Why we needed to use the Correspondence School
I began Correspondence Lessons in February 1941. At that time my family lived on an isolated farm 32 miles south of Southern Cross, in the district of Dulyalbin.
The school was two and a half miles away, too far for me to get there by myself as a six year old, so Dad had to take me and pick me up each day. Mum did not drive, and was needed at home as my paternal grandmother who was blind and in her mid-eighties lived with us, and my sister Nancy was a four year old.
With an unreliable car and farm work constantly interrupted and a child (me) who became very upset if Dad was late picking me up, it became increasingly difficult to take me to school so the decision was made that I should have Correspondence Lessons. As I was half way through Infants, I was promoted to First Standard. I don’t remember much about the lessons at that time.
The following year, 1942, a family of three children with a horse and cart drove past our farm each day on their way to school so Mum made arrangements with them to take both my sister and I. This worked well for part of the year until the teacher, an older women who I think had come out of retirement that year due to the male teachers all being called up to fight, was transferred somewhere else and our little school of about 12-14 children closed until after the war was over. It was back to Correspondence Lessons for the next four years for most of us until the school re-opened at the beginning of 1946. For me this meant I had these lessons for half of Infants, half of First, all of Second and Third and half of Fourth Standards.
We were more fortunate than some as Mum had been a teacher before her marriage, so knew what was required of us and made sure things were done as they should be. Some of the mothers who had a basic education themselves found it very difficult trying to keep up with what their children were learning. I remember hearing one mother say she used to go through the lessons herself the night before so she could supervise her children the next day. When the school reopened it was to the cheers of our poor over-worked mothers, who in addition to supervising us had to do all the work required of farmers’ wives with none of the modern appliances of today; no electricity, telephone or running water in those days.
How we received our lessons
Our mail came via Moorine Rock, 17 miles away, on the mail truck each Wednesday, and again on Saturday when we would go to collect stores and other items sent from Perth on the Kalgoorlie Express train. The local grocery store was closed during the war years.
Each fortnight we were required to post our work to our teacher at the Correspondence School in Perth. We would be sent a booklet with the lessons for the next two weeks set out, some to be worked for our home supervisor, but the bulk to be submitted to our teacher for correction. We would receive a correction slip and were required to correct the errors listed and send them to the teacher with the next fortnight’s work.
From Third Standard onwards all work was written in ink which added to our difficulties, especially if like my sister you were left-handed. If spillages and blots occurred the work had to be redone before being submitted. Copy Book writing was always a challenge!
The lessons were very thorough, and because everything was written our writing skills improved together with our English. We all became proficient letter writers as each fortnight we were required to write a letter to our teacher with news of our lives. I guess this was the only way they had of getting to know us. This letter was also corrected, in red ink as were all our lessons and also required correction.
The first teacher I remember was Miss Rolf, and later Miss Merritt, followed by Miss Olive Seymour of Gould League of Bird Lovers fame.
Disadvantages
When life was busy on the farm, for example shearing time, our lessons fell behind. Another factor was visitors who came to stay, as did my aunt on an extended visit from Sydney. As the warm place in winter was the living room, she and my grandmother would sit there and chat for hours about the family while my sister and I did our lessons in the same room. Concentration was difficult to say the least.
The main disadvantage was lack of companionship and having no one to compare your progress with. I was lucky in having a sister only two years younger so we had each other for company. On the next farm three miles away were two boys about our age and they used to visit, but apart from them we saw little of other children and I knew few if any girls of my own age, even when our school reopened, a disadvantage when I eventually went to boarding school at the age of fourteen.
We had no opportunity to take part in sport or other activities. We did listen to the school broadcasts for our age group and belonged to the ABC radio’s “Argonauts Club” to which we used to contribute stories, poems and drawings, and which the presenter would comment on. I enjoyed reading and my parents gave me a library subscription for my birthday. Each fortnight I would choose two books from the list the library sent me, and these would be posted to me when the previous two were returned.
School reopening
In 1946 after the war our little school at Dulyalbin reopened with about a dozen students and remained so for the next three years. By then we had acquired and learnt to ride bicycles so that was our mode of transport. I spent the next three years there, by which time I had completed primary school and then went to boarding school for my high school years. The teacher we had for my last year of primary school was in his first year out of training college and young and enthusiastic. There were two of us in Sixth Standard (our final year of primary school) and his teaching gave me a very good grounding for high school, especially in English and Geography.
In those years a primary school needed eight students to remain open, but in 1949 there were fewer children and the school closed in early 1949, never to reopen. My sister once again was a Correspondence School student for her final year of primary school, before joining me at boarding school.
I think the standard of correspondence education was high and we adjusted to day school life without any hassles.
Post school life
After leaving school I returned to the farm. Mum was determined that I should have some way of earning my living and so I enrolled in correspondence classes for bookkeeping and shorthand, both of which I had done at school. As far as I remember the bookkeeping was through the Correspondence School with a Mr Turner as the teacher. I think the shorthand was from Perth Technical College but am not certain about that. I also did a dressmaking course by correspondence through Perth Technical College which stood me in good stead as I sewed just about everything me and my children wore when they were young.
I stayed on the farm for a few years, then after moving to the city attended Borough’s Business College. After completing a course there I worked as a comptometrist (using an older type of calculator which looked like a typewriter) in a couple of different firms until my marriage.
