An Osborne Lady

This afternoon I visited the Mt Victoria Historical Museum.
Like a lot of small museums of this kind it is run by dedicated and passionate locals and is housed in the old refreshment rooms of the beautiful heritage listed Mt Victoria Railway Station.

This mannequin forms part of a room dedicated to Osborne Ladies College which was on the land known as Paradise Hill, where the Christian School now stands.
The college, which operated for thirty five years, closed when the owner/principal, Miss Violet Gibbins, died.
It was in a large, grand three storey house, which burnt down in 1963.

Everything about the college smacked of the Royal Navy tradition, and Miss Gibbins was known as "The Admiral" and addressed her girls from the 'quarterdeck'.
The college won fame as the only institution in the world which taught schoolgirls strict naval tradition.
Each section of the college was named after a warship and her bedroom was called H.M.S. Pelican.
The main assembly hall was H.M.S. Nelson and the bathroom H.M.S. Neptune. (What else?)
Senior girls had commissioned ranks such as Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander, and newly installed pupils were "Middies".
Under a strict rule, "subordinates" had to salute the "officers".

Marching played a large part in the lives of the Osborne girls, daily and in all weather. They were not allowed to speak to people outside the school. An emphasis was placed on physical fitness, spartan living (only one room was heated at the school, the library), archery, shooting, sports, and dramatic arts.

I find all this particularly interesting, not only because I live in Blackheath and am interested in history and education, but because I had a friend, Jill Neville (sister of Richard), who attended Osborne and could remember sleeping under the stars in hammocks.

If, like me, you are interested in fusty, musty collections from the past, you might be interested in some pics from the museum.