THE TRARALGON & DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC |
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Mrs. Kathleen Huffer |
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Members and readers will be greatly saddened to learn that our recently retired Editor, Mrs. Kathleen M. Huffer, died on her 92nd birthday, on lst June, 2000. A number of our members attended her funeral and we are grateful to Mrs. Huffer's daughter, Rosalie Brennan, for allowing us to publish an abridgement of her Eulogy delivered at the Requiem Mass held on 6th June at St. Michael's Church, Traralgon : "My mother was born in Heidelberg in 1908, the second of 3 daughters born to Frank and Theresa McNamara, of Templestowe. Her father was an orchardist whose property was located in High St., Templestowe, an area which at that time was completely given over to orchard farming - peaches, apricots, pears, apples and quinces. My mother's oldest sister, Eileen, had been born in 1904 and her younger sister, Dellis, was born in 1917. My mother had a very close and warm relationship with her sisters, both of whom predeceased her. In the early days of my mother's childhood, a horse was an absolute necessity for farm work and my mother always had vivid memories of riding in vehicles such as a jingle, a jinker, a wagon, a buggy, a spring cart and a phaeton. She also remembered as a small child seeing a line of hansom cabs waiting outside the Kew station for their well-to-do clientele. Her parents had a great love of literature, drama, history and poetry. Her father was a gifted public speaker and often performed moving recitations of well-known poems and speeches at social gatherings. My mother and her sister Eileen soon began to perform plays for their parents and relatives. My mother began her education at Templestowe Primary School, where she was to form friendships that lasted a life-time. From Templestowe she transferred to Our Lady of Mercy Convent in Heidelberg and from there to Melbourne High School which at that time in the 1920s was co-educational, situated where the Royal College of Surgeons is today. For many years until relatively recent times my mother used to attend the annual class reunions which she always enjoyed and, in the 1990s, together with other past pupils of the old Melbourne High School, gathered at the actual site for a centenary celebration. She decided to become a teacher and in 1925 started as a junior teacher at the Eltham P.S. Junior teachers were expected to teach all day then prepare detailed lesson plans in the evening for the following day's work, as well as study for periodic examinations. Once a month, a junior teacher would give a criticism lesson attended by the Headmaster or Infant mistress who would sit at the back of the classroom writing lengthy reports. My mother, having a great desire to see Victoria, applied for teaching posts in rural schools at Koonwarra, Mirboo North and Jeetho West, in South Gippsland, at Marnoo East in the Wimmera, and Koorong Vale in Central Victoria. However, it was her appointment to Gormandale East P.S. that was to determine the course of her future life. In 1928, when she was only 20 and basically a city girl, she arrived at night at the Traralgon railway station and was met by a member of the school committee who took her to Gormandale, along rough corrugated roads. When she arrived in Gormandale there was a dance in progress at the old Gormandale Hall; the driver stopped for a moment and many of the young locals came out to cast an eye over the new teacher. She was then taken to the farmhouse where she was to board, on a dairying property opposite the school, owned by Maud and James Huffer who had 4 grown children, Florence, Hilbert, Ernest and Norman. Wishing to become acquainted with the people of the district, my mother returned to the hall for the remainder of the dance. At that time, my mother was the only teacher at the school although there was an assistant sewing mistress in the afternoons. she had to prepare lessons for students from Preps. to Grade 8, all taught together in the one room. There was, of course, no telephone for emergency contact and heating in winter came from an open fire; there was a raised platform in front of the blackboard from which teaching instructions were delivered. In the township of Gormandale, my mother joined the tennis club and the dramatic society, even managing to persuade Florence, Hilbert and Nor man Huffer to take part in the dramatic productions. She was part of a small catholic community in the district, attending the masses celebrated from time to time in the old Gormandale Hall. In 1933 my mother married Hilbert James Huffer, at St. John's cath olic Church, Heidelberg. They spent their honeymoon at Cowes, Phillip Island, in the days when the only access to the island was by ferry. They began their married life in the era of the Great Depression; they settled on my grandparents' property, Glenvalley, in Gormandale, which was then well-known as a Jersey stud farm. In those days, women were obliged to resign from teaching after marriage and my mother's life in the next few years was occupied in looking after 2 small children, my brother Lawrence born in 1936, and my sister Dorothy in 1938. In the 1940s after the outbreak of World War 2 and the call-up of men for war service, teachers were in short supply and, in 1942, my mother returned to teaching duties at the Gormandale East P.S. Despite the shortages, hard- ship and adversity of the times, these were years that my mother always remembered with great fondness, a fondness for the children and admiration for the parents of the mothers' club and school committee who did so much to keep that school going. In 1945 my grandfather died, the Jersey herd was sold and my father became a share-farmer with my grandmother on the Glenvalley property. The war ended and men from the Armed Services returned to their old occupations whilst women returned to home duties. Shortages and rationing began to ease and a period of prosperity was experienced in farming. I was born after the war, in 1947, and for a time my mother was busy caring for me. In 1949 the CWA established a branch in Gormandale; my mother atten ded the inaugural meeting, pushing her young child from the farm to the Gormandale Hall over a rough road of sandy corrugations. In 1999 my mother attended the 50th anniversary of that first CWA meeting in Gormandale. In the 1940s, my father and mother became involved in politics; they joined the Country Party and my mother was Secretary of the women's section in Gormandale, a position she held well into the 1950s. Later, she was to act as Campaign Secretary, in Traralgon, for Peter Nixon in a Federal election in the 1960s. In the early 1950s, shortly before I was to start school, my mother accidentally discovered that the Gormandale East school was to be closed (this information had been deliberately withheld from the community) which meant that children would have to travel a far greater distance to school. My mother and father were instrumental in a campaign to save the school. Authorities (perhaps fearing an insurrection) refused permission for a meeting in the school building so parents met in the draughty shelter-shed by the light of a lantern. The campaign planned that night included letters to the Education Department, a petition to Parliament and a deputation to meet parliamentarians. In the end the school remained open! In the early 1950s, my mother experienced a time of ill-health, requiring hospitalisation in the Sale and Royal Melbourne hospitals; however, after a time her health was restored and she became involved again in community activities. During this time she wrote, produced and acted in plays with the CWA. The Mothers' Club ran annual fancy-dress balls for children and my mother always thought up a very creative idea for my costumes. She was a member of the ladies committee of the Gormandale football club (my father had always been a keen football supporter) and this committee provided afternoon tea when Gormandale played at home. She also assisted with suppers provided at the balls held in the Gormandale hall during the winter months each year. In 1958 it was decided to hold a pantomime in Gormandale, in which children of Gormandale and Gormandale East schools would take part; my mother was approached to produce the first pantomime, the classic Sleeping Beauty (with a little local licence in the script), followed in subsequent years by Puss In Boots, Snow White and Golden Days, an Australiana pantomime set on the gold fields and written by my mother. These pantomimes were a wonderful experience for the children but there was a tremendous amount of organisation and work required. Of course, there were a few mishaps - when during one scene the curtain fell down and some of the audience had to assist with its repair before the show could continue. On another occasion, one of the cast toppled off the stage into the audience but managed to spring back just in time to say her lines. In 1962 my parents sold the farm, my grandmother having passed away in 1958, and moved to live in Albert Street, Traralgon. My father purch ased some grazing land and my mother was approached to take up a teaching post in junior English and Social Studies at the Traralgon Technical School. She agreed and thus began another teaching era. At the Technical School she taught offspring of children she had taught in the 1940s. Although the curriculum was now very different, she was able to adapt to new approaches and to appreciate the value of these changes. My mother joined the Traralgon branch of the CWA where, for many years, she was involved in a drama group, producing plays, writing scripts and acting in some of these performances. These plays were not just for entertainment but were entered in competitions at a district and State level. At the competition level there were many successes and at the 1987 Drama Festival, and again in 1988, she was presented with the Best Producer Award. In recognition of her years of service, she was awarded a Life Membership by the CWA. As well as her life in the community, my mother had other interests. She enjoyed travel and in 1966, with my father and friends Linda and Bill Cuthill, travelled through South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and N.S.W., including several journeys by light plane to remote areas in Northern Territory. In 1971, my father and mother travelled overseas on the "Oronsay" via New Zealand, Panama, Canada, Tenerife and Portugal to Southampton, then through Britain and Europe before returning by ship via Africa. In 1979, 3 years after my father's death, when she was 71, my mother went overseas again, to England, Ireland. and Europe. In Ireland she met up with relatives on her mother's side of the family in Castlebar, County Mayo. The following year one of her Irish cousins visited and stayed with her in Traralgon. For many years, each winter she travelled to Queensland with my Aunt Ambyrr and enjoyed not only the journey but also the companionship. From the mid-1980s until 1997 my mother and I spent the June-July school holidays travelling via the Newell Highway to Caloundra, Qld. On the way we always visited historical museums and my mother invariably purchased a local history publication. As previously mentioned, my mother loved drama and in recent years has been able to attend many performances at the Arts Centre, the Princess Theatre, Ripponlea Gardens, the Tennis Centre and a performance of Fiddler on the Roof at the Regent Theatre to celebrate her 90th birthday. Another interest was her garden and collection of pot plants, and she was an ardent fan of radio and television gardening programmes. She was a member of St. Michael's congregation and until recently she was always in attendance at the 10.30 mass. She was frequently invited by many organisations to address them on issues of local history and, in 1982, was the Guest speaker at the Gormandale East school at the centenary of Gormandale celebrations. She also spoke at several family reunions, including the Timbs family reunion in Rosedale. My mother had 3 children, 9 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. she was always present at her children's speech nights, parent-teacher evenings, sports days and graduations, as well as 21st birthdays, deb. balls, musical performances and engagement parties of her grandchildren. She attended the weddings of 4 grandchildren. she had the ability to relate to people across all age groups. My mother spent the last 5 and a half days of her life in the Latrobe Regional Hospital where she passed away on her 92nd birthday on the lst June." We will greatly miss her editorial skills and her very extensive
knowledge of the history of Traralgon and the surrounding districts.We extend our sympathy to Mrs. Huffer's son and
daughters, her grandchildren and her great-grandchild.
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