Fyfe, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Fyfe was born 24th February 1854, the second of eight children to Robert Fyfe and Ann nee Marshall. Robert Fyfe was a dairyman and farmer in the NSW Southern Highlands for forty years, and a respected member of the Presbyterian Church, apparently evincing inspiring 'Scottish religious fervour'. In January 1875, Elizabeth aged 21, and her sister Margaret, aged 19, undertook three months teacher training at Berrima Public School under schoolmaster John P Rooney.
On 14 April 1875 Elizabeth was appointed inaugural teacher of Berebangalo Provisional School near Gunning. Her sister meanwhile was appointed to Eling Forest Public School, much closer to home. After ten months at Berebangalo, Elizabeth received an unfavourable report from Inspector Murray at annual inspection, prompting questions over her suitability for the position. A surprisingly staunch defence of her potential was voiced by Inspector Hicks who had initially recommended her appointment, although he notes he did not have opportunity to observe her during training so had to rely on the Berrima schoolmaster's reports. Inspector Hicks in his argument for Elizabeth, notes Berebangalo had not been long established so the pupils were likely 'confirmed in their ignorance' through many years without schooling. The condition of the school, he adds, was very poor – there was no blackboard, and the furniture was 'insufficient, unsuitable, and rudely constructed'. Inspector Hicks concluded that 'under reasonably favourable conditions Miss Fyfe will make a moderately successful teacher of a small country school'.
This support notwithstanding, at the end of 1876, after less than two years at Berebangalo, Elizabeth Fyfe resigned. She did not give any reason, but her marriage shortly after to Henry Paterson, a farmer from Gunning, offers a cogent explanation. (Elizabeth's sister Margaret, by contrast remained unmarried and had a 35-year teaching career, the final decade as Infants Mistress in a large Sydney school). Elizabeth and her husband had six children, at least two of whom became teachers in the NSW public education system. After thirty years in Gunning the family moved to Wallamba in the mid-north coast district of NSW, buying a large property where Elizabeth lived until her death in 1913.
[Biography prepared by Joanne Toohey, 2023. Sources consulted include NSW school teachers' rolls 1868-1908, NSW school and related records 1876-1979, historic newspapers, NSW births, deaths and marriages index, and 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region' (1999) by Lyall Gillespie].
Schools
- Berebangalo
04/1875 - 12/1876