By Peter Harris and Rowan Forster
Tributes continue to flow for an education trailblazer and a stalwart of the community, months after she tragically passed away.
Deboarding a train at Pakenham Station in 1942, a 17-year-old Elsie Nicholson travelled to Toomuc Valley Primary School to take up a position as head teacher – despite only being a trainee.
After completing her Leaving Certificate as Dux, she had departed the family home in Daylesford to embark on a career that would straddle the twentieth century.
During this era, Australia was at war and in a chance meeting at a Bayles disco she met her future husband who was about to be deployed.
Upon his return, they married and she began life on a dairy farm while continuing to teach across the Cardinia region.
Social attitudes were severely outdated in the 1940s, with female teachers receiving a lower salary than men and being forced to resign from their permanent positions when they married.
Early childhood learning was non-existent.
Ms Nicholson, in an act of defiance, determined a kindergarten was needed in Cardinia Shire – despite opposition from chauvinists who claimed that “a pre-school was an excuse for women to dump their children and play golf”.
Even the local church claimed it was “a communist idea”.
Mrs Nicholson proved them wrong, credited as the driving force behind the region’s first pre-school.
She was widely considered to possess a deep seated conviction that educational success demanded.
As the District Representative of the Victorian Secondary Teachers’ Association (VSTA) she fought for improved conditions, increased female representation in schools and in leadership positions and appropriate remuneration.
She then became involved at Kooweerup High School, in a tenure that spanned more than two decades.
While undertaking her Bachelor of Arts – Mrs Nicholson facilitated the upgrade of the school’s library into a fully-fledged resource centre.
She died in April, but many in the community were not aware of her achievements in the education sector.
To this day, she is remembered as a dynamic educator and a model for female leadership within the local community.
