Teachers look back on 50 years

Many teachers stayed in the Central Queensland region to work and raise their families. The Morning Bulletin caught up with them at the 50th reunion celebration on Saturday October 5, 2019.

CIAE 50th anniversary reunion at Glenmore Homestead

FOR many of the people attending the 50th reunion of the first Central Queensland education college’s first intake last weekend, they have relationships going back before that time.

And for others, it was the first chance to catch up with each other in over 40 years.

Barry Thomson and Paul Ryan at the CIAE 50th anniversary reunion

Barry Thomson and Paul Ryan were schoolboy friends from Rockhampton who decided to take advantage of the first teaching scholarships offered in the region back in 1969.

“We knew each from primary school; we went to Our Lady’s in West Street together and then the Christian Brothers (which is now The Cathedral College),” Mr Thomson said.

He was posted to Moura after graduation and returned to Rockhampton in 1979, where he taught at Berserker Street.

In addition to raising his own children in Rockhampton, he was the Queensland teachers’ union organiser for 20 years.

Mr Ryan started out at Wowan and MacKenzie River followed by a stint as principal at Coowonga.

He came back to teach at Frenchville School from 1980 and stayed there until he retired in 2013.

“The new generation of teachers coming through are more au fait with all the tools - computers and reporting and stuff - which was getting a bit much for us,” he said.

He said there were faces at the reunion he hadn’t seen since graduation day in 1975 at the old municipal theatre which is now part of the Rockhampton library.

“That’s why we’ve got the name tags on, so we know who we’re looking at,” he said.

Helen Dundas-Taylor and Helen Henrich at the CIAE 50th anniversary reunion

Similarly, “the two Helens” attended Rockhampton State High School together before enrolling in CIAE.

“My sister was a teacher and I followed her into the profession,” said Helen Dundas-Taylor.

“The first round of scholarships saved us from having to move away to do our training.”

They described the college facilities as “non existent” and “fairly primitive” to begin with, with students taking classes out on the lawns.

“It was a residential college and there was only a dirt track so we’d wait for the first person with a car to come along and drive us to resso.”

They also recalled the transient population of students who went to Parkhurst School during their first years teaching together.

“They still had the St George’s Orphanage there then, and lots of families in caravans,” said Mrs Henrich.

“We had 33 students finish the end of the year but over 90 came through our classes.”

Mrs Henrich said the hardest thing about teaching is losing a colleague or family members.

“You get really involved with your students so if they lose someone in a tragedy it hits the whole school hard,” she said.

And the best thing, it seems, is meeting up with only not only old students but their children too.

“I met a chap recently going through the checkout and he said, ‘Hello, Mrs DT,’” said Mrs Dundas Taylor.

“I said, ‘You know what, Jason, you can probably call me Helen now.’ And he said, ‘Oh no, Miss, I could never do that.’”

“And he’s a man of nearly 50 now!”

The reunion was held at the Glenmore Homestead.