MACKAY Q.T.U. PRE-DEPARTURE DINNER -
The 1967 dinner held by the strong Mackay Branch of the Queensland Teachers’ Union was described as a Pre-departure Dinner for those heading for Canada where salaries were much higher than they were in Australia.
At this one function, Ray Kelley summarised the issues of the period, the feelings towards them and mentioned some personalities of the time. The issues were…
1. Teachers were poorly paid and many classes were excessively large. They were heading for Canada in large numbers. Some could triple their Australian salary.
2. Teachers were confused by the sudden introduction of a radical Mathematics Program. [Even the spelling of ‘Program’ was a talking point. No, said the pundits, it was NOT a Yankified description, but a return to a time of purer English, before the French decorated it.]
3. School stock, supplied free on a per-pupil basis, was seldom adequate nor was its arrival reliable. Schools frequently traded or borrowed from each other until the stock arrived.
Teachers, when discussing the Stock Return, frequently quoted, “Tick Round or Flat”, an oblique reference to the heading for toilet paper.
Toilet paper and milk straws were always supplied in bulk, never under-supplied, and occupied most of the store room. The straws were small, used for the distribution of school milk in bottles that contained one-third of a pint.
At the time, teachers made a major contribution to the welfare of the dairy industry and the banking sector as well.
4. Teachers operated school banking on behalf of the Commonwealth Savings Bank. The CSB enjoyed this monopoly for many years. Pupils had their own Savings Bank Passbook. Teachers collected the money from each child, recorded the amount in each pass-book, summarised the gross takings and handed the money bag along to the Principal. It was a chore and CSB staff tried hard to be nice about it.
Each year, one delegate to the Annual QTU Conference was known to state in a commanding voice, as fellow delegates streamed off to the special function organised by the CSB, “He who sups with the devil, should use a long spoon.”
It is incidental only to Ray’s dinner stories, but it was during this period that this Q.T.U. Mackay Branch proposed the holding of a state-wide teachers strike. This was the first time in the history of schooling in Queensland that such a drastic action had even been contemplated.
Teachers did not propose strikes! Infra dig! Union headquarters, the Department and Cabinet verged on apoplexy. The Press had a field day. Mackay teachers were a lively lot at the time and this particular dinner marked a notable year in Queensland history.
This first poem represents an appeal for smaller classes, adequate stock when it was needed, a farewell to school banking chores and more ?.s.d.
?.s.d stood for Pounds, Shillings and Pence.
DAY DREAMS
[Tune: “Wouldn’t it be Loverly”]
All I want is a classroom where
Thirty children are in my care,
Not forty-five to bear –
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly!
Lots of stock let there always be,
Lots of textbooks provided free,
Not two years late or three -
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly!
What a loverly day when teaching is my only skill,
I can throw school banking out
Right over me winder sill!
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly!
Someone strong standing up for me,
Like our tough Gen’ral Secretary,
To get more ?.s.d.
Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly!
Loverly! Loverly!
Concern about inadequate and uneven salaries was strong, so Ray added a short comment, with the mention of E.F. [Joe] Gutekunst, the Regional Director of the Central Region, a very efficient and effective administrator.
DOUGH-PAY-ME [Tune : What do you think?}
DOUGH, a thing I want more of
PAY, I’d like to see it rise
ME, the one to give it to,
AH! for such a sweet surprise!
JOE, the Central Region head,
FAR, that man will surely go;
GEE, did he hear what I said?
What’s it worth to me in dough, dough, dough, dough….?
[Repeat. End slowly on last time and contemplate!]
Ray had a field day. He also targeted some authority figures of various occupational positions….
Mr. Peacock was in charge of School Supplies, which was located in large Quonset huts, left behind by U.S. troops after WW2, in the grounds of Windsor State School.
Uncle Joey was the nom de plume for ‘Joe’ Gutekunst, previously mentioned.
Laurie Grulke was the General Secretary of the Queensland Teachers Union. He was responsible for the presentation of wage claims and his control over the QTU Executive was considerable. The QTU at the time ran many seminars; more than the department at the time. Some will recall the one conducted during vacation periods on the use of Cuisenaire rods, conducted by Miss Viv. Flannery.
G.K.D.Murphy was the Director-General of Education at the time. Previously, he had been Director of Primary Education and was widely respected, even though he had to weather many storms during this era.
Tom McNamara, District Inspector, small in stature but huge in popularity, was the target of many jokes. Always welcome for his cheery attitude and propensity to convey advice via a story about himself, he was also known for getting lost, posting items in the wrong direction and sending school reports to schools very late.
Jack Pizzey, former teacher, Queensland Sheffield Shield bowler and Adult Education Officer, was Minister for Education from 1957 to 1968. The Premier was Frank Nicklin. Respected in political circles for his emphasis on the growth of secondary education, Pizzey was seldom regarded with reverence by all school teachers. He had to carry the brunt for the conditions lampooned throughout this Mackay QTU festivity.
A LITTLE BEAUTY [Tune: “Song of the Hours”]
Mr. Peacock down in Windsor –
Of omission all your sins are ;
Short supply is really shocking –
Can’t you be like Father Christmas with your stocking?
Uncle Joey- you’re not laughing;
Worried over under staffing?
Few are coming many going —
Just as well the airport here can’t take a BOEING!
Down in Brisbane we’ve got Laurie –
Heed his counsel or be sorry!
With our patience never-ending
Every seminar we’re faithfully attending!
Mr. Murphy Mr. Murphy
Is it true or just a furphy
That you’re leaving in October
For a small one-teacher school in Manitoba?
Hello Tommy McNamara
We’ve been wond’ring where you are-a;
Since your visit back in Summer
That report just never ever seems to come-a!
One last word to Mr. Pizzey –
Your “IMPROVEMENTS” keep us busy;
We will tell you like a neighbour,
You’re so good that Frankie Nicklin’s voting Labour !
As if this was not enough, Ray followed, later in the evening, with an Ode that gave some of the personalities another jersey, especially Jack Pizzey, G.K.D.”Spud” Murphy and E.F. “Joe” Gutekunst.
SOMETHING ABOUT BULLION [Tune: “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”]
Pay your teachers more dough, Jack,
Pay you teachers more dough
That’s the language they know, Jack,
Pay you teachers more dough!
What has Canada got, Spud,
What has Canada got ?
Coupla shiploads from here, Spud,
Soon the whole bloody lot ! All together, now….
Why’d they to the Snow, Joe?
Why’d they go to the snow ?
Nothing warmer than dough, Joe –
This, Canadians know. All together, now ….
Will they ever come back, Jack,
Will they ever come back ?
If they give you the sack, Jack,
That might bring a few back! All together, now ….
Why don’t you go as well, Jack,
Why don’t you go as well ?
That would really be swell, Jack,
That would really be swell! All together, now ….
The “New Maths” was still in the process of introduction in 1967. It was to take three years 1966-68, so it maintained its prickly prominence in the pen of Ray. His other comments about his yearning to return to GOOD OLD-FASHIONED MATHS, and dancing to the NEW MATHS POLKA before becoming a NEW MATHS CASUALTY now took a new direction. Teachers whose birthday came out in the lottery for army service could escape from the ‘worry, woe and strife’. With service in Vietnam as a possibility, the options, as with cutting sugar cane, must have been serious.
FAREWELL TO TEACHING [Tune: “There is a Tavern in the Town.”]
I once was happy blithe and gay [blithe and gay]
Enjoyed my teaching every day [every day]
But since New Maths has come into my life,
It’s naught but worry, woe and strife!
Fare thee well, thou seriation,
Fare thee well now, conservation,
Fare thee well O rods that make a lovely train, train, train;
Adieu, equivalence, adieu [yes. adieu!]
I can no longer cope with you [cope with you ]
I may bust my back when I am cutting cane –
At least I will not bust my brain!
Time was when two and two made four [only four] –
It’s not so simple any more [any more].
Now two reds make a pinkie, so we’ve found,
Or else the other way around!
Fare thee well, concept of ‘fourness’,
Farewell ‘lessness’, farewell ‘moreness’,
For the soreness in my head has simply got to stop!
Adieu, com-mu-ta-tivity [ -tivity],
Now I no longer give a D- ! [give a D- !]
I may puff and blow while harvesting the crop –
At least I will not blow my top!
Those hieroglyphics on the board [on the board]
Are quite Egyptian, I’m assured [I’m assured].
My poor brain’s tried and tried – it truly has –
To dig that Babylonian jazz!
Fare thee well, notation cuneiform,
I will don a soldier’s uniform,
I must seek my fame and fortune in another place;
Adieu to Cuisenaire, adieu [yes, adieu!]
I may form fours, but not with you [not with you]
And whate’er the number of my army base,
Base Two I will not have to face !
The evening has provided school history with an musical indication of what was happening in Queensland in the late 1960s, especially 1967. It was a tumultuous year which featured some other notable episodes
*The Union travelled the state with a special display that showed items of concern for parents to consider. The display was shown in shop-fronts in all of the major cities and larger towns.
* A mass meeting of Union members was held in Cairns on 8 April, with 266 teachers attending. Some travelled long distances to be present. It expressed dissatisfaction with the “deplorable” state of affairs [QTJ,May.1967] and supported the recommendation for strike action previously proposed by the Mackay Branch.
* At the annual Midsummer Vacation School in Townsville during the first week of the Mid-summer vacation, a spontaneous evening meeting was held at Townsville West Primary School. It was a large exciting and vocal meeting. It asked the QTU Executive and Council to express the general dissatisfaction with a louder voice than it had. It was obvious from the spontaneity, the level of attendance and expressed anger that things were not well.
Following its establishment on 29 September 1966, the Queensland State Primary Head Teachers Association held in first Annual General Meeting on 16 March, 1967, at the Queensland Teachers Union Building in Elizabeth Street. There was an uneasy relationship with the QTU as the Union was seen to be deserting its raison d’etre of caring for all teachers. It was becoming blatantly sectional. Despite the endemic apathetic psyche of primary teachers, this association mushroomed in membership [183 to 306] and in the number of branches [3 to 10] during the year.
It delicately balanced itself as it walked the thin line that separated industrial matters from constitutional implications. The Association has now grown into a large organisation, with its own office in Brisbane and is known as the Queensland Association of State School Principals [QASSP].
Things have changed since Ray Kelley noted the conditions of 1967.
