Unravelling the Boarding School Myth

Penelope, Tony and Victor Jenkins’ early schooling in Sydney

~ by Helen Dennis ~ December 2024 ~

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One of the most memorable stories my aunt Penelope recounted about her childhood was that when she was very little, her mother had enrolled her as ‘the only boarder’ at a private girls’ school in Sydney. The legend goes that Penelope’s brothers Tony and Victor – aged just six and five respectively – had similarly boarded at a private boys’ school. Research revealed that Penelope began at Kambala Church of England Girls’ School, in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, in 1930 when she was seven years old.

The fact that Penelope and her brothers had been sent to board while their mother Eve lived ‘just around the corner’ was explained by Penelope as being due to Eve’s desire to shelter the children from the scandalous nature of her marital situation. The (then) shocking particulars of Eve and Big Vic’s* spicy divorce, and Eve’s subsequent marriage to Big Vic’s brother, are well-known chapters of Jenkins’ family lore.  However, the facts of the children’s early schooling have, to my knowledge, never been questioned.

My interest was piqued then when I noticed, curiously, that Eve hadn’t been charged a boarding fee on the first invoice she received from Kambala. There’s no question that Penelope attended Kambala as a boarder at some stage, but perhaps there was more to the story. Intrigued, I dug out my late uncle Victor’s memoir, You Can Do It Dad, in which I (vaguely) recalled reading about his and Tony’s primary school antics. I re-read and thoroughly enjoyed Victor’s entertaining book, and am indebted to him for posthumously helping me solve this little mystery.

Victor revealed that he and Tony had briefly attended Vaucluse Primary School. He remembered ‘de-bussing’ on the first day of school and immediately adopting a defensive back-to-back position with Tony; swinging their school bags in an attempt to fend off the bullies Uncle Walter had warned them of. The 1930 Admissions Register for Vaucluse Public School confirms that Tony and Victor were enrolled there on 4^th June 1930. Victor was one month past his fifth birthday; Tony was aged six years and two months. As a public school, Vaucluse Primary did not offer boarding.

The week the boys started school marked the beginning of Term 2 in New South Wales that year. Kambala’s records show that Penelope started around the same time and, given that her brothers were day students, and further that Eve was not charged a fee for boarding in 1930, it is reasonable to assume that Penelope initially attended Kambala as a day girl. She was seven years and seven months old and, as Kambala’s 1930 Speech Day programme reveals, was one of twenty-nine students of various ages enrolled in ‘Kindergarten’ that year – in those days, Kindergarten probably embodied what we now call primary school.

Earlier that year, before the children had started school, Eve spent six weeks holidaying in Java with Big Vic’s sister Valmai. While Eve was away, the children and Big Vic lived with Eve’s parents at Palm Beach north of Sydney. When Eve returned from Java in April 1930, she decided not to accompany Big Vic back to their farm near Armidale and instead, in about May, took a house – with the children – at Rose Bay.

The house – called ‘Highfield’ – was situated at 10 Dalley Avenue and was variously described as being in either Vaucluse or Rose Bay. It was, as Penelope remembered, ‘just around the corner’ from Kambala – a short, albeit hilly, ten-minute walk to school. Vaucluse Public was a little further away; Victor recalled that he and Tony had travelled to school by bus.

In September 1930, Big Vic wrote to Eve and asked her to return home to the farm. Eve advised him that she had not been happy for years and could not return to him ‘under any conditions’. Several more letters were exchanged, but Eve’s resolve wasn’t shaken and Big Vic initiated divorce proceedings in January 1931. In those days, separated couples needed to jump through many hoops before a divorce was granted. By this stage, Big Vic was simply ‘going through the motions’; Eve had made it perfectly clear she had no intention of returning.

In his book, my uncle Victor revealed that his and Tony’s attendance at Vaucluse Public had been temporary, and that Eve had swiftly removed them due to the colourful language they’d learnt there. The school’s Admissions Register confirms the boys were withdrawn from the school in May 1931, the same month that Big Vic appeared before a Sydney judge to obtain an order to have Eve return to him.

With the divorce proceedings heating up, it was likely to have been a stressful time for everyone, and Penelope’s assertion that the children were sent to boarding school to shelter them from the trauma is entirely plausible.

 After they were withdrawn from Vaucluse Public, Tony and Victor were enrolled at Kersworth Preparatory School, which was situated at 24 Dover Road, Rose Bay. No records from the school, which closed in the ‘early 1930s’, have come to light. However, it would be reasonable to assume that the boys began there – as boarders – after the mid-winter school holidays, in about June 1931. It is likely that Penelope also commenced boarding at Kambala from that date.

In 2021, Kambala’s archivist advised me that Penelope would not have been the only boarder. Various 1930 newspaper advertisements, promoting the school’s modern dormitories, confirm that statement. However, it’s possible that Penelope was the only student her age who boarded, which might explain her perception of being alone. 

Big Vic and Eve’s divorce became final on 17^th May 1932. Two months later, Eve married Big Vic’s older brother, Richard Jenkins (my grandfather). The children remained at school in Sydney until at least the beginning of 1933, as evidenced by Penelope’s appearance in Kambala’s whole-school photo taken during term 1 that year. As Penelope only ever recalled boarding at Kambala, there is little doubt that all three children continued as boarders – rather than day students – even after Eve’s divorce had become final.

I momentarily entertained the possibility that Kersworth’s ‘early 1930s’ closure may have triggered the children’s exit from boarding school. However, as Kersworth remained on the Government’s list of certified schools until at least the end of 1934, I was able to discount that scenario.

The more likely reason for the children’s removal was that Eve and her new husband Richard had decided to return permanently to the farm that had previously belonged to Big Vic. Richard had purchased ‘Glenbrook’ from Big Vic in May 1932 following myriad complicated financial dealings – including the discharge of a long-standing debt owed to him by Big Vic. The high cost of boarding school and the prevailing economic depression might also have played a part.

Interestingly, in addition to the 1930 Admissions Register for Vaucluse Public School, the State Archives holds the school’s Punishment Book for the same period. I was keen to examine this as I had anticipated that my argumentative uncle Tony – who subsequently transgressed regularly during his time in the Army – would surely have made an appearance.

The story-hunter in me was disappointed to discover that Tony was not among the many miscreants disciplined for their rudeness, insolence and disobedience; for misbehaving when the teacher was absent from the room; or for throwing stones and ink, destroying flowers in the garden, rubbing tar on other boys’ clothing, or hurting other children. Unsurprisingly, Victor had also kept a clean sheet. It seems that, despite Eve’s apparent alarm at the language her sons brought home from school, both were well-behaved little boys.

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* Note: ‘Big Vic’ is the name descendants use to distinguish between Eve’s husband Victor – aka Big Vic – and her youngest child, Penelope’s brother Victor.