Christine Evelyn Gray (1925‒2020)

Norwood State School Grade 5A‒6C, 1961. Christine Gray, top far right. She inspired Liz Seaton (née Dedman) 2nd row, 5 from left, to become a music teacher and they formed a lifelong friendship. Courtesy Liz Seaton.

 

Christine Evelyn Gray (1925‒2020) Teacher. RHSV Councillor 1985‒1990

Christine Gray was a remarkable teacher and strong advocate for natural history and community history. Her parents Edward (Ted) Alexander Gray and Eva Myrtle Gray (née Atkinson) lived in regional Victoria. Her brother Kenneth Robert was born at Seville in September 1922 but died 17 months later at Dimboola. Christine Evelyn was born on 23 October 1925 at Maryborough where her father worked as a carpenter.

After the little family settled at Mount Evelyn, Christine attended the Mount Evelyn State School and her father became president of the school committee. Christine progressed to the Lilydale Higher Elementary School and secured her Intermediate and Leaving certificates. A slight, fair-haired girl, Christine appeared in 1941 aged sixteen with a few fellow students in a photo titled ‘The Brains Trust’.

Christine was appointed a student teacher at Mount Evelyn State School in 1944 and the following year gained a scholarship to Melbourne Teachers’ College, Carlton. On completing this one-year course, she proudly added TPTC after her name –Trained Primary Teachers’ Certificate. She entered the profession when teachers were poorly paid and women received significantly less than their male counterparts. The short teachers’ course prioritised practical training above general education but Christine constantly extended her knowledge to the lasting benefit of her students.

Christine’s first teaching assignments were far from home. She was a trainee teacher in the village of Burrum in the Wimmera before taking up her first appointment in the nearby small town of Rupanyup in 1946. As the new ‘head teacher’, Christine took charge of about 10 children at Rupanyup South State School. The district inspector set the pattern for reports that were to be repeated in later years by others with even higher praise: she was ‘zealous in the performance of duties’ and secured ‘very good pupil cooperation’.

Christine then spent nearly four years as assistant teacher at the Salvation Army Boys’ Home, Bayswater. The Education Department ran a school for about 50 junior boys from No.2 Home, many of whom had arrived as neglected children. It was here that Christine developed her hallmark skills of assisting children with emotional and behavioural problems.

Christine then taught at Croydon North State School and later at Warrandyte State School before helping to shape the character of two new primary schools required to cope with the rapidly increasing population of the Ringwood district.

An inaugural teacher at Norwood State School in 1956, Christine effectively managed large composite classes and expanded her skills. She passed the AMEB 7th grade singing examination and helped train the school choir. Her lunch-time recorder classes extended her varied music curriculum, inspiring a number of students to follow a music-based career.

In 1965 Christine signed on for three years as a foundation teacher at Ringwood Heights State School and stayed for twenty years until her retirement in 1985. She delighted in the bushland setting, the variety of birds and profusion of wildflowers, and enjoyed the company of the close-knit, environmentally conscious school community. In addition to sound instruction in basic subjects, she featured natural history in her classes, perceptively discussed Indigenous culture, taught the descant and larger consort recorders, and gave lessons in knitting, spinning, macramé and tapestry. She collated the book School is Ace compiled by students, wrote a short history of the school and arranged for retention of part of the natural bushland as a sanctuary, which still exists today.

Christine had a passion for orchids, dating back to her childhood at Mt Evelyn, and she travelled the state, often with her mother, in search of rare specimens. In 1966 Longmans published her 2-volume book Victorian Native Orchids; more than half of the orchids listed were from the Ringwood district. This book prompted the Weekly Times to produce an article on Christine and her captivating teaching: ‘Blue fairies, pink fingers, rabbit ears and red beaks may sound like snatches of nursery rhymes but children at Ringwood Heights State School know these are the common names of Victorian orchids’. A photographer portrayed Christine leading her nature study class along a bush track; she believed these excursions would give her students a lifelong interest in natural history.

Christine applied her ‘quiet, purposeful manner’ to several volunteer organisations. A foundation member of the Ringwood Field Naturalists Club in 1962, she served on the committee, held many positions including librarian and became a mainstay of the juniors’ club. She shared her expertise on gemstones as well as orchids. The club honoured Christine with Life Membership in 1978.

 

Christine Gray, Life Member Ringwood Field Naturalists Club, 2001, at the Club’s 40th anniversary. Courtesy Alison Rogers.

 

After the death of her father in 1956, Christine lived with her mother Eva in Mont Vue Street, Lilydale, and cared for her in the years preceding her death in 1989 at the age of 88. A steadfast member of the Baptist Church in Lilydale, Christine was organist for more than 30 years and wrote the booklet One Hundred Years of Witness—Lilydale Baptist Church Centenary in 1981.

Christine pursued her interest in history as a member of the Ringwood & District Historical Society, then became a driving force in the Lilydale & District Historical Society. A founding member of the society in 1971, Christine became the longstanding secretary. She assisted with celebrations for the Shire of Lillydale’s centenary, wrote the society’s first publication Lilydale Historical Notes on the Township and Environs and organised systematic recording of donations and loans when the society opened a museum in 1976. Her interest in Indigenous history led her to discover and rescue artefacts from a former Indigenous camping site due to be bulldozed for a housing development. The society bestowed Life Membership on Christine in 1989.

 

Meanwhile, Christine had spread her community history wings by representing the Eastern Region of Historical Societies on the Victorian Committee of Affiliated Historical Societies. Formed in 1969 with representatives from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and networks of local historical societies, the VCAHS facilitated liaison between the RHSV and its numerous affiliated societies, and discussion of issues, especially those of concern to regional Victoria; it became known as the State Committee in 1985.

Christine travelled widely across Victoria speaking at meetings, seminars and workshops and she organised activities, sometimes based at Lilydale, for about 12 societies grouped in the Eastern Region. She became increasingly involved with the RHSV, joining the society in 1984 and serving on Council as a regional member from 1985 to 1990. In 1988 she was elected to succeed John Irving from the Yarram Historical Society as president of the State Committee and served for two years. In this significant role, under an RHSV proviso, she became a vice-president of the RHSV from 1989 to 1990.

Christine moved to Abervale Retirement Village, Grovedale, in about 1990 and through attendance at the Latrobe Terrace Church of Christ, Geelong, met Pastor James (Jim) Tilson who later helped her move to Warralily Gardens Aged Care home. In October 2018 Sue Thompson, president of the Lilydale Historical Society, requested the RHSV Council to approve an Award of Merit for Christine Gray for her ‘valuable, unstinting service’ to the Lilydale Historical Society, the Eastern Region and the RHSV.

Associate Professor Don Garden, President RHSV, presents an RHSV Award of Merit to Christine Gray, Warralily Gardens aged care home, Geelong, 21 March 2019. Courtesy Sue Thompson, President Lilydale & District Historical Society.

 

Associate Professor Don Garden, then president of the RHSV, presented the Award on 21 March 2019 at an afternoon tea at Warralily Gardens. Christine graciously presided over the occasion which was attended by Carole Woods, chair of the RHSV awards committee, Sue Thompson and her husband Wal, Pastor Jim Tilson and Christine’s friend Harry Emmerzael. Christine died on 30 January 2020 and was buried in the Lilydale Cemetery. The quietly spoken novice teacher of 1946 had become an esteemed and loved educator and a compelling voice for community history in Victoria.

Carole Woods

November 2021

Sources

Assistance from the Lilydale & District Historical Society, Mt Evelyn History Group, Ringwood & District Historical Society, Rupanyup & District Historical Society, Ringwood Field Naturalists Club and staff and former students of the Ringwood Heights Primary School.

Dedman, Cherry, ‘Teacher Writes on Orchids’, Weekly Times, 5 April 1967.

Gray, Christine, ‘The History of Ringwood Heights Primary School’, RHSV Collection.

Perry, Marilyn, ‘Eulogy for Christine Gray at her funeral service 5 February 2020’, RHSV Collection.

RHSV Council records 1969‒1991.

Seaton, Liz, ‘Timeline for Christine Evelyn Gray (1925‒2020) with References’, RHSV Collection. An invaluable source, especially on Christine Gray’s teaching career.

Thompson, Sue, ‘Nomination for an RHSV Award of Merit to Christine Gray’, October 2018, RHSV collection.

Thompson, Sue, ‘Vale Christine’, Now & Then, 1 February 2020, pp. 1‒2.