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Biographical Dictionary - Coorow, Carnamah, Three Springs


Surname

Marjorie Emily GIBBS / GILES / WOODHOUSE

Born 15 July 1908 in Claremont, Western Australia [P181]
Daughter of "Frank" Francis GIBBS and Alice Elizabeth Almenia SMITH [P181]
She spent her childhood on farmland in Doodlakine [P181]
Her father, who was a farmer in Doodlakine, passed away at the age of 38 years in 1910 [2] [39: 16-Mar-1910]
In 1913 her mother married Edgar Malcolm GILES, who was a contractor and later farmer in Doodlakine [30: item 5100145] [50] [66]
Her stepfather served with the Australian Imperial Force in France during the First World War, suffering shell shock [30: item 5100145]
She received her upper schooling at Northam Senior High School and then attended Claremont Teachers College for two years [P181]
School Monitor at Toodyay and then her first job as a School Teacher was at Tinninderwar, east of Geraldton [P181]
School Teacher at the Winchester State School in Winchester in 1937 [73]
Her annual salary for her time as sole teacher of the Winchester State School was £229 [73]
During her time at Winchester her stepfather's sister Amy R. G. GILES was the proprietress of a tearooms in Carnamah [5] [55]
Member of the Winchester Tennis Club in 1936-37 [5: 16-Oct-1936]
Attended the largely attended Carnamah Tennis Dance at the Carnamah Hall on 17 April 1937 in black georgette and lace [5: 23-Apr-1937]
Donated a trophy for the Winchester Tennis Club's Annual Tennis Tournament in 1937 [5: 7-May-1937]
She met Winchester farmer Rob WOODHOUSE for the first time at a tennis match in Carnamah [P181]
Also taught at schools in Mount Walker and Gordon River in Western Australia [P181]
Around the 1940s retired from teaching and shifted to the Perth suburb of Maylands and purchased a house with her mother [P181]
Married "Rob" Edward Ernest Robert WOODHOUSE on 9 July 1945 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia [P181]
Resided of late in the Perth suburb of Saint James [2]
Died 1 May 1997; buried at the Guildford Cemetery in the Perth suburb of Guildford (Anglican, E, 85) [2]


Her former student in Winchester, Hazel BOTHE (nee CHAPPEL), wrote the following in a letter to her daughter Suzanne:
"Your mother was my first teacher at Winchester school. I can remember a pretty frock she wore which must have impressed me. I never knew her christian name. I only knew her as Miss Giles. I can see her now standing at the school cupboard in the corner. I think I liked her. I can't remember anything not so nice happening. Miss Giles boarded with the White family which was three miles from the school. The white children were Jim and Valda and they came all the way to school in a horse drawn sulky. The horse was taken out of the sulky and tied to a tree with a nose bag of feed for the day. I suppose Marjorie did that... I remember Rob [Woodhouse] being keen on Miss Giles and a local cheeky boy called Keith Pethick would follow them around to see 'what went on' I suppose.  So Rob gave him a hiding to send him on his way."


Reference:  Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Marjorie Emily Gibbs / Giles / Woodhouse' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 29 March 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/marjorie-emily-giles [reference list]




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