REFLECTING on her arrival in Coonamble as a teacher in 1968, former English teacher Kaye Colwell, believes that the transition from a central or intermediate school to a full high school in 1967 had a big impact on Coonamble.
“Most of the staff were quite young,” says Mrs Colwell. “The majority were in their first or second year of teaching.”
She also recalls that the only buildings at the high school were the original library, the older eastern section and the main double-storey block.
The primary classrooms were still on the site in what later became the science labs and special education spaces, while the infants department was housed in ‘new’ buildings with entry from Warrena Street.
The newer buildings were constructed with airconditioning in mind but none was installed and the infants department would close down during the inevitable summer heatwaves.
1968 was in the days of bonded teachers whereby the Department of Education trained the teachers and provided small scholarships on the proviso the teachers committed to work anywhere in the state for a period of five years.
It was also in the days before there was a stock of teacher housing so staff either rented flats or boarded in private homes.
“There was a real sense of community,” says Mrs Colwell “Staff were involved in local football and netball teams, night tennis and local dramatic productions.”
In what has become an unacknowledged method of growing the local economy and population, a significant number of young female teachers married locally and remained in the district after their compulsory five years’ of service.
“I boarded with Paula Burnheim (now O’Connor),” said Mrs Colwell. “Paula saw many of her boarders marry into the Coonamble community.”
In the 1960s these included Lucy Burke, Helen Crocker, Avis Strudwick, Carole White, Anne Nalder, Ruth McKenzie and Kaye herself.
Mrs O’Connor says her first boarder arrived by train from Sydney and was staying at a local pub but as it was her first time away from home she became terribly homesick.
“A couple of local women found her crying in the Monterey Cafe one afternoon,” said Mrs O’Connor.
“So they brought her to me and I made up a room, and that was the start of it.”
“She told me recently that that was when her life began,” she said.
“My house was near the silos on the corner of Bertram and Railway Streets,” she recalls.
“But I wasn’t the only one taking boarders in those days,” she said.
“Nora Kenny and her mother both took boarders, Edith Crago had a big house in King Street, and Miss Brown’s boarding house was in Tooloon Street.”
“It was a way to supplement your income and feed your children,” said Mrs O’Connor.
“And it was a great life for me and my kids.”
Marrying female teachers into the local community not only boosted the population.
It helped to retain a pool of trained teachers in the community.
“It was interesting to see the number of these teachers who married locals and resigned to raise their families before coming back to teaching,” said Mrs Colwell.
“Things had certainly changed by the time we returned, with new programs and new syllabuses, but it was great working with the local students, even when they realised we’d taught their parents or other family members.”
“I’m sure it was the same for primary teachers,” said Mrs Colwell.
Public education has contributed to the Coonamble community in various ways, many of which were not anticipated by the Department of Education.
