When a teacher’s not engaged in his employment [his employment],
Or correcting compo, map or exercise [exercise],
His capacity for innocent enjoyment [-cent enjoyment],
Is just the same as any other guy’s [other guy's].
But on Fridays when he’s free from classroom fetters [classroom fetters],
He religiously attends a seminar [seminar],
Ever learning from his peers and from his betters [yes, his betters]
In a corner of the Oriental bar.
[Tune: "When a Felon's not Engaged..." -Pirates of Penanze]
It was the Oriental in Mackay, the Scariff in Rockhampton, the Vale in Townsville, ‘Andy’s’ in Innisfail, Hides in Cairns, all centres of learning with flexible hours, very popular on Friday afternoons. A full list would cover many pages. They were the gathering points for local Principals and staff teachers and drop-ins for the country folk visiting town on the weekly grocery excursion. It was at these casual, impromptu in-service sessions that the nitty-gritty of important school management detail was examined; where the dwarfs expressed their opinions to the giants and where almost everyone picked up a hint or two about improving individual school operations.
Informal agenda items usually consisted of the impact of the latest Education Office Gazette, the movements and fads of the District Inspector if not present, the latest curriculum innovation, the dates, times and expectations of forthcoming meetings and events, stories about the adventures of colleagues. Sometimes the location changed, depending on the popularity of the publican or the proximity of the hotel to a dominant teacher personality or for some other reason.
Each participant drove home carefully. Those who stayed longest were very conscious of their condition. The 1982 introduction of Random Breath Tests spelt the end to these useful professional development undertakings.
It was at one such meeting that the Queensland Association of Primary School Principals found its genesis. A number of significant Head Teachers in Brisbane held their weekly ‘choir practice’ at Chardon’s Hotel, occasionally at the Inala Hotel. In the 1960s, salary plaints from the Queensland Teachers Union proposed wide and odious differences in salary between Secondary School Principals and Head Teachers [as they were known].
The wage differences were extreme as were the resources and professional assistance available to High Schools. ‘Teachers in charge of schools”, as Head Teachers were described in the Teachers Award State, maintained, however, that the requirements to be in charge of a Primary School were much more severe and complex than any other school operation. Primary Heads really got their knickers in a twist, as comparisons revealed the truth. The contumelious treatment by their own Union became too much.
Reflecting the angry, philippic expressions made at every Friday location throughout the state, the nucleus of the above-mentioned Brisbane West group believed that Primary Heads should form a professional group. Frank Killorn [Serviceton] and Alan Greenwood [Mt. Gravatt Central] took the initiative and called an open meeting. Thus, the Queensland State Primary Schools Principals Association [later called QASSP] was born. ‘Primaryness’ blossomed for the first time and pride in the name grew. The Association’s ‘eucalypt tree’, according to Maurie Kelly, is the lounge of the Sunnybank Hotel. After this first determining open meeting, its first official meeting was held on 26 Sept.1966 at the QTU building in Elizabeth Street, Brisbane.
Most times, of course, such Friday afternoon manumissions were happy and carefree. They gave rise to great measures of conviviality and colleagueship, for which Queensland Primary Principals are noted. Some lasting friendships were made. Ray Kelley’s description of the esprit de corps of the Central Highlands folk at their popular watering-hole, the Emerald Star, typifies what went on elsewhere. Since a beam of starlight shone on their difficulties, the Highlands’ location was most appropriate.
PER ARDUA AD ASTRUM
[Tune: "Clementine']
In the Highlands there’s an island -
When you’ve reached its harbour bar,
Safely anchored with a tankard
You are in the Emerald Star.
Fellow creatures, brother teachers
Worn with worry, cursed with care,
Their tomorrows full of sorrows,
Come to drown those sorrows there.
Yes, the place is an oasis -
If you’re feeling woebegone,
Park your camel and a dram’ll
Give you spirit to go on.
One more shandy – things are dandy;
One more brandy – all is well;
One more whisky makes you frisky
And the world can go to hell!
School Inspectors quaffing nectars
From the Star’s enormous store
Choose to stay for half the day, for
They can’t walk out through the door.*
Are you lost and tempest tossed and
Wond’ring where the heck you are?
There’s the beacon that you’re seekin’ -
Brightly shinin’ Emerald Star.
Down your beer, then – give a cheer, then
For our cheery licensee,
Whose reliance on his clients
Is well-placed in you and me.
See “The Door With No Glass: A Modern Faheyble”.
