Jean Andrews, interviewed by Erica Jolly

When I came into Teachers College on Kintore Avenue, there were about 500 of us in the college. I became a certificated primary school teacher. I wanted to be a secondary school teacher but I missed passing Latin I. One day I plucked up courage to go and ask Prof Fitzherbert why I’d failed when I had already passed Leaving Honours Latin, which was considered more difficult that Latin I, but he was not in his office and that was the end of that. I didn’t pluck up courage again so I had to go on to be a primary school teacher.

My first appointment in 1932 was in the mighty little city of Port Wakefield for a couple of years. That was the time when there were far too many teachers and we were sent out to little schools. I was appointed to Strathneath. There had been no school there before. I had to open it but I was only there a couple of months when I was transferred to Orroroo Higher Primary. I spent five years at Orroroo before being sent down in 1939 to Nailsworth Girls Central School. I had loved being in the country because I got to know everyone and there was lots of sport and social life.

When I came down to Nailsworth I was given charge of the Intermediate class in 1940. The Central Schools in those days were under the control of the headmaster of the primary school. We had a headmistress, Miss Jessie Cooper, and Mr Bromley was the head of the primary school and in charge of the girls’ school as well. I stayed at Nailsworth for several years, the early years of the war, by which time the central schools had become junior technical schools.

The war had really no effect on us except of course most of the men had enlisted and the department had to, because of the shortage of men, move some of the people from the secondary department back into the primary schools. As I was one of the last to be taken on, I was one of the first to go. I was sent to Salisbury Primary School and travelled there from Fullarton by train every day for a year.

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