Oral histories of women teachers recorded on tape

20/10/93

The vital role played by women in the Western Australian education system in recent generations, has been highlighted in a unique oral record.

The oral histories of 45 women, who graduated from Claremont Teachers' College, have been recorded on cassette tapes.

Education Minister Norman Moore today accepted the three-tape series, which was produced by Edith Cowan University to celebrate the centenary of the State education system.

Mr Moore said the broadcast-quality tapes were of interviews with some of the State's most famous women teachers and were also an account of educational change and development in Western Australia.

The tapes featured women such as Evelyn Parker, who trained at Claremont Teachers' College in the 1920s, had a long and distinguished teaching career and became the State's first female mayor.

Author and playwright Dorothy Hewett and former Deputy Director of Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs, Hanifa Oswald were also recorded.

One of Claremont's last graduates, Annie Anderson, now 101 years old, who taught from 1913 to 1957, was another interview subject.

Currently about two-thirds (11,800) of the State's total 17,700 teachers were women.

"Women teachers have been vital to this State's development and many became the backbone for community organisations such as the Red Cross and the Country Women's Association," the Minister said.

"I congratulate those responsible for this unusual and important project, particularly Edith Cowan lecturers Lynne Hunt and Janina Trotman, who devised the concept."

The tapes were intended for use on radio programs and in a variety of education and history conferences and exhibitions.

"This tape series is a small thank-you to the women teachers of this State over the last one hundred years.  Most people can remember at least one teacher who played a crucial role in their lives and so often it was a woman."

The tapes are available from Edith Cowan University's Media Services on 383 8293.

Media contact: Ross Storey 321 1444 or 222 9595