The rhythms of our lives - influence of church on young lives

Tennis party: Armidale social life in the 1930s. Photo is from the Drummond family collection.This is the seventh in a series on growing up on the Northern or New England Tablelands.

The rhythms of our lives proceed in stages linked to age: childhood, school, beginning work, family formation. While these rhythms are linked to age, their exact pattern varies over time and space and is affected by individual circumstance.

"The nineteenth and first part of the twentieth century, the church you attended or were affiliated with had a major influence on childhood and young adult life."

 Australian society today has become increasingly secular. By contrast, over the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth century, the church you attended or were affiliated to had a major influence on childhood and young adult life.

The big sectarian divide was between Catholic and Protestant, although there were divides among the Protestant churches too. 

At St Ursula’s in Armidale, the nuns wanted their girls to marry good Catholic boys and bring up good Catholic children. Mixing with other boys was discouraged.

In similar vein, Judith Wright noted somewhat acerbically that some parents sent their girls to the New England Girls School in the belief that they might find a suitable husband from among the boys at The Armidale School. It was a marriage market. Mixing with Catholic boys was not encouraged.

While important, the religious divide was not universal. Cooperation did occur and indeed was necessary in small communities. There is very little evidence of religious divides in Maslyn Williams’ descriptions of community life in Tenterfield.

However, one thing that stands out from Judith’s writing is just how little contact she had with people outside her family and immediate circle. The girls at NEGS came from the same group.

When cousin Tina introduced her into social life, it involved the social round of the Bachelors and Spinsters, Matrons, Races and TAS/NEGS old boys/old girls balls. There are no references to people or life beyond this other than some people on or linked to the property or rare visits to Armidale for particular purposes.

This contrasts with Binks Turnbull Dowling’ memories. She, too, was sent to boarding school, in this case the Hilton House School. Today we know the school as PLC Armidale, but it was then owned by its principle, Miss Alethea Tendall.

There are similarities in the description of school life at the two institutions, something that is a story in its own right, but Hilton was in town and less cloistered than the more remote NEGS.

Binks had relatives and friends in Armidale and we get descriptions of a social life that contained some similar elements to that of Judith but which was more town centered and far more varied. Indeed, any older Armidale resident who reads Binks’ book will instantly recognise names and places.

Next week I will introduce our fourth character, the writer Judith Wallace, a member of another pastoral dynasty, the Ogilvie family. Her story provides a counterpoint to that of Judith Wright. 

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 8 August 2018. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015, here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018 .