I attended Montmorency State School in the years 1942-46 from 4th Grade to 7th Grade. Our school grades covered 1st to 8th year. Although ‘Mont’ school (the ‘y’ was not added until recent years) was fairly close to Melbourne, it was considered a rural school. I well remember coming from a large inner city blue stone school to this little weatherboard room, “the castle” and actually being able to see out of the school windows at the big world outside. My previous school was stony, cold and dank with tiny windows set high in the walls which had the concept of a prison. I was not a good student and achievements were not my lot, consequently I stumbled through my school days at “Mont” and embarked on a life in the workplace as an unskilled person.
Yet having said this, there were many positive aspects of the school which, looking back, steered me on the right course for a lifetime of fulfilment. I remember my first day at Mont – the absence of asphalt, the beautiful border of Golden Wattle trees which followed the fence line around the school, the bush of messmate gums which covered the bottom of the school ground was a haven for all manner of birds and wild flowers. I remember those huge log fires which burned in the classroom on frosty mornings. They generated a fierce heat until the sun took over at around midday and shone through the ample windows I spoke of previously. Two boys were always allocated to gather the “morning’s wood” the day prior to each fire, from the bush at the back of the school. The “morning’s wood” was an armful of sticks gathered from the ground under the trees. Six logs were then dragged from under the school. The wood was supplied by the Education Department for school heating.
My favourite subjects were non-academic. I remember the radio broadcasts on 3AR featuring Crosby Morreison. There was the geography program, we all had a sheet with black and white illustrations and the broadcaster would say, “next picture/next frame”. I guess the frame was for the schools privileged enough to have some sort of projector. Crosby Morreison was excellent and I looked forward to him each week. Montmorency was well endowed with gum trees and low scrub which allowed wildlife to flourish. So most of us developed a keen interest in nature. School singing was another enjoyment for me. Our teacher’s wife played the piano for us to learn new songs and from then on we pitched our songs to a tuning fork and sung quite lustily without music. Songs we sang were, Nymphs and Shepherds, Men of Harlick, Widicombe Fair, The Minstrel Boy, Strawberry Fair, Advance Australia Fair and Kookaburra Sits on the Old Gum Tree. Popular songs of the day were not acceptable for some reason. Who would forget epic poems like Daffodils, The Man from Snowy River, The Highwayman and Drake’s Drum. Many will remember the song on the back of the School Paper which came out monthly costing one penny.
Sport was important in those days. Being a small school of 32 scholars, most of the boys were needed to make a football team. Our sports ground was a clearing among the trees. There was no sewerage in those days; the Pan Man called once a week. The Public Works Department in some city office decreed where the toilets should be placed. This resulted in the boys’ toilet being in the bush and the girls’ toilet in the middle of our sports ground!! There was always great debate as to who should retrieve the football from the pan in the girls toilet. Much kicking and handling would soon dry it out!
We had no structured competition but we often played Briar Hill, Greensborough and Lower Plenty. Results were often disputed as trees were substituted for goal posts. On one occasion some interested person arranged a game with a large city school, Parade College, Clifton Hill. This was a fiasco. They produced 18 boys all the same size (big), fully decked out in gurnseys, shorts and football boots. Mont did not have these luxuries. The game was played at the Mont football ground and the score was something like 50 goals to nil. This poor effort turned into a win for us as some benevolent person (name forgotten) took pity on us and bought 18 beautiful green and gold gurnseys. We were so proud of our new jumpers. We had Spooky Crow take our picture down at the Mont football ground. I have the photo still. Spooky was a local photographer and I remember him igniting magnesium to get the flash effect. Of course us kids were delighted with the explosion that went with it! I don’t know why we called him Spooky, I am sure it was a term of endearment.
The pupils who attended Mont school in those days will remember “Michael”. “Michael” was the belly band of a horse’s harness. He was kept on top of a cupboard near the platform. He was not only used as a threat but was a practical way of enforcing discipline in the school.
Our school library occupied one shelf in the cupboard. Being a rural school we had a library service provided by the Gillies Bequest organisation. Books were sent to the school by rail in a special wooden box on a regular basis. Requests could be made for a particular book on return of the present ones. A really good amenity for a small rural school.
For those interested in Music, remember the Sir Bernard Heinz concerts with a “Walk through the orchestra?” Only once did Montmorency have the privilege of attending when the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra visited the Heidelberg Town Hall. I remember learning that an ‘Oboe’ was definitely not a ‘tramp’, but a woodwind instrument!
At home time on a very hot day most kids would head for the various water holes along the Plenty River to swim. This river then contained Perch, fresh-water Crays and Platypus. Many nature walks conducted by the school included the Plenty River. “Conservation” was a word we had never heard of and shamefully I admit to the practice of egg collecting. We would pinhole the egg both ends and blow the contents out and display our prized possessions on a cotton thread suspended from the ceiling. If you had a magpie egg you were king. These were hard to procure as the nests were high in the trees and the parent birds would attack the robber with grievous consequences. Am glad we have come of age and children don’t generally pursue this practice any more.
Another weekend activity was ferreting. I had ferrets. I manufactured my own nets with hanks of twine bought at Musselwhites Store in Were Street. There were plenty of rabbit warrens around Mont and Lower Plenty. I well remember the apprehension when having to gut my first rabbit. This pastime of rabbiting was linked with the school as we used to make our nets during the Handwork periods on Friday afternoons.
Many kids came from poultry farms in Mont. A few small dairy farms were scattered around the district. The main one being on the present site of the Montmorency Secondary College. Dads who were not employed on farms etc. were away at the Second World War. I do not recall World War Two as having any effect on the day to day life of the school.
Another after-school past-time was yabbying at your favourite dam. Usually dams were surrounded by Quince trees or “Quangers” as we called them. The fruit was a challenge to both pick and eat as a tummy ache usually followed. Yabbying necessitated certain skills. You bring the Yabby slowly to the surface with its nippers clutching your piece of meat. Then with a quick flip of your string the Yabby would land on the bank and try to go quickly back into the water. During the scuffle to get your catch into a jam tin your faithful dog would grasp the meat bait and swallow it! The only course one could take was to retrieve the meat with the aid of the string hanging out of the dog’s mouth. Having been in your pet’s stomach the meat was ready for the next Yabby!
Another aspect of school life in the forties, which was positive for me as a kid growing up at Mont school, was the Religious instruction class taken by the Rev. Young from St Faith’s Anglican Church at Montmorency. I would look forward to this each Tuesday morning. Exposure to Christianity added a dimension which I would not otherwise have experienced. His talks resulted in me seeking out and joining a local church of which today I am an elder. I entered the work force with no skills whatsoever but the abovementioned well equipped me for what I consider the most important path we can take in life. So, many thanks to Rev. young and Mont school for that.
May I close with a few names I can recall, some of which I still have contact with today. Sadly, some have passed on but their memory lingers. Eric Woodford, Robert Bedford, Pat Phillips, Ken Anderson, Les Cowan, Allan Cavill, Noel Brown, Ron Kidd, Brian Watson, Douglas Cameron, Robert Holmes, Edward Buckton, Robert McKie, Ian Smythe, Bill Hutchinson, Jim Rifle, Joy Kidd, Margaret Shallard, Jim Bartlett, Warren Smith, Carl and Marlene Erney, Betty Mauby, Delia and Cynthia McMaster, Norma Powel. These are a few I can remember. I wonder where they are today? Fifty one years on.
Congratulations to Monty school for 75 years of service.
Jim Rhyder, February 1997
