Family ties to teaching

Vol 18. Number 01, January/February 2009

By Lisa Gilby

When Daphne Weller began her teaching career at the Gympie Girls and Infants School in the 1930s, she could never have imagined both her daughter and granddaughter would follow in her footsteps decades later.

But her first teaching stint marked the beginning of three generations of teachers in Mrs Weller's family, spanning some 80 years.

Her daughter Fay Andrews taught home economics for about 30 years until she retired from James Nash State High School in 2004 and her granddaughter Kym Andrews teaches English and drama at Mansfield State High School.

The teaching tradition in Mrs Weller's family doesn't stop there. Her eldest son Robert Weller teaches at Kingaroy State High School, and Robert's son Tony Weller is a teacher in Canada.

Kym Andrews said Mrs Weller taught at the Gympie Girls and Infants School for just 18 months and was still a teenager when she was asked to open a new one-teacher school at Calico Creek just outside Gympie.

'Nan started out very young,' Kym said. 'She finished secondary school in Brisbane and then went straight in to teaching.'

Kym said Mrs Weller taught until the end of World War II when Kym's grandfather returned and they were married.

Kym said she became a teacher to share her love of English and drama with others.

'And there was always the family aspect,' Kym said. 'They say teachers beget teachers.'

Kym's mother Fay Andrews also admits to following her mother in to a career in education.

'Absolutely, both Mum and Dad were passionate about our education,' Mrs Andrews said.

'I fell in love with home economics when I was at school and that is all I have ever wanted to do.'

Mrs Andrews became a teacher in 1968, with her first posting at Longreach State High School.

'When I finished college my girlfriend and I got a map of Queensland and closed our eyes and put our pen down on Longreach so that's where we went,' she said.

'I absolutely loved it there.'

After six months, Mrs Andrews was transferred to Maryborough Girls Bayside School, where the principal disapproved of her short skirts.

'Short skirts were fashionable in the 60s and I had quite good legs at the time,' she said.

'One day the principal came up to me, ran her finger up my leg and said, "Miss Weller you will wear stockings. This is Queensland, not Hollywood".'

Kym said teaching in 2009 was a very different job to that of her grandmother in the 1930s and her mother in the late 1960s.

'My grandmother's students were writing on slate boards and now I teach a technology class where the students work almost solely on computers.'