Lucy Spence Morice: 'Mother of Kindergartens' in South Australia.

Trethewey, Lynne

Existing histories of the free kindergarten movement in South Australia (1) scantily acknowledge the key role of Lucy Spence Morice in helping to found the Kindergarten Union (KUSA) in 1905 and subsequently guiding the organisation through financially troubled times, internal conflict with respect to the independence of the Training College (Adelaide KTC) from Education Department control, changes of directorship, and in accordance with its original mission. This article seeks to restore Lucy Spence Morice to a place in South Australian annals alongside that of her distinguished aunt Catherine Helen Spence: teacher, journalist, author, Unitarian Church preacher, philanthropist, political and social reformer, self-styled 'new woman' of the late nineteenth century, and to niece Lucy a dear friend, mentor and inspirational role model. In the light of fresh evidence contained in the papers of Mrs Marjorie Caw (an early KTC graduate), and informed by the work of Caine, Lewis, Ryan, and Goodman and Harrop most especially, (2) it re-assesses Mrs Morice's contribution to kindergarten reform from a feminist revisionist historical perspective. I utilise biographical methods and network analysis in order to point up the genesis of Lucy's zeal for the cause of kindergarten education; also to argue that her informal but expansive social ties, plus her links to professional women and other activists in the fields of child health, welfare and education were central to her work for the Kindergarten Union.

Surrounded by fine and enriching influences in her early life, Mrs Morice is not a sympathiser merely on the surface

(Louise) Lucy Spence Morice, daughter of John Brodie Spence (E.S.&A. Bank manager, M.P.) and his wife Jessie, was born in Adelaide on 1 March 1859. Brought up 'in the broadest possible way' in the Unitarian Church rather than the orthodox Presbyterianism of her Scottish forebears, Lucy was educated in private schools. In the summer quarter when the Spences resided at Glenelg she attended 'the most absurd educational establishment where the girls of the first families learnt to read, write and do sums', conducted by Mrs Forsyth, 'an ancient Scottish lady' whose pedagogical approach involved the use of Dr Brewer's Guides to Knowledge--'questions and answers to be memorised'. Whilst living at the E.S.& A. Bank city branch in winter, though, Lucy appreciated the 'most intelligent teaching of English and French' by the 'quite unconventional' Miss Annie Montgomerie Martin at her progressive school for girls, mainly from Unitarian and other non conformist families, in Pulteney Street, Adelaide. (3) Here it is important to note that Unitarians like the Spences and Miss Martin, whom Lucy regarded as a significant figure in her early life, were an intellectual elite in colonial Adelaide. Prominent in discussions of contemporary issues and at the forefront of social reform, subscribers represented every shade of political opinion for the Church's principal appeal to well-educated people of substantial means lay in its emphasis on rationality and, in the tradition of nineteenth-century liberalism, the right to individual conscience and independent conviction. A member of the Suffrage League deputation to the Premier in 1891, Annie Martin was also active in the (short-lived) Woman's League which Lucy initiated in July 1895 with a view to educating recently-enfranchised South Australian women 'socially and politically ... apart from all considerations of class and party, and to interest ourselves specially in questions relating to women and children'. (4)

The young Lucy Spence was surrounded by fine and enriching influences at home too. 'To have had Catherine Helen Spence for my aunt', she enthused, 'was indeed wonderfully good fortune, and added to that my beloved parents, John and Jessie Spence, both of them intelligent, educated, liberal and over-flowing with kindness'. (5) Her 'Auntie Kate' Lucy described as: my dearest friend and kinswoman who always knew me and gave without stint, not affection only but sympathy, understanding, wise counsel and inspiration.... [S]he was a wonderful personality and to have known her was [in itself] a liberal education.... She had such a generosity of mind and such marvellous knowledge stored up. (6)

Lucy further recalls that on her regular Sunday visits after church Miss Spence always brought a sheaf of letters from world-wide correspondents to discuss with her favourite brother. 'I was the only one of the clan (second-generation) who cared for any of the things which so vitally interested her and my father', Lucy averred: 'Socialism, Single Tax, Proportional Representation, Communism ... all phases of religious thought and philosophy ... everything for the furtherance of human happiness and well being she studied earnestly, and all schemes for betterment and reform had her attention'. (7) Thus, even in her 'carefree days' Lucy was 'not without a sense that there were more interesting and dignified employments in life than ribbon work and gossip, and for this I was indebted to my kinswoman Catherine Helen Spence [whose] motto was "Everything human can be improved"'. (8)

As Jones summarises, the bond between Lucy and her Auntie Kate (even stronger after John Spence's death in 1902) was based on strong family ties, their shared Unitarian faith, many mutual friends, a deep love of reading, and years of co-operation in working for social justice, especially for women and children, from mid-1895 until C. H. Spence died on 3 April 1910. (9) Lucy's own niece, Anne Wainwright, claims that Lucy's tribute to C. H. Spence is self-revealing of her character; Jones' description is of a woman more passionate and impulsive than her aunt, equally dedicated to righting social wrongs but whose energy for some years was directed to her family. Lucy Spence married Englishman James Percy Morice (Parliamentary Librarian and from 1901 Parliamentary Clerk) at a Unitarian service in her father's home, 'Fenton', Glenelg, on 20 March 1886, thereafter turning to Socialism and the Anglican Church. In 1892 she gave birth to a son, (John) Patrick Spence Morice, and some time later a daughter who died shortly after being delivered by a mid-wife whose 'unprofessional, unhygienic ways' almost caused Mrs Morice's death too. Only the intervention of her neighbour and close friend Joanna, wife of the wealthy businessman and philanthropist Robert Barr Smith, saved Lucy's life.

In the broader context of early twentieth century concern about the high rate of infant mortality, this birthing experience combined with Lucy's compassion for all children furnished a personal motive for her joining the Puericulture Committee of the British Science Guild SA Branch, which repeatedly lobbied Parliament in the 1910s for implementation of its recommendations on infant nurture, maternal education, early notification of births and the registration of mid-wives. Also to found the Adelaide School for Mothers with Dr Helen Mayo (an Adelaide medical graduate and fellow Science Guild member) in 1909, and as the Institute's first president to campaign against high infant mortality rates. (10) The actual work and implementation of policy with respect to the School for Mothers lay mainly with Helen Mayo and Miss Harriet Stirling, a member of the State Children's Council (along with C. H. Spence). Both women were foundation members of the Women's Non-Party Political Association (WNPPA) which Lucy founded in July 1909 on the advice of Victorian feminist and long-time friend Vida Goldstein; both also became involved with Mrs Morice in the free kindergarten movement--as did a number of their associates in this organised feminist network.

Meanwhile, freed by domestic help and with her husband James sharing her passion for modern literature and for delving deeply into the reason of existing social conditions, a middle-aged Lucy Morice embarked upon a range of other social and educational reform projects as befitted the enfranchised, cultured, intellectual woman possessed of a highly developed social conscience and a wide-awake, vital interest in the foremost questions of the day that she typified. As Lucy tells it, following the demise in April 1897 of her first public venture, the Woman's League, there was 'The Social Students' over which Miss Spence presided: 'a very small, insignificant body of no practical importance, just enquiring into things'. (11) Next came the Working Women's Co-operative Clothing Company (whose factory opened in February 1902), of which Lucy was a 'housewife' member, her aunt's successor as Board chairman in 1910, and liquidator in February 1913 when notices of winding up the company were issued. Mrs Morice was also an active honorary member of the Women Employees' Mutual Association, having joined the United Trades and Labour Council committee in 1905 to form this new union. Additionally she was a member of the Theosophical Society, served on the board of the Adelaide Literary Theatre in 1911-12, and held salon afternoons for 'interesting persons' of different intellectual persuasions. The Morices were otherwise "at home" to a steady stream of visitors from across the whole social spectrum, 'from goal birds to Bishops', for to Mrs Morice 'social barriers did not exist. She sincerely and deeply was interested in every human being with whom she had contact'. (12) Lucy thus moved in varied circles: she had connections with women unionists and via her aunt with feminist activists everywhere, yet also attended Government House functions and was best friends with philanthropist Joanna Barr Smith (nee Elder, whose brother Thomas and husband Robert were partners in a leading mercantile and pastoral firm). Through her father (a former parliamentarian) and her husband, by virtue of his work and membership of the exclusive, male-only Adelaide Club, she was ideally placed to gain intimate knowledge of South Australian political affairs and to use their social connections with "men of influence". C. H. Spence's journalism contacts likewise proved beneficial to Lucy's reformist endeavours.

Jones argues that such personal contacts were important in effecting social and educational reform, and that the likes of Lucy Morice and her associates, already in the vanguard of the post-suffrage women's movement, exerted an even more powerful influence in the relatively small, close-knit Adelaide community once they were conjoined in the WNPPA (more commonly known as the Women's Non-Party and later re-named the League of Women Voters). Lucy succeeded her aunt as president of this feminist organisation which took practical and successful steps to educate citizens and thereby stimulate legislative and administrative reform in numerous areas affecting women and children. Working in separate committees, this articulate, well-educated group with delegates from all other women's associations in Adelaide generated pressure on politicians for social change through lobbying (by deputation, petition and letter), newspaper publicity, and networking with feminists in other States and internationally. (13)

With much of the WNPPA's work being focused upon the education, health and welfare of "the child as a future citizen", strong personal links existed between the Association and the Kindergarten Union of which Lucy Morice was Organising Secretary. For example, Lucy pressed KU Director and KTC Principal Lillian de Lissa into service on the foundation council of the WNPPA and into addressing the membership on the subject of Kindergarten while she herself spoke on new educational ideas and the Science Guild's efforts to effect puericulture reform. The Franklin Street Free Kindergarten was used for early School for Mothers meetings; Helen Mayo acted as both medical officer to the kindergarten children and unpaid lecturer in hygiene, ambulance and first aid at KTC until November 1910. Leading headmistresses and teachers within the Women's Non-Party were nominated by Mrs Morice to serve with her on the KU Education Committee, and so the list goes on. Indeed, as the next section of this article reveals, Lucy exploited her feminist and other social connections to the full in advancing the cause of Kindergarten in South Australia, for in a life dedicated to varied forms of philanthropic social service this was her dearest work.

In 1936, aged seventy-seven but still a very active member of the KU Executive and "godmother" to a newly-opened kindergarten named in her honour, Lucy Spence Morice was awarded a M.B.E. A journalist remarked on this occasion: To a wide circle she is an inspiring and delightful leader--endlessly sympathetic to youth and as devoted to new ideas as most people are to old. No official account of her educational work can do justice to its personal quality. (14)

A decade later another celebratory newspaper article stated: 'It is not given to many women to live to see the seed they helped to plant in the life of the community grow to such rich bearing as has been the experience of Mrs J. P. Morice, "mother of the kindergartens" as she is affectionately known to those aware of the part she played in the establishment of the movement in South Australia'. (15) For doing what, more specifically, did Lucy earn this appellation and such accolades?

An inspiring leader, Mrs Morice has from the earliest days 'mothered' the kindergarten movement here

The formation and work of the Kindergarten Union of South Australia was neither an overtly feminist nor an exclusively female enterprise: men and women together launched the movement and men continued to be closely involved with the organisation throughout the first decades of its existence, especially in policy and financial matters. By the same token, the main protagonists in the 1909-10 battle to retain KUSA's jurisdiction over kindergarten teacher training were split along gender lines, Lucy Morice having run-ins with a number of male Executive members over the issue. For, in her prime (she turned fifty years of age in 1909), Lucy was 'a plump motherly figure, determined, sure and energetic, [whose] bluntness was sometimes browbeating, her impatience with those whose vision was not as great as hers sometimes tactless'. (16) Then again Mr Morice ably supported his wife as the Union moved strongly forward under her relentless but inspiring (de facto) leadership through several changes of KU director/KTC principal.

Bertram Hawker introduced kindergarten to South Australia after returning from a visit to Sydney deeply impressed by the transformation of street urchins into responsive, orderly, happy children at the Woolloomooloo Free Kindergarten. (17) His interest in working class child welfare and in kindergarten as an instrument of social reform, Dowd suggests, likely stemmed from conversations with his brother Edward, a member of the State Children's Council like C. H. Spence who had previously visited the kindergarten at Woolloomooloo and was similarly impressed by the work of Chicago-trained Frances Newton, Principal of Sydney KTC. For her part, Lucy Morice helped Mr and Mrs Hawker to organise the September 1905 kindergarten demonstrations given by Newton and her most promising student Lillian de Lissa in Adelaide, which attracted large audiences and received extensive press coverage--probably secured through Miss Spence's journalism contacts. Already a student of the New Education then sweeping the Western world, including Froebel's philosophy, Lucy saw 'the living thing' for the first time in these demonstrations and upon writing to thank the Hawkers was asked to become secretary of the movement they were determined to establish. She thus attended the meeting of interested parties held on 26 September 1905 to consider the proposed formation of a kindergarten union and establishment of free kindergartens in the poorest parts of the city; also to discuss funding for an initiative that Lucy regarded as 'not a charity but a far-reaching educational reform, ... a regenerating factor which brings love and order and beauty into the lives and homes of the people, ... a spiritual force helping to build securely the future of the Commonwealth'. (18)

At the aforementioned meeting, although favouring co-operation with the Education Department, Frances Newton spoke against state intervention in the work of kindergartning. Her argument that bureaucratic control was inimical to the true spirit of kindergarten was deployed by de Lissa several years later in opposing Director of Education Alfred Williams' proposal to transfer kindergarten teacher training to the University Training College, and again in her evidence to the Royal Commission on Education whose final report in 1913 vindicated the stance she and Lucy Morice adopted from the outset with regard to the independence of KUSA and KTC. Meanwhile, prior to the Union's inaugural meeting on 5 November 1905, kindergarten advocates--Mr Hawker, Mrs Morice and Miss Spence foremost among them--built support for future action, conversing with influential people, explaining what kindergarten was to the public, and securing from the Government an assurance of financial assistance. The Union's operations were otherwise to depend on membership subscriptions, fund-raising and private benevolence. In the ensuing struggle to educate the community as to the vital importance of the Union's work and solicit funds, Mrs Morice played a central role and in characteristic fashion was supported by her aunt. As Lucy reported following C. H. Spence's death in April 1910: She was the very first subscriber to the Union and one of the first Vice-Presidents, who never missed a meeting at which she could by any possibility be present. She spoke for the work, and wrote for it, and her help and influence is sadly missed. (19)

Lucy and her Auntie Kate, partners in so many other areas of social reform but now focused on the fledgling kindergarten movement, were members of the KU deputation which approached the Premier and Minister of Education, Thomas Price, on 22 December 1906 for an increase in the government grant in order to establish a training college. (KTC opened in February 1907.) Beyond that, if not also for Lucy's recruitment of new subscribers in her capacity as Organising Secretary, plus her social connections with vice-regal patrons and wealthy philanthropists like the Barr Smiths who funded much of the College's growth, it is doubtful whether the organisation would have survived the recurring financial crises it faced.

Having donated 100 [pounds sterling] to get KUSA's work started, Hawker's ongoing benevolence was crucial to the movement's survival and expansion. As the Union's 16th annual report stated: Bertram Hawker, one of those chiefly concerned with the formation of Kindergartens in this State, has now resided in England for many years but continues to take a practical interest in the work here. He is our largest subscriber; 50 [pounds sterling] used to come every year and now, in spite of the state of English finances, he regularly sends 30 [pounds sterling]. We feel that some of our South Australian wealthy men might well follow his example. (20)

An extra 500 [pounds sterling] was forwarded in 1913: 100 [pounds sterling] towards the Union's building fund and 400 [pounds sterling] to defray the costs of de Lissa's travel to Rome to study under Maria Montessori, followed by a commissioned educational tour of Europe, the USA and England, where Lillian gave the opening paper at the Montessori conference organised by Hawker at his East Runton home in July 1914. Lucy Morice maintained a life-long correspondence with Hawker, and with de Lissa after Lillian left Adelaide in March 1917 to take charge of Gipsy Hill kindergarten-nursery training college, visiting both of them in 1920 when she took a year's leave of absence, armed with an honorary commission, 'to see something of educational matters in England and Rome'. (21) By means of this overseas sojourn and interstate visits to view 'experiments in education', her network of correspondents, and the modern literature in the fields of social work, education, history and philosophy she avidly read, Lucy kept abreast of the latest kindergarten and child welfare developments abroad and in Australia--feeding what she learnt into KU policy deliberations and the course of history of education lectures she gave to second-year KTC students in 1908-25, which according to de Lissa 'she made a good line of hooks on which to hang her many ideas and ideals of education'. (22)

Leading by personal example in prevailing upon other philanthropists in her social circle to supplement the annual government grant by donating money to the Kindergarten Union, Lucy's contribution helped to acquire a cottage adjoining the Franklin Street Free Kindergarten in January 1907 to accommodate the Union's teacher training branch. She subsequently gave 50 [pound sterling] to retain Bowden Kindergarten land as a playground for the children as well as 500 [pounds sterling] towards the purchase of land and erection of the kindergarten which bears her name. As a result of their close friendship, in 1912 Joanna Barr Smith sent Lucy a cheque for 100 [pounds sterling] 'to be spent in saving fatigue and overwork of Miss de Lissa and herself', and another 100 [pounds sterling] in 1913 towards the rent of Strathearn residential kindergarten college before KTC's eventual removal in 1915 to a large house in Palmer Place, North Adelaide--again courtesy of the Barr Smiths' generosity. (In the interim college classes were temporarily conducted in de Lissa's cottage at the rear of the Morices' North Adelaide home and other rented premises.) Lucy's further material support for KUSA's early work included her donation of fittings for the Franklin Street Kindergarten, books for the KTC library, gifts for the student residential house, goods for fund-raising jumble sales, and much more. It was impossible to enumerate the details of her thoughtfulness regarding the work of kindergartens and kindergartners, the Union Executive reported in 1917. She was likewise always thinking of things she could do for the Training College, said the joint principals in their 1925 report.

Lucy also endeavoured to garner wider community support for Kindergarten by means of the press interviews she gave, leaflets distributed in conjunction with kindergarten demonstrations before the public and during de Lissa's 1912 lecture tour of country towns, special appeals, and the sending out of collectors in quest of subscriptions. Meanwhile she exhorted those directly involved in the movement to make personal sacrifices 'for the sake of the work'. Devotion, loyalty and service were required of them all, Lucy reiterated in her annual reports, again leading by personal example. For, in addition to the savings consequent upon her honorary lectureship in history of education, until 1923 all secretarial and administrative work for the Union was done voluntarily, 'the bulk of which fell on her shoulders and was of inestimable value in keeping costs down'. (23) In such work and on the finance front, James Morice assisted his wife as KU Treasurer in 1913-20, General Secretary 1914-20, Minute Secretary in 1921-22 (when Lucy temporarily resumed general secretarial duties), and a Finance Committee member until the mid-1930s. (He was also one of two trustees, 1922-37.) As a Central Executive Committee member he reportedly helped the Union 'in numerous ways, by writing special letters and with advice on knotty problems, and with counsel in matters where his knowledge of the past enables him to clearly understand the situation'. (24) There are also multiple references to Mrs Morice's help and advice in policy deliberations, not least as a member of the new Organising Committee formed in 1940 'to watch the financial aspect and development of the Union', at which point she resigned from Executive Committee but was made a Life Vice-President of KUSA. (25)

Indeed, Prest observes, Lucy Morice served at one time or another on every type of committee in the Union, the longevity of her involvement in its affairs giving KUSA's record a continuity it could not otherwise have had. Once freed from the tedious clerical work that her initial position as Minute/ General Secretary entailed, on being appointed Hon. Organising Secretary (which office she held from October 1911 until 1932) Lucy became the 'galvanising figure' behind the Central Executive such that whilst she was on leave in 1920 the KU report for that year stated: It was only when we had not Mrs Morice to turn to, in any and every difficulty, that we fully realised the large part she played in the Kindergarten world. We are glad to take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation of the splendid and devoted services that she has given to the Union ever since its inception. (26)

KTC joint principals Amy Burgess and Dorothy King, who wrote this report in Lucy's absence, similarly commented in reference to her honorary secretaryship of KUSA's Education Committee and its predecessors (on which she served continuously from 1908 until the late 1940s): It was realised that it would be extremely difficult to find anyone to fill Mrs Morice's place, and so at a special meeting of the Committee it was decided that Mrs Hubbe should act as Secretary ... and the remainder of the work be divided between Mr Morice and the Principals.

Dowd points out that Lucy acted as a practical link between Union and College by virtue of her secretarial offices in both, and that on Executive Committee she was often a communicator and proponent of de Lissa's views (identical to her own) in the counsels of the Union. This was particularly apparent in the twelve months from December 1909 to December 1910 when the kindergarten movement was deeply divided over the question of who should control the work of KTC.

As elaborated by Jones and Dowd, many Executive members, especially Professor Mitchell, were in favour of Director of Education Williams' proposal to transfer kindergarten teacher training operations to the Education Department while de Lissa and her 'guide, philosopher and friend' Mrs Morice were implacably opposed to any such take-over. Lucy's role in the matter was pivotal since Lillian was holidaying in Sydney when a special joint meeting of the College Council and KUSA Executive Committee was held on 7 December 1909 to consider Williams' scheme; and when the College Council met a week later to discuss the curriculum for kindergarten students in addition to formulating a resolution to be sent to the Central Executive. Lucy acted as a conduit between de Lissa, Mitchell, Williams and Executive Committee Chairman R.J. Hawkes in December 1909 through to February 1910--their respective views being communicated to her by letter. The issue still not resolved six months on (perhaps deliberately on Lillian and Lucy's part while they took action behind the scenes to save KTC), the receipt by Executive Committee of de Lissa's alternative plan for training kindergarteners in August 1910 stimulated Hawkes to re-open negotiations with Williams. That ill-feeling ran high within the Union management on the eve of the October 14 KUSA annual general meeting at which the question was to be finally decided is evidenced by the disagreement between Hawkes and Mrs Morice over what should be printed in the annual report and Lucy's complaint of a vendetta against her by men on the Executive Committee (which Hawkes disclaimed). (27) Whilst the pro-Education Department faction had the numbers to carry Executive Committee policy at the October 14 meeting, with considerable ingenuity the opposing group managed to avoid a vote on William's proposal--likewise at the adjourned meeting which followed. Then, preceding the stormy public meeting of November 21, there ensued a complicated series of blocks and counter moves based on interpretations of the KUSA constitution. With his unrivalled knowledge of parliamentary procedure, James Morice was undoubtedly behind these stalling tactics while his wife set about hunting up new KU members 'by the dozens' to support de Lissa's policy of retaining the College. He certainly took an active part in noisy disagreements over procedural matters before the November 21 meeting in the Town Hall got underway, whereupon those in favour of Williams' scheme "did battle" with the 'resolute, aggressive and distinct party' which formed around de Lissa. Having again failed to reach agreement, this meeting resolved to refer the matter to the new executive that would be elected when the KU general meeting re-assembled for a third and last session on 28 November 1910. On this occasion, since most of the old committee did not stand for re-election, the persons nominated by Mr Morice were installed by virtue of new members' votes. (28) Thanks to the Morices' strategic action, Executive Committee was now composed largely of de Lissa supporters who consequently voted to retain Union control of kindergarten teacher training.

Moving quickly to formally retain the teacher training section as an integral part of the KU (it remained so until 1974), on 1 December 1910 the new Executive appointed a sub-committee that subsequently became a permanent part of the Union's structure, responsible for all purely educational matters as they affected both the College and the kindergartens. Besides de Lissa, the inaugural members of the Education Committee were Mrs Morice (Secretary), David Hollidge (Chairman), Mrs D. Murray Coghill from the now defunct College Council, plus Mrs Edith Hubbe (former headmistress of the Advanced School for Girls) and Archdeacon Charles Hornabrook--each of whom Lucy knew well. Having concurred with this committee's suggested amendments to the scheme that Williams submitted on 20 October 1910, Executive Committee conveyed its decision to him in February 1911. Education Committee members meanwhile resolved to continue seeking means by which a friendly relationship between the Education Department and the Kindergarten Union could be established. (29) Mrs Morice was still working towards such co-operation when aged in her eighties, writing in 1941 that she was 'trying to establish personal contact with Miss Wauchope who is in charge of the Kindergarten and Primary work at the Departmental Training College' and hoping at the same time that Bertram Hawker, over from England for a visit, would dedicate the new KTC building in Palmer Place. 'This he should do', she said: as he was the founder and inspiration of the whole work--thanks to him and to Lillian KUSA began on a sound foundation of practical idealism and has carried on all along, developing and growing in methods but holding fast to its ideals--It is no small thing to have been pioneers in child welfare since 1905 undismayed and undaunted by criticism and opposition. (30)

Here Lucy is also being self-referential as she shares her institutional memories of Kindergarten in South Australia with one of the first KTC graduates. For of the three founders (Hawker, de Lissa and herself) who set the standard of the service, she was the mainstay of the movement. Her own words tell a story of early struggle to overcome the popular misunderstanding of kindergarten as 'an institution erected by charitable, opulent people with the object of providing amusement for infant children of the plebian class' and the suspicion of those teaching under the regular educational code that too much play and too little real work was done in free kindergartens; criticism of the organisation's name as 'savouring too much of labour'; and general community apathy once the initial burst of 'tremendous interest in the experiment' subsided; not forgetting KUSA's perennial financial difficulties and the 'distractions' of World War One. (31) She credits de Lissa's 'genius for organisation, her clear sight and strong brain' as being responsible for the strong and stable foundation upon which the structure of the College training and the work in kindergartens was built, announcing in the 1918-19 KUSA annual report that although the work had developed and altered in many respects: 'it has been a continual and orderly growth; never have we had to undo or pull down'. By the same token, upon Lillian's resignation from the Union in early 1917, a mature Lucy, confident of her own ability to carry on, asserted that: 'it is now probably better for us actually to be left to do our own growing.... [W]e can do things for ourselves. We can organise and carry things through successfully'. (32)

On leave from the Education Committee only in 1920 and in her "hospital years", Lucy Morice often took a leading role in the adjustments made to the College curriculum and extension of kindergarten work to include Sunday-school, Montessori, primary and nursery teacher training, KU supervision of children's public playgrounds in the City of Adelaide, and in the year-to-year business of staff appointments and salaries, college entrance requirements, student fees, examinations and graduation ceremonies. She also counselled each new intake of KTC students to: strive for clarity of thought and distinguish carefully between the true and the false. They should always be missionaries for the free kindergarten movement, to spread the knowledge that it was invaluable work, providing for the spiritual and mental needs of the children of the poor, and laying the foundations for citizenship. (33)

At an interpersonal level, as "Eumenia" of the Daily Herald summarised the enthusiastic verdict of kindergartners in 1913: Mrs Morice has from the earliest days "mothered" the kindergarten movement here.... They speak with loving gratitude of the sure and unfailing help they always receive from her. Miss de Lissa and her directors [of free kindergartens] and [KTC] students realise what a tower of strength Mrs Morice has been and is as the Hon. Secretary of the Union, and to each one of them individually, through her generous and ever-ready sympathy and ... unselfish work for the interests of the children. (34)

Other sources confirm that the predominantly youthful college community (the founding principal, students and teaching practice supervisors being mostly in their late teens or twenties) looked to the matronly Mrs Morice for mature guidance and a certain solid presence, viewing her as a 'Lecturer Mother to us all, including Miss de Lissa', whose wisdom, knowledge and experience was far greater than their own. Then too, in addition to encouraging the girls in her history of education course to read widely, Lucy was a prime force in the first decade of the Kindergarten Graduates' Club--not only chairing its monthly meetings but using her social contacts to invite outside speakers to supplement her own and de Lissa's addresses on a wide range of topics so that kindergartners might follow her personal example and stay abreast of modern methods, new educational ideas, and world-wide social and political developments affecting the welfare of women and children. (35) The Club's programme provided in-service education for kindergartners, was an important additional means of funding KUSA's activities, and strengthened bonds of friendship as well as the ideals of social service which underpinned the work of the Union. Notably, some of the early college students, especially Marjorie Caw (nee Hubbe), Doris Beeston, Ella Keeves (nee Nicholls), Heather Gell and Lucy's niece Anne Wainwright, became life-long friends of Mrs Morice--helping her to negotiate Union business and her personal affairs as she struggled to cope with the ageing process during the 1940s.

With regard to the overall direction and progress of the kindergarten movement across the four decades of her involvement, Lucy rejoiced in the personal achievements of some of the early graduates she taught and was delighted that the September 1922 "New Ideas" Education Conference at Adelaide University which she helped to initiate and organise was of 'great interest' to KU students and teachers, 'stimulating enthusiasm and renewed confidence in the work carried on in our kindergartens'. (36) The opening of the Lucy Morice Free Kindergarten and Nursery School in 1936 she viewed as a further step towards realising her dream that one day every suburb would have its own kindergarten. However, with the untimely death in November 1940 of Doris Beeston, the popular and capable KU secretary since 1924 with whom Mrs Morice regularly 'talked over all the ins and outs, the possibilities and impossibilities' of Union business, Lucy no longer felt 'in the heart of the movement as I did before'. Moreover, she disapproved of Doris's replacement whom she considered 'efficient enough as Secretary, but just that and nothing more'; disagreeing entirely with her and the current Principal's idea of re-modelling the free kindergartens along the lines of the new federally-funded Lady Gowrie Child Centre instead of what they were originally intended to be: 'happy places into which as many children as possible should be gathered in and given a training in self-government, self-control and self-expression in the best possible environment we could provide'. (37)

Concerned to protect this tradition, in the final decade of her life Lucy continued to serve on KU local and central committees, used her contacts with leading women in the fields of education and child welfare to advance the cause of Kindergarten and the careers of individual kindergartners, and through newspaper articles, letter writing and friends' visits shared her memories with the cofounders of KUSA, former KTC students and the public. To Lucy's bitter disappointment, though, the journalist who edited her written memoirs dropped out before her chapter on the history of kindergarten in South Australia was due to be published next in a weekly series. No one else would have had the personal knowledge or such a complete view of so many years of struggle, observed Anne Wainwright, ruing the fact that she had not kept copies of these chapters in order to publish them in book form as Lucy had intended. Lucy Spence Morice died on 10 June 1951, 'very weary of the frustration and ineptitude which accompanies great age'. The only permanent memorial to her is the North Adelaide kindergarten building where her MBE (Member if the British Empire) hangs below a photograph taken in 1936. She otherwise lived on in 'the ever widening circle of kindergarten expansion and in the hearts of those who loved her' but her maternal guidance of this State's free kindergarten movement across half a century of change has escaped historians' attention--until now.

LYNNE TRETHEWEY

University of South Australia

(1) Major works include H. Jones, 'The Acceptable Crusader: Lillian de Lissa and pre-school education in South Australia', in S. Murray Smith (ed.), Melbourne Studies in Education 1975, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1975; H. Jones (ed.), Jubilee History of the Kindergarten Union of South Australia 1905-1955, Adelaide, KUSA, 1975; C. Dowd, Adelaide Kindergarten Teachers College: a history, 1907-1974, Adelaide, SACAE, 1983; J. Carmichael, For South Australia's Children: a history of the Kindergarten Union of South Australia 1905-1985, Adelaide, The Jean Denton Memorial and Lillian de Lissa Scholarships Committee, 2002.

(2) B. Caine, 'Feminist biography and feminist history', Women's History Review, vol. 2, no. 2, 1974; J. Lewis, Women in social action in Victorian and Edwardian England, Aldershot, Edwin Elgar, 1990; M. Ryan, 'The power of women's networks', in J.L. Newton, M.P. Ryan and J.R. Walkowitz (eds), Sex and class in women's history, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983; J. Goodman and S. Harrop (eds), Women, educational policy-making and administration in England: authoritative women since 1800, London and New York, Routledge, 2000.

(3) Auntie Kate--Catherine Helen Spence. Reminiscences of her niece, Mrs Lucy Spence Morice (typescript, n.d.) , pp. 1-2, Mortlock Library of South Australiana (MLSA), PRG88/18; S. Eade, summary of transcript of tape recording made at Mrs Caw's flat with Mrs Beckwith, Mrs Moore and Mr Kirby re the Unitarian Christian Church and its subscribers in 1870s Adelaide, Edith Hubbe (Cook) and Marjorie Caw (Hubbe) papers 1859-1988, Barr Smith Library (BSL) Special Collections, MSS0046/47/4.

(4) Woman's League Minute Books 1895-1897, MLSA, SRG690. See especially vol. 2, 'Objects' and L. S. Morice, The Woman's League (condensed copy of report presented to the League's first meeting showing the aims and scope of its operations).

(5) Auntie Kate, p. 2.

(6) Lucy Morice to Rose Scott (founder of the Women's Political Education League in NSW), 12 April 1910, Mitchell Library, Sydney, Rose Scott correspondence, A2278; L. S. Morice, biographical notes on C. H. Spence, p. 16, MLSA, PRG88/19; 'Our Adelaide Women of Interest. Play spirit in education. A chat with Mrs Morice', Daily Herald, 28 June 1913, Magazine section, p. 13.

(7) PRG88/18, p. 7; PRG88/19, pp. 1-3.

(8) 'About Catherine Spence. Lighter side of a leader's life. Told by Lucy Morice' (newspaper clipping, n.d.), Papers re Catherine Helen Spence, BSL, MSS0046/47/4.

(9) H. Jones, 'Lucy Spence Morice and Catherine Helen Spence: partners in South Australian social reform', Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia (JHSSA), no. 11, 1983, pp. 48-64. See also H. Jones, Nothing Seemed Impossible: women's education and social change in South Australia 1875-1915, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1985, pp. 109, 119-20, 123-26, 164-80.

(10) For details of Lucy Morice's involvement with Helen Mayo and Harriet Stirling of the State Children's Council in early twentieth century puericulture reform, see Jones, In Her Own Name: women in South Australian history, Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 1986, pp. 166-7; British Science Guild SA Branch, Annual Reports 191424 and 'Race Building. Science Guild's great work. No. 1' (report of sub-committee on Puericulture or Infant Nurture), Adelaide, 1916, State Library of South Australia (SLSA); 'Care for the child. Deputation to Chief Secretary. Better legislation asked for', Register, 2 April 1914, p. 16; 'Caring for infant life. Deputation to the Premier', Register, 5 October 1915, p. 8; Helen Mayo papers, MLSA, PRG126/6; Adelaide School for Mothers, Annual reports, vol. 1 (1909-11), SRG199/2 and School for Mothers Minute Books (1909-13), SRG119/1/1, MLSA; Address by Mrs Morice to the Mothers' Union (typescript, n.d.), BSL, MSS0046/47. Note: The birth of Lucy and James Morice's daughter was not officially recorded.

(11) Auntie Kate, p. 4.

(12) A. Wainwright, A tribute to Lucy Spence Morice, Adelaide, 1962, pp. 5, 10, KTC Archives, University of South Australia.

(13) Jones, 'Lucy Spence Morice and Catherine Helen Spence', no. 11, pp. 58-61; 'Women's Non-Party Political Association' (officers, objects, platform), Herald, 11 September 1911; WNPPA, Minutes of meetings, July 1909-October 1922, MLSA, SRG116/1/1-2; 'A chat with Mrs Morice'; Auntie Kate, p. 5.

(14) 'Educationist honoured' (1936), newspaper cuttings re Lucy Morice, MSS0046/47/4.

(15) 'The Mother of the Kindergartens', Advertiser, 30 October 1946.

(16) E.J. Prest, 'KTC and the administration of the Union', KUSA Jubilee History, p. 60.

(17) 'Hawker. Bertram Robert (1868-1952)' in J. Richie (gen. ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 14, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1996, pp. 410-11; Jones, 'The Acceptable Crusader', pp. 127-9; Dowd, Adelaide Kindergarten Teachers College, pp. 4, 12-14.

(18) 'The mother of the kindergartens'; KUSA Annual Reports, 1906-07, p. 5 and 1909-10, p. 3 and 1911-12, p. 8, State Records of South Australia (SRSA), GRG69/17.

(19) KUSA 5th Annual Report, p. 3. A good example of Miss Spence's journalism in support of Hawker's activities in initiating the movement is her article 'Kindergarten to University (No. 1)', Register, 30 October 1905, p. 6.

(20) KUSA Report for 1920-21, p. 6.

(21) J.P. Morice, KUSA Secretary, request that an Honorary Commission on Education be issued to Mrs Morice, 8 January 1920, SRSA, Education Department correspondence files, GRG19/1/1920/10. See also Mrs Morice's talk on Experiments in Education, describing innovative schools and kindergartens she visited in NSW and Melbourne, de Lissa's current work in London, and the establishment in England of a children's community 'on most modern lines' for children orphaned by the war, Minutes of 139th WNPPA meeting, 20 November 1918, SRG116/1, p. 226.

(22) Talks given by Lillian de Lissa at the Golden Jubilee of the Kindergarten Union of South Australia, 1955, p. 10, MLSA, de Lissa papers, PRG253/10.

(23) KUSA Jubilee History, p. 76. See also KUSA Annual Reports, 1911-12, p. 8 and 1912-13, p. 5 and 1918-19, p. 3; 'Kindergartens. Training the babies. Sidelines on the work. The troubles of the early days. More money needed', Advertiser, 23 November 1912, p. 6; leaflet: KUSA. Demonstration of Kindergarten, Montessori & Primary Work. Exhibition Building, 16-17 June 1925, Adelaide, R. M. Osborn (printer) and 'The kindergarten and the community. Every school a social centre (by L. S. Morice)', Register, 25 September 1929, SRSA, GRG69/26, box 4; 'Kindergarten Union's great work', Advertiser, 24 September 1935.

(24) KUSA Report for 1920-21, p. 3.

(25) KUSA Report for 1939-40, p. 7 and 1940-41, p. 6.

(26) KUSA Executive Report 1919-20, p. 3.

(27) For the spate of correspondence between Hawkes, de Lissa, Morice and Williams over the period 8 December 1909-12 December 1910, see KUSA Letterbook 1909-1910, pp. 33-94, 100, SRSA, GRG69/1, box 3; A. Williams, Director of Education to Mr Hawkes, 20 October 1910, GRG69/20/9. For discussion of the issue by the Training College Council of which Lucy Morice was Hon. Secretary, see KTC Minute Book 1909-38, minutes of special meetings called on 7 and 14 December 1909, GRG69/4.

(28) For details of this year-long battle to maintain an independent existence for the Kindergarten Training College, see Dowd, pp. 40-54; Jones, 'The Acceptable Crusader', pp. 138-42. For newspaper accounts of the October 14 and two November meetings at which the issue was debated, see 'Kindergarten Union Annual Meeting', Daily Herald, 15 October 1910, p. 11; 'Kindergarten Union. A troubled meeting', Herald, 22 November 1910, p. 5; 'Disunited Union. Training kindergarten teachers. Lively meeting at the Town Hall. Education Department scarified', Advertiser, 22/11/1910, p. 9; 'Plain kindergarten talk. State training condemned. A spiritual atmosphere wanted', Register, 22/11/1910, p. 4; 'Kindergarten Union. New constitution adopted. Fresh executive appointed', Register, 29 November 1910, p. 8.

(29) KUSA Executive Minutes, 16 December 1910 and Minutes of Education Committee meeting, 17 February 1911, GRG69/4; Williams to Hawkes, 20 October 1910, GRG69/20/9; KUSA Hon. Secretary to the Director of Education, 20 February 1911 (resolutions of the Educational Sub-Committee attached) and Williams' reply, 1 March 1911, inserted in KUSA Executive Minute Book 1908-12, GRG69/4.

(30) May 1941, Letters from Lucy Morice to Marjorie Caw 1930-45, BSL, MSS0046/3.

(31) 'Kindergartens.... The troubles of the early days', Advertiser, 23 November 1912; Secretary's report for 1914-15, KUSA 10th Annual Report, p. 3; 'The kindergarten and the community', Register, 25 September 1929; 'Kindergarten Union's great work', Advertiser, 24 September 1935; 'The mother of the kindergartens', Advertiser, 30 October 1946.

(32) KUSA 14th Annual report, p. 3; KUSA Secretary's report for 1916-17, pp. 2-3.

(33) 'Kindergarten training begins' (newspaper clipping re opening day at the Montessori Kindergarten Training College, n.d.), MSS0047/47/4.

(34) 'A chat with Mrs Morice', Daily Herald, 28 June 1913.

(35) For details, see H. Miller, The early years of the de Lissa Institute of Early Childhood Graduates Inc. (Adelaide Kindergarten Club, March 1913-July 1915; the Kindergarten Graduates' Club, August 1915-July 1922), bound typescript containing Introduction, Club rules and purposes, compilation from Minute Book and a list of KTC graduates 1908-22, KUSA Archives, University of South Australia.

(36) 'Kindergarten progress. Views of Mrs J. P. Morice', MSS0046/47/4.

(37) Lucy Morice to Marjorie Caw, 17 May 1941, MSS0046/3.

(38) Wainwright, pp. 7-8, 10.

Dr Lynne Trethewey is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow and former senior lecturer in History of Education at the University of South Australia (Magill Campus). An active member of ANZHES since 1976, including service as President and HER Book Reviews Editor, Lynne completed her PhD at Adelaide University in 1997. Since then she has published research on the history of age-graded primary school organisation, teaching as a career for girls, and enfranchised women educators' political activism. Her current study of L. S. Morice's contribution to Kindergarten and social reform in South Australia forms part of a wider research project with Kay Whitehead of Flinders University, entitled 'Our Adelaide Women of Interest: a collective biography of thirty South Australian women in the post-suffrage era'.

Email: Lynne.Trethewey@unisa.edu.au