Well, it was a busy two months spent doing the Introduction to Family
History course (UTAS) over the Christmas holidays, but I got to learn a lot
about the experiences of teachers in early NSW (1881 - 1933). For our
third assessment task we were asked to write a research report. I decided
to research my 2nd great grandmother's teaching career.
Catherine is one of my favourite ancestors. She is the only teacher among my direct
ancestors &, being a teacher myself, this makes me identify strongly with
her. Some drop of teaching blood must
have been passed on through Catherine to me!
She is also the daughter of an Irish Famine Orphan who came to Australia
as part of the Earl Grey scheme. She
also seems to have been very close to her children; several of her children
lived with her throughout their lives, or in the second house she owned next
door to her own, & after the sudden death
of her son (my great grandfather), his widow & young son (my grandfather)
came to live with Catherine.
I had three main aims:
- In which areas & schools
did Catherine teach?
- During what time period did
she teach?
- What was her life as a
teacher like?
I was able to discover that Catherine Curran (nee Whitelock) started her
career in 1881 at the age of 14 ¾, when she began her training as a pupil
teacher. She also attended Hurlestone
Training School, a residential training school for women, from 1886 - 1887. She was promoted to, or ‘instructed to act’
as, Mistress of Greta Infants in 1890. She
taught at Greta Infants from 1890 – 1892, Milltown Infants (which was later renamed
South Bathurst) from 1892 – 1908, and South Goulburn Infants from 1908 – 1920. The majority of her career was spent teaching
in the Bathurst area before she was appointed to Arncliffe West Infants in 1920.
Catherine retired from teaching in 1931,
the day before her 65th birthday.
Looking through the documents in school files at State Records NSW
showed me what her life was like as a teacher / mistress of Infants. There was such a range of documents that she
filled out, from recommending whether a teacher in her Infants department
should be granted sick leave to liaising with the Department of Education about
the need for more furniture or repairs to the school.
I researched the history of education in NSW & learnt about how
teachers were trained, teacher-pupil ratios & class sizes, teacher
examinations, & the promotion system & school inspections.
I was able to access digital copies of the education curriculum from
1905 – 1928, which gave me an idea of the curriculum Catherine would have
taught.
The following blog posts / websites helped with my research:
- Cass, Pauleen. "Beyond the Internet Week 6: School Administration Records." Family History Across the Seas. Blog post, https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/beyond-the-internet-week-6-school-administration-records/ Accessed 10 January 2015.
- Hicks, Shauna. "Week 26 - School Records in 52 Weeks of Genealogical Research in 2015", Shauna Hicks History Enterprises, Family & History. Blog post, http://www.shaunahicks.com.au/week-26-school-records-in-52-weeks-of-genealogical-research-in-2015/ Accessed 10 January 2015.
- McCreadie, Margaret. "The Evolution of Education in Australia", IFHAA Australian Schools. Blog post, http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/ifhaa/schools/evelutio.htm/ Accessed 30 January 2015
- Riley, Carole. "Researching Schools in NSW," Genealogy in New South Wales Blog. Blog post, http://heritagegenealogy.com.au/blog/researching-schools-in-nsw/ Accessed 10 January 2015.
I feel like I have gotten to know Catherine so well through this
research report. As a bonus, I have
copies of multiple documents that she hand-wrote as well as her signature.
I also now know that she was known as Kate, not Catherine.
