First Person

The Fibro School by the Swamp

“TEACHER-IN-CHARGE—Maria River via Kempsey. Second Class Rail Warrant Attached.” Yes, this was all the information thought necessary for me to begin my teaching career in some far-flung corner of the Department of Education empire. Well, I knew roughly where Kempsey was, and having been a member of Section 7, the small school section at Newcastle Teachers’ College, and digested the combined wisdom of our lecturers who obviously knew all about these places (had any of them ever been in a small school?), I packed a very large suitcase, a tennis racquet and a portable radio and caught the Kempsey Mail…

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