Gathering links old school ties

THE recent Hickson family reunion at Toolleen saw a teacher reconnect with some of his students from the 1960s.

Bill Ovenden taught at a one-room school at Muskerry East, north of Axedale, early in his career.

Cheryl Payne, nee Hickson, said he was an inspiring teacher.

“I was talking to him the other day about his gender equity policy,” she said. “He let me do woodwork and all sorts of hammering and he taught me what a fret saw was and never once said ‘oh girls can’t do that’.

“He encouraged me to come early to school to practise my western roll, which is a technique for high jump, and I then won all the high jump events in the combined school sports with Colbinabbin, Toolleen, Wanalta, Corop, and Myola.

“He always encouraged us to reach our potential, he was a visionary really because he had those early thoughts that anyone could do anything.

Ms Payne said he had also influenced her career choice.

“He said if you do all your schoolwork in the morning, you can teach the two preps in the afternoon which I did and then I went on and I became a kindergarten teacher,” she said.

“So that was very significant because he allowed me to do that, and he fostered my abilities in that area.

“My sister Yvonne also became a teacher, and he taught her too.”

Ms Payne said Mr Ovenden made learning interesting.

“He was different, and I suppose because he was in such a small school, he could use his initiative to do lots of different things,” she said.

“We went on nature walks once a week, we built cubby houses with all sorts of natural material, and he just encouraged that initiative.

“He really relished our learning and to keep in contact with him all these years is great.”

Mr Ovenden also has fond memories of his time at the school.

“Muskerry East was a small co-operative friendly school with a very supportive community,” he said.

“It was my second year out teaching, which I enjoyed immensely.

“The children were always eager to learn, and I always tried to make it as enjoyable as possible.”

Relatives of Mary Roulston, nee Smith, who taught many members of the Hickson family at the Muskerry East school in the 1920s, were also at the gathering.

The Hickson family reunion brought together some of the 1186 known descendants of Edward George Hickson and Lucy Mary Ann Aylett in late March.

Edward and Lucy both arrived in Australia in 1860 but did not marry until 1879.

“Lucy Mary Ann’s family had a hotel in Toolleen,” Ms Payne said. “She was a lot younger than him, but he had his eye on her and he kept going to that hotel. He was 39 and she was 19.”

The Hicksons raised nine children, along with one of their grandchildren, and some of the family still farm at Muskerry East.