Brian Maloney

The only Catholic technical school in South Australia was conducted by the St John the Baptist Brothers at George Street, Thebarton, from circa the mid 1930s to the end of 1942, at which time the order was disbanded, and the school was taken over by the Marist Brothers, who continued to operate it until it was closed in the late 1970s. It is now home to the Catholic Education Centre.

The school catered for both primary and secondary students, but the technical subjects were confined to the secondary classes, which did not go beyond the third year Intermediate level.

Some of the brothers, including the head master, lived in a house in George Street, close to the school, and the remainder lived at Boys Town, a school for disadvantaged and orphaned boys at Brooklyn Park. They travelled daily by tram to Thebarton, as did a few of the boys who were in their care.

I commenced my secondary education in 1942 at first year Intermediate after completing my primary education with the Christian Brothers at Ovingham – now closed. The technical workshops were housed in a purpose-built class room situated at the rear of the property. This building was divided into two workshops, one for woodwork, the other for metalwork, and were well equipped for the era with work benches and hand tools. A circular saw was the only power tool in woodworking, and was operated only by the brother in charge. And the metal shop contained a bench drill and a lathe as the only power tools.

One classroom in the main building was set up so that chemistry and physics experiments and demonstrations could be conducted. The class sizes in the secondary school were generally in the mid to high 20s which, to my recollection, was very satisfactory.

When the Marist Brothers took control of the school the general standard of teaching and discipline was improved. My principal class teacher was also the head master and I consider that he was the best teacher I ever encountered during my school years. His subjects were English, maths I and II, religious instruction and social studies.

His first task was to test us on the knowledge we had acquired in the previous year and found our grasp of mathematics was inadequate. He then took us through a revision of first year, commenced second year and introduced us to third year maths during that one year. This was achieved without setting any homework in these subjects, his philosophy being that if he could not teach what was required during school hours, then he was failing in his vocation as a teacher.

During the course of third year Intermediate we were prepared for our entry into the workforce. We were instructed in writing job applications, and how to conduct ourselves in an interview, which included role playing situations, which was quite an innovation for that time. The pass rate for that final year Intermediate was 100 per cent.

Instruction was given in the political system of Australia, without making any political statements, or expressing any personal opinions, the manner in which preferential voting works, and how our system of government differs from that of other countries.

The emphasis on sport was not as intense as in other schools but we did have football and cricket teams which produced some league footballers, and successful cricketers. On sports afternoons during the warmer weather, students who were not participating in sport were taken by tram to Henley Beach, to swim in the pool that was operating at the time. Consequently most of the students were proficient swimmers. In the colder weather students who did not wish to play sport were able to spend that time in the school workshops on various projects.

After gaining my Intermediate Certificate in 1944, I studied for a term at the Christian Brothers College in Wakefield Street, before leaving school to work as an apprentice electrician in the munitions factory at Finsbury. The end of World War II saw the work scale down and eventually cease.

I then commenced employment with General Motors Holden at Woodville as an apprentice motor body builder, and served in a number of areas within the company, and held a senior supervisory position before retiring after 40 years of continuous service in 1985.

The cost to my parents for my education at Thebarton was, to my recollection, very modest. But I am unable to be more specific, as it did not concern me too much in those days.

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