My Earthly Guardian Angel By James Dolan [1943-44]

Story Added : April 2006

My mother was widowed two days before my thirteenth birthday, when my father was killed in a car crash. She fulfilled her wish that if I passed Scholarship I would be sent to Nudgee College. I had some excellent teachers during my primary education and the Christian Brothers at Nudgee were all first class educators. They were my models and a career in teaching was foremost in my mind as I prepared to sit for the Junior Examination in 1944.

A couple of months before the exam, two gentlemen from the Dept of Public Instruction visited the College to interview students who might be interested in attending Kelvin Grove Teachers' Training College. I didn’t bother taking an interview as I assumed that I would be returning to study for Senior. I was a member of the 1st XI and vice-captain of the 7st 7lb Rugby Union side. I enjoyed boarding school life and because Mum was a widow, the Principal Br Tierney saw fit to allow me to attend at a very reduced annual fee.

Then my world came crashing down. The Junior results were published in the daily newspaper and I passed in all nine subjects for which I sat. When I told Mum how much I was looking forward to returning to Nudgee she informed me that she intended putting aside my boarding fees towards a deposit on a small cottage, which we could share. You’ve guessed it. I was an only child and I was devastated. Why hadn’t I taken that interview?

Mum worked at Woolworths in Queen Street and we shared a house with an elderly couple in Spring Hill. I obtained employment with a photographic studio but my heart wasn’t in the work. Life was pretty miserable in the early months of 1945. However early in March my earthly ‘Guardian Angel’ entered my life. A lady by the name of Miss Graham.

A small block of units adjoined the place where we lived. One day as Mum was pegging out the washing she engaged in conversation with Miss Graham from next door who said that she was an infant teacher at Ascot State School and of course my mother told her of my desire to be a teacher and my plight with the interview. She told my mother that she was a very good friend of the Principal of the Training College, Mr John Robinson, and she would speak with him.

A week later my mother called me into the back yard and there smiling across the fence was Miss Graham who told me that she had arranged for me to be interviewed by Mr Robinson for entry to the Teachers’ College.

A teaching career of forty-one years followed. It was most satisfying and rewarding. I shall never forget that lady. Thank you Miss Graham – my earthly Guardian Angel.

Kelvin Grove Teachers' Training College building as it is today.