Dorothy Deppeler (Bishop) YHS 1955 - Dot & Ian both attended the "Back To" at Woorabinda last March and met people they hadn't seen for over 40 years. Dot wrote, "it's amazing how little some people have changed!! Beth Dooley (nee Crook) was just as I remembered her. She had quite a "historic" photo of her, me and Peggy Raggatt in our teens! Were we really so slim?
They really were good times at High School; travelling from Morwell to Yallourn on the old semitrailer; kids hanging out of its doors as it struggled up the hill to the railway line. Don't think it would pass "Safety Practices" these days.
I remember Grace Catchpole having us for cooking - her wondering how little bits of dough were to be seen sticking to the ceiling. We were pretty good shots!!
Rehearsing for the opera was the highlight of the year and great fun making costumes etc. In our later years, we realised what a talented bunch of teachers we had and how much time they put into school activities - Val Pyers, Mr Worrall etc. The feeling of power we had when we were Prefects; making sure caps/berets were worn outside the school gate. Talk about the Gestapo!! but all in good fun. (We only caught kids in Bass, Philip & Flinders houses - Mawson ALWAYS wore head gear and lost no house points!!!)
In Form V, I had the notion I was very clever, so decided to do Chemistry! Needless to say, Mr Gearing suggested I change subjects if I wanted to pass my Leaving Certificate. Needlework which came in very handy in later years!!
When I went to Melbourne Teachers' College, we were asked to write an essay on the teachers we most admired. There were many, but I chose "Polly" Parsons who made French and Maths seem so easy!! and Shirley McCasker who inspired us in English & History. Her instruction, when we went to the old pool, was "find a spot and sit on it!!" a saying repeated unthinkingly to my Grade 6's. The little adage had different connotations by then!
Finally, dear old Mr Ellis - a gentleman. We were caught ringing on public telephones using no money! We thought we were fairly smart working it out - I suppose these days it's called harassment - harmless fun! We were called to his office and made feel extremely guilty - he explained he was so disappointed in us and to make up for that disappointment, he hoped we did well in our up-coming exams. We did.
I attended YHS 1955-59 and although we had our ups and downs, they were happy years. We had Germans, Italians, Dutch, Italians, Greeks, Maltese, Lithuanians, Latvians, etc - multiculturalism was unknown. We just all got on together and were really interested in all our differences.