Ray Kelley is a well known writer of humorous verse. He has been described by Phillip Adams as “…a clever bugger” and by Bruce Dawe as “…our finest poet of light verse.”
His two publications, “Flight to the Chookhouse Roof” [C.Q. University Press, Rockhampton 1998] and “Go, Lovely Nose” [Five Islands Press, Carlton 2005] are widely acclaimed.
He has had over eighty poems printed by The Spectator and 18 of these have won different challenges set by this prestigious weekly.
During his long career as a Principal of State Schools in many parts of Queensland, Australia, he wrote many parodies about issues of the day that were sung by his colleagues at their social gatherings.
Since they represent a jovial history of schooling in Queensland, he has been joined by Phil Cullen, also a former Principal and Director of Primary Education for Queensland to detail aspects of each issue or event. Enjoy.
PROFILES
Ray Kelley. Born in Sydney, raised in Mackay, married to classmate Lawrie Ross in Mackay in August 1954, Ray attended Kelvin Grove Teachers Training College in 1947-48. After service as Assistant Teacher in Sarina and Marian, he became a Head Teacher [later called Principal] at Miclere Provisional, Mt. Gipps, Oakenden, Mt. Alford, Blenheim, Glenella, Gympie West, Emerald, Richlands East and Moorooka. He retired in 1987.
Perhaps his Head Teacher at Te Kowai State School in the 1930s inspired Ray’s dedication to and admiration for the profession of primary teaching.
GOD’S HANDKERCHIEF
He wore a coal-black suit despite the chalk,
That starched and ironed man, remote as God,
Whose dark jowls made him look
Like Ginger Meggs’s dad.
Summoned one morning from the littlies’ school
To where the Big Kids sat at work, we stood
Around his table, all
A-twitter to be heard
Our 3 from 12 twice 7 5 plus 8
Answering in turn, but never fast enough
For him. When he took out
A pocket handkerchief
We gained a respite; I gained something else.
The unfolded hankie of our awesome judge
Was riddled with small holes
And frayed along one edge!
And so I chanced at seven years of age
In the Almighty’s presence to perceive
Frailty; and felt a surge
Of pity and, yes, love.
During the 1960s and later Ray was frequently called upon by his colleagues to use his poetic talents in parodies about current educational issues, trends and events to be sung at socials and farewells. They were popular and were quickly shared by teachers in other localities for their own knees-ups. In many of these he took cheeky cock-a-snooks at the powers-that-be. Phil Cullen became one of “them” in 1969 and missed being a direct target.
His intense interest in the magic and power of words has led him to accept the challenges issued by the likes of the Spectator. He has contributed and competed in this literary journal for years with noted success, and still maintains an interest. His Rhyme-Scheming column in The Courier Mail delighted readers for some years and he continues to write light verse as the feeling captures him.
He and Lawrie reside at Indooroopilly, Brisbane where they continue to keep the grey cells active through their interest in U3A and other organisations and, of course, writing for the Spectator .
Phil Cullen. Born and raised in Ipswich, he attended St. Mary’s [now St. Edmund's] Christian Brothers College. In August 1954 the same month as Ray and Lawrie were married, he
wed Edna Samin in Coolangatta. He had attended the Teachers Training College at Kelvin Grove in 1945-46. After service as an Assistant Teacher in Proston and Sarina he became a Head Teacher while still classified as an Assistant Teacher on Probation as did others in the immediate post-war period. He served in this H.T. role at Nangwee, Nindooinbah, Baking Board, Laidley South, Mena Creek, Howard, Monto and Edge Hill.
In 1969, he was appointed as Regional Director for North West Queensland the area west of the Dividing Range from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the South Australian border. Three times the size of the British Isles, it was even bigger than Texas. Based in Longreach and assisted by a Senior Clerk and two typists, he inspected every State and Convent School from Mornington Island to Birdsville. In the early years of this role, every teacher received a compulsory appraisement and an official report was written for every school. Enjoying five memorable years, he was then appointed as Regional Director for the Northern Region. It was a big region too. It stretched from Proserpine and the Whitsunday Islands through and including Cape York to the Papua-New Guinea border. Based in Townsville, it was extremely diverse in its educational settings, one of the most diverse school districts in the world. It was a wonderful challenge.
Then in 1975 he was appointed as the Director of Primary Education [DOPE, he says] for the State of Queensland. He happily for the most part, remained in this role for thirteen years retiring in 1988. His full professional interests are mentioned in ‘Who’s Who in Australia’.
These years from 1975 to 1988 were some of the most exciting in the history of education in Queensland. With aspects aptly parodied by Ray Kelley, they provided a myriad of challenges during the time of the Bjelke-Petersen government. Moral campaigners free-ranging under the conditions, targeted Phil. Someone had to pay. Assisted by a temporary back-bencher in the Queensland Parliament who used to write to Joh about Phil’s ‘conduct’ and, using a speech that Phil gave to a N.S.W. Principals Conference in Sydney, they all tried to have him sacked. It was touchy. In the middle of it all [1982] Phil received the Medal of the Order of Australia [A.M.] for ‘Services to education’ from the hand of Queen Elizabeth II.
He was inspired, earlier in his career, by a comment of authors Postman and Weingartner: “If you think that you know what you are talking about, write a book about it”, so he joined with Dr. Keith Tronc in 1976 to write “Quality Education” and “School and Community” [McGraw-Hill]. In 1984, with Professor G.W.Bassett and Lloyd Logan they completed “Australian Primary Schools and their Principals” [Harcourt Brace Jovanovich].
He soloed in 2006 by writing “Back to Drastics - Education Politics and Bureaucracy in Queensland 1975-1988 - Memoirs of An Advocate” [University of Southern Queensland]. It is a story of the influence of pressure groups on naive legislators and the trickle down to a non-educational restructure of the Queensland Department of Education.
He fondly recalls an incident in 1984 when a Reading Olympics culminated in a Readalong in King George Square, Brisbane. He was asked to read a book about a legendary Irish giant called CuCulainn to a group of children. Nice touch. Organiser Rosemary was on the staff of Ray Kelley’s school and Ray was unwilling to release her for the event. Her committee asked Phil to ask Ray to let her go. Unwilling to pull rank, Phil wrote to Rosemary to congratulate her on her efforts, quoted an extract from “CuCulainn” and added : “Please pass on my sincere thanks to Ray Kelley for his cooperation. The demands on your time must also have placed great inconveniences on school organisation. However, I know that his forebears, the Kukelleys were understanding giants.” Rosemary handed the letter to Ray who allowed her to attend, but returned the letter to Phil with a handwritten comment in the margin :
From the smile on my face you would never suppose
That within I am seething and sullen.
Kukelley’s a giant - but a giant who knows
He’s not quite as big as CuCulainn!
