Bonzer Words!: My State School Days
...These were the days when kids made their own fun. I remember riding my horse to school and then organising races against a friend's horse around the football ground next to the school. He had bragged that his was the faster of the two, I not letting on that mine was an ex race-horse, I took little wagers (3d & 6d) on the race and financially came out in front....
Jan Rodman recalls school days in rural Tasmania.
Jan writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please do visit www.bonzer.org.au
My first six years of school were at the North Motton State School. North Motton is a rich fertile farming district fifteen minutes driving time, inland from the seaside town of Ulverstone on the North West Coast of Tasmania.
It was a cute timber building (freshly painted white with blue trim and a red iron roof) with the headmaster's residence attached to the two classrooms situated off a lobby where the forty students hung their bags and coats. There were lots of beautiful old English trees—ideal for nature study and collection for displays.
The 'little room' housed grades 1 & 2 and the 'big room' grades 3,4,5 & 6. Each room had a large open wood fire. This was great for toasting sandwiches for lunch, especially in the winter months. It was a two-teacher school—usually the headmaster and his wife. The school had land adjacent to it and the parents of the children planted and grew crops (peas, potatoes and swedes) to raise money for educational equipment.
It was in the days of class monitors (usually called 'teacher's pets). One to give out the milk, one to take around the weekly iodine tablets, one to clean and rule the blackboard. And if you were really special you were sometimes chosen to write up the spelling and arithmetic and even allowed to use the compass to mark and number the mental arithmetic ring for the following day. There was another monitor to clean and fill the inkwells and to give out the blotting paper, one to bring in the wood, one to light the fire, and the most important monitors of all—the two who secured the job of digging the hole and emptying the lavatory cans. (I might add that no one rushed or quickly raised their hand for the latter job).
These were the days when kids made their own fun. I remember riding my horse to school and then organising races against a friend's horse around the football ground next to the school. He had bragged that his was the faster of the two, I not letting on that mine was an ex race-horse, I took little wagers (3d & 6d) on the race and financially came out in front.
Anzac Day Sports. What fun and celebration! Our school competing against the other small country schools in the area—Preston, Sprent, Forth and Riana.
Morning Assembly. Prayers and the national anthem. The checking of hands and finger nails: straight lines perfectly marshalled to arm's length.
Tuckshops. There were always lots to chose from—colourful sweets being my favourite.
Playground fun included a game of rounders (bat and ball), a swing on the tyre, hopscotch, chasings and a climb on the monkey bars. Then there was football and cricket for the older ones.
Teachers were able to give each pupil a great deal of individual attention. We seemed to learn so much in so little amount of time. Very seldom in the six years that I attended this little school were there ever any more than forty students in total.
Brothers and sisters sticking up for each other whenever there was a quarrel: never anything too serious, and in the absence of a sister or brother there was always someone who would come in to 'bat' for you when in trouble. This was Australian 'mateship' at a very early age.
Having become a teacher myself in later years (something I'd always wanted to do) I cherished the years I'd been a 'Teacher's Pet' and learned to write so well on a blackboard.
© Jan Rodman
