52 Ancestors 2023 – Week 4 –
Education
This prompt seems like an
opportunity to write about the “great Gowrie school feud” of 1886, recorded in
a series of letters now held in the State Archives of NSW.
The small file containing copies
of these letters came to me on my mother’s death in 2018, and I found them
fascinating.
Gowrie was a small school attended
at the time by about 30 children, including the family of Henry and Eliza Whitten
(nee Mason)# whose property, “Spring Creek” was in the Gowrie area.
The first letter in the file is
dated 14 May 1886 and it comes from John Riely, teacher at Gowrie School. It’s addressed to the District Inspector of
Schools at Tamworth.
In beautiful handwriting, it describes
an enclosed letter, from “Mr H Whitten” as “insulting and libellous”, strenuously
denies the allegations it contains, and requests an impartial investigation. He notes that Mr Whitten has never visited
the school to “enquire into the truth or otherwise expressed dissatisfaction.”
Henry Whitten’s letter begins, “Sir
it has come to my knowledge yesterday the way you have been teaching my
children at school lately. It seems you blame our child Annie for not working
her sum herself in her Book and abused and terrified the child with threats of
dismissal from the school and other punishment…you have marked her a liar.”
Riely’s reply states that he “never
wronged a child” and suggests that the proper course of action might have
been for Henry to come to the school to discuss the matter. He also suggests that Henry has been misled.
On 15 May, a letter to the Inspector, written by Henry, was signed by 7 parents, who accounted for 25 of the pupils at the school. It was accompanied by another letter from Henry which accuses Mr Riely of “immorality”
The situation worsened on 25 May
when there was another letter from Mr Riely to the District Inspector to advise
him that he had that day suspended two pupils – John Whitten, aged 16 and
Roland Richard Whitten aged 14, pending an investigation.
He writes, “R. R. Whitten has
been convicted of pouring into the ears of the younger children the vilest
obscenity. Mr Whitten senior only
sent these boys for a day or two, to create mischief” *
He goes on to say this:
“I have grave reasons to suspect
that hostile ecclesiastical influence is at the bottom of the whole affair.”
(I suspect he might be
right. Mr Riely was a Catholic. Henry, like all the Whittens was a Methodist
of the most earnest kind – non-drinking,
non-dancing, non-gambling and probably anti-Catholic)
In his letter about the
suspension to Henry, Mr Riely accuses him of encouraging the boys to rebel against
his discipline and says that they have been guilty of “repeated breaches of
Regulation 125 viz: gross insolence, persistent disobedience and profanity”.
The report of the Inspector deals
with Mr Riely’s alleged “uncouth language”.
This seems to consist of the use of two nicknames – “long legged
kangaroo” (of John Whitten) and “Billy the Bullock” (of Richard Rowland
Whitten). He also used the expletive “By
thunder”.
Several children were called as
witnesses and their evidence is included in the file. Most say they have heard the teacher use the
nicknames for the boys, but none make any complaints and there is no other
incriminating evidence. One boy, Michael
Hough, whose father signed the petition, concludes his statement with:
“By Mr Riely I have never been
punished unless I deserved it, and not always then.”
Even John Whitten, who complains
of the nickname, says, “I have never heard Mr Riely say or do anything worse
than what I have heard”.
It was enough for the Chief
Inspector. He wrote to the District
Inspector on 28 May to advise that John and Richard Rowland had been hastily dismissed
and should be reinstated.
And then on 15 June a final
judgement delivered to the District Inspector:
“Mr Riely has been informed that
his conduct in calling pupils by such names as “Kangaroo” and “Billy the
Bullock” is highly objectionable and unjustifiable and must not be repeated.
In view of Mr Riely’s
unpopularity with a large section of the parents the Minister deems it
desirable in the interests of the school to remove him to another
locality. It is accordingly requested
that you will submit arrangements for his removal as soon as practicable.”
Signed: J.C Maynard
Chief Inspector
All of this seems like a storm in
a teacup now, but it nevertheless galvanised this small community to the point
where a teacher was removed from his position and made to relocate. We don’t know whether this was a welcome intervention
or not, or the affect it had on his family.
Perhaps he was relieved to be quit of them all.
One of the great ironies in all this
is that John Whitten was actually known as “Long John” within the family and is
recorded that way in numerous family histories.
It’s hard to see why he and his father regarded the teacher’s nickname for
him as such an insult.
# Henry was the brother of my Great grandfather, Anthony Whitten. His wife Eliza was the sister of Anthony’s wife, Charlotte. Their children at the school were John (16), Roland Richard (14), Annie (12), Fanny (10) and Henry (8)
*My italics. It does seem to me that both of these boys are of an age when they would normally be working on the farm and not at school.