Brian Booth - 1955-1958

I finished teaching at Hurlstone in 1958. I taught there for 4 years from 1955-1958 as a Physical Education teacher and Assistant Sportsmaster to Brian Moffat. As a teacher I lived at the school in the teachers’ residence. This had many advantages. First, it enabled me to work as a team member with other residential teachers. Living and working with other teachers at such close quarters was a wonderful experience for me as a beginning teacher. I learnt so much from them about discipline, class control and general teaching procedures. They were always ready to give advice, encouragement and support. It was just good fun to sit together in the residence at night and share teaching and other life experiences, especially the ups and downs of the day.

I enjoyed umpiring cricket matches for the boys on Wednesday afternoon. Because I was assistant sportsmaster I did not take any of the grade teams as such but generally assisted the other coaches during their practice sessions. Usually, I umpired for the boys of lesser standard who played in the house competition. I remember one occasion when a third year boy named Roger came into bat, and eventually got a run. He seemed especially pleased, I said “It’s always nice to break your duck Roger”. He replied. “Mr Booth, not only have I broken my duck but that is the first run I have every scored playing cricket”. I am glad I was there to witness such a momentous occasion.

As mentioned earlier Hurlstone was very much a rugby school. Hockey was my winter sport so I set about introducing hockey in lesson time and during weekend recreational activities. Apart from the five sticks I owned we did not have enough sticks for two teams. The oval fence at the time was in a sad state with many palings missing. Hurlstone boys showed their initiative and removed a few more palings to make up for the deficiency in sticks.

Mr James, the Principal walked onto the ground and watched for a while. He could see the boys were enjoying the change in sports. During a break in play he complimented me on introducing hockey as an alternative activity. On closer inspection he could see that many of the boys were using fence palings rather than hockey sticks. Ruefully he said, “Mr Booth, when the boys have finished their game would you get them to nail the palings back on the oval fence. If you do that old chap I will see that you get two sets of hockey sticks”. He was even better than his word. Not only did I get the two sets of hockey sticks but the oval fence was completely repaired and painted.

I commenced teaching at Hurlstone on the first week of term 1, February 1955. I could well have had one of the shortest teaching careers on record, as it could have finished on Monday morning of week 2.

Before the swimming pool was installed the Hurlstone boys had a favourite swimming spot on the Georges River. The first Sunday of school term I was on recreational duty. It was a very hot afternoon and senior boys, including prefects, thought it would be good to go to the river for a swim. I had not been there before but the seniors knew the way. The Principal gave approval.

We ran to the river, some three km from the school and on the river side of Glenfield township. It was in bushland and somewhat isolated. We were a mixture of classes from Year 7 to Year 11. Boys were told that no one was to go into the river until all had arrived, including me, and before the spot was checked. Some Year 7 boys were the first to arrive, as I arrived I was greeted by other boys telling me that a boy called John had dived in on arrival, had hit his head on a rock and was unconscious. On examining John I found he had taken a piece of flesh out of the middle of his forehead about the size of a 20c piece. There was little blood but he was concussed. That ended the swimming. Prefects were given the task of getting the boys back to school while others and myself started to carry John. Fortunately we met a family who were at the river and who had a car. They took us back to the school where the accident was reported and John examined by the matron. He spent some time in Liverpool hospital under observation and then back to the school sick bay. Apart from concussion and the wound, John was not badly hurt and soon recovered.

On Monday about 10.00 am I received a message that the Principal, Clarrie James wanted to see me in his office immediately. I thought the worst, that I was going to be sacked. However, when I entered his office rather tentatively, he said “Mr Booth, I want you to meet the parents of John. They wanted to thank you for what you did for their son yesterday”, I breathed a sigh of relief.

In my second year at Hurlstone in 1956, I approached the resident master to seek his approval to start a Bible Study group on a Tuesday evening, in the half hour break the boarders had between the end of the evening meal and the start of prep time. He declined approval for this time as he said the boys needed free time before prep. However, he said I could have 30 minutes from the end of prep time at 8.30 pm till 9.00 pm while other boarders got ready for bed. He said “You will not have many coming so they will not disturb other boarders on returning to the dorm”.

Initially he was right, for one year I met with two boys on a regular basis. The next year 1957, the two regulars began to invite their friends who in turn invited their friends. By mid-year there was quite a group meeting. The resident master came to me and said, “I am afraid I will have to stop you meeting that Bible Study group at 8.30 pm on Tuesday nights. There are too many attending and they are disturbing boys already asleep when they return to the dorm. You will have to meet between 6.00 pm and 6.30 pm in the break between evening meal and the start of prep”. Interestingly this was the time we originally wanted to meet.

By year’s end there were some 60 boys attending that group and this continued in my last year of 1958. The group continued on for some years afterwards led by the local station master and others. Some of these boys went into full time ministry on completing their studies at Hurlstone.