Mercia Cecilia BARLOW
Born 1899 in Menzies, Western Australia [15]
Daughter of Thomas Reginald BARLOW and Ellen Cecilia CUSACK [15]
She passed the Western Australian Junior Certificate and Division III Alliance Française [41]
In 1919 she did a one year course at the Teachers' College in the Perth suburb of Claremont [41]
Teacher at Wadderin Hill State School north-east of Narembeen before being appointed to Coorow [41]
Arrived in Coorow on Wednesday 2 February 1921 [215]
Teacher of the Coorow State School in Coorow in 1921, on an annual salary of £180 [73]
Owing to the room not being ready and the students not present she was unable to open the school until Monday 7 February 1921 [215]
The school was held in a makeshift room measuring 25 by 12 feet with hessian walls, an iron roof, fireplace and two windows [215]
In 1920 the school was held at Coorow House but after that became unavailable the makeshift room was built by a local fettler [215]
She described the room as "of very rough description" with its open gable ends and floor of sleepers with gaps between them [215]
The two windows of the room were on the west side and provided imperfect light, especially after one broke and was blocked up [215]
During her time in Coorow she initially boarded with Mrs Annie M. BATTERSBY about two miles away on Wattle Vale Farm [215]
Each day she walked from Wattle Vale Farm to the makeshift room near the railway station, and then back in the afternoon [215]
After an accident or slight mishap sought lodging elsewhere and the best she could find was "shelter" with a local fettler's family [215]
Boarded with George W. and Matilda QUINNELL near the railway station in Coorow, and greatly appreciated them taking her in [215]
They had no room she could use so she shared the bough shed and its one bed with the QUINNELL's daughter Ivy [215]
The QUINNELL's had a lodger who slept in the dining room who retired early so she was compelled to go to bed early as well [215]
Left Coorow and returned to Perth in mid March 1921 to recover from her accident and for Easter [215]
From Victoria Street in the Perth suburb of Cottesloe she wrote to the Education Department on 1 April 1921 [215]
In her letter she requested the conditions at Coorow be improved, adding that "they would need to be seen to be appreciated" [215]
Owing to the difficulty in securing lodging and the "intolerable" state of the school she appealed not to be sent back to the Coorow [215]
Her request was obviously granted as within a few days a new teacher, Vera HARRY, was appointed to take over the school [215]
Later in April 1921 a school inspector concurred with her remarks adding that the room was scarcely even a fit shelter for animals [215]
After Coorow she was the Head Teacher at state schools in Kenninup, Boundain and Irishtown before resigning at the end of 1923 [41]
She owned land in North Fremantle, Buckland Hill and Perth which was offered for auction on 4 May 1926 [39: 23-Apr-1926]
In 1937 she was living at 16 Mount Vernon Street in the Sydney suburb of Forest Lodge [225: 15-Jul-1937]
Died 29 September 1959 in New South Wales, Australia [32]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Mercia Cecilia Barlow' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 26 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/mercia-cecilia-barlow [reference list] |
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