Teaching was one of the very few ‘respectable’ professions open to a single woman in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which explains why, at that time, about 50 per cent of all teachers in Queensland public schools were female.
Even so, in the state school system, they were subject to the same prejudices and discrimination as they were elsewhere: low pay, poor conditions, little opportunity for advancement (none whatever if they married, resignation then being compulsory). Some enterprising women, though, circumvented these constraints by setting up their own schools, and Sandgate boasted several such institutions.
Pioneering Female Educators in Sandgate
Miss Alice Monk arrived in Sandgate in 1881 and established her first ‘Educational Establishment for Young Ladies’ at Moreton Cottage in Kate Street. After two further moves, in 1886 she bought Fernylawn in Rainbow Street, of which she boasted: “a better or more commodious site for a boarding school could not be found in all of Sandgate” (somewhat negated by the nearby noisome cesspit and Rainbow Street drainage problems that plagued the council at the time).
When she vacated these premises to move to Mackay in 1891, she sold most of the furniture, the catalogue of which – including “a good cottage piano” as well as rocking chairs, “the contents of five bedrooms” a mangle, a sausage machine and a boiler – provides an interesting insight into what it took to furnish a boarding school at the time.
In 1905, Misses Daisy and May Gibbins began advertising their “boarding and day school for girls, and school of arts” where they prepared students for university, music examinations and commercial careers. This was situated at the corner of Yundah St and Eagle Terrace, where they also operated a school for primary-aged pupils called, curiously, the Sandgate Private High School. Here, the Misses Gibbins taught both boys and girls in classes from kindergarten to Form V, with subjects ranging from Latin, algebra, scripture and drawing to needlework and cookery.
Nor were the thespian arts neglected. Every year, the Misses Gibbins and their pupils entertained parents and friends at an end-of-year concert and theatrical performance. These entertainments comprised calisthenics displays (“Master G Davidson gave a capital exhibition of dumbbell drill”), musical performances and a play, including, in 1913, one in French written by Miss Daisy Gibbins. The Sandgate Private High School continued operating into the 1940s.
These women, and others like them, provided broad educational options for the children of Sandgate and surrounds while themselves enjoying fulfilling careers that would not otherwise have been available. As we might say: win win!
[With thanks to the Sandgate Historical Museum (opening hours: Sunday and Wednesday, 9 am to 1.30 pm).
Read more stories from the Sandgate Guide print magazine here:
- Be Spellbound
- Say Cheese
- Reaching the Pinnacle
- Closing the gender gap in STEM
- Teens Rock the Green at School’s Out Event
- Laurie’s Beach Walk
- SANDBAG Counsellors Boost Empowerment for Marginalised Communities in India
- Win A $200 City Cave Voucher
- Securing your accounts with multi-factor authentication
- Bracken Ridge Toastmasters
- Boondall School’s Big Bash
- Trying New Things
- Bramble Buzz: Updates from the Community
- Organic Gardening in March
- SpikyPuffer
