calm, dignified lady with a sense of humour. The children loved her visits, as she was a keen nature lover and gardener and knew each bird’s call. Mother Elizabeth was also a perfectionist, and under her sharp eye the kindergarten funds were skilfully managed for the following seven years.

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Emerald Hall, South Melbourne During 1921 the committee learnt that their rooms were required for an extension of the Cathedral Girls’ Club to include a much-needed Girls’ Hostel. They were once again faced with finding a suitable building in another suburb. After a fruitless search they approached Reverend Collins, who graciously agreed that they could move back into the supper room, where the renovations had been completed in 1918. This facility was now known as Emerald Hall. As had become customary, Mary Alston defrayed the costs of relocation. The committee were pleased to accept this offer from Reverend Collins in spite of the many difficulties entailed in occupying a room also used for other purposes. In their tenth annual report they stated that they hoped that in the near future they would have a room solely for kindergarten purposes: ‘All kindergartners feel the necessity of a building planned and adapted to the work, if that work is to have the best results in the training and development of the children.’25 Kindergarten life at 301 Bank Street settled back into its old routine in 1922, though in rather cramped conditions. Local physician Dr Francis Michael Blackall conducted the medical examinations of the little ones. The committee held their meetings at St Mary’s Hall with Mother Patrick as well as Mother Elizabeth in attendance. In the middle of 1922 they began to think seriously about finding alternate accommodation. A note appeared in The Advocate:

All kindergartners feel the necessity of a building planned and adapted to the work, if that work is to have the best results in the training and development of the children.

Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten

The Loreto, being the pioneer kindergarten undertaken by Catholics, is deserving of more substantial support. Since its inception eleven years ago it has been greatly handicapped in not having a building solely for kindergarten purposes.

If people realised the value, both moral and physical, which the kindergarten bestows on little children and the help it gives the parents, it is felt that assistance would be forthcoming to secure a building solely for kindergarten use, and in time as the advantages become better known, the work would extend until the number of kindergartens supported by Catholics would equal those of other denominations.26 A cottage next to Emerald Hall came on the market and the committee sought the advice of Ida’s father, James Fawcett, and Thomas Michael Burke, a Catholic real estate businessman and philanthropist. They organised for the cottage to be purchased for £800 in December 1922. Over the holiday break, painting and remodelling were undertaken at the further cost of £300. The building became a model kindergarten surrounded by well-kept lawns, a pretty garden and fruit trees. Ida’s mother, Alice Fawcett, donated picture frames, crockery, toys, play aprons and a much-coveted gramophone. The Catholic Women’s Social Guild

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A special meeting St Mary’s Hall, 1922 Opposite, top: Enjoying morning tea Boys and girls near the dolls’ corner in the new kindergarten building in Bank Street, South Melbourne, 1923 Opposite, bottom: Posing patiently Thirty-three youngsters at the front of the kindergarten cottage in 1923

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provided the always needed boots and clothing. To reduce their large debt, the energetic committee members held a series of fundraising events. The first was a garden party at Mary Alston’s home, Majella. It was a great success, realising £150.

But Mary’s generosity did not end there, as she donated a gold watch to be raffled, which realised £64, blinds for the new rooms, towels, tablecloths and toys. She also paid for the printing of the reports and paid numerous accounts, including the insurance premiums. The second afternoon gathering was a ‘Café Chantant’, held in Melba Hall at the Conservatorium of the University of Melbourne. The guest artists included Our Lady of the Angels past students Kathleen Fitzpatrick, soprano, May Broderick, pianist, and Felice Crozier, violinist. Felice had not only attended Our Lady of the Angels but between her studies at the university and concert tours taught violin to the girls in Albert Park. The concert raised £33.

The third event was a dance organised by the Corrigan girls – Dora, Eileen and Moya – who had attended Our Lady of the Angels before completing their education at the Brigidine Convent, Kilbride, South Melbourne. The venue was the recently remodelled Ormond Hall. This hall had been built in 1891 as a music hall for the school for the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. The girls raised £43. The fourth event was organised by Mary Alice Dwyer, mother of current pupils Jack, Millicent and Madge of Our Lady of the

There was no need in speaking to a Catholic audience to touch upon the importance of religious training, since that was the keynote of all Catholic education.

Ada a’Beckett

Angels. She lent her house, Kennford, at 20 Queen’s Road, Albert Park, for another garden party. It was an idyllic setting, with a large landscaped garden, fernery, fountain, garden pavilion and a summerhouse with black and white tiles. The proceeds amounted to £56. Madge Dwyer became a foundation scholar at Loreto Toorak in the following year.

Lawyer Bernard Nolan, who had been a student in the first class at Our Lady of the Angels, provided pro bono assistance. The kindergarten moved into its new home in June 1923. In July of that year Thomas Burke remarked that it was the first time that he had had the privilege of coming into contact with the Loreto kindergarten and was stunned by the splendid progress being made to reduce the debt so speedily. He generously offered to pay the interest on the overdraft for as long as it was needed. A year later his daughter, Sylvia, became a student at Loreto Toorak. The kindergarten was also warmly supported by the local Labor Party Legislative Council member Robert Henry Williams. Although a member of the Church of England, his wife, Mary Ellen Phelan, was a Catholic and the couple donated both time and funds to aid in the establishment of the new premises.

The Christmas celebrations of 1922 featured a children’s nativity play. Mary Alston’s four-year-old son Stanley, with his golden hair and luscious dark eyes, became the rosy-winged, lily-bearing St Gabriel of the Annunciation. The Advocate published Ida Fawcett’s account, which described it as the first play in Melbourne ever performed by little children under six years of age, and also, we venture to think the first Catholic Nativity play performed in the city. Yes, it is fitting that the sinless should play at ‘holy games’ like these, for they alone are worthy. At the end, when fifty babies, all Catholic, went up to kneel at the crib and sing ‘O Come Let Us Adore Him’ we who saw that sight through brimming eyes with strange emotions clutching at our heartstrings, knelt there in spirit too, crying to the sin-stained, frozen, hardened world outside.27 With each move the kindergarten came under closer scrutiny from the Free Kindergarten Union. A special committee meeting was held at St Mary’s Hall on the 12 April 1923. This was called by Ada a’Beckett, the president of the Free Kindergarten Union. Ada was a Presbyterian and a science graduate. She was working as a demonstrator in the biology department of the University of Melbourne and lecturing in physiology and hygiene at the Kindergarten Training College. She combined these activities with tireless voluntary work for the Free Kindergarten Union. Her concern was how Ida Fawcett organised the religious teaching at the Loreto kindergarten. It would appear that Ida’s report on the nativity play had alerted Ada to the possibility that the non-Catholic children had not participated, as there were eighty children on the kindergarten roll.

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In a dignified manner Ada reiterated that the union’s grant from the Education Department was not for charitable purposes. There were certain elements concerning religious teaching that needed to be complied with in order to be eligible for a portion of the union’s grant. There was to be no denominational teaching. The Catholic children were not to be separated from the Protestants and the assistant teacher (who was at this time a non-Catholic) was not to be asked to leave the room during prayers. With diplomacy on both sides, the matters were satisfactorily resolved. In July 1932 Ada was invited as the guest speaker to the kindergarten’s annual general meeting, where she praised the generosity of the Loreto community in glowing terms. She stated that many in the community at large failed to realise the importance of kindergartens in building moral and healthy children. She added, ‘There was no need in speaking to a Catholic audience to touch upon the importance of religious training, since that was the keynote of all Catholic education.’28

Kindergarten life during the Great Depression An informal kindergarten group on the front verandah of the cottage, c. 1930s

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VI THE RIGHT THING TO DO The Closure of ‘Maria Regina Angelorum’ at Albert Park

What a stimulating experience it was to train at Loreto! How tolerant and far-seeing Loreto was in opening its doors to such a variety of people.

My year at Albert Park provided me with a very liberal education in many ways. I appreciated it and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Olga Janet Hay, student, 1911 1

I

ncreasing noise, worsening air pollution and cramped conditions underpinned a momentous change to the composition of Loreto’s foundations in Melbourne.

During 1924 the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary decided to close their Albert Road convent, the Central Catholic Training College and the primary and secondary schools of Our Lady of the Angels, referred to as Loreto Convent Albert Park. This decision was not taken lightly and there were many regrets. It must have been a wrench for all involved. Old Albert Park with its red and white houses, as they were affectionately referred to, was a centre for education wedded to a social apostolate. For many Catholics the Albert Road foundation was the heart of Loreto in Melbourne and acknowledged as a powerhouse of Catholic education in Victoria. More than fifteen hundred primary, secondary and tertiary students had passed through its doors. Catholics and non-Catholics had benefitted from this Loreto training. Through visitations many parents and friends had witnessed the strong influence for good exercised by Loreto in the local community and beyond. A great deal of quiet, self-sacrificial work in the service of humanity emanated from Albert Road.

At the end of the First World War great physical changes began to take place in South Melbourne. Manufacturing increased with the return of men from the front-line. New industries were introduced and existing ones expanded. The skyline was full of chimneys belching smoke from the manufacture of chemicals, paper, tyres, lifts, pipes and engines. Albert Park, with its charming air, broad tree-lined roads and wide lake was a shrinking oasis in an area being rapidly embraced by factories. The encroaching industry reduced open spaces and sporting facilities. In particular, the alienation of sections of the Albert Park Reserve by the South Melbourne City Council to operate sand quarries and a municipal rubbish tip changed the character of the surroundings. On the aristocratic St Kilda Road and Queens Road the mansions of merchants and city folk that had lined these thoroughfares were being converted to flats or rooming houses to accommodate the increasing workforce. The genteel feel of the suburb was subtly changing as prosperous families moved to Kew, Hawthorn, Malvern and Brighton. For the Loreto community, their clientele at Albert Park was also gradually changing.

A small woman with an Irish wit Mother Dorothea Walker at her convent desk in Albert Road, c. 1924 Previous page 134: The Indian Room, Mandeville Hall The room that was converted into a library for senior Loreto students, 1940 (detail, see page 146)

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Opposite: A new home for Loreto in South Melbourne The building in St Vincent Place was featured on the front cover of The Advocate, 26 March 1925

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Few of the new workers were in a financial position to afford fees for private schooling for their daughters. If the school was to survive it would need to transfer to a new locality.

At the same time the parish primary school of Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne, a practising school for the Central Catholic Training College, was overflowing with four hundred students. In 1924 one hundred and thirtyseven new students enrolled: eighty-five girls and fifty-two boys. Only seventy-two of the new students were baptised as Catholics. The families of Saints Peter and Paul’s School were overwhelmingly working class. In many cases this was the only education that their daughters would receive. The girls could remain under the care of Loreto until the end of Year Eight, when they were encouraged to study for their Merit Certificate, the necessary qualification for entry to secondary school.

The boys, after Year Two and First Holy Communion, were transferred to the adjoining junior and secondary schools run by the Christian Brothers. The 1924 intake to Saints Peter and Paul’s School included thirty children whose parents were unemployed. Only four parents – a musician, a secretary, an accountant and an engineer – were in occupations that indicated they had received some academic training. There were four shopkeepers and one pastry cook. The remainder were typically labourers, stevedores, stokers, rubber workers, railway employees, factory hands and drovers.

A similar problem had arisen with the Loreto foundation in Hamilton, Victoria. In 1904 Dean Michael Shanahan purchased the property of the former Hamilton Academy, a private secondary boarding school for boys. Dean Shanahan invited Loreto to establish a convent and secondary school and to take charge of St Mary’s Parochial School, which was to be relocated to the site. Loreto began their Hamilton mission, which they named Loreto Convent St Michael’s Hamilton, in July 1905 with the gifted educator and Superior Mother Hilda Benson. As there was no Catholic boys’ school in the district, Loreto agreed to take boys in the secondary section up to Year Eight, or the age of fourteen, when they were eligible to leave school. This decision offered particular challenges in curriculum, sport and discipline, as Loreto usually taught boys only in the kindergarten and junior primary sections. The children came from homes where parents were not well off and were struggling with the task of providing a home, sustenance and education for their families.

School fees in both junior and senior sections were minimal and the Loreto community sacrificed personal space in order to accommodate more students.

Although their recreational space and sleeping accommodation was inadequate, the community were energetic and achieved remarkable academic and pastoral success. They took on roles far beyond that of classroom teachers and became esteemed members of the Hamilton community. The opening of the Central

St Vincent Place Monsignor Richard Collins, parish priest of South Melbourne, was a great supporter of the Loreto community and valued their parochial work at Saints Peter and Paul’s School. In order for Loreto to continue at Saints Peter and Paul’s Monsignor Collins purchased a house in St Vincent Place and arranged for sleeping accommodation and a small chapel to be built for the Loreto community. This facility was formally opened in March 1925 with Mother Magdalen O’Hagan, an astute administrator, as its first Superior. Lily O’Hagan was born in 1882 in New Zealand. Her mother died when she was a year old and she was looked after by an aunt in Ballarat. Before entering religious life, Lily worked as a pupil-teacher at the State School Middle Junction in Western Australia and as an assistant teacher in Loreto Adelaide Terrace, Perth. After entering she became a student at the Loreto Training College Dawson Street, passed eight Matriculation subjects, including honours in French and music at the University of Melbourne, and completed her registration as a primary and secondary teacher.

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Catholic Training College in 1906 and St Mary’s Hall in 1918 drained the pool of trained, experienced Loreto teachers. The Hamilton community valiantly continued in straitened academic and financial circumstances but eventually it was impossible to continue. In 1922 Mother General Raphael Deasy wrote from Rathfarnham that she understood their reasons and granted permission for Loreto to close Hamilton at the conclusion of the year. A precedent had been set for the closure of a Loreto foundation in Australia.

The last Superior before the closure of the Albert Road complex was Mother Dorothea Walker. Mary Walker was born in 1861 at Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, Ireland. After a finishing year at Notre Dame, Vosges, where she developed a lifelong zest for the French language, she entered the Loreto Abbey at Rathfarnham. Shortly after her profession in 1883 Mother Dorothea came to Australia with Mother Stanislaus Mulhall, who later was appointed as the second Australian Provincial. Mother Dorothea was a small woman with an Irish wit.

During a visitation in 1921 to the Albert Road community by the Provincial, Mother Stanislaus, Mother Dorothea raised some of her pressing problems. She discussed the cramped conditions that were a result of running a school, a teachers’ college and a convent on the same site and the increasing issues caused by the surrounding environment. The site was hemmed in on all sides. One of her main concerns was the use of the back lane at night as a thoroughfare and meeting place for destitute men, many of whom were severely damaged by their war experiences.

An additional worry was the safety of her students travelling from St Kilda and Carlton. They were walking from the train and tram through undesirable areas on their way to and from school.

There were also other factors under consideration aside from Mother Dorothea’s deep concerns about the decline in Our Lady of the Angels’ enrolments – from sixty-four in 1921 to twenty-four in 1923 – and the increasing unsuitability of the suburb. The surrounding convent schools, which charged marginally lower tuition rates, were becoming competitors. The Brigidine Sisters’ Kilbride in South Melbourne and the Presentation Sisters’ Star of the Sea, Gardenvale, and Presentation Convent, Windsor were thriving institutions. These schools trained girls for Intermediate and Leaving certificates and provided large boarding facilities, an attractive feature for families from distant suburbs and country areas.

In contrast, Our Lady of the Angels, while catering for a handful of boarders, was predominantly a city school serving the needs of urban families. Looking back, the Loreto community wrote: For several years before 1924 Past Pupils of Mary’s Mount now married and with school age daughters were anxious for a Loreto establishment in one of the more exclusive suburbs. They wanted not only a boarding school, but more 140

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Changes to teacher training The focus of Catholic teacher training was changing.

Although the Central Catholic Training College fulfilled a long-held need by offering professional training to teachers of all religious orders, the orders themselves did not find it an ideal solution. The training of young religious was highly specialised: each order had its own unique spirit and history that was reflected in its method and style of teaching, as well as in its training in Christian doctrine and in the principles of the spiritual life. Some communities feared that with general training, their aspirants might lose their own special identities. Each order wished to impart its own ethos both to the trainees and the recipients of that training, the students. For this reason, some religious communities continued with their own training system or provided new central training centres for their convents. In particular, the larger teaching orders founded their own training facilities, such as the Mercy Sisters at Ascot Vale in 1907 and the Presentation Sisters at Elsternwick in 1908. The Mercy Sisters did, however, continue to send their country students to Albert Park. The Central Catholic Training College was instrumental in giving rise to these colleges by contributing to the co-ordination and standardisation of Catholic teaching and providing a model for training teachers.

From inception, the Central Catholic Training College had received the wholehearted support of Archbishop Thomas Carr, who encouraged diocesan bishops to contribute through providing scholarships to aspiring teachers from their jurisdictions. With the death of Archbishop Carr in 1917 and the subsequent push to establish Catholic residential colleges at the University of Melbourne, this hierarchical patronage was redirected. Collections for the new university residences took place in

every diocese and in every parish in Victoria.

This redirection had a twofold impact on Loreto.

It caused a decrease in the funding that supported the Central Catholic Training College’s residential and day trainees, whose fees barely covered Loreto’s costs, and a reduction in the resources available to underpin the stipends of visiting external lecturers, whose contributions greatly enriched the training courses offered. After 1918, only the primary oneyear registration course continued at Albert Park, while the public demonstration lessons and the employment of lay lecturers ceased. The contacts with educational movements and ideas outside of the Loreto Order became fewer and the number of trainees at Albert Park decreased.

Following the cessation of hostilities and the return of servicemen, the Melbourne Teachers’ College, in the grounds of the University of Melbourne, expanded its enrolments and broadened its curriculum. The Kindergarten Training College, Kew, established in 1921, provided both residential and day tuition in early childhood studies and the Victorian government established new teachers’ colleges in Ballarat and Bendigo. Another factor affecting enrolments at the Central Catholic Training College came from one of their own foundations, St Mary’s Hall, at the University of Melbourne. Much of the unique appeal of the college disappeared with the opening of St Mary’s Hall in 1918. Qualified Loreto teachers were building an academic reputation.

By the 1920s there were sixty students in residence at St Mary’s Hall and a Loreto community that included members who were taking teaching courses, as well as studying for university qualifications. St Mary’s Hall had become the logical place for Catholic women and the Loreto community to live in a vibrant establishment while undertaking tertiary studies.

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urgently a day school which their daughters could attend while still living in their own family circle at nights and at weekends. All the leading girls’ colleges in Melbourne, Protestant and Catholic are of this type. A more insistent plea that came to Loreto from various priests was the need for a college with the same traditions as Mary’s Mount to attract parents who were sending their Catholic daughters to fashionable Protestant colleges.2

The search for new accommodation In the light of external pressures Mother Dorothea asked Mother Stanislaus for permission during 1921 to begin a search for a new location to accommodate a primary and secondary school in Melbourne. Permission was granted for an initial investigation, but ratification would rest with the Mother General, Mother Raphael Deasy. Over the next three years Mother Dorothea, accompanied by Mother Mechtilde Farrell, who had worked at St Mary’s Hall before coming to the Central Catholic Training College, walked and drove around Prahran, South Yarra, Malvern and Toorak in search of a more suitable property, reportedly throwing miraculous medals over the walls of the ones that looked the most promising. At the request of Mother Mechtilde the first likely sites for a new school, on Queen’s Road and St Kilda Road, were photographed by Norah Heerey, a former Albert Park pupil and current Central Catholic Training College student who lived in Winter Street, Malvern. Norah’s mother, Margaret Heerey, suggested that the community should concentrate on sites in Toorak, as Prahran, Malvern and South Yarra were more densely populated and there were fewer substantial properties for sale.3 During the nineteenth century many wealthy graziers, professionals and businessmen had built picturesque, stately homes in hilly, leafy Toorak with vistas to the city and the hills. Numbers of these large homes included a ballroom, billiard room and conservatory, as well as the necessary space for a large extended family and staff. Typically there were two staircases, one exclusively for the use of family members or guests and the other for staff. Hand-carved woodwork was popular and oak panelling was used extensively. Many rooms had fireplaces and mantelpieces, often fashioned of carved marble. The grounds were spacious, with manicured gardens, grass or asphalt tennis courts, croquet lawns and lakes. Families travelled in their own carriages through ornate gates past the lodge keeper’s house and up sweeping driveways. At the rear were the stables, harness- and coachrooms and living quarters for the coachmen and grooms.

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guesthouses. The guests, often families as well as single people, had their own suites with a private sitting room and were looked after by house- and parlourmaids.

They changed for dinner each evening and dined at separate, designated tables. By the 1920s these establishments were known as boarding houses, had less formal daily routines and were patronised by gentle women and men working in the city.

Maintenance of the gardens, vegetable patches, greenhouses and orchards became less of a priority and many of these homes suffered from noticeable neglect.

Mandeville Hall in Toorak had endured a similar fate. When Mother Dorothea first viewed the estate she found a grand old edifice in need of considerable love, but full of promise.

On high ground St George’s, the first building on the Mandeville Hall site and home to the Watson family, Toorak, 1867

St George’s St George’s, the original home built on the site during 1867, was thought to be the work of prominent architect Joseph Reed. This conclusion was based on two examples of his domestic work: Rippon Lea, Elsternwick, built in 1868 for a city merchant, Frederick Sargood, and Aroona, Toorak, built in 1869 for Police

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Joseph Clarke Joseph Clarke was the third son of the highly successful grazier William John Turner Clarke, known as ‘Big’ Clarke for his physical size and his shrewd and large dealings in business. In 1860 Joseph married a cousin, Caroline Clarke, and their two sons William John Turner and Lewis Alexander were born in Tasmania and educated in Melbourne at Wesley College and Hawthorn Grammar School. Joseph had managed his father’s Tasmanian enterprises and prospered after inheriting these and a portion of his father’s substantial interstate pastoral holdings in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia, and others in New Zealand. In addition, Joseph invested in sixteen suburban housing allotments around Melbourne and held many important positions in public companies, including the chairmanship of the Colonial Bank of Australasia and a directorship of the Melbourne and Hobson’s Bay United Railway Company.

Magistrate James Blair.4 Joseph Reed drew his architectural inspirations from many quarters. Reed’s command of elevation is evident in St George’s but no documentation relating to his involvement with the actual design has been uncovered. Recent research indicates that the house is possibly the work of architect Charles Webb, as there were strikingly similar houses designed by Webb for wealthy estates in Brighton.5 This argument in favour of Webb also draws from two items listed under disbursements in the first owner’s probate records. The first item is for the rebuilding of the stables on the property’s Orrong Road boundary, dated 7 March 1876, for the sum of £68 13s 4d, though the name of the contractor is not provided. The second item refers to Webb having an outstanding debts account of £9 9s 0d. The name ‘Webb’ does not appear with an initial. At best this evidence connecting Webb to the design of the first buildings is tenuous.

Interestingly, disbursements from the Watson estate also covered payments to the subsequent owner of the property for rent amounting to £4 18s 9d on 2 June 1876.6 Perhaps the second owner of the property, Joseph Clarke, in consort with the Watson executors, sanctioned the services of Charles Webb on the Mandeville Hall site. The work on the stables is dated before the contract of sale of the property on 22 March 1876. Six months later Joseph Clarke completed the final settlement on 22 August 1876.

Athelstane There is clear documentation, however, that the first mansion was commissioned by an Englishman, Alfred Watson, and his Australian-born wife, Marianne Jemima Morton. Watson was a son of a lace maker and with two brothers, Robert Twells Watson and Edward Gilbert Watson, established a successful soft goods and warehouse business in Flinders Lane known as William Watson & Sons, the name of their father’s business in England. Alfred Watson was also a shareholder in mining companies and an active supporter of the Melbourne Hospital, the Benevolent Asylum and the Melbourne Hospital for Sick Children. Alfred and Marianne did not have children but were extremely generous to their English and Australian nieces and nephews and invested the profits from the Melbourne business in the parent company in England then run by Alfred’s brothers Benjamin William Watson and Joseph Frederick Watson. Alfred and Marianne’s sixteenroom home was in the Classical Revival style and named St George’s. According to earlier historical accounts, Watson, a furniture and art collector, also enhanced the exterior by developing part of the twenty acres into a dedicated sanctuary for Australian fauna and flora. Legend also attributes the design of the sunken garden, duck pond, laburnum walk and driveway of Moreton Bay figs to the government botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller.

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Following Alfred Watson’s death at sea in 1875, the estate passed to his brother Edward Gilbert Watson. While waiting for probate to be granted, Athelstane, as it had come to be known, was leased to retired pastoralist George Hebden from February 1875 until 10 May 1876, when he died there. Initially Joseph Clarke, the second owner, retained the name Athelstane. In August 1878 a journalist, James Edward Nield, otherwise known as the theatre critic Christopher Sly, visited the property. In an article entitled ‘A Habitable House’ he wrote effusively about its beauty: ‘Athelstane is a concert of relevant shapes and colours: or it is a poem of chromatic rhythm, and symmetric forms.’7 Nield was referring to the flamboyant interior decorations. In terms of the general standards of taste at the time, the mansion was a decade ahead of its contemporaries in its stylistic decor.

In 1877 Joseph Clarke engaged Charles Webb to refurbish Athelstane. Webb’s brief was to redesign the façade and extend the mansion both in the front and at the rear. By this time Webb was widely known in Melbourne for his design of the Royal Arcade, the Emerald Hill Town Hall (South Melbourne) and the Melbourne Orphan Asylum. He designed an elaborate new façade to replace the austere frontage and added many rooms, including a marble-paved entrance hall, a reception room, an oak parlour and a main staircase, as well as bedrooms, cellars and an extensive basement. The renovations were estimated to have cost £30,000 and carried all of the hallmarks of an English gentleman’s residence.8 Joseph named the remodelled mansion Mandeville Hall in reference to the family’s homestead Norton Mandeville in northern Tasmania, which had been named after a hamlet in Essex. At the same time Joseph appointed Toorak nurseryman William Sangster to change the layout of the grounds. A decade later the garden displays at Mandeville Hall received many commendations from the Victorian Horticultural Improvement Society through special exhibits arranged by Clarke’s head gardener, Archibald Stuart.9 While on business in London, Joseph’s oldest brother, Sir William Clarke of Rupertswood, Sunbury, ordered the furnishings and furniture and consulted with Caroline, who was visiting her son William, a student at Christ College, Oxford.

The decor, fittings and cabinets were ordered from Gillow & Co., a fashionable London firm, who sent out a team of workmen to supervise the installation. The creations for Mandeville Hall were not just splendid; they were sophisticated and avant-garde even by London standards.10 The interior fittings featured early English medieval and Oriental styles and were richly ornamented with silk wall hangings. The furnishings included English-styled mantelpieces, conservatory doors made of Italian glass, gilt ceilings, a parlour panelled with imported oak carvings and images of English country scenes, hand-painted glass windows, a cedar dance floor, gaslights and mirrors. In addition, Joseph engaged an army of craftsmen to redecorate the entry and interior. The rebuilding and refurbishing

Athelstane is a concert of relevant shapes and colours: or it is a poem of chromatic rhythm, and symmetric forms.

James Edward Nield

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The Indian Room, Mandeville Hall The room that was converted into a library for senior Loreto students, 1940

took more than twenty months to complete. Many must have watched the building’s progress, as on 6 August 1878 Joseph Clarke inserted the following notice in The Argus: ‘Mr Joseph Clarke and his family are moving into their new home. No further inspection by visitors can be permitted. Athelstane, Toorak.’11

Mandeville Hall The scene was set for a luxurious lifestyle and lavish entertaining at Mandeville Hall. Joseph ran his grand house with a battery of servants, purchased three carriages, owned four horses, ran four cows and introduced a vinery, an orchard, vegetable gardens and glasshouses. He became a member of the Australia Club and played ‘the sport of kings’ – royal or racket tennis – at the Melbourne Tennis Club in Exhibition Street, Melbourne. In 1881 he had purchased this site and financed the building of a brick and stone clubhouse, reception room and the first indoor racket court, which from 1882 he leased to the newly formed club. The family’s charmed existence continued during Melbourne’s heady boom times until Joseph died in 1895 and the property was passed to his eldest son, William, a barrister, as the younger unmarried son, Lewis, had died the year before. Lewis 146

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was well known in sporting circles as owner of the steeplechase winner Peter Flat, among other horses. The property was mortgaged to the Colonial Bank of Australasia to offset family debts accrued during the brutal depression of the 1890s. Joseph had invested heavily in the Colonial Bank, where he had served as a governor and chairman. In the early 1890s he lost a great deal of his fortune but had provided a large sum to help the Colonial Bank through the crisis.

As well as being an astute businessman who augmented his inheritance through judicial management of mining shares and real estate and pastoral interests, Joseph was a generous, community-minded individual. During his residence at Norton Mandeville, Tasmania, Joseph took an active part in local affairs as a magistrate, municipal councillor and trustee of the roads’ board. He developed a reputation as a magistrate who was firm but kindly and honourable.

He was also a liberal supporter of local sports, treated his employees with respect and often assisted others in need. He gave a portion of his Timsbury estate near Hobart to improve the Elwick racecourse and railway approaches. In Melbourne Joseph became a Justice of the Peace and an unstinting donor to many Anglican building appeals, including St David’s Cathedral, Hobart; St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne; Trinity College at the University of Melbourne; and St John’s Church,

Stylish living Mandeville Hall, the home of Joseph Clarke, 1878

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The Ross Soden family (left to right) Harry, Isabella, Alfred, Gordon (seated front) and John Opposite: As You Like It An outdoor performance of Shakespeare at Mandeville Hall, reported in The Leader, 21 March 1908

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Toorak, where he worshipped. After his death Caroline built a new mansion called Timsbury on four acres owned by Joseph near the intersection of Clendon and Malvern roads, where she lived until her death.

William Clarke In 1902 William Clarke subdivided a large portion of the Mandeville Hall grounds into thirty-three blocks and sold allotments with frontages onto Malvern Road and Orrong Road and along the newly created Mandeville Crescent. Among the purchasers were Guillaume Delprat, John Eliot Tremearne, Alfred Brash and Auguste de Bavay. Decades later these properties were purchased and the land reincorporated to form part of the school at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak.

William lived briefly in Orrong on Clendon Road, and after his marriage and the birth of four daughters and one son he built a new residence in St George’s Road.

Like his father before him, William was a generous benefactor. His charitable gifts included donations to the Women’s Hospital, the Institute for the Blind and the Red Cross Society. He was a member of the Anglican Synod and a vestryman at St John’s Church, Toorak.

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An exclusive guesthouse The boarders at Ella Row Martin’s guesthouse were often wealthy Englishmen who visited Australia for regular stays. Two peacocks strutted around the lawn, maintaining the air of picturesque privilege.

During 1910 Captain Robert Falcon Scott, a British naval officer, was a paying guest at Mandeville Hall before undertaking his fatal Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic. Another Antarctic explorer, Douglas Mawson, and his wife, Francisca Delprat, were guests when visitin g Melbourne.

Francisca’s father had built the family home on a block subdivided from the original Mandeville Hall holdings. Other distinguished boarders included Sir Arthur Stephenson, modernist Australian architect; Gilbert Lodge, notable English engineer; Honorine Margaret Mabel Withers, an inveterate traveller and landscape watercolour artist; and Florence Pigdeon, a nurse and champion of neglected children. Later, in 1918, a pastoralist, Arthur Frederick Cudmore

of Avoca, Wentworth, New South Wales, retired to Mandeville Hall with his wife, Anniette Matilda Brooke. Earlier, in 1913, their youngest daughter, Evelyn Pierpoint, had taken up residence at Mandeville Hall when her parents had stayed with pastoralist John Winter-Irving at Darnlee, Lansell Road, Toorak. While staying at Mandeville Hall Evelyn met her future husband, George Stanley Stogdale, who was also living at the guesthouse.

According to the social columnists this engagement was one of several associated with Mandeville Hall.

In March 1914 the couple were married at St John’s Church, Toorak, followed by a lavish reception at Mandeville Hall. The guests were received in the entrance hall and drawing room of the mansion, richly decorated with pendent baskets of red flowers, and the wedding breakfast was served in a marquee on the front lawn, where the table decorations were set in pink and blue.12

Isabella Mary Ross Soden Mandeville Hall, and the remaining grounds, was leased in 1902 to Isabella Mary Ross Soden, the widow of an English jeweller, John Ross Soden of St Kilda. Soden had died in 1892, leaving a family of four young sons, three of whom were boarding at Melbourne Grammar School. After her husband’s death, Isabella inherited a share in the estate of a bachelor uncle, James Tyson, reputedly one of the wealthiest men in Australia. While leasing Mandeville Hall she was in the process of building her own mansion on Toorak Road, Grong Grong, designed by architect Walter Butler. Mandeville Hall had fallen into disrepair after Clarke’s death and Isabella organised minor repairs before moving in with her family. In 1904 Isabella, accompanied by her sons and their tutor, went on an extended world tour which included Japan and China. They returned with furniture that included an ornately carved wooden Japanese screen, a dinner gong and a large display case which appear in early photographs of the interior of Mandeville Hall. Isabella was community minded. As a committee member of the Queen Victoria Hospital she 150

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graciously opened the grounds and verandah for an outdoor garden party in March 1908 which included a performance by the St Kilda Shakespeare Company of As You Like it. This event was held to raise funds for the hospital and was reported as a great success: ‘The weather was perfect for entertainment of an alfresco nature and the popular pastoral lost nothing by reason of its setting which was especially picturesque.’ 13 In 1908 Isabella and her family moved into Grong Grong. Her sons later attended Trinity College, where they pursued studies in medicine, arts, law and engineering.

Dr John Tremearne In 1907 Dr John Tremearne purchased Mandeville Hall. John Tremearne was born in St Ives, Cornwall, and from 1872 until 1888 was the resident medical officer at the Creswick Hospital in the central west of Victoria, where he was one of the first doctors to use X-ray machinery. From 1888 to 1902 he worked in private practice in Creswick before establishing rooms in Collins Street, Melbourne. In the 1880s he built a gracious two-storey family home in Creswick for his wife, Ada Jane Martin, whose father was part proprietor of the Creswick Advertiser and later the Ballarat Star, which he edited. John and Ada had six children, three of whom died at an early age. The three surviving sons were students at Creswick Grammar School, Ballarat College and Geelong Grammar School.

At Mandeville Hall, with the sons now forging their own careers, the doctor and his wife lived in one section of the house while Ada’s sister, Ella Row Martin, known as Marty, managed an exclusive guesthouse in the remaining rooms while living in a chalet off the main driveway.

The eldest Tremearne son, Newman, forged an illustrious career at Cambridge University, becoming a scholar, ethnologist and distinguished soldier during the Boer War. Frank became a journalist with the Australian United Press and John, known as ‘Ruff ’, a journalist with the Melbourne Herald. The guesthouse flourished and following Dr Tremearne’s death in 1912, Ada joined Ella in running the business. In August 1914 Newman took several months’ furlough from Cambridge and as a member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science brought a group of visiting scientists to stay in the guesthouse during their Australian meeting. War was declared during their sojourn and Newman left immediately for London to enlist in the Seaforth Highlanders. He was killed in 1915 during action in France. Frank enlisted as a gunner in the Australian Imperial Force and also served in France. During the war Ada worked tirelessly for the Red Cross Society. In 1919 the title of the house finally passed to Ada Tremearne and Ella Martin and became known as the Mandeville Hall Flats. In mid 1924 the sisters decided to retire and placed the property on the market.

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Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak

Astute managers Transferring funds from Albert Park, 1925

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While the Mother General from Dublin, Mother Raphael Deasy, was visiting the Australian province during 1924 she agreed with Mother Dorothea Walker’s selection of Mandeville Hall. The Loreto community were already acquainted with the Clarke family. In 1890 the Loreto purchased Sir William Clarke’s Albert Park property on generous terms for their school Our Lady of the Angels on Albert Road. In 1912 they rented a property formerly owned by his wife, Lady Janet Clarke. This was Albert Hall, South Melbourne, the first home for the kindergarten.

Toorak was an apt choice for the location of a school, as the area was undergoing a renaissance. The end of the war marked the beginning of a glittering decade for Toorak, and the suburb reached a zenith. The change in Toorak was apparent.

During the 1920s business tycoons and industrial magnates built imposing houses in the district or purchased ones already in existence. Toorak became the Mecca of the well-to-do citizen. Gossip columnists wrote at length of the lives and doings of its inhabitants and must have found many interested readers or their sprightly chitchat would not have continued. Above all, it was a safe environment for girls, as Mandeville Hall was close to tram and train connections.

The Mother Provincial and the Mother General had consulted with Archbishop Daniel Mannix about a suitable location for a Loreto foundation. It would appear that His Grace was strongly in favour of the Toorak site. According to subsequent accounts, the Archbishop’s argument was that in the absence of a local Catholic secondary school in Toorak, girls from wealthy Catholic Toorak families were attending non-Catholic schools, particularly St Catherine’s School, an Anglican foundation. A review of existing records suggests that this explanation is unlikely. St Catherine’s moved from Windsor to Kilbride House in Heyington Place, Toorak, in 1921 with forty-eight students, and remained a small, select school for the next three decades. It catered specifically for boarders who were the daughters of graziers and wealthy businessmen, and there were few Catholic families in this cohort between the wars. At nearby Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School, in Anderson Street, South Yarra, enrolments numbered around one hundred and seventy in 1924 and their boarders were drawn from a similar catchment to those of St Catherine’s. However, in 1924 Lauriston Girls’ School, a private girls’ high school in Huntingtower Road, Armadale, had three hundred and forty students. Six non-Catholics girls – Merna Marks, Maberley Pitt, Hilda and Mary Abbott and Nancy and Mabel Lloyd – transferred to Loreto Toorak from Lauriston Girls’ School.

The sale note for Mandeville Hall was exchanged on 12 August 1924 with Mother Dorothea Walker as one of the signatories, and on 16 September it was legally assigned to the Trustees of the Loreto Institute. An auction of valuable

St Kevin’s Central College It was assumed that because St Kevin’s Central College catered well to the boys of Toorak, this was the reason the suburb was the preferred location for a Loreto foundation. St Kevin’s Central College was founded in 1918 in cramped conditions in the grounds of the Christian Brothers School in Victoria Parade, East Melbourne. It was established as a Matriculation centre (Leaving and Leaving Honours) for the Christian Brothers’ schools of East Melbourne, North Melbourne and St Kilda. The boys remained part of their own schools while being taught at a central location. It was not until 1933 that St Kevin’s Central College relocated to Toorak and became an independent identity from Parade CBC. The Brothers took over the mortgage of a decrepit boarding house called Barbizon on the corner of St George’s and Lansell roads, which they renamed Glenbervie, and purchased some property for playing fields on the river flats of the Heyington Estate.

The funds for the purchase of these playing fields were donated by the parents of boys from St Kilda, North Melbourne and East Melbourne, with an understanding that the new facilities would also serve their schools, located in land-locked areas. These

purchases were made eight years after the foundation of Loreto Toorak.

St Peter’s Church, Toorak, established in 1933, was almost unique for a metropolitan parish in that it had made no provision for a parochial school.

Boys were catered for at Loreto Toorak until the end of Year Two. In 1936 the Christian Brothers opened their first junior section for boys from eight years and upwards and adopted the name St Kevin’s College. In the same year they received only the Leaving Honours students from Albert Street, as the central system gradually ceased and higher forms were reintroduced at the participating colleges.

By 1936 one hundred and forty-eight junior boys were enrolled – in the same year Loreto Toorak catered for one hundred and eighty-seven students, spread evenly across junior and senior sections.14 Gradually St Kevin’s College built the junior and middle sections and catered for boys of all ages. Close associations between Loreto Toorak and St Kevin’s College were forged decades later. Many of the early students enrolled at Loreto Toorak had fathers and brothers who attended Xavier College, Kew, and St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne.

items belonging to the Tremearne family, including English furniture, a grand piano and a billiard table, was held in the house on 23 August, and a week later the property was vacated and ready for possession. The property was sold for £20,000.

To assist in financing this transaction the Albert Park buildings were finally sold in 1926 for £5,800 to the Freemasons. Between vacating the premises and finalising the Albert Park sale the community received a small rental from the adjoining property, known as the White House, at 270 Albert Road, which they

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Whelan the Wrecker There were other extraordinary coincidences in the Loreto Toorak story. After St George’s was built, architect Joseph Reed was appointed in 1879 to drastically redesign the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings for the proposed 1880 International Exhibition. Reed’s brief included a total overhaul of the gardens and William Sangster, of the nursery firm Taylor and Sangster, carried out the planting under his direction. At the same time the wooden perimeter fences were replaced with iron palisade garden fences and ornamental gates designed by John James Clark, the former architect of the Public Works Department, who was then in private practice.

Clark did not register these designs until 1882.

The contracts for their installation were awarded in September 1879 to stonemason William Ireland for the solid bluestone foundations underpinning the forbidding iron rails. The tender for the cast-iron box gates and rails was awarded to the owner of Tyne Foundry on the Yarra Bank, South Melbourne, John Currie Johnson of Messrs Johnson & Co. Not all citizens approved of a gated city reserve and by 1926 the gloss of lucrative successive exhibitions designed to draw paying crowds had worn thin with the public.

A visiting journalist from Western Australia wrote that the Carlton Gardens had a neglected feel, the Exhibition Buildings and the Aquarium were in need of repair and the graceful figures, once fine examples

of the sculptor’s delicate art, looked rather shopworn and encaged in this enclosed garden.15 His views must have resonated with the authorities, for during 1928 a contract was awarded to James Whelan, later known as Whelan the Wrecker, to demolish and remove all of the gates and fences, except for those surrounding the curator’s cottage, which were retained for security purposes. Whelan was the son of poor Irish Catholic immigrants and could barely read or write.

He was given a start as a wrecking contractor by David Mitchell, the builder of the 1880 Exhibition Buildings. Mitchell asked him to demolish some shops in Swanston Street and offered the wrecked materials as sole payment. James accepted and took the materials to his timber yard in Brunswick, where he began selling recycled building materials. In 1928 Whelan carted a large part of the iron railings to make a new fence for Genazzano Convent FCJ in Cotham Road, Kew, charging the nuns cartage only.

The main gates to Loreto Toorak, in Mandeville Crescent, were also originally part of the Carlton Gardens’ fences, carted by Whelan to Loreto Toorak, presumably at the same time and on the same generous terms. The 2013 school captain, Kate McNamara, represents the fourth generation of the descendants of James Whelan to attend Loreto Toorak.

had purchased in 1907 and used as a junior school. After leaving Albert Park they had undertaken some renovations and repairs to the White House, which they rented to Frederick Kerr.Through benefaction and astute and prudent management, Loreto had paid off the entire debt and received the deeds to Mandeville Hall by December 1936.16 The Freemasons renamed the Albert Park building Doric Hall.

It became a venue for poultry shows, Anzac reunions and fundraising balls for the Freemasons’ Hospital and the Free Kindergarten Union until it was demolished in 1983.

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One of the first students to enrol at Loreto Toorak was Dr Tremearne’s granddaughter. Mary Veronica was the only child of John Eliot and Veronica Tremearne. She did not have far to walk to school, as her family home was at 8 Mandeville Crescent on land subdivided in 1902 from Mandeville Hall. Her father, John, was the music and drama critic for the Melbourne Herald. The family were theatre and opera patrons and John on several occasions became the underwriter of the Melbourne Opera season. The Tremearne family were worshippers, staunch supporters and vestry members of St John’s Church, Toorak. After leaving Mandeville Hall, Ada lived with her son and his family in Mandeville Crescent. She became president of the Gentlewomen’s Aid Society and a committee member of the Lady Northcote Free Kindergarten and Lovell House, Caulfield, which cared for elderly women. For many years she was the vice-president of the Toorak branch of the Australian Women’s National League. The league was founded in 1904 for politically interested women who aligned themselves with conservative parties. Ella Martin retired to the Alexandra Club in Collins Street, Melbourne, and undertook charity work for the Free Kindergarten Union and the Gentlewomen’s Aid Society.

Later the Tremearne family’s property in Mandeville Crescent was purchased for $70,000 in June 1977 by the Loreto Property Association for Loreto Toorak.

Mandeville Hall at Loreto Toorak is an important building nationally and internationally. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and on the Register of the National Estate and included on the Australian Heritage Database administered by the Australian Heritage Council. Suzanne Forge, a noted architectural historian, wrote:

Mandeville Hall, as a Victorian interior, was a complete expression of the decorative aspirations of the period. It possessed rooms of quality, taste and grandeur. It marked an unprecedented achievement in domestic architecture and decoration in the colonies and by international standards it amounted to a coming-of-age Suzanne Forge

Mandeville Hall, as a Victorian interior, was a complete expression of the decorative aspirations of the period. It possessed rooms of quality, taste and grandeur. It marked an unprecedented achievement in domestic architecture and decoration in the colonies and by international standards it amounted to a coming-of-age. The quality of Mandeville Hall was only ever rivalled by a handful of palatial mansions built around Melbourne in the Victorian period.

Many houses were built on as grand or grander scale, but few presented the refined artistry of Mandeville.17 The significance of the mansion lies in its association with major figures in Australian history. Past owners, designers and occupiers provide valuable documentation of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century lives, buildings, decorative styles, materials and techniques. Above all, the Loreto Institute, from taking possession in 1924, have commissioned conservation management plans and worked to preserve the fabric of the building for generations to love and enjoy. Mandeville Hall has become a continuous and major focus of the school’s history and identity.

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Vii BUILDERS OF A HOME OF PEACE AND CULTURE Loreto Toorak Pioneers

Earnestly do we trust that the favoured first pupils of this latest Australian foundation may be the builders of the great school of the future, in which all so firmly believe. May that school be as all Loreto schools are, a centre of light amid the darkness of indifferentism; a home of peace and culture where girls may learn to walk through life untarnished, as becomes the children of Our Queen.

Loreto Jubilee Magazine, 1925 1

T

he moving of goods and chattels from Albert Park to Toorak began on Monday 8 September 1924 in pouring rain. The Albert Park community had just emerged from an eight-day retreat conducted by a Jesuit friend, Reverend Basil Loughlin SJ. Their retreat was constantly interrupted, as the Sisters had to see to packing their belongings, sorting thirty-five years of teaching materials and clearing out the furniture that they were unable to take to the new location. All of this was supervised by Mother General Raphael Deasy and Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan, who had accompanied her from Ireland. In 1923 Mother Teresa Gertrude was appointed as the new Australian Provincial. Mary O’Sullivan had entered the order in Cork, Ireland, and served briefly from 1922 as the first Superior at Loreto St Albans, Hertfordshire, just north of London.

Mother Teresa Gertrude’s attractive personality was overshadowed for many in the new community by her belief that Mother Teresa Ball, founder of the first Loreto convent in Rathfarnham, Ireland, was ‘the founder’ of the Loreto Order.

She took steps to suppress devotions to Mary Ward through reaffirming the importance of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Irish roots. The memoirs, writings and images of Mary Ward disappeared from sight and those who adhered to their allegiance to Mary Ward were classed as disloyal. All public prayer for Mary Ward’s canonisation ceased. One of Mother Teresa Gertrude’s first decisions as Provincial was to relocate the Provincialate from Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount, Ballarat, to Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak, severing the last ties to the Australian Loreto pioneer Mother Gonzaga Barry, who was devoted to Mary Ward and dreamed of a federated international Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was an understandable wrench for the Mary’s Mount community, but it was a seal of approval for the new Melbourne venture. However, there remained dual allegiances within the Loreto Toorak convent community. Privately the Sisters continued with their devotions to Mary Ward, but her cause and story were silenced for the first thirty years of the life of Loreto Toorak.

In the early days, with the inclusion of the Provincial and her consulters, Loreto Toorak appeared to have a rather large community for such a small school.

This had positive aspects. It led to closer links being forged between the Sisters and their pupils and firm bonds to Loreto becoming ingrained. In addition the

Artist and geographer Honor Bell As Mother Andrew, Honor became a powerful teacher of religion and geography, c. 1915 Previous page 156: Proudly wearing their uniforms Edna, Julie and Wilma Murphy in the 1930s (detail, see page 176)

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A triumphal beginning The first group photograph of students attending Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak in 1925

involvement of teachers, past students and parents from other Loreto schools, often interstate or overseas, provided continuity and a family atmosphere.

Intergenerational connections were essential to the formation and success of the fledgling school. This strong involvement has endured over the succeeding decades, with generations of past pupils sending their daughters to their old school. At the same time the pioneers had many obstacles to face in their new foundation, for the property was not suited either to a convent or a school. The challenge of adaptation drew all together. Loreto Toorak may have been new, but traditions and loyalties were quickly forged by the presence of a large, talented and committed community.

The early years A different Irish influence was evident in the appointment of Mother Rita Nolan as the first Superior of Loreto Toorak. Mother Rita was a Mary Ward supporter.

Mary Ellen Nolan was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland, but spoke with an upper-crust English accent and was quite imperious both in manner and stature.

After completing her intermediate examinations in Ireland she matriculated at the University of Melbourne and studied secondary teaching under Barbara Bell 160

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at the Central Catholic Training College. Mother Rita had a keen mind, was well informed, shared her knowledge generously and was a staunch supporter of the missions. In 1930 she was appointed as Mistress of Schools for Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney, where the spirit of Mary Ward had been quietly kept alight.

The financial accounts for the community and students were meticulously kept

by Mother Nuala O’Donnell. Annie O’Donnell was born in Dublin, completed a bachelor of arts degree in modern languages at the National University of Ireland and studied in Germany and France before entering the abbey at Rathfarnham.

While loyal to her Irish upbringing, Mother Nuala became conversant with the life of Mary Ward during her studies in Europe. She was sent to Australia in 1924 and after a short appointment to St Mary’s Hall came to Loreto Toorak, where she taught languages, particularly French, and introduced hymns in Gaelic.

The first Mistress of Schools, Mother Bernardine Callinan, was also a loyal supporter of Mary Ward. Maie Josephine Callinan was born in Melbourne in 1886 and, on leaving school, ran an office for her brother Anthony Callinan. After attending a ladies’ retreat at Loreto Mary’s Mount in 1907 she decided to enter, and there she came under the influence of Mother Gonzaga and learnt about Mary Ward. Maie was well known in society, as Table Talk, a leading Melbourne commentator on fashionable events, recorded her decision to enter. She had a wonderful gift for friendship and reached out to students, who valued the bond she created in spite of her somewhat authoritarian manner. Among the helpers in the move from Albert Park was Mother Bernardine’s brother Michael, accompanied by his young son, Bernard. Throughout his life Bernard Callinan was a friend and benefactor of Loreto Toorak. Bernard’s devotion to Loreto Toorak was remarkable.

He had a family of five sons and only his fifth son, Andrew, attended Loreto Toorak during his primary years. Yet Bernard was willing to share his engineering and business expertise whenever the Sisters called on him for advice.

Much to their sadness, the Loreto Convent Albert Park community was dispersed. Only three Sisters – Mother Andrew Bell, Mother Aquin McPhee and Mother Eucharia Strange – were transferred from Albert Park to Loreto Toorak, but other generous community members from Albert Park assisted with the transfer. Honor Bell was born in Geelong and lived at Bellbrae, Torquay. She was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount and the Central Catholic Training College. At Albert Park she was compassionate and patient with student-teachers and ran her classes with a devilish sense of humour. She was a powerful teacher of religion and geography but her real forte was teaching art. Her art room became a haven for the harassed, where a student could let off steam while Mother Andrew went about her tasks without comment.2 Mother Aquin McPhee was a special friend of Mother Andrew. Mary Isabel McPhee was born in Melbourne and educated at Korumburra State School. She won a Count Thomas O’Loughlin scholarship to attend the

Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan Mother Teresa Gertrude was a tall, strikingly attractive figure. During her time at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Mother Teresa Gertrude was noted for her Indian parasol with a green lining of tussore silk, which she carried on hot summer days while walking in the gardens and reciting her Office. She had a wonderful singing voice and became renowned at Loreto Toorak for her work with choirs and orchestras. She possessed a strong, attractive personality and ran the province with a firm hand. Her dignified presence testified to her firmness of purpose.

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Central Catholic Training College, graduated with an arts degree and a diploma of education and taught at the convent of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, Hawthorn, before entering. In 1926 she became the second Mistress of Schools, in which role she demonstrated an exceptional ability for detailed forward planning.

Rose Strange was born in County Kildare, Ireland, and was educated at Loreto Nymphenburg and Loreto Fermoy. Before arriving in Australia Mother Eucharia had been the Mistress of Novices at Fermoy. She was an artistic, dignified and beautifully mannered lady with a passion for French conversation and gardening.

Living in the mansion When this first community arrived at Toorak, the house was hardly a mansion.

A Tasmanian journalist commented in 1924: There is no part of Melbourne that is so completely changing, as Toorak. There is still a wealthy Toorak, bustling with gaiety and tiresome with fun, but the Toorak of the wool kings, the fine mansions on ten acre blocks, are going and gone. Mandeville Hall has passed from being a big boarding house to the Loreto Nuns. It has been a caravanserai for many years. This last phase just serves to point the moral that the stately, reserved Toorak has passed and a very noisy Toorak has taken its place. Incidentally, Mandeville Hall cost Victoria an untold amount of money, because when Joseph Clarke obstinately refused to sell the land, the Caulfield railway had to climb Hawksburn Hill, and still climbs it.3 The Loreto Toorak buildings were sound in structure but stripped of furnishings, and the mansion appeared derelict and filthy. The garden was overgrown, the grass shoulder high, the fernery overrun, the orchard and vegetable gardens neglected, and a smelly swamp greeted visitors at the front steps to the house. A group of family members and friends of the Sisters rallied to help with moving and cleaning. This took several weeks. Lawnmowers were ineffectual and the helpers had to revert to scythes. The selection of suitable rooms became a priority. The oak-panelled parlour at the front of the house was chosen as the chapel and the side room, known as St Gertrude’s, which later led to the new chapel, was the sacristy. Several days after the move from Albert Park to Toorak began, the Australian Provincial, Mother Teresa Gertrude, was seen on her knees scrubbing the floor of the room that would become their worthy chapel. On Sunday 21 September 1924 the first Mass in the Oak Parlour was celebrated for the community by Reverend John Stephen Bourke SJ, Rector of St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne. During their preparations for the opening, the Sisters were delighted to discover Joseph Clarke’s monogram etched in the stained-glass 162

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windows overlooking the main staircase. They felt that his initials – the same as those of Jesus Christ – fitted so well with the spirit of the new owners.

While some Loreto parents may have been affluent, the Sisters certainly were not. Several of the Sisters assigned to looking after the boarders slept in the servants’ quarters and student dormitories in the mansion. In August 1927 the Sisters noted that not even this arrangement was ideal: ‘The accommodation for the nuns sleeping in the children’s dormitories is not adequate and supervision suffers.’4 The majority of the community were accommodated in the stables known as St Michael’s at the Clendon Road end of the site. These were, of course, designed in the 1870s to accommodate horses and tack, not people. The Sisters converted the horse stalls into their cells but their living conditions were Spartan, the plumbing particularly primitive. There was only one external toilet and no hot water. For years the Loreto Toorak students were intrigued by the sight of the Sisters carrying their suitcases each day from the stables to the mansion. What they did not realise was that the Sisters’ suitcases contained their toiletries and habits.

The Sisters were on their way to bathe in the facilities in the main house. Initially the boarders’ dining room was in the Breakfast Room in the mansion. It was not until a dining room built for the Tremearne’s was refurbished in September 1925 that the Breakfast Room was converted into the Sisters’ first community room.

Altar of repose Holy Thursday in the Oak Parlour Chapel, 1925

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This magnificent Toorak mansion, well known as Mandeville Hall, has been purchased by the Loreto Sisters. Surrounded by five acres of land and in a central position in one of Melbourne’s most beautiful suburbs, this new college bids fair to become one of the greatest educational institutions in the Commonwealth.

The Advocate

During the sixtieth anniversary celebrations of Loreto Toorak in 1984 Mother Assumpta, now known as Sister Ruth Winship, wrote: So when the wide and generous doors of Mandeville opened to admit the first pupils, the nuns moved into the stables. No one seemed to consider this inadequate, because very probably no one thought about it at all. There was no record of a messenger being sent to the Cathedral to ensure that the nuns were decently housed – nuns in those days were not expected to have wants and needs. The stalls of the stables were made into tiny bedrooms and those for whom even this was unavailable hitched up a curtain at the end of the passage and slept behind this. They were without comfort of any kind – there was one inadequate bathroom in the building for the ten or so nuns, no heating, no power points and no facilities to make even a cup of tea. Sometimes even the nuns caught cold or became sick in some way, and then a patient’s tray was carried across to the stables in a dress box – safe from the curious eyes of pupils who were not supposed to know that nuns ate or drank.5

New arrivals Among the first group to arrive at Loreto Toorak was Australian-born Sister Tarcisius Robinson. Alice Robinson entered Loreto Mary’s Mount at the age of twenty-one and spent most of her professed life at Loreto Toorak. Sister Tarcisius’ first task was to direct the willing helpers, despite the rain and by lamplight after dark. She was very concerned about the careful handling of the pianos and statues.

A number of ivy-clad huts or chalets and outbuildings had been built on the Clendon Road side of the site during the period when Mandeville Hall was a boarding house. The largest became a day scholars’ lunch room, where they were served hot lunches. The smaller huts, which were very hot in summer, were used as a book room, a priest’s room and music rooms that housed the precious pianos.

One of the workers, Joseph Tipping from the Agent General’s Office, was Mother Borgia Tipping’s youngest brother. Joseph wrote an amusing letter to his sister, who was then teaching at Loreto Normanhurst, Sydney. He described how on one evening Sister Tarcisius, with a hurricane lamp, directed the workers to move the pianos several times.6 Sister Tarcisius took part in every aspect of settling in, principally giving special care to the parlours and the hall. Very soon her taste, and her sense of colour and balance, gave these rooms the beauty they deserved. She became the Portress and Mistress of the Parlours. No matter how busy the day, no matter how numerous the visitors, all were made to feel welcome. Sister Tarcisius kept a list of each visitor’s tastes. On their return visits they would be presented with a tray of refreshments exactly to their liking.

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The Catholic Tribune heralded the foundation as a new centre for culture: ‘Mandeville Hall is a historic residence in Toorak, [and] has recently been purchased by the Loreto nuns, whose head house in Australia – Mary’s Mount, Ballarat – has long been a centre for culture for Catholic girls.’7 The Advocate announced: ‘This magnificent Toorak mansion, well known as Mandeville Hall, has been purchased by the Loreto Sisters. Surrounded by five acres of land and in a central position in one of Melbourne’s most beautiful suburbs, this new college bids fair to become one of the greatest educational institutions in the Commonwealth.’8 The school was officially opened and blessed on the Sunday afternoon of 15 February 1925 by the Apostolic Delegate Archbishop Bartolomeo Cattaneo. He was accompanied by Archbishop Daniel Mannix, who spoke at length about the work of Loreto educators, as The Advocate later reported:

Spartan living conditions in the stables Caring for the community: Sister Lawrence Waide with her laundry trolley and tea tray, c. 1940s

The Sisters have taken on a very heavy responsibility. They were the only people who went light-hearted into big financial burdens. The large number present showed that there was a desire to help the Sisters to meet the heavy responsibility.

The advent of the Sisters would supply a great want. They had convents and schools in the city and various suburbs, but there was a great want in this district, which would now be fully provided for.9

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The first boys at Loreto As was the custom at Albert Park, junior boys were enrolled at Loreto Toorak for the early years of their schooling. Francis Joseph Starr, born in 1919, was the first boy to be enrolled. He was the son of Thomas Francis Starr, a contractor living in Mandeville Crescent. After Loreto Toorak, Francis attended Xavier College and began an accountancy course at the University of Melbourne.

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force

at the age of twenty-three and served in the air defence headquarters in Darwin. He later became an accountant and lived in Brighton, and his two daughters, Jane and Julienne, were educated at Loreto Toorak. The second boy to enrol was John Patrick Lloyd Noonan. He was born in Prahran in 1918 and completed his education at Xavier College.

During the war he served overseas as a flight lieutenant with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Loreto Toorak opens On Wednesday 24 September 1924, the school had opened quietly for the students with no publicity and no ceremony. The calm atmosphere on this day belied the intense anxiety, excitement and hard work that had taken place in the fifteen days since taking possession of the property. The first day in the life of Loreto Toorak was indistinguishable from any first day back after the holidays – except that some smaller children were tearful about the teachers they had left behind at Albert Park. Following afternoon tea the children were taken on a tour of the house and garden, the outstanding characteristic of which was then, and still remains, its beauty. The interior of the house was then enhanced by many mirrors. Curving around to the back gate was a driveway lined with cobblestones and bordered by beautiful, lacy, ferny trees and a terraced rose garden. By the end of 1924 there were thirteen in the Loreto community and sixty-five students, two of whom were small boys. There was a Loreto rule that the Mistress of Schools should write the name, address and date of each pupil’s arrival in a book kept for that purpose. She should likewise note the date that each pupil left the school, and either the Mistress of Schools, or another in the community, keep up a friendly correspondence with the pupil so as to consolidate as much as possible the work of her education.10 Unfortunately the registers for the first twenty years of Loreto Toorak have not survived; consequently knowledge of the school’s early students is not definitive.

Oposite: A festive opening Mandeville Hall on the front cover of The Advocate, 19 February 1925

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The first students came from near and far. Among the first intake of girls for 1924 were Margot Mullany from Hennessy Avenue, St Kilda, and Teresa Davies from North Road, Gardenvale, who had transferred from Loreto Mary’s Mount.

Vera and Sheila Brady of Springfield, Ararat, transferred from Loreto Portland.

Vera entered the Sisters of Charity and Sheila became a Loreto Sister in Africa.

In 1925 Laura Hayden started her schooling at Loreto Ladies’ College, Dawson Street, Ballarat, and then transferred from Genazzano Convent FCJ, Kew, to Loreto Toorak. She became an enthusiastic member both academically and on the sporting field and was selected as the captain of the school. In 1933 Laura entered the novitiate at Loreto Mary’s Mount and later became Principal of Loreto Normanhurst and Loreto Mary’s Mount before being appointed as the Provincial Superior of the Australian Province.

Twenty-five students are known to have transferred from Albert Park, but only a handful of these came during 1924, with the majority joining in later years.

Among the 1924 cohort was Mary Mollie Allen from Park Street, South Melbourne. Her father, Archibald, was a surveyor and had helped with the move.

After the Sisters left the Albert Park Convent he padlocked the gates for the last time and climbed over the top. Mary entered Loreto and was later described as a happy, generous and roguish Loreto teacher. Nella and Mollie Short came from Raglan Street, Albert Park. Their father, Ernest, was a clerk. Mollie entered Loreto and immediately after profession became an infant teacher at Loreto Toorak.

A boarder, Josie Farley, came from the Kilmuir Estate at Derrinal near Heathcote, where her father was a grazier. A year later her sister, Louisa, joined her as a boarder. Louisa recalled that on the morning of 11 February 1925 the sisters caught an early train from the country that arrived in Melbourne about midday.

They had lunch and did a little shopping in the city before setting out for Toorak.

They were greeted by Mother Aquin, given afternoon tea and then welcomed by Mother Rita. In 1933 Louisa entered Loreto as Mother Margarita and later became a teacher at Loreto Toorak from 1953 to 1960. From 1975 to 1992 she lived in retirement with the Loreto Toorak community. Eight Farley cousins from Derrinal became Loreto Toorak boarders during the 1950s and 1960s: Gabrielle, Rosemarie, Pamela, Judith, Genevieve, Angela, Virginia and Mary.

Mary McCarthy, formerly a pupil at Our Lady of the Angels and just seven years old in 1924, found the journey to and from Toorak exhausting, as it involved taking two trams from her home in Page Street, Middle Park. She left at the end of the year but returned several years later as a senior boarder. Glenda Josephine McNamara was a boarder from Leongatha. She trained as a nurse and joined the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service and served in New Guinea. Brigid Ellen Nellie Vaughan, aged nine, had attended Albert Park. She came to Loreto Toorak with her sister, Mary Marie Gertrude, who was a five year old. They were 168

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Above: Laura Hayden Captain of the school, 1928 Left, top: Uniforms with belts dropped to a fashionable position on the hips Mary Mulcahy (Mother Ann) and Laura Hayden (Mother Antoinette) in 1928 Left, bottom: Laura Hayden Sports champion, 1928

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the daughters of Brigid Ellen Gaynor and David Ernest Vaughan, the managing director of Daniel Vaughan Pty Ltd, a large cartage and contracting business. The girls were driven daily to school by the family’s chauffeur from Kildimo, 37 Albert Road, South Melbourne. During the war Nellie joined the Red Cross and was allocated to transport, where she was required to learn how to change tyres in two minutes, without any assistance. Nellie would drive a truck down to the wharves to collect prisoners of war and then transport them to rehabilitation centres around Melbourne. In 1945 she married Francis Joseph Quigg and their daughter Marie Therese attended Loreto Toorak. Marie Gertrude worked in a South Melbourne factory during the war, undertook charitable works and did not marry.

The tradition of generously supporting Loreto Toorak has continued across four generations of the Vaughan family.

Kathleen, Irene, Sheila and Mary Allan were the daughters of Mary Daly and Vincent James Kenny, a hotel licensee and traveller with the British tobacco company W. D. & H. O. Wills. Kathleen and Irene attended Our Lady of the Angels when the family lived in Danks Street, Middle Park. The four girls attended Loreto Toorak when they moved to Coonil Crescent, Malvern. They were strong-willed and talented, forming their own musical group known as the Kenny String Quartet. Kathleen became a preschool teacher and the director of the Loreto Free Kindergarten during the war years. Irene enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and served at the Victorian headquarters. Sheila married John Galbally, a politician and lawyer, and their children and grandchildren attended Loreto Toorak. From an early age Mary developed a passion for cars, speed and all things mechanical. She learnt to drive at the age of seven and in 1933 started serious car racing. In 1939 Mary was on her way to Monte Carlo to compete for Jaguar as Australia’s first international female racing car driver when the outbreak of war prevented her from reaching her destination. After returning to Australia Mary joined the Ministry of Information in Singapore and India and was repatriated following the fall of Singapore. In March 1942 she enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and served as flight officer and camp commandant at the air force’s headquarters.

Dorothy and Verna were the daughters of a South Melbourne councillor, Jeremiah Curtain. Dorothy served as a staff sergeant in the army during the war.

Constance McRae from Rossmoyne, Oakleigh, and Maureen McGrath from North Brunswick commuted daily to Toorak. Dorothy and Jean Tutton took two trams from Hawthorn, while Eileen Conway, Nancy Beamish, Marjorie Jones and Kathleen and Mary Meakes travelled by train from Middle Park to the city and then out to Toorak. Mary Frances Norman came from Menzies Avenue, Brighton.

She was the only child of Herbert Norman, the Australian general manager of Henley’s Telegraph Works, and Ellen Frances O’Leary. Ellen was a dedicated 170

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charity worker for the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, Returned Soldiers’ Homes, Brighton Red Cross and the Orthopaedic Hospital.

Norah Barnett from Nathalia in the Murray Valley was a boarder at both Our Lady of the Angels and Loreto Toorak. She recalled how lonely and lost the girls from the small boarding school at Albert Park felt in the larger, more formal school. She remembered, in particular, the kindness of Mother Bernardine Callinan to the boarders and Mother Madeleine Lalor, who taught music. From the beginning, music held a special place in the curriculum at Loreto Toorak. The daughter of Dr Joseph Lalor, Dorothy Lucy, was born in 1889, the same year in which her grandfather, Peter Lalor of Eureka Stockade fame, died.

Left: Musical spirits The first school orchestra in 1925 included past students from Our Lady of the Angels and Loreto Mary’s Mount Right: A fun group near the tennis court Senior students in 1928

Teaching and curriculum In 1924 Mother Madeleine came from Loreto Mary’s Mount to Loreto Toorak, full of energy and enthusiasm. While a student at the Central Catholic Training College she had passed her registration examinations and won prizes for singing and piano. Before entering, Mother Madeleine had won a gold medal in violin, played the piano and taught music at Loreto Claremont, Perth. Mother Madeleine taught Norah Barnett in the priest’s chalet, and encouraged her to join the choir, the school orchestra and the music club and to take part in the tableaux. After Loreto Toorak, Norah embarked on a long career as a music teacher and kept in touch with her teacher Mother Madeleine, whom she recalled as having a brilliant smile and a musical laugh.

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Physical education and art were also encouraged. Mary Power from Albert Park enjoyed the physical education classes, held outside in the summer and in the basement during the winter. The visiting instructor was the father of Loreto Toorak students Mary, Patricia and Helen Hay. Malcolm Hay was an employee of the Bjelke-Petersen School of Physical Culture, established in Melbourne in 1909

by Harold Bjelke-Petersen and purchased in 1923 by Percy Pearce. The school was run from a studio in Little Collins Street, Melbourne. The classes would begin with Swedish exercises, some brisk and others consisting of slow movements to tone up various parts of the body and to improve posture, deportment and co-ordination. The first display of physical culture, art and needlework, held at the school in November 1927, received an enthusiastic response: Above: Mary Power First place in physical culture, 1927 Top: Sun smart and formal in white hats and dresses with black blazers Members of the senior basketball team, 1928

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Besides a variety of rhythmic exercises, there were shown some charming folk dances, the Irish lilt, English peasecod arches, an Alsatian folk dance and also some graceful posing in imitation of figures on an Egyptian frieze. The whole display was admirably executed. Afternoon tea having been served to the guests, they proceeded to inspect the exhibition of really beautiful needlework and handicraft of all kinds displayed at the end of the hall. The paintings in oils and water colours and studies in shading from real life were highly creditable to the young artists.11

In early September 1924, Hélène Audas Sullivan saw an advertisement in The Argus for a new school, named Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall, Toorak, opening under the patronage of His Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne. The school was to be both a residential and day college for girls and the courses of instruction were to comprise all branches of a first-class English education. The courses on offer included modern languages and the classics, plain and ornamental needlework, painting, drawing, physical culture, sports and riding. In addition, special facilities would be provided for music, vocal and instrumental work. Hélène and her husband, Maurice Thomas Sullivan from Tasmania, were living in Hawthorn Road, Caulfield, and had two daughters, Moira and Sheila, attending the Good Samaritan’s school, Santa Maria College, in Caroline Street, South Yarra. Hélène was attracted by the arrival of a new school in the area. A cousin, Queenie Audas, had been a student at Loreto Albert Park. Hélène knew of Sacré Coeur in Glen Iris, a boarding school with a sound reputation where the pupils and nuns conversed in French. But she was looking for a day school and considered that Genazzano Convent FCJ in Kew was too far from home for her girls.

Hélène was anxious that her daughters matriculate (then called Leaving Honours) and have the opportunity to attend university. She duly made an appointment with the Superior, Mother Rita Nolan. It was not a promising start, as Mother Rita was formal, distant and reserved. She became rather dismissive when Hélène asked about the range of Matriculation subjects. It was clear that Matriculation was not a priority and there was no provision for science subjects such as physics or chemistry and only elementary mathematics. Mother Rita emphasised that the school would concentrate on rearing young ladies. The two women parted company politely. A couple of weeks later Mother Rita contacted Hélène and asked to meet with her again. Apparently in the interim she had consulted with the Sisters and had decided to introduce the necessary courses for the Intermediate and Leaving certificates. The first examinations at these levels took place in 1925 with nine girls sitting for Intermediate and seven for Leaving.

Sheila Clare Audas Sullivan was enrolled as a day student in 1924 but her older sister Moira decided not to make the change. She matriculated in 1926 at Santa Maria, South Yarra. During 1927 there were only fourteen girls in Sheila’s Sub-Intermediate class. Sheila was taught religion and art by Mother Andrew Bell, whom she adored, and French and Latin by Mother Nuala O’Donnell. Sheila respected Mother Nuala for her demeanour, although she found her rather strict.

The first duty when a student entered Mother Nuala’s class was to open the windows, as she loved fresh air. She was thorough in French grammar but there was no French conversation class and Sheila had to be coached privately for her Leaving oral examinations.

Besides a variety of rhythmic exercises, there were shown some charming folk dances, the Irish lilt, English peasecod arches, an Alsatian folk dance and also some graceful posing in imitation of figures on an Egyptian frieze. The whole display was admirably executed. Afternoon tea having been served to the guests, they proceeded to inspect the exhibition of really beautiful needlework and handicraft of all kinds displayed at the end of the hall. The paintings in oils and water colours and studies in shading from real life were highly creditable to the young artists.

The Advocate

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Sheila Audas Sullivan Sheila was a tomboy and loved playing sport but could never find enough opportunities. When she was a school prefect and the captain of sport during her final year she protested when she considered that the sporting prize had been awarded to the wrong person. The Mistress of Schools, Mother Aquin McPhee, disciplined her during an assembly for the whole school and proceeded to remove her Child of Mary ribbon. Mother Aquin did, however, acknowledge that her uncle, James Audas, who worked at the Herbarium in the Botanic Gardens, was unfailing helpful with material for her botany classes. Apart from the run-in with Mother Aquin, Sheila loved school and later sent her daughters Lorna and Rosalind Pitt to Loreto Toorak. Sheila became Loreto Toorak’s first successful university scholar, graduating with a bachelor of arts from the University of Melbourne.

After completing her studies Sheila was amazed to discover that a degree did not automatically make her eligible for entry into the exclusive women’s club for graduates, the Lyceum Club. It took several years in employment with a Jewish real estate agency before being accepted as an associate and then as a member, even though her sponsor, a former Our Lady of the Angels student, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, was one of the few women to become a university lecturer and professor. Never one to stick to the rules, Sheila stunned Lyceum Club members by taking an unprecedented step, bringing her son in his bassinette to committee meetings. For her dedication to the club she was made an honorary life member.

Sheila later became the founder and president of the St John of God Hospital Ladies’ Auxiliary, Melbourne.

The early alumni of Loreto Toorak It was considered by some students that you weren’t really part of the school unless you were a boarder, and in 1928 Sheila Audas Sullivan became one. Sheila enjoyed the company of a variety of school friends, including fellow boarders Peggy, Bonnie and Betty Hegarty from Summer Hill, Redesdale. She became friendly with Thelma Preston, who later opened an exclusive hat shop in The Block Arcade, Melbourne. Sheila also enjoyed attending the races with Nancy, Merna and Esme Connell, whose father was a bookmaker. In particular, the Murphy girls, Wilma, Julie and Edna, became lifelong associates. The girls were the daughters of Geelong-born builder William Henry Murphy, and American-educated Anna Maria Marron. Wilma attended the Catholic Ladies’ College, East Melbourne, and Julie and Edna attended Tintern Church of England Girls’ Grammar School, 174

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Hawthorn, before they came to Loreto Toorak. They were day students at Loreto Toorak for the first year and then boarders until they finished school, even though their family had moved to a newly built house in Glyndebourne Avenue, Toorak, while they were students.

Wilma married Dr Harry Sinn and they had nine children. Wilma referred to them as her ‘deadly sins’. The four girls attended Loreto Toorak for all of their schooling and the five boys until they had made their First Holy Communion.

Julie married a lawyer, Arthur Adams, and Edna married a surgeon, John Mullany.

They produced members of the next generation of Loreto Toorak students, who became spirited, high-achieving and community-minded citizens. Julie described her first glimpses of Mandeville Hall after entering the front gates. The grass was long and there were ducks and swans swimming in a pond and Morton Bay figs surrounding the lawns. Much to her surprise there were only seven students in her

Affecionate sisters Julie, Wilma and Edna Murphy in the 1920s

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Left: Wilma Murphy Captain of the school, 1931 Top right: Proudly wearing their uniforms Edna, Julie and Wilma Murphy in the 1930s Bottom right: Edna Murphy Captain of the school, 1935

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class. They included the Murphy girls, who took equestrian lessons at Loreto Toorak conducted by Mrs Herbert Embling, née Agnes Mary Machie, and her daughter, Lorna Embling, of Nateby, Williams Road, Toorak. Both women were accomplished horsewomen, had won many events in shows and gymkhanas, competed in hunts and were keen polo players. Agnes had received her tuition from the riding instructor at the Police Depot at St Kilda Road, assisting with the Maribyrnong Artillery and the Army Service Remount during the First World War. Lorna followed suit by becoming corps controller of the Cavalry Corps of the Australian Women’s Legion during the Second World War. The women ran their riding school from Wellington Road, North Clayton, and summer schools at Hartley Lodge, Mount Eliza. The Murphy girls shared their riding lessons, held on Saturdays in the school grounds and later at North Clayton, with fellow boarders Lola Wigg from Albury, Elizabeth Mummé from Geelong and the

O’Loughlin sisters from Kew. The O’Loughlin sisters slept in the two rooms in the front of the mansion between what was referred to by the students as the blue and gold dormitories.

Edna Marie Dureau of Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, was the youngest daughter of Grace Paton and David Henry Dureau, owner of an importing and exporting agency for manufacturers. Brown & Dureau ran an office in Collins Street and had branches in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. With her elder sisters Phyllis and Lorna, Edna as a young girl was driven by a governess in a cart to school at Genazzano Convent FCJ. When the Dureau girls turned thirteen they were sent to board at Loreto Mary’s Mount. After her elder sisters finished their schooling, Edna became a weekly boarder at Sacré Coeur with the O’Loughlin girls, as a Melbourne location was more convenient for her parents. Edna was happy at Sacré Coeur but missed the Loreto Sisters and their style of teaching. When she heard of the opening of Loreto Toorak she persuaded her parents to allow her to transfer and she became a member of the first class. She later sent her daughter Rosemary Whitehead to board at Loreto Toorak from Urana, New South Wales.

Margaret Gleeson, Loreto Toorak school captain in 1926, attended Albert Park briefly in 1918 as a boarder from Little River, Geelong, when she was aged nine. In 1919 her father died during the flu epidemic and their cousin Dr (later Sir) Hugh Devine recommended that the family move to the warmer weather in Sydney. Margaret attended Loreto Kirribilli and after two years they returned to Melbourne, where she attended Genazzano Convent FCJ. Her mother had been a student at Loreto Mary’s Mount and in 1925 Margaret joined Loreto Toorak.

Margaret had two brothers: Phillip, who became a Jesuit and was later Rector of Xavier and Newman colleges, and Edward, who married Mary Devine, a Loreto Toorak girl and a graduate of arts from the University of Melbourne. In 1926

Left: Equestrian excellence A class with instructors Agnes and Lorna Embling, 1925 Right: Elizabeth Mummé Captain of the school, 1927

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Thomas O’Loughlin’s legacy Kathleen, Margot, Helen, Agatha and Dorothy were the daughters of Count and Countess O’Loughlin.

It was said of Count Thomas O’Loughlin that there was hardly a church or a convent in Australia that did not experience his generosity. Chief among his donations were gifts to Catholic cathedrals throughout Australia. In 1908, after receiving his papal knighthood, Thomas changed his name by deed poll from Loughlin to O’Loughlin, for in Ireland this signified belonging to the landed gentry. Thomas James Loughlin was born in Tiscoffin, Kilkenny, Ireland. His parents were tenant farmers and could

The O’Loughlin family The sisters with their cousin Noineen Gallagher, 1930. Standing: Helen, Margot, Noineen and Dorothy; seated: Agatha and Kathleen

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neither read nor write. Thomas was educated at the local National School and then sent to board at the Diocesan Seminary, St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny, Ireland. Not all of the students at St Kieran’s became priests but it was the only means for a poor local boy to gain a modicum of secondary education. In later life Count O’Loughlin was described as a simple, good man, easy to get on with, but neither learned nor cultured.

For nearly ten years Thomas farmed with his father and worked as a pork butcher until an uncle, Martin Loughlin, died in Ballarat, leaving him a fortune estimated at £250,000. In 1911 at St John’s Church, Kilkenny, Thomas married Kathleen (Kitty), the fourth daughter of James Murphy and Julia Mackey, farmers of Ballybur Castle, Kilkenny.

Kitty was educated at Loreto Kilkenny. Three of her sisters became Loreto Sisters, serving in Ireland, India and South Africa. Kitty lived with her father in Dublin, where she undertook voluntary work for the poor and was a daily communicant. She was known as a good organiser and scrupulous in money matters. On arriving in Ballarat Thomas began an extensive program of endowing local churches. By 1912 it was reputed that his benefactions had reached £75,000, including scholarships to the Central Catholic Training College and memorial windows for the chapel at Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount. The Pope’s wedding gift was to appoint Thomas as a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the only Australian to hold this rank. Initially the couple lived at Killarney, Ballarat, but in 1915 Thomas decided to purchase a three-storey, forty-roomed mansion in Studley Park Road, Kew. When Thomas agreed to endow the chapel at Newman College in 1917, Kitty took on the responsibility of founding a ladies’ committee to raise funds for St Mary’s Hall. She established the first

scholarships for Catholic women to the Hall. Their young daughters were looked after by a governess, Lucille Bloink, before they started school. Lucille was born in 1901 at the Bullarook Hotel and store run by her father in Newlyn, a small township between Ballarat and Daylesford. She was one of twelve children and won an O’Loughlin scholarship in 1921 to St Mary’s Hall to study an honours arts degree in French and English. In 1922, when her family were struggling financially, she deferred her studies for three years and worked for the O’Loughlin family.

The young governess occupied the entire top floor of the mansion with her charges and a nursery maid.

Before Loreto Toorak was established, Kitty sent their two eldest daughters, Kathleen and Margot, to board at Sacré Coeur.

In 1925 Kitty died. Thomas was twenty years older than Kitty and found the task of rearing the girls on his own onerous. Shortly after her death Thomas sent the younger girls, Helen, Agatha and Dorothy, to board at Loreto Toorak. At the beginning of 1926 Kathleen and Margot moved from Sacré Coeur to join their sisters. The five girls occupied a separate dormitory. Thomas became a generous benefactor to Loreto Toorak, donating school prizes for sport and academic progress, contributing substantially to the building fund of Loreto Toorak and in particular providing funds for the proposed new chapel. After their father’s death the O’Loughlin girls inherited his estate. The girls attended finishing schools in England and Europe.

Kathleen married Colonel Maurice Fitzgerald and raised her seven children in Horsham, England.

Margot served in the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War and Helen drove ambulances during the London Blitz. Agatha married John Devine, the son of Sir Hugh Devine. John served in the Second World War in North Africa as a surgeon with the Australian Army. He later wrote of his experiences in The Rats of Tobruk. John’s two sisters, Mary and Joan, were among the early students at Loreto Toorak with the O’Loughlin girls.

Top: Kathleen O’Loughlin Captain of the school, 1929 and 1930 Bottom: Helen O’Loughlin Captain of the school, 1932 and 1933

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A thank you to Monsignor Richard Collins Margaret Gleeson’s letter, 1926

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Monsignor Richard Collins, supporter of the Albert Park community, donated a statue of the Madonna for the balcony of Mandeville Hall, and Margaret Gleeson was asked to write the thank you letter. Years later she confessed that Mother Rita Nolan had actually composed it.

Lolita Nancy Marriott was born at her grandfather’s extensive property on the Yarra River, Fairfield. Her grandfather, James Marriott, was an inventor, art metalworker and woodworker who had assisted Charles Webb with the redesign of Mandeville Hall. James was also the founder of Hecla Electronics Pty Ltd, a company that manufactured household electrical appliances. Lolita’s father, Clarence, had suggested naming it Hecla after an erupting volcano in Iceland.

Clarence ran Hecla and with his wife, Annie Cameron, lived at Hawthroy in Albany Road, Toorak. Their son, Ronald James, attended St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne. Lolita began at Loreto Toorak in 1925 and showed an early aptitude for music and sport, especially golf. It was through golf that Lolita met opera singer and champion golfer Dame Joan Hilda Hammond. Lolita offered to travel on tour with Joan as her secretary and manager. For many years she managed Joan’s financial and business affairs, arranged her publicity and dealt with her large fan club.

There was a special significance attached to the year 1925, as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrating the golden jubilee of the order in Australia. On Saturday 13 June the Loreto Toorak community, students and

teachers entertained past Loreto students from Ballarat and Albert Park. It was a tangible demonstration that Loreto Toorak was now an integral part of the Loreto fold. Thecla Marie O’Sullivan, chosen in 1925 as the first school captain for Loreto Toorak, greeted the visitors. At school she was affectionately known as ‘Girlie’ and was recorded in the school annals with this name. She was born in South Melbourne in 1908, the only daughter of Dr Florance Ulick O’Sullivan and Mary Ada Bourke. Girlie’s father, born at Dromore, County Kerry, Ireland, was one of fourteen children of staunch Catholics. Eight of his siblings made their lives in Ireland and one sister became a Loreto Sister in India. Florance began his medical practice in Palmerston Street, Carlton, in 1870 but moved to South Melbourne in 1884 when his elder brother Michael Ulick O’Sullivan established a clinic there.

When the Loreto Sisters first came to Melbourne, Michael became their community physician and a long-term supporter of their activities.

In 1914 Girlie, enrolled as Marie, and her brother Brendon became students at Our Lady of the Angels. In the same year Florance died suddenly, leaving few assets apart from the family home. His brother Michael invited the family to live at his home, Eildon, in Grey Street, St Kilda, and suggested they rent out South Melbourne to generate some income. At this time Michael’s three sons, who had attended Our Lady of the Angels, were forging their own lives, two as medical students and one as an apprentice architect. Eildon, one of the largest mansions built in Melbourne in the nineteenth century, was set in extensive grounds with ornamental gardens and bay views. From Grey Street, St Kilda, Girlie commuted to Albert Road and later to Loreto Toorak. The family values of helping others permeated her life, especially through her support of the Loreto Free Kindergarten and in her role as vice-president of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association. She married an English shipping merchant, John Wiseman Buckle, of Pyrmont, Sydney, and later returned to Melbourne, where she renewed her Loreto commitments and sent their young son, Frank, to Loreto Toorak.

The second wave of students The Roaring Twenties brought increasing prosperity, and a second wave of students began to arrive. It was the era of flappers, jazz, the outrageous Charleston, bobbed hair and shockingly short skirts. Traditional customs were gradually being overturned as more girls were receiving secondary education. At this time girls’ secondary schools all over Victoria were full, as increasingly parents realised the wisdom of giving their daughters a thorough education. Since the state did not provide mass secondary education beyond the age of fourteen, non-government schools were in great demand. In these unsettled post-war years, upper middleclass families were looking for stability and reassurance for their daughters. In

Top: Thecla Marie O’Sullivan Captain of the school, 1925 Bottom: Margaret Gleeson Captain of the school, 1926

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Special white dresses for feast days and concerts Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak students, 1928

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Loreto Toorak they perceived that the teachers were not risk-takers. This second wave of students included Muire and Dorothy Lally from Sandringham. Muire became Loreto Toorak’s first medical graduate and Dorothy taught dressmaking.

Kathleen Mary Gudgeon not only raised six children but found the time to be involved in hospital charities. In 1979 she received the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of her services to the community.

By July 1928 there were one hundred and thirty-seven students enrolled, plus seven external music students. The number of boarders grew to fifty-six, with nine students sleeping out on the front verandah of Mandeville Hall, which was draughty, bare and cold. On nights when there was a full moon the Sisters used to move the beds inside so the students would not be kept awake by the moonlight.

Despite these drawbacks, the sleep-out provided great fun, as the girls were less closely supervised than those in the interior dormitories. The Loreto Toorak community, then consisting of twenty-three, were extraordinarily supportive of those boarding. The country girls brought to Loreto Toorak a pragmatic,

no-nonsense approach to life, borne of years on their fathers’ properties. Yet they were not country bumpkins – they exhibited a down-to-earth practicality. The city-based girls were much more worldly and sophisticated.

The new wing and chapel In 1925 the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary commissioned a well-known Catholic architect and builder, Robert Harper of Abbotsford, to design a new wing to accommodate extra senior classrooms and concerts. The new facility contained a large hall with a stage at one end. Through the use of folding doors this area could be divided into four classrooms. The junior school, in the capable hands of an Englishwoman, Mother Bernadette Lynch, was conducted in the small Garden Room with its wooden verandah and steps leading down into a rustic garden, but this was also becoming cramped. In 1927 Harper organised for two additional

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Left: The new wing Robert Harper’s plan for the new hall and classrooms, 1926 Bottom right: A momentous occasion The blessing and laying of the foundation stone of the Chapel of Christ the King, 25 September 1927 Bottom, left: A longed-for dream The construction of the Chapel of Christ the King, 1927

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rooms to accommodate an extra twenty children, costing £1,075. At the same time he was asked to design a school chapel of significant proportions, which would cost some £8,000.12 It was an ambitious project for the Loreto community to undertake while a substantial debt was outstanding on the purchase and extensions of Mandeville Hall. A permanent chapel had become both a sacred and pressing need, as the Oak Parlour could no longer accommodate sufficient seating for the boarders and prie-dieux for the Sisters. The Loreto community longed for a special chapel which would become the heart of the school’s religious life.

Harper’s design for the chapel was a combination of Romanesque and Baroque styles, typical of Catholic Church architecture of the time. It was a two-storey brick building measuring ninety feet in length with a width of twenty-eight feet.

On the upper level one entered the chapel through an arched cloister from Mandeville Hall. The interior featured a parquetry floor of Tasmanian oak; imported stained-glass windows of saints by John Hardman & Co., Birmingham, England; a marble altar designed and constructed by Stanley William Hallett; and the first organ completed for Australia by the London firm of Hill, Norman and Beard. The organ had been crafted in England and sent as a sample to the curators of the Melbourne Town Hall, who were in the process of purchasing a new pipe organ. It was purchased on 28 February 1928 by Loreto. The lower storey, later named St Cecilia’s Hall, was designed as a recreational facility for music and concerts. A large group of clergy, parents and friends gathered on 25 September 1927 for the laying of the foundation stone by Archbishop Mannix and the speeches were delivered from the front steps of Mandeville Hall. The Rector of Corpus Christi, Reverend Albert Power SJ, described Loreto schools as being in the front rank of Catholic scholastic establishments. As The Advocate reported, Archbishop Mannix referred to the significant financial burdens: ‘It was fortunate indeed that the Loreto Sisters were not afraid of debt. It seemed to him that the Loreto Sisters were always in debt, but they were never bankrupt. They were in debt because they were always ready to attempt what was next to impossible.’13 At the conclusion of the ceremony a special collection was taken up to aid the chapel’s building fund. A key instigator and patron was Thomas Michael Burke, a real estate agent and philanthropist of Collins Street, Melbourne. He had earlier come to the aid of the Loreto Free Kindergarten with expertise and donations. In 1922 Burke had successfully run an appeal to build a church, Our Lady of Lourdes in High Street, Prahran, for Reverend Michael Ignatius O’Brien. This was for the newly created Armadale parish, a parish with close associations to Loreto Toorak families. Burke’s daughters, Sylvia and Monica, later became Loreto Toorak students. Other parents and Loreto supporters rallied. Parents of current students who became benefactors were Gerald Lightfoot, secretary of the Advisory Council of Science, father of Patricia, Audrey and Evelyn; Reginald James Dunlea, importer

A place of beauty and devotion John Hardman of London, stained glass artist

It was fortunate indeed that the Loreto Sisters were not afraid of debt.

It seemed to him that the Loreto Sisters were always in debt, but they were never bankrupt. They were in debt because they were always ready to attempt what was next to impossible.

The Advocate

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Quarant ’Ore The first procession, April 1929, including students, members of the clergy and parents Opposite: Quarant ’Ore The first procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the school grounds following the traditional forty hours of prayer, April 1929. Archbishop Daniel Mannix is carrying the monstrance and the canopy bearers are parents and benefactors Thomas Burke, Dr Thomas Noonan, Joseph Westhoven and William Murphy

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and leather merchant of Dunlea & Nicholson, father of Hilary and Irene; and Dr Richard Latoof Fakhry, father of Diane, who later studied pottery and sculpture at art school.

Another generous donor was an Irish Anglican, Frederick Joseph Mitty. He ran newsagencies and bookstalls in Bourke Street, Melbourne, and lived above his business premises. His daughter, Anne Veronica Nancye, came as a boarder in 1925 at the age of thirteen. Nancye’s mother had died when Nancye was eight months old and she had been reared with the help of two maiden aunts. Frederick felt a depth of gratitude to the Sisters that his only child was happily living in salubrious surroundings and flourishing academically. After school Nancye joined the Loreto Abbey Players’ Club and performed in the cast of Quality Street to raise funds for the Loreto Free Kindergarten. At a young age Nancye married a war veteran who had served in France and delighted in practising her schoolgirl French with a fluent speaker. Their only daughter, Cynthia, became a Loreto Toorak student.

In August 1928 a group of enthusiasts took over the dining room and winter garden of the Oriental Hotel, Collins Street, for an afternoon of music and cards

to help swell the chapel funds. Past Loreto Toorak students Margaret Gleeson and Dorothy Tutton assisted Lolita Marriott’s mother in collecting donations and all were entertained by opera singer Dolly Castles, assisted by her sisters Amy and Eileen. Dolly Castles was the wife of Dr Charles Napier Finn, an eye doctor and a great supporter of the Loreto Sisters. The Finn family lived in Millicent Avenue, Toorak, and their eldest daughter, Patricia, had become a student in 1926, with their younger daughter Joan following later. Joan in turn sent her five children to Loreto Toorak: Michael, Peter, Elizabeth, Genevieve and Andrew. One of the organisers of August’s afternoon of entertainments was the mother of students Yvonne and Phyllis Wearne, whose home was Bromley, in Irving Road, Toorak.

The Wearne girls recalled that each day at Loreto Toorak started with a fortyminute lesson in Christian doctrine. The gully, along the Millicent Avenue fence lines, was at the bottom of the garden and out of bounds. No one would go there for fear of punishment. On Mother Superior’s feast day, as a special treat, they would enjoy a fun adventure into this leafy forbidden territory under the supervision of their class Sister.14

Following pages: A special occasion: the visit of the Apostolic Delegate Cardinal Bonaventura Cerretti, accompanied by Monsignor Carlo Respighi, Reverend John Forster SJ, Monsignor Carlo Grossi and Reverend Michael Ignatius O’Brien, is welcomed by the Loreto Toorak community, 1928. Back row, left to right: Margaret Mary Hughes, Kevin Maye, Joan Weidenbach, Tarcisius Robinson, Vincent Quin, Andrew Bell; third row, left to right: Clare Birrane, Seraphina Morrissey, Teresa Carmel Collins, Nuala O’Donnell, Jacinta Schmitt; second row, left to right: Philomena Doherty, Xavier Rodgers, Gertrude Loneragan, Borgia Tipping; front row, left to right: Francis Frewin, Provincial Superior Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan, Superior Loreto Toorak Rita Nolan and Edna Desmond

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The consecration of the chapel The beautiful chapel was the first chapel in Australia to be dedicated to Christ the King. The Sisters had done splendid work since they took possession of Mandeville Hall and he had no doubt that they would continue to do so in the years to come.

The Advocate

A time honoured image This stained glass window of the Institute Madonna and Child was removed from Albert Park and installed at Loreto Toorak Opposite: A spiritual heart for all, visiting the chapel on their wedding day was a tradition conducted by many past pupils The guard of honour for Joan McCardel and her husband, Dr Frederick William Connaughton, after they visited the Chapel of Christ the King on their wedding day, 1949

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During Australia’s First Eucharistic Congress in Sydney, Loreto Toorak was honoured by a visit from the Papal Delegate, Cardinal Bonaventura Cerretti, from Italy. On the evening of 10 October 1928 the Cardinal blessed the convent and celebrated Mass in the new chapel, while the students staged A Joyous Pageant of Our Lord’s Nativity in the new St Cecilia’s Hall. For this grand occasion the Sisters borrowed furniture, rugs and tables from the Finn family. On Sunday 24 October 1928 Archbishop Mannix officially consecrated the chapel to Christ the King. The altar rails were donated by the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association and the current students donated the holy water font. The students were also encouraged to buy one brick for ten shillings, and many responded to this appeal. One of Count Thomas O’Loughlin’s favourite activities was importing Italian marble altars for Australian churches. The marble altar and flooring of the sanctuary, as well as the tabernacle and the adoring angels on either side, were donated by him. In June 1929 the Sisters recorded that the chapel was fully paid for through the generosity of benefactors and the efforts of the pupils.15 Round stained-glass windows of the Madonna and cherubs, which had graced the stairway landing at Albert Park, were reused in a new window for the apse at the chapel entry. It was a tangible link of the old with the new. For the consecration of the chapel in 1928 a choir of Sisters, under the expert tutelage of the Provincial, Mother Teresa Gertrude, filled the chapel with exquisite music.

For this sacred occasion Mother Francis Frewin, who had come to Loreto Toorak in 1925, wrote a poem dedicated to Christ the King: ‘Oh come to all ye whose souls delight in high enterprise and chivalry, to Christ the King your fealty plight, whose Kingdom is Eternity.’ Her words were put to music by Mother Madeleine Lalor, an accomplished composer, and the hymn became firmly embedded in Loreto Toorak traditions. In what had become a custom, at the conclusion of the ceremonies Archbishop Mannix paid a fitting tribute. The Advocate reported: The beautiful chapel was the first chapel in Australia to be dedicated to Christ the King. The Sisters had done splendid work since they took possession of Mandeville Hall and he had no doubt that they would continue to do so in the years to come. Any misgivings about the coming of the Loreto Sisters to Toorak had long since disappeared and the nuns had established themselves in the affections of the people and their pupils.16 In just six years a great deal had been accomplished, and the future of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak was assured.

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VIII USEFUL AND GRACIOUS WOMEN Living through the Economic Depression of the 1930s

The aim of the school is to provide a sound education on modern lines, to develop to the full the capacity of every girl, and to help her to become a useful and gracious woman in whatever position she may have to fill. Particular attention is made to Manners and Deportment. Speech training is an important part of the Course of Studies.

Mandeville Hall Greetings, 1933 1

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P

ractical charity through assisting those less fortunate and supporting external causes was central to Loreto Toorak’s ethos. In 1930, during the Great Depression, the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association voted not to hold their customary annual dance but to devote the money that would have been expended on it to the relief of distress at the Loreto Free Kindergarten. Nearby, Loreto members of the Catholic Women’s Social Guild ran a soup kitchen in Emerald Hall. Though one in three breadwinners in the country were out of work and many of those with jobs had to accept reduced wages, the students at Loreto Toorak were expected to take their studies seriously. There was a sense of insecurity that accompanied the crisis and for a few pain and humiliation when their parents could not pay school fees. For others, a consciousness of privilege in the midst of distress sharpened their sense of social responsibility. As the depression cut deeper and austerity measures were introduced at the school, the Loreto Toorak girls did their duty. From 1930 to 1934 Loreto Toorak students collected donations so that one hundred oranges could be purchased weekly to provide fresh juice for each Loreto Free Kindergarten child.

The nearest church to Loreto Toorak was St Stanislaus Church, built in 1912 on Toorak Road as a chapel of ease for St Joseph’s parish, South Yarra. By 1933 this chapel was becoming inadequate and Archbishop Daniel Mannix decided that Toorak should become a separate parish, appointing Reverend Walter Ebsworth as the first incumbent. For the next forty years Reverend Ebsworth was a staunch supporter of and frequent visitor to Loreto Toorak, often accompanied by his dog, who would amuse the students. The Archbishop commissioned architect Ole Jorgensen to design a new church for the Toorak parish. Jorgensen was a devout Catholic and his church designs included presbyteries, schools and halls, most notably the Xavier College Memorial Chapel and the Blessed Sacrament Fathers’ Monastery at St Francis’ Church in the city. His plan was to replace St Stanislaus Church with a substantial building of Barrabool stone on bluestone foundations.

Loreto Toorak families rallied to pay for the new St Peter’s Church in Toorak.

These included the Devine, Starr, Wearne, Marriott, O’Brien, Nolan, Burke and Finn families. Jorgensen’s children, Peter (later a noted architect of motels), Wendy, Lenore, Wilma and Helen, became Loreto Toorak students. Later, Helen’s children, Jennifer and Susan Hess, followed in their family’s footsteps.

Mowing the lawn Mother Dorothea Walker at Loreto Toorak under the watchful eye of the gardener, Dennis O’Callaghan, known to the students as Dinny, c. 1946 Previous page 192: Fairies at the bottom of the garden Junior school dance performance, directed by Eileen Brenan, c. 1930s (detail, see page 202)

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Educating girls in the 1930s

Top: The traditional Loreto crest Black blazers featuring a blue crest with white and gold thread Above: Black hatbands for summer and winter uniforms Included blue crests with the school motto worn by all senior students while the red insignia was reserved for sports’ captains

The syllabus of the 1930s was hardly modern by today’s standards and far less extensive than the syllabuses offered in comparable Catholic boys’ secondary schools of the time. Members of the Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak community were competent, practising professional educators and administrators. They were also realists, and above all their dedication to a life of unquestioned service to church and community was the added incentive to make the girls’ education a preparation for womanhood, service, modesty and faith. Emphasis was placed on religion, morals, refinements and accomplishments alongside academic expectations. During 1932 only nine students sat for the Leaving Certificate. In 1934 Leaving Honours was introduced for the first time, for a class of seven. The subjects at these upper levels included English, European history, geography, music, French, German, drawing and the ‘ladylike’ science of botany.

There was no higher mathematics, chemistry or physics taught at senior levels, although during the Intermediate year all students were taught arithmetic and algebra. In the late 1930s the Loreto community introduced private tuition for the few wishing to undertake higher mathematics. The small numbers in the senior levels and the narrow range of subject options reflected the way the education of Catholic women in the 1930s was generally perceived. There were no academic prizes awarded at senior levels due to the small enrolments in these classes, but dux prizes were awarded in the middle school to encourage scholastic achievement.

No student was eligible for any prize at the end of the year unless they had obtained a pass in the subject religious knowledge, also referred to as Christian doctrine. Within the school, the Loreto Spirit Prize, presented by the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association, was seen as the most prestigious and coveted award.

Also affecting enrolment numbers were the economic constraints experienced during the Great Depression. School fees a clear barrier to entry, as they were beyond the reach of many Catholic parents. Added to this expense was the cost of purchasing regulation school uniforms for classes, sport and concerts. During the 1920s no uniforms were worn but there were general guidelines.

Music The Loreto tradition of music was very strong throughout the school, with around sixty students passing the practical and theoretical music examinations held annually at the University of Melbourne as well as those run by the Trinity College of Music, London. The Loreto community needed to be self-sufficient and the fees from individual music lessons, given outside school hours and sometimes to students from other schools, were central to their survival throughout the difficult 196

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School uniforms All students were expected to wear well-tailored, pleated cotton dresses in the summer and heavy, woollen skirts and cotton shirts with ties and black

blazers in winter. The first uniforms were introduced in the 1930s. According to one student, Marian de Lacy Vale, these were ‘supplied by the draper Craig Williamson in Flinders Street, Melbourne; the school tunic was a pleated royal blue, the blouse beige Fuji silk with a lace-edged Peter Pan collar, [worn with] black lisle stockings and later beige [in the late 1930s]. The regulation light blue frontbuttoned pinafore was to protect the uniform, and petticoats were worn with royal blue silk bloomers.

A straw hat with black crested band and gloves were standard. The sports blazer of the time was scarlet wool, whilst the sports uniform was of a heavy cream silk. An intriguing extra at the time was the use of a formal concert dress – white crepe de Chine with full bishop sleeves, [the dress was] elaborately styled with pleated panels on the sides. Outdoor shoes were black and indoor shoes for classroom wear were changed into on arrival. Hair had to be off the face, tied back or braided.’2 The red blazers were reserved for the tennis teams and the senior students wore black blazers with royal blue bindings. The Loreto crest was embroidered with gold thread on the blazer pockets and on the hatbands of both the straw and felt hats.

While the name of Loreto and the crest have endured at Loreto Toorak, the black blazer was changed to royal blue with hat bands and ties of the same colour.

The tunic was worn in both summer and winter.

Pride in one’s uniform was an important aspect of school life; correct dress was considered the mark of a lady. It was seen as a heinous crime to appear in the street without hats and gloves. Each afternoon the girls were lined up for inspection by the teachers before being released to the public gaze.

years of the depression. With so much instrumental tuition and singing, the sounds of scales and wails in various keys could always be heard around the school.

Loreto Toorak produced outstanding musicians, with many gaining high honours.

Joan Breheny was the 1932 winner of the Monsieur Henri Touzeau Cello Exhibition, awarded by the University of Melbourne. This award was for the best practical performance in eighth-grade cello. Henri Touzeau had been a French master at Eton before forging a musical career in Australia. In the same year a youthful Joan Rennick was awarded the Exhibition and Medal for Junior Division Piano by the Trinity College of Music.

Music teaching was in the capable hands of Mother Lua Byrne from 1932 to 1944. Leone Byrne was born in Byrneside, Victoria, in 1903, the third child of

A fond farewell In 1936 Margaret Moloughney left Loreto Toorak to spend a year at Loreto Ascot, England. Left to right: Biddie Davies, Noreen Skehan, Elizabeth O’Grady, Mary Rowan, Fay Reynolds, Margaret Moloughney, Patricia McMahon, Mimi Reynolds and Marie Vaughan

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Margaret Brown and John Byrne, a farmer. When she was five her father died of typhoid and the family moved first to Tatura and then to Ballarat, where she was educated at Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount. A gifted musician, Leone studied piano, violin, cello and later the organ. She entered the novitiate in 1923, and taught in Perth and Ballarat before coming to Loreto Toorak. Mother Lua took an active part in shaping and implementing the music programs, playing the organ for Mass and caring for the boarders at Loreto Toorak. She was also a gifted seamstress, and in her spare time during the depression made many habits for the community.

Among Mother Lua’s students at Loreto Toorak was Anne Byrne, her niece, who later became Mother Louis Gonzaga and taught music in Loreto schools. She recalled that under Mother Lua there was a great happiness in making music, whether the students were playing a humble part in the orchestra or simply for the joy of learning.

Mother Lua was assisted by a fine musician in Professor Henri Penn. Professor Penn was born in Brussels and had first come to Australia in 1914 as a solo pianist with the Belgian Band. In 1915 he joined the newly established New South Wales State Conservatorium and the State Orchestra of Sydney, and became a member of the Australian Music Examination Board. At Loreto Toorak Professor Penn

Opposite, top: Silver medallists, Trinity College of Music, London The junior school percussion band, 1939 Opposite, bottom: Lyrical renditions Professor Henri Penn, playing the grand piano, directs the senior school choir and orchestra in the hall during 1935. The first violinist on the left, Mary Muirhead, became a wonderful musician and teacher as Mother Reparata Below: Orchestral delights Entertainment for Cardinal Joseph McRory, 1934

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A gathering of past students Past students met with Cardinal Joseph MacRory, Primate of All Ireland, Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan, Provincial Superior, and Reverend Jeremiah Murphy SJ, Rector of Newman College, during the 1934 National Eucharistic Congress, Melbourne

taught strings, conducted the orchestra and introduced the students to the works of Percy Grainger. He considered Grainger had not received due credit in Australian musical circles. As part of the centenary celebrations of European settlement in Victoria during 1934, the Archdiocese of Melbourne organised a Eucharistic Congress. Cardinal Joseph MacRory, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, an old friend of Dr Daniel Mannix from their days at the Pontifical University at Maynooth, was appointed as Papal Legate to the congress.

A memorable concert was given at Loreto Toorak in the Cardinal’s honour.

Furniture was borrowed from the Finn family and the garden displays were carefully prepared by Dinny the gardener. Dinny later named his dog ‘Rory’ after His Eminence. Congratulating the school, the Cardinal said: Nowhere in Europe, I am sure, and probably nowhere else even in Australia could one hope to hear better entertainment than the one we have just had the pleasure of attending. I was long ago familiar with the great music school of Rathfarnham, Dublin, which is the Mother House of the Loreto Order in Ireland. This school has for fifty years, to my knowledge, held a glorious musical tradition, which it seems has come across the seas with the Loreto nuns to Australia.3 Music held pride of place again during 1938 when a famous French organist, Mademoiselle Renee Nizan, gave a private recital on the Loreto Toorak chapel organ.

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Drama, elocution and dancing Drama, elocution and dancing classes were taught by two specialist laywomen, Eileen Brenan and Eileen O’Keefe, referred to by the Loreto community as ‘Visiting Professors’. Both generously donated annual prizes in their subject areas.

Eileen Brenan was born in 1891 in Carlton, the daughter of an Irish-born estate agent. When Eileen was eleven she joined Our Lady of the Angels in Albert Park, commuting from East Melbourne each day with the Mornane children in their horse-drawn carriage. Eileen also boarded at Loreto Mary’s Mount before joining her sister Jennie, who in 1904 had established a dance studio in The Embassy, Collins Street, Melbourne. The sisters taught ballet, ballroom and fancy dancing.

They produced pantomimes and tableaux vivants on sacred themes, lavishly costumed from J. C. Williamson’s theatrical wardrobe. They travelled annually to London, where they continued to study and to engage teachers of the highest quality for their school. To supplement their incomes, they taught in private schools around Melbourne. The younger girls were introduced to the rudiments of movement and performed callisthenic exercises to music. The older girls were

Nowhere in Europe, I am sure, and probably nowhere else even in Australia could one hope to hear better entertainment than the one we have just had the pleasure of attending ...

This school has for fifty years, to my knowledge, held a glorious musical tradition, which it seems has come across the seas with the Loreto nuns to Australia.

Cardinal Joseph MacRory

Led into the dream world The Annunciation of Our Lady with Mary and a tableau of angels, November 1933

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Fairies at the bottom of the garden Junior school dance performance, directed by Eileen Brenan, c. 1933

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taught ballroom dancing. They were instructed in the intricacies of the quickstep, rumba, foxtrot and tango and were told that real pleasure was quite impossible if you ambled along in a slovenly manner with poor carriage. During these lessons, the girls danced with each other except for the final evening, when brothers were permitted as partners. Many girls mysteriously acquired a ‘brother’ for that night.

Eileen Brenan was an elegant, rather large lady but beautifully light on her feet as she guided the girls through their steps. Dancing with her was an experience, as she would clasp her student partner and in a commanding way say to her pianist, ‘A slow fox trot, Kathleen’, and away they would go. As she grew older she would sit in the middle of St Cecilia’s Hall with a stick in hand, beating out the rhythm of the tune. When preparing for concerts Eileen Brenan worked closely with Eileen O’Keefe, an elocution and drama teacher. Eileen O’Keefe took elocution classes and individual lessons in the art of speech, preparing students for speech examinations held by the Trinity College of Music. Eileen O’Keefe ran her own speech training and dramatic art studio, The Standard School, in the Oxford Chambers, Bourke Street, Melbourne. Her studio was affiliated with the Victorian branch of the English Verse Speaking Association. She taught voice production and eurhythmics, conducted verse-speaking choirs with Grecian-style dancing and literature classes and directed plays for the dramatic art classes at the University of Melbourne’s Conservatorium. It was said of Eileen O’Keefe that she

drank glasses of water and let them off as steam. The combined Brenan and O’Keefe productions were first rate. A tour de force took place on 3 November 1939, when the girls performed in a novel concert that showcased twenty-five artworks by European Grand Masters over six centuries. The girls posed in a series of tableaux interspersed with incidental music: A delightful surprise was the bringing of two pictures to life. The little dancer in the Millais ‘Minuet’ [by Sir John Everett Millais] danced daintily and resumed her pose. Similarly the Empress Eugénie and her court [by Franz Xavier Winterhalter] became gradually animated and performed a graceful ballet. The dancing in these numbers and in a polka and peasant dances was performed with poise. Miss Elizabeth Healy and the Empress Eugénie group moved with an airy grace that had the lightness of thistledown: the work had the mark of an expert.4

Left: Graceful Grecian dancers performing in 1936 Back row, left to right: Margaret Moloughney, Sheila Breheny, Noreen Skehan, Patricia Rowan; front row, left to right: Margaret Haslett, Yvonne Wearne Right: Celebrating a centenary of Catholicism in Victoria, 1939 A tableau of Fra Angelico angels with gold, blue and red wings painted by Mother Andrew Bell and her art class, accompanied by a choir of singers trained by Mother Damien McGowan

Physical exercises, deportment and eurhythmics Physical exercises, deportment and eurhythmics were also taught by staff from the Bjelke-Petersen School of Physical Culture. Margaret Reynolds, who had won the Bjelke-Petersen medal for physical culture, trained as a registered nurse at St Vincent’s Hospital. She became a lieutenant in the Australian Army and served in

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Triumphant victors Meida Manly and Peggy Chapman in 1937 holding the O’Sullivan House Cup, named in honour of Mother Provincial Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan

Darwin and Borneo during the Second World War. Her children Jenny, Patrick, Andrew, Stephen and James came to Loreto Toorak. A gradual improvement in fitness, ball games and athletics was due to the encouragement of the teachers and the enthusiasm of the girls themselves. The house system with its inter-house matches gave a minimum of unavoidable practice to many lukewarm girls who might otherwise have escaped it. Tennis was the main sport, followed by basketball, golf and horse riding. Loreto Toorak students dominated the inter-school and club tennis tournaments during the 1930s. School fixtures included matches with Protestant schools St Catherine’s, Toorak, St Margaret’s, Malvern, and Toorak College, Frankston, as well as Sacré Coeur, Glen Iris and Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount. Mollie Carter, Gertrude, Margaret, Fay, Mimi and Mary Reynolds, Meida Manly, Sheila Breheny, Margaret Healy and Mary and Roma Fowler (the daughters of Eric Fowler of the Hotel Derrimut, Sunshine) were among the tennis champions. Prizes for the annual winners of tennis cups were donated by Samuel England’s tennis club at Nebraska, Inkerman Road, St Kilda.

The Loreto Catholic Reading Circle In July 1926 a small advertisement appeared in The Argus newspaper: ‘The Inaugural Meeting of the Loreto Catholic Reading Circle will be held at the Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall, Toorak, on Sunday 11th July.’5 It was stated that the circle was open to all past pupils of Loreto convents to foster an interest in important historical figures and great Catholic writers, painters and musicians, and to encourage a loyal love of the Church of the Ages by a widening of knowledge and sympathy. The suggestion for this circle came from Mother Michael Gibson, a foundation member of the Toorak community and from 1931 to 1936 the second Superior of the community. Alice Gibson was born at Burrumbuttock Station in 1889, and her father, Thomas Jamieson Faithful Gibson, was one of the leading pioneers in the Albury settlement. Alice was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount and after a brilliant school career entered the novitiate and taught religious knowledge, English and history at Loreto Normanhurst, Sydney, and at Loreto Mary’s Mount before coming to Loreto Toorak. When she died in 1937 her past students wrote of their deep regret about losing ‘one whose spiritual outlook, wide culture and enthusiasm for the best in literature exercised so potent an influence during their school days and in later life’.6 A bursary for the training of a priest for the Archdiocese of Melbourne at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, was founded in her memory. The enthusiasm and generosity of past and present students who knew and appreciated her made it possible for the fund to be completed in just a few months.

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Reverend William Hackett SJ, founder of the Central Catholic Library in Collins Street, addressed the inaugural gathering of the reading circle. He humorously introduced himself as an old boy of Loreto, as he had been educated when a small boy at Loreto Kilkenny, Ireland. He skilfully outlined useful methods of work and suggested interesting topics to study for promoting a Catholic atmosphere and an understanding of the Catholic intelligentsia. His aim for this circle was to help broaden and deepen the Catholic intellectual and cultural world.

Reverend Hackett had a vision of intellectual Christianity for the family of Loreto Toorak. His spirituality demanded strength not of physical performance, but of the mind and heart. To achieve this aim, Reverend Hackett thought that past students, current staff and parents should involve themselves in Catholic thought and debate. A committee to run the circle was elected, consisting of President Rose Alston, past student of Our Lady of the Angels; Treasurer Lorna Dureau, past student of Loreto Mary’s Mount (whose sister, Edna, was a current Loreto Toorak student); and Rene McFarlane, also a past student of Loreto Mary’s Mount, and a graduate from the Central Catholic Training College and teacher at Sacré Coeur. The committee quickly extended invitations to local parishioners and the senior students at Loreto Toorak to attend these talks.

A helping hand Prefect Joan Devine and Janice Gibson (the niece of Mother Michael Gibson), in white school dresses, present Archbishop Daniel Mannix with the bursary funds in the presence of a group of student supporters, 1937

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The speakers Speakers were drawn from a wide range of specialties. The Jesuit fathers in particular were supportive of the reading circle. Reverend George O’Neill SJ, a philosopher and academic from Tyrone, Ireland, arrived in Australia when he was over sixty and spent twenty-two years at Corpus Christi College. In Ireland he was a founding fellow of the National University of Ireland and was appointed as the first professor of English and philosophy. One of his students was author James Joyce. He lectured at Loreto Toorak on religion in Florence, Gilbert Keith Chesterton’s influence on English literature, Catholic action in France, great museums in Germany, the life of Caroline Chisholm and the role of the Jesuits in Paraguay. Although a somewhat reticent and scholarly figure he was nevertheless warm, frank, cultured and friendly. Reverend Thomas Hehir SJ was educated at Xavier College and studied classics at the National University of Ireland. He was foremost a secondary school teacher and spoke at length on St Bartholomew’s days. Reverend Jeremiah Murphy SJ, Rector at Newman College at the University of Melbourne from 1923 to 1953, was a frequent visitor to Loreto Toorak. He was particularly concerned with the place of the Catholic graduate in the non-Catholic world. He encouraged his students to mix with people of other religions, integrate their spiritual life with the academic and apply their faith to business and professional ethics. He discussed the expansion of universities, education in ancient Rome and Greece and the rise of modern Spain.

The first official lecture was held at Loreto Toorak on Sunday 8 August 1926, and was delivered by a Xavier College past student and arts graduate, Jeremiah Hassett. He lectured on the life of St Francis of Assisi. The subject was selected in view of the worldwide interest attached to the celebration of seven hundred years since his death. Reverend Wilfrid Ryan SJ of Newman College introduced the speakers for 1927, which included Thomas Cornelius Brennan, who gave a discourse on the legal life of Blessed Thomas Moore. Brennan was a lawyer, the editor of The Advocate and later a King’s Counsel. From 1928 until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 ten lectures were held each year at Loreto Toorak on a variety of subjects and the annual subscription was set at five shillings for non-students. Reverend Hackett, who addressed the first gathering, remained a generous supporter throughout, giving nine lectures ranging from the world of books to international Catholic activities and the impact of mystics in Spain.

Henry Minogue was a lawyer, master of arts graduate and founder of Australia: A Review of the Month. He gave lectures covering a wide range of topics, including the life of Galileo, French Catholic writers, Spain and the Americas and the position of women in the thirteenth century. Henry Minogue had been dux of Xavier College in 1914 and when he left took with him enthusiasm for his Irish

Opposite, top: Loreto Reading Circle, Mandeville Hall Toorak A programme of the lectures for 1928 Opposite, bottom: Café Chantant and bridge party Workers help to raise funds for a bursary in memory of Mother Michael Gibson, 1937. Left to right: Marion Breheny, Mollie Corben, Edna Murphy and Shirley Carroll.

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and Catholic heritage as well as a strong sense of Australian nationalism. Henry was a solidly built, dark-haired man with a booming voice and a jovial, kind and exuberant personality. He was a wit and a raconteur, a linguist who spoke French and Spanish fluently, and his talks were presented with commonsense, fairness, sincerity and frankness.

A Dominican, Prior Reverend Stanislaus Hogan, spoke in a lecture of the history of his order, St Catherine of Siena, and of Irish literary influences in Europe.

A lawyer and later a judge, Norman O’Bryan had been a pupil at both Saints Peter and Paul’s School and Our Lady of the Angels. He lectured on the life of Lord Richard Burdon Haldane, a British imperialist and later politician, lawyer and philosopher, and on the works of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, a convert from the Church of England. A High Court judge and politician from Sydney, Edward McTiernan, addressed the history of medieval schools. An academic lawyer, Frank Maher, looked at the problems of the modern state, and Catholic social thinker Kevin Kelly, BA, discussed the impact of Stalin. The final lectures in the series, just before the onset of war, focused on contemporary Catholic challenges in Europe.

The introductory talk on Europe and the faith was delivered by Xavier College past student, lawyer and later Japanese linguist Davern Wright. His wife, Molleen Daly, was a past student of Loreto Toorak. The other speakers included lawyer Valentine Rayson Adami, of Italian descent, who had attended St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, and became a Loreto Toorak parent. He delivered spirited talks on Mussolini and faith in the Balkans. In the same series, Catholic activist Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria talked about the faith in Italy. Arthur Adams, educated at St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, and later a County Court judge and Loreto Toorak parent, spoke on the Catholic faith in France. Denys Jackson, a teacher and journalist, discussed the struggles of maintaining the Catholic faith in Germany.

The reading circle included several prominent female speakers. Dr Mary Josephine Stack was born in County Kerry, Ireland, and was educated at the Ursuline Abbey in Waterford before studying medicine and science at the National University in Dublin. In 1925 she established a general practice in Fitzroy, worked among the poor and undertook voluntary work at St Vincent’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital. She was deeply interested in literature and art and spoke about religious art in France and dress and costumes throughout the ages. Viva Murphy was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount and graduated from the Central Catholic Training College before becoming a resident at St Mary’s Hall. After completing her bachelor of arts, Viva studied social work, joined the Catholic Social Service Bureau and later served during the war in the American Red Cross.

Viva had developed a special interest in the Anglo-French Catholic writings of the poet Hilaire Belloc. These discussions stimulated an interest in Catholic culture and made members conversant with the English Catholic literary revival.

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ReverenD Edmond Frost The Provincial, Mother Teresa Gertrude, encouraged members of the community to attend the reading circle but this was not always possible in their busy schedules. Mindful of community needs, in 1929 she invited Reverend Edmond Frost SJ, the Rector of Xavier College, to give a special talk to the Loreto community on the role and influence of Catholic teaching. Reverend Frost was born in County Clare, Ireland, and was educated in classics in Ireland before coming to Xavier College in 1923. Reverend Frost explained his approach.

As an educationalist he described himself as conservative, and recommended that all teachers avoid appearances of haste in decision-making.

Reverend Frost stressed that comments to all students should always be encouraging, even when suggesting the need for greater effort.

He explained why he had deliberately raised the standard of comfort for the students. His aim was to reduce student monotony by introducing new activities, improving the grounds and giving students more freedom so as to approximate school life to home conditions. An important aspect of this approach was that past students should continue the good work done at school by keeping in touch with their old school and maintaining contact with their teachers. In his view the new Chapel of Christ the King should be in constant use as the spiritual heart of the school.

He suggested that students be encouraged to make personal visits, in addition to attending Mass. For Reverend Frost, Catholic teachers should promote hard work, self-respect and charity, and then spirituality would follow.

Sixteen talks for the reading circle were presented by members of the Loreto community. In the printed programs these were listed under ‘Member of the Community’, rather than individual names. Among the community members known to have contributed were Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan, Mother Francis Frewin, Mother Andrew Bell and Mother Michael Gibson. For the Loreto community, organising an apostolate for Catholic adults was central to the ongoing success of a Loreto education. The Faithful Companions of Jesus at Genazzano Convent FCJ, Kew, quickly followed this Loreto initiative and established their own reading circle. A similar reading and study circle was established in 1936 at Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney, by Mother Borgia Tipping, who later became a formidable teacher at Loreto Toorak. The prediction in the 1924 Tribune that the Loreto Toorak foundation would become a new centre for Catholic culture was substantiated. During the 1930s the school became a powerhouse for Catholic thought and discussion.

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Clubs Lively discussions Members of St Catherine’s Debating and Literary Club, 1936

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Mindful of Reverend Frost’s practical innovations at Xavier College, the Loreto community encouraged the girls to run their own clubs. The senior students established interest groups for literature, music and French, and held meetings for discussions and study. They also founded the St Catherine’s Debating and Literary Club, sponsored by Norman O’Bryan, who donated an annual prize for the best contributor to the debating society and another for studies in Catholic civilisation.

In 1936 Loreto introduced a separate finishing class for girls who might desire to take extra courses after passing the public examinations. The Finishing Course embraced ‘Literature and Current History, French and French Conversation, German and Italian; Art – Painting in Oils and Water Colours and Outdoor Sketching, Arts and Crafts – China Painting, Leather Work, Wood-carving, Art Needlework; Cookery and Housewifery; Commercial Course; Tennis, Riding;

Post-school training in home crafts It was recognised that an overwhelming majority of Loreto Toorak girls were destined to be wives and

mothers. During the 1920s there was an Australiawide movement among girls’ educators to develop post-school training courses in home crafts. This would dignify women’s work and give it a ‘scientific’ basis. In 1925, the Headmistresses’ Association of

Victoria set up a committee to establish a ‘homecraft hostel’ which was opened in Malvern in 1929. The aims were twofold: to provide girls with practical home-training on leaving school and to establish home and institutional management as a recognised profession for women. The girls would learn the finer points of home hygiene, child welfare, nutrition, cooking, sewing and other homely skills.

The depression made the early years difficult, but in 1933 William and Emily McPherson donated their Hawthorn home to the Headmistresses’ Association and Invergowrie came into being.7 Around fifty Loreto Toorak students attended Invergowrie, often as a prologue to establishing their own homes or before undertaking applied courses in art, interior design and fashion design. In 1927 the Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy was established for women in Melbourne. Twenty-five Loreto Toorak students completed their after-school studies at the college. Today we are apt to dismiss these initiatives as lowbrow and sexist but during the 1930s they were seen as raising the status of women’s work in the home by giving it an academic basis.

Dancing; Music – Singing, Pianoforte, Violin, Cello, Organ and Dramatic Art’.8 In 1937 the school extended the home-craft courses to include cookery, laundry and dressmaking and installed a new kitchen with modern equipment. In the same year they introduced typing, shorthand and bookkeeping in the senior years.

A commercial course of this nature would enable students to enter the field of business as clerks and secretaries and was considered to have a good disciplinary value. The dignity of housework and household budgeting had graduated to the science of domestic economy.

In 1936 Mother Francis Frewin initiated a Travel Club, preparing the girls for the trip abroad that at the time was a goal for many girls. Many old girls travelled widely, not merely interstate but also overseas. The community purchased a moving picture projector and an epidiascope – which projected images of opaque objects with some degree of transparency, such as the pages of books – to illustrate science

The art of cake decorating A Leaving domestic science class, 1936.

Back row, left to right: Maidie O’Brien, Mary Rowan, Margaret Coffey; front row, left to right: Elizabeth Coghlan and Marcelle McLean from Sacré Coeur

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and travel talks. They also organised additional classes for those who displayed an aptitude for art. While the school was a happy and productive environment during the 1930s, the dire effects of the depression were reflected in school numbers.

Enrolments slumped as family businesses soured. In particular, the number of boarders fell from fifty-six in 1928 to thirty-two in 1933. School life at Loreto Toorak was, however, cushioned from the extreme effects of the depression. The community introduced a ‘poor man’s plate’ on each table in the chalet. Any food left over after lunch was used to make meals for unemployed men who knocked on the back gate.

Saints Peter and Paul’s School and the Loreto junior school

A special day for First Holy Communicants and their proud parents, 1937 Back row, left to right: Anne Doyle, John Booth, Norman Michael O’Bryan, Thomas King, Marilyn Goff; front row, left to right: Janet Burke, Anne Skehan, Marianne McNamara, Patricia Cahill, Jill Cornelius

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In contrast, conditions experienced by the families and the Loreto teachers at Saints Peter and Paul’s School in South Melbourne were harsh. Mother Rosa Serong, a mathematics teacher at Loreto Toorak in the 1950s, recalled that the depression years were very challenging. It was hand-to-mouth living. The Loreto community lived on a pitiful amount of so-called ‘school money’, about a shilling a week per pupil, which was collected at assembly every Monday morning. An important part of the curriculum was to keep the school money book up to date and to gently remind students when their families were in arrears. Many families at this time could not afford school money. There was no salary for staff but the convent accommodation in St Vincent Place was free of charge for the community and student-teachers. Often women would come to the convent in search of help.

South Melbourne teachers at this time included Mother Joseph Halloran, Mother Vincent Cody and Mother Eymard Callanan and her sister-in law Molly Carmody.

Molly had a class of eighty in Year Two. These children, especially those whose fathers were waterside workers, attended soup kitchens. Many in her class came to school without having breakfast. There was no money for books and the children wrote on scraps of paper, but somehow Molly managed.

In the Loreto Toorak junior school, Mother Gertrude Loneragan believed in the healing power of honey when the students became ill. She was also a keen follower of cricket and would entertain the boarders with the latest overnight scores from the England–Australia test matches as she presided over their breakfast table.

Amy Anne Lonergan was born in 1878 in New South Wales and taught the cello, piano, Christian doctrine and history to the juniors. One student, Marie Parer, niece of Mother Frances Frewin, came as a weekly boarder to the junior school, as her family lived in Surrey Hills. In the junior dormitory there were only ten girls, including three sisters from New Guinea, Betty, Ruth and Gail Brennan. Mother

Gertrude encouraged the girls to pray daily to St Philomena for her intercession in finding new students to come to Loreto Toorak. Marie’s father, Salvador Michael Parer, worked at Shea, Hood & Co. Pty Ltd in Flinders Lane, a company that had established an export trade in potatoes and onions. He urged his business friends to send their daughters to Loreto Toorak, and Mary, Joan and Anne Doyle, together with Jill and Geraldine Barclay, completed their secondary educations with Marie.

In turn Marie sent her daughters to Loreto Toorak, where Frances, Marcelle and Stephanie came under the influence of the kindly Mother Francesca Cavagna.

Mother Francesca was in charge of the sub-primary section – Years One to Three – from 1931 to 1945 and later returned to Loreto Toorak in retirement. At Loreto Toorak Mother Francesca prepared the students for their First Holy Communion and ran the junior choir. She rehearsed the choir for assemblies and musical plays and lovingly tended the gardens. An efficient and gentle presence, Mother Francesca was particularly remembered for her caring supervision of the junior boarders. The boarders ranged in age from six to eighteen. Mother Francesca assisted the youngsters with washing their hair, did their mending and read them bedtime stories. She prepared trays, with flowers and pretty china accompanied by a boiled egg, to cheer sick boarders in the junior dormitory.

Mother Francesca Cavagna Maria Catherina Cavagna was born in Bendigo in 1901, the daughter of James Cavagna, a coach builder, and Margaret Murphy. She was educated at the Presentation Convent, Daylesford, before becoming a student at the Central Catholic Training College in 1919. She completed her primary registration in 1920. For five years before entering she taught at Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne.

The pre-war years It was not until the eve of the Second World War that Loreto Toorak’s enrolment reached two hundred pupils for the first time. Mother Damien McGowan, member of the community from 1934 to 1945, recalled that when this number was reached further enrolments were frowned upon as it was considered that they would lose the dignity of being an ‘exclusive school’.9 This dilemma captured the contrary forces that had shaped Loreto Toorak from the beginning: high ideals on the one hand, and practical good sense on the other. The objection to increased numbers was quickly overruled during the post-war years, until the demand for places exceeded Loreto Toorak’s capacity.

Susan Murray McGowan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1907 and had sung in operas before entering the novitiate at Loreto Mary’s Mount. She had a fine soprano voice and taught music and singing at Loreto Toorak. Mother Damien wrote that during the pre-war years the atmosphere at Loreto Toorak was like a family, as well as friendly and loyal: Both the Senior and Junior classrooms occupied either side of the Green Verandah. The highest classes were conducted in the room near the clock and in the garden room facing the gully. Smaller classes were sometimes held in the

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Polio During Mother Damien’s tenure, Loreto Toorak was closed twice for several months during the polio epidemic of 1937–38, when more than two thousand Victorian children were infected. The highly contagious disease affected children regardless of their social standing, which was alarming in a society accustomed to disease accompanying poverty. Polio was known as infantile paralysis, as the victims were mainly under twelve years of age. For quarantine to be effective the children needed to be isolated. During the peaks of the epidemic students were kept at home and were not even allowed to play with the children next door or travel on public transport. The Loreto Toorak students received their school work weekly

Opposite, top: Tennis stars in red school blazers Left to right: Mary and Fay Reynolds, and Roma and Mary Fowler, 1936 Opposite, bottom left: Roma Fowler Captain of the school, 1941 Opposite, bottom middle: Mary Fowler Captain of the school, 1943 Opposite, bottom right: A coveted award Red blazers worn by the captains of the tennis teams

by mail and returned it in the same way to the teachers for correction. Mother Margarita Farley and Mother Lena Bongiorno, two Sisters in the community who were attending the Toorak Teachers’ College, were isolated from the convent and the school. For several months they lived in the Priest’s Cottage, which was one of the chalets between Mandeville Hall and the gully. After the Easter break in 1938, school life gradually returned to normal routines. At Saints Peter and Paul’s School the forced closures were a major disruption, as the Loreto community were unable to supply correspondence material and the children, often with both parents working, were frequently left unattended at home with little to occupy them.

‘Fish Room’ at the top of the stairs adjacent to the dormitories. Of course the hall under the chapel was used for choirs and orchestra as well as drama. Five music rooms were opposite the art department. Those who knew the Gully would remember it as a kind of fairyland of mysteries, with its winding paths and tunnels. The wide lawn was our Sports’ Ground for both the Senior and Junior schools.10 The increasingly intense interest in sporting activities and the triumphant victories of both senior and junior teams mirrored the views of wider society about women participating in sport during the inter-war years.

Loreto Free Kindergarten After the closure of Our Lady of the Angels and the Central Catholic Training College in 1924 and the relocation of the Loreto school to Mandeville Hall, Toorak, the support base for the Loreto Free Kindergarten in South Melbourne moved but did not diminish in kind or enthusiasm. The new community at Loreto Toorak embraced the kindergarten cause with alacrity, the Sisters providing clothing and the students fundraising. In 1925, with the assistance of the Loreto Toorak community, the kindergarten purchased a weighing machine and the children were weighed and measured regularly and records kept. If any child was 214

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Abbey Players’ Club Earlier, in 1925, Mary Elizabeth Hoban, née Butler, referred to as Maie, founded the Loreto Abbey Players’ Club. She donated annually the proceeds from one of their performances to aid the kindergarten. Maie was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount, where she was encouraged by the eisteddfod culture of Ballarat to study music, in particular the piano and organ. She began preparing local children and parents for speech and drama examinations for the South Street Eisteddfod, acquiring a loyal following among Loreto past and present students.

This led to the formation of her first amateur theatre company and orchestra, the Loreto Abbey Players and the Loreto Players’ Orchestra. In 1931 Maie founded a second company in Melbourne, called

The Unnamed Players (later The Australian Repertory Players). These groups consisted mainly of Loreto past students, not only from Ballarat but also from Albert Park and Loreto Toorak. Former Loreto Toorak students who performed included Nancye Mitty, Claire Coffey, Margaret Gudgeon, Blanche Fitzgerald, Lorna Gardiner, Lorna Hoban, Dorothy Lally, Nancy Connell and Sheila Carrigg. By 1933, when the girls found it too difficult to find the time to perform in both companies, the Abbey Players folded.

But Maie and her players continued for more than a decade to donate proceeds from each production’s opening night, which raised much-needed revenue for the kindergarten. In the 1950s Maie Hoban became the drama teacher at Loreto Toorak.

underweight or losing weight they were given extra milk, and where possible were sent for a holiday to Santa Casa, Queenscliff. This was a rest home for children opened in 1918 by the Catholic Women’s Social Guild under the care of the Sisters of Mercy. From 1925 onwards the meetings for the executive committee of the kindergarten were held at Mandeville Hall. By 1927 six of Loreto Toorak’s first graduates had become volunteer helpers for the kindergarten.

At the same time, South Melbourne families remained faithful contributors.

James Moore, timber merchant, and William Moore, printer, whose children were former pupils of Our Lady of the Angels, maintained their annual support through donations of timber to make new toys and providing free printing. The debt on the small kindergarten cottage in South Melbourne was cleared by 1926. It was an extraordinary effort, with even little James Alston, the son of the first kindergarten president, emptying the contents of his moneybox for the cause. A visit to the kindergarten by Albert and Elizabeth, Duke and Duchess of York, on 11 May 1927 was a gala day, when all schools, including Loreto Toorak, were closed. The inclusion of the kindergarten on the royal itinerary was organised by the Catholic mayor of South Melbourne, Councillor John Behan, who had been the former caretaker of the parish hall. The kindergarten was prepared for the royal occasion with voluntary help from Loreto Toorak students and parents. The walls were covered with children’s paintings and a posy was presented to the Duchess.

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Children’s health at the Loreto Free Kindergarten The health of the little ones in the South Melbourne kindergarten remained a prime concern. In 1927 a dentist in Moonee Ponds, Athol Vaughan Allwright, examined the children’s teeth at the Loreto Free Kindergarten. By 1928 he reported that there was a marked improvement in the dental hygiene of the kindergartners. He would bring his equipment in a case and dealt only with fillings and extractions. To soften the ordeal for the little one’s first visit, he would reward each child on departure with one sweet from a big bowl of lollies! Through these regular visits many defects were detected which could be rectified in their early stages. His work for the Free Kindergarten Union was voluntary and it became a real and visible form of preventative medicine.

During 1928 forty-three children from the Loreto Free Kindergarten were examined by Dr Vera Scantlebury Brown, director of Infant Welfare Victoria at the Department of Public Health, and Dr Hilda Estelle Kincaid, child welfare officer for the Melbourne City Council. Both women were interested in the effects of the environment and nutrition on the growth and development of underprivileged preschool children. The doctors praised the splendid ‘open-air’ conditions, with tables and chairs set out in the sunshine, and expressed satisfaction in their physical development.11 Mothers were encouraged to attend these medical and dental examinations to receive first-hand advice. However, when Dr Scantlebury Brown returned for her annual examination of the children in the following year, only four in the kindergarten were free from physical defects. She made many return visits during 1929 to ensure that the children were receiving the appropriate treatment. Ten delicate children were sent to Santa Casa for a holiday. Committee members asked Dr Mary Josephine Stack, a member of the Loreto Catholic Reading Circle, to address the mothers to reinforce the need for continued vigilance in health matters. Her work among the poor, especially with women and children, was highly valued. In the same year the director, Ida Fawcett, gave a series of free Saturday morning lectures, with demonstrations by the children, to religious of all orders engaged in kindergarten and primary teaching.

When the depression began in 1929 the kindergarten community was still in the throes of handling families with ongoing emotional and physical stresses caused by the Great War. Many of the fathers were on meagre war disability pensions.

Others became unemployed when exports shrank, manufacturing was reduced and fewer were needed on the wharves. There was a scarcity of jobs, causing increasing unemployment. Due to a falling demand in gas and gas appliances the South Melbourne gasworks closed for two years. This closure had a deep impact on the suburb. The Australian Paper Manufacturers’ mill survived without massive lay-offs, as their employees only worked three out of every four weeks. For unemployed men

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Out of the sixty-nine children examined, thirtyone were definitely malnourished, approximately forty-five per cent – showing an increase since last year of children hungry for certain foods essential to child development and especially for green vegetables and salads and fruit and sufficient milk.

In one instance one pint of milk daily was the sustenance of nine, and we are reading in the daily papers that there is a glut of milk on the market.

Ida Fawcett

the only alternatives were navvy work on road and rail construction or applying for weekly sustenance payments. As female labour was cheaper, mothers were often employed while the fathers stayed at home. If there happened to be a breadwinner in the family other than the husband, then the unemployed husband forfeited his right to sustenance payments. Many unskilled workers in South Melbourne lived on a pittance. Those lucky enough to keep their jobs saw their wages steadily decline over the depression years from an average of £4 to £2 per week.

On 13 December 1932 Mary Alston, the founder of the kindergarten, died at her home, Majella, in South Melbourne. Her philanthropy knew no boundary or creed. She had enthusiastically contributed towards the building of the St Paul’s Cathedral spires, as well as furnishings in St Patrick’s Cathedral, and had supported the Women’s Hospital, the Alfred Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital. Twenty years of unstinting support of the kindergarten was hard to replace in the prevailing harsh economic climate.

Elsie MacDonald, a past student from Our Lady of the Angels, and Louisa Barry, Central Catholic Training College graduate and barrister, stepped into the breach, becoming active committee members. Mother Mildred Dew of St Mary’s Hall became the honorary treasurer and in practical ways rallied the committee and volunteers. Mother Mildred had taught at Saints Peter and Paul’s School and at the Central Catholic Training College prior to her work at St Mary’s Hall and was familiar with the difficult conditions being experienced in South Melbourne. Ida Fawcett wrote an impassioned letter to the editor of The Advocate in 1932: Out of the sixty-nine children examined, thirty-one were definitely malnourished, approximately forty-five per cent – showing an increase since last year of children hungry for certain foods essential to child development and especially for green vegetables and salads and fruit and sufficient milk. In one instance one pint of milk daily was the sustenance of nine, and we are reading in the daily papers that there is a glut of milk on the market. A total of thirty-six children showed definite signs of fatigue and sixteen of nervous strain and one poorly nourished child showed signs of paralysis. A child living mainly on bread and jam, treacle and dripping was found to be suffering from night blindness. One little four-year-old boy has been living on the sustenance diet for a very long time and has definite symptoms of tuberculosis of the lungs. Fifteen children are anaemic and eight show signs of rickets.12 In the following year Ida Fawcett reported that affairs were not much improved.

Of the thirty-two new pupils in the kindergarten fifty per cent were underweight and malnourished and only eight fathers were fully employed. She wrote:

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Many of these children (from two to five years) are badly in need of clothing and shoes and at times they are forced to stay at home for a while owing to the difficulties we experience in trying to meet their needs. These are always the very children we need to attend daily and [who need] to receive all the help the kindergarten can give them. May we appeal to all our kind friends to help us with donations of clothing, socks and shoes, second-hand or new, for these are ever present needs.13 Absences were often due to families moving their lodgings. It was not unknown for the white-faced, bleary-eyed child to announce on arrival at kindergarten that the family had shifted in the middle of the night when they could not pay the rent.

Personal belongings were so few that they could be packed in a couple of sacks and old battered cases within minutes. To emphasise her concerns Ida Fawcett wrote a lengthy account in The Horizon, the journal of the of Catholic Women’s Social Guild: ‘Only three children were perfectly free from defect. The defects show an increase with each year of age and summaries of the medical inspections for the past few years, when compared, prove beyond all shadow of doubt the devastating influences of unemployment, poor home conditions and dietetic deficiencies upon the health of these pre-school children.’14

A shortage of volunteer helpers Kindergarten roster, May–June 1933

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It is their privilege and their duty to loyalty to help this work specially established by our Australian Founder, Mother Gonzaga Barry, so that they might put into daily practice that living charity and love of the poor which our first Founder, Mary Ward, desired should be the mark of ours.

Mother Mildred Dew

Deep in concentration Two studious kindergarten girls, c. 1930s

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Loreto Free Kindergarten Auxiliary In 1933 Mary Dora Daly, known as May, president of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association and a member of the kindergarten committee, came up with three novel ideas for raising funds. As president she stressed that there was an urgent need for additional support from past students for the Loreto Free Kindergarten as there was some anxiety about whether it could continue to operate in the difficult financial climate. May was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount. Her father, solicitor Thomas Patrick MacMahon, and her husband, medical practitioner John Joseph Daly, were both heavily engaged in social service and supported her charity work. To raise funds for the kindergarten May’s first initiative was to write a charming fairy story called Marie’s Birthday Party. She funded the production and printing costs and organised the sales.

With Mother Michael Gibson’s blessing May’s second idea was to establish a kindergarten auxiliary to work on fundraising initiatives. Based at Mandeville Hall, this new group was led by Loreto Toorak past student Patricia Lightfoot, the daughter of Gerald Lightfoot, a public servant who was instrumental in the founding of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

Patricia and her two sisters Audrey and Evelyn, both artistic photographers, were all students at the University of Melbourne. The Lightfoot sisters were assisted by their school contemporaries Geraldine Spring, Janet Wimpole, Sylvia Burke, Gwen Higginbotham, Cassie Fanning, Mary Eccles and Nonie Fenton. One of the kindergarten auxiliary’s first initiatives was to invite retired opera singers Amy and Eileen Castles to perform in a concert at Mandeville Hall. They were accompanied by Christine Fraillon, a cellist with the Australian Broadcasting Commission Concert Orchestra, and May Parkes, née Broderick, a pianist who had been taught music at Our Lady of the Angels. Her husband, Cecil Parkes, a violinist, frequently assisted in the fundraising activities of Loreto. Their daughters, Cecile and Margaret, attended Loreto Toorak. Cecile later studied music at the Albert Street Conservatorium and Margaret graduated from the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne. Margaret’s daughters, Katherine and Susan Griffiths, came to Loreto Toorak. As well as running bridge parties, concerts, dances and a ball, the auxiliary approached Lincoln Mills, which donated ten pounds of knitting wool that the auxiliary distributed among current Loreto Toorak students. Under Mother Aquin McPhee’s expert supervision the pupils began knitting winter garments for the kindergarten students.

May Daly’s third initiative was to introduce the Birthday League, which was launched in May 1934 at Loreto Toorak. The idea for a league came from Louisa Barry, who had heard of a similar scheme organised by the Old Collegians of Presbyterian Ladies’ College in East Melbourne. The main purpose of a league was

Music in the Loreto Free Kindergarten At the same time as the kindergarten auxiliary began their work, Director Ida Fawcett, with the assistance of concert pianist Viva Holgate Clarke, held a series of well-attended lectures and demonstrations for members of the Music Teachers’ Association. These functions focused on the importance of music in kindergarten education. They charged admission, with the proceeds going towards the Loreto Free Kindergarten. The lectures and demonstrations were held in the kindergarten rooms in Bank Street, South Melbourne. Ida directed her students: the older group performed in a percussion band and danced to folk tunes and the younger ones sang nursery rhymes in part harmony. In the 1934 annual report, Ida Fawcett remarked on the work of the new auxiliary: ‘So far its activity has been in the laudable direction of raising funds among those who like to

combine charity with pleasure. But there are several other things it can do for us as we hope for working circles for the making, repairing and cleaning of toys, books and apparatus – work at present done by our heavily-burdened staff – and the provision of such things as rest mats and of clothing and other necessaries for our seventy children. There will be scope in this for clever hands and those who might not feel up to the standard of Voluntary Helpers might well give us an afternoon a month to the “reparations committee”.’15 Mary Eccles, Loreto Toorak past student and a voluntary kindergarten helper, responded immediately. She organised and paid for the repair of the seventy-two kindergarten chairs. In addition, Mary donated the use of a motor car so the children could enjoy a weekly expedition to the beach or the lake.

to establish a solid body of annual subscriptions and to bring home to the hundreds of girls who had passed through Loreto schools the importance of practical charity.

Mother Mildred Dew wrote: ‘It is their privilege and their duty to loyalty to help this work specially established by our Australian Founder, Mother Gonzaga Barry, so that they might put into daily practice that living charity and love of the poor which our first Founder, Mary Ward, desired should be the mark of ours.’16 This rare reference to Mary Ward was telling. Mother Mildred, Australian-born and educated in the Ballarat novitiate, was conversant and imbued with Mary Ward’s life and works. Even though Mother Gonzaga had died several weeks after Mother Mildred had entered the novitiate, she was aware of Mother Gonzaga’s tireless work for the reunification of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her allegiance to Mary Ward.

Leaflets describing the Loreto Free Kindergarten and appealing for pledges were mailed to past students, together with their annual association renewal forms.

The kindergarten was described as a homey place, in a poor neighbourhood where little children were taught to work and play happily together. However, the rooms were described as having peeling paint, broken spouting, cracked ceiling plaster and unsafe gates and fences. The workers had scant funds to cover these repairs and it was a nightmare task. Many past students responded and were sent birthday

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The Birthday League, 1939 To help raise funds past students were sent birthday cards as a gentle reminder to annually support their Loreto Free Kindergarten

or anniversary cards to mark their own or others’ birthdays and were asked to celebrate those occasions through a gift to the kindergarten. Included in the cards was a gentle reminder that their annual association fees and kindergarten commitments were due. Raising funds through the Birthday League proved a great success and the practice was continued by the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association until the end of the Second World War.

Loreto Past Pupils’ Association Ada a’Beckett, who was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her services to the Free Kindergarten Union, paid tribute to Mother Gonzaga Barry in the kindergarten’s 1934 annual report. Ada stated that Mother Gonzaga Barry’s desire had been not merely to help the children of this industrial neighbourhood – she was also anxious that Loreto girls should contribute something in the way of social service to their country. Ada made a special appeal to help spread the movement and drew attention to the fact that the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association had maintained the kindergarten in the past. She emphasised that this was the only band of past students connected with any of the girls’ schools in Victoria that had undertaken social work of this size. Ada commended the Birthday League begun by the committee and reiterated that it was intended to alert past students each year of their continuing obligation to contribute something to the kindergarten. She described the Birthday League as a good investment, as every penny went straight to its mark and there was no waste.17 222

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The needs of the kindergarten remained a major concern for Loreto past students during the 1930s. By 1936 eighteen of the twenty-seven members of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association committee were past students of Loreto Toorak, with Mary Wilton elected secretary. Ida Fawcett wrote during 1935: We regret to say that the children in the kindergarten this year are unusually young, a situation that we have not been able to help. We have three two-yearolds (we refused recently to take in a one-year-old whose mother obviously wished to ‘park’ her with us); we have 26 three-year-olds, 31 four-year-olds and eight young five-year-olds, several of whom are physically not yet ready for school. Our children come from pitifully crowded homes with tiny yards, even if they have yards at all; a number of them live in one-room apartments in someone else’s house. It is a great joy to us often to come on to the little front verandah of the kindergarten to watch the children from such homes playing on the grass in the sun, in perfect safety and freedom and to know that we are providing for them that right of every little child, if he is to grow and develop as God means him to grow and develop.18

A new building is an urgent need. Perhaps listening to this appeal is someone who will make a practical gesture of charity towards the poorer children of the community by giving that much-needed building or suggesting a way of obtaining it.

Marie Frances Tiernan

By the following year all of the voluntary helpers at the kindergarten were Loreto Toorak past students. Through continued efforts, the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association raised sufficient funds for the appointment of Ruth Proud as the first full-time music teacher at the kindergarten. The first music scholarship for a kindergarten student was donated by Countess Anne Filippini. Anne (Nancy) McPharland studied singing at the Conservatorium in Sydney and married Count Ercole Filippini, an Argentine-born Italian and a leading baritone with La Scala Opera, Milan. During the 1920s they founded the Italo-Australian Grand Opera Company and toured Australia. Anne later became the first female conductor of symphony orchestras in Australia and conducted the senior choirs and orchestras at Loreto Toorak. Her granddaughter, Sister Anne Kelly, wrote and performed modern liturgical music and her ‘Alleluia Mass’ became popular while she was on the staff of Loreto Toorak. The Countess was so impressed with Billy Thompson’s singing at the 1938 kindergarten concert that she invited him, at the age of seven, to become one of her Guild Boys for the Victorian Boys’ Choir.

A new building for the Loreto Free Kindergarten The cottage that had been the home of the kindergarten from 1923 began to show alarming signs of decay. Extensive roof repairs checked the leaks, but dry rot was discovered in the western wall of the verandah. It became increasingly clear that to keep repairing the building was a waste of money. Marie Frances Tiernan,

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Playing in the sunshine Kindergartners enjoying a rocker at the new brick building of the Loreto Free Kindergarten, 1937

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vice-president of the kindergarten committee and trustee for the building, sought advice from Loreto’s solicitor, Bernard Nolan, a Loreto old boy of Our Lady of the Angels. Marie had also been a pupil at Our Lady of the Angels and studied at the Central Catholic Training College before becoming a resident at St Mary’s Hall.

At the University of Melbourne she won the Mollison Scholarship in Arabic and graduated in law before completing a master of arts. In 1923 she was admitted to the bar. Marie examined the title and the trustee deed to ascertain their options.

Bernard Nolan suggested that the building ought to be demolished and another built on the site. It was a logical suggestion, but how could it be funded? On 3 September 1935 Marie participated in a radio broadcast appeal during a 3DB community singing session. She briefly described the difficult conditions which were hampering the work of the kindergarten: ‘A new building is an urgent need.

Perhaps listening to this appeal is someone who will make a practical gesture of charity towards the poorer children of the community by giving that much-needed building or suggesting a way of obtaining it.’19 Donations of funds and in kind were forthcoming, with many donors remaining anonymous.

Hugh Leonard Peck An architect, Hugh Leonard Peck, offered his services to design and supervise the construction of a new kindergarten without charging fees and donated £20 to the appeal. It was an extraordinary offer, as he had no prior Loreto or Catholic connections. Peck was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and studied architecture at the Melbourne Technical College and University College, London. He was wounded at the landing at Gallipoli and served in France, where he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. He worked in partnership with his father, Arthur, from offices in Queens Street, Melbourne. The firm had recently completed extensions to the Biltmore Private Hotel in Bridport Street, Albert Park. Perhaps through

the course of this project young Peck had witnessed some of the local endemic problems at first hand.

He consulted at length with Ada a’Beckett, president of the Free Kindergarten Union, about a new and up-to-date kindergarten that would include a story room and library named in honour of Mary Alston. Peck’s design consisted of a creamcoloured brick building with a green-tiled roof, full of air and light, and was planned with every consideration for the wellbeing of seventy-eight children in mind. In consultation with the director of the Burnley Horticultural School, Alexander William Jessop, whom he had served with during the war, Peck planned a garden and playground to suit both winter and summer conditions.

Financial assistance came from many unexpected sources but the major breakthrough was securing a government grant of £3,000 for the new building.

The generosity of the parish priest of South Melbourne, Monsignor Richard Collins, was also instrumental to the success of the project. While the demolition and rebuilding was being undertaken, the kindergarten continued rent-free in Emerald Hall, which had been its first home when the building was known as Albert Hall. The Monsignor, who donated £25 annually towards the upkeep of the kindergarten, in 1936 added a further contribution of £134 for a new safety fence.

The new kindergarten was officially opened by the Acting Premier of Victoria Francis Edward Old in the presence of more than two hundred guests on 12 May 1937. Old said that: ‘He wished to correct the impression existing in some quarters that kindergartens are intended to usurp the home. This is not so. They are intended to supplement, to be complementary to the home by bringing children into good surroundings and teaching them at an early age independence, service to others and self-reliance.’20

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Mother Rosalie Bryan Eileen Bryan was born in 1907 in Perth, Western Australia, and educated at Loreto Adelaide Terrace. She completed a bachelor of arts at the University of Western Australia before she entered and after profession returned to Perth and obtained a diploma of education. In 1934 she was sent by her order to study French at the Sorbonne in Paris. She was unable to finish the course, as she contracted diphtheria. Before returning to Australia she spent six weeks at Rathfarnham, Dublin, and studied the Montessori Method of kindergarten training.

In retrospect Mother Aloysius was a woman of power, discipline and creative imagination.

Although not daring to question her or disobey, I always felt somehow special and genuinely cared for as ‘her child’.

Jillian Lambert

Loreto Toorak Kindergarten In 1935 Loreto Toorak established its own kindergarten for four-year-old boys and girls as preparation for entrance into the junior school. Mother Rosalie Bryan was placed in charge of this small group. She brought new ideas and toys with her to Loreto Toorak and the news quickly spread about her innovative teaching methods.

By 1936 she had a class of ten students: three boys – Brian Bergin, Norman O’Bryan and William Flintoff – and seven girls – Patricia Cahill, Jill Cornelius, Marie D’Arcy, Anne Doyle, Margaret McNamara, Judy Naughton and Lola Solomon. In 1937 Mother Rosalie moved to Loreto Mary’s Mount and from 1938 the kindergarten became the responsibility of Mother Aloysius Cosgrove. She was to remain as the kindergarten director at Loreto Toorak for thirty-eight years.

Lillian Cosgrove was born in Melbourne in 1899 and was educated as a young girl at several Loreto schools. Her father, James Burton Cosgrove, was a bank inspector and the family travelled extensively. Mother Aloysius Cosgrove was a pianist and a perfectionist. She placed great emphasis on manners, cleanliness and politeness. There was no official school uniform but the boys wore shirts and ties and the girls were expected to wear neat frocks and hair ribbons. All of the youngsters wore pinafores for gardening and art and craft activities. Clean fingernails and fresh handkerchiefs were mandatory. The children were drilled in the correct way to greet visitors and to stand when anyone entered the room. They finger-painted, grew wheat in saucers, cut chains of figures with blunt-ended scissors and were taught their alphabet by reading books with buttoned covers and felt pages. Above all Mother Aloysius introduced them to prayer, instructed them in the catechism and encouraged the celebration of feast days and participation in nativity plays. A fellow teacher, Mother Damien McGowan, recalled that she was a most innovative director and her stamp of good manners was detected by headmasters when they enrolled her boys in their colleges. They often remarked to the boys, ‘I know where you came from’.21 Jillian Lambert, the daughter of Jillian Ryan, an early Loreto Toorak student, recalled: I thought her old when I was three, yet she was still teaching. In her long black habit, large rosary beads hanging from her waist and black veil covering all but her bare face, she was not to be argued with. She taught us to hang up our coats and then our pinnies on our very own clothes’ hook, indicated by a holy picture of Jesus, Mary or Joseph or our Guardian Angel. These people all had circles of light around their heads. Cut-up apples and glasses of milk interrupted our serious play and each afternoon I remember settling down on my own little mattress for the mandatory sleep-time. Curtains were drawn, talk turned to

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whispers and then to silence. In retrospect Mother Aloysius was a woman of power, discipline and creative imagination. Although not daring to question her or disobey, I always felt somehow special and genuinely cared for as ‘her child’.22

A new venture at Loreto Toorak The first kindergarten group of four-year-olds, with novel play equipment, 1935

The friendly, loyal students of the 1930s Who were the friendly and loyal students of the 1930s and where did they go after Loreto Toorak? Though some clearly had interesting experiences, the post-school life stories of most students of the 1930s are a telling reminder of the relatively narrow range of options open to women of the era. Loreto Toorak girls were

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Left: Eileen Colby Captain of the school, 1938 Right: Special school friendships, 1937 Back row, left to right: Mary Rowan, Margaret Garrett, Joyce Manning; front row, left to right: Elizabeth Coghlan, Eileen Colby, Bernadette O’Grady, Elizabeth Daly, Margaret Grant

imbued with a deep faith and a willingness to serve. Ruth Winship, Mary Muirhead, Thérèse Daly, Clair Dowden and Mary and Elizabeth Mulcahy entered Loreto, while Ellen Tuomy joined the Presentation Sisters and Mary O’Bryan the Sisters of Mercy. Her aunt, Catherine O’Bryan, had earlier joined the Loreto Order as Mother John Gabriel.

Boarders from Queensland At the beginning of 1934 five girls, including Ruth Winship, came to Loreto Toorak from Queensland to complete their educations and broaden their horizons.

Ruth Annette Winship was born in Toowoomba in 1918. Her father, Charles Winship, was a successful banker and an Anglican but he agreed that his children could be reared as Catholics. When her mother, Eileen Lucy Lennon, was twelve years old, she had been sent to Loreto Portland, where she formed a great affection for the Loreto. Ruth was educated at St Rita’s Presentation College in Brisbane before moving to the newly established Loreto Coorparoo, where she became a weekly boarder and in 1933 was the head girl. There were few pupils in the senior classes at Loreto Coorparoo, and the teachers suggested that the girls needed a wider experience. Groups of older students from Loreto Coorparoo were dispersed to Loreto Normanhurst and Loreto Mary’s Mount as well as to Loreto Toorak during the 1930s.

Ruth came to Loreto Toorak with Sybil Douglas, daughter of Supreme Court Judge Edward Archibald Douglas, and her cousin Joan Hooper. Both of their

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mothers had attended Loreto Mary’s Mount. Sybil and Joan were the grand­ daughters of Thomas Beirne, a millionaire retailer who had established T. C. Beirne Pty Ltd of Brisbane. The cousins served during the war: Sybil enlisted as a private in the Voluntary Aid Detachment Unit of the Australian Army and Joan joined the same unit, becoming a driver for the United States Navy. During the 1940s another two granddaughters of Thomas Beirne came to Loreto Toorak from Loreto Coorparoo. Lana and Mary Rose Macrossan were the daughters of Neal Macrossan, a Supreme Court judge and acting chief judge of the High Court of Australia. Lana became a reporter on the Brisbane Courier and her daughters, Juliet, Elizabeth and Antonia Sweeney, attended Loreto Toorak. Mary Rose studied arts at the University of Queensland. Ruth’s group also included Elaine O’Mara and Joan Barry. Elaine became school captain and an outstanding pianist.

Later her three daughters, Susan, Catherine and Barbara, attended Loreto Toorak.

Joan trained as a nurse, enlisted in the Australian Army and was appointed a lieutenant at the Concord Military Hospital.

Ruth recalled that students from interstate were not unknown, but five arriving together from one school must have made an impact at Loreto Toorak. Ruth found that many of the Toorak girls were highly intelligent and talented as well as ambitious, with eyes firmly set on university, as worthwhile careers were opening up for women. They all sat public examinations as a matter of course and although accomplishment was not only encouraged but expected, stress on results was virtually unknown. Ruth also considered that there were still echoes of Mother Gonzaga Barry’s philosophy at Loreto Toorak. While examination results were

Left: Boarders from Queensland A group of five students came to Loreto Toorak to broaden their horizons.

Left to right: Joan Hooper, Joan Barry, Ruth Winship, Sybil Douglas, Elaine O’Mara, 1934 Right: Elaine O’Mara Captain of the school, 1936 and 1937

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An elegant space Boarding accommodation in the ‘blue’ dormitory, 1933

laid on the shelf of forgotten things, the character that a Loreto training stamped upon its children made its impact on the hearts and homes of the future.23 Twentyone of Ruth Winship’s relatives subsequently attended Australian Loreto schools, with eleven coming to Loreto Toorak.

The Coghlan and Moorrees families During the 1930s Loreto Toorak welcomed the first members of the extended Coghlan family of Ballarat. The name Coghlan had been associated with Loreto Mary’s Mount since its foundation, with more than fifty family members educated at Mary’s Mount, Dawson Street and Loreto Portland. The Coghlan history and their stories at Loreto read like verses from the Old Testament, where generations begat generations. In 1936 Jasper Coghlan’s two daughters Patricia and Elizabeth came to Loreto Toorak as boarders. Elizabeth served as a sergeant in the Australian Women’s Army Service and her children, Jenny, Judy, John and Peter McCombe, later attended Loreto Toorak. They were followed by Daisy Coghlan’s two daughters, Rita and Natalie O’Sullevan, who came from Loreto St Albans, England. Rita enlisted as a driver with the Australian Women’s Army Service during the war. In 1958 the children of Jasper Coghlan and Nell Miles – Jasper, Anne Marie, Maureen, Joan and Susan – came to Loreto Toorak. Susan graduated with an honours science degree and published research papers on experimental eye research and changes in the distribution of proteins in the human lens. Her children, Jacqui and Brigette Reid, represented the next generation of the Coghlan family at Loreto Toorak. Patricia Coghlan, a Loreto Toorak student of the 1930s, 230

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sent her children, Susan, Jack and Terence Forrest, to her old school. The careers of these Coghlan students ranged from voluntary work, nursing, teaching and pharmacy to pure and applied sciences.

Gwendoline and Sebylla Moorrees, from Hawthorn, were the daughters of Gwendoline Hope, a foundation scholar at Our Lady of the Angels. Their father, Adam, was a chemist in Albert Park, and their two aunts, Kathleen and Annie Hope, had also been in the first class. After Loreto Toorak, Gwendoline completed an arts degree and Sebylla a science degree at the University of Melbourne. Gwendoline served for four years in the Navy Office during the war. Later, in London, she qualified with an applied diploma in social work and became a volunteer with the London Care Committee, subsequently working as a social worker in special schools with the Inner London Education Authority. She moved to Oxfordshire as a senior psychiatric social worker in family and child guidance for the Education Department, and studied at Oxford Brookes University, where she gained a master’s degree in social history and a doctorate. Her academic research covered colonial child emigration to Canada and articles on early female emigration to Australia. Others attending the University of Melbourne during the 1930s included Wilma Murphy, Geraldine Spring, Eileen Cooper, Isobel Crosbie and Jean Nicol.

Lawre O’Brien Captain of the school, 1939

Maidie, Margaret and Lawre O’Brien Maidie, Margaret and Lawre O’Brien began their school lives at Loreto Toorak knowing that they would spend their last four years at a non-Catholic school, St Catherine’s in Toorak. It was not an unusual arrangement for the daughters of a mixed marriage. At one stage Maidie boarded at Loreto Toorak and walked over to St Catherine’s each day. Eventually their mother waived her desire for an Anglican education and Maidie returned to Loreto Toorak, her younger sisters also completing their schooling there. Maidie utilised her education to work on projects to aid the expansion of Catholic missions and founded a friendship house in Colombo. Lawre became the first national secretary of Young Christian Students and introduced the movement to Loreto Toorak. Mary Watson received a meritorious Red Cross award for voluntary service in Mount Gambier. Therese Donnelley, who was the dux of the school in 1939, worked for the naval cypher staff at Victoria Barracks during the war. In 1948 she completed a certificate at the London School of Printing and later a diploma of librarianship in Melbourne.

Amy Katherine and Rosa Cecilia Lucini Amy Katherine and Rosa Cecilia Lucini were the daughters of Katherine O’Farrell and Peter Lucini. The family lived at Concordia in St George’s Road,

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North Fitzroy. Peter founded Lucini Pty Ltd, manufacturers of craftsman furniture, in Nicholson Street, Fitzroy. He was elected mayor of Fitzroy in 1929 and was noted for his interest in municipal and community affairs, especially for his work among the poor of the district. Amy married Lieutenant John Edward Calder of the Australian Staff Corps. He was born in China and served with distinction on the Western Front before becoming a prisoner of war in Java during the Second World War. Later their daughters, Katherine, Rosemary and Elizabeth Calder, attended Loreto Toorak. Rosa enlisted and became a lieutenant in the Australian Women’s Army Service during the war years. The head girl in 1934, Mary Shillito, known as Molly, was witty, outgoing and a fine musician, but repeatedly failed in mathematics. She became a registered nurse and served in the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service. Patricia Grant, a boarder from Wodonga, Victoria, and Colleen Thompson, a boarder from Mungindi, Victoria, served as a lance corporal and a private respectively in the Australian Women’s Army Service.

Mary (Mollie) Shillito Captain of the school, 1934

Moira, Valda and June Shelton Moira, Valda and June Shelton were the daughters of Dr Percy Shelton of Elsternwick. Moira became a flight officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, working in chemical warfare. The majority of the women recruited into this special unit lacked formal scientific training. Moira was an exception. She was a science graduate in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Melbourne. Those who knew her consistently described her as pleasant, serene, charming and extremely beautiful. All of this belied her fierce determination to withstand any professional difficulties as resolutely as a man. Moira was aware that she had only been recruited because a man with equivalent experience could not be found at short notice. Working with mustard gas was taxing and hazardous, with the potential for fatal accidents ever present. Moira travelled around Australia in charge of teams that inspected chemical warfare equipment at each of the air bases. Dressed in special nail-free boots and a protective uniform that disguised her sex, she worked alongside men who considered that women were best relegated to domestic and supporting roles. After the war she worked for the Commonwealth Serum Laboratory, married and sent her two daughters, Michele and Jacinta, to be educated at Loreto Toorak. Valda Shelton also served in the Royal Australian Air Force, as an aircraftwoman, and her daughter Margaret Martin attended Loreto Toorak. June Shelton joined the Royal Australian Navy and worked on confidential codes in Cairns and Canberra. After the war she became a staff member of Cable and Wireless Ltd. Her six daughters, Elizabeth, Margaret, Judith, Joan, Patricia and Genevieve McCann, became Loreto Toorak students.

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Dorothy June Healy Dorothy June Healy juggled writing crime fiction with motherhood. She had graduated with Leaving Honours from Loreto Toorak and briefly studied manual arts at Melbourne Technical College before becoming a telephonist. June used her experience as a telephone operator at the Central Telephone Exchange in Melbourne to provide the setting for the first of her six successful crime novels.

In 1943, when her first child was a year old, she began writing Murder in the Telephone Exchange. June was wrapping food scraps in newspaper when she saw an advertisement for a literary competition run by the London publisher Hutchison.

She submitted her manuscript, which did not win the competition but was accepted for publication. Her six novels were published between 1948 and 1966, while she was caring for her six children and an ill husband. Interesting social

Honouring the prefects Initially the prefects were day scholars but from 1930-1951 those selected as prefects became boarders for their final school year

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settings, feisty female protagonists and credible social situations characterised her novels. With the royalties she renovated the kitchen, had sliding doors installed in the living room and purchased a fur coat. A woman of strong religious faith, she wrote many articles for Catholic spiritual journals, including Majellan, about family life from a Christian perspective, for the Redemptorist Congregation.

Marian de Lacy Vale

June Shelton Captain of the school, 1942

Marian de Lacy Vale was a multi-faceted lady who set down sights and scenes for posterity. She had an adventuresome life, embracing the careers of craftswoman, fashion model, author and mother. The only child of two pharmacists, Arthur Vale and Kathleen de Lacy, Marian was one of five girls to transfer from Genazzano Convent FCJ to Loreto Toorak in 1926. Her wish to become an actress was quashed by her horrified parents, but her winning smile, clear speaking voice and natural grace enabled her to succeed in a wide range of occupations. After leaving school Marian became highly skilled in weaving and ceramics, and during the war she worked as a volunteer for Red Cross Handcrafts. After the war, with two Melbourne girlfriends, she hitchhiked across war-ravaged Europe. Seeking to be different she contracted her name to de Lacy when she took up modelling. Success came quickly and her abilities earned her the name of ‘one-take de Lacy’. She became the regular house model on Graeme Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight and the leading model for Paton’s knitting books. Her volunteer work included directing handcraft units at the Repatriation and Austin hospitals and the National Association for the Blind, where she also became a reader for audio books and an audio theatre describer, and later a newsreader for Radio 3RPH. She was also a writer and co-author of books about Melbourne and the Kimberley region. She attributed her success to Loreto Toorak teachers Mother Andrew Bell and Mother Frances Frewin, who encouraged her to be creative and to write.

Hilary, Marie and Irene Dunlea Hilary, Marie and Irene Dunlea were the daughters of Reginald James Dunlea and Frances May Murphy, who lived in North Road, Gardenvale, and later Irving Road, Toorak. Reginald and his sister, Carmella, a student at Our Lady of the Angels, had lived at Shandon on Beaconsfield Parade. Their father, James, was a well-known importer and leather merchant and founder of the firm Dunlea & Nicholson, which later was run by his son, Reginald. As well as being a successful businessman Reginald became a philanthropist and staunch supporter of Catholic causes, including the Loreto Institute. Frances was equally generous in her roles as president of the Brighton Auxiliary of St Vincent’s Hospital, the Appeal for 234

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St Benedict’s Intermediate Hospital and St Joseph’s Home at Surrey Hills and Broadmeadows. At Loreto Toorak Hilary and Irene became fine musicians, tennis and golf players and accomplished horsewomen, while at the same time developing an awareness of the importance of charitable works.

After school the girls became volunteers at the Loreto Free Kindergarten and members of the Loreto Red Cross Emergency Company. Hilary married John Joseph Dwyer, who was serving in the Royal Australian Air Force. He had been a student at Our Lady of the Angels. They were the parents of Loreto Toorak students Patricia, John, Peter, Michael and Margaret and grandparents of Caroline, Nicole, Angela, Holly, Chloe, Alice, Annabelle and Millie. A chartered accountant by training, Michael Dwyer became a partner in KPMG. He was a commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and influenced professional thinking, performance and accountability in respectful, ethical and practical ways. He also found time for charitable endeavours, serving as council member of the Victorian Red Cross and chairman of the fundraising committee at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. His mother, Hilary, became president of the Caritas Christi Hospice Auxiliary and for many years was a committee member of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association. Her sister Irene became a Red Cross transport driver, a worker in the Green Shop at St Vincent’s Hospital and secretary of the Mercy Public Maternity Hospital Appeal. Irene married John Sullivan from Auckland, New Zealand, and their daughter Hilary, who attended Loreto Toorak, became a graphic designer and teacher.

Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth Sprigg Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth Sprigg took two trams to school from their Kew home. They were the daughters of an importer, James Sprigg, and Margaret Cussen. The family was entrenched in Loreto. Two great aunts entered Loreto: Mother Teresa Cussen and Mother Colombière Cussen. The extended family were also interconnected with interstate Loreto schools. In 1936 Margaret, at the age of twenty-one and without any teaching experience, taught Matriculation art and the history of art at Loreto Toorak when Mother Andrew Bell became ill. All of the girls passed their art subjects that year. Mary became a medical receptionist but had a peripatetic life after she married Bernard O’Connor. Bernard was an entomologist with the Colonial Service in Fiji, where their daughters were born.

Every three years they travelled for three months to other parts of the world in the search for rare insects. Elizabeth took a secretarial course after Loreto Toorak and worked at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Her granddaughters, Moira, Alexandra and Elizabeth Negline, became Loreto Toorak students.

School Cross Awarded to June Shelton in 1942

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Dympna Helen Gooch Left: Dympna Gooch Captain of the school, 1946 Right: (newspaper article) Billabong tales come to Loreto Toorak A visit from authoress Mary Grant Bruce, May 1939

In May 1939 a young student, Dympna Helen Gooch, was very excited to be the centre of attention when Loreto Toorak welcomed an Australian author, Mary Grant Bruce, who was visiting from England. Dympna was the only child of Bruce Mason Gooch, a wool classer based in Elwood. His mother, Emily Louisa, was Mary Grant Bruce’s sister. Mary’s Billabong series was all the rage among juvenile readers, who keenly followed the adventures of a fictional family living on an outback bush station. Her latest work, Son of Billabong – the fourteenth in the series – had just been published in Melbourne and the students were delighted to hear her talk about this new saga. Dympna was born in Malmsbury. Her mother, Sheila Newton, was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount and her aunt, Mary Norah Newton, became Mother Marianne (Peg) in Loreto. Unlike her great aunt, Mary Grant Bruce, Dympna did not pursue a literary career but became a registered nurse, specialising in midwifery. In 1952 Dympna married Dr Peter Sleeman and her great aunt Mary Grant Bruce flew out from England to attend their wedding.

Their children, Meg and Wendy, went to Loreto Toorak.

Zoe, Geraldine and Jacqueline Vanheems Zoe, Geraldine and Jacqueline Vanheems were driven to and from school each day by their mother, Mary Agnes, daughter of Francis Britt, the superintendent of 236

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Victoria Police. The Vanheem family lived at Vanzare in Grange Road, Fairfield, which was considered to be too far away from public transport. Safety was an additional consideration. The girls’ father, Gerald William Vanheems, was a noted architect of public buildings and many Catholic projects. These later included the design of the main buildings for Mt St Joseph’s College (Vaucluse Convent FCJ), Richmond, and the distinctive spires for St Ignatius Church, Richmond, and St Patrick’s Cathedral in the city. The girls were taught piano in the library of Mandeville Hall by Mother Margaret Mary Hughes. Helen Hughes came as a postulant in 1875 to Ballarat with the first group of Loreto pioneers under Mother Gonzaga Barry. The girls described her as a gentle, elderly Irish Sister, who was always friendly and would chat to make sure that they felt at ease. Zoe completed an arts degree at the University of Melbourne and became a teacher. Geraldine became a stenographer at Austral Bronze for seven years before marrying and having a son. Her granddaughter Elizabeth O’Day went to Loreto Toorak.

The McCoy children The Vanheem girls became friends with Olive Therese Williams, the daughter of Ernest F. Williams, founder of a city real estate business. Olive married a physician and squadron leader in the Royal Australian Air Force, Francis Joseph McCoy, and their children attended Loreto Toorak. Anne became the chief physiotherapist at the Royal Children’s Hospital and a Churchill Fellow and was honoured for her work in paediatric physiotherapy by being made a Member of the Order of Australia. Brian became a Jesuit priest, worked with outback communities and completed a doctorate about the challenges of Indigenous men’s health. Julia completed an advanced degree in nursing administration, and Marea pursued special education teaching at the Victorian College for the Deaf.

The Rowan sisters The Rowan sisters were women before their time. Mary, Patricia and Bernar were the daughters of Adelaide Burrell Kelly and Thomas Bernard Rowan, a commercial traveller with Dalgety & Co., wool merchants. The family lived in Chesterfield Avenue, Malvern, but their Loreto lineage began with the foundation house at Loreto Mary’s Mount. Thomas was one of the five surviving children of Christopher Rowan and Sarah Niall, and four of his sisters attended Loreto Mary’s Mount. Honora (Nora), Mary (Pollie), Adeline and Ethel were boarders there between 1881 and 1892. Nora entered Loreto as Mother Bernard at Ballarat and Pollie entered as Sister Stanislaus at Portland. On the eve of entering, Pollie slept on a bed made for her by the community at Mononia, Albert Park. Their

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Students from the Jewish tradition Loreto Toorak educated students from the Jewish tradition, including Anna Jona, whose father was a doctor in Hawthorn; Mil Eilenberg, whose father was the director of Eilenberg & Zeltner Pty Ltd, manufacturers of waterproof garments and oilskins; and Pauline Mish, whose father, a Londoner, served during the First World War in the Imperial Camel Corps. After the war Eric Misch changed the spelling of his surname to Mish to avoid anti-Semitic taunts when he became the food writer for The Argus.

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nieces were imbued with the Loreto spirit. They recalled that there were compulsory visits to chapel before lunch, followed by a half-hour allocated to eating and a second half-hour to playing cricket and rounders. The Rowan girls loved participating in sport, especially tennis, with Patricia becoming a tennis champion.

School highlights included listening to Nell Jongebloed’s singing of Felix Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer, and participating in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and assemblies and concerts in St Cecilia’s Hall.

Mary, Patricia and Bernar had attended Genazzano Convent FCJ before coming to Loreto Toorak. It was Mother Michael Gibson who persuaded their parents that they should be educated at Loreto. They were a dynamic trio at Loreto Toorak, participating in music, tennis and the arts, with all three becoming accomplished seamstresses. Patricia Rowan became a member of the inaugural small study group for physics, chemistry and higher mathematics at Loreto Toorak.

Patricia became the first Loreto Toorak student to complete a degree in pure mathematics at the University of Melbourne. She worked in a legal business before retraining in computer language and working on the team that brought the Melbourne Stock Exchange into the electronic age. Bernar pursued a legal career, working at Temple Court, Melbourne, while maintaining strong ties with the Hawthorn parish.

Mary’s passion at school and throughout her life was contributing to society, including assisting with the Loreto Free Kindergarten with her lifelong Loreto friend Yvonne Werne. During the war Mary served with the Australian Women’s Army Service as a senior staff driver, which included chauffeuring generals to important meetings during the blackouts. In 1948 she married Andrew England.

They lived in Malvern Road, Toorak, in a house which was located in the grounds of the original orchard of Mandeville Hall. One of the old orange trees and a well for the grand estate were in their garden. Their daughters, Andrea and Gabrielle, attended Loreto Toorak. While they were students, Mary trained as a catechist and gave many voluntary hours of religious instruction to schoolchildren. She was made a life governor by the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind in recognition of her work in supporting the sight-impaired. Mary also served as president of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association and as a committee member from 1953 to 1961 of the Loreto Free Kindergarten.

Andrea followed in her mother’s footsteps and held the same roles. After leaving school Andrea graduated with a bachelor of science from the University of Melbourne and worked as a biochemist at St Vincent’s Hospital and later with the Melbourne Diagnostic Group. While rearing her own family, Andrea joined Manresa Care Group, an outreach group of the Hawthorn parish, and became their volunteer co-ordinator. This invitation to engage in the local community came from a school friend of Mary’s, Patricia Smith, who had retired from Manresa

Care Group due to ill health. The Loreto tradition of service also saw Andrea work as a committee member of the Hawthorn parish council and Loreto Family International, assisting Loreto schools in India. Her daughters, Lucy, Stephanie and Sarah Maule, were educated at Loreto Toorak. After school the Maule girls worked in youth justice, communications and nursing. Following her graduation in arts, criminology and education at the University of Melbourne, Gabrielle commenced a life career in education and related fields, as a teacher, school leader, policy advisor and curriculum publisher. Gabrielle held the role of chair of the Hawthorn parish education board and the Manresa Care Group and was very involved with the Parents and Friends of St Joseph’s School, Hawthorn. Her daughter Rowena Crawford became a Loreto Toorak student for her secondary years and later worked in communications.

A charismatic woman Mother Dominic Jones with some of her charges, 1935. Left to right: Mary Rowan, Joan Barry, Patricia Peppard, Mary McCarthy, Edna Murphy

During the 1930s Loreto Toorak was a small but vibrant school. Additions to the school buildings were constructed in 1932. These included a new art room, a science room, music rooms, a shoe room and a day pupils’ dining room. The buildings were very cold on winter mornings, with a few single bar radiators to warm the classrooms. The school day started with ‘aeroplane’ exercises to warm up, followed by prayers and then lessons. Mother Dominic Jones acted like a godmother to any child in distress, and at the conclusion of breakfast Mother Aquin McPhee, with a wonderful laugh, would strike a silver gong to call the girls to order before the tribe of boarders dispersed to their various classes. The girls were taught to give of their best but in everything they did to look beyond self-gratification to the greater good. Students from the stringent economic times of the 1930s were trained for life, with many utilising their Loreto education in the service of others.

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iX VALIANT WOMEN Working through the Shadows of War

Australia was the first and only stop of the journey, and my heart still beats when I think how many a night during the trip, the siren would bring us out of bed to stand terrified and cold waiting for the danger to pass, or else to launch us into the sea, perhaps forever. For Japanese submarines were abroad.

Henriette Blandiniere, Loreto Normanhurst, New South Wales, 1945 1

O

n the evening of Sunday 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced on radio that Australia was at war in defence of the British Empire. International affairs had been so unstable throughout the 1930s that war was hardly unexpected. Menzies made it clear in his speech that Australian troops would not be sent to Europe, but by October 1939 this policy had been overturned with the formation of the Second Australian Imperial Force, a special force raised for overseas service. Few people realised how the lives of ordinary Australian citizens would be radically and irrevocably changed by the war. Many were still struggling from the effects of the long depression, and enlisting offered the promise of paid work – but at a huge cost. The early battles seemed distant and unreal, as they had in the Great War. But Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak could not remain immune. Slowly the war infiltrated the school, as almost every Loreto family had fathers, brothers and cousins who were enlisting. The absence of loved ones serving overseas or taken as prisoners of war led to great anxiety, and inevitably death touched the school. Lists of those killed and those missing at the front were published in newspapers daily. The Loreto Sisters became not only teachers but comforters of the bereaved and distressed among their current and past students.

As the theatre of war expanded, more and more Loreto Toorak families were affected. The brother of Mother Bernard Deutscher (Sister Caroline) was killed during a battle in the Middle East. For the current students, these war years impacted at an individual level. The father of Bernadette Ries died during the fall of Singapore. Katherine Calder’s father, a major in the army, was imprisoned in Java. The father of Sonia and kindergarten boys Richard and John Booth was a flying officer who was shot down and imprisoned in Malaya. Joan Shirley’s brother was shot down over Germany and taken as a prisoner. Delia Vance Van Arcken’s father, George, was a member of Z Force, a secret commando group whose survival, or otherwise, was not known until after the war. Delia later took charge of St George’s Kindergarten, Carlton, where she worked with her school friend Moya Byrne. One of Loreto Toorak’s early students and active supporter of the Loreto community, Jean Elizabeth (Betty) Tutton, married John Joseph Ryan in 1942. John was a grazier at Nyangay Station in Booroorban, New South Wales, and had enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force before their marriage. While

Guidelines for the Children of Mary Manual of the Children of Mary, Loreto Rathfarnham, presented to Patricia Cahill, 1945 Previous page 240: Gracing the terrace Junior tennis team, 1940. Standing, left to right: Anne Wilton, Shirley Burne, Margaret Linehan and Bernadette O’Bryan; seated, left to right: Lettie King, Beverley Buxton, Veronica Linehan and Joan Mahon (detail, see page 256)

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The Children of Mary Sodality The consecration of the Children of Mary in the Chapel of Christ the King, 1940

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he was serving overseas, Betty returned to live in Hawthorn with her two sisters Dorothy and Margaret, who had also attended Loreto Toorak. John was killed in air operations over the coast of Britain, leaving Betty to run his pastoral interests.

The Loreto community prayed and concentrated on providing education and support in equal measure.

The gracious drawing rooms in Mandeville Hall were made available for the war effort. Loreto Toorak past students established a Loreto Red Cross Emergency Company at Loreto Toorak and conducted courses in first aid. After the fall of France to the Nazis in May 1940, another group of past students formed an auxiliary of the Comforts Fund of the Catholic Welfare Organisation at Loreto Toorak. Their purpose was to provide volunteers for an information hut (canteen) behind St Francis’ Church in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. Volunteers greeted returned soldiers, comforted families as their men were leaving, found addresses for loved ones, communicated with Vatican authorities about prisoners of war and provided endless cups of tea. At their Loreto Toorak meetings they assembled

Left: A happy group of Jubilarians in 1942 Back row, left to right: Mary Nolan, Joan Weichard and Margaret Manly; front row, left to right: Georgina Thornton-Smith and Helen Healy Below, top: Pamela Buxton Captain of the school, 1940 Below, bottom: Elizabeth Cahill Captain of the school, 1944 and 1945

packages, consisting of rolled bandages, garments that they had knitted and donations of non-perishable goods, to send to the front. Loreto Toorak past students participated in the Comforts Day stalls in the Melbourne Town Hall, running pie and hot dog stands and a lucky dip. At the same time the Sisters and students used their recreation time to knit hundreds of pairs of socks and balaclavas for Australian soldiers. With encouragement from the Sisters the girls began collecting silver paper, cardboard and postage stamps for the war effort.

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941 the girls hardly knew what to make of it. The Japanese edged nearer, and the threat became intense.

With the fall of Singapore and the Japanese bombing of Darwin in February 1942, the war, which had seemed so far away, suddenly came into sharp focus. Fear of invasion became acute. Many other schools had trenches dug in their school grounds, but the basement of the mansion with its solid bluestone walls was ideal for use as an air-raid shelter for students and teachers. The entire school was regularly drilled in air-raid precautions, marching to the basement at the sound of a piercing siren. All were issued with air-raid cushions and mouth guards to put between their teeth in the event of an explosion. Some parents went as far as erecting air-raid shelters in their own backyards, which were frequently used as cubby houses rather than for their intended purpose. Loreto Toorak pupils cheerfully accepted the necessity of air-raid drills and were happy to be missing some lessons!

Elizabeth Cahill, who later graduated with an arts degree from the University of Melbourne, wrote: I remember one incident during those war years and that was Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden’s efforts to conduct our class [Sub-Intermediate] to the makeshift

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I remember one incident during those war years and that was Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden’s efforts to conduct our class (Sub-Intermediate) to the makeshift air-raid shelter in the depths of the main house. It was so exciting to be from the classroom that was the longest distance from the shelter and to be among the first to be seated in the old concert seats which were stored in the bowels of Mandeville Hall.

Elizabeth Cahill

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air-raid shelter in the depths of the main house. It was so exciting to be from the classroom that was the longest distance from the shelter and to be among the first to be seated in the old concert seats which were stored in the bowels of Mandeville Hall. Mother Emilian scooted from wherever she was to take charge of us when the siren went off. Of course, we all knew it was about to go off and were waiting at the door for her and then raced along the Green Verandah and down into the shoe room and through to the space under the main reception rooms; I think it was the ballroom in the old days. After the compulsory singing of a few hymns, I think we then sang a few popular songs while the bombs were supposedly rained down and then we dispersed to our class rooms!’2

From Melville Island to Melbourne These events at Loreto Toorak were minor irritants compared to those experienced in Catholic schools overseas and in the Northern Territory. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart ran St Mary’s School for Indigenous children in Darwin.

At the same time they were establishing a new mission on Melville Island. Melville Island forms part of the Tiwi Islands and is situated in the Timor Sea north of Darwin. As more troops were moved into Darwin and facilities were commandeered by the Australian government, the sisters decided in August 1941 to move to Garden Point on Melville Island, even though their accommodation was only partly completed. Eight months later it became clear that Melville Island was a possible Japanese target. The Japanese, who knew the area well from their pearlfishing days, were coming perilously close to Australia.

Religious members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who were in charge of the boys on Melville Island, became anxious about the safety of the sisters and the girls at the mission and preparations were made for their evacuation.

The sisters stayed up at night making extra clothes and embroidering the name of each child on a sugar bag in which they packed clothing, tinned food and toiletries. It was the beginning of a long and arduous adventure. The group took a boat at night from the island, arriving in Darwin on the morning of 14 February 1942. The plan was to take a train to Pine Creek on the following Saturday, 21 February. While the children were playing in the grounds of St Mary’s Convent on 19 February, planes flew over dropping bombs. American soldiers had taken over the classrooms. They grabbed pillows and bedding and put all of the children on the floor under the beds to avoid the falling bombs. Fortunately there were no casualties, but the sisters needed to rethink their plans. Train travel and resettlement in the Northern Territory was no longer viable. Alternative accommodation further south became a pressing need.

A family meeting at St Mary’s Hall Reverend Wilfred Dew with Mother Mildred Dew, 1942

Through a series of remarkable connections a solution was found. Sister Annunciata, who was in charge of the girls’ group, was a cousin of Reverend Wilfred Dew, Missionary of the Sacred Heart, and of Loreto’s Mother Mildred Dew. At this time Reverend Dew was stationed at Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, and he rang a Loreto connection, Martha Muirhead. She was the sister of Loreto’s Mother Borgia Tipping, and her daughter was a Loreto nun, Mother Reparata Muirhead. Reverend Dew asked Martha if she could find some accommodation for the group. Martha approached the Superior of Loreto Toorak, Mother Magdalen O’Hagan, past teacher at the Central Catholic Training College and Superior at Loreto Convent Albert Park. Mother Magdalen immediately responded with warmth and began preparations for the children’s and nuns’ arrival at Loreto Toorak. She arranged for the whole junior school to be moved to the senior school. The junior school had recently been accommodated

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A happy and safe group of children Evacuees from the Melville Island Mission at Loreto Toorak in 1942

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in the renovated Delprat house. Earlier, in 1939, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary had purchased this adjoining property, near the front gate of Loreto Toorak. The home had belonged to Guillaume Delprat, a Dutch engineer, metallurgist and pioneer industrialist with Broken Hill Pty Ltd, whose wife was the daughter of Douglas Mawson, the Antarctic explorer. Guillaume had lived in the large house with his wife and seven children from the time it was built in 1913 until its purchase by the Institute. Mother Magdalen organised for this house to become a separate school for the evacuees. A large room on the top floor was set up as sleeping accommodation for the girls and several smaller rooms were set up for the nuns, while classrooms and a dining room and kitchen facilities were furnished on the ground level. All was in readiness for their arrival.

The American officers who had assisted during the Darwin bombing provided transport for the first stage of the journey, which took them to Adelaide River, Northern Territory. From there the girls and nuns travelled by coal truck and in an open lorry. The most adventurous part of the journey was after they left Alice Springs, when they covered more than a thousand miles on what was regarded as one of the world’s worst roads. They camped out at night using the sugar bags as pillows. After three weeks on the road the weary band of four sisters and

The Duracks Two Durack students, who had lived on outback stations in the Kimberley area of Western Australia, came to board at Loreto Toorak. They were descendants of Patrick (Patsy) Durack, pioneer of the Argyle and Kimberley regions. Madeleine was the daughter of Jeremiah Bruce Durack, and came from the Lissadell Station, East Kimberley. She had been a boarder at Loreto Adelaide Terrace, Perth, from 1926 to 1936 before coming to Loreto Toorak.

Loreto Adelaide Terrace was a small school noted for its refinements and culture. The area surrounding the school had become increasingly dominated by commercial properties, causing some unease, and this, together with dwindling pupil enrolments, led to the school closing at the end of 1936. Madeleine thrived in the academic and cultural life of Loreto Toorak, but longed to return to the outback of her pioneering ancestors. Her cousin Perpetua Abigail Clancy followed her to Loreto Toorak. She was born in Sydney and spent her childhood at Auvergne Station and Ivanhoe Station in Western Australia, where her uncle Kimberley Durack was carrying out agricultural experiments.

Perpetua’s mother, Elizabeth Durack, was an artist who portrayed figures from the Kimberley set in the Kimberley landscape. She was educated at Loreto Adelaide Terrace and was fortunate to have some outstanding teachers, maintaining lifelong contact with them, most notably Mother Dolorosa McKernan, who later retired to Loreto Toorak. She was the aunt of earlier Loreto Toorak students Joan and Marie Lightfoot. After graduating in arts and teaching Mother Dolorosa’s first long mission was to Perth, where her teaching was memorable and where she also found time to sew nightdresses and clothes for Aboriginal children in need. She had the gift of relating to individuals of various backgrounds, character and potential.

In Elizabeth’s case she encouraged in her student a love of art.

Elizabeth matriculated with distinction but an academic life was not on her agenda. At the age of seventeen she went north to the family properties. Her art was shaped and in different degrees influenced by this experience. Her daughter Perpetua was first educated at St John of God Convent School in Broome. Most of her classmates were of Aboriginal descent, as were the stockmen and families working on the Durack stations.

During 1946 Elizabeth held her first major exhibition, Time and Tide, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and it later toured Melbourne and Sydney. While in Melbourne she visited Loreto Toorak and asked the Sisters if they would take Perpetua as a boarder. Perpetua started in the following year. Mother Antoninus Hendrick was her form and boarding mistress. Mary Hendrick had been born at Enniscorthy, Ireland, and came in 1934 to Australia. Her voice and eyes, her Irish charm and her encouraging way with students made her unforgettable. Difficult children loved her lessons and would run up to greet her after she returned from lunch and then walk with her, playing with her beads.

She was known to speak to strangers in the street and her infectious laughter would make them smile.

Elizabeth wrote, ‘Mother Antoninus Hendrick was in charge of the Junior School boarders at the time. To this day I can see that lovely young nun standing at the top of the steps – Perpetua beside her dressed now in her new blue uniform, the hat, the shoes and the gloves that were all a little too big for her.’ 3 Later Elizabeth exhibited paintings at the Velasquez Gallery in Bourke Street, Melbourne.

Among them was a painting titled The Kid, an image of a young Aboriginal girl with her goat. Elizabeth presented this painting to the Loreto Toorak Sisters as a token of her gratitude for their loving care of her daughter. When His Holiness Pope John Paul II visited Australia in 1987, he chose a facsimile of The Kid for inclusion in the Vatican Collection.

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thirty-five children aged eleven months to sixteen years arrived at Loreto Toorak.

The Argus reported that the children were still shuddering from the recollections of the air raid, were feeling the cold weather severely and were hoping to move to the country.4 Loreto Toorak parents and past students rallied with gifts of clothing, toys and school materials. Mother Lua Byrne, the music teacher, was kept busy making clothes for the children and took a deep interest in their wellbeing. Her gift of friendship enabled the lonely to feel wanted. The children found city life, the onset of winter and the lack of wide, open spaces challenging. After a twomonth sojourn at Toorak the group moved to Carrieton, east of Port Augusta, South Australia, where they stayed until the end of the war.

The islanders’ presence left indelible impressions on the Loreto Toorak students. The older girls, some of whom lived near the school, would play with the children at the weekends and formed friendships with them. They were fascinated by the stories of the islanders’ lives and their escape from the Japanese, and caught glimpses of the children’s lives in a part of Australia which was unknown to them.5 In particular they were entranced with the islanders’ singing. Each day the evacuees made their way to the Chapel of Christ the King for singing practice and their melodious voices were a delight to hear. On one special occasion they sang for a High Mass celebrated by Archbishop Daniel Mannix. Their resonant singing almost took the roof off the chapel! Martha Muirhead, who had paved the way for their Melbourne stay, kept in close touch with Sister Annunciata and her missions.

She formed the Melville Island Mission Auxiliary, which provided the sisters with much-needed items that were shipped north, free of charge. Over the years this group provided the mission settlement with typewriters, refrigerators, wireless sets and kitchen requirements. Martha later donated the statue of St Anne, protector of children, which was placed near the Chapel of Christ the King.

A Loreto sanctuary Many expatriate Australian families were caught up in the fighting during the war.

Desperate to get their children out of harm’s way, they sent their girls to the peaceful seclusion of Loreto Toorak. Janet Mary Watson’s evacuation was a lengthy experience. She was born in London in 1931, the daughter of Richard Watson, a singer, and Gwen Moss, a violinist. Her parents were second-generation South Australians. Janet began her Loreto education in 1938 at St Mary’s Convent, Hampstead, London, as a day student. During this time Janet received instruction from the Loreto Sisters and became a Catholic. When her mother became ill, Janet became a boarder and remained in the nuns’ care until the outbreak of the Second World War, at which time all of the students were immediately evacuated to Ashburnham Place, near Hastings, and then relocated to St Mary’s Convent, 250

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Ascot. As her mother had died in the interim and her father was on tour in Australia with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, the Sisters organised to send Janet to Australia.

Shortly after the fall of Dunkirk, France, in 1940, Janet, with twenty-five other children whom she had not met before, was put on board the SS Orcades.

This private vessel had been turned over to military personnel under a false name and was on a top-secret mission to Australia. The children were told that ‘loose lips sank ships’. The ship was unescorted and all passengers were kept below decks.

This long and hazardous voyage was totally claustrophobic. For a young girl aged nine, without family or friends, it was a traumatic experience. On arrival in Melbourne during September 1940, Janet spent two weeks with her father before being sent to board in Form One at Loreto Toorak while her father continued his singing tour. The community and the senior boarders welcomed and comforted her, particularly when she experienced sleepwalking and night terrors. Mary Fowler in Sub-Intermediate, who had been a boarder for ten years and was later head girl, took special care of Janet. An Irish nun named Sister Vianney Waide was often seen sweeping and dusting the Green Verandah and cleaning the classrooms

A class during the 1940s A group of youngsters holding hands in the grounds of the junior school, formerly the Delprat family home

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Distinguished alumni Ann Brenan was a friend of Veronica Syme’s.

She lived in Irving Road, Toorak, and her father, Andrew, was a doctor. Ann pursued a distinguished career as a paediatric dentist at the Royal Dental Hospital. Judith Montague was a boarder from Wahroonga, Tootool, in the Riverina, New South Wales. She became a science and mathematics teacher, taught as Head of Science at Loreto College Coorparoo, Brisbane, and became the first lay Deputy Principal appointed by the Sisters of Mercy at All Hallows School, Brisbane. A younger boarder, Moya Brendan Doyle, came from St Mary’s College, Hobart. She was appointed as the first non-religious Deputy Principal at Loreto College Coorparoo. Two other contemporaries, Judith and Patricia Leonard, pursued musical teaching careers. Judith completed a bachelor of music at the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne, taught piano, played the church organ and accompanied choirs for productions. Her sister Patricia entered the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Two Byrne cousins, Fiona and Moya, also entered the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.

Patricia Ziebarth and Claire Gardiner became Loreto Sisters. Claire recalled that she longed to be artistic so she could be in Mother Andrew Bell’s class, but was assigned instead to Mother Dominic Jones, Mistress of Schools, who relentlessly taught mathematics to recalcitrant students. Claire’s enduring memory of her time at Loreto Toorak was that all of the Sisters, whether on playground duty or supervising meals and quiet reading, were constantly knitting garments for the soldiers at the front.

Above: Equestrian champions, 1940 Left to right: Elizabeth Cahill, Ann Brenan and Joan O’Grady Opposite: Outfitting Veronica Syme Mother Lua Byrne’s authorisation, May 1944

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after school, first with damp tea leaves and then with a heavy wooden polisher. She understood the sadness and alienation of leaving familiar surroundings. She kept a watchful eye on Janet in a friendly and kindly manner, often providing special treats of apples and drinks when there were few students around.

During the Easter ceremonies of 1941 Janet was one of the few boarders to remain at Loreto Toorak over the holiday break. She witnessed the Holy Week ceremonies with the Sisters in the school chapel under the Choir Mistress Mother Damien McGowan, who organised and conducted the traditional music and singing for these ceremonies. Tenebrae was an impressively stark series of rituals, in which the candles lit at the beginning of the service were extinguished one by one after the singing of each psalm. This was to symbolise the darkness at the time of the crucifixion. In a nearby room was the Altar of Repose, where the Blessed Sacrament was placed on display in a golden monstrance. This was lit by candles and surrounded by masses of flowers that represented heaven. Later, Janet became a member of the Loreto Toorak choir, organised by Mother Damien. This choir was entered in the Catholic schools’ choir competitions run by Reverend Dr Percy Jones and held in Cathedral Hall, East Melbourne. She was especially proud when on one occasion her father was present to hear their beautiful singing.

A highlight for Janet was spending the summer holidays with Kathleen Kirby.

Kathleen was in Leaving and a boarder from Mount Gambier. She introduced Janet to the Australian bush, all gold in the hot summer sun with copperhead

The Syme connection Veronica Syme was the youngest of five daughters of Sir Geoffrey Syme, managing editor of The Age, and his English-born wife, Violet Addison Garnett. The family lived at Blythswood, a white-painted, slateroofed, two-storey house in Carson Street, Kew, with gardens and bush that sloped down to the Yarra. Sir Geoffrey died in 1942 and Violet began looking for a school which would enhance and extend her daughter’s abilities. The girls were reared as Anglicans and Veronica had attended St Catherine’s School, Toorak, but had a private tutor before coming to Loreto Toorak in 1944 to do Leaving and Matriculation. Initially in awe of the Sisters, Veronica grew to love the routine of Mass, Benediction and night prayers.

Religious instruction formed a very important part of school life and for Veronica it was very interesting.

She was rather shocked when others found it boring! During her time at Loreto Toorak she became a Catholic. Veronica’s Class Mistress and Mistress of Studies was Mother Benignus Webster. She was the unofficial directress of vocations, always ready for a yarn, spiritual or otherwise.

Mother Benignus taught English expression, English literature and European history. Veronica’s best friend Patricia Brady (later Sister Veronica ibvm), who sat two rows in front of her, could answer every question. Patricia’s younger sister, Marie Brady, later an arts graduate and pharmacist, was equally precocious. It is not certain how much

effect the teaching of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton and Trollope by Mother Benignus had on Patricia Brady’s subsequent career as a professor of Australian literature, but her European history classes had a profound effect on Veronica’s life as a student. It happened that the history course was divided into two parts, one dealing with the political, economic and religious background to the Reformation and the other with Renaissance art and literature, which included an introduction to the art and literature which preceded it. The subject provided a solid background for Veronica’s later work at the University of Melbourne in the Department of Fine Arts. She became very interested in the text and illustrations of medieval missals, published historical accounts and completed a master of arts and a doctorate under the supervision of Professor Margaret Manion ibvm, who like Mother Benignus had been a pupil of Loreto Normanhurst, Sydney.

Veronica’s ‘stellar’ Loreto Toorak class also included Pamela Knox, the daughter of Sir Errol Galbraith Knox, managing editor of The Argus.

Pamela completed an honours degree at the University of Melbourne and became an historian and writer. In 1945 Patricia Brady and Pamela Knox wrote a dramatic verse for the Catholic Action Group at Loreto Toorak. The narrative But Youth Did Not Die was written as a discourse between a youth and death (the devil) and was staged in a garden setting as the evening was deepening. It was a didactic poem strongly warning the youth to ask for God’s forgiveness. The Catholic Action Group had become a centre of earnest activity, with students taking initiatives and responsibility in religious matters. Members wore black and white enamel badges on their lapels and attended meetings out of school.

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Helping with the liturgy at St Joseph’s Church, Malvern, 1941 Left to right: Margery Manly, Catherine Starr, Bernar Rowan, Pamela Shillito and Elizabeth Buckley

snakes hanging on wire fences, when just twelve months earlier Janet had been playing in the snow-covered property surrounding St Mary’s Convent, Ascot.

At Loreto Toorak Janet came under the spell of Mother Sylvester O’Malley, an enthusiastic science teacher, who allowed her class to witness the end of the seven-year cycle of cicadas as masses emerged from under a tree near the back gate. When her father moved interstate Janet attended Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney, and completed her education at Loreto Marryatville, Adelaide. Janet later graduated with a degree in library education, a diploma in curriculum studies and a master’s degree in education. She had the rare distinction of being educated at five Loreto schools, two in England and three in Australia.

Wartime austerity The war was time of austerity for all in Australia. In January 1942 daylight saving and shorter holidays were introduced to boost production hours. In the same year the Commonwealth Rationing Commission was established. The aim was to limit the waste of money and goods in order to support the troops fighting abroad. Rationing was imposed on petrol, tea, butter, sugar, meat and clothing.

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Each person older than nine years of age received a ration book, which contained pages of coupons designed to last a year. Overnight Australians had to adjust from a cash economy to a coupon economy. The first commodity rationed was petrol. By the time Japan entered the war, private motorists were only allowed enough petrol to drive about ten miles a week. Many drivers installed gas producers in their cars that were fired with coke and worked best on bumpy roads. Petrol rationing hit the boarders hard, as visits to and from home became less frequent. The school plays and sports carnivals did not seem quite the same without their parents being present. Visiting Sundays became a non-event. Telephoning was only allowed in real emergencies. Boarders had to learn to be self-reliant, to take the hard knocks, disappointments and discipline in their stride.

Food rationing Other shortages began to bite. Rationing of butter, sugar and meat made the Sisters work in the kitchen considerably more difficult. Prices soared with the shortages. Home deliveries ceased as able-bodied men began enlisting. These problems were being repeated in boarding schools all over Australia. Loyal Loreto Toorak parents often left anonymous parcels of food items on the doorstep of the school. Other parents invited country boarders home to participate in the family Sunday roast (later tinned meat). Many boarders of the war era described their weekly fare as terrible – mitigated by treats of ‘Loreto Bread’ – but they were appreciative of the Sisters’ efforts. Moya Byrne, niece of Mother Lua, described their diet as ordinary and monotonous. In contrast her experience of music and sport at Loreto Toorak was stimulating. Moya was instructed in the cello by Mother Lua and Mother Madeleine Lalor. She later completed a teaching diploma, an arts degree and two master’s degrees in theology and literature. In 1947 she compiled a sports report in the Loreto magazine which covered eighteen individual sporting events. A contemporary, Veronica Linehan, was a champion tennis player, but state and national under-age events were suspended during the war. Tennis, the most popular sport, was coached by Leslie Guiney, whose daughter Margaret was a Loreto Toorak student. At a time when many girls’ schools paid scant attention to sport the Loreto Sisters considered it an important part of a life education.

Tea rationing became necessary when Malaya and the East Indies fell to the Japanese, cutting off most of Australia’s tea supplies. A popular topic of conversation – even more popular than the weather – was the poor quality of the tea. Butter became a luxury, as production was severely affected by a serious drought and a shortage of farm workers. Cakes, biscuits and jam became rare treats. In 1944 meat was rationed. Although poultry, rabbits, ham, bacon and fish were excluded, they were rarely seen in the shops and it was difficult to buy substitutes. Lashings

A wartime blessing Mother Sylvester O’Malley’s version of ‘Loreto Brown Bread’, made for the hungry Toorak boarders during stringent wartime rationing

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Top: Neat and tidy The winter school uniform in 1940 Bottom: Gracing the terrace Junior tennis team, 1940. Standing, left to right: Anne Wilton, Shirley Burne, Margaret Linehan and Bernadette O’Bryan; seated, left to right: Lettie King, Beverley Buxton, Veronica Linehan and Joan Mahon

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of vegetables and fruit underpinned the Loreto daily diet. One student remarked that they became vegetarians before it was even fashionable! It was also freezing in winter, as heating was limited because firewood was scarce. Many students developed chilblains on their fingers, toes and ears! As all children aged older than nine years were issued with identity cards and allocated rations, an important ritual in the Loreto Toorak boarding house was handing over their cards and ration books to the Sisters at the beginning of each term.

Clothing rationing Clothing rationing, which began in 1942, was not lifted until June 1948. This was mainly due to Australia’s continued support of war-torn Britain through food and clothing parcels. Coupons were issued according to how long different items of clothing could be expected to last; for example, coats could last several years but socks didn’t. Children under sixteen years were allocated more clothing rations than adults because they grew out of their clothes more quickly. For many families, organising the Loreto Toorak uniform was a challenge. Even the regulation school bloomers cost three coupons each. Material purchased in lengths to make clothes, such as fabric, thread, ribbons, binding and trimmings, also required coupons.

In September 1942 The Argus reported that one section of the community had packed up its clothes troubles in its school bag and would not allow austerity rules to trouble it: On behalf of the Mother Superior of Mandeville Hall it had been decided to adopt the box pleat Victory Fashion style for winter wear and the alternative style allowed under regulations for summer. At present they were not being affected by the new regulations and most children were wearing their uniforms longer. They did not expect to be affected until the next year.6 In typical style Loreto Toorak adopted a community approach to retain their distinctive saxe blue, V-necked, pinstriped tunic, fawn shirt made of silk, blue tie striped with gold and dark blue silk summer tunic. Girls who had grown out of their uniforms took pride in handing on to juniors everything they could in wearable condition. In particular the coveted red sports blazers, with their distinctive binding and embroidered pockets, were lovingly passed down at the end of each year to the next years’ recipients. By 1944 newcomers were distinguishable by their new regulation wartime tunics of a plain, slightly different blue with box pleats and square necks, blazers without pockets and, as silk was unavailable, blouses, sports and concert frocks made of cotton or rayon. All wore whatever fawn stockings were available and the blue silk summer dresses were abandoned.

War work For the first time women were recruited into the three armed services in non-medical auxiliary roles. Past students of the early 1940s did their share of war work in hospitals and canteens, as Red Cross volunteer drivers, and in the Women’s Air Training Corps, Australian Women’s Army Service, the Royal Australian Navy and the Land Army. Men and women were ‘manpowered’ – ordered into essential industries – with many women entering the workforce in areas previously available only to men. Mathematically minded girls volunteered for work in topsecret munitions factories in Melbourne’s west, where their calculations contributed to the design of bombs and guns. Although many of their jobs disappeared at the end of the war, wartime experiences exposed Loreto Toorak girls to wider and more varied employment opportunities.

An initiative was taken by the Loreto Toorak wives and daughters of doctors, who formed the Australian Army Medical Corps Welfare Association and supported the raising of funds for instruments and comforts for those at the front. Mary Devine became their honorary secretary and her sister, Joan, a committee member and a volunteer with the Red Cross. Cecily Rennick and Joan O’Grady served in the Australian Women’s Army Service, while Pamela Gorman was assigned to the Royal Australian Engineers’ Training Centre. Pamela Corben and Colleen Thompson became intelligence officers with the Royal Australian Navy. Patricia O’Connell worked as a volunteer driver for the Red Cross for twenty years following her war service.

A trained nurse, Mary Peppard served in the Red Cross for the duration of the war. Janice Gibson, niece of Mother Michael Gibson, joined the Royal Australian Air Force and Therese Donnelly, dux of the school in 1939, was joined to the Defence Department at the Victoria Barracks in St Kilda Road.

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The South Melbourne kindergarten While Loreto Toorak students were busy working for the war effort, support for their South Melbourne kindergarten, catering for eighty-six students with an extensive waiting list, was not neglected. Funds were raised each year by past students, now all Loreto Toorak girls, through regular bridge parties, fetes, jumble sales and musical afternoons. The director, Myra Wells, who succeeded Ida Fawcett in 1938, was educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College and had completed her subprimary and kindergarten diplomas at the Kindergarten Training College, Kew. She wrote: I feel that our Kindergarten effort is the greatest war work which we can do.

Here we have personalities in the making and it is a great privilege we have to try to provide the precise educational treatment these children require. With all the talk of war and its horrors being made so real to the children, we try to provide an atmosphere where they can develop freely, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and socially. They will be the citizens of tomorrow [who] face the reconstruction which will follow this great world upheaval.7 In 1939 Myra was assisted by a student-teacher, Mary Kathleen Kenny, who later as a registered primary teacher became an assistant and then in 1942 director of the kindergarten. Kathleen had been a pupil of Our Lady of the Angels and Loreto Toorak. She was a devout Catholic, but was broadminded and tolerant of others.

In all of her kindergarten roles Kathleen was a zealous and hard worker who exhibited a self-sacrificing devotion to the Loreto Sisters and their values. She observed that many of the children were feeling the strain in their own homes when fathers and relatives were absent, having enlisted and been sent overseas.

Insecurity at home was reflected during free play when the children’s activities included war games! Kathleen divided the kindergarten into three age groups and conducted a full day program in three separate rooms. Free play outside was allocated to each group at separate times. Kathleen supervised the babies and toddlers, while her two assistants took the older children.

With the introduction of rationing, adequate nutrition became a recurring problem at the kindergarten. Kathleen reintroduced hot lunches and to provide variety in the children’s diets organised Oslo lunches for picnics to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Oslo lunches were a Norwegian-inspired nutritional meal for children. They consisted of a combined cheese and salad sandwich on wholemeal bread served with a drink of milk or fruit juice. They were so popular with the children that they gradually replaced the daily hot lunches. Kathleen worked in

I feel that our Kindergarten effort is the greatest war work which we can do. Here we have personalities in the making … we try to provide an atmosphere where they can develop freely, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and socially. They will be the citizens of tomorrow [who] face the reconstruction which will follow this great world upheaval Myra Wells

Opposite: Dancers in a pastoral scene and a Grecian setting The proceeds from the 1940 annual school concert were donated to the Loreto Free Kindergarten

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close collaboration with her two assistants, Helen Vincent and Jean Mole, who were non-Catholics. Helen was an artist and constructed the theatre sets for the kindergarten concerts. In 1945 she resigned to pursue her creative interests.

In 1948 she illustrated a published book of poems, Follow the Flute, written by Helen Mosley, director of the Fawkner Park Kindergarten.

In September 1945 Kathleen sent a letter of resignation to the secretary of the Loreto Free Kindergarten. As frequently happens, the outbreak of war turned many people’s thoughts to spiritual matters; kindergartens and local committees were not exempt. In 1942 the Loreto committee had applied to the Free Kindergarten Union for permission to use special devotions. The union had agreed that during the general kindergarten sessions at the Loreto kindergarten there would be no distinctive Catholic devotions – but they were permitted specific prayers before and after the sessions. They stated that this arrangement with Loreto was exceptional because of Loreto’s long affiliation with the union. Over the ensuing years Kathleen had frequently reported to her committee that she found the formal, specifically Catholic observance with Catholic children impossible in practice. She outlined this concern in her letter of resignation: I simply could not carry out the Committee’s wishes regarding the making of the ‘Sign of the Cross’ and saying the ‘Our Father’ and the first part of ‘The Hail Mary’. It is a unique privilege generously granted to Loreto by the Free Kindergarten Union – excellent in theory but would be disastrous in practice.

A Non-Catholic teacher cannot be expected to do as you request. May I hope that the Committee will agree that a personal love of God and His mother is a very firm foundation on which to build, when a child goes to school! In a suitable atmosphere this is achieved by improvised prayers and stories.8 The Loreto committee reluctantly accepted Kathleen’s resignation. Throughout her tenure, Kathleen had supported the Saints Peter and Paul’s Family Social Circle with their fundraising and in the transition of many of her kindergartners into their school. She had strenuously worked to increase the number of kindergarten students to eighty, although the average daily attendance fell short of this number. In winter children stayed at home due to sickness, and a lack of medicines and warm clothes. Of the sixty-eight children examined in the 1944 medical examination only seven were in perfect health. Thirty-six were suffering from malnutrition and twenty-three had decayed teeth. Ten underweight kindergartners were sent for respite to the Forest Hill Holiday Home for Children, founded by graduates of the Kindergarten Training College for children from socially and economically deprived inner-city suburbs. In September 1945 another sixteen children were sent to the home. The children enjoyed the freedom and 260

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space. They climbed trees, milked cows and fished in the creek. All returned three weeks later having gained weight. Low daily kindergarten attendance was also due to family dislocations, with fathers serving in the war and single mothers struggling on their own to rear their children.

In August 1945 Kathleen had reported to the committee that a mother of three children at the kindergarten was not co-operating with the staff. On several occasions she had promised to undertake the duties required of all the mothers, but she had failed to meet these commitments. Kathleen explained to her that her children could no longer attend. The mother claimed that Kathleen had been very rude to her. She contacted the committee and complained bitterly about her treatment. The union advised the committee that this was a delicate situation.

Kathleen was exercising her rights, but deserved from the mother an apology and a promise to co-operate in the future. After a lengthy discussion the mother admitted that she had sickness and troubles at home. The discussion was ably handled by the committee president, Alice Peppard, who with grace, tact and sympathy secured an apology. Five of Alice’s children had attended Loreto Toorak and forty-one members of her extended family, including grandchildren and great nieces and nephews, followed. A greatly loved member of this family was Alice’s

A smiling group Grade Eight at Saints Peter and Paul’s School in 1944

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sister, Mother Xavier Rodgers. Alice and Elizabeth Byrne Rodgers were born in Horsham into a farming family with ten children. Their father died when the children were young and they struggled financially. When Elizabeth entered Loreto at the age of sixteen, her six brothers donated £500 to the Institute to cover the cost her teacher training. Mother Xavier taught junior students at Loreto Toorak from 1928 to 1931 and was especially loved by the boys. When she was posted interstate or in Ballarat she would spend her summer holidays at Loreto Toorak and see her beloved relatives.

In October the kindergarten committee voted for the Loreto Free Kindergarten to withdraw from their affiliation with the Free Kindergarten Union. In their correspondence they stated: ‘We felt that while being affiliated with the Union the installation of a new directress presented a further difficulty in the devotional matter, whereas the appointment of our own directress seemed an obvious solution of the problem. This of course could only be brought about by our withdrawing from the Union, which we have reluctantly decided to do.’ 9 The Loreto committee then approached Reverend Daniel Conquest, director of the Catholic Education Office in Victoria. He suggested that the kindergarten become affiliated with the Catholic Education Office. There were twenty Catholic kindergartens in Victoria, fifteen of which were located in Melbourne suburbs. From 1944 thirteen of these received a government subsidy of £6 per child per annum and the Loreto kindergarten would be eligible for a similar benefit. The withdrawal of Loreto from the union was not caused directly by the state government’s substitution of the Health Department for the Education Department as the channel of funding; had it been, Loreto could have disaffiliated twelve months earlier. But the bureaucratic change made disaffiliation possible because Loreto was no longer solely dependent on the union for a share of its government grant to pay for an assistant.

The transition to affiliation with the Catholic Education Office and registration as a Catholic kindergarten in March 1946 presented new challenges for the kindergarten community. As well as running their own kindergarten, the Loreto committee had to supply representatives to the Combined Catholic Kindergartens’ Auxiliary and support their fundraising activities as well as their own. In line with the policy of the Combined Catholic Kindergartens’ Auxiliary the number of students accepted was halved. The babies’ group was abolished. Children were accepted from three and a half to seven and a half years of age. The group of volunteer helpers grew smaller and those who remained had to work harder. By July 1946 the kindergarten was forced to engage a paid helper. Many kindergarten families faced housing problems and the staff and volunteers observed that most of the children with behavioural problems came from overcrowded accommodation.

By 1948 the annual maintenance costs for the kindergarten had risen to £1,526.

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Council covered around two-thirds of this amount. Any improvements or innovations in equipment relied on the Loreto families’ goodwill.

In 1947 the committee invited Helen Vincent to return to Loreto, this time as the director. Before appointing her, Alice Peppard and Mother Bonaventure Martyn asked how Catholicism would be fostered and maintained in the kindergarten. She readily agreed to their requirements, which were the same as those outlined to Kathleen Kenny in 1943. They sought the advice of Mother Patrick Callanan about their proposed devotions, as she had been the original negotiator during 1911 for the Loreto kindergarten to become affiliated with the union. The devotions covered three areas: prayers, centring stories and activities on the Holy Family, and taking the older children to church. In 1943 Mother Patrick had retired from St Mary’s Hall to Loreto Toorak, where she taught history and Latin to senior students and kept a watching brief on the kindergarten. At Loreto Toorak she lived in St Michael’s (the stables) but often met students as she walked across the basketball court to the main building. Talking to her was a popular pastime, as she was a real character. Being late to class was excused if you had been

Below: Inter-house basketball shield The first winners were St Gertrude, 1938 Bottom: Ready for action The 1949 basketball team near the stables

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Dressed for their concert A kindergarten group on the front lawn, 1947

talking to Mother Patrick. Following her death in 1947 the kindergarten committee wrote that Mother Patrick was an idealist, able to inspire others with her enthusiasm for the kindergarten. Although business-like when necessary, when she spoke to mothers and the kindergarten children she was all heart. Her tactful guidance steered the kindergarten through some very difficult days.10

Through artists’ eyes Though many Loreto Toorak girls may not have expected to earn their own living, the war often meant that they did. Those men who returned ‘in sound mind and body’ faced a different community from that which had so blithely waved them farewell. Entry into new areas of employment during the war years had broken the traditional notions of home as women’s only legitimate sphere of influence. Fay Diane Carter came to Loreto Toorak from Presentation Convent Windsor to complete her schooling. At this time prospective students had to be sponsored by someone known to the school. Dr Vincent O’Grady, father of students Bernadette, Margaret, Rosemary, Joan and Judith, happily obliged. Fay’s favourite subject at 264

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Loreto Toorak boys Throughout the 1940s the junior years at Loreto Toorak were thriving enterprises, with more than thirty lively little boys in each given year from Kindergarten to Year Two. Loreto Toorak boys were perennially young and impish and added much vitality, but they were sometimes challenging. Visitors were often surprised by their presence in a ladylike, polite girls’ school.

Their early grounding in the principles of Loreto education stood these boys in good stead throughout their later educations. Desmond John Breheny, a student in 1926, became a captain in the Australian Army stationed in the South Pacific during the Second World War. He was mentioned in despatches for conspicuous and distinguished service and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his leadership in Bougainville.

Tom King became an orthopaedic surgeon at St Vincent’s Hospital. The school captain for 1940, Pamela Buxton, became a school secretary in Des Moines, Iowa. Her mother Beryl had been a pupil at Albert Park. Pamela was sent to Loreto Toorak with her three brothers, Bryan, John and Francis. Bryan became a Jesuit priest, working in schools and parish ministries, and was an ardent

supporter of the St Vincent de Paul Conference at each of his postings.

The boys of the 1940s came into the special world of Mother Aloysius Cosgrove, the Kindergarten Mistress. Before school they had to line up in pairs and hold hands before walking into class and standing behind their chairs for morning prayers. Richard (Dick) O’Bryan of the class of 1941 became a medical practitioner in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, and a member of the Committee of the Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda. Dick completed a degree in theology and published poems as well as medical conference papers.

In 2010 Dick was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the community of St Kilda.

His daughters Bernadette and Lucy came to Loreto Toorak. Dick’s brothers, Edward, Norman and Peter, also came to Loreto Toorak. In turn their children, Jane, Jennifer, Norman and Catherine, followed the tradition. In the 1930s cohort was John Brenan, a dermatologist who married a Loreto Toorak student, Marianne McNamara. Rowan Ireland of the class of 1945 completed a doctorate and became an academic at La Trobe University School of Social Sciences, publishing works on religion, ethics and secularisation.

Loreto Toorak was art, taught by Mother Andrew Bell. Mother Andrew was artistic, gentle and humorous. She used her art room as a setting for quality and taste, filling the room with fresh flowers and studying their form and shape through her small black-rimmed glasses. Fay recalled picking daffodils and scented flowers from her father’s garden in Emerald to decorate Mother Andrew’s art room at the end of the Green Verandah.

According to one student, Ann Galbally, who later became a professor of fine arts at the University of Melbourne, Mother Andrew taught the techniques of pastel working, watercolour and oil painting, but her preference was for clear, accurate draughtsmanship in Indian ink. She even managed to instil a love of map-making in the same media during her geography lessons. One of her students,

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The French connection The families of wool brokers and buyers often enjoyed a broader upbringing than their confrères.

The children of Rene Henri Charles Dupuche and his wife, Augustine, lived a peripatetic life in the 1940s, travelling between Australia and Europe.

Françoise, Bertrand, Rene and Jean made frequent visits to France, England and North America when their father was arranging for the export of Australian wool. They were born in France, were passionate Francophiles and received their early education at Loreto Toorak. Françoise became a physiotherapist, Bertrand a wool buyer, Rene a doctor and Jean a Jesuit priest and theologian.

Françoise Christiaen was a Loreto Toorak student from 1942 until 1947, when her parents took her on a world tour. During their visit to North America, Françoise won a scholarship to Dana High School, Massachusetts, where she completed her secondary education. She won a second scholarship to nearby Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated as their top student. At the same time she received two French government literature awards through the French Boston Consulate. Françoise was the only daughter of Robert Jean Christiaen of East Brighton, who was a member of Prouvost & Lefebvre Pty Ltd, a French wool-buying partnership.

Members of the Lefebvre family had a long association with Loreto. The children of wool buyer Albert Edward Lefebvre, Mona, Charles and Marie, attended Our Lady of the Angels. Charles married Mary O’Reilly, whose sister, Mother Victoire, became a Loreto Sister in Ireland. She was assigned to Rathfarnham, Gorey and Bray, where she taught music and crafts in schools. She was gifted with her hands and did beautiful work in lace and tapestry.

She kept in touch with her family and friends in Australia and was always delighted to hear news of them. Charles became the manager of the Ice Works in Brighton and his only daughter, Lynette, came to Loreto Toorak in 1942. Mary became the treasurer of the committee of the Loreto Free Kindergarten and her two sons, as well as Lynette, donated their pocket money to the kindergarten. Michele Marcel Suzanne Cau of French parents was born in Sydney and educated at Cabra Dominican Convent in Adelaide before coming to Loreto Toorak. Her father André was a wool buyer for Voreux & Cau, which had interstate and overseas branches. The family were staunch supporters of the Alliance Française, attending their balls and soirees, were guests at the French consulate and attended French civic receptions.

Patricia Ziebarth, became Mother Mark and later an art teacher at Loreto Toorak when the study of art embraced a wider range of media and included art appreciation. For Fay, art appreciation was nurtured through the Art Club, held every Friday morning by Mother Francis Frewin in St Cecilia’s Hall under the chapel. Mother Francis gave talks on architecture and the history of art and illustrated her examples with photos, drawings and postcards, imparting in her students a great love of Europe and its treasures.

In 1944 Fay enrolled in art at the Melbourne Technical College and was awarded a scholarship to study sculpture, which became her specialty. After the war Fay travelled to Europe with her husband, George Gerber, a wool buyer, and viewed first-hand the works she had heard about during her Loreto Toorak days.

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Throughout her busy career as an artist and sculptor, working in stone, wood, clay and bronze and exhibiting in galleries in Victoria, interstate and overseas, Fay kept in close touch with her old school. She held two exhibitions at Loreto Toorak and the school purchased two of her works. From Mother Andrew’s watercolour class Fay still treasures her painting of a single red rosebud. Her daughters Vicky, Wendy and Lindy Gerber and granddaughter Natalie Carew attended Loreto Toorak. Vicky studied dietetics at the University of Melbourne and Wendy completed a diploma in food and food service at the Emily McPherson College.

Budding artists Hard at work in the art room at the end of the Green Verandah, 1940

Peace and healing The end of the war in 1945 was a source of much rejoicing, but the year had a deeper significance for the Loreto Order in Australia. The new Provincial, Mother

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Ann Northam Captain of the school, 1956

Philomena Doherty, was Australian born and an early student at Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount. Although elderly and nearly blind she revived the school magazine, called simply Loreto, for all present and past students in Australian Loreto schools.

Just as Eucalyptus Blossoms had been a uniting bond, Mother Philomena envisaged that the new annual would feature material from all Loreto schools around Australia. She chose to relaunch the magazine in the auspicious year of the tercentenary of the death of the founder, Mary Ward. The spirit of Mary Ward seemed to hover over the province, with the strains and tensions of the previous twenty years being washed away through celebrations and festivities. Loreto schools around Australia wrote plays and held pageants, dances, concerts and garden parties to commemorate the life of Mary Ward.

At Loreto Toorak the celebrations were, understandably, subdued. Although Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan, who championed Mother Teresa Ball rather than Mary Ward, was currently stationed at Loreto College Coorparoo, Brisbane, and later evacuated to Glen Innes, New South Wales, her influence at Loreto Toorak was still fresh in the minds of many in the community. Over fifteen years, while living at Loreto Toorak as Provincial from 1924 to 1936 and first Provincial Consulter from 1937 to 1940, Mother Teresa Gertrude had made her views clear and unequivocal. Unlike other Loreto schools, there were no classroom discussions about Mary Ward or events for students to honour her at Loreto Toorak. A small notice and an image of Mary Ward appeared in the Loreto Convent Toorak Greetings: The progress of the cause for the Beatification of Mary Ward, introduced some years ago in Rome, has been interrupted by the war. The third century of her death was on January 30th, 1945 and will serve to remind all children of Loreto to pray fervently that God may be pleased soon to place their beloved Foundress in the ranks of His Servants whom the Church calls Blessed.11 The Loreto Toorak Mary Ward celebrations were conducted for past pupils only. They took place on 25 August, with Mass in the chapel celebrated by Archbishop Daniel Mannix and including a sermon on Mary Ward by Reverend William Hackett SJ. During his sermon Reverend Hackett said: So great was Mary Ward’s trust in Almighty God that she founded the Loreto Order to try to teach God as one complete reality. What a tragedy that the world will never learn the lesson that one cannot ignore God and get away with it. With atomic bombs, destruction facing us, we will do anything except the one thing we ought to do. Mary wanted the children to be led straight to the path that leads to God, and that is why she founded the Order which has had such magnificent success.12

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A week later a smaller group of past students attended a morning Mass in the Chapel of Christ the King, followed by a private breakfast.

Many of the immediate post-war Loreto Toorak students came from military backgrounds and were accustomed to changing schools when their fathers received a new posting. Four girls’ fathers were in the Royal Australian Air Force and another father was in the Australian Army. Stanley Jaffer, father of Juanita, was a squadron leader; Alfred Carey, father of Jane, was a wing commander; Dudley Forsyth, father of Sandra, was a group captain; John McCauley, father of Anne and Prudence, was an air marshal and later chief of air staff; and John Corby, father of Rosemary, was a lieutenant in the Australian Army. Ann Northam was a boarder from White Hawk Farm, Barrington, Tasmania. Her father, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Palser Northam, had been an officer with the Indian Army from 1922 to 1948 before settling in Tasmania. Ann was born in Somerset, England, and had attended a primary school in Sussex before Loreto Toorak. Elizabeth McKenzie came from Carrington in Richmond, Tasmania, and was later a member of the prestigious and exclusive Queen Mary Club in Hobart. She reputedly took her school blazer to Le Louvre in Collins Street to have it properly tailored!

Independent women During the 1940s the senior curriculum was slowly strengthened with the introduction of German, algebra, geometry, Latin and general science in Form One. From Sub-Intermediate, students could begin to specialise in either humanities or sciences. Those who did not contemplate continuing study after Loreto Toorak were advised to take arts and crafts, drawing, needlework and music, which was still at the forefront. In 1947 Maureen Eyre, aged fifteen, won a medal from Trinity College London for the highest marks in the state for advanced piano, violin and theory. The academic day was divided into eight forty-minute periods and each student in Intermediate level undertook at least seven subjects.

At Leaving level the school offered physics, chemistry and general mathematics as well as several humanities subjects, from which basis students had the requisite subjects to undertake university studies. The small Matriculation classes took place in the Garden Room, on the north side of Mandeville Hall. The students considered this area as their own special province and a form of liberation in those days. The room overlooked a beautifully landscaped garden, commonly known as the Nun’s Garden, which was, of course, out of bounds even for these students.

However, the Loreto community often turned a blind eye to the Matriculation trespassers. There was a well-equipped domestic science kitchen, a library for staff

STUDENTS FROM OVERSEAS In April 1946 Pauline Sebree came to Loreto Toorak but found it difficult to fit into the Australian system of studies. It was a challenging transition, as her father was a brigadier general in the United States Army and had served in several European war zones before the end of the war. Pauline had attended a number of European international schools before Loreto Toorak. She was an instant favourite, with an attractive, open face, soft accent and charming nature. She seemed to have an endless supply of Panther pens, which in those days seemed like high living. She also introduced the class to a very smart American magazine for girls called Seventeen. Pauline used to arrive at school each day in a chauffeurdriven limousine with diplomatic number plates. She was able to assimilate with her fellow students through her generosity and openness. She was best remembered for introducing softball to Loreto Toorak which was received enthusiastically, quickly becoming a sports fixture. The sports coach, Joan Healy, under the direction of the Sports Mistress, Mother Sylvester O’Malley, began teaching the rules of softball. Pauline completed her education at the American School in Munich and cherished her time at Loreto Toorak.

Shirley Clift was born in England, so she acclimatised more easily. Her father, Alfred Maurice, was a commodore in the Royal Australian Navy and she had attended Loreto Kirribilli before coming to Loreto Toorak.

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and students in the Indian Room, and a reference collection and lending library in two glass-fronted cabinets in St Cecilia’s Hall.

The idea of women working and living independently was growing in popularity after the war, although wages for women remained poor and once married they were expected to resign. Many girls trained as nurses, particularly at St Vincent’s Hospital. For example, Susan Cussen served in the Royal Australian Navy Nursing Service for twenty years. Fewer girls chose teaching, as most teachers in Catholic schools were nuns. Those who did choose teaching would have entered the government system or worked at non-Catholic independent schools. Patricia Campbell, Margaret Healy and Nancye Donovan became physiotherapists. Nancye married a doctor and her children, Anne, Mary, James, William, John and Andrew Best, became Loreto Toorak students. James became a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne. Marie Therese Clausen studied occupational therapy and Mary Cox, pharmacy. Denise Collins also became a pharmacist and her daughters Marina, Rosaline Andrea, Gabrielle and Alicia attended Loreto Toorak. Pamela O’Farrell studied dentistry when the University of Melbourne opened a campus at Mildura to cope with the influx of returned soldiers wishing to study medicine, dentistry or engineering. Moya Cullity and Joan Treacy studied physical education and Pamela MacPhail became a university librarian. Diane Holmberg, famous for her rustling taffeta dressing gown, became a kindergarten teacher and Carmel O’Connor taught at Loreto Toorak, while Anne McCauley became a publicity officer for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

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Ruth Trait came to study law by chance and did not plan to go into a legal practice. One day she heard a talk given by Patricia Kennedy on administrative openings for women in the public service. Patricia was several years older than Ruth, and had attended Loreto Marryatville before completing an arts and law degree while a resident at St Mary’s Hall. She was president of the Legal Women’s Association, a member of the Law Institute of Victoria and was later appointed as deputy chancellor of La Trobe University. Ruth took Patricia’s advice and successfully applied for a job in the Law Department of the Victorian government as a research assistant. Not only was she not discriminated against – she was actually treated with care because she was the only professional woman in the public service at that stage! Ruth then moved to the Titles Office as a legal examiner. She became more interested in the fascinating historical information contained in the early titles than in the dry legislation and kept interesting notes for future researchers. Her historical skills were brought into action for the 1975 centenary celebrations of the Loreto Sisters in Australia. At Loreto Toorak she prepared a special display depicting milestones in Mary Ward’s life. For the seventy-fifth anniversary of Loreto Toorak Ruth co-ordinated and edited A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, a tribute of gratitude and appreciation of all that had been given by and received from the Loreto community.

After retiring from the public service Ruth gave her talents as a volunteer, assisting with the manuscripts in the State Library of Victoria and indexing treasures for the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission, Archdiocese of

Above: St Cecilia’s Hall Orchestra practice beneath the chapel, 1944 Opposite, top left: The much coveted Matriculation Garden Room Students on the steps leading to their oasis in 1947. Standing, left to right: Joan Petty, Angela Bowler, Marie Kilmartin, Fiona Byrne, Ingrid Kapper, Diana Rawson and Paula Diviny; seated, back row: Norah Cullity and Maureen Mackie; middle row: Rosemary Donovan, Jennifer Daymon and Pamela O’Farrell; bottom step: Ann Brenan Opposite, top right: The chemistry laboratory A class deep in concentration, 1940.

Left to right: Kathleen Kirby, Joan Harrison, Mary Rollason, Jean Garrett and Joan O’Grady Opposite, bottom: Angela Bowler Captain of the school, 1947

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Melbourne. Ruth became a true Mary Ward follower. She even visited Yorkshire, where Mary Ward was buried at the little church at Osbaldwick, and placed some flowers on her tombstone from her Australian friends. Ruth wrote: Throughout my school life I had many teachers who were wonderful to me and profoundly affected me. The older I become the more grateful I become for my education. Every single one of the thousand and one interests I have can be traced back to Loreto Toorak and I think the fact that my life becomes more meaningful, happy and inwardly enriched each year is due to the foundation of education the nuns gave me. In fact Loreto Toorak is part of me.13 Angela Bowler, school captain in 1947, came as a boarder from Albury, New South Wales. She worked in the Commonwealth Government, mainly in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, for thirty-five years. One of her major responsibilities was making the arrangements for the visits to Australia by members of the Royal Family. During the bicentennial celebrations of 1988 Queen Elizabeth appointed her a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for her extraordinary service to the sovereign as a ceremonial officer in the prime minister’s department. Mary Star became a farmer and grazier and Alison Hellard reared peacocks. The daughters of a distinguished war veteran, Arthur Hugh Mahon, a berry orchardist at Ringwood, became interested in their father’s business. After studying industrial chemistry at the Melbourne Technical College, Joan became a taster with Allied Flavours and Sheila became an orchardist. Anne Wilton joined Pan American World Airways and Lorraine Commins became a director of Peter Walker Wine Consultants Pty Ltd. Marie, Tany (Ann) and Caitlyn Nolan of Grange Road, Toorak, were the daughters of Redmond Michael Nolan, who was educated at Our Lady of the Angels and became Victoria’s crown prosecutor. Marie, who began her career as a laboratory technician, became one of the first women to be trained as an aircraft electrician in the Women’s Air Training Corps. After studying in London Tany became a clinical hypnotherapist and published works on how hypnotherapy was beneficial and could be used in a variety of ways for healing. Caitlyn was a boarder and sports captain in both the junior and senior schools. She became a teacher librarian and her daughter, Helen-Marie Shortell, completed a diploma in youth work after leaving Loreto Toorak and became a director of Environmental Employment Strategies and the Environmental Training Company.

In October 1938 there had been thirty-eight Sisters in the Loreto Toorak community, twenty-eight of whom were teaching two hundred girls, including fifty-six boarders. During the war the number of full-time boarders gradually declined, while the number of short-stay boarders and day scholars increased.

Above, top: Moya Byrne Captain of the school, 1948 Above, bottom: Judith Clifford on a special day Captain of the school, 1949 Opposite, top: Young Christian Students A meeting in St Luke’s Study, 1948. Left to right: Marie D’Arcy, Elizabeth Ruffin, Moya Byrne, Judy Leonard, Moya Cullity, Patricia Dunlevie, Denise Lahz, Judith Roberts, Josephine Little, Ruth Trait and Diane Holmberg Opposite, bottom: A stellar performance International pianist Eileen Joyce, educated at Loreto Claremont, receives a warm welcome from Moya Byrne and senior students during her 1948 recital tour of Australia

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Top: An informal pose on the terrace The Matriculation class of 1946. Standing, left to right: Ingrid Kapper, Paula Diviny, Nano McLaurin and Ann Forrest; seated, left to right: Ann Brenan, Elizabeth Healy, Joan Gorman, Margaret Brewster, Denise Collins, Claire Gardiner, Wilma Donovan and Joan Mahon Bottom: A dedicated and spirited group Community members of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak in 1946. Back row, left to right: Nuala O’Donnell, De Britto Conroy, Bernardine Callinan, Sylvester O’Malley, Mercy Hubery, Madeleine Lalor and Columba O’Reilly; third row, left to right: Luke Davey, Roch Beck, Inez O’Donnell, Brigid Ryan and Miriam McGeehan; second row, left to right: Dolores Keogh, John Baptist Hoy, Aloysius Cosgrove, Dominic Jones, Emilian Brooke-Cowden, Clare Walsh, Antoninus Hendrick and Benignus Webster; first row, left to right: Dorothea Walker, Magdalen O’Hagan, Eucharia Strange and Mechtilde Farrell

A trickle of girls left the school to return to their properties when their fathers were posted overseas. Others were granted weekend leave to see brothers and fathers off to the front. At the same time the Loreto community shrunk to twentyfour, with only fifteen of those teaching, supported by ten secular teachers. Loreto Toorak was fortunate to be able to remain in Toorak for the duration of the war while other girls’ schools in the surrounding suburbs were taken over by the armed forces. During 1942 the Loreto Kirribilli boarders were evacuated to Springwood in the Blue Mountains; the Loreto College Coorparoo boarders to Glen Innes in New South Wales; and the community of Loreto Claremont, Perth, to the 274

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Helen Gibson One boarder, Helen Gibson, maintained a long and almost unbroken connection with Loreto Toorak throughout her life. Helen spent all her school years at Loreto Toorak except for 1942, when she was sent to Loreto Mary’s Mount, where her mother had been a student. Helen’s family lived in Stawell and they wanted her away from Melbourne when there was a possibility of a Japanese invasion. Helen loved Loreto Toorak, especially anything to do with music.

Her main instrument was the piano, which she had studied in the country before coming to Loreto Toorak. During her first year at Loreto Toorak, at the age of thirteen, Helen passed the equivalent of grade eight in piano examinations. The examiner wrote on her report, ‘Loyal to the Loreto spirit’. Helen found this comment puzzling, as she had only just joined the school. Later she understood that the examiners were accustomed to a high musical standard from Loreto Toorak students. Helen’s music teacher, Mother Lua Byrne, started her on the double bass as they needed one for the orchestra. Helen quickly persuaded Mother Lua that she would rather learn the cello. There was also the challenge presented by the white silk concert dresses that the girls wore for performances to consider. These had permanently pleated side panels and when the girls sat to play the

double bass or the cello they had to try to drape the dress modestly around their legs, which was more graceful in idea than in reality.

Following Loreto Toorak, Helen studied piano and cello at the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne and lived at St Mary’s Hall. She became well known in Victoria’s musical circles for her performances and entrepreneurial skills as a consultant, concert manager and project officer for the Music Board of Australia and director of music projects for the School of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts. At the same time she became a member of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association, over the years taking her turn to fill every available office on the committee and participating in all of their projects. She also served St Mary’s Hall in a similar manner. In 1966 she was appointed, with Patricia Kennedy, as a foundation member of the council of the newly named St Mary’s College on Swanston Street. She served on this council for sixteen years and also assisted the Principal, Mother Francis Frewin, who had been her English teacher at Loreto Toorak. She ran the building appeal for the new college and assisted with the move from The Avenue, Parkville, to its new location in Swanston Street, Parkville, at the University of Melbourne.

township of York in Western Australia. By all accounts the facilities were primitive, travel was limited and the evacuees suffered from isolation and a lack of communication with their families. In many ways, the war brought out the best qualities in the Loreto community. Their no-nonsense approach and faith left no room for brooding or fear, hardships or sorrow. Hardy and hard working, the Sisters kept the girls motivated as they took on a huge burden of work around the school.

Without sentimentality, they supported grieving and anxious girls with practical kindnesses. The Loreto Sisters took shortages in their stride. Staffing problems that would have defeated other women were met with resolve and humour.

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X Polish without Pretence School Life in the 1950s

In Australian cities there are many old colonial mansions that have passed into the hands of Religious Orders for education and other works. [In] 1924 one of these picturesque old homes was bought in Toorak

by Loreto. It was known in its heyday of worldly elegance as Mandeville Hall and the name persists in spite of the efforts of the nuns to disassociate their convent from its frivolous chronicle.

Greetings to Our Friends, 1953 1

T

he small, intimate community of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak during the years of the Second World War was exploded by the external events of post-war reconstruction. When, at the end of the war, Australia entered on a great immigration program, few realised its immensity or the changes that it would bring. The population increased at a rate achieved nowhere else in the world. The new settlers came, at first, in large numbers from Europe – the Baltic States, Italy, Greece, Germany and Holland – as well as from Britain. This population explosion coincided with an increase in the birthrate, leading to an unprecedented number of Catholic families seeking school places, especially in the primary school sector.

The inextricable social and cultural dimension of pre-war Irish Catholicism was altered. Australian Catholics were placed in the double role of bringing together different groups of immigrants and offering some sense of protection in a society which could still reveal virulently anti-Catholic feelings.

Australia was experiencing a time of significant change. At the beginning of the 1950s Australia’s population was close to 8.3 million people – a small number inhabiting a continent of almost eight million square kilometres – but the high proportion of people living in towns and cities made it the most urbanised country in the world. In July 1947 the Commonwealth Government had signed a pact with the International Refugee Organisation to resettle displaced Europeans.

Priority was given to employing people for essential industries which were short of labour, such as road and railway construction and service utilities associated with the construction of housing. Many of those fleeing from communism were intellectuals and professionals, whose European qualifications were generally not recognised in Australia. At Loreto Toorak the community employed Edgar Cohen in 1947 to teach science. Conversant in several European languages, Cohen had completed a bachelor and a master of science in Vienna and trained as a pathologist in Paris. He was followed by a Hungarian, Dr Viktor Padányi, who taught modern European history. Padányi was a linguist, pianist, violinist, trained teacher and scholar of the University of Szeged, Budapest. He was a tall, gaunt man who talked about how the Hungarians revolted against the Communists. He arrived in Melbourne in 1951 with his wife, Emilia, also a teacher, and three sons. He worked as a bookkeeper and draftsman before joining Loreto Toorak in 1956 and his son

The first male teacher on staff Science Master Edgar Cohen was appointed in 1947 Previous page 276: Mission supporters with their Mission mail box A group of compassionate and organised Grade Six students, 1958 (detail, see page 301)

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Above: Well credentialed Edgar Cohen’s background Opposite: The exclusive domain of Mother Aloysius Kindergarten girls and boys in 1950. Back row, left to right: Alan Johnston, Daryl Meehan and Peter de Mornement; standing in middle row, left to right: Simon Conquest, Michael Atkinson, Justin Moloney, Henry Steil, Terence Pacini, Kristen Johnson, Leveda Lynch, Kristen Mary Scarff, Patricia Dwyer, Margaret St Ellen, Mary Wright, Jane McDavitt, Jane Bowden, David McCarthy, Ann-Marie Ehrlich, Susan Acton, Susan Burke, Peter McDavitt and Garry Oliver; seated in middle row, left to right: Peter O’Donoghue, Paul Coleman, Philippa Simpson, Mary Flynn, Diane Cooper, Adrienne Ireland, Susan Glover, Peter O’Brien, Diane Walling and Sandra Busch; front row, left to right: Carol Anderson, Francis Buckle, James McArdle, David Wood, Roslyn Edwell and Michael Grosvero; absent: John Warry, Elizabeth Daly, Philippa Watson, Russell Barrett, Michelle-Ann Jacquinot and Celine Callil

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Attila became a junior student. In 1959 Dr Hedurg Wahl, also from Hungary, was appointed to teach physics, chemistry and mathematics. She had been the head of the physical science department from 1951 at Presbyterian Ladies’ College in East Melbourne and at Burwood. A close friendship developed between Dr Wahl and Hilde Streich, the German teacher at Loreto Toorak, who had taught at Sacré Coeur when she first came to Australia.

Jillian Lambert, daughter of Jill Ryan, who attended Loreto Toorak during the 1930s, wrote: As a privileged twelve-year-old white Australian girl, I was yet unaware of the parallel lives being experienced in the War and Post War years. Thousands of white child migrants were being sent from Britain to Australia to bolster the sparse population here. In fairness to my parents I had never felt hunger, or cold or the dread of fear and I was always well looked after. I had a school uniform, six pairs of lisle stockings every school year, a tennis racket and I had opportunities which could have taken me anywhere in life.2 Jillian befriended a shy English immigrant, Ursula Carter from Loreto St Albans, Hertfordshire, who in 1953 was given the central role in a religious pageant: My special friend Ursula was given the part of the Virgin Mary. She was utterly beautiful, dressed in Our Lady’s clothes, standing elevated, centre stage, with the

spotlight on her, immobile, while the music softly played and the lights changed colour. Oh how I admired her, and oh how I longed to be Our Lady. Instead my place was standing in the back row of the orchestra, in full school uniform. I was swallowed into the background darkness, for three nights in a row, trying to do my best with skills I didn’t really have.3

Loreto Toorak’s growth In just one decade Loreto Toorak’s school population almost doubled, from two hundred and ninety-seven students in 1950 to five hundred and fourteen in 1959.4 In 1950 there were thirty students in Leaving and Matriculation and by 1959 there were sixty. However, the largest increase was in the junior section, where by 1959 there were fifty-six in the kindergarten, sixty-three in Year One and fortytwo in Year Two. This rapid expansion posed critical challenges for the community at Loreto Toorak: how to increase funding, staff and facilities. Underlying these

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There is a very good spirit in the Community, who work well together. But the staff is really inadequate for the number of pupils.

As the staff cannot be increased for the present, it would be advisable to keep the number of students at about 300.

Mother Colombiere Lillis

Folk dancers Participants from Sub-Intermediate, 1955.

Back row, left to right: Deidre O’Brien, Helen Grimes and Katrina Jens; front row, left to right: Robin Robinson, Christine Kuhlmann and Adrienne Ryan

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challenges were the thorny questions of how to handle the changes that expansion would bring in its wake. Up until 1957 there was no state aid to Catholic schools and the Loreto community relied mainly on parents, past students and private friends for donations. In order to pay the increasing numbers of lay teachers at Loreto Toorak and to purchase sewing machines or sports equipment, fundraising events were held. The Mothers’ Club rallied, holding a ‘musicale’ at the school featuring prominent artists and running a dinner dance for two hundred people to provide additional funding. The Loreto Past Pupils’ Association organised a film premiere which raised £1,000 towards the building fund. Parental support was strong, but the enrolment record for the era goes to the Jens family. In 1956 seven of the nine children of orthopaedic surgeon John Jens and Marie Thérèse McGloin attended Loreto Toorak: Katrina, Thérèsa, Frances, Anna, Maria, John and Paul.

They were later joined by their cousins Hélène and Marilyn McGloin from Nairobi, Kenya.

During the 1950s Loreto Toorak was the largest Loreto institution in Australia. In 1950 the Provincial, Mother Colombiere Lillis, wrote during her annual visitation that ‘there is a very good spirit in the Community, who work well together. But the staff is really inadequate for the number of pupils. As the staff cannot be increased for the present, it would be advisable to keep the number of students at about 300.’5 Her brief comment was indeed pertinent. By 1951 there were three hundred and seventy-six pupils, seventeen religious and sixteen lay staff. Mother Colombiere

was a highly respected teacher and administrator with a stately bearing. She had a gruff, throaty voice and poor hearing. Hannah Lillis was the daughter of Johanna Normoyle and James Lillis, a farmer near Mount Egerton in the Ballarat district.

Two of her older sisters became Mercy Sisters while Annie, a younger sister, became Mother Lawrence in the Loreto Order. When Hannah was aged eighteen she passed the New South Wales Civil Service exams in English, history, geography and arithmetic. This would have given her access to employment in the public service. However, a decision was made for her to attend Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount, Ballarat, for a final year of schooling in 1899 and this pointed her in a different direction. In 1900 she entered the novitiate at Loreto Mary’s Mount and continued her studies for Matriculation at the University of Melbourne in English, history, geography, arithmetic, algebra, geometry and physics.

In the early 1940s, before becoming the Australian Provincial in 1948, Mother Colombiere had taught English for three years at Loreto Toorak and was well acquainted with the school’s circumstances. She loved playing cards and during her time at Loreto Marryatville, Adelaide, had engaged an expert to teach bridge and card games to the rest of the community. As Provincial she was considered fairly strict and somewhat reserved, speaking briefly and to the point. She was practical and a realist. As province leader she initiated air travel for the community, visiting distant convents around Australia. She loved her first air trip, which was from Brisbane to Sydney when the railways were flooded, and encouraged others in the order to follow suit. Unfortunately while Provincial, her eyesight deteriorated

Left: Judith McNamara Captain of the school, 1950 Middle: Carole Bowen Captain of the school, 1953 and 1954 Right: Diana Bowen Captain of the school, 1957 Following pages: Strong in faith An assembly of students, staff and parents gather for Benediction during the visit of the International Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, February 1951

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Guarding the entrance to the junior school A new statue of Our Lady was placed in the junior school in 1958

and this may have contributed to her fall down a long flight of steps in early 1957 while visiting the Loreto community at Toorak. She broke her hip and spent seven months in the Mercy Hospital, Melbourne, before retiring to Loreto Normanhurst, Sydney, where due to continuing poor health she was unable to complete her second term as Provincial. Mother Colombiere was a woman of gentle spirituality, keen mind and firmness of purpose.

By 1959 there were five hundred and fourteen pupils, eighteen religious and ten lay staff. The major change during the 1950s was the gradual increase in the number of lay staff members appointed at Loreto Toorak. Loyalty and continuity was reinforced by the continued practice of Loreto past students sending their children to Loreto Toorak, estimated to be at the extraordinarily high figure of sixty per cent of students during the decade. The connections were many and varied. Two school captains, Carole and Diana Bowen, were the first daughters of a Loreto Toorak past student to be enrolled. Their mother, Marie Beatrice Hourigan, was a student at Our Lady of the Angels before coming to Loreto Toorak. Carole studied arts at the University of Melbourne and her daughters, Caroline and Emma, became Loreto Toorak students. Emma later recorded the memoirs of Mother Assumpta Winship. Diana also studied arts and her daughters, Sarah and Alexandra Lowe, attended Loreto Toorak. In typical Loreto style the community dealt with the increased number of pupils unstintingly, injecting vitality and individuality.

Heroic measures were adopted and the real battle was won by the Sisters themselves and the apostolic young women whom they influenced.

Our Lady A statue of Our Lady with her arms outstretched was placed at the entrance to the junior school. The spirit of the time was caught in a sonnet written by Mother Borgia Tipping for the opening of the new facility:

The hands are wide, outflung in welcoming The head inclines to bless what the heart holds dear, Yet stands she strong, mid pillared strength of stone Bespeaking power to save who shelter here.

The junior school and kindergarten The junior school and kindergarten were full to overflowing by 1945. In 1946, owing to the lack of building materials, the Superior, Mother Michael Gibson, had negotiated for the purchase of two military huts as temporary premises for the kindergarten. These huts were joined together and provided a space measuring sixty feet by eighteen feet, and the kindergarten became a separate unit. By 1954 this area was inadequate and a new room with three glass sides measuring twenty-four square feet was added. Three years later an art room was joined to this extension. Adequate space for the bourgeoning junior school remained a pressing need. The first waves of the post-war baby boom were crowding the primary grades. In 1952 additions to the junior school in the Delprat house commenced.

The plan was to add a lunch chalet-hall and four classrooms. It was a slow process.

Building materials and skilled labour were still in short supply and even small deviations from the original plans met with delays. Australian post-war reconstruction involved large national projects, but also dealt vigorously with bread-and-butter issues such as housing families and erecting schools. One boarder loved watching this building as it laboriously took shape. She would wake at first light, creep downstairs and, after carefully locking the door behind her, would look at the transformation wrought by the work of the previous day.6 The

Waiting patiently Grade Two in the junior school lunch room, 1957

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Left: A special occasion The community gather in front of St Joseph’s Convent Wing to mark the occasion of the visit of the Mother General Pauline Dunne, 1958 Opposite, top: Paying attention Grade Three in their classroom, 1957 Opposite, bottom: A larger facility for St Luke’s Reading Room An opening was made to provide access to St Luke’s Study from the Indian Room, 1958

second storey was radically altered. The dangerous flooring and precarious stairs in the old attics were removed and the space was converted into three classrooms.

Further extensions were finally completed in June 1958. These included two classrooms and a teachers’ room downstairs.

St Joseph’s Convent Wing Suitable accommodation for a larger religious teaching community was an additional pressing need. In 1955 St Joseph’s Wing was completed for the community. The wing included the old Garden Room, a small room on the north side of Mandeville Hall. It had glass doors that led to a modest verandah with steps down to a private garden for the Sisters where peace filled the soul. The move placed the community in a more central location in the school, adjacent to the mansion with its classrooms and boarding facilities. The Loreto community moved out of their cramped conditions in St Michael’s, the former stables, which had served as their home since the school was founded. At the same time, post-war prosperity was making secondary school education possible for a socioeconomic group ever increasing in size, and growing technological complexity was beginning to demand increased skills in the work force. In 1956 the Loreto community extended the Senior Library, in the Indian Room of the mansion, by making a doorway to the right of the fireplace to provide access to St Luke’s Study, which became a reading room.

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St Michael the Archangel It was a tradition in the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary worldwide to invoke the assistance of St Michael the Archangel to protect their convents. During an outburst of Protestant fanaticism in 1696 which threatened to destroy the Bar Convent at York, the community removed the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle for safety.

They knelt and prayed before a picture of St Michael, asking for his intercession.

As they prayed the angry shouts ceased and the crowds retreated. When the community inquired into what had happened they were told that a horseman with a flaming sword was seen in the sky protecting their convent. When the community first arrived at Loreto Toorak in 1924 they hung a picture of St Michael above the front door of the mansion.

Devotions at the Grotto Children of Mary wearing their blue capes, 1961

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The grounds External refinements also took place in the grounds. During 1946 the Loreto community organised for the building of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and the landscaping of the surrounding gardens. The grotto was the inspiration of Mother Magdalen O’Hagan, who from 1942 to 1949 was the Superior at Loreto Toorak. Mother Magdalen was a talented musician and a photographer. She was also later responsible for obtaining a copy of The Painted Life from Augsburg, Germany, for Loreto Toorak. This was a series of paintings depicting the spiritual odyssey of Mary Ward. Mother Magdalen commissioned Arthur Fleischmann, a Polish doctor and sculptor, to design and construct the statue of Our Lady.

Fleischmann came to Australia in 1938 following the rise of Hitler and settled in Sydney. The sandstone grotto was a replica of the one at Lourdes but on a reduced scale. Fleischmann’s statue of Our Lady was constructed in a new media: plastic. In 1950 it was moved to the verandah of the mansion, overlooking the junior school, to protect it from weathering and a new one, donated by the Toorak parish priest, Reverend Walter Ebsworth, was placed in the grotto. The grotto became a special centre during the Queen of May procession and celebrations, when the Children of Mary wore their white veils, blue ribbons and cloaks and each girl carried a flower to place at the feet of the statue. It was also the stage for annual nativity plays.

In 1949 the statue of Apollo, a pagan god, was replaced by one of St Joseph and Jesus. This was situated in the sunken fountain on the north side of the mansion. The new statue was donated by Nell Margaret White. She was the wife of Alan Lechte of Albany Road, Toorak, and mother of seven Loreto Toorak students: Thérèse, John, Helen, Peter, Christina, Rosemary and Louise. Following the death of Mother Magdalen O’Hagan in 1956, a plaque at the base of the statue was installed reading ‘In loving memory of M. M. Magdalen O’Hagan R.I.P.’ The nearby statue of St Joseph was relocated to the newly named St Joseph’s Courtyard to the east of the Chapel of Christ the King. This area had formerly been the Year Twelve Courtyard.

In 1951 a statue of St Michael was presented to the school by a devout Catholic, Wadee Haikel Amad, who was a furniture and soft goods manufacturer living in retirement at 284 Williams Road, Toorak. The statue was placed near the front gate and blessed by Reverend John Nerney SJ of Loyola College, Watsonia, on the feast of St Michael. Wadee Amad’s stepdaughter, Anne Saunders, was a pupil at Loreto Toorak. Her father had died when she was four and her mother Patricia then married Wadee. Patricia and Wadee would drive Reverend Nerney to Loreto Toorak to say Mass for the community on Saturday mornings. Later Anne’s daughters, Amanda, Kate and Rachel Regan, attended Loreto Toorak. In 1954 a statue of Christ’s crucifixion was constructed as a Wayside Shrine in the gully. In 2011 a part of the garden known as The Glade was redeveloped into an amphitheatre in which the sculpture of Mary Ward is installed.

The shadow of war Throughout the 1950s the shadow of war continued to impact on the lives of many Loreto Toorak families. Diana Patricia King was the daughter of Patricia Lightfoot, who was in the first class at Loreto Toorak. Diana’s father was Stuart Patrick King, a notable cricketer and lawyer who enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and was killed in 1943 during an aerial battle over New Guinea.

When peace was declared not all personnel were immediately discharged. Loreto Toorak students Mary and Penelope were the daughters of a British allied warship commander in charge of mine sweepers for the Royal Navy, Lieutenant Commander John David Lewis-Williams. Mary was born in Oxford and spent her childhood at the end of the war in Germany and Singapore. Both Mary and Penelope became qualified teachers. Susan Godfrey’s father, Lieutenant Charles Waverley, served overseas and remained with the army until his retirement.

Julie Sullivan’s father, Vincent, remained in the Royal Australian Air Force following distinguished war service. Angela and Katherine Gilchrist were born in Sydney and educated at Loreto St Albans, Hertfordshire, while their father, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gilchrist, was seconded to the British Army. Eleanor and Mary King were the daughters of Haddon King, chief geologist at Consolidated Zinc Pty Ltd, who served as a captain in the Australian Army. The girls were educated at Loreto Claremont, Perth, and Loreto Marryatville, Adelaide, before coming to Loreto Toorak. Eleanor graduated in science from the University of Melbourne, and

worked in microbiology at the Royal Children’s Hospital and in Broken Hill on photographic mineral assays. Mary became an occupational therapist.

Lyne, Fayne and Stuart were the children of naval officer Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Mackay Burrell and Ada Weller, who was an expert naval decoder during the war. Burrell served with distinction at sea and was an extremely able staff officer ashore. Mary Eleanor was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Humphrey George Bates OBE, who after the war served with the Australian Staff Corps. LieutenantColonel Leslie Coleman was also with the staff corps while his daughters, Jillian and Margaret, were at Loreto Toorak. Pilot Officer William Merrick had served during the Battle of Britain with the Royal Air Force. His daughter Marie was born and educated in Lancashire before coming to Loreto Toorak while her father worked with the Royal Australian Air Force. Elizabeth, Josephine and Margaret were the daughters of Group Captain Peter Parker, who had been awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in leading attacks on a Japanese cruiser.

Margaret became a violinist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Margaret Noone’s father was an anthropologist. Richard Owen Noone went to Malaya in 1939 to live with and study indigenous tribes. While Margaret was at Loreto Toorak, Richard became head of the Malayan Department of Aborigines and organised parliamentary forces that included members of indigenous tribes to fight Communism.

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Catholic Action Group Empire Youth Sunday Senior students preparing for their march through the city to St Patrick’s Cathedral, 1951

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The immediate years after the Second World War were redolent of ideas for social and economic change. The United Nations came into being in 1945, producing a world forum of considerable promise. The World Council of Churches was founded in 1951 in response to the new spirit of ecumenism. The Berlin Wall appeared, dividing East from West and serving as a powerful symbol of the separation of the western democracies and the Eastern Bloc. While the local fear of Nazism and Fascism diminished, it was replaced by anti-communist hysteria.

In Victoria it produced Sir Charles Lowe’s Royal Commission on Communism, 1949–50, and at federal level the abortive 1950 Communist Party Dissolution Bill and the failed Communist Party Dissolution Referendum in 1951.

At the beginning of 1945 a Catholic Action Group was formed at Loreto Toorak. Members held lunchtime debates and joined a regional group – which included Genazzano Convent FCJ, Kew; Kildara College, Malvern; Xavier College, Kew; St Kevin’s College, Toorak; and Sacré Coeur, Glen Iris – to plan a broader perspective under the auspices of the Young Catholic Students’ Movement.

This group was often referred to as the Young Christian Students’ Movement and irreverently dubbed by Loreto Toorak students as the Young Christian Soldiers.

Leaders of the Young Catholic Students’ Movement at Loreto Toorak attended a training day in November at Sacré Coeur with a program of drama, poetry, song and prose. Archbishop Daniel Mannix addressed the students, saying that the chief aim of this new group was to prepare its members for the part that they would inevitably have to play in the fight against communism. At the 1952 Young Catholic Students’ Movement rally at Sacré Coeur, the Archbishop couched the meaning of Catholic Action in schools in less specific terms, referring to the Christianisation of society, the prevention of paganism and the preparation for post-school Catholic lives.7 At Loreto Toorak leaders of the Young Catholic Students’ Movement ran activity groups for missions, films, music, photography and literature.

Loyalty to God and country were uppermost. In 1951 Loreto Toorak students processed with the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima and marched on Empire Youth Sunday. The Loreto Toorak choir was selected to sing at the Exhibition Buildings during the 1953 National Eucharistic Congress in honour of the visit to Australia of Cardinal Valerian Gracias of Bombay. The 1954 Marian Year was celebrated with great gusto at Loreto Toorak through pageants, competitions and processions. In 1953 five buses were needed to transport the girls to the Windsor Theatre to view film of the Queen’s coronation, and the senior students attended a coronation pageant at the Exhibition Buildings. When the Queen came to Australia in the following year students caught the tram down to Chapel Street to wave as the royal cavalcade passed by.

Catholics were exhorted to remain faithful, as mutual antagonism between Protestants and Catholics was widespread. Catholic traditions were strictly adhered to: attending Mass on Sundays, observing special feast days, not eating meat on Fridays, going to confession, attending the local mission and sending children to Catholic schools. Participation in the St Patrick’s Day march held an almost equal status to that of attending Sunday Mass. Archbishop Mannix gave constant warnings about the inroads of communism within Victoria’s democratic society, repeating them almost to the exclusion of an equally great threat – the crisis in the Catholic education system. The Superior, Mother Assumpta Winship, wrote in her 1959 report that: as the crisis in Catholic Secondary Education grows and the number of applicants far exceeds the space available, it becomes increasingly evident that there can be no place in our schools for the idle, or for those unwilling to benefit by the training we offer. Consequently, the attention of parents is drawn to the need for co-operation with the school in making no compromise with the fact that youth must be disciplined if it is to develop into the highly principled Christians needed to face the world of today.8

Top: Veronica Gorman Captain of the school, 1951 Bottom: Mary Ann Dwyer Captain of the school, 1952

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Mother Assumpta Winship

… as the crisis in Catholic Secondary Education grows and the number of applicants far exceeds the space available, it becomes increasingly evident that there can be no place in our schools for the idle, or for those unwilling to benefit by the training we offer.

Mother Assumpta Winship

Mother Assumpta Winship Preparing for the 1954 Senior Sports Day

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In 1952 Mother Assumpta was appointed to Loreto Toorak as Mistress of Schools and in 1956 she became the Superior of the Loreto Convent at Toorak with the added responsibilities of enrolling students and selecting staff. In many senses it was a homecoming, as a young Ruth Winship had been a boarder at Loreto Toorak in the 1930s before entering Loreto Abbey, Mary’s Mount. In the intervening years following her profession as Mother Assumpta she had taught at Loreto Marryatville and Loreto Dawson Street, Ballarat, and completed her primary teacher’s certificate. While living at St Mary’s Hall she studied science and humanities at the University of Melbourne, where she completed a bachelor of arts. Being Mistress of Schools at the age of thirty-four was a daunting task. As well as teaching all day there were meetings and activities, parents and staff to interview and students to encourage and chide. And then there were the boarders.

Mother Assumpta shared their recreation, supervised their study and watched over their meals. At night when the boarders’ hair was brushed and prayers said and the business of the day merged into the stillness of night, she would sit in a little room at the top of the stairs. This room was called St Don Bosco’s. It was an elaborate bathroom built for the Clarke family, decommissioned, which the students referred to as the ‘Fish Room’ or ‘Mermaid Bathroom’. In solitude, Mother Assumpta would correct exercise books, prepare lessons and timetables and try to anticipate any problems that might occur on the following day.

Mother Assumpta supported an interesting student initiative. During 1954 the senior students produced the first edition of their own newsletter, named Toorakanrooin. Judith Hill was the inaugural editor. Toorakanrooin comprised letters to the editor, news of academic and sporting events and a much loved and often quoted back page called ‘Toorakanrumours’. Judith, with her two sisters, Margaret Mary and Barbara, were boarders from Wattle Street, Bendigo. Their father was a stock and station agent and a hotel broker. Frank and Bonnie (nèe Hegerty Hill), a Loreto Toorak past student, and their family were great supporters of Loreto and made their Adelaide Vale Homestead, Bendigo, available during the holidays for Loreto communities. Judith’s sister Margaret Mary entered the Loreto Order and Barbara became a nurse. In addition, there were three Hill cousins of Frank and Bonnie who came to board at Loreto Toorak from Edward’s St, Kennington, near Bendigo. Beverley, Christina and Mary were the daughters of John Hill, an auctioneer.

Beverley became a teacher in Catholic schools and an historian and Christina studied art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Mary was president of Our Lady’s Sodality at Loreto Toorak and later became a leader of Australian pilgrimages to Medjugorje in Croatia to experience a spiritual journey with Our Lady in the quest for world peace. Mary’s daughters attended Loreto Toorak.

Mother Assumpta set high standards in behaviour. Etiquette, good manners, polite behaviour, consideration, thoughtfulness and graciousness towards others in the smallest details of daily life were spelt out in detail. These guidelines had earlier been established by Mother Dominic Jones in her typescript ‘The Meaning of Etiquette’. The topics included ballroom etiquette, staying with a friend, table manners, how to sit and stand, how to make appropriate introductions and how to converse, which comprised advice such as never interrupt the person talking, avoid haughtiness and affectation and approach the topics of politics and religion with great caution. The instruction concluded with a warning: It is well to remember always that while gentle birth and comfortable circumstances will no doubt give polish to manners, and a superficial air of good breeding, yet if the essential qualities of courtesy, unselfishness and consideration of others are lacking, no woman can accurately be described as well-bred. If you have inadvertently said or done something to hurt the feelings of anyone, do not apologise excessively or repeatedly, a few words of regret uttered sincerely are more likely to rectify the mistake and less likely to cause general embarrassment.9

The Meaning of Etiquette Type-written notes by Mother Dominic Jones

Judith Hill In 1968 a creative writing prize was introduced for senior students in Judith’s memory. Judith had been a prefect, the head of the Young Catholic Students’ Movement and a member of the first tennis team. After leaving school Judith trained as a teacher at St Mary’s Hall and taught at Loreto Toorak for two years before travelling overseas. Her ambition was always journalism and she served on the staff of Newsweekly until her death in 1967, when as a mark of respect the office was closed on the day of her funeral.

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Jillian Lambert and the poetry prize Jillian Lambert recalled, ‘At the end of my Leaving year in 1953 I was shocked when my name was read out as the winner of the Marian Poetry Competition, more shocked because I had experienced such resistance and effort at having to write such a poem and submit it. At the evening study time I recall sitting at the centre round table in the small school library room; our library was no bigger than an average room in the big old house and we did not borrow books. I was complaining

… if the essential qualities of courtesy, unselfishness and consideration of others are lacking, no woman can accurately be described as well-bred.

If you have inadvertently said or done something to hurt the feelings of anyone, do not apologise excessively or repeatedly, a few words of regret uttered sincerely are more likely to rectify the mistake and less likely to cause general embarrassment.

Mother Dominic Jones

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to myself and out loud to Mother Assumpta (my English teacher, Mistress of Schools, mother figure and guardian) that I just couldn’t write a poem – it was impossible for me – it wasn’t fair that we should be forced to do such a thing and that I would never be able to do it no matter how hard I tried – so what was the use? Mother Assumpta gently yet firmly insisted that I get on with my work and write the poem that was asked for. I often wondered who judged those poems.’ 10

Supposedly strict silence was enforced on the Green Verandah. Lockers lined the walls and noticeboards were hung at one end for class lists, sodality ribbons, marks lost and gained, changed programs, coming events and the distribution of issues of the popular Toorakanrooin. The verandah was the main assembly and dismissal area in the senior school. At the changing bell, classes of exuberant students spilled out onto its green concrete and feet pounded up and down it each day. During lunch hour it was described as reminiscent of the crowds in Melbourne’s city centre. The verandah had been gradually enclosed by the building of more classrooms and there was no way for the noise of healthy young ladies to escape. Prefects were placed on duty to enforce the silence rule – speaking on the Green Verandah was considered a serious offence.11 Understandably this was not a popular rule. Through setting specific standards Mother Assumpta’s dual aims were to instil self-discipline and self-reliance.

Non-conformists and non-Catholics Among the non-conformists was Elizabeth Mary O’Neill, a student from 1945 to 1957. She described her school days as a composite of work, fun, frustration and getting into trouble.12 Elizabeth was the only child of older parents. Her father was a marine engineer and Elizabeth became a boarder when her father was working on a ship-building contract in Scotland and her mother had become ill.

She understood that there was a difference between her home life in a modest maisonette in Glen Huntly and the stately Mandeville Hall. She was ridiculed and slighted about her family’s position and their material circumstances by the

well-to-do country boarders. While the public image of Loreto Toorak at this time may well have been that of a fashionable ladies’ school for the Catholic elite, in reality this was a reflection of the suburb in which it existed rather than an accurate picture of its clientele and aspirations.

Elizabeth gravitated to the friendly students who lived in the less fashionable suburbs and cultivated different interests. Her lifelong friends included Frankie Margaret Moore, the daughter of publicans who had lost their money and moved from Windsor to the Gasometer Hotel in Smith Street, Collingwood. She enjoyed the company of Patricia McDermott, the daughter of a local general practitioner living in Footscray, and an English migrant, Pauline Curtis, the daughter of an engineer with Australian Paper Mills living in Ashwood. Pauline became a greatly loved primary school teacher at Trinity Grammar School, Kew. Elizabeth’s group included Yolande Marguerite Callil, the daughter of a Lebanese immigrant and textile manufacturer whose wife had left him to rear their young daughters.

Yolande lived in St George’s Road, Toorak, but was sent to board at Loreto Toorak at the tender age of four and remained a boarder until 1957, when she attended a finishing school in Paris. Another companion was Stephanie Judith Ross-Tuppin.

She lived with her mother, Edna May, in a boarding house in St Kilda. Her father, Henry, a naval instructor, died when Stephanie was four and her mother worked as a clerk. In 1977 Stephanie became the first female to be appointed as head of a university department, in the Swinburne College of Technology’s Department of Social and Political Sciences.

In later life Elizabeth O’Neill became an academic and completed two doctorates, one in education and one in history. At school there were frequent altercations with Mother Assumpta, whom she described as a force to be reckoned with and a tough taskmaster in class. She found allies in others: the gracious Mother Magdalen O’Hagan, who listened to her complaints and developed her love of music; Mother Andrew Bell, who allowed her to sit in her art history classes when she should have been studying maths and chemistry with Mother Assumpta; and the young Patricia Brady, later Mother Veronica, an inspirational English teacher. Elizabeth remembered:

Taking their religion seriously Minutes of a senior sodality meeting, October 1957

Then there was dear Sister Miriam, who worked in the kitchen and served our meals. She was a tiny little leprechaun of a woman who actually was not afraid to give us love. Her grasp of Irish history was quite singular! She constantly reassured me that the ancient land of my ancestors the O’Neills would one day be restored to me and my family. I absolutely believed her and looked forward to that day.

Once she presented me with some Irish moss that she declared had actually come from Ireland, had been blessed and had sacred properties. I totally believed that too, I took great care of it and was sadly disappointed when it died.13

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The Virago Modern Classics really began in a convent sixty years ago.

It was the sort of Catholic convent that should have been in deepest Ireland, but was, in fact, in one of the more elegant suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.

There I was sent at 8 and from it I was disgorged at 16. The Loreto nuns who educated me were semienclosed, which meant no speech from dusk to dawn, Mass every morning at 6.20 am, a tomato for supper on Sunday nights and much Irish brown bread the rest of the time. Rules, censorship and silence, and above all was a sense of disapproval waiting to pounce.

Carmen Callil

Opposite: The Loreto display caught the imagination of many visitors Stand number 17 Catholic Life Exhibition, 1955

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In 1953 Loreto published a brochure on their philosophy and operations: All Loreto schools in Australia have kept as their ideal: to send out Catholic girls, well instructed in their Faith and deeply appreciative of cultural values, so that as home-makers they may be an asset to the country. Although in the early days non-Catholics were accepted as pupils in these schools, today all vacancies are kept for Catholic pupils, so that it is only in the rarest case that a nonCatholic is on any roll. The nuns’ non-Catholic friends (of whom there are many) understand and accept a situation which must be unique in any Englishspeaking province of the Institute.14 Elizabeth’s closest school friend – almost a sister – was Geraldine Gwen Lazarus from Frankston. Geraldine’s parents were Jewish. Her mother was a Polish immigrant and her father an Australian-born criminal law barrister whose clients included the Communist Party and the Waterside Workers’ and Seamen’s Union. Elizabeth and Geraldine started in kindergarten together under Mother Aloysius.

Geraldine came to Loreto Toorak because her father and his seven siblings had all attended Loreto Dawson Street in Ballarat, where his family lived. She was a keen student and won the annual Christian doctrine prize, but her personal beliefs were at odds with what she was being taught. When the family lived in Toorak she was mocked for being a Jewess on her way to and from school by the children at Toorak Central School and later, when the family moved to Elwood, by the children from Elwood Central School. The turning point for Geraldine came at the age of twelve, when she begged her father to be allowed to leave. She had begun to actively question not only the religious instruction but the slant given in history classes, as the only history texts studied were those authorised by the Catholic Education Department. Her questions were frowned upon and she felt that Loreto was pushing for her conversion. Geraldine completed her education at MacRobertson Girls’ High School. Later Geraldine graduated with a doctorate at Monash University and became a lecturer at the David Syme Business School, remaining in touch with her Loreto Toorak friends.15 Before schools for Jewish students were established in Melbourne, Jewish children attended privately run Christian schools, including Loreto schools. Susan Mary Resch, who commenced at Loreto Toorak in 1953, was the daughter of Dr Carl Emil Resch, a research scientist and brewer. During the 1950s the Jewish students at Loreto Toorak also included Diana and Sandra Busch, Carole and Sandra Synman and cousins of the Synman family, Marilyn, Doreen, Wendy and Lilly Berkowitz, whose fathers manufactured furniture. There were also twentythree non-Catholic students, with only one known to have converted after leaving

school. Diversity in clientele came in a different guise through the influence of students born and educated overseas. Mary, William and Ann were the children of William Bushwaller and Peggy Joynt. William Bushwaller was educated at Georgetown University and served in the United States Army Air Corps during the war. He then joined the Foreign Service and numerous postings followed, including, in 1957, his appointment to the United States Embassy in Melbourne.

The children of Managing Director Robert McMenamin – Madeleine, Margaret, John and Thomas – were born in Illinois, educated in New Zealand and completed their studies in Paris after attending Loreto Toorak.

The strict rules and routines of Loreto did not suit all. Helen Elizabeth Whitehead was, in her own words, expelled for starting or trying to start a class riot. Her father, who was deceased, had been a Catholic but her mother was not, and she had attended Firbank in Brighton. Helen and her sister Christine were country boarders from Corowa, New South Wales. Helen described herself as a constant troublemaker. She was caught running and whistling in the corridors, sliding down the front banister, hiding her new felt bowler hat in her tennis shoes, disrupting the figure marching, eating in a public place, smoking in the school grounds and reading books that were on ‘The Index’, the list of banned books.

Surprisingly, one of her special school friends was Robin Robinson, who later became a Loreto Sister. Helen became a concert violinist. She wrote, ‘I did not understand that it was a privilege to be called a Loreto Toorak girl. On reflection I had a fairly good go. I was just too early in the system for the times and I would revel in it now – those girls do not know how lucky they are.’16 The Olympic year of 1956 and the advent of television caused much excitement among the girls. The school celebrated the Olympics by attending a High Mass at Como Park, South Yarra. The staff made it clear that the girls could not attend the Olympics during school hours and certainly they should not be seen at the games in school uniforms. And, of course, the boarders needed parental permission for weekend attendance. The craft teacher, Miss Noel Howard, took the ban one step further and announced to her classes that if it came to her notice that any student had attended the Olympic Games without permission she would fail them in craft, irrespective of the quality of their work.17 Needless to say, many nonconformists failed craft that year. One student who was suspended for breaking the rules spent her time attending the Olympics and when she returned she was the envy of all her school friends. She later became a flight attendant with Qantas and travelled the world. In other ways the Loreto teachers were modern, sensible and down-to-earth. Following the Olympics, the Loreto Toorak swimming sports were held for the first time at the Olympic Pool on the corner of Batman Avenue and Swan Street, with the swimming teams chosen for the first time to compete in inter-school carnivals.

Catholic Life Exhibition The first Catholic Life Exhibition and accompanying lectures, held from 9 to 17 June 1955, provided a strong focus on the significance of Catholic education in the heart of Melbourne. Held at the Exhibition Buildings, the displays drew two hundred thousand visitors, exceeding the attendances of earlier exhibitions held by Catholics in the United Kingdom. The Loreto exhibition featured coloured panels about Mary Ward’s life, and photographs of the school’s activities, ranging from sport to music, as well as of its refectories and dormitories.

The Loreto Mothers and Sisters handed out dozens of brochures on school activities and leaflets urging prayer for the beatification of Mary Ward. They answered numerous enquiries about the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and their Australian schools.

In the official program they wrote that there were twelve Australian Houses of the Institute and two hundred and fifty professed members. Many students at Loreto Toorak would not have been aware of the strength of the order in the Australian Catholic teaching scene at this time.

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Carmen Callil Carmen Callil was from an Irish-Lebanese family.

Her father, Frederick Alfred Louis Callil, who died when she was nine years old, was a barrister, bibliophile and lecturer in French at the University of Melbourne. Her sisters and cousins were also educated at Loreto schools. Immediately after graduating in arts, which she studied while a resident at St Mary’s Hall, Carmen travelled to Europe to pursue a career in the book trade. In London she founded Virago, a publishing house that became one of the most influential and recognisable feminist imprints, introducing new authors and republishing older works with critical introductions.

Carmen wrote: ‘The Virago Modern Classics really began in a convent sixty years ago. It was the sort of Catholic convent that should have been in

The three goddesses House sport captains, 1957.

Left to right: Diana King (St Gertrude), Diana Lord (St Michael) and Diana Bowen (St Teresa)

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deepest Ireland, but was, in fact, in one of the more elegant suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. There I was sent at 8 and from it I was disgorged at 16. The Loreto nuns who educated me were semi-enclosed, which meant no speech from dusk to dawn, Mass every morning at 6.20 am, a tomato for supper on Sunday nights and much Irish brown bread the rest of the time. Rules, censorship and silence, and above all was a sense of disapproval waiting to pounce.’ 18 Her ambition with Virago was to break the silence, to make women’s voices heard, to tell their stories and her own. The idea sprang in part from the women’s movement, but also from her own past: from her father’s vast library, in which she buried herself during her childhood, and from her mother’s love of reading aloud to her four children.

From a student’s perspective, there was no messing about with Mother Assumpta, who saw it as her duty to develop deeply moral, cultured, creative and compassionate girls who would realise their potential. A minority did not see in the prism of their school lives the start of later success. They attributed their achievements to outside influences but interestingly retained school friendships.

Awarded a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International in 2004, Margaret Mary Gurry dedicated her life after school to serving others, but did not recall her school days with affection. She was awarded the papal honour of Dame of the Order of St Gregory for her work in nursing, both in Australia and in the missions, and for the establishment of academic coaching for young people at St John’s Parish, East Melbourne. In 1995 Margaret founded the Friday Night School to provide educational opportunities for children from non-English speaking backgrounds. The tutors were student volunteers from Xavier College, Genazzano FCJ College, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak and recently St Catherine’s School, Toorak. The children came from all over Melbourne and included Sudanese, Ethiopian and Vietnamese migrants. In 2010 the school moved to St Ignatius Parish in Richmond and continues to provide assistance with school work and English language tuition. For this work Margaret was appointed in 2004 a Member of the Order of Australia.

A weekly boarder from 1948 to 1954, Joan Patricia Hurley, née Lightfoot, had a challenging home life and later trained as a nurse. She described the arrival of Mother Assumpta at Loreto Toorak from a different perspective, as a groundbreaking event:

Mission supporters with their Mission mail box A group of compassionate and organised Grade Six students, 1958

Commonsense, compassion and understanding radiated from her to all of the girls under her care. One or two girls did not like her, but then one or two actually did like Mother Michael (Gibson). One can’t please everyone, I know, but Mother Assumpta was the guiding light of my school life at Mandeville Hall. Everyone, popular or not, fat or thin, pretty or plain, shy or confident was understood and accepted on their own merits by this wonderful nun. She nurtured all of us prepubescent middle-schoolers and teenaged seniors with genuine warmth, understanding and friendliness, guiding us through the turbulence of our individual physical and psychological changes as we approached womanhood.19

Federation of Loreto

Past Pupils’ Associations

The year 1955 was a high-water mark for Loreto Toorak, marking the founding of the Federation of Loreto Past Pupils’ Associations by one of their own. Among the pre-war alumni was a determined and motivated participant, Moira Lenore Dynon, née Shelton, who was president of the Loreto Toorak Past Pupils’ Association. Moira had served with dedication during the war. By 1955 she was

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Katherine Calder Captain of the school, 1955

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caring for three small children and expecting twins. Her daughters, Michele and Jacinta, became students at Loreto Toorak. Michele later studied arts at Monash University and Jacinta became a lawyer. Moira was a committed Christian and an ecumenist. She read extensively about international affairs. She was honest in her beliefs and courageous in stating her views. In 1952, with her husband John Francis Dynon, a barrister and solicitor, Moira had established the Malvern branch of the United Nations Australia Association. Moira looked at how this association functioned and an idea began to grow to gather all of the Loreto alumni into one group, a federation of Loreto schools, to bring their collective Christian influence to bear on current educational and social problems.

From its foundation the Loreto Toorak alumni had shared fundraising, social events and debutante balls with Loreto Mary’s Mount under the umbrella of the Loreto Past Pupils’ Association, which held many of its meetings at Mandeville Hall. But Moira was looking for a broader platform to co-ordinate the alumni of all twelve foundations. During the dislocation of the war years and in those immediately following there had been a marked lessening in contact between past pupils and their school associations. In 1953 the past pupils of Loreto Toorak formed their own association, the Loreto Toorak Old Girls’ Association. Moira recognised that each association had its own contribution to make to a specific school, but with increasing mobility and families moving interstate students were often attending more than one Loreto school.

By the 1950s this trend had increased considerably. From the immediate postwar years until 1970 there was a significant interchange of students from one Loreto school to another. The Loreto Sisters viewed this movement as an important strategy in assisting their students to flourish in comparable faith and physical surroundings. Apart from families relocating, changes were often suggested and organised by the Loreto Sisters for health, academic and climatic reasons, or simply for students to make a new start. More than two hundred and seventy Loreto Toorak girls were educated at other Loreto schools. The most frequent transfers took place between Loreto Toorak and Loreto Mary’s Mount, with more than sixty students forming allegiances with both schools. Twenty-five came from Loreto Portland and only one came from Loreto Dawson Street to Loreto Toorak. A contingent of twenty students came from Loreto schools in South Australia, fifteen from both New South Wales and Western Australia and twelve from Queensland. In addition ten came from international Loreto foundations in England, Ireland, India and Mauritius.

The Provincial, Mother Dympna McNamara, a past student of Our Lady of the Angels and the Central Catholic Training College, received a letter from a concerned parent:

Loreto Past Pupils’ Reunion The first gathering of past students held at Loreto Toorak after the Second World War, 1946

It seems that certain consideration has in the past been given to keeping the uniform of all Loreto Schools similar in colour. This of course has been a great

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The first Federation conference The program for the first conference of the Federation of Loreto Past Pupils’ Associations included an invitation for the delegates to visit St Mary’s Hall, Parkville. During the 1950s St Mary’s Hall became the centre of the lay apostolate for Catholic Asiatic graduates and undergraduates at the University of Melbourne.

In 1955 St Mary’s hosted the inaugural Asian Catholic Students’ Congress, attended by Reverend Peter Yu from Rome as the Pope’s representative.

Students and staff at St Mary’s were at the forefront

Your dictionary will tell you that Federation means a league, a compact or the act of uniting in a league.

Now would it not be a good thing for all Loreto Girls to Federate in a great league for a noble end, viz.: to work out patiently, steadily, faithfully, high and holy aims in the daily routine of life’s duties.

Mother Gonzaga Barry

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of this emerging Catholic intellectual movement, which aimed at the conversion of university students from the Philippines, Malaya, China and other Asian countries. St Mary’s was also ecumenical and welcomed members of the Christian East Association. Federation delegates also visited the Loreto Free Kindergarten, South Melbourne, during a lively session with the little ones.

Interestingly, alumni from these two institutions were ineligible to participate in federation as they were not secondary institutions.

boon to those who have had to change schools. However I wonder if the time has not come for a wide look at the situation. As time goes on professional people at least will have to move interstate to achieve promotion and this mobility seems also to be found more now in the business world. I know you will have discussed this matter often, but feel surely that the winter uniform and blouse, blazer and both hats could be the same for all schools.20 Mother Dympna was well known at Loreto Toorak, where she had been Mistress of Schools for two years before becoming the Provincial. Past pupils recalled her courageous and firm but kindly administration, enlivening difficult passages with her quiet wit and saving humour.21 However, the change to one Loreto uniform did not eventuate.

Moira saw federation as a way of deepening the connections between an already intertwined family of Loreto schools. Federation was not a replacement for the individual associations and loyalties but a way of strengthening each constituent and promoting the welfare of Loreto throughout Australia. It was a simple formula and one immediately accepted by the Loreto, but Moira had to work hard and long at gaining interstate acceptance. After extensive consultation to prepare the ground, an agreement was reached that the new body would confine its membership to the alumni of Loreto secondary schools. During the planning sessions, Moira reported that valuable work could be achieved by helping Asian students coming to Australia under the Colombo Plan. She estimated that there were three thousand Asian students, the vast majority of whom were private students, and they were in need of friendship and hospitality. The committee endorsed her suggestion. While the

Loreto Toorak students were collecting pennies for non-Catholic babies and praying for their conversion to Catholicism, former students were finding ways of connecting with the work of Catholic Action.

‘Federation’ was an ideal name for a new Loreto endeavour to promote constructive debate on national and international affairs and community and family matters. Apparently at this time Moira was not conversant with Mother Gonzaga Barry’s early writings. In 1897 Mother Gonzaga Barry had written to her children exhorting them to be true and loyal to their alma mater: Your dictionary will tell you that Federation means a league, a compact or the act of uniting in a league. Now would it not be a good thing for all Loreto Girls to Federate in a great league for a noble end, viz.: to work out patiently, steadily, faithfully, high and holy aims in the daily routine of life’s duties. Federate Sydney with Perth, Melbourne with Ballarat, with Randwick near the blue waters of Botany Bay, with Portland facing the Great Southern Ocean.22

Hard-working delegates Organisers of the third meeting of Federation, Sydney, 1959. Standing, left to right: Dorothy Tully (Normanhurst), Josephine Sayers (Nedlands), Kathleen Gurry (Dawson Street), Margaret Gallagher (Mary’s Mount), Eileen Crews (Kirribilli) and Joyce Fullagar (Coorparoo); seated, left to right: Moira Dynon (Toorak), Valerie Hennessey (Normanhurst), Beatrice Bateman (Kirribilli), Kathleen Coolahan (Kirribilli) and Brigid O’Keefe (Marryatville)

In the articles drawn up for the new body, provision was made for federal conferences to be held biennially; that every two years the headquarters of federation would move interstate, rotating through the member associations; and that each conference would address a theme related to current issues and pursue a plan of action to contribute in a concrete and practical way to helping perceived community needs.

The inaugural conference of the Loreto Federation took place from 6 to 8 November 1955 in Melbourne under the presidency of Moira Dynon. The

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Learning new skills Grade Five displaying their craft pieces, 1957

proceedings were opened at Mandeville Hall by her brother-in-law, Reverend James Dynon SJ, a teacher, pastor and mission director. During the conference particular attention was paid to the responsibilities of parents, acknowledging that as taxpayers they had the right to an equal share in the distribution of public funds and the necessity of a closer collaboration of parents with schools. Resolutions were passed to offer prayers for the Loreto communities working in India, raise funds for a new novitiate at Loreto Normanhurst, increase parental co-operation with the teachers in the education of their children and organise for adequate supervision at student parties. The second conference, held in Adelaide in November 1957, followed the approach pioneered in Melbourne, and the pattern was set for a successful ongoing federal organisation.

Graduates of the 1950s Many Loreto Toorak parents did co-operate with Loreto, as numerous students from the 1950s became notable achievers. The extraordinary work of Loreto Toorak past students during the war had demonstrated how women could make 306

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significant contributions outside the home. Among the 1950s graduates were religious, high-calibre professionals and community workers. Robin Robinson, Thérèse Lechte, Geraldine Ryan, Patricia Ziebarth, Anne Byrne and Gerardine Carroll entered the Loreto Order and Beverley Quinn joined the Carmelites.

Margaret Finlay, who also entered the Loreto Order, taught in the junior school at Loreto Toorak before becoming a lecturer in literary studies at Deakin University and later working with the Catholic Education Spiritual Formation Team in the Parramatta diocese. While many chose teaching, nursing and librarianship, others broke new ground in male-dominated professions or joined emerging ventures.

While the teaching of humanities at Loreto Toorak was strong, the provision for higher mathematics and science was still in its infancy. Forty-five students are recorded as having completed their secondary studies at Taylor’s Coaching College, which fully provided for study in these subject areas.

Alumni serving others Mary Crawford returned to Loreto Toorak as a teacher of English and history and became a member of the Loreto Advisory Board. Margaret Power, after completing an arts degree and teaching qualifications, also returned to Loreto Toorak as an English teacher with a passion for the works of Jane Austen. Mary Ann and Helen Dwyer were boarders from Bairnsdale. Mary Ann remembers Mother Madeleine accompanying the senior boarders into the Oak Parlour to listen to classical music on an old gramophone. She later graduated with a master of arts and wrote children’s books, while Helen studied architecture and worked with Roy Grounds, a former student at Our Lady of the Angels, on the National Gallery of Victoria.

Mary Josephine Lynch, the daughter of Blanche Fitzgerald, a student of the 1930s, completed law and arts degrees, a doctorate in English and worked in the Commonwealth public service. More than three hundred students were the daughters and sons of doctors. Among the Loreto Toorak medical graduates were Mary Doyle, Christine Acton and Felicity Wakefield Kent.

Ann Corben, daughter of Marion Breheny, a Loreto Toorak student of the 1930s, became mayor of Newtown, Geelong, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria and then Minister for Housing and Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs. Julianna Adams played a key role in business and accounting as counsellor with the Small Business Development Corporation, Melbourne, and became a creative financial strategist. Joy McDonald became the first Loreto Toorak student to complete a law degree and after raising a family established a solo legal practice. Moira Doyle, Gabrielle Adams and Mary Lynch also pursued careers in the law. Serita Frederico became a barrister and was twice sent to the United Nations in New York as the Australian representative of the International

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Federation of Women Lawyers on the Commission of Human Rights. Serita’s aunt, Louisa, daughter of Hubert Rofeno Frederico, hotelier, had been a student at Albert Park during 1902. Lolita Frederico, Joy Merlo, Margaret Kuhlmann, Mary Meehan and Antoinette Furphy, the Furphy’s Foundry in Shepparton, became physiotherapists. Patricia O’Connor and Patricia Meehan became occupational therapists, while Judy Manning became a pharmacist. Anne Gilchrist established a self-sufficient farm near Stawell, while Elaine Bailey lived on an orchard and then taught in Wangaratta. Antoinette Meehan became a medical technologist and Eleanor King worked in the Royal Children’s Hospital microbiology department. Margarita Frederico studied social work and became associate professor and head of the School of Social Work at La Trobe University.

In 1979 a lawyer, Edwyna Fitzgerald, as president of the federation, lobbied the Prime Minister for improvements in the care and welfare of children during the Year of the Child. Jocelyn Dunphy became the first female recipient of the Newman College Archbishop Daniel Mannix Travelling Scholarship and completed her doctoral studies in Paris.

Alumni in the arts Thérèse Murphy became the assistant to the editor of Australia’s Readers’ Digest.

The children of Kevin O’Day, an eye specialist living in Kensington Road, South Yarra – Justine, Deidre, Denis and Prudence – became loyal supporters of Loreto Toorak. Justine settled in Cambridge, where she reared four children, while Deirdre became a freelance art historian and author in London. She published works on the history of British and Scottish art and jewellery and worked on programs with the British Broadcasting Corporation. Denis came to Loreto Toorak as it was considered inappropriate for a small boy to travel alone from South Yarra to Xavier College Burke Hall, in Kew. He amusingly described a tragic event in his last few days in Year Two at Loreto Toorak, when he won first prize for the year. However, the Loreto community cancelled the award, as only two students were able to sit the final examinations due to an outbreak of measles!23 Initially Denis trained as a physician but later turned to the specialty of medical ophthalmology. He joined the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Tennessee.

In 2010 Vanderbilt University acknowledged his contributions by establishing the Denis O’Day Chair in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Prudence pursued a career in contemporary fine art as a curator at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, a co-founder of art festivals, a director of Anderson O’Day Fine Art, London, and an art consultant known for recognising and nurturing early talent.

Joanna, Patricia and Phillipa were the children of Joshua, an antiquarian, and Joan McClelland, a former journalist with The Argus. Together they established an

Phillipa McClelland Captain of the school, 1958 and 1959 Opposite, top: Enjoying beautiful surroundings A prefect’s meeting in the Reception Room, 1957. Left to right: Cynthia Dethridge, Edwyna Fitzgerald, Margaret Reid, Ann Curtis, Phillipa McClelland, Mary Doyle, Elizabeth Clowes, Diana Bowen, Gabrielle Adams, Suzanne Loftus-Hills, Elizabeth Wimpole, Norma Daley and Patricia Warry; absent: Sandra Robinson Opposite, bottom: A sense of order and beauty Looking after the ‘blue’ dormitory in 1959: Susan Maggia, Prudence Maggia, Margaret Gurry and Deidre O’Brien

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A very well-organised school The Victorian Education Department inspector’s report book for Loreto Toorak, 1955

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antique furniture business. After Joshua died in 1956, Joan established a fine art gallery in Collins Street, Melbourne, specialising in Chinese porcelain and Australian paintings and prints. Joanna studied architecture and worked in Malaya.

Patricia taught at Loreto Toorak before joining the family business as a director, and Phillipa became a lecturer in the history of art at Hong Kong University.

A relative, Mary McClelland, studied art and architecture at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and then taught at Loreto Toorak in the junior school, where with Helen Healy she introduced a newsletter called Up and Out, a little sister to Toorakanrooin. The name was the idea of Janet Whiting, who in 1970 was in Year Six. As a school student Mary McClelland loved producing sets and costumes for concerts. Her talents were first recognised by past students Ruth Trait and Sandra Synman, who asked her to assist in the production of the Mary

Ward Exhibition, which was held at Loreto Toorak in October 1967 as part of the seventh biennial conference of the Federation. She used all art forms, presenting the exhibition as a symbolic journey in graphics. While raising her family, Mary established her own business, Lotus Productions, designing and manufacturing babies and children’s sleepwear.

Marie-Thérèse Jensen came from Loreto Nedlands in Perth to Loreto Toorak.

On leaving Loreto Toorak she became an avid learner of languages, teaching English in France, Germany and Japan. She completed her doctorate at Monash University and became an academic specialising in foreign languages in teacher education and a member of the scholarships committee of the English-Speaking Union, Victoria. Patricia McManus was a boarder from Bendigo, where her father, Frank, was the manager of the local television station. Patricia became the presentation manager at Bendigo television studio and later joined HSV7 Melbourne as program co-ordinator. Elizabeth Webb’s father, Thomas, was a television producer. Elizabeth completed diplomas in design, film, television and business administration at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and became a director of Adlib Communications, specialising in marketing and business strategy. Levaun Brazel became the wife of the lord mayor of Adelaide and was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her services to the Adelaide community.

Michelle Jaquinot became a publisher with the Hill of Content and managing director of her own company, Michelle Anderson Publishing Pty Ltd. She wrote:

Loreto has given me an abiding love of books, reading and music. It has provided me with friends who have supported me over the years and with whom I could not have done without. I have not forgotten Mother Borgia’s inspiring history lessons nor Mother Mark’s art lessons and many others who taught me so well.

I will always be grateful to them.

Michelle Jaquinot

Loreto has given me an abiding love of books, reading and music. It has provided me with friends who have supported me over the years and with whom I could not have done without. I have not forgotten Mother Borgia’s inspiring history lessons nor Mother Mark’s art lessons and many others who taught me so well.

I will always be grateful to them.24 Margaret Finlay (Sister Margaret) recalled her student days as full of gloves, blazers, hats and overalls, all carefully worn: I became a weekly boarder in 1952 – so I enjoyed what at the time was considered the best of both worlds – a supervised five day week and weekends at home. This had distinct advantages for me, especially as I grew older and my social life began to take on importance. Intermediate, Leaving and Matriculation were years of challenge and personal development. I had the opportunity of wonderful teachers – Mother Veronica Brady, Mother Ruth Winship, Mother Andrew Bell and Mother Brigid Jones, whose combined efforts helped to stretch my horizons and imagination.25

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XI THE WIDER APOSTOLATE What to Do When You Leave School?

When we leave school I think we should all use our spare time in doing something to help others less fortunate than ourselves. My sister, Sue, had a very good idea when she left school. She got some of her friends together and started a group called the ‘Amigoes’. There are about 30 boys and girls in this group and every 4th Sunday of the month they take out 40 boys from the St Vincent de Paul Orphanage for the day. The boys enjoy it so much and look forward to their day from one outing to another.

Christine Guest, Form Two, 1964 1

G

raduates of the 1960s were educated to the accompaniment of the pounding of jackhammers, the whining of saws and the crashing of axes, as old buildings were altered or levelled and new ones arose. While discipline was certainly a dominant characteristic, the school was full of lively activity. Toorakanrooin was filled with schoolgirl humour and details of the co-curricular side of school life: the unending round of sports, concerts, social and community activities, geography excursions to Harrietville, speech, drama and craft festivals, the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Youth Concerts, the Young Catholic Students’ Movement, and the Parliament of Youth and Sodality. Other highlights included debating with the boys from Xavier College and St Patrick’s College and the introduction of two student banks through the State Savings Bank of Victoria, one for the boarders and another for the day scholars. Thrift and financial planning were encouraged, with the added incentive that for every £1 banked by a student 1 shilling in interest was credited to their account. Bible and Scripture courses were introduced and Catholic Church commentator Niall Brennan, father of students Sally and Rosemary, was a guest lecturer. The aim of this packed program of extracurricular activities was to train girls to work together and consider others, and to build strong, independent characters.

The community at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak was enriched by the arrival in 1959 of Mother Francis Borgia Tipping. She was an intellectual and religious powerhouse at Toorak for twenty-five years before retiring to Ballarat, where she died in 1995 at the age of one hundred and four. Mother Borgia’s contribution to the development of Catholic education was remarkable. Her involvement with the outside world, in the period when the Loreto community existed as a semi-enclosed religious order, was exceptional. Even after she had retired from classroom teaching she kept abreast with social and political affairs, read widely and was a prodigious correspondent with past students, parents and staff – her outreach knew no boundaries. Mother Borgia’s knowledge of and passion for the work of Mary Ward was crucial as the Loreto Toorak community began to rebuild allegiances to its founder and faced many changes in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

Studious and witty, Mother Borgia taught Latin at Loreto Toorak, which included assisting with the Latin scholars at St Kevin’s College, Toorak. Students

Official keeper of school records Mother Brigid Jones keeping the student files and accounts in order, 1961 Previous page 312: Mistress of the Junior School Mother Anthony Matha with her charges, 1961 (detail, see page 344)

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Mother Francis Borgia Tipping

Elenora Maria Ursula, known as Minnie, was born in 1891, the youngest child of James Tipping and Mary Coghlan. Although not all of the Tipping family were teachers, the history of this family is intimately entwined with education in Victoria.

James Tipping taught over a period of forty-three years in ten Victorian state schools. His children attended his classes before completing their educations in non-government schools.

Minnie’s older sister Martha was an early female graduate of the University of Melbourne,

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completing a bachelor of arts in 1903 and a master of arts in the following year. She worked in the state education system until 1915, when she resigned, as women were obliged to do, upon marrying. She continued teaching after her marriage, coaching trainee nuns and priests as well as senior pupils from St Kevin’s College, Toorak, in French. Mother Borgia’s nephew, Edmund Muirhead, became a Principal Fellow in the University of Melbourne’s School of Physics. Another nephew, E. W. ‘Bill’ Tipping, was the author of the ‘In Black and White’ column in the Melbourne Herald and worked to improve the provision of care to mentally disabled students. A niece, Mary Muirhead, an early Loreto Toorak student, became Mother Mary Reparata, and was an outstanding music teacher in the Loreto Institute. Minnie’s grand nieces were high achievers: Anne Muirhead became a Loreto Sister and Mary Muirhead, dux of Loreto Toorak in 1980, became a veterinary surgeon and a violinist in orchestras.

In the early 1900s Minnie became a boarder at the Mt St Joseph’s Brigidine Convent, Beechworth.

She wrote glowingly about the somewhat monastic Brigidines in what she called their happy home. In particular, she recalled being taught French culture, music, language and deportment. Languages also included German, Italian and Latin. The Mistress of Schools at Mt St Joseph’s, Mother Josephine Cooper, had been trained at the Loreto Training College in Dawson Street but always had a clear intention of joining the Irish Brigidine community.2 After Beechworth, Minnie studied at the Central Catholic Training College for three years and completed her diploma of education before entering the novitiate. As Mother Borgia she returned to study while living at Albert Park and completed her arts degree.

spoke of her capacity to fire them with enthusiasm for Latin, no mean feat in the eyes of many, as well as English literature, mathematics, physics, Greek and European history. Her conversations were interspersed with quotations from poems and hymns, regally and dramatically delivered, as were her letters with distinguished ink and impeccable grammar. Elizabeth ‘Gig’ Ryan, a Loreto Toorak student, described her as a tiny, quick, peripatetic, erudite woman with a frightening insight and an endless interest and knowledge about the architecture of Mandeville Hall. Gig wrote, ‘Mother Borgia was an awe-inspiring paradigm of the feminist and intellectual order that the founder of the IBVM, Mary Ward, intended – in every way original and non-conformist.’3 Traditions were retained but severely tested during 1960 by a major physical change. The umbrella tree that had stood for more than a century was transplanted from the centre of the front lawn to the side of the grotto. The decision to move the tree was based on the pressing need to create more room for the growing numbers of students participating in sporting activities. This beautiful and unusual tree, beloved by generations of Loreto girls, was an American weeping elm grafted to the trunk of an English elm. It was one of the finest examples of tree-grafting in Australia. Advice was sought, as immense care needed to be taken to transplant such a large tree. To remove the tree, a deep, wide trench was dug around the roots by a team of fathers over the course of two weekends. The trench was filled with water for many weeks. Then tree specialists were engaged, and using a crane they carried the tree to its new site and placed it in a trench which was frequently watered. The tree, possibly the largest to be transplanted in Melbourne at that time, initially showed every sign of surviving and both sporting enthusiasts and tree lovers were happy. However, after a few months the tree slowly wilted and died. Gradually the sadness of this icon’s passing gave way to the happiness

Mother Borgia was an awe-inspiring paradigm of the feminist and intellectual order that the founder of the IBVM, Mary Ward, intended – in every way original and non-conformist.

Elizabeth ‘Gig’ Ryan

Above: A prestigious group Our Lady’s Sodality, 1962. Left to right: Elizabeth Donnan, Mary Wright, Susan Daily, Margaret Hill, Cynthia Higgins, Jane Kelly and Helen O’Doherty Opposite: An erudite woman A serene Minnie Tipping in 1912, before she entered as Mother Borgia

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Left: Meet the travellers News of the tour in Toorakanrooin, August 1960 Right: On an adventure An excursion to Tasmania, 1960. Back row, left to right: Mimi Costigan, Wendy Green, Elizabeth Donnan and Patricia Hoppe; front row, left to right: Helen O’Donoghue, Rosemary Corby and Barbara Pinnock

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brought by expanded senior sports’ days, combined house marching, junior picnics and ballet displays, when the girls in their coloured frocks danced across the floodlit lawn. A highlight occurred in 1963 when a member of the Australian Staff College, Brigadier Charles Long, father of Prudence, officiated for the figure marching and salute during the opening of the senior school sports.

In 1960 the house system was changed and expanded to accommodate the increasing number of students. From 1938 until 1959 there were three house teams, St Teresa, St Gertude and St Michael. These were named after members of the early community: Mother Teresa O’Sullivan, Mother Gertrude Mooney and Mother Michael Gibson. In other Australian Loreto schools the house team names were synonymous with the Loreto Order in Australia. Mother Assumpta Winship followed this approach. At Loreto Toorak after 1960 they were named ‘Barry’ after Mother Gonzaga Barry, the first Provincial Superior of Australia; ‘Mornane’, after the first Loreto-educated Australian postulant, Mother Stanislaus Mornane; ‘Mulhall’, after Mother Stanislaus Mulhall, the second Australian Provincial Superior; and ‘Ward’, after the founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Ward. This was the first time that Mary Ward was publicly acknowledged as an integral part of the tradition of Loreto Toorak. Increasing the number of houses created new leadership roles and expanded not only inter-house sporting events but extended the range of co-curricular house activities.

The years of 1959 and 1960 heralded yet another innovation. The first interstate senior school excursion took place with a visit to Tasmania, and this was followed by a second to South Australia. Helen Lechte described the excursions as hilarious, as the students visited male-dominated mining and shipping works and they were constantly followed around in the towns by young men.4 In 1963 five Matriculation

girls were chosen to represent Loreto Toorak at a national summer conference of the Young Catholic Students’ Movement in Perth. Genevieve Clayton, Felicity Sinn, Diana Gardini, Christine Zsizsmann and Elizabeth Hamilton stayed for a week at Loreto Claremont, where the senior students acted as hosts for the conference. More than one hundred and twenty girls from Western Australia and interstate attended. The aim was to train leaders of the Young Catholic Students’ Movement through a series of lectures and discussions and encourage the participants to offer their own opinions. But it was not all serious business for the students: ‘They seemed to enjoy themselves immensely, judging from the riotous laughter which could be heard from the sleeping cubicles every night.’ 5

A new Mother Superior: Mother Emilian From 1962 a mover and shaker instigated a major building program for Loreto Toorak from behind the scenes. This was the new Superior of Loreto Toorak, Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden, who succeeded Mother Assumpta Winship at this time. Mother Emilian was the Superior at Loreto Normanhurst, Sydney, for seven years before coming to Loreto Toorak. There she had always made teaching her priority but at Loreto Toorak, during her second appointment, this focus changed in the face of stronger, competing demands. Immediately on her arrival in January 1962 Mother Emilian assisted the Provincial, Mother Dympna McNamara, in organising a week-long seminar at Loreto Toorak focusing on middle school teaching. It was attended by Sisters from every Loreto school in the province and was conducted by Joseph James St Ellen, then the head of Toorak Teachers’ College and father of Loreto Toorak students Margaret, Elizabeth and Diane.

In 1962 Loreto Toorak was twice the size of Loreto Kirribilli and Loreto Normanhurst and the responsibility was commensurably greater. As Superior, Mother Emilian cared for thirty Sisters in the community, fourteen of whom were teaching in the school, and a secular staff consisting of fourteen full-time and another fourteen part-time teachers. There were six hundred and seventeen students, seventy of whom were boarders. By 1964 this number had risen to seven hundred students and enrolments continued to increase, reaching more than eight hundred at the end of the decade. Throughout these years, places for boarders were capped at around seventy students. However, there was some flexibility. The numbers of boarders fluctuated, as Mother Emilian would accept day and external students into the boarding house for short stays if a family member was sick or the parents were travelling overseas. She happily reported in June 1964 that new students were already enrolled up to 1975, mainly drawn from past pupils and friends of Loreto.6

Top: Preparing for many winners Mother Ruth Winship and companions admiring the range of trophies for the Senior Sports Day, 1961 Bottom: Figure Marching Girls representing Mornane and Mulhall, 1961

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Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden Audrey Brooke-Cowden was born in 1910 at Toodyay, Western Australia, the second child of schoolteachers Roderick and Ellen. The family moved around Western Australia, as Roderick was appointed Principal at several state primary schools. When he was appointed to Buckland Hill Primary at Mosman Park, Audrey was enrolled at Loreto Claremont. She studied music, Latin, Greek and mathematics and excelled in piano. At the age of sixteen she became a student at the University of Western Australia, where she studied music and graduated with an arts degree.

In December 1931 she set out by boat for Adelaide and from there went by train to Ballarat. As she had arrived ahead of her official entrance date for the novitiate she spent her days practising the piano. She had recently won the Perth Eisteddfod Open Piano Solo and the Provincial asked her to give a concert to the Sisters before she entered.

After three years in the novitiate, Mother Emilian was appointed to Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne, to begin teacher training.

On completing her studies she was appointed in 1935 to Loreto Toorak. Gradually moving from her speciality of music, Mother Emilian began teaching religious education, English, Latin, mathematics, geography and ancient history and also acted as Sacristan. In 1950 she was appointed to Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney, as Mistress of Schools, which included teaching full-time and looking after the boarders in the evenings and at weekends. She described these students as her most precious friends.

In 1955 she was appointed as the Superior of Loreto Normanhurst. While shouldering these positions of responsibility, Mother Emilian always made teaching her first priority.

At this time there were fifty-five Loreto Sisters working in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Of these, forty-seven were born in Australia, seven in Ireland and one in Holland.7 One of Mother Emilian’s first initiatives as Superior was to invite Dr Eleanor Wertheim, an expert child psychologist from the Royal Children’s Hospital, to address the Melbourne community on the latest research on child development. In Mother Emilian’s words it was an absolutely excellent presentation.8 Young participants listening to this presentation included Mother Josephine Collins (Sister Jennifer Collins), a primary school teacher and the middle school Sports Mistress; and Mother John Berchmans Anderson (Sister Anne Anderson), who ran daily sporting activities for the boarders on the front lawn with the assistance of Laurie, the Sisters’ dog. Members of the Loreto Toorak community included Sisters from every convent in the province, some elderly and infirm.

Twelve Sisters were over sixty and received the old age pension of £6 per week. In 1964 Mother Emilian wondered how many would reach heaven before the year’s end.9 Many of these older Sisters were still teaching. Mother Theophane Bongiorno (Sister Lena Bongiorno) continued as an ideal infant teacher while Mother Aloysius Cosgrove remained firmly in charge of the kindergarten boys and girls.

Religious orders were exempt from paying municipal rates but each year Mother Emilian sent a donation to the Prahran City Council. In May 1964 she 320

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decided she would like to vote in the municipal elections, as Richard Matthews, the father of Loreto Toorak pupil Julie, was standing for election. She was told that as a non-rate payer she was ineligible to vote, though the order donated £65 annually. Even without the Sisters’ endorsement Matthews was elected and later became mayor. In June 1964 Mother Emilian applied to the Prahran City Council for approval to establish a private hostel for her invalids and obtained a government social service benefit of £1 per day per patient. Gradually the ground floor of St Joseph’s Wing developed naturally into more suitable accommodation for the frail and elderly. Additional bathrooms were added near the recreation room and the kitchen, and where possible the newly furbished bedrooms were placed where there was a sunny garden aspect.

Education Mother Emilian was a progressive educationalist and kept abreast of current teaching trends. Well before the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council, Mother Emilian was looking and moving outwards. She attended lectures at the University of Melbourne, always accompanied by another member of the community, and frequented the university’s book room to purchase the latest teaching references and past examination papers. Mother Emilian also joined and participated in the key educational bodies of the era. She became a member of the Australian College of Education, founded in 1959 by James Darling, Headmaster of Geelong Grammar School. The purpose of the college was to bring together in one organisation the various parts of the educational world, separated as they were by different systems – state, Catholic and independent – and by institutional divisions – kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary. Unity in one body

A sports event at Mary’s Mount Senior tennis players and staff boarding the bus for Ballarat, 1963. Left to right, inside the bus: Bernadette Conquest, Barbara Nolan, Mother John Berchmans Anderson, Christine Zaetta, Barbara Hill, Andrea Leahy, Aileen Hughes, Diana Gillon, Ann Filcock, Peta O’Shaughnessy, Mary Connellan, Annette Rice, Angela Lee and Deirdre McSwiney; outside, standing: Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden, Margaret Mary Parker, Mother Josephine Collins, Geraldine O’Collins, Sara Barrett, Laurette Lynch, Elizabeth Daily, Patricia Galbally, Cynthia Arnold, Jennifer McCauley, Eleanor Hirsch and Mrs Patricia Schaefer; seated: Catherine Curtis, Karen Johnson, Gerardine Archbold, Mary Therese Quigg, Pamela Fetherstonhaugh, Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Barbara Anderson and Patricia Dowling; kneeling: Catherine Toner, Kerry Hamilton-Smith and Helen Vaughan

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provided a forum for general discussion for its representatives and an authoritative voice for education as a whole, as well as bringing prestige to a profession not sufficiently recognised in the community. At meetings the college addressed the importance of teachers’ qualifications, scales of pay and organised in-service training.

Headmistresses’ Association of Victoria Exploring the challenges of mathematics Mother Brigid Jones with Elizabeth Donnan, Patricia Hoppe and Mary Wright, 1961 Below: Greatly loved Summer straw hats for both the junior and senior girls, 1960s Distinctive blue school bags for the juniors They feature the school crest with yellow trimmings

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In 1962 Mother Emilian and Mother Antoinette Hayden from Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount were invited to join the Headmistresses’ Association of Victoria, which had been founded in 1923. They became the first Catholic religious to become members of this group. After their inaugural meeting in April, they dined with thirty headmistresses at Invergowrie, a large mansion with extensive grounds leading down to the Yarra River in Coppin Grove, Hawthorn. Invergowrie was the headquarters of the Headmistresses’ Association. In 1933 the association had established the Invergowrie home-craft hostel. It was the first of its kind, providing residential courses and evening classes for the domestic training of girls under conditions similar to those in the natural setting of the home. More than two thousand students graduated from Invergowrie before it was closed in 1973.

Mother Emilian described her first dinner with the association as an unusual experience, but the food was delicious and the members were all friendly, with many discussing similar problems to those experienced by Mother Emilian.10 For an enclosed Loreto community, dining with lay people was a novel occurence.

Membership of the Headmistresses’ Association of Victoria broadened the experiences of both Loreto Toorak staff and students. Mother Emilian became friendly with Margaret Heath McPherson, the Headmistress of Clarendon College, Ballarat, and later Headmistress of Korowa Church of England Girls’ Grammar School, Glen Iris. Miss McPherson generously drove Mother Emilian to and from meetings at Loreto Mary’s Mount and for visits to other Melbourne independent girls’ schools. In what Mother Emilian described as a spirit of ecumenism, she invited the senior students of St Michael’s Church of England Girls’ School, St Kilda, to Loreto Toorak for a debate on the topic ‘The Twentieth Century is the Greatest of Centuries’. Loreto Toorak took the negative and, under the adjudication of Justice Charles Augustus Sweeney, the host team was declared the winner. Justice Sweeney’s daughter, Catherine, was a current student and his wife, Elizabeth Coral Need, had been a Loreto Toorak student in the 1940s. The St Michael’s girls were accompanied by five of their Anglican nuns and were taken on a tour of the school and entertained with supper. After the success of this visit Mother Emilian invited students from St Catherine’s School, Toorak, to a screening of Sir Lawrence Olivier’s film Hamlet followed by warm hospitality in the mansion.

Matriculation Loreto Toorak students were ladies and were treated as such. In addition to being ladylike, Mother Emilian had indisputably high academic expectations of her staff and her students, although this was not apparent to every girl at the time. Her high expectations perhaps partly explain her rigidity about student behaviour and appearances. Mother Emilian’s message was that students could be outstanding and successful, but they should do so as respectful, modest and intelligent young ladies. This was the double-edged sword for Catholic girls and women. During the 1950s Loreto Toorak was registered as a ‘Class B’ school. The classification system for registered secondary schools had first been introduced in 1917. Candidates wishing to matriculate and become eligible for university entrance could sit for Intermediate and Leaving examinations in one of two ways: either externally, assessed by examiners appointed by the Schools Board of the University of Melbourne, or internally, within an approved secondary school. The system was controversial, however, as school approval was subject to inspection by officers from the Education Department, to which some schools objected. The refusal of schools to permit inspection and the preference of some schools for external examinations necessitated the division of secondary schools into two classes:

Great role models A cheerful Form Six, 1960. Back row, left to right: Mary Byrne, Mary King, Virginia Glover, Yvonne von Hartel, Joanne Millicer and Susan Resch; third row, left to right: Gabrielle Farley, Robin Robinson, Caroline Kelly, Helen Murphy, Susan Guest and Margaret Gurry; second row, left to right: Susan Hoppe, Teresa Law, Mary Meldrum, Anna Sinn and Lorna Pitt; first row, left to right: Denise Lee, Annette Egan, Maria Lightfoot, Jillian Larkins, Mary Funder, Jenny Marsh, Jeanette Fakhry, Jillian Anderson and Wendy Wilson

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Class A – schools that satisfied the inspectors, and Class B – schools that relied on the external examinations.

In 1944 the University of Melbourne recast the Leaving Honours examinations into the Matriculation examination. No longer would results in either internal or external Leaving examinations qualify a student for Matriculation. Every student who wished to attend university would be required to sit the new external Matriculation examination prior to admission. Achieving Class A status became an important objective, as it would enable Loreto Toorak to have sufficient freedom to plan courses best suited to the needs and capacities of their students in Forms Four and Five, or Intermediate and Leaving. After a rigorous assessment by six departmental inspectors, Loreto Toorak was given the go-ahead in 1963 to be reclassified as a Class A school. This classification was then reviewed by departmental inspectors every three years, often causing Mother Emilian further anxiety as she waited for each verdict.

Catholic education

Top: Mary Wright Captain of the school, 1962 Bottom: Caroline Kelly Captain of the school, 1960

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During July 1963 Mother Emilian was called to an important meeting at the Convent of the Good Shepherd, Abbotsford. This meeting was convened and chaired by Archbishop Justin Simonds to investigate the question ‘Wither Catholic Education?’ Prior to 1963 there was no formal structure for the planning and policy development of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The Catholic Education Office staff, composed entirely of priests appointed by the Bishop, met with the diocesan and parish authorities on an ad hoc basis. In Melbourne there was a committee composed of authorities from St Patrick’s Cathedral, staff from the Catholic Education Office and a group of parish priests who met once a year. Each religious order or congregation had its own governance structure. There was no formal grouping of congregations and no lay involvement at all at diocesan, state or congregation levels.

Archbishop Simonds invited senior priests and representatives of religious orders to the Abbotsford meeting with the aim of establishing a firmer footing for education planning. As a result of this meeting, the Archbishop established the Educational Advisory Council in October 1963. Mother Emilian was invited to become the secondary schools’ representative on this council. Adding to her already busy schedule, Mother Emilian began attending monthly meetings in Albert Street, East Melbourne. The terms of reference were both wide and comprehensive. The council’s task was to consider and advise on matters concerning the problems of Catholic education at both primary and secondary levels, including detailed considerations of parochial and regional schools. The meetings of the council were frequent, interesting and often stormy. The debate about the

The education boom and lay teachers The 1960s saw the beginnings of widespread secondary education and schools struggled to find enough qualified teachers to cope with the increasing student numbers. There was a broader acceptance and more opportunities for girls to remain at school after Intermediate level. It was the start, albeit at a glacial pace, of changing expectations of work and family conditions for women. Accompanying the growth in Catholic school student enrolments was a decline in the numbers of religious teachers. In the Archdiocese of Melbourne the proportion of lay teachers increased from twenty per cent in 1950 to thirty-five per cent by 1960. A decade later the percentage of lay teachers had doubled. By 1980 the position was the inverse of 1950, with religious making up only twenty per cent of the teachers in Catholic schools. Of significance for Mother Emilian was not only finding the extra funds to pay for the increasing number of lay teachers, especially in the primary school section, but also to provide for the superannuation contributions and public liability insurance for full-time permanent staff. By 1964 she calculated that she was sending £200 per quarter to the Catholic Superannuation Fund at St Patrick’s Cathedral.11

Top: Junior responsibilities Members of the junior school staff, 1961 Bottom: Senior responsibilities Members of the senior school staff, 1961

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fifty-student limit in primary classes was perhaps the most significant. It raised many additional issues: teaching standards, teachers’ salaries, teachers’ conditions, supply of classrooms and enrolment policies.

In the following year, Archbishop Simonds appointed two lay subcommittees that became an integral part of the work of the council. One was to investigate academic considerations and the other matters pertaining to building, finance and planning. The chairman of each subcommittee became a member of the advisory council. Not since 1860, when Bishop Goold established the Catholic Education Committee, had lay members been so active in advising on educational policy directions for the Catholic Church in Victoria. The lay members of the subcommittees were prominent Catholic professionals and their contributions were well researched and stimulating. In 1965 the academic subcommittee successfully organised the first of three Catholic education conferences at Newman College, all of which Mother Emilian attended. By participating in the Educational Advisory Council Mother Emilian gained valuable information on academic changes and building challenges. While it was purely an advisory gathering, it placed her at the centre of Victorian Catholic educational thinking and discussions of the era.

Loreto Toorak expands During 1959 the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary had purchased Lindfield, the home of Elsa and Alfred Falk Brash, situated in Mandeville Crescent next to the junior school. Alfred Brash ran Brashs, a chain of music stores. The business was founded in 1862 to retail pianos by his father, German immigrant Marcus Brasch. The spelling of the family name was changed during the First World War when anti-German feelings were high. Lindfield was in need of renovation or demolition if the space was to adequately serve for school purposes. Mother Emilian cultivated a network of Catholic men and women that she could call upon whenever she needed assistance. In July 1962 she approached Bernard Callinan, an engineer and senior partner in Gutteridge Haskins & Davey, who was later knighted; Frank Sweeney, an accountant; and Davern Wright, a lawyer who later became a Queen’s counsel. Mother Emilian’s objective was to discuss the possibility of a new building for the Lindfield site.

This group suggested that she visit modern junior classrooms at Christian Brothers’ College, St Kilda, and St Kevin’s College, Toorak, for ideas.12 Having decided on her priorities, Mother Emilian appointed a well-known Catholic architect, Alan Gerard Robertson, to draw plans. Robertson had designed churches and schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne before enlisting and serving in 326

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Malaya, where he became a prisoner of war in Changi Prison and later in Japan.

His design was for four new classrooms in front of the Brash house, with two upstairs and two downstairs. Kenelm Vaughan, a Loreto Toorak old boy who had established his own building firm, undertook the construction, which was completed halfway through 1963 and occupied by Grades Five and Six. The new classrooms were named after the evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

By the mid 1960s the children of the 1950s baby boom and new enrolments were crowding the senior school. Beginning in 1962, the Loreto Sisters encouraged talented Catholic students to matriculate by offering them scholarships, known as the Mary Ward Scholarships, and the winners invariably attended Loreto Toorak.

These scholarships were sponsored by the Loreto Past Pupils’ Associations in Victoria. In 1964, when Commonwealth Secondary School Scholarships were introduced for students in Forms Five and Six, ten Loreto Toorak girls were winners. Each received £200 towards the cost of their education. In the same year Mother Emilian received £1,000 from the estate of Joseph Westhoven, a former Commonwealth public service arbitrator. His only child Mollie had been a pupil at Loreto Toorak from 1929 to 1933 before the family moved to Canberra. Mother Emilian decided to apportion the Westhoven donation gradually to assist in the education of students whose parents were having difficulties in paying their fees.13

Fun and games Junior school boys, 1961. Back row, left to right: John McCombe, Christopher Dale, Andrew Callinan, John Wilden, Kevin Smith, Robert Boyle, Timothy Scally, Timothy Lewis, Stephen Hoppe and Anthony Byrne; front row, left to right: Martin Breheny, John Glover, Michael Teague, Nicholas Hughes, Hugh Kiernan, Christopher Mahon, John Barry, Peter Martin, Michael Taylor, Simon Whelan, Richard Martin and James Dynon

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St Thomas the Apostle School, Blackburn At the commencement of 1963 Mother Emilian welcomed six new senior students from St Thomas the Apostle School, Blackburn, to Loreto Toorak. These were pupils who had completed ten subjects in their Intermediate examinations or had won Junior Government Scholarships or Mary Ward Scholarships.14 The newcomers included Rosemary Morris, Jennifer Evans, Patricia Byrne, Genevieve Douglas, Kerryn Pearce and Julie Tripcony. St Thomas the Apostle School was founded in 1954 in the newly created parish of Blackburn. The school was a coeducational primary and secondary school up to Form Four. From 1957 the Loreto Sisters ran the secondary section for the girls. The transition from St Thomas the Apostle School to Loreto Toorak was not always easy, although many of the first group were talented basketball players, which helped to pave their way. In all, fifty-three girls from St Thomas the Apostle School completed their schooling at Loreto Toorak. One newcomer wrote that she had loved St Thomas the Apostle School as she had grown with the school, starting when it opened, and was reluctant to leave. Travelling long distances each day was a new experience for the students, as they had all lived close to St Thomas’s. They were accustomed in Blackburn to walking or riding their bikes to and from school. One student recalled that aspects of being a scholarship girl were difficult. Although everything was provided, she was conscious of the difference in her socioeconomic background to those of her classmates.15 An overwhelming number of Loreto Toorak fathers were established, educated professionals, company managers or graziers. But there were a handful of Loreto Toorak families who struggled to make ends meet. In one family the father was a winch driver and the mother a machinist. The majority of Blackburn fathers were immigrants, employed as butchers, plumbers, painters and decorators, moulders, mechanics and cleaners. Their cohort did, however, include one accountant, one doctor, one lawyer, one engineer and one geologist. Gendrie Klein-Breteler explained that it was during her final years at Loreto Toorak that her concern for social justice issues was awakened.16 After completing a diploma of teaching, Gendrie joined the Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service. Her role was to assist in the rehabilitation of teenage girls who had been through the Children’s Court and the Winlaton Correctional Facility. Johanna, Genevieve and MaryAnne Douglas became teachers. Johanna and Mary-Anne attended the University of Melbourne, where Johanna completed a music degree and Mary-Anne an arts degree. Genevieve, who was a member of the Loreto Toorak cast of Our Town which won the Catholic Schools’ Drama Festival in 1967, became the Principal of the Austin Hospital School in the Education Department. Nanette Giovannini also became a teacher and ran the social service activities at Siena College, 328

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Camberwell. Dr Cecile Mary Trioli graduated with primary degrees at Deakin University and became an academic historian at the University of Melbourne.

Among her many publications is an intriguing biography of Dorothy Jean Ross, Headmistress of Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School.

International students Newly arrived international students shared similar concerns. Acclimatisation was a gradual process. During the 1960s an increased number of boarders and day scholars came from overseas: from Asia, Europe and both North and South America. These students included Lukinre Beiyoun from Nauru, Pauline and Marie Noël from Mauritius, Bronwyn Jones and Susan Burke from New Guinea, Teresa and Carmella Law from Borneo, Georgine Lee from Singapore, Jenny Lee from Penang, Felicity and Jessica Ho from Brunei and Gemma Huie from Burma.

A dozen students came from Hong Kong, including Aileen T’Sing, Phyllis Ling, Betty Ip, Helen Chen, Gloria and Elizabeth Chang and Rosemary Dean.

Rosemary’s family were from Perth but she was educated in Hong Kong where her father was a translator. Christine Pickerd became a boarder while her father, Air Commodore Edward Pickerd, was serving with the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, India. Christine graduated with a master of arts from the University of Queensland and the University of Manitoba, Canada, and became the director of the Institute of Continuing & Tesol Education at the University of Queensland. In 2012 she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to international tertiary education.

Eleanor and Myrna Hirsch were born in Bucharest but received their early education at Loreto Darjeeling, India. Christine and Margaret Gerke, Deirdre and Patricia Norton-Wilson and Patricia Goodchild came directly from Malaya.

Students from Europe included Uta Frank, Theresa Petraitis and Ingrid Oehlmann from Germany; Ksenija Prkic from Yugoslavia; Marie Merrick, Susan Kaye, Sandra Forsyth and Judith Hook from England; Angela Middleton from Ireland; and Sylvie Melchior and Nicole Cordier from France. Francoise Berberat was born in Berne, Switzerland, and educated in London. She came to Loreto Toorak when her father was the chancellor of the Swiss Consulate in Melbourne. Gabrielle Mosimann, born in Dusseldorf and educated in Berne, attended Loreto Toorak when her father succeeded Berberat as chancellor. Catherine Ingram’s father was a De La Salle College boy who became a career diplomat. She was born in Tel Aviv, educated in Brussels and boarded at Loreto Toorak while her father was a diplomat in Indonesia. Bernadette Connelly was born and educated in Virginia and came to Loreto Toorak when her father was appointed to the American Embassy in Melbourne. Lilly Giorgi, Pisana Ferrari and Concetta and Barbara

A cumbersome process Mother Marianne Newton operating the Gestetner used for duplicating work sheets and newsletters, 1961

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Loved by the boarders Sister Lawrence Waide making a bed in Barry Hall, 1961

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Politi came from Rome. The Politi sisters completed their educations overseas when their father was transferred to Cairo as director of the Italian Institute of Culture. Judith Bourke came from Chicago when her father, who worked with the Ford Motor Company, was appointed to the Melbourne office. The presence of students of different nationalities and backgrounds opened the eyes of those at Loreto Toorak to a wider world. Their comings and goings also contributed to the perception that Toorak students were far more cosmopolitan than the records of their home addresses might suggest.

The Loreto Sisters encouraged the daygirls to make the overseas students welcome. When they were in junior school, Andrea and Gabrielle England had boarded for six weeks when their mother was ill. They understood how lonely and isolated boarders could feel, especially over weekends and public holidays. One Sister, Mother Fildema Walshe, was particularly attentive and caring towards the England girls. Henrietta Eleanor Walshe was born in 1906 at Dalkey, Ireland. At Loreto Toorak she was in charge of the laundry and presided in the kitchen at suppertime, ensuring that all the boarders’ culinary needs were met. The England girls were also loved by Mother Margaret Marianne Newton, a trained nurse who was in charge of the infirmary as well as being assistant bursar and typist. She organised film screenings and the bookshop and worked as a catechist from 1956 until 1975. Mother Margaret was practical, compassionate and understanding, as she had suffered a great deal following a leg amputation.

The England family lived close to the school in Malvern Road. Mother Assumpta invited the families who lived close by to open their homes and hearts to the international students who were boarders. Students from Asia frequently came unaccompanied and were allocated to local guardians, often finding this transition challenging. A young boarder, Ruby Szeto Hung, came to Australia at the age of twelve. Ruby’s guardians in Melbourne were a senior couple who were business friends of her parents. Ruby was born in China and educated at St Mary’s School in Hong Kong before coming to Loreto Toorak. When Ruby first arrived in Melbourne she spoke almost no English. Her father, Szeto Fai, was a shipping merchant in Hong Kong and travelled frequently between Australia and Hong Kong and her four brothers attended the Sydney Marist College and the University of Sydney. Ruby became a frequent visitor to the England household. She would spend her weekends with Andrea and Gabrielle and participate in their family outings. When Andrea was thirteen she spent six weeks of the summer holidays with Ruby in Hong Kong and a lifelong friendship was forged between the two families after Ruby returned home in 1967. Pupils from this time still recall Ruby’s beautiful fan dancing, which was displayed during school concerts.

Diana Gay came from Washington, Martha and Ann Parry from Texas, Diane and Nancy Mitchell from California, Catherine Hanks from New Orleans, Loree

O’Hara from Ontario, Olivia Harrison from Vancouver and Monica Goldberger, born in Buenos Aires, was educated at Loreto Calcutta, India. Janine Jones was educated in Bombay when her father was a jockey there. Charon and Brenda Lea from Montreal were the daughters of Harris Lea, a confectioner and founder of Darrell Lea Chocolates. The parents of Susan Nicholls lived in Venezuela. Susan was first educated in Singapore, where her father had been an Australian trade commissioner before his appointment to Venezuela. Susan, a boarder, travelled to Venezuela for the summer holidays. She wrote that her home visits were fascinating but terrorism was rife: ‘It is interesting to think of the comparison between dropping off to sleep in Melbourne and doing the same in Caracas. Imagine thinking to yourself – God have mercy on any poor policeman or terrorist who dies by violence tonight – and hearing the crackle of machine-guns and the whine of police sirens in the distance.’17 Mary Blaan Midgley, whose mother Mary Reynolds was a student in the 1930s, interrupted her Loreto Toorak schooling to move to Massachusetts in the United States of America, where her father was developing a shoe business. On her return she wrote: ‘It was a satisfactory feeling when I arrived in Melbourne to renew friendships with my class mates, particularly in view of the fact that I had grown so close to other friends in America.’18 After Loreto Toorak Blaan became a fashion designer and established her own business. Mary, Barbara, Ann and Kathleen were the daughters of Mark Wilton Burns of Bellevue, Washington.

They attended Loreto Toorak while living in Wallace Avenue, Toorak, when their father was working as an aircraft field representative for the Australian government.

Clearly the presence of international students impacted on the future working lives of their Loreto Toorak contemporaries. When Mary Byrne, the daughter of past student Mary Sheehan, left school she joined the Immigration Department and would often meet migrants at the wharves for forty-eight hours without a break. She became interested in local government and was elected as mayor of Prahran from 1984 to 1985, joined the executive council of the Melbourne Tourist Authority and turned the family house into a home-stay facility for international students. Wendy Wilson began her working life as a teacher and catechist in Australia before moving to a remote part of South Korea, where she lived and worked as a stranger in terms of language, culture and religion. In 1985 she co-founded the International Women’s Development Agency and worked overseas with community organisations in the fields of international development, peace building and human rights. In 2006 she received the Merit Medal, awarded by the president of the National Vietnam Women’s Union, for her contribution to the development of equality for Vietnamese women.

At school Marguerite Davis was a sports buff and recalled that their only excursions were to the Yarra billabong at Abbotsford.19 After rearing six Loreto

An outstanding physics teacher Sister Anne McPhee with her devotees in 1969. Standing, left to right: Andrea England, Linda Gunn, Elizabeth McQueen Thompson, Sister Anne McPhee, Jacqueline Hughes and Jo Ann Connaughton; seated, left to right: Gemma Huie and Lavena Coughlin

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As a group of Australians in Malaya, we had a strong taste for adventure and could find no better place to satisfy it than in the jungle. We wanted to find out more about the primitive peoples of this country and were already finding it an arduous task which we had set ourselves. Clad in khaki trousers and shirt, with water bottles, food packs and great, thick jungle boots protecting our feet, we were a novelty to the astonished natives, who saw white people seldom.

Antonia Bleechmore

Toorak students – Alan, Peter, Monique, Anne, Therese and Georgina – Marguerite forged strong relationships with Loreto Kenya. Her mother, Germaine Quessy, educated at Loreto Mauritius, had instilled in her the importance of service to the community. In 1997 Marguerite visited Kenya, where the issue of AIDS and the lack of education and resources touched her deeply. She became an active volunteer in a Melbourne-registered Kenyan charity, Women for Women in Africa. The fund is administered by Kenyan Loreto Sisters based in Nairobi, who keep the story of Mary Ward alive in East Africa.

Patricia Coleman, a senior teacher in English and literature, became involved in the formation and running of Ignatian spiritual exercises through retreats, colloquia and immersion programs in Cambodia. Geraldine Burrowes, a boarder from Geelong, studied art, and her religious greeting cards won first prize in the Open Section of the Paraclete Arts Competition. She sold her cards to raise funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Save the Children Fund. Her sister Lesley became a model, often giving her services free for charity fashion shows.

Margaret Ann, daughter of Kathleen Connaughton, a Loreto Toorak student, and Charles Henry Carolan, who served in the Royal Australian Navy during the war, became a volunteer with the Adult Leukaemia Research Foundation. Prudence, Angela, Madelon, Elizabeth and Mary were the daughters of an English baronet, Sir Gilbert George Benson Boileau, who was educated at Xavier College, Kew and became a doctor.

After serving during the war, Louise Britt’s father, Wing Commander Leo Britt, became a permanent member of the Royal Australian Air Force as an instructor at the staff college. Brigadier Sidney Bleechmore was serving with the Royal Australian Engineers in Japan when his daughter, Antonia, was born there.

She was educated in Singapore before attending Loreto Toorak and returned to Japan to complete her schooling. In 1963 Antonia wrote of her travels: As a group of Australians in Malaya, we had a strong taste for adventure and could find no better place to satisfy it than in the jungle. We wanted to find out more about the primitive peoples of this country and were already finding it an arduous task which we had set ourselves. Clad in khaki trousers and shirt, with water bottles, food packs and great, thick jungle boots protecting our feet, we were a novelty to the astonished natives, who saw white people seldom.20 Sally Walsh was the daughter of Dublin-born Dermot Walsh, a film and television actor, and Hazel Court, an English-born stage and film star working in Hollywood. Before coming to Loreto Toorak, Sally had appeared with her mother in The Curse of Frankenstein. Clarissa Dickson Wright, from London, was briefly a boarder while her Australian-born mother travelled interstate on family business.

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After school Clarissa studied law at University College London and at the age of twenty-one became England’s youngest barrister. Her reputation as a legal pioneer was overshadowed by her subsequent entertaining cooking television series, Two Fat Ladies, produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Judith Ley married Clifton Pugh, and became a political activist and well known in art circles.

Country boarders

The delights of St Gertrude’s passage Prefects in the Mary Ward Room, 1960.

Standing, left to right: Roslyn Arnold, Mary Byrne, Susan Guest, Helen Murphy, Rosemary Farley and Yvonne von Hartel; seated, left to right: Gabrielle Farley, Anna Sinn, Caroline Kelly, Wendy Wilson and Robin Robinson

During the 1960s more than two hundred and fifty students were boarders, with another forty students boarding on a short-term basis. A large proportion of boarders were country girls from Mildura, Swan Hill, the Western District and Gippsland, as well as from Tasmania, where there was no Loreto school. Professor of Education Dr Roslyn Arnold, who lived in Mildura, was previously a boarder at Loreto Marryatville, Adelaide, and was permitted to wear their uniform at

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Left: A hair salon in the ‘blue’ dormitory Boarders helping each other, 1965. Left to right: Susan Gorman, Jennifer Sheahan and Theresa Dynon Right: The teller writes, the accountant checks, the clerk records and the manager inspects Enterprising boarders founded a student bank in 1961

Mother Xaveria Hannan Meg (Margaret) Hannan was born in Sydney, where her father was a lawyer. After an early education with the Dominicans at Santa Sabina, Strathfield, and spending her secondary school years at Loreto Normanhurst, Meg entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her teaching career began with fifty-two energetic Grade Two girls and boys at Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne. She completed primary teaching qualifications, a bachelor of arts, diploma of educational administration and, in later life, a master’s degree in religious education.

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Loreto Toorak until it wore out. Roslyn wrote: ‘The Loreto tradition of believing in and developing the intrinsic worth of each individual student was well in evidence in my school days and I remember observing with surprise how certain students would blossom under the insightful and empathetic guidance of the nuns.’21 Roslyn retained her Loreto connections as chair of the Loreto Normanhurst School Council and chair of the Ward d’Houet Education Board, promoting the values of Loreto and the Faithful Companions of Jesus.

Generations of Gorman families came to Loreto Toorak from Balranald, Deniliquin and Berrigan in New South Wales. The Sisters realised that the boarders suffered from being much more closely observed than the day scholars.

The Mistress of Schools and Principal of the senior school, Mother Xaveria Hannan, was an exceptional teacher.

Georgina Haig, a boarder, recalled that during her school days the dynamic and beautiful Mother Xaveria breezed into her life. Mother Xaveria opened up a world of poetry and literature, and school learning became an adventure and a pleasure. Georgina remembered sitting spellbound on Saturday afternoons while Mother Xaveria read Hiawatha with music and magic. During Georgina’s own teaching career she embraced many new techniques but failed to come up with a style superior to that used by Mother Xaveria. Of her days as a boarder, Georgina recounted: Sleeping in was almost as important to me as food. Both feature prominently in the diary I kept of my five years as a boarder. A sleep in meant not getting up for 7 a.m. Mass at 6.25 a.m. but luxuriating to the grand time of 7.15 a.m. or so.

A youthful and engaging teacher A Grade Five reading and discussion group with Mother Mark Ziebarth, 1961

Everyone had a passion for the Charlie Brown series, Mother Xaveria included.

I recall her giggling over one in the Refectory during a meal she was supervising.22 The gregarious Connellan sisters, Mary, Elizabeth and Kathleen, were cousins of the Lachal and Peppard families of Loreto Toorak fame. The sisters came from Loreto Portland and boarded at Loreto Toorak, where it took them a while to adjust to the routines and practices: maintaining silence from the end of evening recreation until breakfast the next day; bowing before walking backwards out of the dining room; stripping and fully remaking their beds every day; and being allowed out of school grounds only on Sundays, in full uniform, departing at 10am and returning at 6pm. Mary trained as a psychiatric nurse, worked in immigration detention centres, developed an ongoing involvement with refugees and became a longstanding supporter of the Jesuit Mission. Elizabeth became an arts graduate and a teacher who travelled with a circus around Australia when they were performing to ensure that the circus children had continuity in their education. Kathleen became project co-ordinator for registered charity the Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation.

At weekends the boarders were often restless and more likely to get up to mischief. Mother Mark Ziebarth (Sister Patricia Ziebarth), Art Mistress, teacher of the boarders’ choir and former Loreto Toorak student, introduced a Saturday evening music club for the boarders. She invited performers and encouraged musical appreciation, always followed by an enjoyable supper. Loreto Toorak parents supported the local parish of St Peter’s, Toorak. Students from the enclave bordered by Malvern, Orrong, Kooyong and Toorak roads remember being whisked off by Mother Mark to singing practice for Easter and Christmas services.

The Loreto tradition of believing in and developing the intrinsic worth of each individual student was well in evidence in my school days and I remember observing with surprise how certain students would blossom under the insightful and empathetic guidance of the nuns.

Dr Roslyn Arnold

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These young choristers came from many Loreto Toorak families, and often included daughters of the Sweeney, Coghlan, Sinn, Connaughton, Dwyer, McCardle, St Ellen, O’Rorke, Wilden, Deany, Hollywood, Lodge and Doyle families. One of their rituals included scattering holy-water blessed rose petals around the perimeter of the church.

New buildings for the senior school

Top: Anna Sinn Captain of the school, 1961 Bottom: Irene McCardel Captain of the school, 1968

Planning new buildings to accommodate the burgeoning senior school was a far larger and more complex task for Mother Emilian than those she had undertaken for the junior school. During the 1960s educational reform was under way, particularly in the field of science. The 1957 Russian launch of the Sputnik followed by the 1969 American moon landing highlighted the importance of mathematics and science, which at Loreto Toorak were in a parlous state. With more girls demanding excellent teaching in order to qualify for university and scholarships, there was a pressing need for new science laboratories and upgraded facilities for domestic science.

Another area that needed urgent attention was the library. By the 1960s modern educational thinking was shifting to research-based learning. Libraries were evolving into study centres, where students, driven by intellectual curiosity, could discover knowledge for themselves – or such was the theory. In this context the library annex off the Indian Room seemed quaint and outmoded. As a reading room for fiction it was adequate and always well patronised. As a study centre, however, it was quite inadequate. Mother Emilian considered that the school needed a purpose-built library with plenty of space for study, discussion and research. In 1964 she wrote: Our Founder, Mary Ward, intended her Institute to meet the needs of each age.

Accordingly, in loyalty to her ideals, we realise we cannot be true to our trust, nor just to the children we teach, unless we embark on a building project that will make our school worthy of its aims: to prepare our girls not merely to take their part in the walk of life for which they are best adapted, but especially to train them as Catholic women to act as leaven in a secular world.23 As Superior of Loreto Normanhurst from 1955 to 1960 Mother Emilian had overseen the beginnings of a new and extensive building program. Earlier, as Mistress of Schools at Loreto Kirribilli, Mother Emilian had become friendly with a Dutch immigrant, Gerardus Jozef Dick Dusseldorp, the founder of the construction company Civil and Civic.

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In addition to large-scale projects, Dusseldorp developed a specialised ‘Design and Construct’ package for individual clients. The package consisted of a co-ordinated team of experts employed by Civil and Civic – architects, engineers and builders – to design and oversee all details to ensure continuity of construction.

As soon as construction commenced, a Civil and Civic site manager took control of all operations. The success of this approach was based on the principle that the designer was employed by the contractor, not the other way around. Two successive projects of this type were already under way in Sydney at Loreto Kirribilli and the Jesuit St Aloysius’ College, which Dusseldorp’s children attended. Dusseldorp flew down from Sydney to meet with Mother Emilian at Loreto Toorak. He introduced her to three of his Dutch colleagues who had come to Sydney with him in 1951: Jack Klompe, the Victorian branch manager, and two carpenters, John Urbahns and Bill Manten, who would act as her site manager and foreman respectively. Dusseldorp suggested that the package include the company’s professional fundraiser, who was working on the appeal for Loreto Kirribilli.

Civil and Civic produced a master plan that covered Mother Emilian’s building requirements for new classrooms, a science block, art rooms, an extensive library in the old St Cecilia’s Hall and the modernisation of existing facilities.

Dusseldorp recommended that the Sisters purchase two adjoining properties, demolish them and build the new senior school along the side lane and right of way. In the interim work commenced on stage one, the construction of two new classrooms at the southern end of the Green Verandah and the removal of the existing tennis courts to make way for a new building. Stage two involved building new rooms for the third division, the middle school, and stage three included the construction of the new senior school, with science laboratories, domestic science room, classrooms and a new library under the chapel.24 It was an ambitious undertaking. Such a major overhaul required capital, and an appeal for special funds was needed. A committee of fathers was quickly organised under the chairmanship of Judge Arthur Adams of the County Court.

Judge Adams was the husband of Julie Murphy, a foundation student at Loreto Toorak, and father of students Julianna, Gabrielle, Joan, Julia and Arthur.

Publicity was organised by John Pacini, husband of early Loreto Toorak student Pauline Jackson, and father of Merrin and Terrence. Pacini was ably assisted by Laidley Mort, a radio announcer who also worked in television advertising. Mort was the father of five Loreto Toorak students, Amanda, Susannah, Helen, Mary and James. With the assistance of seven other fathers, they began approaching past friends and supporters of Loreto Toorak. Early in the process the committee recommended that the Sisters should raise the fees by £10 per family per term and leave the current parents out of their campaign. This recommendation was readily endorsed by Mother Emilian.

Gerardus Jozef Dick Dusseldorp Gerardus Jozef Dick Dusseldorp was from Utrecht, Holland, where he had been born into a large Catholic family in a very Protestant country. He entered the merchant marines and became an engineer.

Twice during the war he was deported from Holland by the Germans to work in forced labour camps. In the summer of 1944 he escaped and returned to Holland.

Dusseldorp, with his wife and five children, came to Australia in 1951 with £10,000 and a handful of Dutch workers. He held a contract to build two hundred houses for the Snowy Mountains Authority at Cooma.

He planned to give Australia a try for five years. Other successful contracts followed, including building the foundations of the Sydney Opera House and the development at Middle Cove, Sydney. The family lived for forty years in one of his constructions in his Harbour Heights development.

The combination of his religious beliefs and his war experiences drove him in a communitarian direction, in which respect for one’s fellow man and woman was central.

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Top: Scientists in Form 5 Back row, left to right: Dale Willstead, Joan O’Rorke, Mary Wright, Mary Byrne, Patricia Hoppe and Ann O’Rorke; middle row, left to right: Judith Ley, Penelope Lewis-Williams, Imelda O’Brien, Mary King and Roslyn Arnold; front row left to right: Bernadette Duck, Ingrid Oehlmann and Wendy Green, 1960 Bottom: A readers’ world Mother Josepha Little with senior students using the reference library in St Cecila’s Hall beneath the chapel, 1961 Opposite, top: A new Loreto enterprise Mother Bernadette Gray teaching typing at the Loreto Commercial College, South Melbourne, 1963 Opposite, bottom: Dressmaking skills They formed an enjoyable part of the curriculum for the 46 pupils enrolled in 1963 at the Loreto Commercial College, South Melbourne

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Loreto Commercial College Due to increased costs and a decline in numbers, the Loreto Free Kindergarten in South Melbourne was closed in 1961. Mary Rowan, a Loreto Toorak past student and long-term supporter of the kindergarten, suggested that the past students should make a gift of the kindergarten buildings to the Loreto community for a new venture that could fill a gap in the education of South Melbourne girls. In 1963 the Loreto Commercial College was opened as a postprimary unit for Saints Peter and Paul’s School, where sixty girls who could not afford to go to a secondary school could be trained in domestic science, dressmaking and office work. Those who had faithfully supported the kindergarten over the decades now turned their attention towards Loreto Toorak’s pressing needs.

The Loreto Toorak target was to raise £110,000, an extraordinary amount for that time. The central aim was to establish a two-stream school, providing two classes at every level from Grade One to Form Six. The two streams were named ‘Gold’ and ‘Blue’. On the afternoon of 21 May 1964, the States Grants for Science Laboratories and Technical Training Bill passed through its final stages in the Commonwealth Upper House. This represented a significant break in the policy of no state aid to non-government schools. Included in this legislation was provision for school science laboratories. Mother Emilian approached Ernest David Gardiner, the newly appointed chairman of the Advisory Committee on Standards for Science Facilities in Independent Schools. She visited him at Melbourne Grammar School, where he had been a senior science master, viewed their facilities and was provided with expert information. Loreto Toorak received a £21,000 grant for their new laboratories.

Mother Emilian was a stickler for detail. She visited schools and universities around Melbourne looking for ideas on how rooms for art and domestic science, as well as libraries and laboratories, could best be laid out and furnished. She decided on carpeting the classrooms, writing that this decision made it the quietest building ever and that her staff members were teaching in unexpected peace and serenity.25 At the same time she welcomed sixty members of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to hear a paper given by Betty Robertson, a past student, on the history of Mandeville Hall. She took the visitors on a tour as Betty talked to the group about the changes made by the Clarke family.

The new senior school, including a tuckshop, sheltered recreation area, lecture theatre, general purpose classrooms, science laboratories and domestic science facilities were blessed and opened by Bishop Lawrence Moran on 6 March 1966 and became known as the Mary Ward Building. Loreto Toorak was transformed by the new facilities. There were modern furnishings, improved educational equipment and beautiful ornaments. In their report Civil and Civic wrote: There is more to building a school than just bricks and biology rooms, doors and desks. Much more. There is the pre-planning and the organising, matters of the size of the rooms, where the light is best, teaching facilities, student numbers, present and future. The key word is FUTURE because when you build a school or a factory or a home, you must think ahead in terms of the people who will use it, their capacity to work and live in comfort, serenity and with a sense of belonging.26

Melodious voices of the senior choir Celebrating the opening of the Mary Ward building, 1966

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The new facilities quickly enhanced the role of science teaching in the school and laid the groundwork for prominent careers. Susan Barrett completed her master of science and Dr Pamela Stanley, née Fetherstonhaugh, became an assistant professor of cell biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York

and an outstanding researcher and academic. Twenty girls became doctors, while another twenty completed applied science degrees. Felicity Clarke studied dentistry and Ristan Rosenberg veterinary science. Securing a grant for new science facilities was a farsighted initiative.

In 1968 an unusual article appeared in Toorakanrooin about the transition to university: ‘The prospect of leaving the guiding regimen of the school and of meeting the opportunity and obligation for expression in the wider world of adults are in themselves sufficient cause for both excitement and trepidation. Necessary though Matriculation and the fulfilment of quota requirements happen to be, these are not sufficient to guarantee success in or satisfaction with university life.’ 27 The writer, John Adrian Fyfield, described himself as a rank outsider, a non-pupil, a non-young person and a non-female. He was a senior lecturer in education at Monash University and the father of three Loreto Toorak students: Jane, who became a doctor, Sally, who became a communications officer with Victoria Police, and Clare, who became a community nurse.

Artworks for the new Loreto buildings On 29 May 1965 Mother Emilian attended the blessing of the foundation stone

by Archbishop Simonds of the new St Mary’s Hall, soon to be renamed St Mary’s College, on Swanston Street. She remarked that those present were largely Loreto Toorak parents. The Principal of St Mary’s Hall, Mother Francis Frewin, known to generations of Loreto Toorak students, supervised all aspects of the construction of the new college. She pored over the plans in detail and commissioned artists and craftsmen to create a special chapel. Following in this Loreto tradition, Mother Emilian commissioned two artists to provide sacred works for her new buildings. The first was Daniel Flynn, a noted Catholic artist-craftsman from Kyneton, Victoria. He was one of twelve children born to Mary O’Ryan and Ignatius Flynn, a medical practitioner. Two of his sisters, Clare and Margaret, had entered the Loreto Order. Daniel married Betty Hegarty, a past student of Loreto Toorak, and their daughter Mary was a current boarder. At this time Daniel was designing the tabernacle for St Mary’s College. For Loreto Toorak he cast in copper and brass a statue of Our Lady to grace the entrance to the new senior school. The second artist commissioned was Andor Mèszáros, a Hungarian-born architect and sculptor. He cast a bronze figure of Christ with outstretched arms to grace the main stairs of the new building. The parish priest of St Peter’s Church, Toorak, Reverend Walter Ebsworth, declared that Mother Emilian had given the girls of Loreto Toorak a wonderful gift with the redevelopment of the school. She had faced the cost and all the worries associated with it, and she was prepared to do this because she was a woman of faith, courage and vision.28

Top: Federal government assistance Letter from John Gorton, Ministerin-Charge of Commonwealth Activities in Education and Research, to Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden, 22 December 1964 Bottom: A generous donation for the new building Letter from Harry Tolley, Chairman of Directors of The Myer Emporium

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Teaching practices in the junior school Science talent search Form Four inventors in the new science laboratory, 1968. Back row, left to right: Katrina O’Sullivan and Jennifer Randles; front row, left to right: Mary Anne Molomby, Gabrielle England, Mary Hill and Angela Dwyer

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The 1960s at Loreto Toorak were also years of innovation and experimentation in teaching practices in the junior school. Mother Frances Anthony Matha was Mistress of the Junior School from 1961 to 1972, but had taught in the junior school from 1958 while completing her primary teacher’s certificate. As Mistress of the Junior School she worked closely with the Curriculum and Research Branch of the Education Department. In September 1965 the junior school hosted a series of workshops conducted by Caleb Gattegno, an innovative teacher of international renown. Gattegno was an Egyptian inventor and author of more than one hundred and twenty books on teaching foreign languages, reading and mathematics. His talks at Loreto Toorak concentrated on the hands-on approach of teaching mathematics and literacy through the use of Cuisenaire rods. The new method for teaching children to read was called ‘Words in Colour’. It divided the alphabet into colours, allotting the same colour to similar sounds. The coloured rods were invented by Belgian Georges Cuisenaire, and with Gattegno’s help the use of the rods for teaching both mathematics and language became popular worldwide. Following his presentations the junior school staff trialled a mathematics program produced by American publishers Science Research Associates. This program provided teachers with material for students learning at different rates and with different styles. After making appropriate changes for Australian schools, the staff gave demonstration lessons based on the Science Research Associates program to other primary school teachers.

In 1967 Mother Anthony became an inaugural member of the Junior Schools Headmistresses’ Association and was elected as a committee member. Teachers from member schools were invited by Mother Anthony to spend time observing the classes at Loreto Toorak and these invitations were reciprocated. The visitors commented on the spirit among Loreto Toorak’s staff and were astonished to hear them call each other by their Christian names. On returning to their own schools they adopted Loreto Toorak’s friendly approach. In addition, Mother Anthony was a committee member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s ‘Health and Hygiene’ series of radio programs, recorded at their Rippon Lea studios. These broadcasts were used in class work and as source material for lessons on health. This connection with the Australian Broadcasting Commission later led in 1967 to the filming of a television production Die Fledermaus in the grounds of Loreto Toorak.

The Second Vatican Council

Left: Official guests at the opening of the new senior building, 1966 Front row, left to right: Lady Veronica Chamberlin, Sir Michael Chamberlin, Mrs Mary Wright, Lady Elvie Curtis, Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden, Mother Dympna McNamara and Mother Antoinette Hayden Top right: Realisation of a dream The opening of the Mary Ward Building in the senior school, 1966. Left to right: Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden, Bishop Lawrence Moran and Provincial Superior Mother Dympna McNamara Bottom right: White dresses and veils for girls and smart suits for boys First Holy Communion breakfast, 1961

A ferment of ecumenism permeated the school with the opening of the first session of the Second Vatican Council in Rome during September 1962. Loreto Toorak student Mary Wright, later Loreto Provincial and Mother General of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, wrote: ‘Ours is the responsibility of carrying the Ecumenical movement into our daily lives, into the lowest strata of the

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Church’s structure, the laity. This new movement puts a great responsibility onto all Catholics, but most of all the youth, who will probably see a great reunion of all the churches.’29 Held over four years, this worldwide Church council changed the face of Catholicism. For many years Reverend Harold King SJ was the chaplain for the Loreto Toorak community and said daily Mass for the boarders. He kept the community informed about the external and internal changes being debated during the sessions of the Second Vatican Council and provided sage and thoughtful advice. He was a committed, efficient and unobtrusive priest devoted to his duties. He was also humble in the extreme, cared nothing for praise and worked quietly behind the scenes for the Jesuit missions in India.

In 1963 Reverend King wrote to Mother Emilian: It is with reluctance and a good deal of embarrassment that I write to ask you to consider a readjustment of the chaplain’s honorarium. It is over twelve years since it was fixed and conditions have changed to the extent that it is difficult to make living costs. Hence I am forced to look into ways and means. I have no suggestion to make but am sure that as head of a school you are more than others familiar with the change in values over the years. Furthermore I look on this rather as a matter of begging. We would much prefer to cooperate freely with you and your work for God. Please forgive me for pounding you from yet another side! We always appreciate your boundless kindness to us and sympathize with you in the burden you carry.30 Mother Emilian promptly raised his honorarium from £100 to £200 per year.

There were both external and internal changes in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The first significant external manifestation was the ruling that the Mass would no longer be in Latin, the language of the educated, but in the vernacular. Reverend King generously arranged for duplicated copies of the new Order of the Mass in English to be sent to the Sisters well in advance so they could familiarise themselves with the new format and become accustomed to the changes. On Sunday 5 July 1964 Reverend King celebrated the Eucharist in the Chapel of Christ the King on the first day that Mass in English was allowed in Australia. Many of the worshippers were apprehensive about this major liturgical alteration. There was a fear that the sacredness and solemnity of the Mass might be compromised. Helen Healy, a teacher in the junior school and mother of Sally Marron, was among this group. Helen’s mother and two aunts had attended Loreto Mary’s Mount and her two sisters, Margaret and Elizabeth, accompanied her to Loreto Toorak. Helen attended the second Mass celebrated in English at Loreto Toorak. She was prepared to mourn the loss of Latin until the dear older priest, the historian and friend of Loreto Toorak Reverend Walter Ebsworth,

Ours is the responsibility of carrying the Ecumenical movement into our daily lives, into the lowest strata of the Church’s structure, the laity. This new movement puts a great responsibility onto all Catholics, but most of all the youth, who will probably see a great reunion of all the churches.

Mary Wright

Opposite, top: Mistress of the Junior School Mother Anthony Matha with her charges, 1961 Opposite, bottom: Producing confident public speakers Mother Theophane Bongiorno fined students for saying ‘um’ when speaking in class and raised a tidy sum for the missions. Grade Two students, 1967

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declared that it was the happiest day in his priestly life.31 A more intriguing external sign for the Loreto Toorak girls was the gradual change by the Sisters from their cumbersome, medieval-style habits to lighter, more simple garments whereupon the girls discovered that the Sisters actually had hair!

Changes to the Loreto community

Patricia Galbally Captain of the school, 1964

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In the face of external upheavals the lives of the Loreto community followed a time-honoured pattern of morning meditation, Mass, presiding in the dormitories and in the dining room, teaching classes all day, then presiding at study and finally seeing their charges to bed. Each member of the community was allocated responsibilities in either the house or the school and no one interfered in another person’s office. Only Mother Emilian, as Superior, was exempt from this arrangement, but on her shoulders rested the implementation of significant changes. Internally, religious congregations followed the directives and decrees of the Second Vatican Council by holding convocations to rewrite their vision and practice. With their traditional rule of enclosure now removed, the Loreto community was left with greater individual freedom, new responsibilities and a lack of certainty. This prompted the Sisters to re-examine the works and writings of Mary Ward for inspired direction and to evaluate the spirit and tradition of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Australia.

A study of the life and times of Mary Ward revealed a passionate commitment to flexibility in terms of apostolate, dress and daily timetable. Fidelity to her founding inspiration meant a radical rethink. While education was seen as the most important means of propagating the Faith, it also included a wide field of works relevant to education, such as catechetical classes for adults and children attending government schools, and participation in parishes and welfare and community work. Another Second Vatican Council directive was to abolish the distinction between first- and second-degree nuns – known as Mothers and Sisters respectively – which was a relic of the Irish tradition. This had long been the aim of the Provincial, Mother Dympna McNamara, who began to work for the integration of the Mothers (the teachers) and Sisters (the supporters) before the distinction was formally abolished in 1968, after which all members of the community were called ‘Sister’ and many returned to their own given names. Over the next several years the work of the Institute diversified into areas beyond formal school education.

Parallel to this move was a dramatic drop in the number of women joining the order and the advent of a larger cohort of lay staff in Loreto schools.

Of great concern was the perceived need to reinvigorate the apostolic work of past student associations, with the Loreto community engaging more actively in their interests and concerns. Opinions differed about the effectiveness of the

Top: Stepping out The juniors were treated to ballet lessons in 1967 Middle: Creative activities in the stables Form Four in the craft room, 1960.

Back row, left to right: Mary Higgins, Elizabeth Burnes, Leveda Lynch, Frances Hennessy, Christine Leonard and Diane Alessio; middle row, left to right: Susan Daily, Robyn Richardson, Leonie Ryan, Lynette Leahy and Alexandra Radcliffe; seated, left to right: Michele Jacquinot, Cynthia Higgins and Yvonne Tomlinson Bottom: Broadening horizons A visit from the Police Cadet School, 1964. Back row, left to right: Jane Tanner, Belinda Dawson and Ann McKell (students from Merton Hall); front row, left to right: Patricia Galbally, Mary Anne Douglas and Cynthia Arnold (students from Loreto Toorak), with guest speaker Peter Harmsworth

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Top, left: Senior school devotions Students in the Chapel of Christ the King, 1967 Top, right: Sacristan and teacher Irish Sister Mother Antoninus Hendrick enjoyed cleaning the altar brass for the Chapel of Christ the King, 1961 Above: In winter the students wore blue bowler hats With the regulation gold crest appearing on the band

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federated Loreto associations. Some Sisters felt that the results of the five conferences showed little evidence of practical action and that a greater emphasis had been placed on social aspects and activities rather than on resolutions that would see the members of the federation take a more active part in the Church apostolate. The Sisters also considered that too few were involved to make the conferences forceful, and the question of expense was a pressing one. For members from far distant states, attendance had become almost impossible. The Institute resolved to communicate with as many past scholars as possible and arrange special times and days to visit, share in their lives and encourage them in their community work for the Church.32 The community at Loreto Toorak undertook their own special project during the 1965 September school holidays. Mother Emilian decided that they would change, yet again, the three upstairs rooms at the front of the Mandeville Hall. She organised for these rooms to be converted into the Junior Dormitory. The Sisters held a working bee, painting the sleeping quarters and making new curtains and bedspreads. They then turned their attention to the vacant upstairs rooms in St Michael’s (the stables). The ground floor had been already converted into a new staff common room. With extraordinary energy the Sisters began refurbishing the upstairs rooms to create an art and craft room for the middle school. They sanded and painted twenty-four old tables and built open cupboards to keep the art folios and painting smocks. They retained one nun’s cubicle as a storeroom for the art teacher, Mother Inez O’Donnell. By all accounts it was an enjoyable activity, with Sister Roch Beck, a South Melbourne Bridigine past student, in charge of the kitchen, keeping them all fed and watered.

Sister Breda Sister Breda (Brigid) was born near Dublin and educated at Loreto College St Stephen’s Green before entering Rathfarnham, where she was professed. On arriving in Australia in May 1936 she taught for six months at Loreto Mary’s Mount before becoming a member of the Loreto Toorak community while she studied for her arts degree at the University of Melbourne. Several years later she became a member of the St Mary’s Hall community, where she completed a science degree.

A brilliant scholar The Mother Superior of Loreto Toorak, Sister Breda Byrne, and her faithful companion, 1970

A new Mother Superior: Sister Breda At the beginning of 1968 Mother Emilian moved to Western Australia and Mother Sylvester Byrne, who became known as Sister Breda, became the new Superior of Loreto Toorak. She was a brilliant scholar and the Loreto Toorak students held her in high regard for her organisational skills, commitment and knowledge. As Superior, Sister Breda oversaw further additions to the junior school, rearranged existing facilities, initiated Loreto Toorak’s own annual magazine, known as Mandeville, and introduced a new blue summer uniform.

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Left: Changing fee scales The scale of fees altered to reflect the introduction of decimal currency, 1966 Right: Setting up shop Grade Five students learn about handling transactions in decimal currency, 1968.

Left to right: Kristine Hill, Tracey Quin, Danielle Brown, Jillian Reynolds, Mary Ellen Wilkinson and Jean Carroll

Unlike her predecessor, Sister Breda immediately made her presence felt among the girls by taking the unprecedented step of contributing a piece to the student magazine Toorakanrooin entitled ‘Do You Know? Do You Care?’: Have you ever been really hungry with no prospect of alleviation? Have you ever been cold, homeless and sick with none to care? No? And, please God you never will. Please God you will never find yourself in a poverty-stricken country, ravaged by war, by disease unless it is to give yourself to the people of such a country, to show Christ to them in love. But people from poverty-stricken, war-ravished countries are calling to us NOW, not in the vague future. Do you care? Really?

What does your PROJECT COMPASSION box tell you? Does this measure of your generosity embarrass you? Or don’t you care? DO YOU KNOW that there are people around you, even in this school needing help, sympathy, interest and LOVE. DO YOU CARE? I know you do. So do I! Let’s prove it.33 By 1969 enrolment numbers had increased to more than eight hundred pupils at Loreto Toorak. The students began to engage in a broader range of community activities under the auspices of the Student Social Service Council. These included visits to Caritas Christi, Kew Cottages, Turana Youth Training Centre and Marathon Spastic Centre. At the instigation of Dame Mary Daly the girls collected food, clothing and toys to assist in the 1967 bushfire-relief appeal in Tasmania. On 7 February 1967 fires had destroyed thousands of homes and

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Loreto House, St Vincent Place During the vintage days of increased vocations to the Loreto Institute the novitiate had been moved in 1956 to Loreto Normanhurst from Mary’s Mount.

A new era for the community began in 1969. When the Christian Brothers closed their boys’ orphanage, situated at 73–78 St Vincent Place, Albert Park, they offered the property to the Provincial, Mother Dympna McNamara. After careful consideration and in light of the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council, Mother Dympna recognised that this site could accommodate two communities, one for the Provincial and the other for the novitiate. The property consisted of three adjoining terrace houses facing St Vincent Gardens, but these houses needed renovating to make them functional for her double purpose. While waiting

for the renovations to be completed, the Mother Provincial lived with her companions and novices at Loreto Toorak. In pouring rain the sisters moved to their new abode on 23 June 1969, taking with them gifts of food, kitchen utensils and furniture from the Loreto Toorak community and families. Many of the dining room chairs had been lovingly autographed by generations of Loreto Toorak students! The Albert Park community house at 82 St Vincent Place was subsequently sold in 1974 and in 1977 the Loreto Commercial College in South Melbourne was closed.

Loreto House was to be the heart of the Institute in Australia for the next forty years. It was also a gathering place for members of the Institute, past students and Loreto Toorak girls to undertake a wide variety of social works for those in need.

buildings and sixty-two Tasmanian lives had been lost. Many senior girls also undertook catechist courses and participated in the introduction of the Aboriginal Awareness Campaign, run by the Secondary Schools Aboriginal Affairs Fund to raise money for Indigenous scholarships. Mother Teresa of Calcutta visited Loreto Toorak in 1969 during her visit to Australia. One student, Anne Marie Bourke, recalled that day as one of her highlights at school.34 Mother Teresa was a Yugoslavian nun who was permitted to leave the Loreto Order to found the Order of Missionaries to help the destitute in India. She was visiting Australia to meet with other religious to establish an Aboriginal Education Centre at Bourke in New South Wales. The students organised a nine-mile walk and raised more than a thousand dollars for her cause. She returned the following year to found a community for her nuns in poor premises in Fitzroy. On both occasions Mother Teresa, with her nuns, stayed at Loreto House, Albert Park.

The 1960s was a time of great change throughout Australia and the western world. At Loreto Toorak it took tangible form in the new buildings, updated facilities and a revised curriculum. But other changes were invisible and more farreaching. As the baby boomers reached their teens, concepts of freedom, choice and self-expression grew. Short skirts, long hair and the Beatles’ music were symbols of the growing power of youth. The Mother Superior reported that ‘we still wage a daily war against untidiness and unsuitable hair-dos and urge our

We still wage a daily war against untidiness and unsuitable hair-dos and urge our Parents to insist on obedience in these matters, otherwise the prevalent, low standards of dress and grooming will creep into the school to the detriment of all concerned.

Mother Superior Assumpta Winship

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An important gathering in the Oak Parlour Members of Our Lady’s Sodality, 1968. Back row, left to right: Elizabeth Gallagher and Elizabeth Ryan; third row, left to right: Jacqueline Jensen, Catherine Sweeney, Sally Gunnis, Jane Hadley, Adrienne Hamilton-Smith, Patricia Coleman, Angela Hamilton-Smith and Virginia Tiernan; second row, left to right: Genevieve Douglas, Mary-Anne Harris, Mary O’Dwyer, Virginia Brown, Reverend John Dynon SJ, Penelope Woods and Michele Cox; first row, left to right: Claire Keenan, Joan Fetherstonhaugh and Anita Barri

parents to insist on obedience in these matters, otherwise the prevalent, low standards of dress and grooming will creep into the school to the detriment of all concerned’.35 Girls of the period emerged from the school willing to have a go at just about anything. The main effect of working and living co-operatively was to forge an iron bond among Loreto Toorak girls that lasted the rest of their lives.

After the twenty-year reunion of the class of 1969, Mother Assumpta, now Sister Ruth, wondered what happened to the girls after they had left school and wrote asking for their answers. She reported: ‘Not all answered, but those who did wrote with a refreshing frankness and an openness that uncovered a wealth of knowledge, of expertise and a wide range of skills, revealing a group of highly trained and motivated women.’ 36

Loreto graduates of the 1960s The majority of Loreto Toorak girls in the 1960s followed traditional pathways, undertaking caring roles. Vocations to the Loreto Order included Mary Wright, Susan Daily, Elizabeth Donnan, Angela Slattery, Jane Kelly and Helen Murphy.

The five daughters of Frank D’Arcy, a doctor, became dedicated professionals;

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Bernadette became a kindergarten teacher, Marie a speech therapist, Julie and Joan nurses and Dr Anne Francis D’Arcy was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to emergency medicine. Nursing was the chosen field for others, including Denise Barrett, Frances Hennessy, Diane Schrader, Virginia Brown, Catherine Simpson and Rosemarie Farley. Susan Acton, Rosalind Ahern, Joan Buxton, Jill Maggs and Anne McCoy became physiotherapists. Jann Ryland became a consulting psychologist, Cynthia Arnold a psychotherapist, Mary Alston an occupational therapist, Annette Egan a radiographer and Dominie Dale and Bernadette Conquest became naturopaths.

Among the lawyers were Joan Adams, Sue and Virginia Glover, Catherine Sweeney, Margaret Gerke, Angela Smith, Rani Tiernan, Frances Whelan, Mary Leahy, Ann O’Rorke, Helene Martin, Louise Clayton, Penelope Wood, Susan McEncroe, Gabrielle Murphy, Virginia Robson and John Lambrick, who became a senior partner in Molomby & Molomby. His brother, Sydney Lambrick, completed a master’s degree in commerce and became an economist with the Master Builders’ Federation of Australia. Clarinda Molyneaux, daughter of the consul-general of the Philippines, was appointed in 1996 as a Queen’s counsel.

Her brother, Fabian, became a health administrator with Caritas Care and MacKillop Aged Care. Mary Rose Fitzgerald, a boarder from Shepparton, became an accountant for the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

While Helen Fetherstonhaugh became a nurse, her brother Graham studied economics and became manager of human resources in the ANZ Banking Group.

The graduates’ post-school stories also tell of the widening of career opportunities. Eleanor Moon, the daughter of a publican, became Loreto Toorak’s first commercial pilot, winner of air races and Woman of the Year in Orange County, California. Leveda Lynch, the daughter of a caterer, became an author, artist and broadcaster. Margaret Lyons became a lecturer in teacher education and worked with the Indigenous Academic Support Group in the Faculty of Education, Health and Science at Charles Darwin University, where she completed her doctorate. The Kift girls, Maxine and Madeline, were steeped in the family’s retail business of Kift’s Shoe Stores, established by their grandfather George Albert Kift. Their father, Maxwell Mercer Kift, was a director and Madeline joined the business soon after leaving school and became a manager and director. Others went into business and finance or established their own companies. Susan Lombard became a rose farmer and proprietor of country house and vineyard Tussie Mussie Farm in Merricks North. Several became managers and company directors of larger enterprises.

Catriona, Marea, Sabina, Olivia and Fiona Bryce were the daughters of a company director in Frankston. Fiona became a journalist on the Gold Coast, and published short fiction stories and a centenary history of the Gold Coast Show.

Sally Gunnis Captain of the school, 1969

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Elizabeth Daly became a journalist with the Melbourne Herald. Jane Hamilton grew up in Malvern East and became a foundation member of the Malvern Historical Society in 1972. She was instrumental in the formation of the Stonnington History Committee and published walking guides and history booklets about notable people and buildings in the area. In 2005 Jane was named Citizen of the Year by the City of Stonnington and in 2013 was honoured with an Award of Merit by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria for her work in local history. Her sister Elizabeth and daughter Patricia attended Loreto Toorak. Nano Nagle began a degree in economics but her heart was in drama. She deferred and studied at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, majoring in children’s theatre. In Australia she established the Magic Mushroom Mime Group, wrote plays and ran workshops for children with mental disabilities. Boarder Elizabeth Mary O’Brien became a practising agriculturist with the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science. Aleida Byker was born in Holland, educated in Kentucky and came to Loreto Toorak when her father was made a company director of Shell Oil. After Loreto Toorak, Aleida pursued a career in public relations. Marita Wilcox, after qualifying as a teacher, began writing plays for Grundy Television and later for La Mama, Malthouse and Playbox theatres. In 1996 she was the winner of the Ewa Czajar Award for Women in Theatre. Her two daughters, Laura and Lucy, attended Loreto Toorak. Joanna was the daughter of Henry Millicer, an aeronautical engineer and a member of the Polish Air Force. Joanna was born in Edinburgh. When she was seven her family migrated to Australia, where her father was appointed as the chief aerodynamicist at the Government Aircraft Factory. After graduating with a master’s degree in literature, Joanna became a playwright, director, drama instructor and publisher of plays for teenagers.

Architects included Adrienne Williams, Marie Ryan, Susan Hoppe, Yvonne von Hartel and Eleanor Hirsch, the daughter of an architect, while Diane St Ellen, Kerry Hamilton Smith, Angela Mulvany and Elizabeth Ireland became interior designers. Graphic designers included Susan Hipgrave, Mardi Cooke, Claire Hunt and Jacqueline Jensen. The many teachers included Sara Barrett, Kerry Barry Murphy, Patricia Coleman, Julienne Blake – who donated the funds for the Mèszáros sculpture – Mary Sheahan, Felicity Sinn and Sally Ahern, who became an art teacher in Loreto Toorak’s junior school. Pauline Curtis also taught in the junior school, Therese Asbjornsen became a science teacher in the senior school and Mary Lejman became the careers counsellor in the senior school. Kathryn Jody Koch became head of the Malvern campus of Caulfield Grammar School.

Under her guidance Malvern reinvented itself, evolving from a formal traditional boys’ primary school into a modern coeducational campus. Jane Willis, a teacher, facilitator and community leader, became the mayor of Hawthorn in 1990–91 and the first female member of the Melbourne Cricket Club.

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General cacophonous background noise soon filtered into individual news of careers, husbands, children and general life circumstance. There was the sylph-like mother of five, the glamorous restaurateur, the glossily healthy homeopath, the refreshingly down to earth (still!) boarders, the aesthetic artiste, the capable country doctor’s wife, the pregnant doctor and the established lawyer.

All manner of girls had become all manner of women.

Catherine Sweeney

Catherine Sweeney, a student from 1957 to 1969, described her twenty-year reunion: General cacophonous background noise soon filtered into individual news of careers, husbands, children and general life circumstance. There was the sylphlike mother of five, the glamorous restaurateur, the glossily healthy homeopath, the refreshingly down to earth (still!) boarders, the aesthetic artiste, the capable country doctor’s wife, the pregnant doctor and the established lawyer. All manner of girls had become all manner of women.37 In the midst of Church renewal and extensive changes in the physical landscape of Loreto Toorak, Mother Emilian and her community were well aware of the heritage behind the Loreto educational system. It was essentially that of creating women who would realise their potential in whatever field they chose. The ethos was that all students had a direct role to play in shaping the lives of others. Based on trust and the communication skills developed during school days through interactions with each other and with the teachers, Loreto Toorak girls of the 1960s accepted the challenge and made their mark.

Above: Junior school prefects In front of the Mandeville Crescent gates, 1961. Left to right: Dianne Schraeder, Angela Ward, Rosemary Hill, Amanda Jones, Jane Fink, Elizabeth St Ellen and Jill Flanagan Opposite, top to bottom: Diana Gardini Captain of the school, 1963 Julienne Blake Captain of the school, 1965, and later a benefactor Anne Sweeney Captain of the school, 1966, and later a junior school teacher at Loreto Toorak Jill Flanagan Captain of the school, 1967

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XII CHALLENGING TRADITIONS Changes and Innovations

In the school itself the old has given way to the new in that the Boarders have been phased out, the kindergarten closed and the boys from the Junior School dispersed. And though with each of these, has gone the special enrichment their presence brought, their going has made way for the overall growth and development demanded by the changes of the time.

Mandeville, 1979 1

A

guiding principle of the Loreto philosophy is that it values history but is always ready to adapt to change. By the early 1970s changes were well under way.

Bowing and veils disappeared and a relaxed and at first unfamiliar atmosphere transformed the school. There was consternation in some quarters that the nature of the school as it was known and loved was being changed by a wave of experimentation.

Where once fruit had been eaten with a knife and fork now apples were munched in the sunshine, and groups of chattering girls swarmed up the stairs where once their silent ranks awaited a Sister’s signal. Retreats were replaced with Christian Living camps. The emphasis on discipline and conformity diminished and a great variety and diversity of activities developed. The students were introduced to a range of educational experiences both inside the school and within the wider community.

Sister Veronica Brady, a former student, told the girls about how her experiences in North America had left her with a burning desire to oppose injustice. Veronica was in Chicago during the struggle for African-American civil rights and the opposition to the Vietnam War, and from these encounters she turned to the rights of Australian Aboriginal people. In her role as a member of the Appeals Tribunal for the Department of Social Security in Western Australia, she had seen, to her disgust, the human cost of economic development.

The Loreto Sisters were in the midst of readjustment, parallel to the new vision of the Church and its mission outlined by the Second Vatican Council.

While the community at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak consisted of twentyseven Sisters, a number were students retraining in areas beyond formal school education. The work of Loreto in Australia was broadening to include increased work in tertiary education, parish-based ministries and social justice agencies. This shift was mirrored in the governance of Loreto Toorak. When Sister Beatrice Hannan became the Superior of Loreto Toorak in 1974, the role of Superior was changing in line with the diverse activities and interests of the Loreto community and the transition of Loreto Toorak to a secular staff.2 The students wrote:

An avid historian Known for her progressive ideas and ability to make changes: Jane Kelly, 1971 Previous page 356: Loreto centenary celebrations A highlight was a combined music camp with students from other Loreto schools in Australia, hosted

by Loreto Toorak in 1975 (detail, see page 375)

When asked about her role in the school, Sister Beatrice’s first reaction was to laugh. She sees the Mother Superior as a figurehead, rather than as an active administrator. While she reserves a final say in some matters connected with

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When asked about her role in the school, Sister Beatrice’s first reaction was to laugh. She sees the Mother Superior as a figurehead, rather than as an active administrator.

While she reserves a final say in some matters connected with policy and finance, the School Principal now carries responsibilities which were previously hers. As Superior, Sister Beatrice is head of the Community, linking students, parents, past pupils, and ensuring that all groups are kept informed of activities within the school and trends in our education Sister Beatrice Hannan

Above: A special group gathered for the visit of the Superior General of Loreto, Mother Agnes Walsh The Loreto Toorak community, 1973. Back row, left to right: Canice Woods, Padua Mackey, Jane Kelly, Anne Kelly and Therese Lechte; middle row, left to right: Borgia Tipping, Margaret O’Sullivan, Francis Frewin, Rita Hoare, Geraldine Ryan and Marianne Newton; front row, left to right: Inez O’Donnell, Carmel Cody, Leonie Peterson, Breda Byrne, Agnes Walsh, Seraphina Morrissey, Martin Cassidy and Antoninus Hendrick Opposite: Generosity from past students Loreto Cottage was purchased for the Loreto community to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of Loreto Toorak, 1974

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policy and finance, the School Principal now carries responsibilities which were previously hers. As Superior, Sister Beatrice is head of the Community, linking students, parents, past pupils, and ensuring that all groups are kept informed of activities within the school and trends in our education.3 Sister Beatrice, through sheer force of personality, maintained harmony and balance between the various parts of the Loreto Toorak family. Joan Patricia Hurley, née Lightfoot, president of the Past Pupils’ Association, described Sister Beatrice as having a friendly dignity and an instinct for what was right, and said that she was firm but not obdurate, strict but tolerant and above all maintained a sense of humour. A teacher, Dr Valerie Stewart, recalled that Sister Beatrice would often take catnaps during staff meetings as her own form of non-verbal communication!4 In 1972 the Provincial, Sister Antoinette Hayden, who was a past school captain of Loreto Toorak, established an Educational Advisory Board, and when each state followed suit it became the Central Educational Advisory Board for Australia. Towards the end of 1974, a group of fathers of current students approached Sister Beatrice with the idea of assisting Loreto Toorak in an advisory capacity in business and financial matters. They offered their own expertise to the Sisters as accountants, businessmen, lawyers, engineers and doctors. Sister Beatrice welcomed their idea and convened the Loreto Advisory Board, made up of fifteen members who met for the first time in February 1975. This board included the principals of the senior and junior schools, Sister Noni Mitchell – the new Loreto Provincial and Principal of Christ College, Chadstone – lay staff, past students and parents, with Sister Jane Kelly acting as secretary. They established subcommittees to specialise in finance, welfare, maintenance and buildings, with a view to develop plans for the financing of new projects.

Loreto Cottage

The Loreto Toorak Past Pupils’ Association greeted the establishment of the Loreto Advisory Board with enthusiasm, as they were already working on a holiday home fund to provide a haven where the Sisters could relax and take a well-earned rest. Their dreams became a reality in 1973 when the association purchased a small house for $12,500 near the seaside.

Loreto Cottage, Blairgowrie, was in a quiet area off the busy Mornington Peninsula Freeway. The timber house consisted of three bedrooms with accommodation for eight and a spacious lounge overlooking a private garden with lemon and almond trees. The motivating force behind this idea was past student Mary Patricia Ahern and her husband, Richard Raymond Buxton, a real estate agent. Over many weekends Pat and Dick toured the Mornington Peninsula in search of an affordable and suitable location. Their idea was for the house to be available to all Loreto Sisters for specialised study sessions and retreats, but above all as a convenient and happy place to holiday and contemplate in beautiful surroundings.

The past students raised the necessary finance from generous donors, including Judge Arthur Adams and his extended family. They presented the keys to the community in 1974 to mark the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of Loreto Toorak. Four past pupils were named as trustees: Pat Buxton, Helen Dore, Felicity Jackman, née Sinn, and Elizabeth O’Keeffe. The trustees, in conjunction with the past students, paid for the rates, maintenance and repairs. Pat became a legend in Loreto Toorak circles, as she served for thirty years as a trustee and three terms as president of the Loreto Toorak Past Pupils’ Association. The cottage became a popular respite for many of the Loreto Sisters. In 1988 it was recorded that six hundred and twenty-four people had occupied the cottage for one hundred and ninetynine nights over the previous twelve months. By 2013 it had become clear that with fewer Loreto Sisters in Victoria, it was time for the association to take stock.

Loreto Cottage was sold and the proceeds invested to provide for the future of Loreto Toorak.

Far-sighted leaders The changes at Loreto Toorak were implemented by a group of far-sighted Loreto Sisters. Sister Anne McPhee, the Mistress of Schools from 1970 to 1972, was educated at Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount, Ballarat. She completed an arts degree at the University of Melbourne, studied librarianship and worked at the State Library of Victoria before entering Loreto. At St Mary’s Hall Sister Anne undertook a science degree and a diploma of education. In 1966 she came to Loreto Toorak as a senior physics teacher, and her personality and enthusiasm were appreciated by staff and students. In 1973 she was appointed Superior of Loreto Normanhurst, Sydney. A year later she was elected as a member of the General Council of the Institute in Dublin. In 1973, at the age of twenty-seven, Sister Jane Kelly was appointed to lead Loreto Toorak and remained in the position until the end of 1978. The tenth Mistress of Schools for Loreto Toorak was given the new title of Principal to reflect the increased responsibilities of the position. These were difficult times for Loreto principals, as the Catholic values and social attitudes that had underpinned Loreto schools during the 1950s and 1960s were being questioned from many directions. The parents’ expectations for their children were changing and religious teaching was challenged in the classroom.

Jane Kelly was born in Melbourne, the daughter of a surgeon. She was educated at Loreto Toorak, as her mother had attended Loreto schools at Hamilton, Dawson Street and Mary’s Mount. After matriculating, Jane began an arts degree at the University of Melbourne before entering the novitiate at Loreto Normanhurst. She completed her degree and a diploma of education under Mother Francis at St Mary’s College. Sister Jane returned to Loreto Toorak as a young nun, teaching Forms Three and Four and Matriculation Australian history before her appointment as Principal of Loreto Toorak. While the school had significantly changed since her school days, there was some continuity with her experience. The house system for intra-school competition had become an important element in pastoral care. She also discovered that the family tradition in the school was still an important factor. In 1973 two-thirds of the students in the senior classes were close relatives of previous generations who had attended Loreto schools. Sarah Winship wrote: I came to Loreto Mandeville Hall in Grade Five in 1969 when my family moved to Melbourne from Sydney. My three sisters and I were very nervous about starting at a new school in a new state. One factor that made this transition easier was that we had previously been at school at Loreto Kirribilli in Sydney.

Loreto was in my blood. My father’s sister was the famous Sister Ruth Winship 362

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[previously Mother Assumpta]. Ruth was a Mandeville legend in her own right, so the people at Toorak recognised our name instantly and I am sure we were given that extra bit of care as we were settling in. Coupled with this, all the female (and occasional male) relations on both my mother’s and father’s side of the family went to Loreto. We were bound to enjoy school! Probably my greatest school moment was when Sister Jane Kelly told me at the start of the school year in 1976 that I was to be school captain. I will never forget ringing Mum and Dad from Sister Jane’s office and telling them the news.5 When Jane Kelly was a student Loreto Toorak was a small school, with one class at each level, and she was taught mainly by the Sisters. By 1973 there were thirty-four members of staff, ten of whom were Sisters. Of the twenty-four lay teachers, two were men. The Catholics on the staff numbered less than half of the total, and there were only eight Sisters teaching full-time. Managing and invigorating the teachers became a priority. Sister Jane arranged for the staffroom to be extended to strengthen morale, encourage integration and enable the teaching Sisters to share facilities with their lay counterparts. Secular staff members were appointed to responsible positions for the first time in the history of Loreto Toorak. In 1970 Margaret Willis, a past student of Loreto Mary’s Mount, came to Loreto Toorak as a Senior Mistress of Mathematics. Steeped in the traditions of Loreto, she took an active interest in extracurricular activities as well as carrying a heavy workload in her own speciality. In 1973 Margaret was appointed as the first lay Deputy Principal at Loreto Toorak. She immediately made her presence felt through her daily message to the students, delivered at 12.30 pm via the newly installed public address system. Through her many activities she also gave the school a human face by showing her interest in the individuals who passed through and by displaying her good-natured personality. Her main role was as a mediator between staff, students, parents and administration.

Leadership in the junior school During the 1970s two Sisters were principals of the junior school. Sister Margaret O’Sullivan had attended Loreto Coorparoo, Brisbane, during the war when the school was evacuated to Glenn Innes in New South Wales. After her initial training at Loreto Normanhurst she taught for a year at Loreto Toorak. For the next six years, as a member of the Albert Park community, Sister Margaret worked in a small parish school in South Melbourne. Our Lady’s School had been run by the Sisters of Mercy as part of their South Melbourne orphanage, which closed in 1965. Sister Margaret described this school as the poorest, toughest school she had ever seen. Loreto Toorak must have appeared a luxury by comparison to

Loreto was in my blood.

My father’s sister was the famous Sister Ruth Winship [previously Mother Assumpta]. Ruth was a Mandeville legend in her own right, so the people at Toorak recognised our name instantly and I am sure we were given that extra bit of care as we were settling in. Coupled with this, all the female (and occasional male) relations on both my mother’s and father’s side of the family went to Loreto. We were bound to enjoy school!

Probably my greatest school moment was when Sister Jane Kelly told me at the start of the school year in 1976 that I was to be school captain. I will never forget ringing Mum and Dad from Sister Jane’s office and telling them the news.

Sarah Winship

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Angela Dwyer Captain of the school, 1970

Helen Wright Captain of the school, 1971

Up and Out Junior school newsletter, February–March, 1971

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Moira Westmore Captain of the school, 1972

Catherine Marraffa Captain of the school, 1973

Maria Tarrant Captain of the school, 1974

Our Lady’s School in South Melbourne. During her years as Principal of the junior school from 1973 to 1977, Sister Margaret was a strong supporter of sport.

She decided that the junior school should have its own physical education program three days a week, with extra time allowed for practice and for special school functions. The house system operated in the junior school and at lunchtime twice a week Years Five and Six were divided into sport teams, while Years Two, Three and Four had sports in the afternoon. Activities included athletics, softball, basketball, swimming, ballet, folk dancing and gymnastics.

In 1977 Sister Teresa Lowery became Principal of the junior school. Marie Lowery was born in Lane Cove, New South Wales, and educated at Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney. She was a trained primary school teacher and had completed a diploma of remedial teaching at an independent college in Ultimo known as the Guild Training College. Sister Teresa took a special interest in the music program.

She introduced the Kodaly method and each child from Preparatory to Year Six was given the opportunity to learn how to sing and read music. The new program gave a sound preparation for instrumental and choir work, and student recitals were held in the Oak Parlour from 1976 at which salmon and champagne suppers were served. In 1970 Patricia Moylan joined the junior school as a grade teacher for Year Five. Patricia had been a pupil at Loreto Dawson Street before boarding at Sacred Heart School, Ballarat. After graduating from Aquinas Teachers’ Training College, Ballarat, Patricia worked in local Sisters of Mercy primary schools before coming to Loreto Toorak. In 1977 Patricia was appointed Deputy Principal of the junior school and served in the position until 1996. She would arrive at 5.45 am to start organising rosters, timetables and emergency teachers.

During her long service Patricia established a junior school library and could put her hands on any book or resource regardless of how obscure the request or topic.

Jane Lamande Captain of the school, 1975

Sarah Winship Captain of the school, 1976

Vivienne Reed Captain of the school, 1977

Lisa Taylor Captain of the school, 1978

Susan Hanrahan Captain of the school, 1979

Promoting physical activity The school sporting facilities were shared from Preparatory to Year Twelve and at times the front lawn was in constant use. In addition, hockey, volleyball, water polo and fencing were introduced in the 1970s as part of the seniors’ options. In 1972 ‘many murmurs of shocked surprise were heard on the first day of the school year as the state of the lawn was discovered. The Gully and Grotto had been removed and only a ploughed field remained. The magnificent pine trees next to the Junior School were in the process of being cut down and carted away.’6 With numbers growing in the school and increased sporting activities, the front lawn had become congested and the decision was made to extend this playing area. The Loreto Toorak War Memorial Fund was established by the parents to pay for the renovations. It is not recorded why a war memorial was thought appropriate at this particular time. The pine trees were removed because they were considered dangerous and fast-growing trees were planted in their place. Sports’ lovers were delighted to have a home ground.

Sporting events began to change from picnic races on the front lawn to more formal competition, and daily running laps around the oval helped to increase fitness. In 1976 there was great jubilation when Loreto Toorak had a decisive win in the combined Catholic School Sports at the Olympic Pool. The team trained at the Toorak Swimming Pool and were coached by Roland Simpson, Patricia Schaefer and Charles Francis. The Loreto Toorak team proved a successful combination by winning four successive premierships. Judy Curtain, the swimming captain of 1976, had come to Loreto Toorak with her four sisters, as their mother Judy McNamara was a student during the war years. The swimming victories were followed by successive premierships in athletics from 1978 to 1981. Other students

The end of an era The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is removed and the gully drained, 1974

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excelled in individual sports. Joanne Henke learnt to ski when she was three. Her parents ran Molony’s Ski Hire. She first won the National Championships when she was fourteen and became a member of the Winter Olympic Team that went to Innsbruck in 1976, her Year Twelve year. During her training for the Olympics, Joanne assisted in the physical education department at Loreto Toorak. Katherine Coady found fencing challenging and absorbing at Loreto Toorak. The fencing coach, Michael O’Brian, conducted extra classes for enthusiasts on Saturday afternoons in the basement or on the front lawns. Katherine was selected to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 1978, and represented Australia at the 1978 World Games in Germany and the 1979 World University Games in Mexico before she joined the coaching staff at Loreto Toorak.

From 1955 until 1980 the sports program, from Preparatory to Year Twelve, was run by the Sports Mistress, Mrs Patricia Schaefer. She insisted on punctuality, correct uniform, good grooming, clean shoes and the right equipment. Selfdiscipline was essential if the matches were to be played with confidence and with cheerful acceptance of the outcome. Her aim throughout was to inculcate a true love of sport that made learning how to compete more important than learning how to win. Patricia presented sport as a means of enhancing self-respect and learning new skills and how to react under pressure and to unpredictable events. In 1970 Patricia wrote about the importance of physical education: ‘A person in good physical condition is capable of striking a balance between mental and physical health, and with the strain of secondary study it is vital to also teach the student to relax.’7 She was a serene and dignified lady whose presence alone was sufficient to calm nerves and ensure true esprit de corps. Sister Ruth Winship recalled Patricia’s dedication: ‘When the day’s work is done and the busy feet have gone home, a solitary figure begins her nightly pilgrimage from one end of the grounds to the other – the forgotten jumper is put carefully away, the stray bat or ball retrieved and the last crumpled paper plucked from the lawn.’8 In 1985 when a new indoor sports facility and gymnasium was built it was named the Patricia Schaefer Physical Education Centre. The students irreverently referred to it as ‘Pat’s new shed’. For, during Patricia’s regime, the sports equipment had variously been stored in a tin shed at the back gate, the stables, a room in the groundsman’s house, a box in the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and in the basement of the mansion.9

Changes to Loreto A sense of old certainties crumbling under the weight of new ideas characterised Catholic education in the early 1970s. Even the federal government changed hands for the first time in twenty-three years, when Gough Whitlam and the 366

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Left: Past principals and heads of the Junior School Back row, left to right: Sister Teresa Lowery (1977-1982), Sister Maria Bongiorno (1983-1986), Sister Helen Murphy (1987-1992) and Sister Margaret O’Sullivan (1973-1976).

Front row, left to right: Sister Helen Maguire (1993-1996), Sister Leonie (Mercia) Robinson (1953-1954), Sister Toni Matha (1961-1972) and Sister Margaret (Bernadette) Gray (1955-1958).

Below: Becoming part of a team The introduction of a shirt with the Loreto crest for boys

Labor Party swept to power in 1972 on a platform of radical change and modernisation. The prospect of change and enhanced social power for young girls was exciting and it was made all the more so for Loreto Toorak girls by the arrival of a youthful Sister Jane. Like her predecessors, Sister Jane subscribed to a progressive tradition, and her main purpose was expanding the life choices available to young Catholic women.

The junior school Two decisions soon changed the face of the junior school. The first was the closing in 1970 of the kindergarten for four-year-olds which had been a happy home for boys and girls for thirty-five years. The kindergarten was transformed into an indoor sports area for the junior school. A new Preparatory class for five-year-olds became in 1971 the entry point to the junior school. This change was closely followed by the phasing out of boys in the junior school. The final group of nine left at the end of 1975. Over fifty years, five hundred and fifty exuberant boys had enlivened the kindergarten and junior school. From the outset girls always outnumbered the boys. Initially the boys had one advantage over the girls: they did not have to wear a school uniform. The early grounding in the principles of Loreto

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The image of the ‘typical’ boarder has to some extent been filled – we do live for holidays and the much spread tale of amazing appetites cannot be denied. There have been many good times and bad times; notorious events will live continually in the minds of those concerned, for Mandeville boarders have, throughout the years, partaken in their fair share of escapades.

Boarders, well known for their sporting abilities (no one knows what is to become of the basketball teams), and school spirit, have been part of Mandeville’s tradition; and whilst no one who has boarded will forget the school, we hope that we too will leave some mark.

Elizabeth Doyle

education stood these boys in good stead throughout their later schooling. Loreto Toorak boys entered many fields, on the land, in business and in professions.

Among their ranks was a history professor at Harvard, a dentist in Denver, a real estate agent in Florida, a managing director in Melbourne and an Olympic rower.

Many continue to refer to themselves as ‘Old Mandevillians’. Arthur Adams, a barrister, described Loreto Toorak simply as ‘a great religious experience’.10

The senior school The senior school was altered in a different way. Enrolments were buoyant: in 1970 there were four hundred and fifty students in the senior school, and the feeling among staff and parents was that this number should not be greatly exceeded. However, demands were growing for an improved library and classroom facilities. Across Victoria boarding houses in independent schools were closing.

This was partly in response to increased government health regulations and partly due to the considerable space required and costs expended to house and feed a small number of students. At Loreto Toorak in 1972, boarders accounted for only five per cent of the student population. Boarding fees barely covered the expenses of the house staff, provisions and maintenance. Members of the Loreto Toorak community held discussions about the viability of continuing to take in boarders.

Eighteen Sisters, in the community of between twenty-five to thirty Sisters, supervised the boarding house at weekends and in the mornings and evenings.

These Sisters worked in other fields in the intervening hours and had little contact with the day students. An overwhelming number in the community agreed that the facility should close on the grounds that the day school could make better use of the rooms. One Sister wrote of deeper underlying concerns: ‘Many simple children coming from country homes have been influenced by those who like to seem smart by scoffing at religion and the nuns. Some children have admitted their sense of fear and have joined with the crowd rather than suffer loneliness.

Boarding school shows little help in developing either Faith or Prayer-life.’11 The Sisters were keenly aware of the gap between the social experiences of country boarders and those of city day students. Each year they arranged for a grooming course of ten lessons presented by members of the Bambi Smith Modelling College. Their aim was to train the girls in basic social graces, covering deportment, etiquette, skin care, diet, foundation garments, dress sense and the art of conversation. Whether these courses were successful is not recorded. But the last group of boarders wrote at the end of 1973 that: The image of the ‘typical’ boarder has to some extent been filled – we do live for holidays and the much spread tale of amazing appetites cannot be denied. There

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have been many good times and bad times; notorious events will live continually in the minds of those concerned, for Mandeville boarders have, throughout the years, partaken in their fair share of escapades. Boarders, well known for their sporting abilities (no one knows what is to become of the basketball teams), and school spirit, have been part of Mandeville’s tradition; and whilst no one who has boarded will forget the school, we hope that we too will leave some mark.12 In January 1974 the former boarding areas were converted into much needed classrooms.

The Chapel of Christ the King For current and past students the most important alterations at Loreto Toorak were those that took place in the Chapel of Christ the King. To some these alterations were controversial and to others, even sacrilege. In keeping with liturgical renewal, the altar rails, Stations of the Cross, reredos and pews were removed. The pews were replaced by chairs. A timber altar was installed in the middle of the chapel along the western wall. The stained-glass windows were covered with curtains. Timber screens were erected in front of the original altar to form an Oratory where the Blessed Sacrament was reserved. The screens were designed along the lines of rude-screens of the early Renaissance period, but the

Top, left: Changing the old style Renovations to the Chapel of Christ the King, 1973 Top, right: Refinements in the boarding house The boarders were served their meals on special Loreto Toorak crockery with crests, 1970 Above: Leadership opportunities Students were appointed to positions of responsibility in the boarding house, 1970

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Our schools, through their climate, teacherpupil relations and curriculum, aim to meet the spiritual, intellectual, psychological and social needs of every pupil Central Educational Advisory Board, ‘Loreto Educational Philosophy’

students referred to them as a row of sticks with candles protruding.13 Carpet was laid with heating underneath. Some students would sneak in at lunchtime during winter to lie on it. In time the new central space became the focus of innovative student liturgies with singing and recorder and guitar playing. This replaced the familiar organ accompaniment. The young acclimatised more quickly than the older members. One past student referred scathingly to the new style as ‘jiving Catholicism’. She felt that the ceremonies had been debased with failed pop songs on the level of those composed for the opening of a supermarket.

Building faith and morals In keeping with the Second Vatican Council, the teaching of religion at Loreto Toorak was presented in a new format. In 1977 the Central Educational Advisory Board distributed copies of Loreto Educational Philosophy to all of their schools: ‘Our schools, through their climate, teacher-pupil relations and curriculum, aim to meet the spiritual, intellectual, psychological and social needs of every pupil, developing more fully the ability of each one to think objectively and responsibly.’14 In addition, each senior student at Loreto Toorak in 1979 was given a booklet called Loreto School Principles which took a more general approach, carefully omitting any reference to the development of individual potential:

A link with the past The stained glass image of the cherub once graced Albert Park

As apostolic Christians, we at Loreto are primarily concerned with the spiritual dimension of man, bringing others to an awareness of God’s love, care and compassion, so that they will find meaning in life and hope in the future. We strive to develop a mentality, with ideals based on the Gospel, so that ‘through a desire for the age to come’ we will seek to build the world in a truly human way and to construct a new order of love, justice and peace. It must be recognised that no matter how we shape the environment, human life cannot be made easy.

Apart from the demands of the specific learning situation, the living together in a school community calls for an unselfish response.15 This was a major shift from the rote teaching of religion through the Catechism. The Catechism consisted of a series of questions and answers which children learnt and recited. A new emphasis was placed on Christian living and the sharing of personal stories. Sodality continued for only a handful of Year Twelve students, who met weekly in the Oak Parlour. They explored their faith under the direction of Reverend David Strong SJ. From inception, the school rhythm had been punctuated by Loreto customs – powerful religious symbols of belonging together as Loreto students. Discipline was maintained through a merit

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card system but the sodalities with their insignia and progressive rewards for virtuous conduct had provided an extra incentive for obeying the rules. The sodalities formed an integral part of the spiritual life of the girls and represented all stages of the school. A sodality ribbon was awarded to a girl who gave evidence of good behaviour and leadership. Each sodality had its own ribbon and the girls were expected to wear their ribbons faithfully. One much loved and colourful spiritual activity was the annual May processions and the crowning of Our Lady as Queen of May – Mary’s month. Each child brought her offering of flowers and the whole school walked in solemn procession around the grounds, singing hymns until the assembly halted for the crowning of Our Lady by the head of the school.

Another highlight was Mother Superior’s feast day, remembered fondly as a halfholiday from classes.

There were vigils on saint’s days, novenas, silent retreats and the annual Quarant ’Ore, the forty hours of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, which was followed by a procession. Students’ birthdays were also given the solemnity of celebration. For the boarders this meant a birthday tray at breakfast with flowers, buttered toast and an egg. For day scholars and boarders it was marked by a birthday veil over their desk with holy cards and small gifts. This decoration also served to remind teachers during the day that a birthday was being celebrated. An end-of-year tradition was to celebrate the ‘Jubilarians’, girls who had received the highest sodality medal of the broad blue ribbon and had been longstanding members of the school. Each girl was crowned with a floral wreath during a special ceremony, awarded a commemorative gift (usually a Loreto manual) and medal and entertained at a special party with a Jubilee cake. Gradually numbers joining sodalities decreased and processions ceased in 1972, when the last hallmark of a bygone era, the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, disappeared.

Mother Aloysius Cosgrove with her treasures The boys taking their religion seriously, 1961

The School Representative Council Many old and honoured practices were gradually replaced by a broader and more inclusive apostolic approach in light of the Second Vatican Council. The Sisters introduced a School Representative Council, invited guest lecturers to discuss religious and moral issues and encouraged school excursions to major Catholic events. The School Representative Council consisted of representatives elected by the students from each senior school class, increasing in numbers in the higher levels. It acknowledged the value of providing an official channel for student opinion across a range of ages. In addition to the students, there were three teachers elected by the staff. The School Representative Council met fortnightly to formulate proposals which were then presented to the Principal. As a vehicle for change, the School Representative Council was initially a cumbersome forum but it fulfilled a

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Special school excursions A group of Year Eleven students flew to Sydney in 1971, under the guidance of Sister Anne McPhee and Sister Jennifer Collins, to attend a Papal Mass at Randwick. Anne Burgi wrote, ‘The Mass itself was an experience never to be forgotten. From our almost front row position, the Pope seemed near enough to touch and the completely red and white altar was a thing of splendour and set off the solemnity of the celebration.’ 16 In February 1973 senior students travelled by train to attend the Children’s Mass at the Fortieth International Eucharistic Congress. Loreto Toorak students joined more than one hundred thousand children who assembled at the Melbourne

The Mass itself was an experience never to be forgotten. From our almost front row position, the Pope seemed near enough to touch and the completely red and white altar was a thing of splendour and set off the solemnity of the celebration.

Anne Burgi

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Cricket Ground. The celebrant was the Papal Legate Cardinal Lawrence Joseph Shehan from New York.

Anna Martin wrote, ‘Throughout the week of the Congress there were various activities of interest to both young and old. These included the Passion Play at the Myer Music Bowl which all of the Senior School attended; displays at the Art Gallery and Exhibition Building; several Poor-man and Invalid Masses; the Byzantine Rite, at which the rich colours of the various national costumes had a striking effect; and Omega Point, the story of Teilhard de Chardin [French philosopher and Jesuit priest], was staged at the Dallas Brooks Hall.’ 17

necessary and inclusive role. It certainly increased communication and co-operation between the staff and students. The first chairman, Catherine Marraffa, remarked, ‘A perfect system will probably never exist but the School Council, by its very nature, has much potential.’ 18 Some initiatives were greeted with great enthusiasm and the inter-class debates and staff–student basketball matches became part of the annual program. By the end of 1974 the School Representative Council was acknowledged as a creditable alternative to the old prefect system.

Religious instruction All staff members, including non-Catholics, were expected to create a positive environment for strengthening and clarifying the religious values of students.

There were several talks on developing Christian maturity presented to the senior students by Sister Noni Mitchell, but by and large staff members took class instruction. Between two and two-and-a-half hours a week was allotted to religious instruction. Wherever possible, the Form Mistress was asked to take the religion class. The scope, format, venue and methods used in teaching religion were left almost entirely to the individual teacher to determine once basic

guidelines had been laid down. As a result the teaching of religion underwent great experimentation and changes during the 1970s. In 1971 Sister Veronica Brady published The Future People: Christianity, Modern Culture and the Future.19 This work was an examination, for adolescents and teachers, of the moral and spiritual significance that could be found in novels, plays and films. Sister Veronica suggested that there should be a willingness to wrest meaning and inspiration from observations of modern culture.

The Year Nine Christian doctrine class was taken by Sisters Jane Kelly and Margaret Burchell, who worked through a project called ‘The World As I See It’ which fostered discussions on prejudice, loneliness, selfishness and hypocrisy. The girls ran class debates, watched films and listened to pop music. Through the magazine Move Out a major emphasis was placed on social service, not only in helping others but also in becoming aware of the great issues underlying social problems. In 1971 a Year Eleven student, Bernadette Wilson, wrote about the Aboriginal Awareness Campaign: ‘Until the Australian people return to the Aborigines their lawful rights, their land, the mineral rights therein and their rights as human beings that other Australians enjoy, only then can we truly say that there exists in Australia an egalitarian, humanitarian and racially unprejudiced society.’20

The Burke sisters from Bulleen Back row, Grania; front row, left to right: Maryanne, Rachel and Brigid

Celebrations at Loreto Students were frequently reminded of the importance of their Loreto heritage.

They felt a sense of belonging to the wider Loreto community during the visit to Toorak of the seventh Superior General of Loreto, Mother Agnes Walsh, in June 1973. She spoke informally to the past and current students about the sixty-five thousand pupils attending Loreto schools worldwide and how the fifteen hundred Sisters were educating these students in the spirit of Mary Ward. The year 1974 was a milestone, as Loreto Toorak celebrated fifty years of spiritual, intellectual and material growth. Loreto Toorak had by no means remained static. The school had increased in size in both its physical environment and the number of students.

Stage by stage, internal spaces had been adapted to suit changing needs. The school orchestra, dormant for a decade, played an important part in the Golden Jubilee festivities. Meg Sleeman, who was studying piano as a Matriculation subject, recalled that the Year Twelve music program was in its infancy and consisted of several free periods a week in which one had the dubious privilege of being able to practise in the tiny, unheated music cells on the Green Verandah: In mid-winter the music cells were arctic. I practised in fingerless gloves and at 8 am you could see your breath. On my way to practice I always said hello to

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Social service in action In 1972 Hans Knorr, artist and sculptor, with his wife, Hilde, violinist and author, organised an art exhibition in the front parlour and along the balcony of Mandeville Hall. The Knorrs were the founders of the Emerald Gallery in the Dandenong Ranges, the first privately owned gallery in rural Victoria. In just two days the couple raised $1,000 for Catholic Social Welfare. Hans had been a German internee during the Second World War and the couple had a lifetime commitment to ethics, social justice and the treatment of Aboriginal people. Their daughter, Kristin, a Loreto Toorak student, shared in these interests. After completing her nursing qualifications, Kristin moved to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, where she was employed by the Department of Health as a member of the Barkly Mobile Rural Health team. She began studying and speaking the local Aboriginal language and was honoured with the

skin name of ‘Jipunilla’. Kristin wrote, ‘Another sister and myself drive out to the surrounding cattle stations visiting the Aborigines and Europeans and treating whoever is sick. We cover a fairly large area, often driving 700 miles and holding many clinics in the three days we spend out of town each week. Once a month we fly out to the stations with a doctor on the Aeromedical Service.

Some of the stations are very isolated, especially in the wet season when rain can cut the roads and put airstrips out of action for weeks.’21 The school captain of 1973, Catherine Marraffa, wrote, ‘Ricedays, walkathons and door-knock appeals gave us the opportunities to express our concern for people less fortunate than ourselves.’22 Catherine carried this concern into her career. She became a paediatrician and worked in London with children with developmental disabilities, both physical and intellectual, and in child protection.

Peter, the German cleaner, who was in his early sixties. One day as I was struggling with my Bach I heard a gentle knock. From the door Peter questioned me about what my teacher had recommended for this passage. I asked for his suggestions and he refused to interfere as he felt that you could only have one teacher. But his encouragement made me think more carefully about my teacher’s instructions. In Germany Peter had been a senior piano teacher but his qualifications were not recognised in Australia. It was my first experience of immigrants and the difficulties they often faced in their adopted countries. It shaped my view of tolerance and the often unrecognised contributions immigrants have to offer.23 Meg passed Matriculation piano and became a physiotherapist. She also graduated with a diploma of music therapy and completed her AMusA in piano.

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Loreto Centenary Music Camp In 1975 Loreto Toorak participated in the celebrations for the centenary of the Loreto Sisters’ foundation in Australia. From the first small group in Ballarat, fifteen Loreto communities had been established by the Sisters across the country.

There were two hundred and forty-four religious and a school population of nine thousand. Music took centre stage in the Loreto Toorak celebrations. A Loreto Centenary Music Camp for one hundred and eighty students, from Loreto schools in five states, was held at Loreto Toorak for a week during August 1975.

Before commencing rehearsals the group visited Loreto Mary’s Mount and Sovereign Hill, Ballarat. The first three days of the camp were spent in choir and orchestra rehearsals and masterclasses for piano, interspersed with daily lunchtime concerts for Loreto Toorak students. The fourth day was spent rehearsing for an

Loreto centenary celebrations A highlight was a combined music camp with students from other Loreto schools in Australia, hosted by Loreto Toorak in 1975

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Sister Jane Kelly’s innovations Sister Jane reviewed the curriculum and introduced many progressive ideas, including a semester system for practical subjects and a four-day-week academic program for Years Eleven and Twelve. But the most popular innovation was the creative studies classes held on Wednesday afternoons. The subjects were taught by experts to small class groups in special resource rooms. The students had a chance to follow their particular interests. Photography was introduced by a professional photographer, Peter Crowe. Creative dance was taken by Paul Hamilton from the State College of Education. Members of the Children’s Arena Theatre produced excerpts from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Toorakanrooin, the student magazine, was reintroduced by a journalism

committee as part of the Wednesday program. Other activities included etymology, typing, a madrigal group, yoga, judo, mothercraft, leather work, chess, dressmaking and cookery. At the same time, the subjects geography, history and English were combined into one unit for Year Seven called general studies. Sister Jane also established a Matriculation common room. Jane Lamanade wrote: ‘Our cosy hole is situated directly above the staff room – a move which may have been a misfortune or intelligent strategy on the part of the teachers. We tend to believe the former, for the noise we project tends to weave its way down the stairs and through the walls into their studies. The “Matric madness” that goes on is, no doubt, amusing entertainment.’24

evening concert at the Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash University. The camp concluded with a chamber concert performed in the medieval-style Great Hall at Montsalvat, Eltham.

The choir was directed by Sister Deirdre Browne, a fine musician and composer.

Sister Deirdre had studied music as a student at St Mary’s Hall. While working with students at Loreto Normanhurst she published Throw Open Your Hearts, a collection of hymns that was used in Catholic parishes around Australia. With Sister Noni Mitchell she had written a Christian protest song, ‘A Man Forsaken’, which appealed to students concerned about racism, religious prejudice and the threat of nuclear war. Sister Deirdre returned to Loreto Toorak twice during the 1980s to work as a freelance musician. Brian Blake, Director of Music at Loreto Toorak, was in charge of organising the camp and was the conductor for the combined orchestra and the chamber group. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, had been first violinist for the Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras and had performed as a soloist in radio concerts.

Brian was assisted with the camp by Sister Carina Flaherty, an outstanding pianist and excellent accompanist.

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International Women’s Year The orchestra had a busy schedule during 1975 which included playing for the Loreto Centenary Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral and for Loreto Toorak’s production of My Fair Lady, with its cast of three hundred girls. The year 1975 was designated as International Women’s Year by the United Nations. The Loreto Toorak orchestra was invited to perform at the International Women’s Year concert held in the Melbourne Town Hall. Their recital included a solo by the director’s daughter, Stephanie Blake. Stephanie had recently completed her AMusA while a Year Nine student at Loreto Toorak. The role of women in society was discussed at Loreto Toorak by visiting politicians Joan Child, the federal member for Henty, and Senator Margaret Guilfoyle. John Gorton, Minister for Education and Science, spoke about his experiences as a politician and talked about states’ rights versus centralism. Don Chipp, federal member for Hotham and a minister, was a frequent speaker on politics. His daughters, Deborah and Melissa, were Loreto Toorak students. A group of fifteen Loreto Toorak students travelled to Sydney to attend a seminar on peace, equality and development as part of the celebrations for International Women’s Year.

New buildings

Our cosy hole is situated directly above the staff room – a move which may have been a misfortune or intelligent strategy on the part of the teachers.

We tend to believe the former, for the noise we project tends to weave its way down the stairs and through the walls into their studies. The “Matric madness” that goes on is, no doubt, amusing entertainment.

Jane Lamanade

In 1977 an appeal for $400,000 was launched on Family Day. The appeal was to finance a new two-storey building to accommodate administration, staff and a new library. Three hundred and sixty families had already pledged $220,000, but more was needed. The Loreto community’s financial commitment had become more pressing when the decision was made to purchase an adjacent property in Mandeville Crescent to provide for extra courts for tennis and basketball.25 In 1975 Sister Noni Mitchell, the Provincial, had directed that all Loreto schools in Victoria join the systemic schools, where were those eligible for state and federal funding through the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria. This group included forty Catholic secondary schools. Sister Noni stressed: ‘The decision does not affect the autonomy of the schools but is concerned merely with the funding. I think it will offer good prospects of unifying our Catholic education and of being more aware of each other’s needs.’26 Through systemic funding Loreto Toorak received a small contribution towards the new library, but it was through the generosity of the Loreto family that the bulk of the funding was raised.

Years of thought and planning, largely led and inspired by Sister Beatrice, had preceded this substantial undertaking. The foundations were dug early in the second term of 1977 and many months followed when building noise and discomfort obtruded unpleasantly into the life of the school.

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The Mary Ward Wing New facilities for study and recreation The opening and blessing of the Mary Ward Wing by Archbishop Francis Little in the presence of Sister Jane Kelly and Sister Beatrice Hannan, 1978

Archbishop Francis Little opened the Mary Ward Wing on 9 April 1978. The new building offered increased space in pleasant surroundings and an opportunity to refurbish other areas. A Matriculation Centre was established in the original library area on the ground floor under the chapel. The art and science departments were moved into the senior school building. The new library and resource centre in the Mary Ward Wing offered more interesting and enjoyable forms of learning, and was enthusiastically described in Mandeville that year: ‘From the front entrance with its lighted, glass-fronted display case, there stretches a wide expanse of glowing red carpet. Such is the space that three classes can be accommodated at the same time in comfort, one in a soundproof room, one in the main body of the Library and another group of girls using the twenty-five carrels.’27

Graduates of the 1970s Clearly academic studies were not ignored and the provision of the new library and a separate Matriculation Centre were valued. The girls, under Sister Jane’s guidance, embarked upon fascinating careers. After studying at Oxford, Deirdre Coleman was appointed as the Robert Wallace Chair of English in the School of 378

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Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. Anne Leahy studied commerce, classical studies and philosophy before becoming an economist with the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. Fiona Hill, who completed a doctorate in anthropology, worked to promote cultural and commercial exchanges between Australia and the Arab and Islamic world with the aim of engendering religious tolerance. Elizabeth Curtain became a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and a member of the Loreto Toorak School Council. Janet Whiting, editor of Toorakanrooin, combined a corporate law career with membership of boards that included the Melbourne International Film Festival, Royal Women’s Hospital and Tourism Australia.

The seven daughters of lawyer Bernard Gaynor and Elizabeth Koerner, a past student, attended Loreto Toorak. Elizabeth became a judge of the County Court, Cathie an event manager in the food and wine industry, and Helen a film director who produced drama, documentary and factual content for Australia’s leading broadcasters. Gabrielle McKinnon wrote in 1987: As an impressionable Year 9 student with a vague appreciation of ‘The Arts’ I remember watching in awe the production of Helen Gaynor’s HSC art folio.

Her paintings seemed to be of mural-like proportion, with huge, life-size figures that could have walked off the canvas. Helen’s ease with what I perceived as the spectacular led her to a three-year Diploma in Film and TV at Swinburne where she first tried her hand at the direction and production of films. A far cry from her 1976 art folio – maybe not? Helen’s attention to detail, her perseverance and capacity to capture the creative potential of a given situation set her apart even then.28 Maryrose Sinn became an artist and sculptor and Mary Louise Gurry became the general manager of Centre Stage Costumes.

Fiona Godsell, described as one of the lights in her year level’s literature classes, became a freelance journalist and wrote television scripts before publishing novels for young adults.29 Moya O’Shea recalled that when she was at Loreto Toorak she made up plays on every subject from English and history to French and religion. This love of writing plays led Moya to a career in London as a writer and presenter for television and radio with the BBC.30 Photographer and filmmaker Fiona McDougall moved to San Francisco, where she became a director of OneWorld Communications and produced documentaries on people facing adversity in third-world countries. Katrina and Brigid Nossal’s mother, Lyn Dunnicliff, had been educated at Loreto Normanhurst and Loreto Kirribilli. The girls travelled widely, as their father was an academic and worked on innumerable overseas medical projects. Katrina became a secondary school language teacher

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I’ve always had a passion for science.

I think it was really aided by some stellar teachers in chemistry and physics when I was at school.

That made an enormous difference. We were encouraged to think and to question and not to take everything for granted ... I’ve got fond memories of a nun taking us out onto Toorak Road, which is a very busy road in Melbourne, at midnight to watch the stars and holding up the traffic and the trams.

Dr Susan Forrest

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and Brigid a human resources consultant who reviewed and implemented projects for the disadvantaged. Gillian, Susan and Sally Crook were the daughters of the managing director of Shell Refining. In Year Twelve Susan was described as a member of the University Dreamer’s Club. She certainly fulfilled those dreams, as she completed a bachelor of arts, bachelor of laws, master of business administration and a graduate diploma of chartered secretaries.

Dr Susan Forrest, daughter of past student Patricia Coghlan, became the chief executive officer of the Australian Genome Research Facility. Susan wrote: I’ve always had a passion for science. I think it was really aided by some stellar teachers in chemistry and physics when I was at school. That made an enormous difference. We were encouraged to think and to question and not to take everything for granted ... I’ve got fond memories of a nun taking us out onto Toorak Road, which is a very busy road in Melbourne, at midnight to watch the stars and holding up the traffic and the trams.31 The three Westmore sisters made their mark in the medical and science worlds.

After completing university, Ann became a journalist and won awards for medical writing. She worked on two key books: the Billings Method by Dr Evelyn Billings, on birth control, and Test Tube Babies by Professor Carl Wood, on the social, moral and legal problems as well as the potential benefit to infertile couples of this method of conception. Other research followed. Ann completed her doctorate in medical history and joined the University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health. Moira became the head of anaesthetics at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth and Margaret a radiologist at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. Patricia O’Neill became a research scientist looking at the genetics of plants, while Dr Mary Jo Waters became the director of microbiology at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.

Amanda Honan always had a smile on her face and a perfect school uniform.

She had three ambitions in Year Twelve: to eat more food, have lots of babies and get married!32 Amanda completed a degree in economics and worked as a sales manager with Cadbury Schweppes for six years. She recalled, ‘I concentrated on my career and became a corporate achiever, complete with leather briefcase, business suit, company car and overseas trips, but I was looking for something more meaningful – a sense of purpose.’33 In 1990 she entered Loreto. In religious life Sister Amanda studied theology, pastoral care and community welfare and worked for the Catholic Church’s family welfare service, Centacare, in the Broken Bay diocese of New South Wales. Bernada Peric’s ambition at school was to become a sports journalist. Instead she began her career as a merchant banker before moving to Europe to take on a global role as chair of the Croatian Taskforce

on Country Branding. A highlight was a private audience with Pope John Paul II in recognition of her fundraising efforts for war victims orphaned by the Balkan conflict. Bernada wrote, ‘A Loreto education combined with having been raised bilingual, within a family with a deep sense of heritage and values connected to the Croatian tradition and roots of Catholic faith, has provided me with a foundation to pursue the various challenges with which I am faced.’34

The changing of the guard:

Sister Deirdre Rofe

At the end of 1978 Sister Jane went to Heythrop College, University of London, to pursue further studies in philosophy and theology. On returning to Australia Sister Jane was appointed as Principal of St Mary’s College, a position she held from 1981 to 1996 and in which she kept in close touch with her former Loreto Toorak pupils. Her successor at Loreto Toorak, Sister Deirdre Rofe, had also studied at Heythrop College. Sister Deirdre was born in Sale and educated in South Australia at Loreto Marryatville, Adelaide. She graduated with an honours degree in arts while living at St Mary’s College, followed by a diploma of education from the University of New England. In 1971 she was appointed as Principal of Loreto Normanhurst, where she delighted her English literature students, revived debating and public speaking and promoted a love of the arts.

In 1978 she came to Loreto Toorak as a senior teacher of literature and history.

As Principal, Sister Deirdre placed emphasis on relating religious education to life experiences. She organised off-campus camps and carefully planned and augmented community service programs. These programs assisted students in their spiritual growth and deepened an awareness of their social responsibility to others, particularly the old, the isolated and the vulnerable on the fringes of society. According to Margaret Willis, the school had acquired a quiet, efficient and dedicated Christian in Sister Deirdre.35

Social service In 1979 Sister Ruth Winship returned to Loreto Toorak. In the interim she had been the Bursar at St Mary’s College, where she introduced a work scheme for students that continues to defray the cost of the fees for many students. Sister Ruth found her new beginning at Loreto Toorak hard, as she made the mistake of telling the girls that she was a contemporary of some of their grandmothers and had taught many of their mothers. The girls were not impressed; the school and society had changed considerably in the intervening years. By 1979 the enrolment

Enriching lives Sister Deirdre Rofe, Principal of Loreto Toorak, 1988

A Loreto education combined with having been raised bilingual, within a family with a deep sense of heritage and values connected to the Croatian tradition and roots of Catholic faith, has provided me with a foundation to pursue the various challenges with which I am faced.

Bernada Peric

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had grown to one thousand day scholars with only a few Sisters to carry on the Loreto traditions. The Wednesday creative program had become an active and vital part of the curriculum. Sister Ruth was placed in charge of this program, which included social service experiences undertaken by two hundred students.

While social service empowered and enriched the students and taught them to realise and value their own potential, organising this program was no sinecure.

The girls had to submit a small weekly report on their activities which Sister Ruth read, signed and often commented on. Sister Ruth’s communications with these students enabled Sister Deirdre to monitor student responses and identify how the girls were contributing to or benefitting from these external experiences. At the same time Sister Deirdre founded the Loreto Family Outreach Program and asked Sister Ruth to initiate it. The staff co-operated by letting Sister Ruth know when girls were away for a long period so that she could visit and enter into their worries or sorrows. A small budget was allocated for Sister Ruth to purchase some flowers, a card or some refreshments, as the occasion warranted. This approach resonated with Sister Ruth’s already extensive support of Loreto past students in need. Sally Eriksen was one of many who benefitted from the outreach program.

When her father died during her Year Eleven, Sally decided that she would leave school and go to work to help her mother: Somehow Sister Ruth found out and called me to the Convent for morning tea one Thursday. I did this for the remainder of my schooling. She explained quite clearly in her very special manner that I would not be leaving school and that I would be finishing Year Twelve. Each week she enquired about home, school, friends, how I felt and gave me space to sit with her. Perhaps in another school I may not have been as fortunate to have what I look back on as a ‘minder’ who subtly and successfully influenced me to finish school and go to university, and become employed as a Human Resource Manager.36 For others, participation in social service moulded their lives. Sarah Rey became a solicitor and founded Justitia, a legal practice specialising in discrimination law and investigating workplace misconduct. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and Harvard University, Katherine Koukouvaos became a union leader as national secretary of the Health Services Union of Australia. Her family was Greek Orthodox and her father a labourer with General Motors Holden. They lived in Port Melbourne and her parents scrimped and saved to send her to Loreto Toorak. Dr Monica Nolan was made an Officer in the Order of Merit Côte d’Ivoire for her work in fighting HIV/AIDS. She worked in public health with remote Aboriginal communities and in war-torn Sierra Leone before moving to the crisis-affected Ivory Coast.

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Keeping in touch The launch of the Mandevillian newsletter, May 1986

Genevieve Kehoe visited The Way in 1987 as part of her social service. Sister Ruth introduced her to this community in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, run by a group of volunteers to care for destitute, alcoholic and homeless men. Throughout her university studies Genevieve continued with her weekly visits to The Way, helping with domestic chores or simply talking to the men. After graduating Genevieve volunteered to work in Calcutta at the Loreto Day School in Sealdah, teaching the ‘Rainbow Children’. These children were literally picked up from the streets and

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I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to have a Loreto education, infused with the belief that women are capable of everything that Mary Ward predicted.

I distinctly remember the rude shock of realising in my first semester at university that sexism still existed. Prior to that I had thought of feminism as an ‘ism’ that had passed like cubism, and that the world view had changed as a result.

Elizabeth Ward

given a chance to learn to read and write. Elizabeth Ward graduated with a doctorate in zoology and a master’s degree in business administration. She founded a not-forprofit social development company, Social Traders. Elizabeth wrote that her time at Loreto Toorak had allowed her to gain knowledge of her strengths and weaknesses: I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to have a Loreto education, infused with the belief that women are capable of everything that Mary Ward predicted.

I distinctly remember the rude shock of realising in my first semester at university that sexism still existed. Prior to that I had thought of feminism as an ‘ism’ that had passed like cubism, and that the world view had changed as a result.37 Participating in social service produced an ongoing effect in other students’ lives. Sally Howard wrote, ‘When I was sixteen and still at Mandeville I became a volunteer leader for Challenge Cancer Support Network following my Year 10 Community Service. Challenge organises fourteen camps a year for children suffering from leukaemia.’38 While studying for her combined commerce and science degrees Sally turned her efforts to supporting the work of the Bone Marrow Donor Institute. Lyndal and Sophie Barry became co-ordinators of the Human Rights Desk, a non-government organisation based in Thailand. Lyndal completed a master’s degree in Asian studies at La Trobe University and her sister Sophie studied photography and design at Prahran College. They became members of the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma and produced television documentaries to promote Burma’s fight for democratic elections. Sarah Mott and Siobhan Leslie worked for Greenpeace International in Amsterdam, Sarah in a voluntary capacity and Siobhan as an administrator. Therese Ovens, a social worker, used her talents to produce television documentaries for Catholic Communications and found the time to be a volunteer for the Mathew Talbot Soup Van. Sister Deirdre encouraged Sister Ruth to increase the scope of practical subjects in the Wednesday program. She allocated a budget to bring in more professionals to the school. Among Sister Ruth’s initiatives was the introduction of pre-driver education and training in first aid. In Year Eleven Patsy Lee wrote to Sister Ruth: Thank you for a most enjoyable Wednesday Program. I’ve learnt skills in Typing, Computers and Cooking. I have been able to obtain my Learners Driver’s Licence through Pre-Driver and Car Maintenance and I can change a tyre in three minutes! I have also been able to keep my physical side in shape with Jazz Ballet and Aerobics. Hostess Cookery helped me put back all the weight I lost earlier.39 A series of tours of ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ with Sister Kathleen Brennan exemplified the spirit of the program.

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The arrival of modernity In 1980 Sister Kathleen became the Superior at Loreto Toorak. She was a cultured and courageous woman, one of the pioneers from Loreto Nedlands, Perth, who in 1965 established and ran a new parish school at Thornlie in Western Australia.

Archbishop Redmond Prendiville provided the Sisters with a car, a few battered desks and some borrowed chairs, and there was very little money from school fees.

Nevertheless, Sister Kathleen found it an exhilarating experience, driving back and forth each day from Nedlands to Thornlie, often coming home late because of meetings. She was among the first Loreto Sisters to break the long-held custom of not eating with laity by having her meals with the staff. Sister Kathleen was a talented and enthusiastic artist. During her Marvellous Melbourne tours she would take the Loreto Toorak girls to little known places in Melbourne where she had unearthed architectural gems. The girls loved these sessions wandering around the city, especially as they ended up in the grandeur of the Windsor Hotel for afternoon tea.

Excursions outside the school included visits to the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, a commercial pottery, the Telecom Research Laboratories, a jazz concert at the Arts Centre, a Pop Art exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and a French ‘pique-nique’ in the Royal Botanic Gardens. At the same time, new facilities at Loreto Toorak were blessed by Archbishop Frank Little on 14 September 1985, which included art and craft rooms, a fully equipped pottery room, a recording studio and a rooftop garden. On 23 October 1983 a longwished-for new library and multipurpose room had been opened in the junior school by the Provincial Sister Noni Mitchell. The facility had been the idea of Sister Teresa Lowery, but the supervision was finalised by the new Principal of the junior school, Sister Maria Bongiorno. Sister Maria was educated at Loreto Mary’s Mount and received her teacher training in Melbourne at Christ College. She had taught at Loreto parish schools in Portland and South Melbourne and at Loreto Kirribilli, where she had been Principal of the junior school before coming to Loreto Toorak. To make way for the new library, the kindergarten was demolished.

Sister Noni in her welcome speech said:

Thank you for a most enjoyable Wednesday Program. I’ve learnt skills in Typing, Computers and Cooking. I have been able to obtain my Learners Driver’s Licence through Pre-Driver and Car Maintenance and I can change a tyre in three minutes! I have also been able to keep my physical side in shape with Jazz Ballet and Aerobics.

Hostess Cookery helped me put back all the weight I lost earlier.

Patsy Lee

Many of us here today in this place will remember the Mandeville Kindergarten and with it Mother Aloysius Cosgrove’s name comes to mind with her very precise training of those young ladies and gentlemen who occupied this space adjacent to the mysterious and magical gully. I believe that Mother Aloysius would behold with satisfaction for the future rather than regret for the past, the educational opportunities this building offers to new generations of her beloved children.40

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Leonie Wood Captain of the school, 1980

Felicity Byrnes Captain of the school, 1981

No longer can Australia view itself as an impregnable island; the influx of the boat people, the energy crisis and ensuing debate, the rise in unemployment – all these have a significant impact on the thinking and practice of a school.

Sister Deirdre Rofe

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Virginia Borghesi Captain of the school, 1982

Kathryn Riddell Captain of the school, 1983

Catherine Soppitt Captain of the school, 1984

For a school the prospect of further changes in the 1980s was a challenging one. Sister Deirdre described these challenges: ‘No longer can Australia view itself as an impregnable island; the influx of the boat people, the energy crisis and ensuing debate, the rise in unemployment – all these have a significant impact on the thinking and practice of a school.’41 The students at Loreto Toorak were overwhelmingly Australian born. It was rare for a student to begin at Loreto Toorak unable to speak English. Patrizia and Barbara Smrekar arrived without a word of English and were provided with individual tuition. Patrizia became an architect and designer in her father’s firm and Barbara a debater and advertising manager. Lien Tran was a refugee from Vietnam. When she began at Loreto Toorak in 1982 she had been in Australia for less than a year. She was very lonely, as her family had settled in America, but she had zest and determination. Her English was limited, so she chose mathematics and science. Lien rode a bicycle daily from Kensington to school to save on the cost of public transport. When she passed Year Twelve she was twenty-one and the oldest student in the school. Lien completed her nursing qualifications at the Catholic College in North Sydney and worked nights and weekends in a nursing home to pay her way. She finally travelled to America and was reunited with her family for the first time in the seven years since she had left Vietnam.

One of Sister Deirdre’s aims was to strengthen the teaching of languages, and to this end the first overseas school trips were organised to Indonesia, Tahiti and Noumea. The students chosen for the trips had won distinctions in Alliance Française, Goethe Institut and Indonesian language competitions, but Sister Deirdre felt that there was room for them to move from competence to enjoyment.

Gabrielle Quin Captain of the school, 1985

Judith Quin Captain of the school, 1986

Erin-Marie O’Neill Captain of the school, 1987

Patricia Riddell Captain of the school, 1988

Many took up her challenge. Future interior designer Amanda Regan studied Russian, Italian and Dutch to facilitate her many overseas commissions as a designer. She worked as a museum and art consultant in Moscow, Amsterdam and Paris. In England Amanda became an interior designer at Harrods. Helen Self became an English teacher in a Chinese-speaking kindergarten in Hong Kong, and Louise Schwarz and Genevieve Keogh became English teachers in Japan.

Caroline Nelson realised that she had paid more attention to sport than her French classes when she lived and worked for seven years in French-speaking countries.42 Jemma McInerney, who worked in hospitality around the world before becoming the visa officer at the British Embassy in Moscow, summed up her experiences: ‘Mandeville enabled me to live with and learn from all the amazing people I have met. For me, [school developed my] ability to realise that you can learn from all people, no matter their birthplace or what they believe, [and that it is] what they do that is important.’43 Loreto Toorak was a liberal school during the 1980s – when freedom of expression, responsiveness to social issues and the individual treatment of the student were paramount. What set it apart was its attention to grooming and behaviour. Students at other schools regarded the school uniform as a sign of constraint but at Loreto Toorak it was worn with pride. However, one parent, Elaine Canty, a radio broadcaster, remarked that much to her amusement the sweet young things all wore black outside of school. Elaine explained:

Claire Leoncelli Captain of the school, 1989

Mandeville enabled me to live with and learn from all the amazing people I have met. For me, [school developed my] ability to realise that you can learn from all people, no matter their birthplace or what they believe, [and that it is] what they do that is important.

Jemma McInerney

If you have experienced the – let’s face it, the mitigated delights of shopping for clothes with a teenage offspring recently, I can tell you what happened. The

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excursion would have ended with two seething tempers, hissed threats and a touch of door slamming or a warm Bankcard and Something Black in the bag.

I have this vaguely uncomfortable notion of black being well, you know, sophisticated, worldly wise – oh let’s not mess around here, sinful. But I am here to tell you that Morticia Addams is alive and well and selling Something Black to teenage daughters at a shop near you.44

Pastoral care and counselling Sister Deirdre realised that it was relatively easy and certainly pleasant to list achievements and less palatable to talk of discontent. In 1980 she went on record: We talk of a school community yet we still experience differences of attitudes and values which create conflicts in the students. Despite our efforts to establish guidelines on social behaviour I am still concerned that undue pressure is being exercised on students to emulate a pattern of behaviour that is considered ‘in’.

Some students can rise above this sort of pressure but for others it becomes a preoccupation that can have unfortunate repercussions. This is a matter for serious consideration.45 Her response was to appoint Sister Patricia Lohan to take charge of a new unit known as ‘Pastoral Care and Counselling’. It was an expression of the school’s continuing concern that it should meet the needs of each student, no matter what their circumstances.

The Victorian Certificate of Education and Loreto As Loreto Toorak’s commitment was to a predominantly academic but balanced education, its initial response to the Blackburn Report of 1985 was positive. The report recommended phasing out the Higher School Certificate and introducing the Victorian Certificate of Education for Years Eleven and Twelve. The aim was to address the twin problems of low retention rates in government schools and shrinking job opportunities for early school leavers. At Loreto Toorak the introduction of the Wednesday creative studies program and the building of an extensive resource library had already begun to address these concerns. The format of the Victorian Certificate of Education involved more internal assessments and greater demands on the staff. There was a feeling at Loreto Toorak that the Victorian Certificate of Education was a threat to their hard-won academic reputation and their ability to differentiate themselves in a tightening education marketplace. There were some modifications to the Victorian Certificate of 388

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Performing Arts Festival During the 1980s, rowing and cricket were introduced, much to delight of the sporting enthusiasts, but what generated greater school spirit because of its wider involvement was the first Performing Arts Festival, held in 1979 at De La Salle College Hall. It was so popular that in 1980 the Prahran Town Hall was hired for the event.

There were sections for choral, solo, instrumental and dance items. Each house contributed items. The Performing Arts Festival became the highlight of the school year. It provided leadership opportunities for house captains and encouraged creativity and talent.

This annual event enabled musicians, choristers and dancers to play a significant and functional role in the life of the school, gaining points for house

participation and using expertise gained from years of music practice. As participation grew, the festival was moved to the Malvern Town Hall, to Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash University and then in 1986 to the Melbourne Concert Hall. From 1976 to 1994 Sue Saxon, a vibrant member of staff, taught speech and drama. It was Sue who masterminded the Inter-House Drama Festival and was one of the driving forces in establishing the Performing Arts Festival. At the same time, annual gala concerts for both junior and senior girls, held at the Robert Blackwood Hall, grew in strength and quality and provided an opportunity for parents and friends to hear the musical accomplishments of orchestras, soloists and choral groups.

Education by 1991, when the first girls began the new course of study. The new certificate was taken over two years, divided into four semesters. Soon acronyms such as CAT, VBOS, FOS and TER transformed the language of the senior school and the notion of ‘pressure’ was rapidly redefined as a generation of adolescents discovered that continuous assessment was not the panacea for the woes of end-ofyear examinations. Predictably, Loreto Toorak Victorian Certificate of Education girls achieved excellent overall results as measured against the whole state.

Careers advice and counselling While Loreto Toorak prided itself on the opportunities it offered, even in 1984 many girls still imagined their futures within the boundaries of traditional expectations – but then, legislation against discrimination on the basis of gender only dated from that year. Girls were increasingly permitted by society and their teachers to imagine themselves in any role or occupation at any level and as fully entitled to participate in the marketplace and the civic culture. In 1986 Sister Deirdre appointed Carol Moylan as Careers Advisor and Counsellor. Essentially her role was to establish and maintain liaison between the school, universities and the workplace according to the students’ needs. She distributed to the faculty heads up-to-date course requirements, careers information and news of potential

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Guiding the school The administration team, 1988.

Back row, left to right: Andrew Schmidt, Robert Dernelley, Alison Miller and John Francis; front row, left to right: Helen Murphy ibvm, Deirdre Rofe ibvm and Patricia Moylan

employment opportunities. A year earlier a work experience program for Years Ten and Eleven had been introduced. Carol strengthened this pilot project by working closely with the Loreto Fathers’ Association to develop contacts for student placements.

Computers A new way of teaching and learning emerged. The computer age had arrived at Loreto Toorak. In the senior school a computer room was established for use before school and at lunchtimes. Only twenty students could use the room at one time and a timetable for the enthusiasts was organised by the Year Eleven students.

Computer awareness and computer studies classes were run in Years Nine, Ten and Eleven, with senior subject areas, including physics, geography, science and home economics, using specific programs. By 1986 every girl in the junior school from Year Four and upwards was familiar with Apple computers and had hands-on

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All of our assignments and work were handwritten.

I remember having a very sore wrist for much of Year Twelve. We did do computers as a subject and it involved a very large floppy disc and booting up took most of the class time!

Sarah-Jane Tidey experience at least twice a week. Alexandra Clissold in Year Six described her experiences: ‘In our computer lessons we learn many different, new and exciting things. We use graphics to draw pictures and shapes and we are going to learn how to design our own programs and using computers also helps us to learn to type.’46 Sarah-Jane Tidey, a Year Twelve student in 1985, recalled that ‘all of our assignments and work were handwritten. I remember having a very sore wrist for much of Year Twelve. We did do computers as a subject and it involved a very large floppy disc and booting up took most of the class time!’47 Having to handwrite throughout her school years apparently did not retard her progress, as Sarah-Jane became a lawyer and completed an arts degree and a post-graduate diploma in creative writing.

The computer revolution paved the way to new careers for Loreto Toorak girls in male-dominated worlds. On the advice of Carol Moylan, Michelle Vennix studied information systems science and engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Michelle was the only female among one hundred students. Heather Doig graduated with honours in engineering and became a program analyst at Macquarie Bank. After leaving school Therese Hill completed a degree in mechanical engineering, became a viola player in the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and worked for the government’s Australian Intelligence Corporation.

Rachel Fuller studied materials engineering and worked as an engineer in Aberdeen, Scotland, in a role which involved monitoring corrosion on oil rigs in the North Sea. This generation of Loreto Toorak girls also broke new ground as independent women, owning and running their own real estate and tourist businesses, and managing grazing properties, galleries and fashion houses.

Fledgling computer studies Sister Anne Byrne and Guy Anderson providing instruction in the use of floppy discs, 1989

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Left: A special pilgrimage On the cover of the school magazine, Year Ten artist Elina Akselrod depicted her journey to the Australian outback, 1988 Right: A fantastic time Sara Brownell, Year Eight, wrote to Sister Deirdre Rofe and staff to thank them for their efforts in organising a wonderful pilgrimage, 29 April 1988

Employed women still outnumbered those in self-employment. This was offset by the increasing number who held senior positions in larger corporations and as partners in architecture and interior design firms. The traditional channels of law and medicine dominated. Their ranks included a Victorian magistrate and a Sydney research endocrinologist at St Vincent’s Hospital’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research. There were a sprinkling of pharmacists and dentists, with only one town planner, police constable and veterinary surgeon. Loreto Toorak produced many artists, actors, writers and journalists, but unlike previous generations, very few students became musicians.

Indigenous Australians,

the Bicentennial and Loreto

Victorians preparing for the Australian Bicentennial in 1988 were swept up on a collective wave of renewed interests in origins, traditions and heritage. As Loreto Toorak began to make plans for this historic event, past students became regular guest speakers at school functions. The speakers highlighted the complex relationship between the past and the present and between progress and tradition that was woven into the fabric of the school. Increasingly, attention was directed to an understanding of the traditional owners of the land, the Australian Aboriginal peoples. In February 1974 two Loreto Sisters, after completing a course on 392

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teaching Aboriginal people, took over a school for Aboriginal children at St Mary’s Primary in Broome. The guiding spirit behind this foundation was the Provincial, Sister Antoinette Hayden. Concurrently the social studies program at Loreto Toorak included learning about Indigenous history and traditions. In 1986 Susan Stockdale, a senior school mathematics teacher, organised Loreto Toorak’s first school trip to Central Australia. A party of forty senior students travelled by bus on an outback adventure to Ormiston Gorge, Simpson’s Gap, Coober Pedy and, of course, Ayers Rock (Uluru). During 1987 a group of Arnhem Land elders and their families visited Loreto Toorak. Their visit was followed by an account of the Easter services in Broome given by Sister Mary Roarty, a Loreto teacher in Broome and later Lombadina in Western Australia. The junior school adopted Broome and Lombadina as their sister schools, exchanged stories with coloured drawings and discovered that these schools had limited resources. The staff, parents and students organised a peace walk around Albert Park Lake and raised $2,550 for library books for these schools.

Uluru bound During 1987 the History Co-ordinator of the senior school, Russell Staiff, presented an ‘outrageous proposal’ to Sister Deirdre: ‘I propose that the entire Senior School of Loreto Mandeville Hall make a pilgrimage to the very heart of this land, Uluru. There, past and present, European and Aboriginal can meet in the spirit of a pilgrim, with peace and reconciliation in our hearts as we reflect on who we are as a people.’48 Sister Deirdre was drawn to this audacious suggestion and felt that it might raise Loreto Toorak’s collective consciousness about the tragedy of Aboriginal deaths in custody, the ravages created by alcohol and disease and the depressing failure of past government policies. But there were risks involved in organising such a venture. By September 1987 the news was out that in April 1988 six hundred and eighty students, along with the entire senior school staff and associated personnel, would leave Toorak in a convoy of seventeen buses to make an epic trip to the centre of the nation. The personnel would include a volunteer medical team of physiotherapists, social workers and psychologists with twenty nurses and ten doctors. The doctors would travel in two four-wheel drive vehicles and be in radio contact with the buses and the Flying Doctor Service.

The logistics and practical challenges of transporting seven hundred and fifty people to the centre of Australia and back were masterminded by Sister Elizabeth Donnan. She was referred to as ‘The Brigadier’, as she co-ordinated the numerous committees of staff and students, as well as organised curriculum, entertainment, student welfare, liturgy provisions and equipment for the trip. Sister Elizabeth was a past student and returned to Loreto Toorak in 1977 as a staff member. She had

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graduated with a master’s degree in science and a bachelor degree in teaching.

Sister Elizabeth taught Years Eleven and Twelve physics, mathematics, chemistry and religion. In addition she ran the timetable, allocated rooms, supervised the cleaners and organised senior camps. She was the ultimate behind-the-scenes organiser and took the organisation of the pilgrimage in her stride. For many Loreto Toorak girls, it was a new and challenging experience. There were eleven days of travelling hundreds of kilometres, during which the students became skilled at erecting a tent city and within half an hour sitting down to a threecourse meal. In an equally short time they could strike camp, and have tents folded and bed rolls neatly piled. They learnt to cope with the misty coldness of an early morning on the Murray River and the dusty starkness of Coober Pedy.

Elizabeth Neales, remedial teacher of English and mathematics for ten years, was placed in charge of Bus Ten. She described the experiences of four Year Twelves, eight Year Elevens, sixteen Year Nines, nine Year Sevens, two elderly teachers (of which Elizabeth was one), one young teacher, one nurse and three crew members who had not travelled together before: It hardly sounded like a promising recipe! And yet – a miracle happened.

Within days the disparate group knitted itself into a real extended family. We all learnt to enjoy shared experiences in the campsites, to accept each other’s idiosyncrasies, to care for those that felt insecure, to include those who worried about being left out and to make allowances for bouts of sickness, bad temper or weariness. After a day or two, all year levels intermingled spontaneously and age barriers disappeared.49 To belong to Bus Ten had become not just an organisational tool but an identity.

Those at home were able to share in the events through a dedicated pilgrimage telephone. Such was the enthusiasm of supporters, many found the redial button most useful.

The climax of the trip was reaching the Red Centre, meeting Aboriginal people at the Telegraph Station, climbing Uluru and celebrating a thanksgiving Mass at Yulara. During the planning stage, it was suggested that the annual Performing Arts Festival should be held during the Bicentennial Pilgrimage in Alice Springs. This idea was met with mixed feelings. After it was suggested that there would be no rehearsals prior to departure and no competitive elements, all joined in wholeheartedly. The fact that each house had only one week to co-ordinate two hundred girls sitting on buses, at times up to one hundred kilometres apart, meant that this festival would be unlike any other. Appropriately renamed the ‘Rock Concert’ and staged at the Yurala Amphitheatre, it was a spectacular event.

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I had never experienced the school spirit and electrified atmosphere which I felt at the Rock Concert. It was incredible! Each House produced half an hour of thoroughly entertaining song, dance and drama, including much ad-libbing and unplanned humour. The relaxed atmosphere, produced by a lack of competition, served to increase the level of audience participation and I’m sure the enjoyment of the girls performing.50

A tremendous sense of relief Congratulations from parent and member of the Advisory Board John Arthur on the execution of the pilgrimage to the Red Centre, 10 May 1988

For the finale the performers from the four houses were brought together for an amazing rendition of the song ‘We Are Family’, and the entire student body surged onto the stage for an encore.

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XIII REACHING FOR THE STARS Loreto Toorak in the Modern Era

Our Sisters maintain links with the extended school community as they keep in touch with the past students and the families of present students.

They are in an unrivalled position to know the connections of families and students both nationwide and across several generations. Their ongoing, but often overlooked, ministry of prayer has been and still is a source of reassurance for many.

Sister Maureen Saunders, 1989 1

T

he Loreto school philosophy of educating students for life is central to the curriculum, in which ethics, morality and spirituality are fundamental to and integrated within everyday school activities. At Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak from the 1990s onwards the senior students were encouraged to learn religion through a twofold complementary process. First and foremost was a thorough grounding in the Catholic faith. At the same time and from an objective standpoint, students were encouraged to become aware of the major world religions, and their traditions and diversity. Learning about other religions was seen as a way of breaking down barriers and encouraging an understanding of social cohesion. This approach was formalised in Year Ten religious education and through the introduction of the units Religion and Society, and Texts and Traditions, in the Victorian Certificate of Education. There were inherent challenges in religious education at this time. The percentage of Catholics who attended Mass every week had been falling more or less steadily since it peaked in the mid 1950s. Then, two-thirds or perhaps even three-quarters of all Australian Catholics went to Mass every Sunday. As priests and religious, including Loreto Sisters, were declining in numbers, the Church had to depend more than ever on the leadership offered by lay people and the students in Catholic schools.

Loreto’s first lay Principal In January 1989 Anne Hunt was appointed as Loreto Toorak’s first lay Principal, becoming the first lay Principal of any Loreto school in Australia. The daughter of a schoolteacher, Anne was born in Melbourne and was educated by the Mercy Sisters at Sacred Heart College, Geelong. Anne studied science and education at the University of Melbourne while a resident at St Mary’s College. She later completed a master’s degree in educational studies at Fordham University, New York, and a master’s degree in systemic theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Her curricular activities while Principal included completing a doctorate in theology at the Melbourne College of Divinity. Her work ethic was prodigious, verging on the outrageous, but she described her twenty-five-year

Dramatic success Winners of the Catholic Schools Drama Festival, 1992. Back row, left to right: Michelle O’Callaghan, Laura Henderson and Victoria Finck; middle row, left to right: Claire Brookes, Susan Saxon and Nicolette de Zoete; front row, left to right: Susan Bannigan and Jacqueline Sherren Previous page 396: Reflecting history Students re-create the image of the school opening as part of the celebrations to honour one hundred and twenty-five years of Loreto education in Melbourne, 2014 (detail, see page 415)

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Virginia Keogh Captain of the school, 1990

Rebecca Gibson Captain of the school, 1991

Gervase McKinna Captain of the school, 1992

Michaela Keogh Captain of the school, 1993

Anna Foley Captain of the school, 1994

association with Loreto Toorak as challenging, building academic standards and encouraging the students to become confident and competent. Anne began teaching at Loreto Toorak in 1978, and was Year Twelve Co-ordinator from 1983 to 1984 and then Vice-Principal from 1985 to 1986. The dux of 1983, Margaret McGlade, who went on to complete a master’s degree in commerce and build a career in government policy, wrote: ‘One of my enduring memories of Mandeville was Dr Hunt interrupting classes in 1983 to inform everyone that the High Court had ruled that the Commonwealth Government could stop the construction of the Franklin Dam, using its external affairs power. Dr Hunt would be pleased that

The closure of St Joseph’s CONVENT Wing By 1993 the Loreto Sisters were ageing and as St Joseph’s Wing, their hostel and residence, had become inadequate for their needs, it was closed. The community at St Joseph’s had been the embodiment of Institute values for forty years. For the majority of the Sisters the story of St Joseph’s provided rich memories of life and death, of both laughter and suffering, as they lived out together their singleminded vocations as Loreto Sisters. The community of ten moved to refurbished buildings on the corner of Mandeville Crescent and Orrong Road, adjacent to the junior school. For many of the older Sisters this move, from the centre of the school and Mandeville Hall to the school’s periphery, was a wrench. Their

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daily associations with students and staff were diminished. Although few Sisters were involved directly with the school by this stage, their strong and deep connections with Loreto families had developed out of their teaching experiences over the decades.

Counsel and support continued to be provided to the lay teachers at Loreto Toorak by Sister Maureen Saunders, a past student and teacher at Loreto Toorak; Sister Denise Desmarchelier, an eminent Institute educator; Sister Maureen Burke, a former science teacher at Loreto Toorak; and Sister Ellison Taffe, a senior teacher of religious education at Loreto Toorak, who was a good-humoured, capable and skilful administrator.

Alice Hume Captain of the school, 1995

Felicity McGrath Captain of the school, 1996

Amy Hede Captain of the school, 1997

Phoebe Knowles Captain of the school, 1998

I married the last environmentalist arrested on the Franklin blockade.’ 2 Joan Ryan, a long-serving and much loved English teacher, recalled that as a staff member Anne was approachable, enjoyed the daily ritual of doing a cryptic crossword, played bridge and enjoyed music and fine arts. As a teacher, Anne enlightened her students with stories of the lives of great women and concern for the wider community, and entertained them with the antics of Trudi, her sausage dog.

Anne’s tenure as Principal was not all plain sailing. Her appointment coincided with a time of transition, and she faced the challenge of maintaining Loreto’s educational philosophy under lay leadership. Soon after Anne became Principal the economy went into recession. Enrolments fell due to grim economic conditions and widespread unemployment. There was also extensive dissatisfaction with the new Victorian Certificate of Education. Undaunted, Anne spoke publicly on injustice in society, on the future of Catholic education and on the Victorian Certificate of Education, describing the popular alternative, the International Baccalaureate, as a Eurocentric product which reinforced an attitude of cultural cringe. She expressed strong views on the importance of the Victorian Certificate of Education: ‘It is the certificate for the clever country, for a country that wants its young people to work responsibly and cooperatively, to undertake genuine research and be able to think for themselves.’3 Not surprisingly, she promoted mathematics and sciences, forming accelerated classes, introducing computers and a network of fibre-optic cables and coining the phrase, ‘Mathematics multiply students’ choices’. Anne wrote, ‘It is regrettably still the case that deeply entrenched stereotypes pervade our society and that such attitudes can exert a debilitating effect on girls’ perspectives of themselves and of the options available to them.’4 In all of these initiatives Anne was generously assisted by the Loreto Sisters.

In particular she received support from the Sisters in residence at Loreto Toorak and other members of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary appointed by the Provincial to assist in the transition. By 1990 there were only three Sisters on the teaching staff out of a total of ninety-five and this in itself created a difference in the feel of the school. Loreto Sisters remained as heads of the junior school for a few more years. Sister Helen Murphy and Sister Helen Maguire guided the early formation of the girls until 1997, when Kathy O’Connell was appointed as the

Bridget Cleary Captain of the school, 1999

It is the certificate for the clever country, for a country that wants its young people to work responsibly and cooperatively, to undertake genuine research and be able to think for themselves.

Dr Anne Hunt

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A new phase The inaugural Loreto Mandeville Hall School Council, 1992. Back row, left to right: Susan Pascoe, Margaret Honner ibvm, John McKinnon, Paul Hoy, David Beatty, Michael Tilley, Reginald Brownell and Jane Ahmed; front row, left to right: Elizabeth Butt, Ellison Taffe ibvm, Deirdre Rofe ibvm, John Arthur and Anne Hunt

first lay Principal of the junior school. In 1987 two leadership positions had been created in the senior school: Director of Studies and Director of Pastoral Care. In 1994 these positions became part of the roles of the two deputy principals. Robert Dernelley, who had been appointed as Director of Studies in 1987, became the first male Deputy Principal at Loreto Toorak in 1994. In 1980 Andrew Schmidt had begun at Loreto Toorak as a mathematics teacher. He proved to be such an outstanding organiser – able to wrestle with timetables, allocate rooms and deal with staff needs with good grace – that he became Senior School Co-ordinator in 1988 and then the Director of School Operations in the Leadership Team from 2003 to 2013.

The Loreto Advisory Board The Loreto Advisory Board had been in operation since 1975 and was responsible for many school initiatives, including Family Day, Father–Daughter Masses, running appeals and providing contacts for student work experience. In 1986 the Advisory Board introduced the Mandevillian, a magazine which reported on key 402

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school events several times a year. The Mandevillian became an important means of communicating with past and present students and staff. By the 1990s the role of the Loreto Advisory Board was evolving to reflect the general trend within the Catholic Church of increasing lay involvement. In 1992 Loreto Toorak became the first Loreto school in Australia to be entrusted to an incorporated council.

Members of the School Council were appointed by the Provincial of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and were chosen for their expertise and commitment to Loreto and its ethos.

Two Loreto Sisters were appointed: Sister Margaret Honner, Principal of Loreto Kirribilli, Sydney, and a member of the Provincial Council of the Institute, and Sister Ellison Taffe, Superior of the Loreto community at Toorak. Six fathers of Loreto Toorak students provided skills in law, accountancy, financial planning, buildings and business. John Arthur was appointed as chairman and he was assisted by David Beatty, Reg Brownell, Paul Hoy, John McKinnon and Michael Tilley. Two mothers of Loreto Toorak students were also appointed: Jane Ahmed, a Loreto Toorak past student and company manager, and Susan Pascoe, who had been educated at Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount, Ballarat, and was the co-ordinating chairperson (policy) for the Catholic Education Office of Melbourne. Educational breadth and expertise was provided by Elizabeth Butt, the recently retired Principal of Fintona Girls’ School in Balwyn. The council’s responsibility was to formulate and develop policy. The Principal was, in effect, the Chief Executive Officer, reporting to the council on the management of the school. Members of the council were responsible for the oversight of financial management, property maintenance, strategic planning and pastoral care of the staff and students.

The then Loreto Provincial, Sister Deirdre Rofe, described the inauguration of the Loreto Toorak School Council as a landmark in the history of the Institute in Australia. It was the formalising of a partnership between the Institute and a group of women and men who agreed to collaborate to provide quality education for girls. She wrote:

It is important that a group such as this recognises that its contribution needs to further the goals of the school. Serving on the School Council is no short cut to personal fame or self aggrandisement.

In many ways, it will probably be a rather anonymous service.

Maybe it’s a function of false humility practised by religious orders, maybe it’s a feminine thing, but our schools have not seen the need to have portraits of Principals in oils lining the School Hall.

Sister Deirdre Rofe

It is important that a group such as this recognises that its contribution needs to further the goals of the school. Serving on the School Council is no short cut to personal fame or self aggrandisement. In many ways, it will probably be a rather anonymous service. Maybe it’s a function of false humility practised by religious orders, maybe it’s a feminine thing, but our schools have not seen the need to have portraits of Principals in oils lining the School Hall.5 Sound relationships and good communication between the Principal and council were pivotal. Chairman John Arthur described Anne Hunt’s proposals as thoroughly prepared and clearly presented at council meetings.

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The 1990s recession and

Loreto’s changing face Left: Displaying the school crest Anne Hunt congratulates Morna Sturrock, a member of the Victorian Embroiderers’ Guild, on her design and execution of a new school banner, 1999 Right: A special occasion Celebrating seventy-five years of Loreto Toorak, 1999. Back row, left to right: Barbara Kitchen, Teena Crocker, Kathleen O’Connell, Deirdre Rofe ibvm, Jane Kelly ibvm and Anne Hunt; front row, left to right: Ruth Winship ibvm, Anne McPhee ibvm, Peter Tehan, Meg Hannan ibvm and Toni Matha ibvm

In response to the impact of the 1990s recession, one of the School Council’s first initiatives was to open Loreto Toorak to prospective families. On 3 June 1992 more than a thousand people attended the school’s inaugural public Open Day, which included the opening by Sister Deirdre Rofe of the extensive renovations to the junior school that had been funded by some of the money raised by a one-million-dollar appeal. There were guided tours of facilities, classrooms, the chapel and the mansion. There were lessons in progress and demonstrations in fencing, gymnastics, netball and hockey. Orchestra, choirs and ensembles provided light entertainment for the visitors. Another council initiative during 1992 was to commission a conservation report which provided guidance for the future restoration of Mandeville Hall. When the recession began to recede a Uniform Review Committee was established in 1995, chaired

by Alison Miller. Few changes had been made to the uniform since the 1970s, and the school launched a new sports uniform in 1996. During the following year the school commissioned current parent Perri Cutten, well known for her quality fashion label, to design a new blazer, and summer and winter uniforms.

Ties were abandoned and new blouses, tunics, dresses and skirts were gradually introduced over the next few years.

New building works An important undertaking by the council in 1996 was to formulate and develop a new property master plan as the blueprint for the future. A key element of this 404

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St Peter’s Early Learning Centre The Loreto Toorak School Council also oversaw the establishment in January 2002 of St Peter’s Early Learning Centre, which was opened at St Peter’s Parish Church in Toorak Road. It was a partnership formed between the Parish of St Peter’s, St Kevin’s College and Loreto Toorak to provide early childhood education for boys and girls. Kathy O’Connell, former head of Loreto Toorak’s junior school, was appointed as the project manager to

steer this combined development. A meeting area under the church was converted into a light-filled, innovative learning area for a three-year-old group and a pre-prep group. Integrated play-centred programs were introduced, based on the Italian Reggio Emilia approach, which involved community collaboration between parents, teachers and children.

Music, drama, movement and motor co-ordination formed an important part of this approach.

plan was the Mother Gonzaga Barry Sports Centre, which was built on the site of St Joseph’s Wing, demolished in 2000, and the tennis courts on the corner of Clendon Road and Millicent Avenue. This property had been purchased in 1955, and in 1964 the houses were demolished and tennis courts installed to replace those subsumed by the erection of the Mary Ward Building in 1966. In 2001 the two houses owned by the Loreto Institute on Orrong Road were also demolished and replaced with tennis courts. The Mother Gonzaga Barry Sports Centre was officially blessed and opened on 19 May 2002 by Archbishop Denis Hart together with the Loreto Provincial, Sister Deirdre Browne. Although the centre was not fully operational at the time, the doors were thrown open for a festive occasion to celebrate the many hours of planning and organising for the biggest building project undertaken by Loreto Toorak since its foundation in 1924.

Anne Hunt was proud of this new complex and the refurbishment of both the junior and senior schools, but with these physical improvements came increased challenges. Anne wondered how many Loreto schools around the world would have a swimming pool, a weights’ room, a theatrette or even a wireless site! To wear the Loreto banner was one thing, but understanding that not all Loreto schools were as privileged as Loreto Toorak increased their social responsibility.

We must believe that we can change the tragic circumstances that exist in the third world countries and endeavour to break the cycle of poverty. Collectively we are able to make a significant and important contribution to the lives of the children we have sponsored at our own Loreto schools in India.

Colette Burnes

Mary Ward International In 1987 at the seventeenth biennial conference of the Loreto Federation, held in Ballarat, a Loreto Toorak past student suggested that Loreto schools in Australia should focus on assisting needy children in Loreto schools in India. Colette Burnes, née Ryan, the daughter of a clothing manufacturer, had been a Loreto Toorak student during the prosperous post-war years. Her plan was to build on the work of the first president of Federation, Moira Dynon. During the 1960s,

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Her high expectations have pushed the standards at Loreto to a new height.

More than that, whenever a difficult situation arose, [ Alison Miller] was at all times approachable and able to offer guidance, wisdom and advice.

Phoebe Knowles

when India was in crisis, Moira collected vast quantities of powdered milk and rice through the Loreto Federation and personally journeyed to India to distribute this food to those in need. Colette’s plan was for Australian Loreto families to annually sponsor children in Loreto schools in India. Her concept was unanimously accepted at the next Loreto Federation, held in Adelaide in 1989, and Loreto Family International was established.

Loreto Toorak embraced Colette’s scheme immediately, with issues of Mandevillian frequently featuring articles on its importance. The 1986 school captain, Erin-Marie O’Neil, spent a month as a volunteer in Loreto schools in India, where the work of Loreto Family International sponsors was talked of and greatly appreciated. For many years Colette shouldered the greater part of the burden for the administrative work and publicised the scheme widely in order for it to come to fruition. Colette wrote: ‘We must believe that we can change the tragic circumstances that exist in the third world countries and endeavour to break the cycle of poverty. Collectively we are able to make a significant and important contribution to the lives of the children we have sponsored at our own Loreto schools in India.’6 It was so successful that by 2003, with more than five hundred children receiving sponsorship, the Sisters in India found it difficult to correspond with individual donors. The president of Loreto Family International, Loreto Toorak past student Antoinette Meehan, organised for the funds to be sent to the Provincial Leader of the Loreto Sisters in India to distribute to those in most need of financial support. From these inspirational initiatives Mary Ward International Australia evolved, operating with a broader community support base and establishing a volunteer program working for justice and development in Australia and overseas. During 2009 six Loreto Toorak volunteers, four past pupils and two teachers worked on Loreto projects in Alice Springs, Kenya, Peru and India.

Loreto’s seventy-fifth anniversary Traditions were reinforced during Loreto Toorak’s seventy-fifth anniversary in 1999. The theme ‘Celebrating the past: shaping the future’ was chosen. A pageant was held in March on the oval together with the launch of a book titled A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, which documented the stories of the people associated with the history of Loreto Toorak. In all of her initiatives Anne Hunt was loyally supported by enthusiastic, energetic and longstanding staff members. These included Director of Business Operations Ian James and members of the teaching staff Michael Mulcahy, mathematics, science and religion; Amanda Apthorpe, science and religion; Roger Gill, mathematics and science; and Deana Dodds, a Loreto Toorak past student, mathematics and music. Specialist teachers 406

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including musician Anne Elliott, Director of Learning Resources Rosemary Abbott and laboratory assistant in food technology Brenda Adkins built on the culture which allowed students to try new things and be valued for their achievements. The Year Twelve Co-ordinator, Margaret Smith, taught senior students literature and history with a passion and nurtured their interest in these fields beyond their schooling. Her twin daughters became school captain and school music captain.

Deputy Principals Allison Miller, the Deputy Principal, came to Loreto Toorak as a teacher in 1979, and became a year co-ordinator and then Director of Pastoral Care and Acting Principal when Anne Hunt was on sabbatical leave. The welfare of the students was her first priority. School Captain Phoebe Knowles, who later completed a master’s degree in legal studies at the London School of Economics on a scholarship funded by the British High Commission, wrote that Alison Miller played an integral part in her Loreto Toorak experience: ‘Her high expectations have pushed the standards at Loreto to a new height. More than that, whenever a difficult situation arose, she was at all times approachable and able to offer guidance, wisdom and advice.’7 In term three of 1999 Elizabeth Burns, past student of Loreto Mary’s Mount, was appointed as the Director of Studies and Deputy Principal. Her enthusiasm for mathematics, the use of computer

Left: Happy birthday School councillors assist Anne Hunt to cut Loreto Toorak’s seventieth anniversary cake, 1994. Left to right: Cassandra Laracy, Kate Ludescher, Nicolette de Zoete, Anna Foley and Anne Hunt Right: A Mosaic of Memories Ruth Trait and Bonnie Connellan display a new publication containing Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak stories showcasing seventy-five years in the life of the school, 1999

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Annabel Smith Captain of the school, 2000

Rosannah Healy Captain of the school, 2001

During my years at Mandeville, learning for me, and for most of us, has been a source of fascination. Our teachers have made it so. We have been learning for life.

Novels were more than form and structure, they were about the human condition; history stirred social awareness and a sense of justice; science awakened the wonders of the universe; maths demanded precision; and the soul soared in art and music.

An Pham

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Yvette Haikal Captain of the school, 2002

Bridget Scanlon Captain of the school, 2003

Samantha Barrett Captain of the school, 2004

technology in schools and the pursuit of academic excellence, as well as her concern for social justice, was contagious. In 2013 she was appointed as Deputy Principal and Dean of St Mary’s College at the University of Melbourne.

Graduates from 2000 onwards With such a committed, competent and caring staff, the time had arrived when a Loreto Toorak graduate could do anything. The dux of the school for 2000, An Pham, who studied arts and medicine at the University of Melbourne, wrote: During my years at Mandeville, learning for me, and for most of us, has been a source of fascination. Our teachers have made it so. We have been learning for life. Novels were more than form and structure, they were about the human condition; history stirred social awareness and a sense of justice; science awakened the wonders of the universe; maths demanded precision; and the soul soared in art and music.8 Brigid Clarke worked with the Department of Human Services as a psychologist and assisted in providing grief counselling to those traumatised during the 2009 bushfires. After studying law and commerce at Monash University, Julia Foley began her career as aide to the governor of Victoria, Sir James Gobbo, before becoming a lawyer with Minter Ellison. She later worked with Telstra as director, deputy head communications, before establishing her own communications company.

Clare O’Neil joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of seventeen. She completed arts and law with honours at Monash University and while still a student was elected as a city councillor in the City of Greater Dandenong. At the age of twenty-three she was elected as mayor in 2004–05, becoming the youngest female mayor of a local government area in Australia’s history. Clare was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 2006 and she completed a master of public policy at Harvard University. Her thesis examined government innovation and the

Nicole Gee Captain of the school, 2005

Georgette Scanlon Captain of the school, 2006

Olivia Dalton Captain of the school, 2007

Gabrielle Coles and Annabelle Healy Captains of the school, 2008

Siana Madden and Sarah Vanderkley Captains of the school, 2009

alleviation of poverty. In 2013 Clare became Loreto Toorak’s first federal politician as the Labor Party member for Hotham in the House of Representatives. Priscilla Ruffolo joined the Liberal Party while studying arts at Monash University. In 2000 she won Liberal pre-selection for the seat of Hotham but was defeated in the 2001 elections by the sitting Labor Party member. Priscilla worked for several years as an electorate officer before founding a public relations company in Rockhampton, Queensland.

Marie-Danielle Turner became a member of the National Orchestra of Belgium after studying violin in Sydney and Paris. Following a commerce degree, Lisa Crosato studied singing at the Royal Academy, London, and became a lead soprano in musicals and operas. While in Year Twelve, Lizette Bell studied photography part-time and earned a perfect Victorian Certificate of Education score for art and photography. In 2003 she became the artist in residence at Loreto Toorak. Kendra Ireland became an architect in New York, while Catherine Quinn joined the architectural firm of Gray Puksand in Melbourne and was instrumental in the design of the Mary’s Mount Centre for performing arts and the Loreto Archive Centre at Loreto Mary’s Mount. Kathleen Fagan became a geologist with Central Norseman Gold Corporation in Western Australia. After completing degrees in environmental engineering and law, Emily O’Connell specialised in environment and planning law before joining the Faculty of Law at the University of Melbourne to pursue further research. Christina Browning graduated with a master’s degree in international development, and became a volunteer and later a staff member with the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network on the Thai–Burma border. Clare Anderson completed an honours degree in chemical engineering and became the first Loreto Toorak past student to complete a doctorate in engineering in the fields of chemical and molecular biology. Natalie de Morton became the first past student to graduate with a doctorate from the Department of Physiotherapy at Monash University. In 2010 she won a Victorian Churchill Fellowship for post-doctoral research in the United States and Canada.

In addition, a dedication to and love for the heritage of the school was kept alive by past students. Jill Maggs sent her daughter Sarah Lethlean to Loreto

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Each activity represents an important and integral part of a Loreto education, a broadening of mind, an expansion of understanding of worlds other than their own – worlds of people in need, people who are poor, both materially and culturally, and people who need others to speak and act for them.

Dr Susan Stevens

Toorak for thirteen years, epitomising the loyalty of many Loreto Toorak past students. Sarah recalled the happy memories of her Preparatory class, taken by Marianne Hull, the excitement of graduating from the junior school, the fun times on Year Nine ski camps, and participating in musicals and dancing classes with students from St Kevin’s College and the Year Eleven Christian Living Camp with students from Xavier College.9 Sarah studied science and law, and became a solicitor with Molomby & Molomby and the Transport Accident Commission before working on ethics and professional standards with the legal services commissioner. A school built on faith was kept alive. Anne’s lasting legacy at Loreto Toorak will be that she was a Principal for the girls. In all instances the interests of the girls came first. Everything she did, whether it was upgrading facilities or making changes to the curriculum, was designed to provide the girls with the best opportunities in life.

Dr Susan Stevens takes the helm Wonderful results Dr Susan Stevens with the 2011 duces of the school, Grace Fitzgerald and Mary Nguyen

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In early 2002 Dr Anne Hunt resigned from Loreto Toorak to become the Rector of the Aquinas Campus (Ballarat) of the Australian Catholic University. Anne had successfully overseen the years of transition to lay leadership at Loreto Toorak.

Taking on not only the management of the school but also the legacy of the Sisters’ leadership and presence in the school had placed a particular complexion on her task. When the Sisters withdrew from teaching, the school family grieved for the loss of their tangible presence. The staff became a stronger influence and a binding force between the past and the present. The combined energy and hard work of the staff, now made up almost entirely of lay people, was called upon in new ways, especially when there was a project that represented a cherished dream or a higher purpose. Like the Sisters before them, the staff believed wholeheartedly in girls’ education and in the potential for women to achieve great things.

On 15 April 2002 the Provincial, Sister Deirdre Browne, announced that Dr Susan Stevens would become the second lay Principal of Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak. It was a felicitous choice, as Susan was a talented member of Loreto Toorak’s senior staff. Susan was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and was educated at MacRobertson Girls’ High School, the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne College of Divinity. Her post-graduate qualifications ranged across music, education, adolescent health and welfare, and theology. Before coming to Loreto Toorak in 1998 as Deputy Principal and Director of Pastoral Care, Susan had been in charge of Year Twelve at Our Lady of Sion College, Box Hill. Annabelle Scanlon, chair of Loreto Toorak’s School Council, wrote in 2003: ‘Our Principal Susan Stevens has been outstanding in her leadership of the school this year, working tirelessly in her commitment to students and staff. Susan’s caring, gentle manner touches all who come in contact with her.’ 10 Susan placed a great emphasis on social justice projects. In her first annual school report, she wrote: ‘Each activity represents an important and integral part of a Loreto education, a broadening of mind, an expansion of understanding of worlds other than their own – worlds of people in need, people who are poor, both materially and culturally, and people who need others to speak and act for them.’ 11 A widely acknowledged view in the Loreto family is that Susan is highly intelligent, academic, a quick thinker, a very good manager, has a strong work ethic, knows all of the students and staff members and holds strong values. At the same time she is seen as a ‘progressive’ Principal, focusing on the development of a school culture that draws on traditional elements as well as looking forward with an eye to trends in the wider community. The school community has been a powerful force that has willingly supported Susan’s initiatives. With more mothers involved in full-time work, the structure of the former auxiliaries and interest groups has altered. The Parents’ Association was formed in 1997 through the amalgamation of the Fathers’ Association and the Mothers’ Association, and in 2002 the association funded many projects, including the redevelopment of the Glade.

In 2005 the basement of Mandeville Hall was refurbished to create the Drama Centre and in 2006 the Sister Ruth Winship ibvm Science Centre was officially

Winifred Wigmore In 2003 ‘Winnie’s Wing’ was erected and Cafe Mandeville was opened. ‘Winnie’s Wing’ was named in memory of Winifred Wigmore, who was a close companion of Mary Ward. Winifred was one of the English ladies who accompanied Mary when she opened her first boarding school for girls at St Omer, Flanders, in 1609. Winifred was highly educated, spoke five languages and became founding Superior in a number of Mary Ward’s Houses.

Tremendous opportunities The opening of the Ruth Winship ibvm Science Centre, 2006. Left to right: Sarah Perrett, Charlotte Coburn, Sister Ruth Winship and Kate McCulloch

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Sport and languages

Although neither a sportswoman nor a linguist, Anne Hunt promoted both of these aspects in the curriculum. She became a driving force and served as chair of Girls Sport Victoria, established in 2000 with members drawn from twenty-four independent secondary girls’ schools around Melbourne.

Sarah Glynn and Alexandra Saundry Captains of the school, 2010

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Annabel Jones and Emma Quirk Captains of the school, 2011

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Rowing became a popular and successful sport under the guidance and organisation of the indefatigable Robert Zahara, a Loreto Toorak parent. Robert, a marketing engineer with a master’s degree in business administration, was a Loreto Toorak past student together with his older brothers, Julian and Michael.

When Robert made his First Holy Communion at Loreto Toorak his two brothers were the altar boys.

In 1993 Japanese was introduced into the curriculum alongside French and Indonesian. During 1995 Loreto Toorak hosted the first home-stay program for students of Japanese to visit Loreto Toorak’s sister school, Fukuoka Kaisei Girls’ High, in Japan. In 1999 Sara Lynch won a scholarship from the Association of International Education Japan. This scholarship was to study at Osaka University for a year, taking courses in Japanese contemporary society and law as part of her Monash University arts and law degrees.

During the year she travelled to Fukuoka to revisit the school she had attended on the very first Loreto exchange trip to Japan.

Amy Pereria and Charlotte Russo Captains of the school, 2012

Madeleine Tehan and Kate McNamara Captains of the school, 2013

Madeleine Doyle and Emily Rodrigo Captains of the school, 2014

opened. During 2007 the Chapel of Christ the King was aesthetically restored.

The refurbishment included restoring the stained-glass windows, parquetry floor and marble tiles around the altar and sanctuary and installing modern lighting and heating. On the 21 May 2010 the Multipurpose Hall was renamed the Sister Toni Matha ibvm Hall in honour of a former Loreto Toorak junior school Principal, Mother Francis Anthony Matha AM.

The Mandeville Centre In March 2013 Susan announced plans for a new Mandeville Centre to be built over four levels in the middle of the school. The Mandeville Centre will meet the challenges of the future through improving facilities and creating a different approach to teaching and learning. The building’s centrepiece is an innovative Preparatory to Year Twelve Learning Resources Centre and Library. Susan has recognised that the modern concept of education should not be limited to a specified set of academic objectives, graded into year levels. By its very design the Mandeville Centre will encourage collaborative activities for staff and motivate students to learn. The school has always shown commendable flexibility by changing the use of its buildings according to current needs, and this is displayed in the frequent changes made to the names of buildings to reflect their altered functions. Susan has foreseen that a construction project of this magnitude, which includes extensive demolition of the 1978 Mary Ward Wing – now referred to as the Library and Administration Building – will inevitably have an impact on normal school routines and require tolerance from members of the school community. The physical constraints of a magnificent but limited site pose a challenge as the school continues to grow.

Further changes within the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary saw the community house at Orrong Road close during 2013. Loreto Toorak farewelled their treasured neighbours, mentors and givers of generous doses of wise counsel.

From 1924 the Sisters had been the head, heart and soul of Loreto Toorak. Through their teaching and pastoral care they had influenced the lives of many families.

Brian Slattery, the school’s tennis coach for forty-one years, remembered the days when the Sisters regularly served him afternoon tea. As males were not allowed in the mansion, except for the parish priest, his refreshments were brought out to him at the tennis courts by one of the Sisters. A tray was beautifully laid with a white damask cloth, full silver teapot, delicate bone china tableware and a homemade biscuit.12 It was part of the time-honoured, simple hospitality provided by the Loreto community, but done with artistry and flair. While the Mandeville Centre is being constructed the senior staff rooms have been relocated to the former community house on Orrong Road. Perhaps for the first time the staff have come

Above: Loreto hospitality Visitors were served morning and afternoon teas with delicate bone china tableware Opposite, top: A strenuous sport Year Ten participants in the Victorian State Rowing Championships, 2014

Reaching for the Stars

413

Great excitement The official opening day of Loreto Toorak, 1925

414

A Row of Goodly Pearls

to appreciate why the Sisters felt so isolated when they moved into this building.

It is a curious but undeniable fact that the appointment of each leader for Loreto Toorak, although different in personality and style to the previous incumbent, has acted as a foil rather than an echo. They have all been remarkable women, meeting the demands of their era. Each left their own indelible mark.

The achievements of the staff members over generations are inextricably bound to previous events and characters in the life of Loreto Toorak. The school itself is greater than those individuals who serve in leading roles. However, a school cannot be great without a visionary leader. The Loreto foundations in Melbourne have been fortunate indeed in the calibre of their leaders over their one hundred and twenty-five year history. These intrepid women challenged assumptions, believing that women were capable of intellectual rigour, should be educated and, most scandalous, were entitled to employment which would free them from the

insecurity and indignity of dependence on others. Their remarkable spirits prevail.

In the words of Carolyn Raftis: How does one describe Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak? The main impression as one turns into the drive is the sedate grey Italianate building presiding gracefully over its surrounds. Behind the majestic façade, however, hundreds of blue-clad figures seethe through corridors and quadrangles in the pursuit of enlightenment. To the newcomer it is obvious that though this school holds individuals, there is one distinct but intangible spirit – the Loreto spirit – that binds them. One school gives each girl the security of being part of a whole, while leaving her free to develop as an individual. Every girl who is, or has been, part of Loreto, experiences a certain rapport with those who have studied within these walls.13

Reflecting history Students re-create the image of the school opening as part of the celebrations to honour one hundred and twenty-five years of Loreto education in Melbourne, 2014

Reaching for the Stars

415

Appendices Mistress of Schools of Loreto Toorak 1924 1925 – 1934 1935 – 1940 1941 – 1947 1948 – 1951 1952 – 1955 1956 – 1958 1958 – 1969 1970 – 1972

Mother Bernardine Callinan ibvm Mother Aquin McPhee ibvm Mother Lucilla Ball ibvm Mother Dominic Jones ibvm Mother Benignus Webster ibvm Mother Assumpta Winship ibvm Mother Dympna McNamara ibvm Mother Xaveria Hannan ibvm Sister Anne McPhee ibvm

Principals of Loreto Toorak 1973 – 1978 Sister Jane Kelly ibvm 1979 – 1988 Sister Deirdre Rofe ibvm 1989 – 2002 Dr Anne Hunt 2002 – Dr Susan Stevens

Principals of Loreto Toorak Junior School 1925 – Mother Bernadette Lynch ibvm – 1933 Mother Xavier Rogers ibvm 1934 – 1946 Mother Francesca Cavagna ibvm 1947 – 1952 Mother Antoninus Hendrick ibvm 1953 – 1954 Mother Mercia Robinson ibvm 1955 – 1958 Mother Bernadette Gray ibvm 1959 – 1960 Mother Attracta O’Mahoney ibvm 1961 – 1972 Sister Toni Matha ibvm 1973 – 1976 Sister Margaret O’Sullivan ibvm 1977 – 1982 Sister Teresa Lowery ibvm 1983 – 1986 Sister Maria Bongiorno ibvm

Heads of Loreto Toorak Junior School 1987 – 1992 Sister Helen Murphy ibvm 1993 – 1996 Sister Helen Maguire ibvm 1997 – 2000 Kathleen O’Connell

Director of Loreto Toorak Junior School

Deputy Principal of Loreto Toorak

Superiors of Loreto Convent Toorak

1973 – 1982 Margaret Willis

1924 – 1930 1931 – 1936 1937 1938 – 1941

Vice Principal of Loreto Toorak 1983 – 1986 Anne Hunt

Director of Studies: 1987 – 1993 Robert Dernelley Director of Pastoral Care: 1987 – 1993 Alison Miller

Deputy Principals of Loreto Toorak Director of Studies: 1994 – 1998 Robert Dernelley 1999 – 2011 Elizabeth Burns

Director of Pastoral Care: 1994 – 1997 Alison Miller 1998 – 2002 Susan Stevens 2002 – 2005 Rosemary Doolan 2006 – 2011 Mary O’Connor Director of Junior School: 2001 – 2010 Louise Peyton

Deputy Principal of Loreto Toorak 2012 –

Deputy Principal of Loreto Toorak Junior School 1970 – 1986 Patricia Moylan

Deputy Heads of Loreto Toorak Junior School 1987 – 1997 Patricia Moylan 1997 – 2000 Catherine Sim

Director of Early Learing Centre to Year 6 Loreto Toorak

Deputy Director of Loreto Toorak Junior School

416

Catherine Maimone Crowhurst

Appendices

Community Leaders of Loreto Convent Toorak 2000 – 2001 2002 2002 – 2003 2004 – 2005 2006 – 2008

Sister Maureen Burke ibvm Sister Toni Matha ibvm Sister Mercia Richards ibvm Sister Anne Byrne ibvm Sister Jennifer Collins ibvm

Mary O'Connor

2001 – 2010 Louise Peyton

2011 –

Mother Rita Nolan ibvm Mother Michael Gibson ibvm Mother Columba O’Reilly ibvm Mother Teresa Gertrude O’Sullivan ibvm 1942 – 1949 Mother Magdalen O’Hagan ibvm 1950 – 1955 Mother Helen Stephenson ibvm 1956 – 1961 Mother Assumpta Winship ibvm 1962 – 1967 Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden ibvm 1968 – 1973 Mother Sylvester Byrne ibvm 1974 – 1979 Sister Beatrice Hannan ibvm 1980 – 1985 Sister Kathleen Brennan ibvm 1986 Sister Noni Mitchell ibvm 1987 – 1990 Sister Maureen Saunders ibvm 1991 – 1993 Sister Ellison Taffe ibvm 1994 – 1996 Sister Margaret O’Sullivan ibvm 1997 – 1999 Sister Joan Nowotny ibvm

2001 – 2009 Catherine Sim

Chairs of the Loreto Toorak Advisory Board 1975 – 1976 Robert Layet 1977 – 1978 Nicholas Galante 1979 – 1980 Joseph O'Shea 1981 – 1982 Michael Ingwersen 1982 – 1984 Warren Fagan 1984 – 1988 James McCarthy 1988 – 1992 John Arthur

Chairs of the Loreto Toorak School Council 1992 – 1995 1996 – 1999 2000 – 2002 2003 – 2004 2005 – 2009 2010 –

John Arthur Paul Hoy Bryan Madden Annabelle Scanlon John Sheldon Christopher Pidcock

Presidents of the Parents’ Association 1961 1962 1963 – 1964 1965 – 1966 1966 – 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980

Joan Bowden Mary Kelly Kathleen Bristow Mary Hollywood Judith Feery June McCann Beverley Taylor Mary Kevin Shirlee Carolan Ann Metzner Shirley Custance Barbara Burke Helen Cronin Therese Phillips Patricia McDonald Judy Mountain Patricia McDonald

Presidents of the Mothers’ Association 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Barbara Mulqueen Gae Interdonato Sally O’Shaughnessy Susanne Burford Carole Hart Geraldine Crough Helen Kift Susan Rennie Eileen Clark Margaret Ford Jessica Hickey & Jane Ahmed Christine Chamberlain Julie Laurence Winifred Hickey Jennifer Johnston Krys Gruba

Presidents of the Fathers’ Association

Presidents of the Past Pupils’ Association

1981 John Burnes 1982 Vincent Doquile 1983 Howard McCorkell 1984 Brian Sweeney 1985 John Arthur 1986 Ronald O’Dwyer 1987 Peter Jackman 1988 Anthony Carnovale 1989 Anthony Gamble 1990 James Drake 1991 Damien Nolan 1992 Michael Cummins 1993 Alan Fitzgerald 1994 Terrence Pacini 1995 Bernard Balmer 1996 Paul Holland

1929 – 1931 Mary Daly (née MacMahon) 1932 Mollie Willis (née Mongovan) 1933 Lillian McKenna (née Gibney) 1934 Rose Norton (née Mongovan) 1935 Nina King (née Keyes) 1936 Marjorie Adami (née King) 1937 Stephanie Corby (née Cox) 1938 Margery O’Connor (née Hayden) 1939 Kathleen Healy (née Tunbridge) 1940 Wilma Sinn (née Murphy) 1940 – 1941 Phyllis Cahill (née Dureau) 1942 Janet Worthington (née Wimpole) 1943 – 1944 Mary Parkes (née Broderick) 1945 – 1946 Lena McCauley 1947 Margery Knowles (née Burne) 1948 – 1949 Eileen Conquest (née Peppard) 1950 Hilary Dwyer (née Dunlea) 1951 – 1952 Gwen O’Sullivan (née Higginbotham) 1953 – 1954 Mary Kelly (née Ellis) 1955 Hilary Dwyer (née Dunlea) 1956 – 1957 Moria Dynon (née Shelton) 1958 Patricia Smith (née Cooper) 1959 – 1960 Mary England (née Rowan) 1961 Yvonne McCardel (née Wearne) 1962 – 1963 Mary Wright (née McCarthy) 1964 – 1965 Elisabeth McKenzie (née Bowen) 1966 Pauline Pacini (née Jackson) 1967 Nancye Best (née Donovan) 1968 Patricia Buxton (née Ahern) 1969 Helen Dore (née Gibson) 1970 Patricia Molyneux (née McGirr) 1971 – 1972 Joy Hanrahan (née McDonald) 1973 Patricia Buxton (née Ahern) 1974 Felicity Jackman (née Sinn) 1975 Geraldine O’Day (née Vanheems) 1976 Shirley Grigsby (née Carroll) 1977 Joan Mulcahy (née Stevenson) 1978 Joan Hurley (née Lightfoot) 1979 Patricia Buxton (née Ahern) 1980 – 1981 Lorraine Walker (née Commins) 1982 Susie De Mornement 1983 – 1984 Julianna O’Bryan (née Adams) 1985 – 1986 Colette Byrnes (née Ryan) 1987 – 1988 Julienne Scarf (née Moloney) 1989 – 1990 Joanne Gunnersen (née Moon) 1991 – 1992 Penny Gamble (née Hopkins) 1993 – 1994 Andrea Maule (née England) 1995 – 1997 Sue Olney (née Hanrahan) 1998 – 2000 Teena Crocker (née Fakhry) 2001 – 2002 Rebecca Buettner (née Wood) 2003 – 2005 Jane Nathan (née Willis) 2006 – 2008 Mardi Tovery (née Swann) 2009 Caroline Power 2010 Mardi Tovery (née Swann) 2011 – 2012 Rosannah Healy 2013 – Catherine Russell (née Burges)

Presidents of the Parents’ Association 1997 Paul Holland 1998 Marita Ball 1999 Peter Tehan 2000 – 2001 Elizabeth Halpin 2002 – 2003 Gerard Higgins 2004 – 2006 Denis O’Hara 2007 Gaspare Sirianni 2008 – 2011 Michael Tsotsos 2011 – Loretta Cinque

Appendices

417

Loreto Toorak School Captains

Loreto Convent Toorak Visitation Book 1928 1929 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1956 1959

Sisters 23 24 23 26 29 34 34 38 28 26 26 25 24 27 25 25 26 27 30 27 26 32 28

Boarders 56 53 34 32 46 44 51 56 58 47 50 62 60 64 68 64 70 68 65 72 70 75 74

27 74 498 27 70 550

Primary: Secondary: 6 7 6 7

28 68 678 29 69 717 28 73 799

Full-Time: 7 9 9

Part-Time: Full-Time: 2 6 2 8 2 10

1972 24 – 870

Primary: Secondary: 13 24

1961 1962

1963 1965 1967

418

Appendices

1925 Thecla Marie (Girlie) O'Sullivan 1926 Margaret Gleeson 1927 Elizabeth Mumme 1928 Laura Hayden 1929 & 1930 Kathleen O’Loughlin 1931 Wilma Murphy 1932 & 1933 Helen O’Loughlin 1934 Mary (Mollie) Shillito 1935 Edna Murphy 1936 & 1937 Elaine O’Mara 1938 Eileen Colby 1939 Lawre O’Brien 1940 Pamela Buxton 1941 Roma Fowler 1942 June Shelton 1943 Mary Fowler 1944 & 1945 Elizabeth Cahill

Day Pupils Lay Staff 81 5 80 – 97 5 114 5 115 5 139 8 141 9 142 – 162 8 159 6 168 7 177 10 200 10 210 10 234 18 279 17 297 16 368 14 345 15 353 8 375 6 373 6 514 9

1946 Dympna Gooch

Part-Time: 17 15 15

1947 Angela Bowler 1948 Moya Byrne 1949 Judith Clifford 1950 Judith McNamara 1951 Veronica Gorman 1952 Mary Ann Dwyer 1953 & 1954 Carole Bowen 1955 Katherine Calder 1956 Ann Northam 1957 Diana Bowen 1958 & 1959 Phillipa McClelland 1960 Caroline Kelly 1961 Anna Sinn 1962 Mary Wright 1963 Diana Gardini 1964 Patricia Galbally 1965 Julienne Blake 1966 Anne Sweeney 1967 Jill Flanagan 1968 Irene McCardel 1969 Sally Gunnis 1970 Angela Dwyer 1971 Helen Wright 1972 Moira Westmore 1973 Catherine Marraffa 1974 Maria Tarrant 1975 Jane Lamande 1976 Sarah Winship 1977 Vivienne Reed 1978 Lisa Taylor 1979 Susan Hanrahan 1980 Leonie Wood 1981 Felicity Byrnes 1982 Virginia Borghesi 1983 Kathryn Riddell 1984 Catherine Soppitt 1985 Gabrielle Quin 1986 Judith Quin 1987 Erin-Marie O’Neill 1988 Patricia Riddell 1989 Claire Leoncelli 1990 Virginia Keogh 1991 Rebecca Gibson 1992 Gervase McKinna 1993 Michaela Keogh 1994 Anna Foley 1995 Alice Hume 1996 Felicity McGrath 1997 Amy Hede 1998 Phoebe Knowles 1999 Bridget Cleary 2000 Annabel Smith

2001 Rosannah Healy 2002 Yvette Haikal 2003 Bridget Scanlon 2004 Samantha Barrett 2005 Nicole Jee 2006 Georgette Scanlon 2007 Olivia Dalton 2008 Gabrielle Coles 2008 Annabelle Healey 2009 Siana Madden 2009 Sarah Vanderkley 2010 Sarah Glynn 2010 Alexandra Saundry 2011 Annabel Jones 2011 Emma Quirk 2012 Amy Pereria 2012 Charlotte Russo 2013 Madeleine Tehan 2013 Kate McNamara 2014 Madeleine Doyle 2014 Emily Rodrigo

Loreto Toorak Vice-Captains 1966 Sara Barrett 1967 Dianne Schrader 1968 Adrienne Smith 1969 Andrea England 1969 Elizabeth Gallagher 1970 Veronica Brown 1970 Lindy Gerber 1971 Margaret Bourke 1971 Katherine Kevin 1972 Susan Moran 1973 Michelle Ward 1974 Kathryn Hill 1975 Ksenija Perkich 1976 Caryll O’Shaughnessy 1977 Christine O’Regan 1977 Bernadette O’Sullivan 1978 Genevieve Ryan 1979 Helen Edwards 1980 Sarah McKinna 1981 Melissa Whelan 1982 Catherine Bailey 1983 Caroline Westmore 1984 Kerry Johnston 1985 Andrea Carnovale 1986 Emma Carnovale 1987 Penny Leoncelli 1988 Jacqueline Bosci 1989 Joanne Hyland 1990 Jane Shannon 1991 Anna McArdle 1992 Brigid Cunningham 1993 Emily Hummerston 1994 Nicolette De Zoete 1995 Fiona Hammond 1996 Sophie Gannon 1997 Emily Gregory 1998 Joanne Amott 1999 Jessica Curley 2000 Alisha Hnatjuk 2001 Sarah Dynon 2002 Alexandra Suffren 2003 Alice McNamara 2004 Natalie McNamee 2005 Rebecca Edwards 2006 Lucy Donovan 2007 Zoe Wood

Dux of Loreto Toorak

Loreto Toorak Sports’ Captains

1936 Joan Manly 1937 Elizabeth Conroy 1938 Joan Donnelly 1948 Pamela O’Farrell 1952 Gillian Goulding 1956 Felicity Wakefield-Kent 1957 Christine Acton 1958 Mary Bates 1959 Geraldine Ryan 1960 Susan Barrett 1961 Roslyn Arnold 1965 Mary Douglas 1968 Louise Clayton 1968 Gillian Crook 1969 Elizabeth Gallagher 1970 Jenny Lee 1971 Geraldine Mitchell 1971 Anne MacDonagh 1972 Moira Westmore 1973 Patricia Chapman 1973 Virginia Mansour 1974 Maria Cincotta 1975 Carola Bloch 1976 Prudence Francis 1977 Fiona Hill 1978 Adele Feakes 1979 Laura Hayes 1980 Mary Muirhead 1981 Brigid Clarke 1982 Jennifer Eury 1983 Margaret McGlade 1984 Monique Ryan 1985 Monica Nolan 1986 Nicole Moloney 1986 Brigid Crennan 1987 Emma Readman 1988 Alicia Dennis 1989 Marno Ryan 1990 Sophie Adams 1991 Sabina Ciciriello 1992 Marguerite Fulton 1993 Mary Tomsic 1994 Catryn Walters 1995 Veronica Angelatos 1996 Christine Sammartino 1997 Madeleine Healy 1998 Rochelle Howie 1999 Megan Walters 2000 Cassandra Fry 2001 Anna Pham 2002 Diana Bowman 2002 Zoe Leyland 2003 Vivien Gu 2004 Christine Hou 2005 Brigid Coleridge 2005 Madeleine Stevens 2006 Helen McNamara 2007 Eleanor Angley 2008 Lisette Stevens 2009 Theresa Nguyen 2009 Julia Walker 2010 Megan Stacey 2011 Grace Fitzgerald 2011 Mary Nguyen 2012 Mengtong Xia 2013 Artemis Sfendourakis

1932 Mary Allan Kenny 1934 & 1935 Nell Jongebloed 1937 Meida Manly 1938 Patricia Rowan 1939 & 1940 Joan O’Grady 1941 & 1942 Mary Reynolds 1943 Mary Fowler 1944 & 1945 Veronica Linehan 1946 Jocelyn Barclay 1947 Ann Brenan 1948 Marie Brady 1949 Margaret Naughton 1950 Josephine Little 1951 Christine McKenzie 1953 Robin Macfarlan 1954 - 1956 Ann Northam 1957 Norma Daley 1958 Robin Robinson 1959 Yvonne von Hartel 1960 Gabrielle Farley 1965 Jane Willis 1966 Fiona Quinn 1967 Jane Willis 1968 Adele Hollywood 1969 Julie Matthews 1976 Joanne Henke 1977 Elizabeth Poynton 1978 Louise Antonie 1979 Lisa Brophy 1980 Denise Owen 1981 & 1982 Anna McGoldrick 1983 & 1984 Margaret Hales 1985 Jane Fogarty 1986 Barbara Hales 1987 Sarah Lowe 1988 Fiona Breen 1989 Lucy Bongiorno 1990 Katherine Moulton 1991 Emma Hicks 1992 Marika Meehan 1993 Anna Bowen 1994 Joanna Laurence 1995 Marian Baré 1996 Jacqueline Carroll 1997 Charlotte Mulder 1998 Caroline O’Brien 1999 Emma Poynton 2000 Michelle Funder 2001 Cheryl Holt 2002 Melanie Dalheimer 2003 Kelly McBride 2004 Kesiah Madden 2005 Alexandra Bingham 2006 Tahlia Madden 2007 Melissa Dynon 2008 Claire Saundry 2009 Alexandra Fitzgerald 2010 Siobhan Stagg 2011 Rebecca Olle 2012 Lucy Kennedy 2013 Laura Stacey 2014 Olivia Dalbosco

Appendices

419

Loreto Toorak Music Captains

Loreto Toorak Drama Captains

Saints Peter & Paul’s School

1957 Cynthia Dethridge 1958 Rosemary Calder 1959 Deidre O’Brien 1960 Caroline Kelly 1967 Anita Barri 1968 Sally Fyfield 1969 Claire Keenan 1970 Sally-Anne Taylor 1981 Camille Wood 1982 Jacqueline Mulqueen 1983 Catriona Fogarty 1984 Julitha Ryan 1985 Josephine Ley 1986 Emma Braun 1987 Emma Readman 1988 Alicia Dennis 1989 Katherine Eury 1990 Melanie Brown 1991 Lyshia Travers 1992 Daphne Zi 1993 Mary Tomsic 1994 Jacinta Finnigan 1995 Natasha Holmes 1996 Christine Sammartino 1997 Jacinta Holmes 1998 Rochelle Howie 1999 Kamy Lee 2000 Emily Smith 2001 Natalie Grant 2002 Samara Madden 2003 Hui Wang 2004 Samantha Lau 2005 Madeleine Stevens 2006 Nicola Fuller 2007 Jialing Chen 2008 Lisette Stevens 2009 Chervil Tan 2010 Oriana Kinsey 2011 Joanna Pidcock 2012 Stephanie Cassin 2013 Camille Mance 2014 Odylia Kartadinata

1956 Julianna Adams 1957 Phillipa McClelland 1957 Gabrielle Adams 1959 Barbara Johnston 1960 Andree Tiernan 1967 Jane Burne 1968 Michele Cox 1969 Jacqueline Jensen 1970 Laura Nicholls 1999 Erin Buntine 2000 Megan Downing 2001 Julie Bentley 2002 Leah Lim 2003 Alexandra Sweeney 2004 Elizabeth Corrigan 2005 Sunday Barca Irving 2006 Stephanie Sabatino 2007 Rebecca Moore 2008 Harriet Fell 2009 Tess Chappell 2010 Giulia McGauran 2011 Madeline Saporito 2012 Alice Tovey 2013 Alice Marks 2014 Madeleine Brown

Mistress of Schools

420

Appendices

Loreto Toorak Debating Captains 1958 Lolita Frederico 1967 Christine Pickerd 1968 Jane Fyfield 1969 Michele Dynon 1970 Angela McGlade 1977 Margaret Tange 1986 Nicole Moloney 1987 Roisin Annesley 1988 Lisa Knott 1989 Joanna Whelan 1990 Sarah Lethlean 1991 Sara Dennis 1992 Emma Taylor 1993 Antonia Parkes 1994 Megan Larnach-Jones 1995 Kathryn Bannon 1996 Lisa Arthur 1997 Georgiana Quinn 1998 Catherine Meehan 1999 Megan Walters 2000 Georgina Coleman 2001 Daniela Panto 2002 Elizabeth Ames 2003 Hannah Coleman 2004 Ying-Jun Gu 2005 Kathryn Sharpe 2006 Clare Condon 2007 Clare Jones 2008 Rebecca Howie 2009 Anne-Therese Ryan 2010 Catherine Leigh 2011 Siobhan Cooke 2012 Harriet Haig 2013 Stephanie Pidcock 2014 Isabella Roberts

1891 1892 – 1898 1899 – 1901 1902 – 1904 1905 – 1908 1909 – 1914 1915 – 1919 1920 – 1922 1923 – 1928 1929 – 1943 1944 – 1972

Mother Hilda Benson ibvm Mother Josephine Bolger ibvm Mother Emilian McGrath ibvm Mother Stanislaus Mornane ibvm Mother Christina Flemming ibvm Mother Lawrence Lillis ibvm Mother Columbanus Croughan ibvm Mother Mildred Dew ibvm Mother Bonaventure Martyn ibvm Mother Carmel Leonard ibvm Mother Joseph Halloran ibvm

Principals 1973 – 1980 1981 – 1982 1983 1984 – 1989

Sister Cynthia Wright ibvm Sister Maria Bongiorno ibvm Sister Mary O’Brien ibvm Sister Myrene Erdman ibvm

Inspectors’ Reports for Saints Peter and Paul’s School 1923 1924 1925 1926 1929 1933 1937 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1947 1949 1951 1954 1958 1961 1963 1966 1969 1972 1981

Staff 10 9 9 9 13 11 10 10 – 9 – 10 11 10 11 11 10 12 11 12 12 12 13 13

Female Pupils 340 335 330 312 343 323 314 320 291 256 249 270 272 262 234 240 302 371 285 334 355 329 301 90

Male Pupils 102 93 87 102 99 87 74 73 70 60 71 80 97 72 75 95 76 98 76 82 83 92 63 101

Presidents of the Loreto Free Kindergarten 1912 – 1932 1932 – 1936 1937 – 1940 1940 – 1944 1944 – 1954 1954 – 1957 1957 – 1959 1959 – 1961

Mary Alston Irene Morton Elise McDonald Irene Morton Alice Peppard Elizabeth Calanchini Eileen Conquest Bernadette Carolan

Principals of St Mary’s Hall and College 1918 – 1943 1944 – 1969 1970 – 1974 1975 1976 – 1980 1980 – 1996 1997 – 2002 2003 – 2007 2008 – 2014

Mother Patrick Callanan ibvm Mother Francis Frewin ibvm Sister Joan Nowotny ibvm Sister Angela Quill ibvm Sister Elizabeth Nowotny ibvm Sister Jane Kelly ibvm Sister Deirdre Rofe ibvm Sister Maureen Burke ibvm Sister Elizabeth Hepburn ibvm

Superiors of St Mary’s Hall and College 1918 – 1920 1920 – 1928 1929 – 1936 1937 – 1943 1944 – 1952 1953 – 1958 1959 – 1969 1970 – 1974 1975 – 1977 1978 – 1980 1981 – 1989

Mother Dorothea Frizelle ibvm Mother Elizabeth Forbes ibvm Mother Mildred Dew ibvm Mother Patrick Callanan ibvm Mother Francis Frewin ibvm Mother Dympna McNamara ibvm Mother Francis Frewin ibvm Sister Joan Nowotny ibvm Sister Margaret Manion ibvm Sister Elizabeth Nowotny ibvm Sister Jane Kelly ibvm

Vocations from Loreto Albert Park Anthony Breen (Moya) ibvm Eithne Breen (Eleanor) ibvm Denise Byrne (Mary) ibvm Thomas Farley (Eileen) ibvm Brigid Kehoe (Mary) ibvm Jerome Leddin (Henrietta) ibvm Dympna McNamara (Alice) ibvm Louis Gonzaga Mahon (Frances) ibvm John Moore (Nellie) ibvm Veronica Nolan (Anne) ibvm Inez O’Donnell (Margaret) ibvm

St Mary’s Hall Parkville Visitation Book 1936 1937 1938 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1959 1961 1962 1963 1965 1972

Sisters 7 6 6 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 7 7 7 9 10 11 12 8

Students 20 19 28 25 31 32 26 30 35 34 36 36 37 41 40 40 41 51 58 58 65 130

Vocations from Loreto Toorak Veronica Brady (Patricia) ibvm Anne Byrne ibvm Gerardine Carroll ibvm Susan Daily ibvm Therese Daly (Grace) ibvm Elizabeth Donnan ibvm Margarita Farley (Louisa) ibvm Margaret Finlay ibvm Claire Gardiner ibvm Jane Kelly ibvm Mary Muirhead ibvm Michael Mulcahy (Elizabeth) ibvm Helen Murphy ibvm Leonie Robinson ibvm Rob Robinson (Robin) ibvm Leo Short (Mary) ibvm Angela Slattery ibvm Asumpta Winship ibvm Mary Wright ibvm Patricia Ziebarth (Tryphena) ibvm Elizabeth Donnan ibvm Margarita Farley (Louisa) ibvm

Sisters attending the Central Catholic Training College Assumpta Adair (Mary) ibvm Reparata Baker ( Julia) ibvm Andrew Bell (Honor) ibvm Clare Birrane (Mary) ibvm Sheila Brady (entered in South Africa) ibvm Eithne Breen (Eleanor) ibvm Denis Byrne (Carmel) ibvm Patrick Callanan (Eileen) ibvm Eymard Callanan (Rita) ibvm Francesca Cavagna (Maria) ibvm de Lourdes Purcell (Teresa) ibvm Enda Desmond (Winifred) ibvm Bernard Doneley (Sybil) ibvm Catherine Dowden (Ethel) ibvm Celestine Dowden (Mary Rose) ibvm Elizabeth Forbes (Catherine) ibvm Francis Frewin (Emily) ibvm Dorothy Gleeson (entered in South Africa) ibvm Joseph Halloran (Annie) ibvm Rita Hoare (Grace) ibvm Eulalia Hyland (Anne) ibvm Brigid Jones (Irene) ibvm Madeleine Lalor (Dorothy) ibvm Paula Leahy (Mary) ibvm Ursula Lyons (Silver) ibvm Louis Gonzaga McMahon (Frances) ibvm Dympna McNamara (Alice) ibvm Aquin McPhee (Mary) ibvm John Moore (Nellie) ibvm Imelda O’Brien (Elecia) ibvm Gabriel O’Bryan (Catherine) ibvm Oliver O’Doherty (Annie) ibvm Inez O’Donnell (Margaret) ibvm Dorothea Riley (Eileen Frances) ibvm Emerentia Synnott (Marjorie) ibvm Borgia Tipping (Minnie) ibvm Anthony Walsh (Eileen) ibvm Loyola Webb (Catherine) ibvm Joan Weidenbach (Selma) ibvm

Appendices

421

Notes The major part of this history is based on records held at the Loreto Province Archives and the Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Heritage Centre.

These include correspondence, enrolment records, principals’ reports, school magazines, photographs, drawings, records of student events, collections of students’ work and items of uniforms. In May 2011 questionnaires were sent to past students and staff, with many responding over the course of the project. Others wrote letters and emails or provided great insights during lengthy telephone conversations and discussions. Every story and every piece of information was crucial in being able to write this history and vital to developing a rich and broad context to position Loreto’s important contribution to education in Melbourne.

The authors’ names and article titles of items in magazines and newspapers have not been cited but all articles are easily accessed using the page number provided. The name of the archive is supplied when a magazine, publication or document has been produced or published by Loreto. All other sources can be accessed at the State Library of Victoria unless another archive is specified.

Many reminiscences of early Loreto students are drawn from unsigned and undated notes, anecdotes and lists held in the Loreto Province Archives and the Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Heritage Centre. They have been checked against the A. M. D. G. School Register, Loreto Ladies’ College, Melbourne; the School Register, Saints Peter and Paul’s School, South Melbourne; and the Register, Central Catholic Training College, Albert Park.

Abbreviations ACSMCNC Academic Centre St Mary’s College and Newman College LMHTHC Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Heritage Centre LPA Loreto Province Archives PROV Public Record Office Victoria I

One Family: Loreto in Melbourne

1

Quoted by Archbishop Justin Daniel Simonds in Loreto Convent Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, Melbourne, 22 March 1966, p. 1.

Since 2004 the Institute has been comprised of two branches: the Irish Branch, known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Roman Branch, known as the Congregation of Jesus.

2

422

Notes

3

4

‘Lebellus Ruber’, Speech 1, Saint-Omer, December 1617, p. 223, Congregation of Jesus Archives, Kope: Insitutarchi München-Nymphenburg.

Andrew Hamilton SJ, ‘Nuns bucked by papal bulls’, Eureka Street, vol. 22, no. 8, 23 April 2012, <http://www.eurekastreet. com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31071#.

Uw_bVl7aamE>.

II Out of Ireland: The Pioneering Loreto Sisters 1 2 3 4 5 6

‘Mother’s Magazine’, Prospectus, Institute of the BVM in Australia, 1901, Series 12, LPA. Mother Gonzaga Barry to Mother Aloysius Macken, 14 April 1887, Series 210, Item 149, LPA. Bella Guérin, ‘Higher Education for Women’, Eucalyptus Blossoms, 1886, p. 7, LPA. Mother Mary of the Cross to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 31 August 1891, Series 17, Item 5 (15), LPA. Mother Gonzaga Barry to Mother Boniface Völcker, 14 June 1890, Series 210, Item 46, LPA. Austral Light, 1 April 1915, p. 338.

III Mother Gonzaga Barry: Educational Visionary 1

Mother Gonzaga Barry to Archbishop Thomas Carr, 20 December 1887, Series 210, Item 256, LPA. 2 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Cardinal Patrick Moran, 21 May 1891, Series 210, Item 252, LPA. 3 Reverend John Ryan to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 1890, Series 211, Item 42, LPA. 4 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Mother Xavier Yourelle and Mother Dorothea Frizelle, 14 January 1894, Series 210, Item 273, LPA. 5 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1888, p. 42, LPA. 6 Mother Gonzaga Barry, c. 1876, Series 344, Item 2, LPA. 7 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1888, p. 40, LPA. 8 Reverend William Henry Quick to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 21 March 1888, Series 211, Item 2, LPA. 9 William Brittain Tappin to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 20 January 1891, Series 263, Item 4, LPA. 10 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1898, p. 5, LPA.

11 Archbishop Thomas Carr to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 13 April 1888, Series 211, Item 3, LPA. 12 James Griffin, ‘Moore, James (1834–1904)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 5, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1974, p. 277.

13 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1889, p. 35, LPA. 14 Reverend John Ryan to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 22 May 1888, Series 211, Item 4, LPA. 15 Michael Mornane to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 22 May 1888, Series 211, Item 5, LPA. 16 The Advocate, 2 February 1889, p. 13.

17 William Brinsley Tobin to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 10 June 1888, Series 211, Item 19, LPA. 18 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1889, p. 46, LPA. 19 ‘A Retrospect’, Programme of Concert and Prize List, 1885, pp. 9–10, Series 35, Item 13, LPA. 20 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1890, p. 6, LPA. 21 This letter was kept secret but the contents were discussed in a confidential letter: Reverend John Ryan to Mother Gonzaga Barry, January 1889, Series 211, Item 34, LPA. 22 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Bishop James Moore, 20 January 1889, Series 210, Item 265, LPA. 23 The Advocate, 14 July 1888, p. 2.

24 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1888, p. 1, LPA. 25 Archbishop Thomas Carr to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 13 June 1889, Series 211, Item 22, LPA. 26 Francis Tobin, ‘Mother M Gonzaga Barry IBVM: Her Life and Letters’, unpublished manuscript, vol. 2, 1923, p. 211, LPA. 27 Mother Berchmans Stafford, ‘Diary of the Voyage to Ballarat’ (copy), 30 May 1875, Series 85, Item 10, LPA. 28 Mother Berchmans Stafford, ‘Diary of the Voyage to Ballarat’ (copy), 6, 11 & 12 June 1875.

29 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Mother Boniface Völcker, 7 December 1888, Series 210, Item 264, LPA. 30 Private letter of Mother Gonzaga Barry, c. 1888, Series 210, Item 258, LPA. 31 Reverend John Ryan to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 15 June 1888, Series 211, Item 25, LPA. 32 The Advocate, 9 June 1888, p. 15.

33 The Advocate, 15 December 1888, p. 16.

34 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1889, p. 40, LPA. 35 Reverend Michael Watson to Mother Boniface Völcker, 2 January 1890, Series 211, Item 40, LPA. 36 Francis Tobin, ‘Mother M Gonzaga Barry IBVM’, vol. 2, pp. 213–14.

37 Building and Engineering News, 15 November 1890, Supplement 3.

38 The Advocate, 16 November 1889, p. 15.

39 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1890, p. 1, LPA. 40 The Advocate, 14 December 1895, p. 10.

41 Some of the Fruits of Fifty Years: Ecclesiastical Annals of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, AH Massina, Melbourne, 1897, p. 51.

42 The Argus, 22 July 1898, p. 8.

43 Antoinette Meehan, interview by the author, 21 May 2012, LMHTHC. 44 Susan Priestley, South Melbourne: A History, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995, p. 141.

45 Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Solid Bluestone Foundations and Other Memories of a Melbourne Girlhood 1908–1928, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1983, p. 128.

46 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1908, p. 29, LPA. 47 Simon Smith, Maverick Litigants: A History of Vexatious Litigants in Australia 1930–2008, Maverick Publications, Melbourne, 2009, p. 131.

48 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Ann Heath, née Brenan, to Sister Ruth Winship, 20 July 1996, LMHTHC. IV Floreat Collegium: Central Catholic Training College and St Mary’s Hall 1

Freeman’s Journal (Sydney), 24 January 1907, p. 26.

2 Proceedings of the Incorporated Association of Secondary Teachers of Victoria, vol. 3, no. 8, June 1908, pp. 178–9.

3 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Mother Boniface Völcker, 14 August 1896, Series 210, Item 79a, LPA. 4 Reverend John Ryan to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 7 July 1889, Series 211, Item 35, LPA. 5 Mother Gonzaga Barry, undated paper, c. 1895, Series 126, Item 16, LPA. 6 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Archbishop Thomas Carr, 3 November 1905, Series 210, Item 346a, LPA. 7 Announcement of Opening of the Catholic Training College for Women Teachers, 1906, Series 126, Item 12, LPA.

8

Cardinal Patrick Moran to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 1 May 1906, Series 126, Item 4, LPA. 9 Bishop Patrick Delaney to Mother Bertrand Lawlor, c. 1906, Series 126, Item 4, LPA. 10 Bishop Joseph Higgins to Mother Bertrand Lawlor, 10 May 1906, Series 124, Item 4, LPA. 11 Bishop Joseph Higgins to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 2 October 1907, Series 126, Item 4, LPA. 12 Central Catholic Training College Prospectus, 1910, Series 126, Item 5, LPA. 13 P. J. McCurtin SJ, Education in Victoria – Recent Developments, Proceedings of the Third Australasian Catholic Congress, St Mary’s Cathedral, 1909, pp. 219–20.

14 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1909, p. 37, LPA. 15 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1909, p. 37, LPA. 16 Reverend John Ryan to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 6 February 1905, Series 17, Item 5 (30), LPA. 17 The Advocate, 30 March 1918, p. 11.

18 Olga Janet Hay, The Chronicles of Clyde, Brown Prior Anderson, Melbourne, 1966, p. 78.

19 Olga Janet Hay, The Chronicles of Clyde, p. 79.

20 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1886, p. 17, LPA. 21 Sands & McDougall Directory of Victoria, Sands and McDougall Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1896, p. 203.

22 Dr Patrick Delaney to Mother Gonzaga Barry, 30 May 1895, Series 126, Item 4, LPA. 23 Mother Gonzaga Barry to Archbishop Thomas Carr, 3 June 1895, Series 210, Item 279, LPA. 24 Eucalyptus Blossoms, June 1887, p. 45, LPA. 25 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1891, p. 48, LPA. 26 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1886, p. 8, LPA. 27 The Argus, 19 April 1915, p. 10.

28 The Advocate, 29 May 1915, p. 19.

29 The Advocate, 7 September 1917, p. 17.

30 The Advocate, 14 April 1917, p. 10.

31 The Advocate, 14 April 1917, p. 10.

32 College Rules, 4 November 1917, Series 38, Item 10, LPA. 33 Rosemary Williams, ‘Our Privilege is Now: A History of St Mary’s Hall, University of Melbourne 1918–1968’, MEd thesis, Monash University, 1988, pp. 42 & 87.

34 Freeman’s Journal (Sydney), 4 June 1914, p. 30.

35 Mother Mildred Dew, From Ballarat to Broome: One Hundred Years of Loreto in Australia, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ballarat, 1975, p. 23.

36 Farrago, 3 April 1925, p. 3.

37 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1963, pp. 28–9, LMHTHC. 38 Reverend Edward Storman, ‘Mother Francis Frewin IBVM’, homily, 6 April 1982, St Mary’s College Archives, ACSMCNC. 39 Maria Favoloro, ‘Why Live in College?’, Newman College Magazine, 1955, pp. 25–6, Newman College Archives, ACSMCNC. 40 Reverend Edward Storman, ‘Mother Francis Frewin IBVM’.

41 University of Melbourne, Department of History and Three-Four-Eight, Melbourne University Mosaic: People and Places, Department of History, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1998, p. 275.

42 A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1924–1999, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, 1999, p. 43.

43 The Advocate, 6 December 1935, p. 25.

44 Mandeville, 1970, p. 89, LMHTHC. V

A New Idea: Loreto Free Kindergarten

1

Account of a home visit by a Loreto kindergarten volunteer helper, in Mother Mildred Dew, From Ballarat to Broome: One Hundred Years of Loreto in Australia, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ballarat, 1975, p. 22.

The Advocate, 23 May 1885, p. 17.

The Argus, 19 February 1889, p. 4.

Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1903, p. 44, LPA. When the First World War broke out, Julia Young was teaching neglected children in Russia. She witnessed the bloodshed of the Soviet revolution in Petrograd before fleeing to Scotland in 1918, where she continued teaching until retiring to Melbourne in 1937.

George Parsons, ‘Alston, James (1850–1943)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 48–9.

Victorian Parliamentary Paper, Progress Report from the Joint Select Committee upon the Housing of the People in the Metropolis, Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer, Melbourne, December 1913, p. 58.

Edith Barrett had matriculated at South Melbourne College under Thomas Palmer.

Lyndsay Gardiner, ‘Barrett, Edith Helen (1872–1939)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 185–6.

2 3 4 5

6

7

8 9

Notes

423

10 From Green to Red and White: A Chronicle of the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul’s from its Origins in Emerald Hill to the Present Day in South Melbourne, A Cygnet Production, South Melbourne, 2009, p. 13.

11 Eucalyptus Blossoms, December 1912, p. 5, LPA. 12 The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March 1912, p. 17.

13 Lyndsay Gardiner, The Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria 1908–1980, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, 1982, p. 47.

14 Lyndsay Gardiner, The Free Kindergarten Union, p. 14.

15 Lyndsay Gardiner, The Free Kindergarten Union, pp. 46–8.

16 The Age, 11 March 1912, p. 3.

17 The Age, 13 March 1912, p. 11.

18 Loreto Free Kindergarten, Series 124, Item 9, LPA. This piece was written by a voluntary helper, and the author and date are unknown.

19 Reference from Emmeline Pye, 23 July 1909, to the Teacher and Schools Registration Board testifying to Ada Fawcett’s fitness to teach, Teacher Registration Files, VPRS 10061/8310, PROV. 20 Lyndsay Gardiner, The Free Kindergarten Union, p. 17.

21 Lyndsay Gardiner, The Free Kindergarten Union, pp. 48–9.

22 Jessie Glendinning had come to Australia at the suggestion of a capable English friend she had taught with in South Africa, Kathleen Gilman Jones, Headmistress of Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School.

23 The Advocate, 1 October 1917, p. 13.

24 Mary Glowery had matriculated at South Melbourne College under the direction of John Bernard O’Hara.

25 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, 1921–22, Series 124, Item 1, LPA. 26 The Advocate, 3 August 1922, p. 18.

27 The Advocate, 4 January 1923, p. 4.

28 The Advocate, 7 July 1932, p. 23.

VI The Right Thing to Do: The Closure of ‘Maria Regina Angelorum’ at Albert Park 1 2 3

Olga Janet Hay, 28 February 1967, Series 126, Item 9, LPA. Greetings to Our Friends, IBVM Booklet, 1953, LMHTHC. Typed, undated notes of Mother Aquin McPhee, Mistress of Schools, Loreto Toorak 1925–1934, LMHTHC.

424

Notes

4

Timothy Hubbard, The History of Mandeville Hall, Timothy Hubbard Pty Ltd, St Kilda, 1994, p. 4.

5 Bryce Raworth, Loreto Mandeville Hall Conservation Management Plan, St Kilda, 2013, pp. 9–11, LMHTHC. 6 Particulars of the personal estate of Alfred Watson, Probate and Administration Files, VPRS 28, unit 41, 13/735, PROV. 7 Australasian, 10 August 1878, pp. 166–7.

8 Illustrated Australian News, 31 October 1878, p. 186.

9 The Argus, 11 June 1887, p. 7.

10 Timothy Hubbard, The History of Mandeville Hall, p. 13.

11 The Argus, 6 August 1878, p. 8.

12 The Leader, 28 March 1914, p. 51.

13 The Leader, 21 March 1908, p. 26.

14 Chris McConville, St Kevin’s College 1918– 1993 Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1993, p. 95 and Mandeville Hall Greetings, 1936, LMHTHC. 15 The West Australian, 12 April 1926, p. 10.

16 Records relating to Toorak, Mandeville Hall, 26 July 1937, Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall Toorak Visitations Books 1926–2008, Series 39, Item 75, LPA. 17 Suzanne Forge, Victorian Splendour: Australian Interior Decoration 1837–1901, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1982, p. 88.

VII Builders of a Home of Peace and Culture: Loreto Toorak Pioneers 1 2

Loreto Jubilee Magazine 1875–1925, p. 44, LPA. A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, 1999, p. 49.

3 The Mercury (Hobart), 4 August 1924, p. 6.

4 Records relating to Toorak, Mandeville Hall, 25 August 1927, Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall Toorak Visitations Books 1926–2008, Series 39, Item 75, LPA. 5 Sister Ruth Winship, Speech for the Sixtieth Anniversary of Mandeville Hall, 1984, Series 39, Item 37, LPA. 6 Joseph Tipping to Mother Borgia Tipping, 24 September 1924, Series 39, Item 4, LPA. 7 The Tribune, 25 September 1924, p. 5.

8 The Advocate, 14 August 1924, p. 2.

9 The Advocate, 19 February 1925, p. 29.

10 Rules and School Philosophy, Series 35, Item 37, LPA. 11 The Advocate, 1 December 1927, p. 31.

12 The Advocate, 29 September 1927, p. 20.

13 The Advocate, 29 September 1927, p. 20.

14 Ruth Trait, Loreto Convent Toorak Mandeville Golden Jubilee 1924–1974, p. 48, LMHTHC. 15 Records relating to Toorak, Mandeville Hall, 29 June 1929, Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall Toorak Visitations Books 1926–2008, Series 39, Item 75, LPA. 16 The Advocate, 1 November 1927, p. 20.

VIII Useful and Gracious Women: Living through the Economic Depression of the 1930s 1

Mandeville Hall Greetings, 1933, p. 7, LMHTHC. 2 Mandevillian, vol. 18, issue 3, 2003, p. 27, LMHTHC. 3 The Advocate, 20 December 1934, p. 20.

4 The Advocate, 9 November 1939, p. 27.

5 The Argus, 10 July 1926, p. 17.

6 The Argus, 30 January 1937, p. 20.

7 Dr Susan Stevens, Principal of Loreto Toorak, became deputy director of the Invergowrie Foundation.

8 Mandeville Hall Greetings, 1937, p. 3, LMHTHC. 9 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Sister Susan McGowan, 6 November 1996, LMHTHC. 10 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Sister Susan McGowan to Ruth Trait, 13 May 1995, LMHTHC. 11 Director’s Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, June 1929, Series 124, Item 1, LPA. 12 The Advocate, 5 May 1932, p. 23.

13 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, May 1934, Series 124, Item 1, LPA. 14 The Horizon, 1 July 1933, vol. 12, p. 7.

15 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, May 1934, Series 124, Item 1, LPA. 16 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, May 1934.

17 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, May 1934.

18 The Horizon, 1 May 1935, vol. 14, pp. 7–8.

19 Silver Jubilee Annual Report and Balance Sheet, Loreto Free Kindergarten, Series 124, Item 1, LPA. 20 The Advocate, 20 May 1937, p. 20.

21 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Sister Susan McGowan to Ruth Trait, 13 May 1995, LMHTHC. 22 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Jillian Lambert Sutton, ‘The Time of Our Lives: Brown Leather

Lace-Up Shoes’, unpublished manuscript, LMHTHC. 23 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, ‘With Love to Mandeville, Just Ruth’, 1934–35, manuscript, Folder 27, LMHTHC, and A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, 1999, pp. 51–4.

IX Valiant Women: Working through the Shadows of War 1

Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1945, pp. 33–4, LPA. 2 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cahill, 6 May 1997, LMHTHC. 3 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Elizabeth Durack, 23 March 1997, LMHTHC. 4 The Argus, 13 March 1942, p. 6.

5 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Sister Susan McGowan, 6 November 1996, LMHTHC. 6 The Argus, 17 September 1942, p. 5.

7 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, 1940–41, Series 124, Item 2, LPA. 8 Kathleen Kenny to Vera Dougall, Honorary Secretary, Loreto Free Kindergarten, Correspondence 1933–1945, 28 September 1945, Series 124, Item 26, LPA. 9 Vera Dougall, Honorary Secretary, Loreto Free Kindergarten, to Nancy Francis, Honorary Secretary, Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria, Correspondence 1933– 1945, 11 October 1945, Series 124, Item 26, LPA. 10 Annual Report, Loreto Free Kindergarten, 1947, Series 124, Item 1, LPA. 11 Loreto Convent Toorak Greetings, 1945, p. 2, LMHTHC. 12 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1946, p. 65, LPA. 13 Ruth Trait, Loreto Convent Toorak Mandeville Golden Jubilee 1924–1974, p. 49, LMHTHC. X

Polish without Pretence: School Life in the 1950s

1

Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Australia, Greetings to Our Friends, booklet, 1953, Series IBVM in Australia 0102/02/01, LMHTHC. Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Jillian Lambert Sutton, ‘The Time of Our Lives: Brown Leather

2

Lace-Up Shoes’, unpublished manuscript, LMHTHC. 3 Reminiscences of Jillian Lambert Sutton, ‘The Time of our Lives’.

4 Records relating to Toorak Mandeville Hall, 30 August 1950 & 24 July 1959, Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall Toorak Visitations Books 1926–2008, Series 39, Item 75, LPA. 5 Mother Colombiere Lillis, records relating to Toorak, Mandeville Hall, 30 August 1950, Loreto Convent Mandeville Hall Toorak Visitations Books 1926–2008, Series 39, Item 75, LPA. 6 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Ann Northam, undated, LMHTHC. 7 The Advocate, 14 November 1945, p. 6, and Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1952, p. 94, LPA. 8 The School Report, 1959, p. 4, LMHTHC. 9 Mother Dominic Jones, The Meaning of Etiquette, Series Boarders 0610/01/01, LMHTHC. 10 Reminiscences of Jillian Lambert Sutton, ‘The Time of our Lives’.

11 A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, 1999, p. 123.

12 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1954, p. 12, LPA. 13 Mary McGeehan (Sister Miriam) was born in Fintown, County Donegal, Ireland, in 1908 and entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1929. She was sent to Australia in 1931 and served at Loreto Toorak from 1933 to 1957. Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz, née O’ Neill, interview by the author, 18 March 2012, LMHTHC. 14 Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Australia, Greetings to Our Friends, booklet, 1953, Series IBVM in Australia 0102/02/01, LMHTHC. 15 Geraldine Lazarus, interview by the author, 25 February 2013, LMHTHC. 16 Helen Elizabeth Whitehead, Questionnaire, correspondence and notes, 5 May 2011, LMHTHC. 17 Pauline Curtis, interview by the author, 12 September 2012, LMHTHC. 18 The Guardian, 26 April 2008, Feature Review 2.

19 Joan Patricia Hurley, One Merriwoola Street, Vivid Publishing, Fremantle, 2012, pp. 98–9.

20 Letter to Mother Dympna McNamara, Administration of Loreto Education, Philosophy of Education, Series 156, Item 123, LPA.

21 Mandeville, 1970, p. 6, LMHTHC. 22 Eucalyptus Blossoms, 8 December 1897, p. 5, LPA. 23 Mandevillian, vol. 10, issue 3, October 1995, p. 16, LMHTHC. 24 Mandevillian, vol. 13, issue 1, May 1998, p. 26, LMHTHC. 25 A Mosaic of Memories, pp. 119–20.

XI The Wider Apostolate: What to Do When You Leave School?

1

Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1964, p. 49, LPA. 2 Letter to Brigidine Centenary Committee, 1986, Albert Park Brigidine Archives.

3 The Age, 20 October 1995, p. 21.

4 Helen Lechte, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 5 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1963, p. 52, LPA. 6 Loreto Annals, 11 June 1964, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 7 The Official Year Book of the Catholic Church of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, Pellegrini, Sydney, 1964, p. 198.

8 Loreto Annals, 1 September 1962, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 9 Loreto Annals, 2 January 1964, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. During 1964 Mother Agatha Donnelly died on 4 April and Mother Madeleine Lalor died on 16 October.

10 Loreto Annals, 6 April 1962, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 11 Loreto Annals, 12 February 1964, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 12 Loreto Annals, 2 September 1962, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 13 Loreto Annals, 20 March 1964, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 14 Records relating to Toorak, Mandeville Hall, Mary Ward Scholarships, 1962, Series 39, Item 9, LPA. 15 Toorakanrooin, August 1964, p. 7, LMHTHC. 16 Mandevillian, vol. 2, issue 4, p. 4, 1987, LMHTHC. 17 Toorakanrooin, May 1964, p. 8, LMHTHC. 18 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1963, p. 68, LPA. 19 Marguerite Davis, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 20 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1963, p. 67, LPA.

Notes

425

21 Mandevillian, vol. 8, issue 3, 1993, p. 12, LMHTHC. 22 Seventy-fifth Anniversary Project, Reminiscences of Georgina Fitzpatrick, née Haig, 5 July 1997, LMHTHC. 23 Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden to the Parents and Friends of Loreto Convent Toorak, 19 July 1964, Buildings, Series 39, Item 26, LPA. 24 ‘Mandeville Hall, Senior School Toorak: A Civil & Civic Project’, 6 March 1966, Buildings, Series 39, Item 26, LPA. 25 Loreto Annals, 13 September 1965, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 26 ‘Mandeville Hall, Senior School Toorak: A Civil & Civic Project’.

27 Toorakanrooin, September 1968, p. 3, LMHTHC. 28 The Advocate, 10 August 1966, p. 24.

29 Loreto, Annual of the IBVM in Australia, 1962, p. 54, LPA. 30 Reverend Harold King to Mother Emilian Brooke-Cowden, 29 August 1963, Superior’s File, Series 39, Item 5, LPA. 31 A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, 1999, p. 45.

32 Apostolic Life, Administration of Loreto Schools, Philosophy of Education, Series 156, Item 123, LPA. 33 Toorakanrooin, March 1968, p. 3, LMHTHC. 34 Anne Marie Bourke, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 35 School Report, Loreto Convent Toorak, December 1961, LMHTHC. 36 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1989, p. 31, LMHTHC. 37 Mandevillian, vol. 4, issue 2, 1989, p. 2, LMHTHC. XII Challenging Traditions: Changes and Innovations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Mandeville, 1979, p. 8, LMHTHC. Separation of Roles of the Principal and Superior, Philosophy of Education, Series 156, Item 123, LPA. Mandeville, 1974, p. 5, LMHTHC. Mandeville, 1979, p. 30, LMHTHC. Sarah Perrett, née Winship, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. Mandeville, 1972, p. 63, LMHTHC. Mandeville, 1970, p. 58, LMHTHC. Mandeville, 1980, p. 5, LMHTHC.

426

Notes

9

Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1985, p. 7, LMHTHC. 10 Arthur Adams, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 11 Sister Mary Hendrick, Boarding School, Series 39, Item 13, LPA. 12 Mandeville, 1973, p. 59, LMHTHC. 13 Mandeville, 1973, p. 60, LMHTHC. 14 Loreto Educational Philosophy, Central Educational Advisory Board, 1977, p. 2, Series 122, Item 8, LPA. 15 Loreto School Principles, p. 3, 1979, LMHTHC. 16 Mandeville, 1971, p. 43, LMHTHC. 17 Mandeville, 1973, p. 37, LMHTHC. 18 Mandeville, 1973, p. 61, LMHTHC. 19 Sister Veronica Brady, The Future People: Christianity, Modern Culture and the Future, Spectrum, Melbourne, 1971.

20 Mandeville, 1971, p. 33, LMHTHC. 21 Mandeville, 1982, p. 10, LMHTHC. 22 Catherine Marraffa, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 23 Meg Sleeman, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/ Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 24 Mandeville Loreto Centenary 1875–1975, p. 60, LMHTHC. 25 The Appeal, Buildings, Series 39, Item 26, LPA. 26 Sister Noni Mitchell, 1 October 1975, Administration of Loreto Schools, Philosophy of Education, Series 156, Item 123, LPA. 27 Mandeville, 1978, p. 39, LMHTHC. 28 Mandevillian, 1987, vol. 2, issue 4, p. 4, LMHTHC. 29 Mandeville, 1976, p. 9, LMHTHC. 30 Mandevillian, vol. 12, issue 1, 1995, p. 23, LMHTHC. 31 Dr Susan Forrest, speech, Inspiring Australia Program, Department of Industry, Australian Government, <https:// grants.innovation.gov.au/SCOPE/pages/ doc.aspx?name=WISE_Forrest.htm>.

32 Mandeville, 1978, p. 10, LMHTHC. 33 Broken Bay News, July 2000, p. 9.

34 Mandevillian, vol. 19, issue 3, 2004, p. 34, LMHTHC. 35 Mandeville, 1979, p. 3, LMHTHC. 36 Mandevillian, vol. 24, issue 2, 2009, p. 39, LMHTHC. 37 Mandevillian, vol. 10, issue 1, 2010, p. 48, LMHTHC.

38 Mandevillian, vol. 13, issue 2, 1998, p. 29, LMHTHC. 39 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1984, p. 27, LMHTHC. 40 Sister Noni Mitchell, 23 October 1983, Buildings, Series 39, Item 26, LPA. 41 Loreto Mandeville, 1980, p. 3, LMHTHC. 42 Caroline Nelson, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 43 Mandevillian, vol. 13, issue 3, 1998, p. 31, LMHTHC. 44 Mandevillian, vol. 2, issue 4, 1987, p. 3, LMHTHC. 45 Loreto Mandeville, 1980, p. 3, LMHTHC. 46 Mandevillian, vol. 1, issue 1, 1986, p. 3, LMHTHC. 47 Sarah-Jane Tidey, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 48 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1988, p. 48, LMHTHC. 49 Mandevilian, vol. 3, issue 2, 1988, p. 3, LMHTHC. 50 Mandevilian, vol. 3, issue 2, 1988, p. 3.

XIII Reaching for the Stars: Loreto Toorak in the Modern Era 1

Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1989, p. 11, LMHTHC. 2 Mandevillian, vol. 14, issue 3, December 1999, p. 27, LMHTHC. 3 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1992, p. 3, LMHTHC. 4 Mandevillian, vol. 4, issue 3, 1989, p. 1, LMHTHC. 5 Mandevillian, vol. 7, issue 3, 1992, p. 3, LMHTHC. 6 Mandevillian, vol. 4, issue 4, 1990, p. 3, LMHTHC. 7 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 1998, p. 11, LMHTHC. 8 Mandevillian, vol. 17, issue 1, 2001, p. 11, LMHTHC. 9 Sarah Lethlean, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Past Pupils/Staff Questionnaire, May 2011, LMHTHC. 10 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 2003, p. 141, LMHTHC. 11 Loreto Mandeville Hall, 2002, p. 131, LMHTHC. 12 Notes of Sister Ruth Winship, 1990, LMHTHC. 13 Loreto Mandeville, 1982, p. 1, LMHTHC.

Select Bibliography Published sources

Barcan, Alan, A History of Australian Education, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1980.

Carolan, Jane Mayo, Serving Church: A History of Catholic Church Insurances Limited, vols 1 & 2, Utber & Patullo Publishing, Melbourne, 2011.

Carter, Anne ibvm, Beyond All Telling: A History of Loreto in Western Australia 1897–1997, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Perth, 1997.

Catholic Education in Victoria: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Catholic Education Office of Victoria, Melbourne, 1985.

Clark, Mary Ryllis, Loreto in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009.

Desmarchelier, Denise ibvm, Voices of Women, Spectrum Publications, Melbourne, 2000.

Dew, Mildred ibvm, From Ballarat to Broome: One Hundred Years of Loreto in Australia, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ballarat, 1975.

Dickson Wright, Clarissa, Spilling the Beans, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2007.

Directory of Past Pupils of Loreto Mandeville Hall 1996, Michael Thornton Publishing, Melbourne, 1997.

Elliott, Theresa, Resting beneath the Rainbow, Loreto Normanhurst, New South Wales, 2007.

Emilsen, Susan & Margaret Callaghan ibvm, A School with Spirit: Loreto Kirribilli, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2006.

Fitzpatrick, Kathleen, Solid Bluestone Foundations and other Memories of a Melbourne Girlhood 1908–1928, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1983.

Fogarty, Ronald, Catholic Education in Australia 1806–1950, vols 1 & 2, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1959.

Gill, Peter (ed.), Catholic Education: Where is it Going? Cassell Australia, North Melbourne, 1972.

From Green to Red and White: A Chronicle of the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul’s from its Origins in Emerald Hill to the Present Day in South Melbourne, A Cygnet Production, South Melbourne, 2009.

Hubbard, Timothy, The History of Mandeville Hall, Timothy Hubbard Pty Ltd, St Kilda, 1994.

Hurley, Joan, One Merriwoola Street: A Look Under the Carpet, Vivid Publishing, Fremantle, 2012.

Meagher, Frances (ed.), Loreto Normanhurst 1897–1997: A Century of Memories, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1997.

Trait, Ruth (ed.), A Mosaic of Memories: Loreto Mandeville Hall 1924–1999, Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, 1999.

Unpublished sources

‘Loreto Federation Australia 1955–2005’, compiled by Regina Cameron ibvm, Sydney, 2007.

Raworth, Bryce, ‘Loreto Mandeville Hall Conservation Management Plan’, Bruce Raworth Conservation Urban Design, St Kilda, 2013.

Scott, Robin, ‘IBVM Deceased 1875–2000: A Biographical Register of IBVM in Australia’, Ballarat, 2009.

Scott, Robin, ‘Selected Guide to Holdings: Loreto Archives IBVM Australian Province’, Ballarat, 2006.

Tobin, Francis, ‘ Mother M Gonzaga Barry IBVM: Her Life and Letters’, vols 1–4, compiled 1923.

Williams, Rosemary, ‘Our Privilege is Now: A History of St Mary’s Hall, University of Melbourne 1918–1968’, MEd Thesis, Monash University, Melbourne, 1988.

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427

Picture Credits All images used in the book are used with permission and come from the following archives:

Contents Pages vi–vii: LMHTHC.

ACSMCNC Academic Centre St Mary’s College and Newman College

I One Family: Loreto in Melbourne Page xii: LMHTHC (detail); Page 3: LMHTHC; Page 4: LMHTHC; Page 5: LMHTHC; Page 9: IBVM Archives Dublin; Page 11: LMHTHC.

GRCPS

Galilee Regional Catholic Primary School IBVM Archives Dublin

LMHTHC Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Heritage Centre Loreto College Ballarat Archives LPA

Loreto Province Archives

MDHC

Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission

SHC

Stonnington History Centre

II Out of Ireland: The Pioneering Loreto Sisters Page 12: LPA (detail); Page 15: LPA; Page 16: LPA; Page 18: (top) LPA, (bottom) LPA; Page 19: LPA; Page 21: LPA. III Mother Gonzaga Barry: Educational Visionary Page 22: LPA (detail); Page 25: LPA; Page 27: MDHC; Page 30: LMHTHC; Page 32: LPA (top), LMHTHC (bottom); Page 36: LPA; Page 39: LPA; Page 40: LPA; Page 43: LPA; Page 45: LMHTHC; Page 46: LMHTHC ; Page 47: LPA; Page 50: LPA; Page 51: LPA; Page 52: LPA; Page 53: (above) LPA, (below) LMHTHC; Page 55: LPA; Page 56: LMHTHC; Page 59: LPA; Page 61: LPA; Pages 62–63: LPA; Page 64: LPA; Page 65: GRCPS. IV Floreat Collegium: Central Catholic Training College and St Mary’s Hall Page 66: LPA (detail); Page 69: LPA; Page 74: LPA; Page 76: LPA; Page 82: (top) LPA, (bottom) LPA; Page 85: (clockwise from left) LPA, LPA, LPA; Page 86: (left) LPA, (right) LPA; Page 88: LPA; Page 89: LPA; Page 90: LPA; Page 95: LPA; Page 96: LPA; Page 97: (ACSMCNC) ; Page 98: LPA; Page 99: LPA; Page 100: LPA; Page 101: LPA; Page 102: (ACSMCNC) ; Page 103: LPA; Page 104: LPA. V A New Idea: Loreto Free Kindergarten Page 106: LPA (detail), courtesy of Gregory Brimsmead ; Page 109: LPA; Page 113: LPA; Page 115: LPA; Page 121: LPA; Page 124: LPA; Page 130: LPA; Page 131: (top) LPA, (bottom) LPA; Page 133: LPA, courtesy of Gregory Brimsmead.

VI The Right Thing to Do: The Closure of ‘Maria Regina Angelorum’ at Albert Park Page 134: LMHTHC (detail); Page 137: LMHTHC ; Page 139: MDHC; Page 143: Early Toorak and District

by E .M. Robb 1934 SHC, LMHTHC; Page 146: LMHTHC; Page 147: Illustrated Australian News, 31 October 1878, p180, LMHTHC; Page 148: Courtesy of David Ross Soden, LMHTHC; Page 149: The Leader, 21 March 1908, LMHTCHC; Page 152: LMHTHC. VII Builders of a Home of Peace and Culture: Loreto Toorak Pioneers Page 156: LMHTHC (detail); Page 159: Loreto College Ballarat Archives; Page 160: LMHTHC; Page 163: LMHTHC; Page 165: LMHTHC; Page 166: MDHC; Page 169: (clockwise from top left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 171: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 172: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 175: LMHTHC; Page 176: (clockwise from left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 177: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 178: MDHC; Page 179: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 180: LMHTHC; Page 181: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Pages 182–183: LMHTHC; Page 184: (clockwise from top left) LMHTHC, LPA, LMHTHC; Page 185: LMHTHC; Page 186: LMHTHC; Page 187: LMHTHC; Pages 188–189: LMHTHC; Page 190: LMHTHC; Page 191: LMHTHC. VIII Useful and Gracious Women: Living through the Economic Depression of the 1930s Page 192: LMHTHC (detail); Page 195: LMHTHC; Page 196: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 197: LMHTHC; Page 198: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LPA; Page 199: LMHTHC; Page 200: MDHC; Page 201: MDHC; Page 202: MDHC; Page 203: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 204: LMHTHC; Page 205: LMHTHC; Page 206: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 210: LMHTHC; Page 211: LMHTHC; Page 212: LMHTHC; Page 215: (clockwise from top) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 219: LPA; Page 220: LPA; Page 222: LPA; Page 224: LPA; Page 227: LMHTHC; Page 228: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 229: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 230: LMHTHC; Page 231: LMHTHC; Page 232: LMHTHC; Page 233: LMHTHC; Page 234: LMHTHC; Page 235: LMHTHC; Page 236: (left) LMHTHC; (right) LMHTHC; Page 239: LMHTHC.

428

Picture Credits

IX Valiant Women: Working through the Shadows of War Page 240: LMHTHC (detail); Page 243: LMHTHC; Page 244: LMHTHC; Page 245: (clockwise from top) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 247: LPA; Page 248: LMHTHC; Page 251: LMHTHC; Page 252: LMHTHC; Page 253: LMHTHC; Page 254: LMHTHC; Page 255: LPA; Page 256: (top) LMHTHC; (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 258: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 261: GRCPS; Page 263: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 264: LMHTHC; Page 267: LMHTHC; Page 268: LMHTHC; Page 270: (clockwise from top left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 271: LMHTHC; Page 272: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 273: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 274: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC. X Polish without Pretence: School Life in the 1950s Page 276: LMHTHC (detail); Page 279: LMHTHC; Page 280: LMHTHC; Page 281: LMHTHC; Page 282: LMHTHC; Page 283: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Pages 284–285: LMHTHC; Page 286: LMHTHC; Page 287: LMHTHC; Page 288: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 289: LPA; Page 290: LMHTHC; Page 292: LMHTHC; Page 293: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 294: LMHTHC; Page 295: LMHTHC; Page 297: LMHTHC; Page 299: MDHC; Page 300: LMHTHC; Page 301: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 302: LMHTHC; Pages 302–303: LMHTHC; Page 305: LPA; Page 306: LMHTHC; Page 308: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 309: LMHTHC; Page 310: LMHTHC. XI The Wider Apostolate: What to Do When You Leave School?

Page 312: LMHTHC (detail); Page 315: LMHTHC; Page 316: LPA; Page 317: LMHTHC; Page 318: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 319: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 321: LMHTHC; Page 322: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 323: LMHTHC; Page 324: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 325: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 327: LMHTHC; Page 329: LMHTHC; Page 330: LMHTHC; Page 331: LMHTHC; Page 333: LMHTHC; Page 334: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 335: LMHTHC; Page 336: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 338: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 339: (top) GRCPS , (bottom) GRCPS; Page 340: LMHTHC; Page 341: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 342: LMHTHC; Page 343: (clockwise from left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 344: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 346: LMHTHC; Page 347: (top to bottom) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 348: (clockwise from top left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 349: LPA; Page 350: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 352: LMHTHC; Page 353: LMHTHC; Page 354: (top to bottom) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 355: LMHTHC. XII Challenging Traditions: Changes and Innovations Page 356: LMHTHC (detail); Page 359: LMHTHC; Page 360: LPA; Page 361: LMHTHC; Page 364: (clockwise from top left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 365: (clockwise from top left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LPA; Page 367: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom) LMHTHC; Page 369: (clockwise from left) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 370: LMHTHC; Page 371: LMHTHC; Page 373: LMHTHC; Page 375: LMHTHC; Page 378: LMHTHC; Page 381: LMHTHC; Page 383: LMHTHC; Page 386: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 387: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 390: LMHTHC; Page 391: LMHTHC; Page 392: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 395: LMHTHC. XIII Reaching for the Stars: Loreto Toorak in the Modern Era Page 396: Stonnington Leader, 11 February 2014, LMHTHC (detail); Page 399: LMHTHC; Page 400: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 401: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC¸ LMHTHC; Page 402: LMHTHC; Page 404: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 407: (left) LMHTHC, (right) LMHTHC; Page 408: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 409: (left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 410: LMHTHC; Page 411: LMHTHC; Page 412: (top) LMHTHC, (bottom, left to right) LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC, LMHTHC; Page 413: LMHTHC; Page 414: MDHC; Page 415: Stonnington Leader, 11 February 2014, LMHTHC.

Picture Credits

429

Index Note: Page references in italics indicate photograph Abbott, Rosemary 407 a’Beckett, Ada 132–3, 222 Acton, Christine 307 Acton, Susan 280, 353 Adami, Valentine Rayson 208 Adams, Arthur ( Jr) 337, 368 Adams, Arthur (Sr) ( Judge) 208, 337 Adams, Gabrielle 307, 309, 337 Adams, Joan 337, 353 Adams, Julia 337 Adams, Julianna 307, 337 Adamson, Lawrence Arthur 81 Adkins, Brenda 407 Ahern, Mary Patricia 361 Ahern, Rosalind 353 Ahern, Sally 354 Ahmed, Jane 402, 403 Aird, Alice 105 Aitken, Dora 57 Aitken, Victoria 57 Aitkin, June 102 Akselrod, Elina 392 Albert (Duke of York) 216 Alessio, Diane 347 Allen, Archibald 28 Allen, Mary 28 Allen, Mary Mollie 168 Allen, Theresa 28 Allen, Thomas 28 Allwright, Athol Vaughan 217 Alston, James 112, 216 Alston, Margaret 119 Alston, Mary 218, 225, 353 Alston, Mary Georgina 48, 98, 109, 112, 113, 119, 122, 125, 129, 130 Alston, Rose 113, 205 Alston, Stanley 132 Amad, Wadee Haikel 290 Anderson, Anne (Mother John Berchmans) 320, 321 Anderson, Barbara 321 Anderson, Carol 280 Anderson, Clare 409 Anderson, Guy 391 Anderson, Jillian 323 Apthorpe, Amanda 406 Archbold, Geradine 321 Archer, Elinor Mary Palmer 123 Arnold, Cynthia 321, 347, 353

430

Index

Arnold, Roslyn 333–4, 333, 335, 338 art 265–7 Art Club 266 art room 267 Arthur, John 402, 403 artworks 341 Asbjornsen, Therese 354 Athelstane Toorak 144–6 Atkinson, Michael 280 Australian College of Education 321 Bailey, Elaine 309 Ball, Frances (Mother Teresa) 4, 7–8, 9, 10, 159 Ball, Mary (Mother Kilian) 42 Bannigan, Susan 399 Barbeta family 58 Barbiston (Parkville) 94–5, 95 Barclay, Geraldine 213 Barclay, Jill 213 Barnett, Norah 171 Barret, Susan 340 Barrett, Denise 353 Barrett, Edith Helen (Dr) 113, 122, 125 Barrett, Margaret Ann (‘Nellie’) (Sister Peter Julian) 65 Barrett, Samantha 408 Barrett, Sara 321, 354 Barri, Anita 352 Barry (née Cowan), Elizabeth 15, 16 Barry, Eugene Rogers 45 Barry, George 78 Barry, Joan 229, 229, 239 Barry, John 15 Barry, John (Rev) 124, 125 Barry, Louisa 78–9, 92, 218, 220 Barry, Lyndal 384 Barry, Mary (Mother Gonzaga) 4, 9–10, 15–21, 15, 25–9, 25, 30, 31–3, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 46, 49–50, 54, 57, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77, 79–80, 83, 89–92, 93, 110, 112, 115–16, 159, 221, 222, 305 Barry, Redmond (Sir) 78 Barry, Sarah 90, 90, 92 Barry, Sophie 384 basketball 263 Bateman, Beatrice 305 Bates, Mary Eleanor 291

Bayview Cottage Portland 19, 21 Beamish, Nancy 170 Beatty, David 402, 403 Beck, Anna Amelia (Sister Roch) 274, 348 Behan, John 216 Behan, John Joseph 114 Beirne, Thomas 229 Beiyoun, Lukinre 329 Bell, Barbara Maude 72–3, 75, 79, 80, 85 Bell, Eleanor Catherine 73 Bell, Elizabeth 73 Bell, Honor (Mother Andrew) 104, 159, 161, 173, 188–9, 209, 234, 265, 297 Bell, Lizette 409 Bell, Mary Bridget (‘Mollie’) (Mother Baptista) 73 Benson, Louisa (Mother Hilda) 27–8, 71, 75, 85, 94, 138 Berberat, Francoise 329 Bergin, Brian 226 Berkowitz, Doreen 297 Berkowitz, Lilly 297 Berkowitz, Marilyn 298 Berkowitz, Wendy 297 Best, Andrew 270 Best, Anne 270 Best, James 270 Best, John 270 Best, Mary 270 Best, William 270 Bethune, Dorothy 122 Bibron, Paul 60 Birrance, Clare 188–9 Birrane, Mary (Mother Claire) 101, 101 Bjelke-Petersen, Harold 172 Bjelke-Petersen Institute 60 Bjelke-Petersen School of Physical Culture 172, 203 Blackall, Francis Michael (Dr) 129 Blake, Brian 376 Blake, Julienne 354, 354 Blake, Stephanie 377 Bleary, Bridget 401 Bleechmore, Antonia 332 Bloink, Lucille 179 Boileau, Angela 332 Boileau, Elizabeth 332 Boileau, Madelon 332 Boileau, Mary 332 Bolger, Josephine 40 Bongiorno, Maria (Mother Theophane) 214, 320, 344, 367, 385

Booth, John 212 Booth, Sonia 243 Borghesi, Virginia 386 Boulger, Edward 81 Bourke, John Stephen SJ 162 Bourke, Judith 330 Bowden, Jane 280 Bowditch, William Lamprey 81 Bowen, Carole 283, 286 Bowen, Diana 283, 286, 300, 309 Bowler, Angela 271, 273 Boyle, Robert 327 Bradshaw, Dorothy 86 Bradshaw, Hazel 86 Brady, Maria 253 Brady, Patricia (Mother Veronica) 105, 253, 297, 359, 373 Brady, Sheila 168 Brady, Vera 168 Brash, Alfred 326 Brazel, Levaun 311 Breen, Angela 40 Breen, Mary Josephine (Mother Ethelreda) 40, 42 Breheny, Desmond John 265 Breheny, Joan 197 Breheny, Marion 307 Breheny, Martin 327 Breheny, Sheila 203, 204 Breidahl, Helga 57 Brenan, Ann 252, 252, 271, 274 Brenan, Annie 97–8 Brenan, Eileen 64, 201, 202–3 Brenan, Jennie 201 Brenan, John 265 Brennan, Anna 92, 93 Brennan, Betty 212 Brennan, Gail 212 Brennan, Kathleen (Mother Benedicta) 384, 385 Brennan, Niall 315 Brennan, Rosemary 315 Brennan, Ruth 212 Brennan, Sally 315 Brennan, Thomas Cornelius 207 Brewster, Margaret 274 Britt, Louise 332 Britten, Dorothy 57 Broderick, May 61, 64, 130 Brodzky, Maurice 91 Brooke-Cowden, Audrey (Mother Emilian) 246, 274, 319–28, 321, 336–7, 340–1, 343, 346, 348, 355

Brookes, Claire 399 Brown, Danielle 350 Brown, Vera Scantlebury (Dr) 217 Brown, Virginia 352, 353 Browne, Deirdre (Mother Cecilia) 11, 376, 405, 411 Brownell, Reginald 402, 403 Brownell, Sara 392 Browning, Christina 409 Brownless, Anthony (Sir) 91, 92 Bruce, Mary Grant 236 Bryan, Eileen (Mother Rosalie) 226 Bryce, Catriona 353 Bryce, Fiona 353 Bryce, Marea 353 Bryce, Olivia 353 Bryce, Sabina 353 Buckle, Francis 280, 181 Burchell, Margaret (Mother Peter Claver) 373 Burgi, Anne 372 Burke, Brigid 373 Burke family 195 Burke, Grania 373 Burke, Janet 212 Burke, Maryanne 373 Burke, Maureen (Sister) 400 Burke, Monica 185 Burke, Rachel 373 Burke, Sarah (Mother Bernard) 34–5, 42 Burke, Susan 280, 329 Burke, Sylvia 132, 185, 220 Burke, Thomas Michael 129, 132, 185 Burne, Shirley 240, 256 Burnes, Colette 405–6 Burnes, Elizabeth 347 Burns, Ann 331 Burns, Barbara 331 Burns, Elizabeth 407–8 Burns, Kathleen 331 Burns, Mary 331 Burrell, Fayne 291 Burrell, Lyne 291 Burrell, Stuart 291 Burrowes, Geraldine 332 Busch, Diana 298 Busch, Sandra 280, 298 Bushwaller, Ann 299 Bushwaller, Mary 299 Bushwaller, William 299 Busst, Phyllis 98 Butler, Mary Elizabeth (Maie) 216 Butt, Elizabeth 402, 403 Buxton, Beverley 240, 256

Buxton, Bryan 265 Buxton, Francis 265 Buxton, Joan 353 Buxton, John 265 Buxton, Pamela 245, 265 Buxton, Richard 361 Byker, Aleida 354 Byrne, Anne (Mother Louis Gonzaga) 3, 199, 307, 391 Byrne, Anthony 327 Byrne, Brigid (Mother Breda) 349–50, 349, 351, 360 Byrne, Fiona 252, 271 Byrne, Janet 99 Byrne, Leone (Mother Lua) 197, 199, 250, 255, 275 Byrne, Mary 323, 331, 333, 338 Byrne, Moya 243, 252, 255, 273 Byrne, Patricia 328 Byrnes, Felicity 386 Cafe Mandeville 411 Cahill, Elizabeth 245–6, 245, 252 Cahill, Patricia 212, 226 Cahill, Thomas SJ 17 Calder, Elizabeth 232 Calder, Katherine 232, 243, 302 Calder, Rosemary 232 Callanan, Eileen (Mother Patrick) 85, 87, 96, 97, 116–17, 263–4 Callanan, Marguerite (Mother Eymard) 212 Callil, Carmen 300 Callil, Yolande Marguerite 297 Callinan, Andrew 230, 327 Callinan, Bernadine 274 Callinan, Bernard 161, 326 Callinan, Maie Josephine (Mother Bernardine) 161, 171 Callinan, Michael 161 Campbell, Patricia 270 Cantwell, Mary 98 Canty, Elaine 387 careers advice and counselling 389–90 Carew, Natalie 267 Carey, Jane 269 Carlton Gardens 154 Carmody, Molly 212 Carolan, Margaret Ann 332 Carr, Thomas (Archbishop) 27, 31, 32–3, 38, 39, 44, 46, 57, 70, 72, 73, 75, 91, 92, 94, 119, 141 Carrigg, Sheila 216 Carroll, Gerardine 307 Carroll, Jean 350 Carter, Fay Diane 264–7

Carter, Mollie 204 Carter, Ursula 280 Cassidy, Martin 360 Castles, Dolly 98, 187 Castles, Eileen 220 Caswell, Eileen 98 Catholic Action Group 253, 292–3 Catholic Education Commission of Victoria 377 Catholic Education Office 262, 324, 326 Catholic education system establishment 17 inspector of schools 70 lay teachers 325 training of Catholic women teachers in Victoria 71–89 Catholic Life Exhibition 299 Catholic Schools Drama Festival 399 Catholic Social Welfare 374 Catholic Welfare Organisation, auxiliary of Comforts Fund 244–5 Catholic Women’s Social Guild 127, 129–30, 195, 216, 219 Cattaneo, Bartolomeo (Archbishop) 165 Cau, Michele Marcel Suzanne 266 Cavagna, Maria Catherina (Mother Francesca) 213 Central Catholic Library 128 Central Catholic Training College 124 closure 137, 141 and Education Act of 1910 83–5 establishment 75–81 non-Catholic studentteachers 86–9 opening 140 Sisters attending 421 student activities 82, 83, 85 visiting lecturers 81 Central Educational Advisory Board 370 Cerretti, Bonaventura (Archbishop) 93, 188–9, 190 Chamberlin, Michael (Sir) 343 Chamberlin, Veronica (Lady) 343 Chambers, Mother Catharine 10 Champlin, Marion 112–13 Chang, Elizabeth 329 Chang, Gloria 329 Chapel of Christ the King 250, 348, 369–70, 369, 411 Chapman, Peggy 204

chemistry laboratory 271 Chen, Helen 329 Child, Joan 377 Children of Mary 50, 243 Chipp, Deborah 377 Chipp, Don 377 Chipp, Melissa 377 Christiaen, Françoise 266 Christian living 370 Christie, Maureen 102 Clancy, Perpetua Abigail 249 Clarebrough, John Augustus 65, 152 Clarke, Brigid 408 Clarke, Felicity 341 Clarke, Janet (Lady) 54, 114 Clarke, Joseph 50, 145–6, 162 Clarke, Viva Holgate 221 Clarke, William (Sir) 50, 54, 114, 144, 145, 148, 152 Clausen, Marie Therese 270 Clay, Ada (Sister Thecla) 44 Clayton, Genevieve 319 Clayton, Louise 353 Cleary, Mary 89 Clifford, Judith 273 Clift, Shirley 269 Clissold, Alexandra 391 clothing rationing 257 Clowes, Elizabeth 309 clubs 210–12 Coady, Katherine 366 Coburn, Charlotte 411 Cody, Carmel 360 Cody, Carmel Elizabeth (Mother Vincent) 212 Coffey, Claire 216 Coffrey, Margaret 211 Coghlan, Anne Marie 230 Coghlan, Daisy 230 Coghlan, Elizabeth 211, 228, 230 Coghlan family 230–1 Coghlan, Jasper 230 Coghlan, Joan 230 Coghlan, Maureen 230 Coghlan, Patricia 230, 380 Coghlan, Susan 230 Cohen, Edgar 279–80, 279 Cohen, Ursula 86 Colby, Eileen 228 Coleman, Deidre 378 Coleman, Jillian 291 Coleman, Margaret 291 Coleman, Mary Elizabeth 321 Coleman, Patricia 332, 352, 354 Coleman, Paul 280 Coles, Gabrielle 408 Colgan, James SJ 81 Collins, Denise 270, 274 Collins, Jennifer (Mother Josephine) 320, 321, 372 Collins, Margaret 99 Collins, Richard (Monsignor) 114, 129, 139, 180, 225

Collins, Teresa Carmel 188–9 Combined Catholic Kindergartens’ Auxiliary 262 Commins, Lorraine 273 Common Schools Act 1862 (Vic) 30 Commonwealth Secondary School Scholarships 327 community activities 350–1 computers 390–2 Confraternity of the Holy Family 20 Connaughton, Frederick William 191 Connaughton, Kathleen 332 Connell, Esme 174 Connell, Merna 174 Connell, Nancy 174, 216 Connellan, Bonnie 407 Connellan, Elizabeth 335 Connellan, Kathleen 335 Connellan, Mary 321, 335 Connelly, Bernadette 329 Conquest, Barbara 321 Conquest, Bernadette 353 Conquest, Daniel (Rev) 262 Conquest, Simon 280 Conroy, Cecila Anne (Mother De Britto) 274 Conway, Eileen 170 cookbook 4 Cooke, Mardi 354 cookery classes 60–1 Coolahan, Kathleen 305 Cooper, Diane 280 Cooper, Eileen 231 Corben, Ann 307 Corben, Pamela 257 Corby, Rosemary 269, 318 Cordier, Nicole 329 Cornelius, Jill 212, 226 Corrigan, Dora 130 Corrigan, Eileen 130 Corrigan, Moya 130 Cosgrove, Lillian (Mother Aloysius) 226–7, 265, 274, 320, 367, 385 Costigan, Mimi 318 Council of Education 84 counselling 388 country boarders 333–6 Cox, Mary 270 Cox, Michele 352 Crawford, Mary 307 Crawford, Rowena 239 crest 4, 4, 196, 404 Crews, Eileen 305 Crocker, Teena 404 Crook, Gillian 380 Crook, Sally 380 Crook, Susan 380 Crosato, Lisa 409 Crosbie, Isobel 231 Crosbie, Margaret 105 Crowe, Peter 376

Crozier, Felice 61, 130 Cudmore, Arthur Frederick 150 Cullity, Moya 270, 273 Cullity, Norah 271 Curtain, Dorothy 170 Curtain, Elizabeth 379 Curtain, Judy 365 Curtain, Verna 170 Curtin, Patrick SJ 80 Curtis, Ann 309 Curtis, Catherine 321 Curtis, Elvie (Lady) 343 Curtis, Mary 57 Curtis, Pauline 297, 354 Curwen, Elizabeth Ogilvy (‘Betty’) 87–8 Cussen, Daisy (Mother Teresa) 89–90 Cussen, Susan 270 Cutten, Perri 404 Daily, Elizabeth 321 Daily, Susan (Sister) 317, 347, 352 Dale, Christopher 230, 327 Dale, Dominie 353 Daley, Norma 309 Dalton, Joseph SJ 17, 29 Dalton, Olivia 408 Daly, Elizabeth 228, 354 Daly, John Joseph 220 Daly, Mary (Dame) 350 Daly, Mary Dora (‘May’) 220 Daly, Maureen 208 Daly, Thérèse 228 dancing 172, 202–3 Daniell, Helen 111 D’Arcy, Bernadette 353 D’Arcy, Joan 353 D’Arcy, Julie 353 D’Arcy, Marie 226, 273, 353 Darling, James 321 Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 246 Davey, Luke 274 Davies, Biddie 197 Davies, Teresa 168 Davis, Edna 61 Davis, Marguerite 331–2 Dawson, Belinda 347 Day, Dorothy 105 Daymon, Jennifer 271 Dean, Rosemary 329 Deasy, Mother General Raphael 140, 142, 152, 159 debating 315 debating captains 420 Deegan, Eily 114 Delaney, Charles SJ 15 Delaney, Patrick (Bishop) 72, 75, 79, 91 Delprat, Francisca 150 Delprat, Guillaume 248 Delprat House 248, 251, 287

Index

431

deportment 203–4 deputy principals 407–8, 416 Derepas, Constance 88 Dernelley, Robert 390, 402 Desmarchelier, Denise (Mother de Montfort) 400 Desmond, Edna 188–9 Dethridge, Cynthia 309 Deutscher,Caroline (Mother Bernard) 243 Devine family 195 Devine, Joan 179, 205, 257 Devine, John 179 Devine, Mary 177, 179, 257 Dew, Mildred (Mother Mildred Rose) 95, 97, 218, 221, 247, 247 Dew, Wilfred (Rev) 247, 247 Diviny, Paula 271, 274 Dodds, Deana 406 Doherty, Irene 89 Doherty, Margaret (Mother Philomena) 188–9, 268 Doig, Heather 391 Dombrain, Mollie 86 Donnan, Elizabeth (Mother Xavier) 317, 318, 352, 393–4 Donnelley, Therese 231 Donnelly, Olive 56 Donnelly, Therese 257 Donovan, Nancye 270 Donovan, Rosemary 271 Donovan, Thomas 93 Donovan, Wilma 274 Dore, Helen 361 Douglas, Edward Archibald 228 Douglas, Genevieve 328, 352 Douglas, Johanna 328 Douglas, Mary-Ann 328, 347 Douglas, Sybil 228–9, 229 Dowden, Clair Rose (Mother Ignatius) 228 Dowden, Mary Rose (Mother Celestine) 51 Dowden, Ethel (Mother Catherine) 97 Dowling, Patricia 321 Doyle, Anne 212, 213, 226 Doyle, Elizabeth 368 Doyle, Joan 213 Doyle, Madeleine 412 Doyle, Mary 213, 307, 309 Doyle, Moira 307 Doyle, Moya Brendan 252 drama 201, 389, 399 drama captains 420 Drama Centre 411 Draper, Carmel 59 Draper, Emma 58, 98 Draper family 58 Draper, Lydia 59 Draper, Maria 59 Draper, Rita 59

432

Index

Drouhet, Justin 48 Duck, Bernadette 338 Dunlea, Hilary 186, 234–5 Dunlea, Irene 186, 234–5 Dunlea, James 234 Dunlea, Marie 234–5 Dunlea, Reginald 234 Dunlea, Reginald James 18, 234 Dunlevie, Patricia 273 Dunne, Mother General Pauline 289 Dunnicliff, Lyn 379 Dunphy, Jocelyn 309 Dupuche, Bertrand 266 Dupuche, Jean 266 Dupuche, Rene 266 Dupuche, Françoise 266 Durack, Elizabeth 249 Durack, Madeleine 249 Dureau, Edna Marie 177, 205 Dureau, Lorna 205 Dusseldorp, Gerardus Jozef Dick 336–7 dux 419 Dwyer, Angela 342, 364 Dwyer, Helen 307 Dwyer, John Joseph 235 Dwyer, Madge 132 Dwyer, Mary Alice 130–1 Dwyer, Mary Ann 293, 307 Dwyer, Michael 235 Dwyer, Patricia 280 Dynon, Abigail 98 Dynon, Jacinta 302 Dynon, James 327 Dynon, James SJ 306 Dynon, John SJ 352 Dynon, Michele 302 Dynon (née Shelton), Moira 301–2, 304–6, 305, 405–6 Dynon, Theresa 334 Ebsworth, Walter (Rev) 195, 290, 341, 345 Eccles, Mary 220 education curriculum in 1940s 269 of girls in 1930s 196–204 of girls following full citizenship for women 61 introduction of state secondary schools 84 and role of the state 70 universal primary education 16 see also Catholic education system Education Act 1910 84 Educational Advisory Council 324, 326 Edwell, Roslyn 280 Egan, Annette 323, 353 Ehrlich, Ann-Marie 280

Eilenberg, Mil 238 Elizabeth (Duchess of York) 216 Elligett, Mary 124–5 Elliott, Anne 407 elocution 201 Elwood, Teresa (Mother Lois) 100, 103 Emerald Hall (South Melbourne) 114, 129–33 Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy 211 Empire Youth Sunday 292, 293 Engelbert, Henry 48 Engelbrecht, Mavis 65 England, Andrea 238, 330 England, Gabrielle 238, 330, 342 Eriksen, Sally 382 Eucalyptus Blossoms (magazine) 30, 30, 92, 268 eurythmics 203–4 Evans, Jennifer 328 Eyre, Maureen 269 Fagan, Kathleen 409 Faithful Companions of Jesus 72, 78 Fakhry, Jeanette 323 Fallon, Annie (Mother Benedicta) 42 Fanning, Cassie 220 Farley family 168 Farley, Gabrielle 323, 333 Farley, Josie 168 Farley, Louisa (Mother Margarita) 168, 214 Farley, Rosemary 333, 353 Farrell, Winefred (Mother Mechtilde) 97, 142, 274 Favoloro, Maria 102 Fawcett, Alice 129 Fawcett, Ida 123, 125, 126–8, 132, 217–9, 221, 223 Fawcett, James 129 Federation of Loreto Past Pupils’ Association 301–6 Felkins, Dorothea 40 Felstead, John 81 fencing 366 Fenton, Nonie 220 Ferrari, Pisana 329 Fetherstonhaugh, Graham 353 Fetherstonhaugh, Helen 353 Fetherstonhaugh, Joan 352 Fetherstonhaugh, Pamela 321, 340 Filcock, Ann 321 Filippi, Anne (Countess) 223 Finck, Victoria 399 Finegan, Grace 64 Fingleton family 58

Fink, Jane 355 Finlay, Margaret (Sister) 307, 311 Finn, Eileen 64 Finn family 187, 190, 195, 200 Finn, Joan 187 Finn, Patricia 187 First Exhibition of Women’s Work 110 Fitton, Doris 64 Fitzgerald, Blanche 216, 307 Fitzgerald, Desmond Rowan 120 Fitzgerald, Edwyna 309, 309 Fitzgerald, Mary Rose 353 Fitzgerald, Norma 99 Fitzpatrick, Kathleen 130, 174 Flaherty, Carina 99, 376 Flanagan, Jill 354 Fleischmann, Arthur 290 Flintoff, William 226 Flynn, Clare 341 Flynn, David 341 Flynn, Margaret 341 Flynn, Mary 280, 341 Foley, Anna 400, 407 Foley, Julia 408 food rationing 255–6 Forbes, Catherine (Mother Elizabeth) 84, 85, 97, 116, 128 Form One classes 269 Forrest, Ann 274 Forrest, Jack 231 Forrest, Susan 231, 380 Forrest, Terence 231 Forsyth, Sandra 269, 329 Fortieth International Eucharistic Congress 372 Foster, John SJ 188–9 Fowler, Mary 204, 215, 251 Fowler, Roma 204, 215 Fraillon, Christine 220 Francis, Charles 365 Francis, John 390 Frank, Uta 329 Franklin, Charles 57 Franklin, Rita 57 Franklin, Sigmund 57 Frederico, Lolita 309 Frederico, Louisa 309 Frederico, Margarita 309 Frederico, Serita 307 ‘Free, Compulsory and Secular’ Education Act 1872 16, 30–1 Free Kindergarten Union 111, 112–13, 115–18, 225, 260, 262 French, Charles 81 Frewin, Emily (Mother Francis) 100–4, 101, 104, 188–9, 190, 209, 211, 234, 266, 275, 341, 360

Frizelle, Katherine (Mother Dorothea) 96–7 Froebel, Friedrich 109–10, 122 Frost, Edmond (Rev) 209, 210 Fullagar, Joyce 305 Fuller, John (Sir) 119 Fuller, Norah (Lady) 119 Fuller, Rachel 391 Funder, Mary 323 Furphy, Antoinette 309 Fyfield, Clare 341 Fyfield, Jane 341 Fyfield, John Adrian 341 Fyfield, Sally 341 Galbally, Ann 265 Galbally, Patricia 321, 346, 347 Gallagher, Elizabeth 105, 352 Gallagher, Margaret 305 Gallagher, Noineen 178 Ganly, William (Rev) 28 Garden Room 269, 289 Gardiner, Claire 252, 274 Gardiner, Ernest David 340 Gardiner, Lorna 216 Gardini, Diana 104, 319, 354 Garrett, Jean 271 Garrett, Margaret 228 Gattegno, Caleb 342 Gay, Diana 330 Gee, Nicole 408 Gerber, Lindy 267 Gerber, Vicky 267 Gerber, Wendy 267 Gerke, Christine 329 Gerke, Margaret 329, 353 Gibson, Alice (Mother Michael) 204, 209, 220, 238, 287, 301 Gibson, Helen 102, 275 Gibson, Janice 205, 257 Gibson, Rebecca 400 Gibson, Richard 94, 95 Gilchrist, Angela 291 Gilchrist, Anne 309 Gilchrist, Katherine 291 Gill, Roger 406 Gilligan, John 48 Gillon, Diana 321 Giorgi, Lilly 329 Giovannini, Nanette 328 Gleeson, Edward 177 Gleeson, Margaret 177, 180, 181, 187 Gleeson, Phillip 177 Glendinning, Jessie 125 Glover, John 327 Glover, Susan 280, 353 Glover, Virginia 323, 353 Glowery, Mary (Dr) 65, 126, 127 Glynn, Sarah 412

Goddard, Emily Ruth (Mother Catherine) 84, 85 Godfrey, Susan 291 Godsell, Fiona 379 Goff, Marilyn 212 Goldberger, Monica 331 Golden Jubilee 373 Gooch, Dymphna Helen 236, 236 Goodchild, Patricia 329 Goold, James Alipius (Archbishop) 34, 326 Gorman family 334 Gorman, Joan 274 Gorman, Jocelyn 99 Gorman, Pamela 257 Gorman, Susan 334 Gorman, Veronica 293 Gorton, John 341, 377 Graber, Patrick (Rev) 70 Grant, Jean 98 Grant, Margaret 228 Grant, Patricia 105 Gray, Margaret (Mother Bernadette) 339, 367 Green Verandah 213, 246, 251, 265, 267, 296, 373–4 Green, Wendy 318, 338 Griffiths, Katherine 220 Griffiths, Susan 220 Grimes, Helen 282 Grossi, Carlo (Monsignor) 188–9 Grosvero, Michael 280 Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes 290, 290, 365, 371 Grounds, Haslett 65 Grounds, Roy 65, 307 Gudgeon, Kathleen Mary 182 Gudgeon, Margaret 216 Guerin, Julia Margaret (‘Bella’) 91–2 Guest, Christine 314 Guest, Susan 314, 323, 333 Guilfoyle, Margaret 377 Guiney, Leslie 255 Gunn, Aeneas James 123 Gunnis, Sally 322, 352, 353 Gunson, Hazel 99 Gurry, Kathleen 305 Gurry, Margaret Mary 300, 309, 323 Gurry, Mary Louise 379 Gwillim, Arthur 81 Hacke, Adele 88 Hackett, William SJ 205, 207, 268 Hackney, Frances 99 Hadley, Jane 352 Hagemann, Edward 48 Haig, Georgina 334–5 Haikal, Yvette 408

Halloran, Annie Mary (Mother Joseph) 212 Hamilton, Elizabeth 319, 354 Hamilton, Jane 354 Hamilton, Paul 376 Hamilton-Smith, Adrienne 352 Hamilton-Smith, Angela 352 Hamilton-Smith, Kerry 321, 354 Hanks, Catherine 330 Hannan, Beatrice (Sister) 359–60, 378 Hannan, Elsie 55 Hannan, Hugh 55 Hannan, Joseph Francis 55 Hannan, Kitty 55 Hannan, Margaret (Mother Xavier) 334, 404 Hannan, Vera 55 Hanrahan, Susan 365 Hansen, Martin 81, 87, 112, 117–18 Hanslow, Florence 49 Harmsworth, Peter 347 Harper, Robert 183–5 Harris, Henry Philip 90 Harris, Mary-Ann 352 Harrison, Joan 271 Harrison, Olivia 331 Hart, Alfred 81 Hart, Denis (Archbishop) 405 Hartel, Yvonne von 323, 333, 354 Hartley, Dorothy 56 Hartley, Frank 56 Hartley, Frank Gerald 56 Hartley, Julia 56 Hartley, Kathleen 56 Hartley, Nelly 56 Haslett, Margaret 203 Hassett, Xavier 207 Hay, Helen 172 Hay, Iris 87, 88 Hay, Malcolm 172 Hay, Mary 172 Hay, Olga 87, 88–9, 96 Hay, Patricia 172 Hayden, Laura (Mother Antoinette) 168, 169, 322, 343, 360, 393 Haynes, Nellie Winifred (Dr) 125–6, 127 Headmistresses’ Association of Victoria 211, 322 Healy, Annabelle 408 Healy, Dorothy June 233–4 Healy, Elizabeth 274, 345 Healy, Helen 104, 245, 310, 345 Healy, Joan 269 Healy, Margaret 204, 270, 345 Healy, Rosannah 408

Heather, Daisy 50 Heather, Edward Drinkall 49–50 Heather, Mary 50 Hebden, George 145 Hede, Amy 401 Heerey, Nora 89, 142 Hegarty, Betty 174, 341 Hegarty, Bonnie 174 Hegarty, James (Rev) 35 Hegarty, Peggy 174 Hehir, Thomas SJ 207 Hellard, Alison 273 Henderson, Isabel 87, 88, 111, 118 Henderson, Laura 399 Hendrick, Mary (Mother Antonius) 249, 274, 348, 360 Henke, Joanne 366 Hennesey, Valerie 305 Hennessy, Beryl 114 Hennessy, Frances 347, 353 Herrick family 58 Higginbotham, Gwen 220 Higgins, Cynthia 317, 347 Higgins, Joseph (Bishop) 79–80 Higgins, Mary 347 Higher School Certificate 388 Hill, Barbara 294, 321 Hill, Fiona 379 Hill, Judith 294, 295 Hill, Kristine 350 Hill, Margaret 294, 317 Hill, Mary 342 Hill, Rosemary 355 Hill, Therese 391 Hintze, Spensley 65 Hipgrave, Susan 354 Hirsch, Eleanor 321, 329, 354 Hirsch, Myrna 329 Hiscock, Mary 99 Ho, Felicity 329 Ho, Jessica 329 Hoare, Benjamin 81 Hoare, Emilie 98 Hoare, Rita 360 Hoban, Lorna 216 Hoban, Maie 216 Hogan, Stanislaus (Rev) 208 Hoggart, William 81 Holder, Bessie Gladys 118, 119, 120 Holmberg, Diane 270, 273 home crafts, post-school training 211 Honan, Amanda (Sister) 380 Honner, Margaret (Mother Michael) 402, 403 Hook, Judith 329 Hooper, Joan 228–9, 229 Hope, Annie 231 Hope, Kathleen 231 Hoppe, Patricia 318, 338

Hoppe, Stephen 327 Hoppe, Susan 323, 354 Horan, Daniel (Rev) 20 Hourigan, Marie Beatrice 286 Howard, Noel 299 Howard, Sally 384 Hoy, Dorothea (Mother John Baptist) 274 Hoy, Paul 402, 403 Hubery, Kathleen (Mother Mercy) 100, 103, 274 Hughes, Aileen 321 Hughes, Helen (Mother Margaret Mary) 69, 188–9, 237 Hughes, Nicholas 327 Huie, Gemma 329 Hull, Marianne 410 Hume, Alice 401 Hung, Ruby Szeto 330 Hunt, Anne (Principal) 399–401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 410, 412 Hunt, Claire 354 Hurley (née Lightfoot), Joan Patricia 360 Hyams, Sarah 60 Incorporated Association of Secondary Teachers of Victoria 69–70, 86 Indian Room 289 Ingram, Catherine 329 Institute of the Blessed Virgin 3, 10, 180–1, 183, 248, 290, 299, 326, 351, 401, 413 Inter-House Drama Festival 389 Intermediate level classes 269 International Music Tours 3 international students 329–33 International Women’s Year 377 interstate excursions 10–11, 318–19, 372, 393 Invergowrie 211 Ip, Betty 329 Ireland, Adrienne 280 Ireland, Elizabeth 354 Ireland, Kendra 409 Ireland, Rowan 265 Isabel Henderson Free Kindergarten 111 Jackman, Felicity 361 Jackson, Pauline 337 Jacquinot, Michele 347 Jaffer, Juanita 269 James, Ian 406 James, Thomas Reynolds 98 Jaquinot, Michelle 311

Jens family 282 Jens, Katrina 282 Jensen, Jacqueline 352, 354 Jensen, Marie-Thérèse 311 Jessop, Alexander William 225 Jewish students 57, 238, 298 John, Stephanie 11 Johnson, Karen 321 Johnson, Kristen 280 Johnston, Alan 280 Jona, Anna 238 Jones, Amanda 355 Jones, Annabel 412 Jones, Bronwyn 329 Jones, Irene (Mother Brigid) 89, 315, 322 Jones, Janine 331 Jones, Marjorie 170 Jones, Agnes Muriel (Mother Dominic) 239, 239, 252, 274, 295, 296 Jorgensen, Ole 195 Joyce, Eileen 273 Joyce, Patricia 99 Judge, Meliesa 3 Junior Schools Headmistresses’ Association 343 Kapper, Ingrid 271, 274 Kate, Angile 60 Kaye, Susan 329 Keenan, Claire 352 Kehoe, Genevieve 383 Kelly, Anne (Sister) 11, 223, 360, 363, 367 Kelly, Caroline 323, 324, 333 Kelly, Jane (Sister) 317, 352, 359, 360, 360, 362, 373, 376, 378, 381, 404 Kelly, Kevin 208 Kelly, Nanette 99 Kennedy, Patricia 271, 275 Kenny, Augustus Leo 36 Kenny, Irene 170 Kenny, Kathleen 170 Kenny, Leo 81 Kenny, Mary 170 Kenny, Mary Kathleen 259–60, 261, 263 Kenny, Sheila 170 Kent, Felicity Wakefield 105, 307 Keogh, Dolores 274 Keogh, Genevieve 387 Keogh, Lesbia 83 Keogh, Michaela 400 Keogh, Virginia 400 Kerley, Lucy Frances 99 Kerr, Elsie 57 Kerr, Keilor 57 Kiernan, Hugh 327 Kift, Madeline 353 Kift, Maxine 353 Kilduff, Cecilia 61

Index

433

Kilmartin, Marie 271 Kincaid, Hilda (Dr) 217 Kindelan, Joseph Alphonsus (Prior) 113 Kindergarten Scholarship Fund 128 King, Diane Patricia 291, 300 King, Eleanor 291 King, Harold SJ 345 King, Lettie 240, 256 King, Mary 291, 323, 338 King, Thomas 212 Kirby, Kathleen 252, 254, 271 Kirby, Mancell 61 Kitchen, Barbara 404 Klein-Breteler, Gendrie 328 Klompe, Jack 337 Knorr, Hans 374 Knorr, Hilde 374 Knorr, Kristin 374 Knowles, Marion Miller 122 Knowles, Phoebe 401, 407 Knox, Pamela 253 Koch, Kathryn Jody 354 Koerner, Cathie 379 Koerner, Elizabeth 379 Koerner, Helen 379 Koukouvaos, Katherine 382 Kronheimer, Julius 57 Kuhlmann, Christine 282 Kuhlmann, Margaret 309 Lachal family 335 Lacy Vale, Marian de 197, 234 Lahz, Denise 273 Lake, Veronica 105 Lally, Dorothy 182, 216 Lally, Muire 182 Lalor, Dorothy Lucy (Mother Madeleine) 171, 190, 255, 274 Lalor, Peter 171 Lamande, Jane 365, 376, 377 Lambert, Jillian 226, 280, 296 Lambrick, John 353 Lambrick, Sydney 353 Landing Day Mass 4 languages 412 Laracy, Cassandra 407 Larkin, Annie Cormack (‘Cissie’) 49 Larkin, Matthias 49, 50 Larkins, Jillian 323 Latoof Fakhry, Diane 186 Lauder, George 114 Law, Carmella 329 Law, Teresa 323, 329 Lawlor, Kate (Mother Bertrand) 42, 79 lay teachers 325 Lazarus, Geraldine Gwen 298

434

Index

Lea, Brenda 331 Lea, Charon 331 Leach, John 81 ‘Lead Us on Mary Ward’ (hymn) 11 Leahy, Andrea 321 Leahy, Anne 379 Leahy, Lynette 347 Leahy, Mary 353 Leaving classes 269, 281 Lechte family 290 Lechte, Helen 290, 318 Lechte, Thérèse 290, 307, 360 Leddin, Hetty (Mother Jerome) 48 Lee, Angela 321 Lee, Denise 323 Lee, Georgine 329 Lee, Jenny 329 Lee, Patsy 384, 385 Lefebvre, Charles 266 Lefebvre family 266 Lefebvre, Marie 266 Lefebvre, Mona 266 Lejaman, Mary 354 Lennon, Eileen Lucy 228 Leonard, Christine 347 Leonard, Judith 252, 273 Leonard, Patricia 252 Leoncelli, Claire 387 Les Buissonnets (Parkville) 98, 98 Leslie, Siobhan 384 Lethlean, Sarah 409–10 Lett, Ethel 116 Levick, Madeleine 86 Lewis, Timothy 327 Lewis-Williams, Mary 291 Lewis-Williams, Penelope 291, 338 Ley, Judith 333, 338 library 336, 338, 377–8, 413 Library and Administration Building 413 Lightfoot, Audrey 185, 220 Lightfoot, Evelyn 185, 220 Lightfoot, Gerald 185, 220 Lightfoot, Joan 249, 301, 360 Lightfoot, Marie 249, 323 Lightfoot, Patricia 185, 220, 291 Lillis, Annie (Mother Lawrence) 283 Lillis, Hannah (Mother Colombiere) 282–3, 286 Lindfield 326 Lindsay, Beryl 87 Linehan, Margaret 240, 256 Linehan, Veronica 240, 255, 256 Ling, Phyllis 329 Liston, John James 58, 98 Liston (née Ward), May 58, 98 Little, Francis (Archbishop) 378, 385

Little, Josephine 273 Little, Josephine (Mother Josepha) 338 Lockington, William Joseph SJ 126–7 Lodge, Gilbert 150 Loftus-Hills, Suzanne 309 Lohan, Patricia (Mother Kostka) 388 Lombard, Susan 353 Loneragan, Amy Anne (Mother Gertrude) 188–9, 212–13 Lonergan, Joseph (Rev) 28 Lonergan, Josephine 28 Long, Prudence 318 Lord, Diana 300 Loreto Abbey Gorey 15 Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount 12–13, 17–19, 18, 19, 38, 228, 230 Loreto Abbey Player’s Club 216 Loreto Abbey (Rathfarnham, Dublin) 7–8 Loreto Adelaide Terrace (Perth) 139, 249 Loreto Advisory Board 360, 361, 402–3 Loreto Albert Park community 22, 37–44 Loreto Albert Park Convent 32, 52, 53–9, 53, 78, 137 Loreto Ashton Hall (Randwick) 42 ‘Loreto Bread’ 255 Loreto Catholic Reading Circle 204–9 Loreto Centenary Mass 377 Loreto Centenary Music Camp 375–6 Loreto Claremont (Perth) 84, 171, 273, 274, 319, 320 Loreto College Coorparoo (Brisbane) 228, 252, 274 Loreto Commercial College (South Melbourne) 339, 340, 351 Loreto Convent St Michael’s Hamilton 138, 140 Loreto Cottage (Blairgowrie) 361 Loreto Dawson Street (Ballarat) 20, 230 Loreto education, four hundred years 3–4 Loreto Educational Philosophy 370 Loreto Enniscorthy (Ireland) 15 Loreto Family International 406 Loreto Family Outreach Program 382 Loreto Fathers’ Association 390, 417

Loreto Federation 406 Loreto Fermoy (County Cork, Ireland) 35, 84, 162 Loreto foundation in Melbourne establishment 26–44 search for new accommodation 142–51 Loreto Free Kindergarten 36, 48, 106–7, 109–10, 121, 131, 133, 195 in 1930s 214, 216 at Emerald Hall (South Melbourne) 129–33 auxiliary 220–2 beginnings 111–18 Catholic influence 126–8 children’s health 217–19 during First World War 122–4 during Second World War 259–64 finding a home and a patron 114 first director 118 and Free Kindergarten Union 115–18 inaugural meeting 112–14 music 221 new building 223–5 new premises in Fitzroy 124–6 opening and early years 118–22 presidents 421 registration as Catholic kindergarten 262 Loreto Gorey 93 Loreto House (St Vincent’s Place) 351 Loreto Institute 152, 155 Loreto Kilkenny 178 Loreto Kirribilli (Sydney) 161, 177, 254, 274, 319, 320 Loreto Ladies’ College (Albert Park) see Our Lady of the Angels (Albert Park) Loreto Ladies’ College (Ballarat) 18, 19, 110, 118 Loreto Mandeville Hall School Council 402, 416 Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak closure of kindergarten 367 consecration of chapel 190 curriculum in 1940s 269 early alumni 174–81 early days 159–66 early living conditions 162–4, 165 first boys 167 first Sisters 164–5 first students 160

foundation 21 grounds 290 house system 318 junior school 247–8, 251, 281, 287, 287, 326–7, 342, 363–4, 367–8 library 336, 338, 377–8, 413 new buildings for senior school 336–7, 340–1, 343 new wing and chapel 183–9 opening 160, 167–71, 414 phasing out of boarders 368–9 phasing out of boys in junior school 367–8 purchase 152–4 St Cecilia’s Hall 185, 190 school population 281, 319, 381–2 second wave of students 181–3 seventy-fifth anniversary 404, 406–7, 407 syllabus during 1930s 196–204 teaching and curriculum in early years 171–3 Loreto Marryatville (Adelaide) 48, 254 Loreto Mary’s Mount 228 Loreto Mothers’ Association 417 Loreto National School (Dalkey, Dublin) 28 Loreto Normanhurst (Sydney) 42, 51, 164, 168, 228, 286, 306, 319, 320, 351 Loreto Norwood (Adelaide) 78 Loreto Nymphenburg 162 Loreto Past Pupils’ Association 110, 111–12, 128, 190, 195, 222–3, 275, 282, 302, 327, 361, 417 Loreto Portland 21, 41, 94, 109, 168, 228, 230, 303 Loreto Property Association 155 Loreto Rathfarnham (Dublin) 15 Loreto Red Cross Emergency Company 244 Loreto (school magazine) 268 Loreto School Principles 370 Loreto Spirit Prize 196 Loreto Toorak, foundation 10 Loreto Toorak Development Office, cookbook 4 Loreto Toorak Kindergarten 226–7, 227 Loreto Toorak Old Girls’ Association 302

Loreto Toorak orchestra 377 Loreto Toorak War Memorial Fund 365 Loreto Training College (Dawson St, Ballarat) 33, 71 Loughlin, Basil SJ 159 Lowe, Alexandra 286 Lowe, Sarah 286 Lowery, Marie Therese (Mother Teresa) 364, 367, 385 Lucini, Amy Katherine 231–2 Lucini, Rosa Cecilia 231–2 Ludescher, Kate 407 Lupton, George 60 Lusic, Victor 65 Lynch, Laurette 321 Lynch, Leveda 280, 347, 353 Lynch, Mary 307 Lynch, Mary Josephine 307 Lynch, Catherine Mary (Mother Bernadette) 183 Lynch, Sarah 412 Lyons, Margaret 353 McArdle, James 280 Macarthur, Lorne Campbell 81 McCann, Elizabeth 232 McCann, Genevieve 232 McCann, Joan 232 McCann, Judith 232 McCann, Margaret 232 McCann, Patricia 232 McCardel, Irene 336 McCardel, Joan 191 McCarthy, David 280 McCarthy, Mary 69, 105, 168, 239 McCauley, Anne 269, 270 McCauley, Jennifer 321 McCauley, Lena 113 McCauley, Prudence 269 McClelland, Joanna 309 McClelland, Mary 310–11 McClelland, Patricia 309, 310 McClelland, Phillipa 309, 309 McCombe, John 230, 327 McCombe, Judy 230 McCombe, Peter 230 McCoy, Anne 237, 353 McCoy, Brian 237 McCoy family 237 McCoy, Julia 237 McCulloch, Kate 411 McDavitt, Jane 280 McDavitt, Peter 280 McDermott, Patricia 297 McDermott, Sheila 98 MacDonald, Elsie 218 Macdonald, Isobel 81 McDonald, Joy 307

McDonough, Henry 48 McDougall, Fiona 379 McEncroe, Susan 353 McErvale, Vera 69 McFarlane, Rene 205 McGeehan, Mary (Sister Miriam) 274 McGlade, Margaret 400 McGloin, Hélène 282 McGloin, Marilyn 282 McGowan, Susan Murray (Mother Damien) 213, 226, 252 McGrath, Felicity 401 McGrath, Maureen 170 Machie, Agnes Mary 176 McInerney, Jemma 387 McKell, Ann 347 Macken, Mary (Mother Aloysius) 69 McKenzie, Elizabeth 269 McKernan, Veronica (Mother Dolorosa) 249 Mackey, Padua 360 Mackie, Maureen 271 MacKillop, Annie 19 MacKillop, Mary 19, 20 McKinna, Gervase 400 McKinnon, Gabrielle 379 McKinnon, John 402, 403 McLaurin, Nano 274 McLean, Allan 54 McLean, Marcelle 211 McLean, May 54 McMahon, Patricia 197 MacMahon, Thomas Patrick 220 McManamny, Cissie 114 McManus, Patricia 311 McMenamin, John 299 McMenamin, Madeleine 299 McMenamin, Margaret 299 McMenamin, Thomas 299 McNamara, Glenda Josephine 168 McNamara, Judith 283, 365 McNamara, Kate 154, 412 McNamara, Margaret 226 McNamara, Marianne 212, 265 McNamara, Mother Dympna 303–4, 319, 343, 346, 351 MacPhail, Pamela 270 McPharland, Anne (Nancy) 223 McPhee, Anne (Mother Magdalen) 99, 362, 372, 404 McPhee, Millie (Mother Aquin) 89, 161–2, 174, 220, 239 McPherson, Emily 211 McPherson, Margaret Heath 322 McRae, Constance 170 MacRory, Joseph (Cardinal) 200, 200

Macrossan, Lana 229 Macrossan, Mary Rose 229 Macrossan, Neal 229 McSwiney, Deirdre 321 McTiernan, Edward 208 Madden, Catherine 114 Madden, Siana 11, 408 Magan, Anita 64 Maggia, Prudence 309 Maggia, Susan 309 Maggs, Jill 353, 409 Maguire, Helen (Mother Columba) 367, 401 Maher, Elizabeth 89 Maher, Frank 208 Mahon, Christopher 327 Mahon family 58 Mahon, Joan 243, 256, 273, 274 Mahon, John 58 Mahon, Sheila 273 Maitland, Dorothy 57 Maitland, Nonie 57 male staff 279 Malonly, Mary Catherine (Mother Josepha) 28 Mandeville Centre 413 Mandeville Hall as Athelstane 144–6 heritage significance 155 Indian Room 134–5, 146 initial building 143–6 lease by Isabella Ross Soden 150–1 ownership by Joseph Clarke 146–8, 147 purchase by John Tremearne 151 as St Georges 143–4 subdivision of grounds 148 see also Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Mandevillian (newsletter) 383, 402–3 Manion, Margaret (Mother Thomas Aquinas) 100 Manly, Joan 105 Manly, Margaret 245 Manly, Meida 105, 204, 204 Manning, Joyce 228 Manning, Judy 309 Mannix, Daniel (Archbishop) 10, 61, 94, 95, 101, 102, 128, 152, 165, 185, 186–7, 190, 195, 200, 205, 250, 268, 293, 309 Marian Poetry Competition 296 Mark, Isabel 57 Mark, Nellie 57 Mark, Teresa 57 Marnell, Catherine (Sister Laurentia) 44 Marraffa, Catherine 364, 372, 374 Marriott, Clarence 180 Marriott family 195

Marriott, James 180 Marriott, Lolita Nancy 180, 187 Marron, Sally 345 Marsh, Jenny 323 Marshall, Isabella Dorothea 81 Martin, Ada Jane 151, 155 Martin, Ella Row 151, 155 Martin, Helene 353 Martin, Margaret 232 Martin, Peter 327 Martin, Richard 327 Martyn, Anchoretta (Mother Bonaventure) 263 ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ to ‘Marvellous Smellbourne’ 26, 29 Mary Ward Building 340, 343, 405 Mary Ward Connect program 11 Mary Ward Exhibition 310–11 Mary Ward International Australia 4, 406 Mary Ward Scholarships 327, 328 Mary Ward Wing 378, 413 Mary’s Mount see Loreto Abbey Mary’s Mount Mason, Francis Henry 44–5 Matha, Mother Francis Anthony 315, 342, 344, 367, 404, 413, 416 Matha, Toni (Sister) see Mother Francis Anthony Matha Matriculation Centre 378 Matriculation classes 38, 54, 71, 78, 105, 173, 269, 274, 281, 323–4 Matriculation Garden Room 269, 271 Matthews, Julie 321 Matthews, Richard 321 Maule, Lucy 239 Maule, Sarah 239 Maule, Stephanie 239 Mawson, Douglas 150 May, Edna 297 Maye, Kevin 188–9 Mayger, Louise 57 Mayger, Marie 57 Meagher, John 118 Meakes, Kathleen 170 Meakes, Mary 170 Meehan, Antoinette 58, 309, 406 Meehan, Cornelius Gregory 57 Meehan, Daryl 280 Meehan, James 58 Meehan, Lisa 58 Meehan, Lucille 57, 58 Meehan, Mary 309 Meehan, Patricia 309

Meehan, Philip 58 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition 41 Melchior, Sylvie 329 Meldrum, Mary 323 Melville Island evacuees 246–8, 250 Melville Island Mission Auxiliary 250 Merfield, Bertha 81 Merlo, Joy 309 Merrick, Marie 192, 329 Mèszáros, Andor 341 Metzler, Maxwell 64 Middleton, Angela 329 Midgley, Mary Blaan 331 Miller, Alison 390, 404, 407 Millicer, Joanna 323, 354 Minogue, Henry 207–8 Mish, Pauline 238 Missionaries of the Sacred Heart 246, 247 mistresses of schools 416 Mitchell, David 154 Mitchell, Diane 330 Mitchell, Nancy 330 Mitchell, Nonie (Mother John Bosco) 99, 360, 372, 376, 377, 385 Mitchell, Susie 81 Mitelman, Rachel 57 Mitty, Anne Veronica Nancye 186, 216 Mitty, Frederick Joseph 186 Mole, Jean 260 Molloy, Kathleen 69 Molomby, Mary Anne 342 Moloney, Justin 280 Moloughney, Margaret 197, 203 Molyneaux, Clarinda 353 Molyneaux, Fabian 353 Monger, Violet 78 Mononia (Merton Cresent later St Vincent Place, Albert Park) 37–44, 47–9 Montague, Judith 252 Montessori, Maria 126 Montgomery, Carmel 99 Moon, Eleanor 353 Moore, Frankie Margaret 297 Moore, James (Bishop) 20, 33, 34, 39, 75 Moore, James (timber merchant) 216 Moore, Judy 99 Moore, Kitty 69 Moore, William 216 Moorees, Gwendoline 231 Moorees, Sebylla 231 Moorrees family 231 Moran, Lawrence (Bishop) 340, 343 Moran, Patrick Francis (Cardinal) 25, 76, 77–8

Index

435

Moreton, Olive 57 Mornane, Anastasia, Annie (Mother Joseph Stanislaus) 36, 36, 37, 69 Mornane, Anastasia (wife of Patrick, East Melbourne) 36, 45 Mornane, Catherine Agnes (Sister Mary Angela) 36 Mornane family 36, 45 Mornane, Laura 45 Mornane, Mary 31 Mornane, Michael 36 Mornane, Mick 35, 36, 37, 45, 50, 93, 94 Mornane, Patrick (East Melbourne) 29, 36, 50 Mornane, Patrick (‘Old Mornane’) (South Melbourne) 28, 29–31, 37, 44, 46 Mornement, Peter de 280 Morris, Edward 91 Morris, Rosemary 328 Morrissey, Olivet 81 Morrissey, Seraphina 188–9, 360 Mort, Amanda 337 Mort, Helen 337 Mort, James 337 Mort, Laidley 337 Mort, Mary 337 Mort, Susannah 337 Morton, Marianne 144 Morton, Natalie de 409 Mosimann, Gabrielle 329 Mother Gonzaga Barry Sports Centre 405 Mother’s Club 282 Mott, Sarah 384 motto 4, 4 Move Out (magazine) 373 Moylan, Carol 389, 391 Moylan, Patricia 364, 390 Muirhead, Anne 316 Muirhead, Edward 316 Muirhead, Martha 247, 250 Muirhead, Mary 316 Muirhead, Mary (Mother Reparata) 199, 247, 316 Mulcahy, Elizabeth 228 Mulcahy, Mary (Mother Ann) 169, 228 Mulcahy, Michael 406 Mulhall, Barbara (Mother Stanislaus) 93–4, 140, 142 Mullany, Margot 168 Mullen, Barbara 86 Multipurpose Hall 413 Mulvaney, Angela 354 Mummé, Elizabeth 176, 177 Munro, James 95 Murphy, Edna 156, 174, 175, 175, 176, 239 Murphy, Frances May 234 Murphy, Gabrielle 353

436

Index

Murphy, Helen (Mother Joseph) 323, 333, 352, 367, 390, 401 Murphy, Hubert 120, 122 Murphy, Jeremiah SJ 98, 200, 207 Murphy, Julie 159, 174, 175, 175, 176, 337 Murphy, Kerry Barry 354 Murphy, Thérèse 309 Murphy, Viva 208 Murphy, William Henry 174 Murphy, Wilma 159, 174–5, 175, 176, 231 Murray, Daniel (Dr) 7 Murtagh, Josephine 90 Murtagh, Mary 90 music 5, 196–200, 221, 375–6, 377 music captains 420 Myer (née Roche), Gladys 58 Myer, Norman (Sir) 58 Nagle, Nano 354 Nathan family 58 Naughton, Judy 226 Neales, Elizabeth 394 Need, Elizabeth Coral 322 Nelson, Caroline 387 Nerney, John SJ 290 New Education movement 109–10 Newman College 94, 95, 97, 98, 100, 102 Newman College Council 101, 102 Newman Society of Victoria 92–4 Newton, Mary Norah (Mother Marianne) 236, 329, 330, 360 Newton, Sheila 236 Nichols, Susan 331 Nicholson, James 44 Nicol, Jean 231 Nield, James Edward 145 Noël, Marie 329 Noël, Pauline 329 Nolan, Annie (Mother Veronica) 48, 114 Nolan, Barbara 321 Nolan, Bernard 48, 132, 224 Nolan, Caitlyn 273 Nolan family 195 Nolan, Lucius 48 Nolan, Marie 273 Nolan, Mary 48, 245 Nolan, Mary Ellen (Mother Rita) 160–1, 173, 188–9 Nolan, Monica 382 Nolan, Redmond 48, 273 Nolan, Tany (Ann) 273 Nolan, Thomas 48 non-Catholic students 57, 238, 296–301

non-conformist students 296–301 Noonan, John Patrick 167 Noone, Margaret 291 Norman, Mary Frances 170 Northam, Ann 268, 269 Norton-Wilson, Deirdre 329 Norton-Wilson, Patricia 329 Nossal, Brigid 379–80 Nossal, Katrina 379 Oak Parlour 352, 370 O’Brian, Michael 366 O’Brien, Deidre 282, 309 O’Brien, Elizabeth Mary 354 O’Brien family 195 O’Brien, Helen 99 O’Brien, Imelda 338 O’Brien, Jeremiah 58 O’Brien, John 58 O’Brien, Katherine 78 O’Brien, Lawre 231, 231 O’Brien, Maidie 211, 231 O’Brien, Margaret 231 O’Brien, Marie 58 O’Brien, Michael Ignatius (Rev) 188–9 O’Brien, Peter 280 O’Bryan, Bernadette 240, 256, 265 O’Bryan, Catherine 265 O’Bryan, Catherine (Mother John Gabriel) 65, 228 O’Bryan, Edward 265 O’Bryan, Jane 265 O’Bryan, Jennifer 265 O’Bryan, Lucy 265 O’Bryan, Mary 228 O’Bryan, Michael 65 O’Bryan, Norman 65, 208, 210, 212, 226, 265 O’Bryan, Richard 265 O’Callaghan, Denis (‘Dinny’) 195, 200 O’Callaghan, Michelle 399 O’Collins, Geraldine 321 O’Connell, Emily 409 O’Connell, James (Rev) 35–6 O’Connell, Kathy 401, 404, 405 O’Connell, Patricia 257 O’Connor, Carmel 270 O’Connor, Mary 69 O’Connor, Michael (Bishop) 17, 33–4 O’Connor, Patricia 309 O’Day, Deidre 309 O’Day, Denis 309 O’Day, Elizabeth 237 O’Day, Justine 309 O’Day, Prudence 309 O’Doherty, Helen 317 O’Donnell, Annie (Mother Nuala) 161, 173, 188–9, 274 O’Donnell, Edward 47

O’Donnell, Inez 274, 360 O’Donnell, Lucy 47 O’Donnell, Mary Josephine (‘Minnie’) 47 O’Donnell, Mother Inez 348 O’Donoghue, Helen 318 O’Donoghue, Peter 280 O’Driscoll, John (Rev) 30–1, 35, 44, 46 O’Driscoll, Mary 5 O’Driscoll, William 48 O’Dwyer, James SJ 81, 97 O’Dwyer, Mary 352 O’Dwyer, Thomas SJ 81, 97 Oehlmann, Ingrid 329, 338 O’Farrell, Pamela 271 O’Farrell, Patricia 270 O’Gorman, Mary (Mother Veronica) 49 O’Grady, Bernadette 228, 264 O’Grady, Elizabeth 197 O’Grady, Joan 252, 257, 264, 271 O’Grady, Judith 264 O’Grady, Margaret 264 O’Grady, Rosemary 264 O’Grady, Vincent 264 O’Hagen, Lily (Mother Magdalen) 61, 139, 247–8, 274, 290, 297 O’Halloran, Amy 125, 127 O’Halloran, Kathleen 127 O’Hara, Loree 330–1 O’Keefe, Brigid 305 O’Keefe, Eileen 201, 202–3 O’Keefe, Elizabeth 105, 361 Old, Francis Edward 225 Olga, Hay 87 Oliver, Garry 280 O’Loghlen, Bryan (Sir) 54 O’Loghlen, Doreen 54 O’Loghlen, Ella 54 O’Loghlen, Frances (Mother Francesca) 54 O’Loughlin, Agatha 178, 179 O’Loughlin, Dorothy 178, 178, 179 O’Loughlin, Helen 178, 178, 179, 179 O’Loughlin, Kathleen 178, 178, 179, 179 O’Loughlin, Kathleen (‘Kitty’) (Countess) 98, 178–9 O’Loughlin, Margot 178, 178, 179 O’Loughlin, Noineen 178, 178 O’Loughlin sisters 177, 178–9, 178 O’Loughlin, Thomas (Count) 78, 178, 190 O’Malley, Mary Kathleen (Mother Sylvester) 254, 269, 274 O’Mara, Elaine 229, 229

O’Neil, Clare 408–9 O’Neill, Elizabeth Mary 296–8 O’Neill, Erin-Marie 387, 406 O’Neill, George SJ 207 O’Neill, Patricia 380 Open Day 404 O’Reilly, Frances (Mother Columba) 274 O’Reilly, Mary 266 O’Rorke, Ann 338, 353 O’Rorke, Joan 338 O’Shaughnessy, Peta 321 O’Shea, Moya 379 O’Sullevan, Natalie 230 O’Sullevan, Rita 230 O’Sullivan House Cup 204 O’Sullivan, Katrina 342 O’Sullivan, Margaret (Sister) 360, 363–4, 367 O’Sullivan, Mary (Mother Teresa Gertrude) 10, 159, 188–9, 200, 209, 268 O’Sullivan, Michael (Dr) 49 O’Sullivan, Thecla Marie 181, 181 Our Lady of the Angels (Albert Park) 25, 55 closure 137 distinguished alumni 64–5 establishment 47–53 non-Catholic students 57 school life 60–2 Our Lady’s Sodality 317, 352 Ovens, Therese 384 Pacini, John 337 Pacini, Merrin 337 Pacini, Terence 280, 337 Palmer, Thomas 81 Papal Mass 372 Parents’ Association 411, 417 Parer family 58 Parer, Marie 212, 213 Parer, Michael 213 Parker, Elizabeth 291 Parker, Josephine 291 Parker, Margaret 291 Parker, Margaret Mary 321 Parkes, Cecil 220 Parkes, Cecile 220 Parkes, Margaret 220 Parkes, May 220 Parry, Ann 330 Parry, Martha 330 Pascoe, Susan 402, 403 pastoral care 388 Patraitis, Theresa 329 Patricia Schaefer Physical Education Centre 366 Payne, Thomas 102 Peacock, Edith 64 Pearce, Kerryn 328 Peck, Hugh Leonard 225 Pell, Margaret 99 Penn, Henri 198, 199–200

Peppard, Alice 261, 263 Peppard family 335 Peppard, Mary 257 Peppard, Patricia 239 Pereria, Amy 412 Performing Arts Festival 389, 394 Peric, Bernada 380–1 Perrett, Sarah 411 Peterson, Leonie 360 Petty, Joan 271 Pham, An 408 Phelan, Patrick (Bishop) 57 Phillips, Isabella Ada 65 physical education 172, 203–4, 365–6 Pickerd, Christine 329 Pierpoint, Evelyn 150 Pigdeon, Florence 150 Pinnock, Barbara 318 Pitt, Kathleen 58 Pitt, Lorna 174, 323 Pitt, Rosalind 174 Politi, Barbara 329–30 Politi, Concetta 329 Porteus, Stanley David 126 Power, Albert SJ 81, 185 Power, Margaret 307 Power, Mary 172 Prediville, Redmond (Archbishop) 385 prefects 29, 174, 205, 233, 233, 295, 296, 309, 333 Prendergast, Mary 105 Presentation Sisters 72, 80, 141 Preston, Thelma. 174 principals 416 Prkic, Ksenija 329 Protestant students 57 Proud, Ruth 223 Pye, Ellen 111 Pye, Emmeline 123 Quarant ’Ore 186, 371 Quessy, Germaine 332 Quigg, Mary Therese 321 Quin, Gabrielle 387 Quin, Judith 387 Quin, Tracey 350 Quin, Vincent 188–9 Quinn, Beverley 307 Quinn, Catherine 409 Quinn, Gertrude (Mother) 42 Quirk, Emma 412 Quirk, William Henry (Rev) 31–2 Radcliffe, Alexandra 347 Raftis, Carolyn 415 Ralston, Mascotte (later Marcia) 64 Randles, Jennifer 342 Rawson, Diana 271 Reed, Joseph 143–4, 154

Reed, Vivienne 365 Regan, Amanda 290, 387 Regan, Kate 290 Regan, Rachel 290 Registration of Teachers and Schools Act 1905 70, 72, 75 Reid, Brigette 230 Reid, Jacqui 230 Reid, Margaret 309 religious instruction 372–3 Remington, Catherine 81, 88 Rennick, Cecily 257 Rennick, Joan 197 Resch, Susan 298, 323 Respighi, Carol (Monsignor) 188–9 Rey, Sarah 382 Reynolds, Fay 197, 204, 215 Reynolds, Gertrude 204 Reynolds, Jilian 350 Reynolds, Margaret 203–4 Reynolds, Mary 204, 215, 331 Reynolds, Mimi 197, 204 Rice, Annette 321 Richardson, Robyn 347 Riddell, Kathryn 386 Riddell, Patricia 387, 394–5 Ries, Bernadette 243 Roarty, Anne Catherine (Sister Anne) 393 Roberts, Judith 273 Robertson, Alan Gerard 326–7 Robertson, Betty 340 Robinson, Alice (Sister Tarcisius) 164, 188-9 Robinson, Leonie (Mother Mercia) 367 Robinson, Robin (Mother John) 282, 299, 307, 323, 333 Robinson, Sandra 309 Robson, Virginia 353 Roche, Ethel 113 Rock Concert at Yurala 394–5 Rodgers, Elizabeth (Mother Xavier) 262, 188-9 Rodrigo, Emily 412 Rofe, Deirdre (Sister) 381, 381, 382, 384, 386, 388, 389, 390, 393, 400, 402, 403, 404 Rollason, Mary 271 Rosenberg, Ristan 341 Ross Soden family 148 Ross Soden, Isabella Mary 150–1 Ross-Tuppin, Stephanie Judith 297 Row, Ella 150 Rowan, Adeline 237 Rowan, Bernar 237–9 Rowan, Ethel 237 Rowan, Honora (Mother Bernard) 237

Rowan, Mary 197, 211, 228, 237–9, 239, 310 Rowan, Mary (Pollie) (Mother Stanislaus) 237 Rowan, Patricia 203, 237–9 rowing 412 Ruffin, Elizabeth 273 Ruffolo, Priscilla 409 Rusden, Gwynne Sylvia 86–7 Russo, Charlotte 412 Ryan, Adrienne 282 Ryan, Brigid 274 Ryan, Colette 405 Ryan, Elizabeth (‘Gig’) 317, 352 Ryan, George 65 Ryan, Geraldine 307, 360 Ryan, Jillian 226 Ryan, Joan 400–1 Ryan, John SJ 25–6, 31, 35, 37, 38, 46, 73, 74, 75, 83 Ryan, Leonie 347 Ryan, Marie 354 Ryan, Wilfrid SJ 207 Ryland, Jann 353 Sabelberg, Vera 57 St Aloysius Primary School (Redan) 19 St Aloysius’ Teachers’ Training College 72 St Catherine’s Debating and Literary Club 210 St Cecilia’s Hall 270, 271, 338 St Ellen, Diane 319, 354 St Ellen, Elizabeth 319, 355 St Ellen, Joseph James 319 St Ellen, Margaret 280, 319 St George’s (Toorak) 143–4, 144 St Joseph’s Convent Wing 289, 321, 400, 405 St Joseph’s Courtyard 290 St Joseph’s Primary School (Ballarat) 19 St Kevin’s Central College 153 St Luke’s Reading Room 288, 289 St Mary’s College 100–5, 421 St Mary’s Hall 341 alumnae 99 first residence 94–5, 95 Mother Gonzaga’s vision 89–92 principals and superiors 421 running of 96–100 St Mary’s Primary (Broome) 393 St Mary’s School (Darwin) 246 St Michael the Archangel statue 290

St Michael’s Collegiate School 86 St Omer Scholarship 4 St Patrick’s Day processions 61, 293 St Patrick’s Society 37 St Peter’s Church (Toorak) 195 St Peter’s Early Learning Centre 405 St Thomas the Apostle School (Blackburn) 328–9 St Vincent de Paul’s Boys’ Orphanage 83 Saints Peter and Paul’s Family Social Circle 260 Saints Peter and Paul’s School (South Melbourne) 26, 27–8, 27, 31, 65, 138, 212–13, 420 Santamaria, Bartholomew Augustine 208 Saunders, Anne 290 Saunders, Maureen (Mother Augusta) 398, 400 Saundry, Alexandra 412 Saxon, Sue 389 Saxon, Susan 399 Sayers, Josephine 305 Scally, Timothy 327 Scanlon, Annabelle 411 Scanlon, Bridget 408 Scanlon, Georgette 408 Scarff, Kristen Mary 280 Schaefer, Patricia 105, 321, 365, 366 Schaefer, Penny 105 Schmidt, Andrew 390, 402 Schmitt, Jacinta 188–9 school banner 404 school captains 418–19 School Cross 235 School Representative Council 371–2 school uniforms in 1920s 196 in 1930s 197 in 1980s 387 at Our Lady of the Angels 57, 62–3 bags 322 boys shirt 367 hatbands 196 hats 322, 348 red blazers 214 special white dresses 182–3 summer at Saints Peter and Paul’s School 65 and wartime rationing 257 winter in 1940 3, 256 school vice-captains 419 Schrader, Dianne 353, 355 Schwarz, Louise 387 science classes 279, 338, 340–1 Scott, Robert Falcon 150

sculptures 290 Sebree, Pauline 269 Second Vatican Council 343–8, 359, 370 Self, Helen 387 Seligson, Ariel 98 Semmens, Nora 122 Serpless, Cathy 99 Seward, Sally 102 Shanahan, Michael (Dean) 138 Shannon, Jane 59 Shawcross, Peggy 89 Sheahan, Jennifer 334 Sheahan, Mary 354 Sheehan, Mary 331 Shehan, Lawrence Joseph (Cardinal) 372 Shelton, Elsie 120 Shelton, Grantley 118 Shelton, June 232 Shelton, Moira 105, 232, 301–2, 304–5 Shelton, Valda 232 Sherren, Jacqueline 399 Shields, Grace 58 Shillito, Mary (‘Mollie’) 232, 232 Shirley, Joan 243 Short, Mollie 168 Short, Nella 168 Shortell, Helen-Marie 273 Simonds, Justin (Archbishop) 341 Simpson, Catherine 353 Simpson, Phillipa 280 Simpson, Roland 365 Sinn, Anna 323, 333, 336 Sinn, Felicity 319, 354, 361 Sinn, Mayrose 379 Sissons, Alfred 81 Sister Ruth Winship Science Centre 411 sister schools 393, 412 Sister Toni Matha Hall 413 Sisters of Mercy 71, 72, 80, 141 Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart 20, 28, 80 Skehan, Anne 212 Skehan, Noreen 197, 203 Slattery, Angela (Sister) 352 Slattery, Brian 413 Slattery, Daniel 78 Sleeman, Meg 236, 373 Sleeman, Wendy 236 Smith, Angela 353 Smith, Annabel 408 Smith, Edward 57 Smith, Ena 57, 98 Smith, Kevin 327 Smith, Margaret 407 Smith, Patricia 238 Smith, Quintin 81 Smrekar, Barbara 386 Smrekar, Patrizia 386 social service 381–4

Index

437

sodality 370–1 softball 269 Solomon, Lola 226 Somerset, Violet 61 Somerset, Wyndham 65 Soppitt, Catherine 386 sports 318, 319, 365–6, 389, 412 sports captains 419 Sprigg, Elizabeth 235 Sprigg, Margaret 235 Sprigg, Mary 235 Spring, Geraldine 220, 231 Stack, Mary Josephine (Dr) 208, 217 Stafford, Anna (Mother Berchmans) 17, 40, 41–2, 90 Staiff, Russell 393 Stanley, Pamela 340 Star, Mary 273 Starr family 195 Starr, Francis Joseph 167 statues 290 Steil, Henry 280 Stein, Alfred 65 Stephenson, Arthur 150 Stevens, Susan (Principal) 5, 410–13 Stewart, Valerie 360 Stockdale, Susan 393 Stogdale, George Stanley 150 Storman, Edward SJ (Rev) 100, 101–2 Strange, Rose (Mother Eucharia) 161, 274 Streich, Hilde 280 Strong, David SJ 370 Stuart, Archibald 145 student bank 334 Sturrock, Morna 404 Sub-Intermediate classes 169 Sullivan, Hélène Audas 173 Sullivan, Hilary 235 Sullivan, Julie 291 Sullivan, Moira 173 Sullivan, Sheila Clare Audas 173, 174 Sweeney, Anne 355 Sweeney, Catherine 322, 352, 353, 355 Sweeney, Frank 326 swimming 365 Syme, Veronica 252, 252, 253 Synman, Carole 298 Synman, Sandra 298, 310 Taffe, Ellison (Mother Dominic) 400, 402, 403 Tanner, Jane 347 Tappin, Annie 51 Tappin, William 50, 51 Tarrant, Maria 364 Tate, Frank 119 Taylor, Jeannie 123

438

Index

Taylor, Lisa 365 Taylor, Michael 327 teacher training by state 70 of Catholic women teachers in Victoria 71–89 changes following First World War 141 pupil-teacher system 70–1, 72 Teachers’ Registration Board 70, 75, 84 Teague, Michael 327 Tehan, Madeleine 412 Tehan, Peter 404 tennis 240, 255, 256, 321 tennis courts 405 Teresa, Mother (Calcutta) 351 The Glade 290 Thompson, Colleen 257 Thornton-Smith, Georgina 105, 245 Tidey, Sarah-Jane 391 Tiernan, Marie 99, 223–4 Tiernan, Rani 353 Tiernan, Virginia 352 Tilley, Michael 402, 403 Tipping, Elenora Maria Ursula (Mother Francis Borgia) 188–9, 209, 247, 286, 315–17, 316, 360 Tipping, James 316 Tipping, Joseph 164 Tipping, Martha 316 Tobin, Angela 37, 39 Tobin, Bertie 39 Tobin, Gracie 39 Tobin, Lizzie (Mother Francis) 40, 42, 43 Tobin, Minnie (Mother Ignatius) 37–8, 39 Tobin, William Brinsley 37–8 Tolley, Harry 341 Tomlinson, Yvonne 347 Toner, Catherine 321 Toorakanrooin (student newsletter) 294, 296, 315, 341, 350, 376 Touzeau, Henri 197 Towsey, Mary Isobel (‘Dollie’) 45–6 Towsey, William Charles 45, 46 Trait, Ruth 271, 273, 273, 310, 407 Tran, Lien 386 Travel Club 211 Treacy, Joan 270 Tremearne family 153, 155 Tremearne, Frank 151 Tremearne, John 151, 155 Tremearne, Mary Veronica 155 Tremearne, Newman 151 Trioli, Cecile Mary 329

Tripcony, Julie 328 T’Sing, Aileen 329 Tucker, Thomas 81 Tully, Dorothy 305 Tuomy, Ellen 228 Turner, Marie-Danielle 409 Tutton, Dorothy 170, 187, 244 Tutton, Jean 170 Tutton, Jean Elizabeth (Betty) 243–4 Tutton, Margaret 244 Uluru trip 393–5 Uniform Review Committee 404 University of Melbourne, admission of women 91–2 Up and Out (student newsletter) 310, 364 Van Arken, Delia Vance 243 Vanderkley, Sarah 408 Vanheems, Geraldine 236–7 Vanheems, Jacqueline 236–7 Vanheems, Zoe 236–7 Vaughan, Brigid Ellen Nellie 168, 170 Vaughan family 170 Vaughan, Helen 321 Vaughan, Kenelm 327 Vaughan, Marie 197 Vaughan, Mary Marie Gertrude 168, 170 Vennix, Michelle 391 Verdon, Lucy 92 Vial, Stanley Browning 81 Viccars, Harry 65 Victorian Certificate of Education 388–9, 401 Vincent, Helen 260 vocations 421 Völcker, Mother Boniface 44 Wahl, Hedurg 280 Waide, Catherine (Sister Lawrence) 330 Waide, Mary (Sister Vianney) 251–2 Walker, Florence 86 Walker, Julia 11 Walker, Mary (Mother Dorothea) 40, 41, 42, 137, 140, 142, 143, 152, 195, 274 Walling, Diane 280 Walsh, Agnes (Mother Superior General) 360, 373 Walsh, Clare 274 Walsh, Sally 332 Walshe, Henrietta Eleanor (Mother Fildema) 330

Ward, Angela 355 Ward, Elizabeth 384 Ward, Marmaduke 5 Ward, Mary 2, 3–7, 3, 5, 8, 10, 159, 160, 161, 221, 268, 271, 273, 290, 299, 318, 346 Ward, May 58, 98 Warry, Patricia 309 Waters, Mary Jo 380 Watson, Alfred 144, 145 Watson, Edward Gilbert 144, 145 Watson, Janet Mary 250–2, 254 Watson, Mary 231 Watson, Michael SJ 17, 49 Watt, Sybil 114 Wattle Day 122 Wayside Shrine 290 Wearne family 195 Wearne, Phyllis 187 Wearne, Yvonne 187, 203 Webb, Charles 144, 145, 180 Webb, Elizabeth 311 Webster, Margaret (Mother Benignus) 253, 274 Weichard, Joan 245 Weidenbach, Joan 188–9 Wells, Myra 259 Werne, Yvonne 238 Wertheim, Eleanor 320 Westhoven, Joseph 327 Westhoven, Mollie 327 Westmore, Ann 380 Westmore, Margaret 380 Westmore, Moira 364, 380 Westmoreland, Annie 111 Weston, Cecil 48 Whelan family 58 Whelan, Frances 353 Whelan, James 154 Whelan, Simon 327 White House (Albert Park) 54 White, Nell Margaret 290 Whitehead, Helen Elizabeth 299 Whitehead, Rosemary 177 Whiting, Janet 379 Wigg, Lola 176 Wilcox, Marita 354 Wilden, John 327 Wilkinson, Mary Ellen 350 Williams, Adrienne 354 Williams, Amy 81, 86 Williams, Olive Therese 237 Williams, Robert Henry 132 Williamson, James Cassius 118, 201 Willis, Jane 354 Willis, Margaret 363, 381 Willstead, Dale 338 Wilson, Bernadette 373 Wilson, Wendy 323, 331, 333

Wilton, Anne 240, 256, 273 Wilton, Mary 223 Wimpole, Elizabeth 309 Wimpole, Janet 220 Wimpole, Octavious Frederick 61 Winifred Wigmore Wing 411 Winship, Ruth (Mother Assumpta) 164, 228–30, 229, 286, 293–5, 297, 300, 301, 319, 319, 330, 352, 362–3, 366, 381, 382, 383, 384, 404, 411 Winship, Sarah 362–3, 365, 411 Winter, Mollie 99 Withers, Honorine Margaret Mabel 150 Wood, David 280 Wood, Leonie 386 Wood, Penelope 353 Woods, Johanna (Mother Canice) 360 Woods, Julian Tenison 20 Woods, Penelope 352 World Council of Churches 292 Wright, Clarissa Dickson 332–3 Wright, Darren 208 Wright, Davern 326 Wright, Helen 364 Wright, Mary (Mother Luke) 280, 317, 324, 338, 343–4, 352 Wright, Ursula 5 Wrigley, Florence Adelaide 81, 116 Wrigley, Leslie James 81, 85, 116 Wynne, Edward Agar 17 Xavier College 50 Young Catholic Students’ Movement 292–3, 295, 319 Young, Julia Hannah 81, 88, 111 Yourelle, Bridget (Mother Xavier) 38–40, 41–2 Zaetta, Christine 321 Zahara, Julian 412 Zahara, Michael 412 Zahara, Robert 412 Ziebach, Patricia (Mother Mark) 252, 266, 307, 335, 335 Zoete, Nicolette de 399, 407 Zsismann, Christine 319