Thinking Allowed

‘We had one air-raid scare in the term. Some of the new girls tried our shelter for the first time. We doubt if they were favourably impressed.’- Lux Magazine, August, 1943

The SCEGGS girls of 1943 may not have been impressed, but 2023 Year 10 History students most certainly were, as they excitedly and eagerly volunteered to be the first ones to venture down into the cellar of Barham House, which once served as the SCEGGS bomb shelter during World War II.

The SCEGGS girls of 1943 would surely have been intrigued to hear the excited chatter and exclamations of Year 10 descending the narrow steps to the cellar, when they, 80 years earlier, must have felt fear and trepidation around those same steps.

The students explored, as one student remarked “both intrigued and confronted”, moving from room to room, accumulating sandstone on their navy uniforms, unaware of, as another student commented “the deep history it held”. Their excitement simmered as they gathered in the largest room of the cellar and then began, naturally, doing the work of an effective historian: asking questions.

“Would all the students fit down here?”, “what are we underneath?”, “how would this have protected students in a raid?”, “would we ever use it again?”. And just like that, the excited history students transformed into historians, curiously analysing the past, and as they surveyed the room, and touched the walls and ceiling, they became archaeologists, encountering and investigating the physical remains of our school’s history.

As part of the Stage 5 History curriculum, Year 10 History have been investigating the lives of Australians and the impact of World War II on Australia.  With this task, our students were given the challenge to investigate the experiences and impact of war from a SCEGGS perspective. They immersed themselves in the unique opportunity to explore this important time of our history through the eyes of SCEGGS Old Girls with the help of our wonderful archivist Prue Heath, who expertly and intricately collated the records of lives of many SCEGGS Old Girls during World War II. Fascinated by the many experiences, Ms Heath remarked “we often think history happens elsewhere, but the Archives and the history of SCEGGS reminds us we are all affected by world events”.

Students pored over the archival evidence, including copies of Lux articles, memoirs, newspaper columns, records from the National Library of Australia and the National Archives of Australia and other in-depth resources collected by Ms Heath. Many students even carefully handled and read from original copies of Lux from the 1940s!

Through their work as historians, Year 10 learned of the lives of everyday SCEGGS Old Girls who were transformed by the impact of a world war. There were those who contributed to the protection of Australia and its people, including Violet (Vivi) Bignold OBE (1932) who worked as a nurse with the Australian General Hospital and found herself stationed all around the world contributing her medical expertise in Greece, Crete, Eritrea, New Guinea and aboard the hospital ship Manunda. They also learned about Esme Tombleson CBE (LAWSON, 1935) who joined the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps, was appointed the Manpower Executive Officer for the Timber Control Office, and who later became Gisborne’s (NZ) first female MP.

There were those who pushed boundaries as women in the military such as Nell McKenzie (PALFREYMAN, 1921) who, as a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), was on duty the night of May 31, 1942 when Japanese midget submarines came into Sydney Harbour not too far from her alma mater where she was one of the first eight students to be appointed a SCEGGS Prefect. Nell also received experience flying aircraft, which was an unusual accomplishment for a woman at the time, and went on to become one of the first three WAAF’s to work in operations in the fleet air arm of the British Royal Navy in the Pacific.

There were those who experienced extreme hardship yet showed tremendous resilience such as Pamela De Neumann (THANE, 1939) who trained in the St John Ambulance Brigade and was a nurse alongside her mother in the Women’s Medical Auxiliary Service.  At the age of 19, she was taken as a prisoner of war with her mother, by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore and endured three and a half years in a Sumatran prison camp, resulting in her nursing and eventually burying her mother who died from the horrible conditions.

Our students, of course, learned of the woman who features every day in the SCEGGS community in the eponymous building highlighting her amazing accomplishments; Dr Joan Freeman (1934/35). Joan was the fourth woman to graduate in Physics from Sydney University, and during the war helped develop important radar technology after she joined the Sydney Radio Physics Laboratory of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The Year 10 historians curiously analysed the sources and spoke to their peers, remarking on the amazing narratives they were extracting from their research such as, “it came as a surprise to me just how many SCEGGS Old Girls were involved in WWII through different acts of service”.

This educational experience also highlights the meaningful opportunities we have as educators to teach our curriculum. With empathy and significance being core principles of quality teaching, utilising the history of the school which the students attend every day assists our students in understanding the true meaning of living history and, as Mr Gallagher stated “helping students feel the connectedness to their school and to those who have come before them and understanding the contributions SCEGGS students make to society beyond their school experience”. 

These stories which come to life from the Archives not only tell us about the unique experiences of Old Girls during a tumultuous time of our history but also tells us something magnificent about a SCEGGS education. Beyond the walls of Barham House, beyond (not just behind!) the Green Gate, and beyond the steps taken onto Forbes Street at the end of the last leaving exam, our students are equipped with resilience, determination and passion to be independent, goal oriented and meaningful contributors to society.

We must continue to learn from and educate through the layers of history upon which SCEGGS stands. From the teachings of culture and connection to land of the Gadigal People, from the visions and foundations of a school built to foster an independent girl’s education, and from the experiences of the thousands of people who were and continue to be a part of the SCEGGS community, there is an important lesson: each day we come together upon land marked by the strength, wisdom and determination of thousands of individuals, and the responsibility to continue and contribute to the shining path started by the footsteps of those before us is one no SCEGGS girl forgets.

Marie Salakas
History Teacher