ANZAC Day

Below is the reading from our ANZAC Day service held on Tuesday, commemorating the contributions of Old Girl Esme Tombleson (LAWSON Class of 1935) CBE, QSO to the war effort.

SCEGGS Old Girls served in many ways during both WWI and WWII. One such Old Girl was Esme Lawson.

Described as “a force to be reckoned with” and having a “tremendous memory and sharp intellect”,  Esme was born in Sydney in 1917, two years after the Gallipoli Campaign. A member of Barton House, Esme attended SCEGGS between 1930-1933. Whilst at SCEGGS, Esme was a member of the record-breaking junior relay team that competed at the Inter-School Athletics Sports Day of 1931, helping SCEGGS claim the junior championship at this event! A passionate practitioner of the performing arts, as a child Esme toured Australia performing Shakespeare recitations! After leaving SCEGGS, Esme went on to study ballet in London, becoming a professional dancer, as well as being involved in theatre and radio.

When WWII broke out, Esme joined the newly formed Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps. Esme was also involved with the New Zealand Auxiliary War Unit of NSW, which looked after the welfare of New Zealand forces in Sydney during the war.

As the war continued, contemporary editions of Lux wrote that Esme was doing “very special war work.” At a time when many men were fighting overseas, Esme was involved in ensuring that key industries at home had enough workers to sustain the war effort.

Esme described this “very special war work” in the March 1943 edition of Lux:  

First of all my official title is Manpower Executive Officer, for the Timber Control Office. This position means that I handle the manpower problems of the Timber Industry, working in conjunction with the National Service Officers-Releases from Military Service, Transfers within the Industry, Military exemptions, employment, and a heap of other things.

At the same time I am fortunate in being secretary to several Manpower Committees: State Committee of Advice, Timber Control Advisory Committee, Building Trades Advisory Committee, Pastrycooks’ Advisory Committee, Waterfront Watchmen’s Committee.

Seems a horrible mouthful, doesn’t it? Naturally the work is very interesting and I love every moment of it, but still for all that, I would prefer to be producing my ballet, “Grand Central,” on the Theatre Royal … Still, this war can’t last for ever, and when it is over —.  I can hardly wait for the day when I’ll be back again, working on a dream that practically materialised.

After the war ended, Esme continued to dedicate her life to service in her new home in New Zealand. After marrying New Zealander Tom Tombleson, she moved to a farm near Gisborne, New Zealand, where she taught children ballet, before becoming the first female to represent Gisborne as a Member of Parliament from 1960 to 1972. When elected in 1960, she was the only woman on the Government benches.

Alongside her political career, Esme co-founded New Zealand’s National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society in 1961 and was president of this society for seven years. Since 2002, the annual “Esme Tombleson Caregiver of the Year Award” has been awarded by the Society to recognise exceptional caregivers to people with MS and to honour Esme Tombleson for the many years of valuable work and commitment she made for people with MS.

When Esme died in 2010 at the age of 92, she was remembered by her friends for being “kindness itself.”

Today we remember Esme and her service.

Lest we forget.