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| Boxing Day, 2013. |
Noel Bourke spent 43
years teaching in primary schools in Bunbury, Koongamia, Broome, Tranby, Mt
Lawley, Donnybrook, Three Springs and Doubleview.
In 1961, Noel resigned from the Education Department and travelled to Europe. During 1962- 64 he taught at Holy Trinity School, at Cookham in Berkshire, U.K. and St Theresa’s Shrine School in Scarborough in Toronto, Canada. He returned to Australia in November,1964, and picked up a teaching job immediately at Broome District High School.
He taught at Tranby School (1965-1969) before transferring to Mt Lawley Primary School (1970-1971). At Mt Lawley, Noel taught demonstration lessons for students from the newly established Mt Lawley Teachers College and in 1971 became the school's specialist Primary Science Teacher. He was probably the first primary science specialist teacher in WA, or anywhere because 1971 was the first year that Super Numerary teachers were appointed to WA schools and all of the Mt Lawley PS staff wanted a Science Specialist.
As a result of his year as a Primary Science Specialist, Noel was appointed as a lecturer in Mathematics and Science Education at Graylands Teachers’ College in 1972-3.
In 1961, Noel resigned from the Education Department and travelled to Europe. During 1962- 64 he taught at Holy Trinity School, at Cookham in Berkshire, U.K. and St Theresa’s Shrine School in Scarborough in Toronto, Canada. He returned to Australia in November,1964, and picked up a teaching job immediately at Broome District High School.
He taught at Tranby School (1965-1969) before transferring to Mt Lawley Primary School (1970-1971). At Mt Lawley, Noel taught demonstration lessons for students from the newly established Mt Lawley Teachers College and in 1971 became the school's specialist Primary Science Teacher. He was probably the first primary science specialist teacher in WA, or anywhere because 1971 was the first year that Super Numerary teachers were appointed to WA schools and all of the Mt Lawley PS staff wanted a Science Specialist.
As a result of his year as a Primary Science Specialist, Noel was appointed as a lecturer in Mathematics and Science Education at Graylands Teachers’ College in 1972-3.
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| Setting off to ski the slopes at the Forks of the Credit River.Toronto. 1963 Do you get the idea his skiing was rubbish? |
In 1975 he was promoted as the Primary Principal at Donnybrook District High School, where the family stayed for seven very enjoyable years. In 1982 he was promoted as Principal to Three Springs Primary School, another enjoyable experience for all the family. In 1985 Noel transferred back to Perth, taking the position of Principal at prestigious Doubleview Primary School. After eighteen very happy and rewarding years at Doubleview Primary School he retired in December
2002. While at Doubleview Noel worked on many District committees and became an active member of the WA Primary Principals" Association. He contributed regular articles to WAPPA's quarterly magazine WORDS and was the founding chairman of the first metropolitan Chapter of WAPPA, representing the Scarborough Education District.(The first WAPPA Chapter started in Albany and was founded by Noel Strickland...who was student at Tranby Primary School when Noel was teaching there.)
In retirement, Noel maintained his interest in education, working as a University Colleague for Edith Cowan University from 2003 till 2016. In this role he was involved in the supervision and mentoring of students teachers on Professional Teaching Practice. From 2005 until 2017, he also worked on apart time basis as an Education Consultant on the Support Line for the Western Australian Primary Principals Association.
Since 1995, Noel has regularly contributed articles to the Principals' Association quarterly publications, WORDS and The Leaders Library. These articles are often related to matters of educational interest while others take a more whimsical view of life which the Editor classifies as "On the Lighter Side". In July 2019, WAPPA presented Noel with a Service Award in recognition for his contribution of stories and education articles to WAPPA WORDS and its other publications over a twenty five year period.
On several occasions after his retirement, Noel was invited by the Education Department to undertake administration duties in schools experiencing a crisis of one sort or another. He enjoyed these tasks, which took him to a number of interesting locations around Western Australia. In 2004 he was Relieving Principal at Eneabba School for six weeks and then was Principal for varying periods of one to six weeks at Ngalapita RCS in the Kimberly and Ngurrawaana RCS and Pannawonica Primary School in the Pilbara.
Lesley accompanied Noel to Ngalapita RCS, which is a four hour drive into the desert east of Broome, not far from Noonkenbah on the Fitzroy River. Noel was very impressed with the children at Ngalapita. They had very good standards in English and Maths and all of the middle and upper grade children were quite fluent speakers of three languages, English, Yammatgee, the local language, and Kriol, the Lingua Franca for all indigenous people across the Kimberly. He admired the children's linguistic abilities, in deep contrast to the generally unsuccessful attempts to promote Languages Other Than English in mainstream schools in Perth. Ngalapita had an almost 100% attendance record which, together with very good teaching that they were receiving, was, a undoubtedly, a contributing factor towards the children's high achievement levels.
The Ngalapita children really appreciated the many songs, dances and musical games that retired Music Specialist , Lesley, taught them. After their stint in Ngalapita they both enjoyed a laid back, week long holiday, in Broome.
In 2005, Noel spent all of the final term as relieving Deputy Principal at Exmouth District High School. Lesley visited Exmouth twice during his nine week stay and they thoroughly enjoyed exploring the pristine beaches and rugged hinterland of the North-West Cape.
In retirement, Noel maintained his interest in education, working as a University Colleague for Edith Cowan University from 2003 till 2016. In this role he was involved in the supervision and mentoring of students teachers on Professional Teaching Practice. From 2005 until 2017, he also worked on apart time basis as an Education Consultant on the Support Line for the Western Australian Primary Principals Association.
Since 1995, Noel has regularly contributed articles to the Principals' Association quarterly publications, WORDS and The Leaders Library. These articles are often related to matters of educational interest while others take a more whimsical view of life which the Editor classifies as "On the Lighter Side". In July 2019, WAPPA presented Noel with a Service Award in recognition for his contribution of stories and education articles to WAPPA WORDS and its other publications over a twenty five year period.
On several occasions after his retirement, Noel was invited by the Education Department to undertake administration duties in schools experiencing a crisis of one sort or another. He enjoyed these tasks, which took him to a number of interesting locations around Western Australia. In 2004 he was Relieving Principal at Eneabba School for six weeks and then was Principal for varying periods of one to six weeks at Ngalapita RCS in the Kimberly and Ngurrawaana RCS and Pannawonica Primary School in the Pilbara.
Lesley accompanied Noel to Ngalapita RCS, which is a four hour drive into the desert east of Broome, not far from Noonkenbah on the Fitzroy River. Noel was very impressed with the children at Ngalapita. They had very good standards in English and Maths and all of the middle and upper grade children were quite fluent speakers of three languages, English, Yammatgee, the local language, and Kriol, the Lingua Franca for all indigenous people across the Kimberly. He admired the children's linguistic abilities, in deep contrast to the generally unsuccessful attempts to promote Languages Other Than English in mainstream schools in Perth. Ngalapita had an almost 100% attendance record which, together with very good teaching that they were receiving, was, a undoubtedly, a contributing factor towards the children's high achievement levels.
The Ngalapita children really appreciated the many songs, dances and musical games that retired Music Specialist , Lesley, taught them. After their stint in Ngalapita they both enjoyed a laid back, week long holiday, in Broome.
In 2005, Noel spent all of the final term as relieving Deputy Principal at Exmouth District High School. Lesley visited Exmouth twice during his nine week stay and they thoroughly enjoyed exploring the pristine beaches and rugged hinterland of the North-West Cape.
During his retirement Noel wrote a book
about his early years growing up in Perth, titled “LEON: A Backward Glance at
Boyhood.” It includes a chapter or two about life at Sacred Heart Convent School in Highgate and Highgate Christian Brothers in the 1940s and at Aquinas College 1951-55. It also recounts his experiences at Graylands Teachers College (1956-57) and later doing his National Service in the Third field Regiment Royal Australian Artillery in 1958.
LEON was Published in September, 2005. Noel is still awaiting a call from Stephen Spielberg to discuss a movie contract. If you ask him nicely, he may explain why he called his memoir, LEON.
Despite his long and happy career in education, teaching was not Noel's first choice after he obtained his Leaving Certificate at Aquinas College in 1955. He wanted to be a journalist, just like his cousin, Maurie Carr, who worked for Perth's Daily News.
Noel had seen Maurie at the football and at the Sheffield Shield cricket matches at the WACA. Maurie would be sitting in the press box, sheltered from rain, hail and blazing sunshine, eating cakes and drinking tea and coffee supplied by the Ladies' Social Committee. Not only did Maurie have a free entry to his comfortable seats but he was actually getting paid to write about the game. To Noel this seemed like a dream job. But it was not to be. Although he managed two interviews, he failed to gain a cadetship to either the Daily News or The West Australian. His cousin later told him that there were 120 applicants for two cadetships, most of them graduates and undergraduates.
So reluctantly, and after heavy persuasion from his mother, Noel enrolled at Graylands Teachers College, where he spent two of the happiest years of his life. In 1958 he took up his first teaching position with 54 students in Year 4 at Bunbury Central School. He was surprised and very pleased to find out that he really enjoyed teaching.
However, he did have some connection with journalism. In his second year at Graylands he was appointed as the Editor of the college newspaper, The Klaxon. Just over twenty years later, in Donnybrook, he became the town's football correspondent for the Bunbury based South-Western Times. For the next seven years he wrote up every Donnybrook home game football match and all of the local cricket matches played by the three Donnybrook sides against teams from Bunbury, Boyanup, Collie and Capel. He also wrote articles of a sporting nature for Sports News, a weekly magazine published in Bunbury by Dynamic Print.
For five years, from December, 1975 till December, 1980, Noel was also the General Manager of the Donnybrook Football Club. Among his many duties, one of his roles was to write a weekly column for the South West Football League's football programme, published each match day. He wrote under the Non de Plume of Lord Nelson, figuring that as Donnybrook Football Club's General Manager, he could afford to write a very one eyed column.
In 1979, Noel, with some friends, started up a local paper called the Donnybrook-Balingup News. He was the founding editor. The paper was a freebie, published monthly and distributed throughout the region.. It quickly became very popular because of the strong focus on local people and events. When Noel left Donnybrook in 1982 the paper was taken over by Robert Holmes a'Court's Collie Mail. It is now published and sold weekly as the Donnybrook-Bridgetown-Manjimup-Mail. A few thousand dollars was paid in"Goodwill" this newspaper changeover. The money went to help establish a frail aged home in Donnybrook.
Noel and Lesley are very happy that they travelled around the world three times while they were still young and energetic. This included a memorable three months campervan trip around Europe in 1983 with their three daughters, Jane, Sarah and Emily.
In 1996 they enjoyed another four months around the world adventure, visiting relatives in Canada and enjoying the sights of North America, Europe and Asia. Noel organized the entire trip, hotel bookings, ferry tickets, etc., via the internet.
Since retiring Noel and Lesley have enjoyed holidays around Western Australia and also made several trips to the east coast, including a first visit to beautiful Tasmania.
In 2009 the travelled to Sydney on the Indian-Pacific. They put their car on board and spent a month touring around the eastern states before driving home across the Nullarbor. A memorable recent adventure in March, 2014, saw them travelling in luxury from Fremantle to Sydney on the Queen Mary 2, with stop overs in Adelaide and Melbourne to meet up with friends and relations.
After a very interesting week in Sydney, staying at the Menzies Hotel, they hired a car and drove to Melbourne via the Blue Mountains, Jenolan Caves, Canberra and the Kosciuoscko National Park. Then, after a week in Marvellous Melbourne with relatives and friends, they flew back to Perth...for a rest!
LEON was Published in September, 2005. Noel is still awaiting a call from Stephen Spielberg to discuss a movie contract. If you ask him nicely, he may explain why he called his memoir, LEON.
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| Finished it! August, 2005 |
Despite his long and happy career in education, teaching was not Noel's first choice after he obtained his Leaving Certificate at Aquinas College in 1955. He wanted to be a journalist, just like his cousin, Maurie Carr, who worked for Perth's Daily News.
Noel had seen Maurie at the football and at the Sheffield Shield cricket matches at the WACA. Maurie would be sitting in the press box, sheltered from rain, hail and blazing sunshine, eating cakes and drinking tea and coffee supplied by the Ladies' Social Committee. Not only did Maurie have a free entry to his comfortable seats but he was actually getting paid to write about the game. To Noel this seemed like a dream job. But it was not to be. Although he managed two interviews, he failed to gain a cadetship to either the Daily News or The West Australian. His cousin later told him that there were 120 applicants for two cadetships, most of them graduates and undergraduates.
So reluctantly, and after heavy persuasion from his mother, Noel enrolled at Graylands Teachers College, where he spent two of the happiest years of his life. In 1958 he took up his first teaching position with 54 students in Year 4 at Bunbury Central School. He was surprised and very pleased to find out that he really enjoyed teaching.
However, he did have some connection with journalism. In his second year at Graylands he was appointed as the Editor of the college newspaper, The Klaxon. Just over twenty years later, in Donnybrook, he became the town's football correspondent for the Bunbury based South-Western Times. For the next seven years he wrote up every Donnybrook home game football match and all of the local cricket matches played by the three Donnybrook sides against teams from Bunbury, Boyanup, Collie and Capel. He also wrote articles of a sporting nature for Sports News, a weekly magazine published in Bunbury by Dynamic Print.
For five years, from December, 1975 till December, 1980, Noel was also the General Manager of the Donnybrook Football Club. Among his many duties, one of his roles was to write a weekly column for the South West Football League's football programme, published each match day. He wrote under the Non de Plume of Lord Nelson, figuring that as Donnybrook Football Club's General Manager, he could afford to write a very one eyed column.
In 1979, Noel, with some friends, started up a local paper called the Donnybrook-Balingup News. He was the founding editor. The paper was a freebie, published monthly and distributed throughout the region.. It quickly became very popular because of the strong focus on local people and events. When Noel left Donnybrook in 1982 the paper was taken over by Robert Holmes a'Court's Collie Mail. It is now published and sold weekly as the Donnybrook-Bridgetown-Manjimup-Mail. A few thousand dollars was paid in"Goodwill" this newspaper changeover. The money went to help establish a frail aged home in Donnybrook.
Noel and Lesley are very happy that they travelled around the world three times while they were still young and energetic. This included a memorable three months campervan trip around Europe in 1983 with their three daughters, Jane, Sarah and Emily.
In 1996 they enjoyed another four months around the world adventure, visiting relatives in Canada and enjoying the sights of North America, Europe and Asia. Noel organized the entire trip, hotel bookings, ferry tickets, etc., via the internet.
Since retiring Noel and Lesley have enjoyed holidays around Western Australia and also made several trips to the east coast, including a first visit to beautiful Tasmania.
In 2009 the travelled to Sydney on the Indian-Pacific. They put their car on board and spent a month touring around the eastern states before driving home across the Nullarbor. A memorable recent adventure in March, 2014, saw them travelling in luxury from Fremantle to Sydney on the Queen Mary 2, with stop overs in Adelaide and Melbourne to meet up with friends and relations.
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| Pre dinner drinks somewhere in the Great Australian Bight. March, 2014. |
After a very interesting week in Sydney, staying at the Menzies Hotel, they hired a car and drove to Melbourne via the Blue Mountains, Jenolan Caves, Canberra and the Kosciuoscko National Park. Then, after a week in Marvellous Melbourne with relatives and friends, they flew back to Perth...for a rest!
In September, 2018, Noel and Lesley set out in their 1.9litre new Kia Cerato for a trip to explore the Pilbara and see the WA wild flowers. They drove up the Great Northern Highway to Point Sampson, exploring Karijini National Park and Millstream on the way there. On the return journey they visited Cossack, Dampier, Karratha, Carnarvon and wildflower country west of Geraldton, including the wonderful Wreath Flowers near Pindar, east of Mullewa. They covered just under 5000 kms in 12 days and enjoyed every minute of it. Noel said travelling so far in the compact Cerato felt a bit like flying a Tiger Moth across the Pacific.
After thirty two very happy years in their four bedroom home home in Heathridge, Lesley and Noel downsized and moved to a two bedroom apartment in the Ocean Reef Country Club on December 19, 2016. Since September, 2017, Noel has produced a monthly newsletter for the complex.
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| The pool at our new "Holiday Home" in Ocean Reef.We feel like we are on holidays everyday. |
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| Happy in our Ocean Reef "Holiday Home". |
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Taking liberties with a lady. Easter, 1964
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You mentioned Noel, that two years spent at Graylands Teachers' College were the happiest years of your life. I agree whole heartedly. After that it was a jungle out there. Best wishes to you and Lesley. You're a lucky man.
ReplyDeleteThank you, David, for contacting me and for your very kind comments.
ReplyDeleteI have sent you a fuller e-mail reply which I hope you have received.
Best wishes
Noel
One of my daughter's name is Jane and she has two daughters with the names Sarah and Emily. What are the odds of that following
ReplyDeletespending two years in your company at Graylands Teachers' College ?
Well's there's more. Peter Cowan, Dame Edith Cowan's son was my tutor
for English 1 at the Uni of W.A. He was the best and most influencial
English teacher I had there. Our group explored Chekhov's short stories
which I will never forget.
Wait. There's more. Graylands Teachers' College morphed into the Dame Edith Cowan University. Guess which university bought my parent's half acre block adjacent to the Albany Hwy. It's now part of the Albany
D.E.C. campus.
Small world dontcha reckon ?