by Ann Howard
Bob Taylor’s cousins and their mother after they had cleaned out Gran’s fowl yard
Bruce H Crawford aged 18 months
Joyce Taylor ready for school
Eric Pfeiffer (driving) and Max Craymer in the front seat with children
Evacuee children at Tahmoor Holiday Home.
McCattie Park Bathurst, Betty and Lola Wooley
Lola, Betty and Lesley (kneeling) Wooley at Monument to Blaxland and Wentworth
Chapter 9
Empty Desks
My sister never forgave my mother for sending her away …
She reckoned mum just wanted to go to work and have us looked after. My sister was l4 at the time and only spent one year there.
– Jacqueline Parker
Ann Carolan:
Japan bombed Pearl Harbour and Australia came into the War 7 December, 1941. School holidays came soon afterwards, while the Japanese moved rapidly south. By the time school resumed (early February, 1942), many Sydney boarding schools had decided to move their children away from potential danger. My school was St. Vincent’s College at Potts Point. The boarders spent 1942 at a guest house in Katoomba. The rest of the children (me included) remained at Potts Point.
The boarding house they used was ‘Wagunyah’. Most city boarding schools did the same, so you would be talking of thousands of school children. Lots of families chose to move away from harbourside suburbs, like Vaucluse, (which was not a ‘posh’ area then). I can think of quite a few people who did so, particularly in Potts Point. We all felt safer as the Americans began to arrive during 1942. The whole area was khaki. England wasn’t going to protect us from a Japanese invasion.
For the next four years that whole area was full of American servicemen - thankfully. The submarine attack was just down the street. My parents didn’t tell me to stay home from school. I travelled from Kogarah to Potts Point as usual, and nothing was spoken of that day about the noise and shelling of the previous night.
My old school friends and I often remark on the change in the times. Children nowadays are sheltered so much. They can’t even cross a street. Cars are told to dodge them instead of the reverse!
I know that the Rose Bay Convent girls moved to Bundanoon, but I have no memory of where all the other boarding schools went.
Someone should really write about those days in Sydney - all the little things. How many people now realise Sydney was in danger of small landings from the huge number of enemy subs off the coast. They were sinking the ships going up to New Guinea. At school we watched the troop ships leaving Woolloomooloo. There was the ‘brown out’, food and petrol rationing, and my grandfather’s little fishing boat at Burraneer Bay was ‘requisitioned’ by the Government. Imagine Sydney with no little boats! Anyway, no-one complained with all the young men away fighting, being killed or taken prisoner.
Pupils were evacuated from schools all over Australia, to ensure their safety, to reassure anxious parents and to vacate buildings for the military and hospitals for civilian casualties. Even after the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, the Australian government continued to warn an invasion was possible until mid-1943. Schools had to make disruptive and expensive decisions in an area of uncertainty. How long would war in the Pacific last? Would there be war on Australian soil?
Dr Wade was Headmistress at MLC from 1941-1959. Part of her reminiscences read:
The war, of course, brought with it constant anxiety. The school’s administrators had to be prepared for the possible need for evacuation to the country and to contend with the ever-present danger of bombing and even the threat of invasion. Life during the first two years of the decade at least was lived very much in a state of constant alert. While many of the girls, not appreciating the full gravity of the situation, may well have enjoyed the drama and excitement of air raid alerts and trench drill, those responsible for the well-being of the school and its students must have found the experience exhausting and harrowing.
As the Japanese advance gained momentum and as attack from the air and even invasion became more likely, extraordinary measures had to be taken for pupils’ protection and contingency plans made. Apart from the physical dangers there was anxiety that the school’s buildings would be taken over for military use or that evacuation to the country would be necessary. The attitude of parents was another source of worry and the fluctuating enrolments reflected parental fears for the safety of their daughters’.
The MLC School Council decided to remain in Burwood but: ‘In the meantime protective measures had been taken. The halls of the Tower Wing had been converted into air raid shelters, and bags and sand to fill them had been purchased as a protection against incendiary bombs. Sandbags and buckets of sand littered almost every corridor and doorway. By March 1942 air raid trenches had appeared in the field - they were provided by the Burwood Municipal Council - and just over a month later these had been boarded, floored and provided with draining. MLC was prepared for the worst. Air raid drill became a regular feature of school life and the pupils quickly became accustomed to the routine. Six long peals of the school bell and the whole school would spring into action:
* * *
The air raid bell rings. We very quickly form a double line in our classroom and wait for our form mistress. As soon as we are allowed to go, we hurry to our shelter - a table in the boarders’ dining room. Chairs are quickly pulled out and we crawl under. We put on our ear pads, a handkerchief or rubber in our mouth, and sit there till the bell rings again telling us we may return to our classroom.
* * *
Some schools in danger zones evacuated their boarders, whilst the day pupils remained but had staggered hours of school attendance as a safety measure. Some schools rented properties, to relocate pupils but some had to buy new premises, which had to be altered. Some bought large old houses and retained them after the war: Scots College, for instance, moved to Bathurst and kept the residence.
Another difficulty was a wartime shortage of teachers. By 1943, over 100 small schools in NSW were closed for lack of teachers. The assistant general secretary of the Teachers’ Federation, Mr Kennett said that at the outbreak of war, the teaching service was under-staffed according to accepted educational standards, and now it was 1,000 short of the 1939 figures. There were about 900 vacancies in schools which were at present staffed, and in some cases teachers had classes of more than 50 or 60 pupils. The British Education Act, (which was followed at that time in Australia), recommended a maximum of 30 pupils in secondary classes. The NSW Federation requested the release of 50 per cent of the teachers in the Forces, to relieve the alarming shortage in schools. It also asked for the repeal of the Married Women (Lecturers and Teachers) Act, which automatically dismissed women teachers on their marriage, so that women will be able to continue in permanent service. Over 1,500 teachers and officers of the NSW Department of Education enlisted for active service in World War II, leaving their protected occupation to fight and die with distinction in both world wars. In Victoria, in WWII, one in five teachers did not return.
In 1939, at the start of WWII, all unmarried men aged 21 were called up for three months’ militia training. They could serve only in Australia or its territories. Conscription was introduced in mid-1942, when all men 18 - 35, and single men aged 35 - 45, joined the Citizens Military Forces (CMF). Teachers not only volunteered for the RAAF, or were conscripted, but were taken for their individual skills, in communications, intelligence, languages and so forth. Older teachers then had a heavier teaching load.
Some schools chose to stay as this letter to the Sydney Morning Herald shows:
* * *
Friday January 30, 1942
Sir, In order to remove any misunderstanding which has arisen in the minds of some parents will you allow me to supplement my remarks published in the Herald this morning on the subject of evacuation of pupils in certain Church of England schools in or near Sydney? Though the premises recently acquired in the country districts referr
ed to will help to solve the problem in the event of evacuation, becoming necessary, the intention is for work to begin at the Sydney schools and The King’s School in the normal way on the dates advertised. There is no intention of immediate evacuation
S M Johnstone, Registrar. Sydney Diocesan Registry.
* * *
Stan Gratte’s high school at Geraldton was earmarked for an emergency hospital:
One room contained a lot of stretchers. Another room contained many drums of Chloride of Lime with which to disinfect the expected bodies. The entrance was sandbagged.
Some schools were free to stay, go, rent or buy. If they were in a vulnerable position, and thought that at any tick of the clock bombs could be raining down, they felt very responsible. Some schools had to obey the authorities. The outbreak of war in the Pacific led to the release of Regulation 35A of the National Security (General) Regulations. This Regulation allowed the Queensland authorities special powers to evacuate school children from their buildings and turn the schools over to the military.
With American and Australian service personnel pouring into Queensland, The Australian Army Hirings Service had the role of locating parks, racecourses and other accommodation to house growing numbers of servicemen. Office accommodation was also in urgent demand for military administration. This information was kept out of the Press.
Lieutenant Melloy was responsible for a smooth transition of property from private ownership to military occupation, with adequate compensation. There was quickly a massive backlog of 700 claims for compensation from some very unhappy local property owners.
One man returned to his Queensland home at the end of the war to find the military had poured concrete into the ground floor of his house over carpets and levelled it. He walked outside and shot himself.
General Blamey’s Advanced Land Headquarters were housed at the University of Queensland at St. Lucia. The US 12th Station Hospital arrived in Townsville from Brisbane in March 1942 and requisitioned a street full of 30 houses in Chapman Street at Mysterton Estate for their hospital. Captain Melloy attended a protest meeting of residents. He said Australia was at war and that if the Australian people impeded the Allied Forces in defending our shores and did not cooperate, they would soon be accommodating the enemy. With the arrival of the Americans in Brisbane Captain Melloy was to spend much time liaising with the American Hirings Officer, Major James R Wright, travelling many thousands of miles across North Queensland looking at properties and buildings.
The staff and students of Church of England Boy’s School, Toowoomba, were moved eastwards to St. Hilda’s School at Southport in April 1942, and their building used as Headquarters for the 1st Australian Army under command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Lavarack. Some other schools acquired in Townsville were St Anne’s Church of England Girl’s School, St Patrick’s (Catholic) College and Townsville Grammar School. Some other schools acquired in Townsville were St Anne’s Church of England Girls’ School, St Patrick’s (Catholic) College and Townsville Grammar School.
The Army Hirings Section took an inventory of the school that they were taking over and carried out an assessment of the school’s condition prior to occupation. The School Principal countersigned these documents.
In January 1943 Professor Wright and Dr Hogbin investigated the level of morale amongst the civilian population in Cairns and Townsville, where allied military forces had occupied 177 dwellings. There 90,000 military personnel in Townsville where the civilian population at that time was about 28,000.
In Cairns the Department of Public Instruction decided that schools should remain closed, as the Japanese had made such rapid progress. Many of the children were evacuated.
Tom Hooper:
I wasn’t at school but my brothers and sisters were. We were evacuated to Brisbane. My dad joined up aged 31, I don’t know why; he had a reasonable sort of a job.
Cairns Central State School and High School were used for evacuees and missionaries. Cairns North, Parramatta and St Augustine’s College were among schools used for personnel or evacuees from New Guinea.
Premier Forgan Smith ordered the immediate closure of coastal schools from Thursday Island to Coolangatta under the Protection of Persons and Property Order 8A.
Over the Christmas vacation many NSW parents arranged to evacuate their children from danger zones. Some parents took the initiative and sent their children to boarding schools. Mary O’Byrne was born after the war but knows from family anecdotes that Monica, her mother and her aunt Bernadette and later their younger sister were sent from their home in Dee Why to boarding school at Parramatta, out of harm’s way.
Boarding Schools in what were seen as safe areas were inundated with requests from parents. New England Girls’ High School had an increase of more than 40, West Armidale Public enrolment was doubled and Armidale High School had a record enrolment. The Demonstration school had a considerable increase, with children from Sydney and one from London. De La Salle College had 180 boarders - a full school, many from Sydney, Newcastle and the coast. Sixteen children boarding at Cotswold were enrolled at Ben Venue, as well as 25 other evacuee children. Armidale PLC had more than double the enrolments from the previous year, with 205 boarders. St Ursula’s had a record 90 boarders. At St John’s Hostel, Canon Dickens offered part of his home for additional boys. The Church of England Memorial Hostel was full and refusing further applications.
In January 1942, the Armidale branch of National Emergency Services had prepared a complete survey of available housing, with forms asking householders if they preferred adults or children, and which religious denomination. By February 1942, in Armidale, boarding schools and hostels were forced to refuse further applications. Australian actress Queenie Ashton of long-running radio serial Blue Hills fame was one of those evacuee mothers arriving with their children on whistling steam trains and by car.
* * *
Friday, 27 March, 1942 the Armidale Express:
The task of providing accommodation in Armidale for the large number of people, mostly mothers and their children desiring to leave the danger zones in the cities is a difficult one, and the Voluntary Evacuation Committee trying to grapple with the problems urgently needs the willing and active support of all citizens, particularly of those who could take into their homes a mother and child or a mother and two children. Many applications have been received by the Hon, Secretary Archdeacon Forster and it has been possible to satisfactorily place a number of people applying, but the demand for rooms is greatly in excess of the supply offered so far.
* * *
Melbourne Grammar School buildings were commandeered by Australian and American forces with some students dispatched to country guest houses.
The students of SCEGGS, Darlinghurst enthusiastically participated in wartime support work knitting army socks and balaclavas, until they evacuated to Leura, 57 girls at the Chateau Napier guesthouse, declared the food so bad that the students went on strike.
Patricia Berry:
I was only 12 when war broke out. My father was a busy doctor, my mother a nurse. My older sister Judy was studying medicine … I had three brothers in the war. One was killed in Guinea, when the Beaufort plane he was in blew up because of some dodgy explosives. I was at SCEGGS. When we were evacuated to Leura for about a year. My parents let me go because they had very busy professional lives and they were concerned for my safety. My mother knew two maiden ladies in Leura, and I went to stay with them. When it got cold, they made a tiny fire from sticks and we all crouched over it. I was aware that the Japanese might invade. I was going to meet my mother at Angus and Robertson one day and one of my teachers met me on the way and told me to get off the street and go home because a Japanese reconnaissance plane had flown over.
Sydney Church of England Grammar School, North Sydney bought a house at Mount Victoria for prep to fourth form. Secondary and Prep students at Scots College, Bellevue Hill, would be transferred to Albury Grammar School until a suitable property wa
s acquired. Newington College made standby arrangements with the Methodist College at Orange. Cranbrook School, Bellevue Hill, opened an additional house at Wentworth Falls. Parents had the option of keeping them at the parent school, or sending them to the Falls. Loreto Convent transferred its boarders to Springwood.
By 1942, newspapers were reporting Blue Mountains Schools full of evacuees. The boarders of St Vincent’s at Potts Point settled down in Wahgunyah guesthouse, Katoo, 4 kms from the Lithgow munitions factory. The only route back to Sydney was over the Nepean Bridge, so not the most suitable place to retreat to! Another guesthouse, Villers Bret housed the novices. The Katoomba community commented on the plaits which were compulsory in the 1940s. The students made friends, went bushwalking and gave little concerts for the community.
The Royal Far West Children’s Home, Drummond House at Manly had 178 country children aged 0–12 years with medical problems. They were relocated to Springwood during 1942 and 1943 and their premises occupied by the Australian Women’s Army Service.
Goulburn was another very popular spot. Goulburn Evening Post, 4 February 1942: ‘Although the majority of children came from Sydney and suburbs, and Wollongong, several children from Queensland, New Guinea and even Hong Kong have enrolled at this centre. Many children have moved to country areas such as Goulburn to live with relatives etc., but some from the coastal areas have fathers training with the Light Horse Regiment and they have temporarily settled here.’
Margaret Taylor, who lived in a house on forty acres across the road from Bishopthorpe remembers the St Gabriel girls walking to school in a long line of two, hand in hand, known as a ‘crocodile’, over a mile to have lessons at the PLC, as she rode by them on her bike, waving. Margaret attended the Presbyterian Ladies College as a day pupil, but it was primarily a boarding school drawing pupils from the Riverina to the Snowy Mountains. She writes: