Excursions are a big part of any school, as they allow the students to see, explore and discover many things in their subject areas or other interests. At the College, excursions have varied and included many different activities. Let’s take a look back at some of the excursions from the 1920s.
As part of the school year, the Sisters regularly took their students on special outings. Sometimes they were excursions close by, walks around the hills or, on occasions, Sister Martha would take the Geography students in the phaeton Melba had given them to investigate the nearby Yarra River.
Many were to pleasant places easy to get to from the train, such as the zoo or the Botanic Gardens, while others were quite impressive. One former student, Margaret Williamson (Class of 1922), recalled: “We went as a group from the school to see the great ballet dancer Pavlova; she danced the ‘the dying swan’. We also went to see the Australian pianist Percy Grainger.”
It was also common for the Sisters to take the girls on picnics, once again to scenic spots close to a railway station, such as Mt Evelyn or Warburton. On one particular picnic to Ferntree Gully there was a dramatic moment when “two girls espied a large black snake and tackled it with only a small stick. The reptile almost escaped down a hole, but the girls forced it out and eventually dispatched it”.
Pictured above: College students on a picnic locally, 1925.
Students enjoying themselves on an outing, 1925.
Betty Lingham, Val Barton, Aileen Welsh at Melbourne Zoo, 1936.
