Edwin George Croft

I was born on 29 March 1924. My primary education was at Kilkenny Public School where at the end of grade 7 I sat for the Qualifying Certificate in 1936, achieving a total of 635 out of 700. To continue my education I had the choice of going to Croydon Central School which I attended for one afternoon per week during grade 7 to do sheetmetal work and which would have been a good choice if I had contemplated work as a tradesman in my future employment or Thebarton Technical School which I believe was attended by students with similar aspirations or Woodville High School or Adelaide High School which I believe were considered to be somewhat higher grade schools compared with a technical school or somewhere else. Attending a college was not feasible for me because of the cost. At the time I believe Adelaide Technical High School had the reputation of being a high grade school in that it enrolled students selected on the basis of their marks in the Qualifying Certificate Examinations and my application to attend there was accepted.

Adelaide Technical High School, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Adelaide Tech,’ was situated on the third floor of the School of Mines Building on the corner of North Terrace and Frome Road together with the use of other rooms on lower floors. The courses offered at the Adelaide Tech were either technical or commercial. I do not know how I came to apply for enrolment in the commercial course except to believe that it was a choice made by my parents.

The classes in first year were Tech A and Tech B (all boys), Commercial A (about 11 girls and 25 boys) and Commercial B (all girls); in second (Intermediate) year Tech A and Tech B and Commercial A and Commercial B with the same composition as above; in third (Leaving) year Tech A and Tech B (all boys) and one Commercial class (girls and boys). I commenced in first year Commercial A and remained there for Intermediate and then the Leaving. The subjects for first and second year were English, arithmetic, algebra, book-keeping, geography, shorthand and typing. For third year they were English, arithmetic, book-keeping, geography, economic history and shorthand.

While attending the Adelaide Tech I lived at 20 Willsmore Street, York (now part of Beverley). I had a twelve minute walk to West Croydon railway station to catch the train to Adelaide and then walked along North Terrace to the school. School activity probably commenced at 8.45. I cannot recall if we had school assembly each day in Brookman Hall or whether it was only on Monday morning first thing to hear sporting results and anything else of interest. It was at this meeting I can recall being taught the school war cry – by the head prefect of that year – his name could have been Darcy Coleman.

‘Warrigarooma! Warrigarooma! Warrigarooma! Roo!

Techs we are, Techs we are!

Hurrah for the gold and blue!

In Footy, Cricket and Tennis

we play the game right through!

Tech School, Adelaide!

Hurrah for the gold and blue!’

Other uses for Brookman Hall were for examinations, end of the year speech days and for musical appreciation when the whole school met for singing. Singing commenced in 1939, led by Mr Chinner¹⁹ who was a well-known conductor at that time.

Following assembly we went to our designated class rooms. During the first two years this would be the same room for all lessons except for specialised rooms – in our case the typing room on the ground floor. However in the Leaving year my class migrated to any room which was vacant because we did not have a home room, except that we used ‘The Tower’, reached by some steep wooden steps outside the headmaster’s office, for some detention periods.

Each student had his or her locker for books, the lockers being situated in the class room except for Leaving Commercial students whose lockers were situated in the gallery of Brookman Hall. Before each period students were expected to have collected the books necessary for approaching lessons. I believe the lesson periods were 45 minutes. I cannot recall whether we had six or eight lesson periods per day. The lessons were divided by morning and afternoon recess with a break of about 15 minutes and lunch with an hour break when we walked down Frome Road eating our lunch to the oval (now occupied I think by medical and dental buildings) where we played football, cricket or tennis. Lesson periods finished at about 3.30 or 3.45 after which a further period of detention occurred during which a teacher would go over exam questions and give further instructions and conduct what I believe are now referred to as tutorials. The length of detention would depend upon the exam results in that subject for the previous week but would conclude, in any event, by no later than 4.15. After the Friday afternoon recess break was a sports period.

The first ‘culture shock’ for a new student was ‘The Diary’ where details of homework to be done each day (usually four subjects per night) were entered. I cannot recall if teachers made a comment in the diary but it had to be signed by a parent each week.

The headmaster was Mr Sidney Moyle – known to all students as ‘The Boss’. He was quite a short man but must have had a powerful personality. Whether it was due to the good influence of the headmaster or the quality of the students or some other factor, the atmosphere in the school was rather peaceful. As far as I am aware there was never any physical punishment or the need for it. There were no disciplinary problems – this was at a time when students were expected to maintain silence unless invited to speak. There was no bullying, no slackness with homework – I do not know what would have happened if there had been – and I believe all students did the best they could.

The only matter which caused something of a furore was when it was brought to the attention of The Boss that quite a number of the spear heads of the cast iron fence, surrounding the oval on Frome Road, had been knocked off. He called the whole school together in Brookman Hall and asked the perpetrators, if they attended the school, to come forward. No one did, so I don’t know if the damage was done by one of us.

I can’t help feeling that, in some respects, the teaching staff was ahead of its time. For example, at the time swearing was generally not tolerated but there was a boy in a Tech class in the same year as myself who swore constantly. I don’t know how he expressed himself in class but outside of classes he constantly used the word ‘bloody’ (a fairly innocuous word but regarded as one of the nasty swear words). On one occasion I can recall him speaking thus in the hearing of The Boss. I and each other person around me expected the sky to fall in but The Boss just walked away. I think I concluded that he might have already counselled this boy and decided that further action was fruitless.

Of the school events, I recall that each year the school had a picnic. We did lessons until about noon and then went somewhere, such as National Park, Belair. The only time I can recall the picnic day was in the Leaving year when the weather was so bad that the outing was cancelled but we had the afternoon off. I, together with some others in the class, went into Rundle Street and saw the film Gungha Dhin.

During my high school time one of the bad bush fires occurred in the Adelaide hills. The Exhibition building and the land surrounding it was used as a repository for gifts to aid the people who had lost property. I am not certain when Bonython Hall²⁰ was built but I believe it was during my time at the Adelaide Tech. During recess time we went downstairs into the open air and I have some recollection of looking over a stone wall and seeing Bonython Hall being finished and the things for bush fire relief at the Exhibition Building.

The Adelaide Tech had three end of term examinations each year. This was not withstanding that at the end of the second year we did the PEB Intermediate exam and at the end of the third year we did the Leaving exam. So we had prepared ourselves for two end of the year examinations, one after the other; first the school and then the PEB exam. Reflecting on this, I believe this gave us an advantage in the PEB exam over the schools which did not do this in that we had a double lot of final study and, after the school exam, there were tutorials on all of the exam papers so that any question repeated in the PEB exam – an event which occasionally did happen – could expect to be well answered.

The school competed with other schools in various sports. These included cricket, tennis, football, baseball, girls’ basketball and rifle shooting. The only one which was carried on with any distinction as far as I can recall after school days was ATHOS – in girls’ basketball.

School in my day was different in many respects from what I believe it is like today. There were no rebels. The atmosphere was comparatively calm and peaceful in that there was no fighting or bullying. In class the teaching was by teachers giving instructions and dictating notes with little in the way of self learning by talking, discussing or reading (except for set text books). There was no library at my high school. Most of us were pretty immature sexually with no formal sex education of any kind.

At some time after the war the Adelaide Tech moved to Glenunga. I expect the School of Mines needed the room the school occupied. After some years the school’s name was changed to Glenunga. Accordingly Glenunga is the successor of Adelaide Tech and has the old school records there and has exhibited them on at least two Adelaide Tech anniversaries. Some years ago I took whatever Adelaide Tech memorabilia I had to the Glenunga High School Library including my report card, three school magazines, end of the year certificates and a reference from The Boss.

Upon passing the Leaving Commercial Examination I was yet to reach 16 years of age. This was still at a time of high unemployment following the Depression, with few job vacancies. I applied for employment with banks, insurance companies and the State Public Service. I was sent for an interview by the State Public Service to the Adelaide Local Court where I was given a shorthand test. This must have been satisfactory as I commenced working there on March 26th 1940 – three days before my sixteenth birthday at a salary of 25/- ($2.50) a week.

At the court I did general clerical work and was soon introduced to the reporting side so that the skills of shorthand and typing gained at the Tech were obviously responsible for me getting a job. While at the court it was suggested I study law. In order to matriculate in this faculty I had to pass Leaving Latin which I did, being instructed by a private tutor. Thereafter I passed two law subjects a year, except during the three years that I was a Naval rating between January 1943 and April 1946. After the war I was classified Clerk and Reporter at the Court. I graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1954. Following this I was promoted to the Public Trustee Department and worked there in various positions qualifying as an Associate of the Australian Society of Accountants, undoubtedly assisted by my Tech bookkeeping studies. In 1966 I was promoted to the Supreme Court as Chief Clerk and in 1968 was promoted back to the Public Trustee Department as Public Trustee.

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