Remembering War Years: Katoomba High at Parke Street1939 to 1944
by William Holland
Bill Holland is in the middle of the 2nd Row
Even though memory is blurred these notes of war years at the school may be of interest Fortunately, for student identification, class photographs were taken each year from l939 to 1941 but apparently not in the years 1942 to 1945 due to the pressures of war activities. War was declared in September, 1939 . I started first year in February of that year and left school at the end of 1944. The war finished in Europe in May, of the following year (1945) . Recently, I spoke to some of my old school friends[i] and these talks helped me in compiling the notes.
School records[ii] for 1939 show that-97 boys were enrolled in first year but only 74 girls. Possibly, this explains why the 1A school photo. shows a mixed class of boys and girls with 39 pupils in all but the photo of class 1D is a class of 28 boys only. The records[iii] show that of the 191 students that enrolled in 1939, 47% lived in Katoomba, 42% came from towns east of Katoomba and as far away as Springwood while 11% came from towns to the west of Katoomba, as far away as Mt. Victoria. The nearest High Schools to Katoomba were Penrith, Lithgow and Richmond. Sometime earlier Quadrangular Sports had been held between these schools and also Triangular Sports between Penrith, Katoomba and Lithgow . In my time at school we had some sports meetings separately with Lithgow and with St Bernards College at Katoomba. I remember that the school war cry which began "Ee-goyar, ee-go-yar~ " was dreamt up for a meeting with St. Bernards. Class 1A was the academic class and did languages Latin and French, the B class was the commercial class and did French while the D class was the technical class doing woodwork and technical drawing as well as English, maths. and science.
One of my best memories is of Mr, Wegener who took the woodwork and tech. drawing classes in a small building away from the main school. He was thin, fairly short and had a wonderful sense of humour. He was very dynamic and overwhelmingly liked and respected by the boys. I remember one day when the Sydney Morning Herald announced there was to be no more caning in schools he called us all to attention in class. He said that we'd better understand he wasn't going to stop caning or get rid of his cane. He reached down behind his desk, summoned a boy who had been rowdy to the front and started to pull up his cane slowly. The joke was that the cane was then only about six inches long ( as he had broken it up) and the class all laughed loud and long Another time he ran a student George Penman out the door holding him by the collar and the seat of his trousers and saying " I'll show you boys who's in charge " It was hilarious as George, a very big easy going person grinned at us all and towered above Mr Wegener who was also grinning broadly.
After caning was generally stopped it was left up to the headmaster to administer punishment. I think I was a bit of a rebel and remember getting six cuts (3 on each hand) on more than one occasion. It stung early on the cold morning but I was thereby taught that my behaviour had to conform to school requirements. I should also note that one teacher was deadly accurate at throwing pieces of chalk to stop students who were talking. Another was very efficient at flicking knuckles with a 12 inch ruler to get attention.
By the time we came to do third year inl 941 the photos show that 3A and 3B were mixed classes of boys and girls numbering 25 and 21 respectively. By this time some students had transferred to the new catholic college of St Bernards, possibly with a little nudging from the church. Only 47 students passed the Intermediate Certificate at the end of the year compared to thel71 who had enrolled in first year in 1939. The uncertainties of life in the war years and economic hardships would have played a large part in this story. In 1941 the legal age to leave school was 14 years and four months and as the normal age at the beginning of third year was 15 a number of students left then anyway to get jobs and support themselves.
War broke out with Japan on 8 December, 1941 and " For the first time since European settlers had landed in the 18th century, Australia faced the threat of foreign invasion."[iv] The war situation worsened in 1942 and in February 1942 a n umber of families left their houses on the coast and settled in the Blue Mountains. School records[v] show that student enrolments for the year were 322 compared to 191 in 1939. New enrolments in years two to five jumped from twenty in 1939 to one hundred and ten in 1942. To accommodate the extra students new classrooms were set up in pre fabricated sheds in the school grounds and in church halls of various denominations in the town.
In May, 1942 Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour and in June[vi] "Japanese submarines had shelled Sydney and Newcastle and three Allied merchant ships had been sunk in a nine - day period. " The school's activities were greatly affected and the school's Army Cadets were active. A wing of the Air Training Corps was also formed under a teacher Mr Williams who conducted parades on the ova lat Katoomba Falls and took us on visits to the Air Force Base at Parkes by train at weekends. We had a concert in the Town Hall to raise money for the war effort and an army officer came to give us a talk on buying War Bonds and Certificates. School Students under 18 years of age could also join the local Volunteer Defence Corps . I remember helping a warden at night to see if windows in the town were blacked out satisfactorily. It was thought that because Katoomba was so high above sea level, the lights on the mountains could guide enemy planes and ships. The school also carried out fire drill and we were prepared to move to slit trenches in Catalina Park in an emergency.
The school became a full High School in 1943.
In my fifth year ( 1 943) 16 students passed the Leaving Certificate[vii]. This was 12morethanthe four who passed in l942[viii] and seems to reflect the large number of new students who came to the schooling 1942. In the next year's Leaving Certificate (1944) the number of passes had dropped to 9[ix]. During my second 5th year (1944) I was the only student doing mechanics and technical drawing and staff numbers were insufficient so I had to teach myself. However, were I to get into difficulties a teacher was available for me to contact in each subject.
To the best of my knowledge there was no library available in the school while I was there. Ross Thomas and I felt this keenly and at the end of our studies in 1944, we each donated a book with the stated aim of encouraging the development of library facilities.
Like many parts of the country in the war years there were rumours that some teachers and other prominent citizens in the mountains were communists. However, none of the branded people I knew ever talked of communism to me. My impression of those I knew were that they were all high minded idealists devoted to doing good in the community.
On the lighter side there is an untold story of a boy who climbed up through the access cover in the ceiling during playtime with a pea shooter in his pocket Someone took the ladder away and he was stranded up there until lunch time where he could crawl around and pick off unsuspecting students through holes in the mouldings around the ceiling lights. In another incident a student in a class room missed catching a tin of condensed milk which was thrown by another student and the tin went through the window . It landed on top of a girl in assembly . Fortunately for all concerned it was a wartime pack where the sides were made of cardboard and no serious damage resulted
Our paths have diverged greatly since school days and the students I knew have chosen a wide variety of careers. I have heard of only a few of them since those days. They are: - Max Anderson. Engineer, Dept. of Main Roads, Sydney; 7ack Cannon. A.M. ,Chemistry Professor, University of Western Australia ; Allen Dickinson. Dentist, Katoomba ; Frank Davies Industrial Chemist, Fisheries Dept ,Sutherland; Dick Gailey, O.A.M., Architect, Lane Cove; Rev. John Goodman. Anglican Minister, Sydney; Bob Harries. Furniture Removalist, Katoomba ; Fred Hulme. Economist, Commonwealth Bank, Sydney; Janet Hume. Pharmacist, Sydney; Tom Kerslake, Businessman, Sydney; Rev. Ken Le Huray. Anglican Minister, Chester Hill, Leura, Kingsford & South Hurstville: Peter Poulos. Pharmacist, Liverpool; Jim Riordan. Chemical Engineer, Sydney; Barrie Scrivener A.M., Ear Specialist, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney; Beryl Stevens, Secretary, Katoomba: Barrv Strahan. Hydrologist, Dept of Conservation, Sydney; Don Toaklev. Electrical Engineer, Wollongong ?; Ross Thomas, Pharmacist, Kempsey; Clift Vickers, Pharmacist, Sydney ?; Jill Ziems. Pharmacist, Sydney.
December, 2000
KHS Archives had very few photos of this era. We thank Bill for loaning the school many photos to scan.
Footnotes:
[i] Jack Cannon, Allen Dickinson, Dick Gailey, Bob Harries, Fred Hulme, Tom Kerslake, Ken Le Huray, & Peter Poulos.
[ii] Register of Admission, Progress and Withdrawal, 1939.
[iii] Ibidi
[iv] Horner, D., 1996, Inside the War Cabinet, Allen & Unwin ,p. 74
[v] Register of Admission, Progress and Withdrawal, 1942.
[vi] Ibid. Horner, p.126
[vii] Sydney Morning Herald, Leaving Results, Jan., 1944. [viii] SydneyMorningHerald, Leaving Results, Jan,1943.
[ix] Sydney Morning Herald, Leaving Results, Jan, 1945.