Vision and pragmatism in the educational and suffrage work of 'two advanced Englishwomen' in New South Wales.

Whitehead, Kay ; Trethewey, Lynne

In 1936 Miles Franklin recorded the educational work of her two friends, Harriet Newcomb and Margaret Hodge, in her prize winning novel All That Swagger: One of [William de Lacey's] daughters, Sophie, was distinguishing herself. She had persuaded her father to send her to Shirley, a school conducted by two advanced Englishwomen, where she won scholarships and other prizes which diminished her expenses and earned her a reputation. She had begun her pedagogic training at the University. William exulted in her. (1)

This portion of the novel was set in the early 1900s, the period in which Miles was working in Sydney and when it is likely she met Harriet and Margaret through a mutual friend and doyenne of the New South Wales women's movement, Womanhood Suffrage League (WSL) secretary Rose Scott. In 1915 when Miles relocated to London from America she renewed her connections with Harriet and Margaret who were by then heavily involved in the British suffrage movement. Thereafter Miles worked with them in feminist causes and spent many a Christmas at their home in Temple Fortune Court, Golders Green. (2)

This article explores connections between early twentieth century suffrage and education in New South Wales using Harriet Newcomb and Margaret Hodge's sojourn in that state as an exemplar of some leading women's interlocking agendas and networks. The early twentieth century was a period of wide-ranging educational as well as social reform with moves to extend formal schooling both above and below the ages of compulsion. To date, however, Australian histories of education and of the women's movement have proceeded independently of each other with little acknowledgement that some women assumed leadership in both arenas. For example, Noeline Kyle's study of women's education in New South Wales is silent on the matter of women teachers' involvement in suffrage campaigns and, conversely, Marilyn Lake's history of the feminist movement is not explicit about the fact that some of Australia's leading women, notably Adelaide Miethke and Annie Golding, were teachers. (3) In addition, the early twentieth century kindergarten movement is mostly portrayed as a philanthropic and educational initiative on the part of wealthy middle class women. (4) More rare are Deborah Brennan's statement that key figures in the New South Wales, South Australian and Western Australian suffrage campaigns were also prime movers in the establishment of kindergartens, and Barbara Beatty and Ann Taylor Allen's similar case for America and Germany respectively. (5) It is also the case that previous research about Harriet and Margaret, while portraying them as leaders in girls' education and teacher training, has not explored the links between their educational and feminist activism in New South Wales. Rosine Guiterman, Rosumund Docker and May Munro focus principally on their educational work in New South Wales while Angela Woollacott explicates their leadership in suffrage organisations such as the Australian and New Zealand Women Voters' Association once they returned to London. (6)

This article begins by furnishing details of Harriet and Margaret's social and educational backgrounds in order to demonstrate that they had sufficient cultural capital to be accepted into the intellectual and social networks of Sydney's leading activists in education and the women's movement. It then shows how they worked collectively with members of the New South Wales Teachers' Association and leading women to reconfigure training programmes for kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers, to advance the kindergarten movement and as activists in the campaign for women's suffrage. The main argument is that they contributed to education in New South Wales as theorists and as practitioners, attempting to professionalise teaching by reconceptualising and then transforming teacher training through their practices as lecturers and as teachers at Shirley School. Their contributions to the women's movement, too, are indicative of their engagement with its visions of a better social world and their pragmatic approach to addressing issues.

Harriet Christina Newcomb was born in May 1854 and like many young ladies of her social class and time was educated at home. Her mother died when she was young and thereafter Harriet managed the household and looked after her younger sister. In addition, she studied by correspondence for the Cambridge Higher Local Certificate and gained entry into Maria Grey Training College in London. She graduated with the Cambridge Teachers' Certificate and taught at Exeter High School in 1886. In 1887 she returned to Maria Grey, this time to train teachers. Here she met Margaret Emily Hodge, four years her junior and the woman who was to become her colleague and companion for nearly fifty years. Margaret was born into a large and wealthy middle class family and was also educated at home, first by her mother and then by her elder sisters. She also passed the Cambridge Higher Local Certificate and in 1879 entered Bishopsgate Training College in London. Graduating with the same certificate as Harriet, she began teaching at the College's first practicing school, Bishopsgate School for Girls. In 1885 she was appointed lecturer in history and literature at Maria Grey. (7) In the following years Margaret, and also Harriet, travelled frequently to Europe to study educational trends. For example, 'inspired by Matthew Arnold and with intense admiration for the German educational system', Margaret spent six months visiting schools in the Rhine district, Hanover, Prussia and Saxony in 1892-93. (8) In 1895 Harriet travelled to France to investigate girls'secondary education, spending three months in Paris with Madame R-El Chalamet, a leading educational reformer. (9) Harriet and Margaret were employed at Maria Grey until they emigrated to Australia in 1897.

Harriet and Margaret's social and educational backgrounds fitted them well for the public work that engaged them in Sydney. They seem to have been relatively wealthy, and thus paid employment and marriage were choices rather than economic imperatives. Their wealth also made European travel possible and enabled them to broaden their educational ideas and experience--so much so that they were subsequently considered to be experts in their fields. Their positions as lecturers at Maria Grey Training College in London afforded them opportunities to network with senior educators including Sir J. G. Fitch, the Senior Inspector for Schools; Sophie Bryant, Headmistress of the prestigious North London Collegiate School for Girls; and Madame Michaelis, 'pioneer of the Kindergarten system in England', who was located at the Froebel Institute in Kensington. These and a host of other luminaries later served as referees when they established Shirley School in Sydney. (10) Margaret's family, too, was well connected. Her seven sisters, several of whom were actively involved in the British suffrage movement, and one brother, 'were all clever and distinguished themselves as artists, writers, teachers and social workers.' (11) Indeed, it was through her family connections that Margaret and Harriet were recruited to Australia. In 1896 Professor Walter Scott of Sydney University, whose brother George was married to Margaret's sister, went to England with his wife. There he saw a good deal of the Hodges and Harriet, 'with whose revolutionary ideas he was much impressed'. (12) He also visited Mafia Grey Training College and approved the system, saying that there was a distinct opening in Sydney for the training of teachers on such lines. In his capacity as President of the New South Wales Teachers' Association Professor Scott encouraged Margaret and Harriet to come to Sydney to establish 'a more systematic and thorough course of training equivalent to the teaching diploma courses offered at the University of Cambridge'. (13) In essence Margaret and Harriet had the cultural capital that would enable them to fit relatively easily into the social-cum-intellectual circles that led public debate on both educational and suffrage matters in Sydney. As Kerstin Holmlund notes: Cultural capital allowed bourgeois women to be well-informed about all opportunities in society and provided access to decision-making processes. They had male contacts in different public institutions and were informed about educational programmes, knew how to dress, talk and how to behave in an appropriate way in order to be seen and given attention. (14)

In addition, Harriet and Margaret had the credentials, experience and expertise which enabled them to speak with intellectual and practical authority.

Upon their arrival in Sydney, Harriet and Margaret were given temporary accommodation by the Scotts and were soon inducted into the professor's educational networks. In October 1897 they became members of the New South Wales Teachers' Association and in 1898 Margaret was elected to its Council, on which she served until 1902. Members of the Council included Louisa Macdonald, Principal of the Women's College at the University of Sydney, and Caroline (Cara) David, first Lady Principal of Hurlstone Training College, Ashfield, both of whom subsequently worked with Harriet and Margaret in educational and suffrage forums. (15) From the outset Harriet and Margaret participated actively in the discussion of papers given at monthly meetings, deploying their knowledge of English and European education and sometimes vigorously challenging other members' perspectives. In March 1898 Margaret addressed the Teachers' Association on 'Some aspects of German education today'. In this paper she emphasised her knowledge and recent experience of German schools, comparing the education systems of various German states with the English system and pointing out the positive and negative aspects of each. In January 1898 she had also sought a wider audience for her views when she presented a paper entitled 'A new educational experiment: Special schools in England and Germany' to the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science at its meeting in Sydney. (16)

Besides attending meetings regularly, Harriet and Margaret were appointed to the Training Board of the Teachers' Association and they were instrumental in reconceptualising and implementing training schemes for teachers in private schools. In so doing they drew on their knowledge and experience of the courses offered by the University of Cambridge and Maria Grey Training College. In 1897 they lectured to fourteen students in the history of education and psychology, and also undertook the training of students in nature knowledge and drawing. Furthermore, with Cara David they comprised the panel of examiners for the Training Board. Ten students presented themselves for the whole or part of the theoretical and practical examinations. (17)

Harriet and Margaret's initial forays into educational matters were not limited to the various activities of the Teachers' Association but encompassed the embryonic kindergarten movement where they again worked with Professor Scott, Louisa Macdonald and Maybanke Wolstenholme (later Anderson), proprietor of a prestigious girls'school, President of the WSL and Vice-President of the Kindergarten Union. The Kindergarten Union of New South Wales had been established in 1895 to open free kindergartens for poor children, the first of which was at Woolloomooloo. (18) In January 1898 Louisa initiated a meeting at the Women's College to advance a proposal to open a free kindergarten in one of the poorest and most crowded parts of Newtown. Professor Scott chaired the meeting and speakers included Maybanke and Harriet. Maybanke later wrote that 'Miss Newcomb was an experienced lecturer in kindergarten ... her influence was of great assistance.' (19) Following Professor Anderson's lead in urging reform of infant education within the state system, Harriet's kindergarten expertise (together with that of Maybanke, Cara and Margaret) was similarly drawn upon at a women's meeting of the Public School Teachers' Association in November 1901. (20) Their efforts finally bore fruit in 1906 when the Education Department founded a practicing school and kindergarten at Blackfriars Superior Public School, in conjunction with the new Sydney Teachers' College.

The third sphere in which Harriet and Margaret's presence was felt was in the women's movement. Louisa and Maybanke had been long-time activists for women's suffrage and it seems that Margaret joined the WSL as soon as she arrived in Australia. Furthermore, at its annual meeting in June 1898 she was elected to its Council and seconded Miss Golding's motion: That this meeting instruct the Honorable General Secretary to write to the Premier, asking him to name a day on which he will receive a deputation from the Womanhood Suffrage League, re bringing in a bill to grant the suffrage to women. (21)

Margaret delivered a lecture entitled 'Women's opportunities and achievements in the past' at the WSL's August meeting in which she referred specifically to their contribution to education and medicine. (22) She was also soon involved with the WSL Secretary, Rose Scott, in another sphere of social reform, namely the Ladies' Committee of the Prisoners' Aid Association. Rose was President of the Ladies' Committee from its inception in 1898 to 1918, and used her extensive and influential networks among politicians to lobby for policy and institutional reform: Scott and her friends, Margaret Hodge and Frances Levy, worked on two fronts: first, the short-term supervision and care of women prisoners by carefully selected women staff; and second, the long term creation of separate institutions to deal with the specific problems of most women prisoners, especially those classified as 'inebriates'. The existing system was the perpetrator of violence, sexual abuse and degradation. The solution was to be the removal of women from sexual danger by protection and reclamation. (23)

Rose and Margaret were able to make a thorough inspection of Darlinghurst Gaol and the latter then addressed the Glebe branch of the WSL on the evils existing in charitable institutions having male directors only. (24) A central plank of the women's movement was that women needed to be appointed to a range of positions in the state such as police, factory and school inspectors, gaol superintendents and doctors, 'not in terms of equal opportunity in employment, but to secure the protection of women and girls.' (25) Nevertheless, such appointments also provided opportunities for middle class women to reconstitute these occupations as professional and scientific work. While Margaret did not advance this argument in relation to the appointment of gaol matrons, the following section will show that she considered the application of scientific principles to be integral to the professionalisation of teaching.

By the end of 1898, a little more than a year after their arrival, Harriet and Margaret were firmly ensconced in the social and intellectual networks that were promoting educational, social and electoral reform in Sydney, counting leading educators and social reformers among their friends and associates. Thus the 'two advanced Englishwomen' were well situated to influence educational, social and electoral issues and policy development through their membership of a range of organisations, presenting papers in public forums, and lobbying politicians both formally through deputations and informally through their membership of the same social circles. Furthermore, their political agendas and networks overlapped. Margaret in particular used her knowledge and experience of education and of women prisoners' living conditions to inform her lectures to the WSL and her colleagues in the WSL were also drawn into her educational projects. The following section will identify ways in which Margaret and Harriet were able to promulgate their educational agendas both at the level of policy and in practice in the first years of the twentieth century.

Harriet and Margaret's work under the auspices of the Training Board focused mainly on producing trained kindergarten and secondary teachers for private schools. In 1899 Louisa Macdonald negotiated with them to provide a course of lectures for prospective secondary teachers, to be held at the Women's College. Given that many of the students at the college were destined to become secondary teachers, Louisa argued that they should be appropriately trained for the profession. Margaret and Harriet were appointed as honorary lecturers in the theory and practice of education. The arrangement allowed the two women to provide tuition to college students at reduced fees [Louisa's hope that the lectureship should be endowed and so enable them to receive free tuition was not fulfilled] and give public lectures at the College for which they would receive the fees from outside students. (26)

Harriet and Margaret handled all applications and interviewed prospective students as well as providing the syllabus of thirty lectures. These lectures covered the sciences of physiology and psychology, history of education, 'the best methods of teaching the subjects taught in schools' and school organisation and management. Students were also required to undertake practical teaching in selected secondary schools and undergo the examinations of the Training Board to complete the secondary diploma. (27) Harriet and Margaret were characterised by one of the graduates of the secondary course as 'two experts who had given years of thought, study and work to the training of teachers and who ranked high in the educational world in England'. This graduate praised the quality of the lectures, noting that 'even the young student is able to develop a theory as to the possible aims of education' and that 'the lectures on the practice of education embodied wide experience in the methods of dealing with subjects and classes'. According to this student the perennial tensions between the theoretical and practical components in teacher training courses were not evident. Instead 'the practical and theoretical work aid and amplified one another.' (28) The annual reports of the Training Board were similarly complimentary about the thoroughness of Harriet and Margaret's work in this field. (29)

As far as kindergarten work was concerned, both women played leading roles in a variety of initiatives. In 1899 their report on the results of the practical class teaching component of the Training Board was considered 'to be so important and suggestive that cyclostyled copies of it were made, and privately circulated among the kindergarten trainers'. When the Sydney Kindergarten Teachers' College was opened in 1900 and a three year diploma course was offered to its students, Harriet and Margaret were in great demand as lecturers. (30) The same year Margaret was elected President of the Kindergarten Teachers' Association, an affiliate of the New South Wales Teachers' Association, while Harriet became President of the Kindergarten Local Research Society. (31) When a special course for twelve second year women students was established in 1908 Harriet was employed to lecture on the history and theory of the kindergarten. Her twenty lectures focused on Froebel and his predecessors and surveyed the development of the kindergarten in England, Germany and America as well as the movement in Australia. (32)

In essence Harriet and Margaret significantly influenced the philosophy and approach to training of the first generation of credentialled kindergarten and secondary teachers in New South Wales. They endeavoured to shift teacher preparation away from the prevailing pupil teacher system, which they deemed to be an outmoded model. In 1902 Margaret outlined her position in a paper entitled 'The professional training of teachers' at the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Hobart. She drew on her knowledge of the German system, stating that 'the intense belief of the Germans in the need for a sound scientific theory to aid and to correct personal experience leads them to insist on the training of every teacher in the science and art of education.' She argued that untrained teachers, however great their practical experience, were not sufficiently well informed about matters of physiology, psychology and ethical principles as they related to children, nor sufficiently reflective about their practice to be effective and bring out the best in scholars. She was convinced that the professionalisation of teaching depended on the acquisition of credentials and looked forward to the day when 'it would be as impossible for a teacher to teach without a diploma as it is for a doctor to practice without a medical degree.' Margaret also noted that the training of teachers was 'a subject of much controversy in Sydney' but did not elaborate her point. (33) Perhaps she was referring to the Royal Commission on Education, chaired by Messrs Knibbs and Turner, which had been established in 1900 as a result of a series of public meetings at which both Harriet and Margaret argued for educational reform. When the Knibbs-Turner Report was released in 1905 Margaret played an active role in formulating the New South Wales Teachers' Association's response to its blueprint for state secondary education. Indeed, she was the sole woman on the seven member sub-committee appointed to remodel the association's resolutions as a set of policy statements. Her views clearly influenced the second of these resolutions which argued in part 'that the need for professional training of teachers should be recognised as urgent'. (34) Thus, not only were Margaret and Harriet working to theorise and transform the training of teachers in New South Wales through their involvement in teaching the secondary and kindergarten diploma courses, but Margaret in particular worked to influence public opinion (for example, via her speeches to the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science) and the development of education policy.

Although Harriet and Margaret worked hard through the Training Board, teachers' associations, teacher training institutions and other public forums to transform the training of teachers, they faced serious difficulties in implementing the practical components of both the secondary and kindergarten courses. The Training Board required students to complete their practical work only in schools registered by the Board. By 1899 its exacting standards had led to the situation whereby only ten kindergartens, three primary and two secondary schools were registered. (35) Hampered by the lack of facilities to demonstrate the principles and practices in which they believed, Harriet and Margaret made the pragmatic decision to establish their own private school, known as Shirley New School and Kindergarten, in 1900. For the next eight years until they returned to London they were thus able put their beliefs into practice.

Shirley opened on 31 January 1900 at Edgecliff Road, Woollahra, not far from Rose Scott's home. The Prospectus included an impressive list of referees from England and Margaret and Harriet's educational networks in Sydney, and constructed 'the two advanced Englishwomen' as being at the cutting edge of both progressive thought and practice. As the Prospectus stated: The aim of this school is to give the pupils an education which shall develop individual power and widen the range of interest and sympathy in every direction.... The methods which will be employed are the result of many years of school experience, together with the study of educational principles to which so much attention is now given in England, Germany, Sweden and America. These principles have hitherto been most completely carried out in the system called the Kindergarten.... The Kindergarten principle of natural development by self-activity will be adhered to throughout the school. (36)

The kindergarten was conducted according to Froebelian principles and was conceptualised as 'the first stage in a continuous developmental process which was the purpose of all true education.' (37) A focus on the individual child, early sensory training, experiential rather than book learning, and the cultivation of a family atmosphere were some of the many features of Shirley School. Beyond the kindergarten, attended by boys as well as girls, there was a transition class, a lower school for nine to thirteen-year-olds and an upper school for girls aged fourteen to eighteen years. The curriculum in these divisions was broad and prepared girls for university entrance. Subjects included English, history (ancient and modern), foreign languages, drawing and needlework, maths, science as well as domestic economy, Swedish drill and class singing. (38) Harriet and Margaret were said to have introduced the Ling system of Swedish drill to New South Wales and demonstrated it to public school teachers, whilst games and physical education were important parts of the curriculum. Shirley was also one of the first girls' schools 'to take up cricket seriously', playing all year round. (39)

Indications of the school's administration and ethos are evident in the reminiscences of one of their students and also in the publicity that attended some of its activities. According to May Munro, Harriet and Margaret's strengths and contributions to the school were complimentary: Harriet Newcomb, far more constructive, was the leader and real principal of the school. Hers was the organising ability--the psychological knowledge and the appreciation of art, music, nature and beauty. The astringence of Margaret Hodge's wit and forthright criticism, her frankness and sincerity acted as a tonic and corrective, where sympathy might have degenerated into sentimentality. Her great intellectual power, her love of truth and amazing memory set wild free airs blowing through the classroom ... They were an unusual team and if it was that Miss Hodge provided the larger share of the dynamic, Miss Newcomb provided direction and channels for energy. (40)

As was the case with many such schools, Margaret and Harriet embraced the idea of an intellectual education for middle class girls but also retained the traditional female accomplishments of art and music, deploying them to serve others. Indeed, students were encouraged 'to think of others before themselves' and among Shirley' s public activities were three 'annual institutions'--the Christmas play, midwinter dance and the 'Christmas tree for poor children'--at which the ethos of service was evident. The less fortunate at the New South Wales Home for Incurables were the recipients of funds raised by the performance of school plays and the working class children from Surry Hills and Newtown Free Kindergartens were invited to the annual Shirley Christmas tree party. Shirley girls also sewed garments for children at the Surry Hills Free Kindergarten, selling them for a nominal sum instead of giving them away 'to prevent misunderstanding among the relatives' with the proceeds going into the school charities fund. (41) Margaret and Harriet's concern for the education and welfare of working class mothers and children, as exemplified in their involvement in the free kindergarten movement, was tempered by the belief that poverty was partially the result of lack of thrift and careful household management and that the poor should be encouraged to help themselves. The opening of Shirley's new school hall in 1902 and the cookery and science room in 1906 were two more public occasions in which Margaret and Harriet's connections with the women's movement were enmeshed with their concern to portray Shirley as an educationally and socially progressive school. In between musical items by Shirley's teachers and students, the first ceremony was performed by Louisa Macdonald and reported in the suffrage newspaper, the Dawn. Louisa emphasised Shirley's commitment to intellectual education by highlighting its links with the Women's College at Sydney University, noting that several of her students had attended Shirley and that they were now studying to become teachers. Then she commented on 'school influence ... and general tone' of the school. Following that, she endorsed Harriet and Margaret's approach to education: At Shirley every effort is made to interest and study each child, and to bring out all that is in the child; to help the growth of the mind by the eye as well as the ear by helpful surroundings and beautiful pictures, as well as by ordinary schoolwork. (42)

On the second occasion 250 guests heard Professor Wilson speak on 'The Value of Science in education' and WSL Secretary Rose Scott on the importance of domestic training for girls. Another speech argued the 'importance of training girls scientifically in household management'. On this occasion feminist and education agendas intermingled. First, the application of scientific principles to domestic work reflected middle class feminists' concerns to raise the status of women's domestic work and attract more working class girls to enter middle class households as domestic servants. Second, domestic science training was also seen to be necessary for the middle class girls at Shirley who were destined for university or occupations which did not provide the skills to supervise a household. Third, this kind of training could also facilitate a career path for middle class girls in the caring professions. It seems that feminist ideas informed Harriet and Margaret's administrative decision to build a combined cookery and science room and their careful choice of guest speakers at the opening ceremony, as well as influencing the ethos of the school in the longer tenn. (43)

Finally, a very important part of Shirley's raison d'etre, of course, was to train teachers and to this end it was registered by the Training Board to offer practicum placements for all diploma courses. Several students completed this component of their training at Shirley. In 1908, for example, six students, one of whom was an old scholar, were working at Shirley in this capacity and at least some of the teachers employed at the school were also graduates of the diploma courses. (44) Shirley was portrayed as 'a living example of [Harriet and Margaret's] philosophy in practice' and the two women also continued their lecturing in the theoretical components of the diplomas whilst acting as examiners for the Training Board. In spite of their efforts, the Board registered few schools and the number of graduates was small. In her final report of the Training Board before she and Harriet left Australia, Margaret reflected on their work and provided an apt diagnosis for the relative lack of success of the training scheme: We came out to N.S.W. to found a system of training for teachers in secondary schools--work for which our own twelve years' experience in the first Secondary Training College in London specially had fitted us. After three years of work as examiners and lecturers for the Board, we thought it advisable to open a school, where we could at all events give a practical illustration of our theories, and secure students for a consecutive course of training. About twenty students have taken part of their course with us, and eleven primary and six secondary teachers have taken their theoretical and practical examination and gained their Diplomas ... The record I have just read is a rather melancholy one of the petty done, the undone vast, but the omissions were not due to any want of energy or lack of enthusiasm for the cause we have so much at heart. It may be that our appeal was made prematurely, when we urged embryo teachers to receive a technical training and thus constitute themselves as a professional class, if so, we have at least sown the seed, and we shall live in hope that our successors in the work will gather from this seed a plentiful harvest. (45)

In the first years of the twentieth century, then, Margaret and Harriet's work in education was wide-ranging. They were at the forefront of attempts to introduce a new scheme for training teachers which reflected the latest developments in Germany and England and which they believed would professionalise the occupation. They provided the theoretical framework for the diplomas, they were involved in generating educational policy regarding the training of secondary teachers in particular, and they effected their educational agenda at the level of practice, firstly by agreeing to lecture to students and then in the establishment of Shirley School. Like the women in Mary Hilton and Pam Hirsch's recent book, Harriet and Margaret could be considered as 'practical visionaries.' These women leaders, 'often in fiercely practical ways ... changed educational ideas, working at the cutting edges of theory, argument and policymaking in the period.' (46) The final section of this paper will show that Margaret, who had the reputation of a 'big gun' speaking on feminist issues, and Harriet were also practical visionaries in the New South Wales women's movement. (47)

By the beginning of the twentieth century the suffrage campaign in New South Wales was in full flight and WSL members such as Margaret were addressing all manner of meetings in Sydney. Margaret continued as a member of the Council, chairing some of its meetings, and in 1901 she and Harriet were signatories on a WSL petition to the Senate. Foreshadowing her later involvement in international feminism, Margaret also argued that an Australian delegate should be sent to the International Woman's Suffrage conference in Washington in 1902. (48) However, tensions within the WSL were escalating and Annie and Belle Golding, among others, became increasingly critical of Rose Scott's autocratic management and the organisation's unwillingness to include industrial issues in its reform agenda. In September 1901 the Goldings and their supporters formed an alternative organisation, the Women's Progressive League, and both groups waged vigorous campaigns until the Suffrage Bill was passed in August 1902. (49) During this period Margaret and Harriet's allegiance remained with Rose Scott and when suffrage was won Margaret wrote to Rose from England, to which she had returned temporarily: So New South Wales has woman's suffrage at last. I have been asked to speak at the Women's [?] Association in November and I should be very much obliged if you could send me ... any paper about the Suffrage in Australia.... People have an immense interest in the position of women in Australia. (50)

In the same letter Margaret revealed her agenda as a practical visionary in suffrage as well as educational matters when she continued: I think we ought to form [in Sydney] a society for educating women to use their vote. It will be so very serious if the enfranchisement of women shows themselves crassly ignorant of politics, as people will say "Women are manifestly unworthy of the privilege." ... I shall be so glad to help you if I may in organising such meetings.

To this end Rose Scott founded the Women's Political Education League (WPEL) in October 1902. On her return to Sydney Margaret joined the League and was elected a vice-president at its first annual meeting, continuing in that position for several years. (51)

Harriet and Margaret's practical contributions to the political education of women also included that of future citizens, namely the girls at Shirley. Students were encouraged to become active citizens in their community and patriotic Australians. Empire Day was a significant event in the Shirley calendar and was observed 'with the inevitable flag flying and excitement'. In 1907 Margaret, writing as 'One of the Enfranchised' in The Shirley magazine, also articulated the main elements of an education for an informed citizenry: The ideal training for the voter would involve a knowledge of his or her fellow men of all creeds, and of all nationalities. This qualification is best obtained (1) by travel; (2) by wide reading, and an intimate knowledge of the history of the past, for "history is past politics"; (3) by an impartial reading of the history of the present through newspapers; (4) by a first hand knowledge of all the institutions of the country--"the young should be trained in the law and the spirit of the Constitution"; (5) by the early formation of a lofty ideal, and by continuous and unswerving allegiance to that ideal. (52)

Then Harriet and Margaret took advantage of the presence in Sydney of noted South Australian feminist social reformer, Catherine Helen Spence, to give effect to that agenda. On two occasions she was invited to address the students and her visits were reported in the school's magazine: Miss Spence who is eighty-one years of age ... has devoted her life to literature, politics and the promotion of charitable institutions. She impressed upon us that we should never consider our education finished, but should always keep on trying to improve ourselves. (53)

Catherine's visits to Shirley, like those of other prominent feminists such as Rose Scott and Louisa Macdonald, again illustrate the interwoven nature of Harriet and Margaret's educational and feminist agendas.

Finally, Margaret and Harriet's involvement in the early twentieth century women's movement extended beyond electoral reform as both belonged to the peak feminist non-party organisation, the National Council of Women (NCW). (54) The NCW focused on the rights and duties that women possessed as equal citizens and its overarching agenda was to enhance women's economic and social position. This influential lobby group developed policies, conducted media campaigns and sent deputations to local, state and federal government authorities. The NCW also sponsored lectures in order to inform policy development, with both Harriet and Margaret addressing meetings on a range of topics. For example, following on from some resolutions regarding the employment of sanitary inspectors, Harriet lectured on 'Household drainage' in 1900. Her comprehensive talk condemned all systems that emptied their pipes into the sea, included chalkboard illustrations on how to treat sewage and advocated flushing all traps in the house with disinfectant and boiling water. Margaret's papers included one on 'Professional training for teachers' and another entitled 'Teaching patriotism in schools'. (55) These presentations reflected her expertise and garnered support for women's work as educators. Such was Harriet and Margaret's commitment to this organisation that they agreed to represent it at the quinquennial conference of the NCW in Toronto on their way home to England in 1909. However, Margaret's ill health necessitated their prompt return to London. (56)

Conclusion

This article has focused on two early twentieth century educators and suffragists whose work is not widely known in either the history of education or feminist history in Australia. Drawn quickly into Sydney's social and intellectual circles, Harriet and Margaret worked collectively with men and women in congruent positions to further their educational and feminist visions. They were articulate women educators whose cultural capital and relatively powerful positions in the New South Wales Teachers' Association facilitated the implementation of their visions for professionalising the teaching workforce through systematic training in the science and art of education. Harriet and Margaret's ideals were expressed not only in relation to their professional concerns but also in a commitment to the women's movement. In both forums they were also pragmatic, with the establishment of Shirley School being the prime example of their commitment to realising their theories. To date, however, women educators have rarely been cast as theoreticians in either feminist or education history. Instead it has been their practices that have attracted historians' attention. Perhaps it is time we focused on women's visions as well as pragmatism in explicating their contributions to Australian history.

Notes

(1) Miles Franklin, All That Swagger, Sydney, 1936, p. 296.

(2) Jill Roe (ed.), My Congenials: Miles Franklin and friends in letters, Sydney, 1993, vol. 1,pp. 103, 142-5.

(3) Noeline Kyle, Her Natural Destiny: the education of women in New South Wales, Sydney, 1986; Marilyn Lake, Getting Equal; the history of Australian feminism, Sydney, 1999, pp. 101, 133, 184, 213.

(4) Elizabeth Mellor, Stepping Stones: the development of early childhood services in Australia, Sydney, 1990; Lyndsay Gardiner, The Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria, Melbourne, 1982; Helen Jones, 'The acceptable crusader: Lillian de Lissa and pre-school education in South Australia' in Stephen Murray-Smith (ed.), Melbourne Studies in Education, Melbourne, 1975, pp. 126-53.

(5) Deborah Brennan, The Politics of Australian Child Care: from philanthropy to feminism, Melbourne, 1994; Barbara Beatty, Preschool Education in America: the culture of young children from the colonial era to the present, New Haven, 1995; Ann Taylor Allen, 'Spiritual motherhood: German feminism and the kindergarten movement 1848-1911', History of Education Quarterly, vol. 22, Fall 1982, pp. 319--40.

(6) Rosine Guiterman, Harriet Newcomb and Margaret Hodge: an account of two pioneers in education, Sydney, 1949; Rosamund Docker, Harriet C. Newcomb and Margaret Hodge: values and basis of their work in education, Sydney, 1950; May Munro, Shirley: the story of a school in Sydney, Sydney, 1967; Angela Woollacott, 'Australian women's metropolitan activism: from suffrage, to imperial vanguard, to Commonwealth feminism' in Ian Fletcher, Laura Mayball and Phillipa Levine (eds), Women's Suffrage in the British Empire: citizenship, nation and race, London, 2000.

(7) Guiterman, pp. 3-6.

(8) Miss M. Hodge, 'A new educational experiment: special schools in England and Germany'. Paper read before the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Sydney session, Section J, 12 January 1898, Mitchell Library (ML).

(9) Harriet Newcomb, 'Some impressions of education in France', Australian Teacher, 31, June 1899, pp. 2-7.

(10) Prospectus, 'The New School (Girls) and Kindergarten. Shirley, Edgecliff Road, Sydney, N.S.W.', p. 2, ML, MSS35/41.

(11) Guiterman, p. 3.

(12) Guiterman, p. 6.

(13) Beverly Fletcher, The Care of Education: the Teachers" Guild of New South Wales 1891-1991, Sydney, 1992, p. 23.

(14) Kerstin Holmlund, 'Don't ask for too much: Swedish pre-school teachers, the state and the union, 1906-1965', History of Education Review, vol. 29, no. 1, 2000, p. 49.

(15) Australian Teacher, no. 26, November 1897, p. 4; Australian Teacher, March 1899, p. 5; March 1900, p. 1; Oct. 1900, p. 1.

(16) 'Some aspects of the German education of today', Australian Teacher, no. 27, April 1898, pp. 7-9; Miss M. Hodge, 'A new educational experiment: special schools in England and Germany'. Paper read before the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Sydney Session, Section J, 12 January 1898, ML.

(17) 'Training Board report', Australian Teacher, no. 28, August 1898, p. 3.

(18) Jan Roberts, Maybanke Anderson, 1845-1927: sex, suffrage and social reform, Sydney, 1997, pp. 109-12.

(19) Mrs. Francis Anderson, 'The story of the Kindergarten Union of New South Wales' in The Story of Kindergarten in New South Wales, Sydney, 1911, p. 23; 'From far and near', Dawn, vol. 11, no. 10, 1 February 1898, p. 1; 'A free kindergarten at Newtown: a successful inauguration', Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February 1898, p. 3; 'Opening of the free kindergarten, Newtown', Dawn, vol. 11, no. 11, 1 March 1898, p. 12.

(20) Anderson, pp. 27-28.

(21) WSL Roll Book 1891-1902, ML, MSS38/34; 'From far and near', Dawn, vol. 12, no. 3, 1 July 1898, p. 3.

(22) 'From far and near', Dawn, vol. 12, no. 5, 1 September 1898, p. 8.

(23) Judith Allen, Rose Scott: vision and revision in feminism, Melboume, 1994, p. 155.

(24) Allen, pp. 153-59; 'From far and near', Dawn, vol. 13, no. 1, 1 May 1899, p. 5.

(25) Lake, p. 58.

(26) Jeanette Beaumont and V. Hole, Letters from Louisa: a woman's view of the 1890s, based on the letters of Louisa Macdonald, first principal of the Women's College, University of Sydney, Sydney, 1996, p. 115.

(27) Fletcher, pp. 24-7.

(28) 'Teachers' Association of New South Wales. Extracts from a paper by Miss E.J. Read [a graduate of the secondary training course], read at presentation of diplomas to primary and secondary teachers who had completed their courses under Miss Hodge', Australian Journal of Education, vol. 2, no. 2, August 1, 1904, pp. 5-6.

(29) See for example, 'Teachers' Association of NSW. Presentation of Teaching Diplomas', Australian Journal of Education, vol. 1, no. 12, July 1, 1904, p. 9.

(30) "Report of the Training Board', Australian Teacher, no. 32, September 1899, pp. 3-4.

(31) 'Kindergarten Teachers' Association', Australian Teacher, no. 35, October 1900, p. 20.

(32) Australian Journal of Education, vol. 5, no. 2, May 1908, p. 7; NSW Department of Public Instruction, Teachers' College Calendar 1908, p. 49.

(33) Margaret Hodge, 'The professional training of teachers'. Paper presented to the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Section J, Hobart, 13 January 1902, pp. 780, 784.

(34) 'The Commissioners' Report on Secondary Education. Adjourned Discussion', Australian Journal of Education, vol. 2, no. 11, May 15, 1905, pp. 5-6.

(35) Fletcher, p. 24.

(36) Prospectus, 'The New School (Girls) and Kindergarten. Shirley, Edgecliff Road, Sydney, N.S.W.', p. 2. ML, MSS35/41.

(37) Ruth Harrison, Sydney Kindergarten Teachers' College 1897-1981, Sydney, 1985, p. 14.

(38) Kyle, p. 109; Munro, p. 10.

(39) The Shirley, vol. 1, no. 1, March 1906, p. 6; vol. 1, no. 3, September 1906, p. 2.

(40) Munro, p. 31.

(41) The Shirley, vol. 1, no. 1, March 1906, p. 2; vol. 1, no. 2, June 1906, p. 19; vol. 1, no. 3, September 1906, p. 5; vol. 3, no. 3, November 1908, p. 3.

(42) 'Opening of a new school hall', Dawn, vol. 15, no. 5, 1 November 1902, p. 8.

(43) The Shirley, vol. 1, no. 4, January 1907, p. 2.

(44) The Shirley, vol. 2, no. 4, January 1908, p. 10.

(45) 'Report of the Training Board Work--1897-1908', Australian Journal of Education, vol. 6, no. 4, October 15, 1908, p. 6.

(46) Mary Hilton and Pam Hirsch, 'Introduction' in Mary Hilton and Pam Hirsch (eds), Practical Visionaries: women, education and social progress, 1790-1930, London, 2000, p. 2.

(47) Woman's Sphere, vol. 4, no. 51, 15 November 1904, p. 43.

(48) WSL 10th Annual Report, June 1, 1901, ML, MSS38/37,p.9;WSL Minute Book 1899-1902, ML, MSS38/33, p. 232.

(49) Audrey Oldfield, Woman Suffrage in Australia: a gift or struggle?, Cambridge, 1992, pp. 93-94.

(50) Margaret Hodge to 'Dear Miss Scott. With love and best wishes for the Women of N.S.W.', Bournemouth, 23 August 1902, ML, MSS38--Rose Scott correspondence, vol. 20, 283-6.

(51) 'New South Wales. Women's Political Education League', Woman's Sphere, vol. 3, no. 34, 10 June 1903, p. 308.

(52) 'The Political Education of Women (by One of the Enfranchised)', The Shirley, vol. 2, no. 1, April 1907, p. 10.

(53) The Shirley, vol. 1, no. 4, January 1907, p. 13; vol. 3, no. 1, July 1908, p. 9.

(54) NCW--Miscellaneous Records 1897-1912, ML, MSS 38/46.

(55) 'News and Notes', Dawn, vol. 13, no. 2, 1 June 1899, p. 5; WSL Minute Book 1899-1902, ML, MSS38/33, p. 132; 'Social and Political. New South Wales', Woman's Sphere, vol. 4, no. 51, 15 November, 1904, p. 43.

(56) 'Puck's Girdle', Sydney Morning Herald, 30 June 1909, p. 5.

Kay Whitehead

School of Education

Flinders University of South Australia

Lynne Trethewey

Adjunct Research Fellow

University of South Australia

Kay Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer at Flinders University in South Australia. Her historical research encompasses nineteenth and early twentieth century education, focusing on teachers' lives and careers during this period. She is currently studying women public servants, the majority of whom were teachers, in the post-suffrage era.

Lynne Trethewey is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of South Australia. The focus of her historical research has recently shifted from age-graded primary school organisation to women educators' political activism in the early twentieth century.