The Graylands Story
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Edith Cowan University Research Online ECU Publications Pre. 2011 1979 The Graylands story Cam Rielly Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks Part of the History Commons, and the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons Rielly, C. (1979). The Graylands story. Graylands, Australia: Graylands Teachers College. This Book is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/6791 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material. Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. FRONT COVER This photograph, taken iri the early 1960s, and re-discovered only recently in the store-room, shows the northern aspect of the campus. Many former students will recog nize the results of their "grounds" activities: the terraced lawns and the bed of cannas, the rose garden, and the stone-work around garden beds on the levels between the lecture rooms. The Locker Room (Student Amenities Hall), the care taker's house, the fire hydrant and the corrugated iron-and-asbestos huts will be familiar to all Graylanders. NON NOBIS SOLUM THE GRAYLANDS STORY ~------------ © Graylands Teachers College (Scholarship Trust) 1979 ISBN 0 908008 26 0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Text: Cam Rielly Research: Mike Jordan Cam Rielly Graphics: Peter Dickson {Mount Lawley College) Brian Ewart Fred Fisher , Cherie Scott {Mount Lawley College) Fred Stewart Graylands Teachers College Archives West Australian Newspapers Ltd Editorial Panel: Joy Bignell Lesley Graham Mike Jordan Earle Nowotny Published by Graylands Teachers College and produced by Mount Lawley College under the supervision of Graham V. Curtis. Printed by Duncraig Printing Service. CONTENTS Page Foreword IX XI Preface XII The College Art Collection Prologue 1 Chapter 1: Teacher Education- A Background 5 Chapter 2: The Search for a Site 9 Chapter 3: The Traylen Years 1955-58 13 Chapter 4: Years of Consolidation 1959-66 31 Chapter 5: The Beginnings of Change 1967-69 49 Chapter 6. The Makin Years 1970-77 59 Chapter 7: Partridge 81 Chapter 8: The Beginning of the End 83 Chapter 9: The Final Act 89 Epilogue 93 Student Presidents 95 The First (1955) ... And the Last (1979) The Graylanders Class of 1954 -Class of 1977 99 Conversion Course Class of 197 5 -Class of 1977 137 Graduate Diploma in Physical Education -Class of 1977 138 College Staff 139 College Board (Council) 144 Student Council Presidents 145 Prize Winners 1955-78 146 FOREWORD Graylands is the story of a temporary college which almost became permanent, a college where people were always more important than things, a college which thrived on adversity and a college which built traditions which will last long after the college itself disappears. It was a small college which showed conclusively, in my view, that the highly personalised profession of teaching thrives best in a smaller institution in which interaction between its members and the community is not only possible but almost inevitable. Graylands was really born in late 1954 when a meeting of staff and wives was held in my home. Here the staff thrashed out many of the ideas which were put into practice when the college first assembled and adopted a philosophy of teacher education which was based on teaching being a service profession and therefore one which involved the whole community. From the beginning the college was itself a commu nity consisting of academic staff, resource staff, service staff and students and I like to think that this idea of a community persisted throughout the twenty-five years of the college's existence. Another important item to come out of that first meeting was the involvement in college social life of the wives of staff and students- this was an extremely important aspect in the first years of the college, and probably became of much less importance once the college was fully established. Throughout my life I have been greatly affected by tradition- something which in recent years lost a great deal of popularity but which seems to have come back to favour somewhat in this year of 1979. I am sure that the traditions of my own time at Claremont Teachers College in 1928 and 1929, my early days at the University of W.A. in Irwin Street from 1927 to 1930, and the teachings of Professor R.G. Cameron and Dr H.L. Fowler greatly influenced me in what I tried to do in guiding the destiny of Graylands in its first few years. Therefore, I feel particularly proud that there does seem to have evolved a "Graylands tradition" which has persisted through all the changes of staff and students over the years. Those early years at Graylands were amongst the happiest in my life as they gave me again the opportu nity for a very close relationship with my fellow teachers and with the students. When I moved on to larger institutions or to administrative tasks this closeness became more and more difficult and my duties gave me far less personal satisfaction than I had gained from my early years of teaching and from my years at Graylands. My hope is that this history of Graylands, in the years to come, will serve as a reminder to those thousands of students who passed through the college that teaching is a dignified profession, vitally interested in and concerned for the community at large, and in particular for the pupils and their teachers who share the common tasks of learning and education. FOUNDATION PRINCIPAL IX PREFACE Although it is now more than twenty years since I left Graylands, I continue to recall the foundation years there as a most stimulating time with many happy memories. We came to a group of abandoned army hutments set in a Sahara-like environment and I still wonder at the enthusiasm with which we welcomed our pioneering role, for we not only had spartan quarters but we had to transform our surroundings with our own physical labour. However, I am sure that students who were conscripted regularly for 'grounds' recall these occasions with pleasure rather than pain. We were fortunate in a number of ways- firstly, with the drive and leadership of the foundation principal, Neil Traylen; secondly, by the fact that we were a small body of staff and students- small enough to know each other well and be tolerant of each other's idiosyncrasies. We had a meld of youth and maturity among our students, and right from the start we were a community with common objectives. Throughout a long period of absence from Australia, I have retained a strong interest in the achievements of the college and its staff and students -in education in our home State and elsewhere, and in the varied walks of life in which so many of us find ourselves. Since 1955 Graylands has achieved a fine reputation for graduating not only competent, practical teachers, but also people with a social conscience who have become active members of the communities in which they have lived and worked. This is a tribute to the staff of the college and to the quality of the young men and women who chose teaching as a profession. I like to think, too, that the isolation of our State has made our citizens, young and old, conscious to a high degree of the interdependence of the people and of their institutions. Graylands was established as a temporary expedient. It became a significant part of the State's educational system and has now served its purpose. It has been supplanted by larger, more costly and, I expect, better endowed institutions. But they will be fortunate indeed if they can reproduce the spirit which made Graylands a lively and happy place. I am delighted that something of this spirit has been recaptured with this history of the college, and that its purpose is to raise funds to establish scholarships for the descendants of former staff and students. I commend the project to all past and present Graylanders. Les Johnson AMBASSADOR Austral ian Embassy ATHENS, GREECE XI THE COLLEGE ART COLLECTION The college art collection was started about 1960, in response to the insistent urgings of Bryant McDiven who was then the lecturer in charge of art education. He had been responsible for the initial collection of original paintings that were made available to the college by members of the Perth Society of Artists. Because of limited finance, the collection grew slowly. By 1969, however, 20 original works had been purchased, representing painters such as Lawrence Daws (whose painting was the first purchased), Guy Grey-Smith, Thomas Gleghorn, Robert Juniper, Margot Lewers, Brian McKay, Howard Taylor and others who are now well-known. Over the next four years several further acquisitions were made, but it was not until late 1974 that the programme was accelerated when the Principal (Ciarrie Makin) made funds directly available for the purchase of art works. To organize a planned approach to the development of the collection, an expert advisory committee was thought necessary. The college was fortunate in gaining the expertise of Margaret Fellman, Dr Roy Constable, Dr Salik Mine and Bert Whittle, in addition to Fred Stewart, Tony Monk and Keith Rutherford from the art education section.