Student of St. Mary's Star of the Sea College, Wollongong, 1942 -1944, 1948

[The following reminiscences are based on interviews conducted with Roma Crutchley during May 2019 by her son Michael Organ. A 33 minute interview is available on YouTube here. Comments from that interview, and subsequent discussions, are interspersed throughout the text below. Roma was aged 89 at the time these reminiscences were recorded. She passed away 6 months later at Wollongong Hospital on 27 October 2019 after an accidental fall at her Bulli residence.]

Saint Mary’s Convent, Wollongong, circa 1930. This view is looking east from Market Street towards the intersection with Harbour Street. The substantial, church-like brick buildings on the left remain in place (2019), though with altered roof lines and exposed brickwork. They contained the chapel and administrative offices. The wooden structure extending out on the right was the former Royal Marine Hotel which in 1874 had been converted into a convent and school with residences for the nuns and accommodation for boarders. It has now been replaced with a modern brick and glass building.

Early days 1930-41

Roma Mary Crutchley was born on 31 March 1930 at Lockhart in southern New South Wales, near the Victorian border. She was the youngest of the five children of Kate (1890-1963) and Edgar (1884-1955) Crutchley – Phyllis (Maisie), Jack ("Mo"), William (Bill), Terence (Terry) and Roma. Her father Edgar had been a railway employee – a camp cook and ganger – during the 1910s and 1920s, working throughout the state, including for a period in the Blue Mountains area. By the time of Roma's birth in 1930 he had developed an arthritic paralysis which limited his ability to walk and placed him on an invalid pension. As a result, her mother Kate was forced to seek employment, initially as a domestic servant. She eventually found work with the railway and by 1937 was operating the gates on the main Sydney to Melbourne line at Wagga Wagga. 

In 1940, following the outbreak of war and seeking a better life for the family, Kate and Edgar moved to Unanderra, just south of Wollongong. Here Kate took up a similar role with the railway on the Wollongong section of the line which ran between Sydney and Melbourne via Moss Vale. Roma, then aged 10, clearly remembers the overnight rail journey from Wagga Wagga to Sydney on a steam  train packed to the rafters with young soldiers heading off to war. All of the family, except for the eldest children Jack and Maisie, travelled to Wollongong. Jack had already signed up to the army by this stage, and Maisie was working in Sydney prior to pursuing a career as a nurse. Fortunately, Kate was able to secure a seat on the crowded train for the invalided Edgar. Their furniture and belongings were shipped separately in a goods van to Wollongong, along with the cat, Mike the old dog, and a pink and grey talking galah, well known for his unsolicited question upon hearing a knock on the door: “Are you there Mrs Crutch-er-ley?”

Steam train on cliff's edge near Stanwell Park.

The subsequent connecting journey from Sydney's Central railway station to the Illawarra proved eventful as young Roma became upset and frightened when she looked out the carriage window and saw the ocean for the first time. With the train passing through Stanwell Park and Wombarra close to the cliff's edge (the line is now the main road), the feeling of a disastrous plunge into the sea overcame the by then very tired young girl. 

"I screamed all the way, petrified. The thought of falling into the ocean frightened the life out of me!"

The guard intervened to assure Roma that she and her family would soon be safely at their destination, and the train was not going to fall off the side of the steep escarpment into the sea.  

 

Upon arrival at Unanderra station the family's belongings and furniture were unloaded from the train - except for the cat, which had taken flight - and transported to their new cottage on Five Islands Road. This was located next to the gates which closed off the road as a train passed, often at speed. It was Kate's job to operate these gates day and night, 7 days a week. It was an important job, and Roma can proudly state that her mother never failed in the task. Roma was to live by the gates throughout the 1940s and right up until the time of her marriage in 1951. She remembers one occasion when a coal train passed by at speed and some large lumps of coal were flung out of a wagon, narrowly missing her brother Terry as he lay asleep in one of the back rooms. When the gates were automated around 1953 and Kate retired, Roma's parents and Terry moved into a Housing Commission flat in lower Crown Street, opposite the Catholic primary school. By this time Maisie, Bill and Roma were married and Jack had moved back to farming in the Lockhart area at Milbrulong. 

Roma’s mother was a Catholic and the children were raised as Catholics, with Roma initially attending the Mount Erin St. Mary's primary school in Wagga Wagga. This was operated at the time by sisters of the Good Samaritan order.

Mt Erin convent and school, Wagga Wagga, 1880s, and below in 1942, with the aerial view showing the associated high school, grounds and accommodation for boarders.

Mt Erin convent and school, Wagga Wagga, 1942.

 
Upon arrival at Unanderra in 1940 Roma was briefly enrolled in the local public school, located across the road from her house. When she expressed dissatisfaction with it, her parents sent her to St. Francis Xavier's Catholic school in lower Crown Street, Wollongong. This was also operated by the Good Samaritan Sisters. She was much happier there as it provided continuity with the environment she had encountered at Mt. Erin.

“I didn’t like the [Unanderra] public school because it was so different to a Catholic school. I hated it because you had to say all that stuff with the Queen in it.”

Roma attended St. Francis Xavier's during 1940 and 1941, completing her primary education there before moving on the following year to the nearby, all girls Catholic high school on Harbour Street. Whilst at primary school she remembers the Wollongong parish celebrating the centenary of the founding of St. Francis Xavier's church and later cathedral by Bishop Polding in 1840. Roma participated in the festivities held at Wollongong Showground, including dancing around a maypole. She was only 10 at the time.

"We went over to the Wollongong showground once and danced around the maypole in pink and blue and yellow dresses."

 

School children dancing around a maypole at Bulli in 1908.

 

A report of this event, which took place on the afternoon of Monday, 14 October 1940, was included in the Illawarra Mercury on 18 October. The festivities were presented before the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop J. Panico D.D. 

GRAND DISPLAY ON SHOWGROUND 

On Monday afternoon a grand display was staged on the Wollongong Showground by the pupils front the Christian Brothers' College, and St. Mary's Convent and St. Francis Xavier's Schools. His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate, who was accompanied by Mons. King and Father Callaghan, viewed the proceedings from the grandstand. The display was a most spectacular one. The boys, under Brother English, gave a very fine display in the grand march past the grandstand. As each section passed His Excellency they saluted with flags. The physical displays were most effective. Included in some of these were small boys from the Little Flower School, West Wollongong. When the boys had concluded their displays they gave three lusty cheers for the Apostolic Delegate. The girls, who were in charge of Miss Cooper (Sydney) with Mrs. Lyons and Miss Dwyer alternatively at the piano, gave what may be described as a colourful display. One of the visiting clerics said it was remarkable when the fact was taken into consideration that it was only the pupils of two schools who were engaged. He considered that the display would have done credit to the metropolis, with many schools to draw from. The opening march was a spectacular event, whilst the display of physical culture and deportment which followed and given by pupils from St. Mary's Convent was deservedly applauded. The Maypoles by pupils from St. Francis Xavier's School was a very colourful item. The dressing of the children in pastel shades, combined with the bright ribbons on the maypoles, produced a very colourful effect. A spectacular display, 'The Coronation Waltz' by pupils of St. Mary's Convent, was most striking. The pupils were attired in long flowing Grecian costumes, the varied colours being grouped with artistic effect, producing a picture that was pleasing to the eye. A Folk Dance, by the pupils from the Little Flower School, was another good item, as was the concluding item by the pupils of St. Mary's Convent which consisted of a weaving dance. The National Anthem brought the proceedings to a close.

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At some point towards the end of primary school and the beginning of her time at high school in 1942, Roma's mother took her to the Paramount Studios in Wollongong to have a professional portrait taken. This sepia toned and coloured photograph reveals a young girl, aged between 11 and 12, about to enter the next stage of her life, with braided locks, rosy cheeks and a smile on her face.

Roma Crutchley, circa 1942. Photograph: Paramount Studios, Wollongong.

Roma’s brothers Jack, Terry and Bill had by this time all joined the army and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force), with the first two going on to serve overseas in New Guinea, the Pacific and Japan. Bill, a mechanic, remained on active duty in Australia. After the war Jack took up a solder settlement farm at Milbrulong near Lockhart, carrying on the work he had done prior to the war. He died an early death there in 1961 from the effects of exposure to radiation whilst stationed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the war as a member of the BCOF (British Commonwealth Occupation Forces). Many of his colleagues suffered a similar fate. Bill left the RAAF but later joined the army and was stationed at Maralinga in central Australia during the atomic tests between 1956 and 1963. Luckily he did not suffer the same fate as his brother. Terry returned from Japan traumatised and an alcoholic. He subsequently secured a job in the cable joining section of the Port Kembla steel works. After a brief period living with his parents, he took up residence in the Oxford Hotel, Wollongong, where he remained until his death in 1974, spending his time between work and the bar at the Oxford.

St. Mary's Star of the Sea College, Wollongong, circa 1880.

Roma at St Mary’s 1942-44, 1948

Roma Crutchley was a student at the Convent of the Good Samaritan, St. Mary’s Star of the Sea College, Wollongong, during the war years 1942, 1943 and 1944. The school had opened in 1874 in the former Royal Marine Hotel on Harbour Street, adjacent to Market Square. It was operated by Good Samaritan nuns who, according to Roma, typically dressed in a dark blue or blackish garb. This was in contrast to the dark brown of the Sisters of St. Joseph order set up by Mary McKillop and which also operated schools in the Illawarra. By the 1960s the Good Samaritan nuns wore black.

Sister Gabrielle.

At the time Roma attended St. Mary's, the nun in charge was Sister Gabrielle Nichols. According to Roma, she was a strict disciplinarian who usually had a prayer book close at hand. As St. Mary's was a high school, different nuns taught specific subjects, unlike at the St. Francis Xavier's primary school where each nun would be responsible for a different year group or class of students. The St. Mary's school uniform at the time was a plain, navy blue tunic with blue blouse, tie, stockings and a hat. Black shoes were worn. Attire and deportment was strictly monitored by the nuns.

The college accommodated both boarders and day students. Whilst the two groups took classes together, Roma remembered that they were not allowed to fraternise or develop friendships outside of class, such as on the playground or during lunch breaks. When the students marched to church at nearby St. Francis Xavier’s cathedral on a Friday after confession to attend benediction or mass, the boarders and day students went in separate groups, with the day students first. Roma, a very sociable young girl, took exception to this segregation and remembered it well in later life.

"We were the day pupils and they were the boarders - they were not allowed to talk at playtime with us day students. We used to go over to St. Francis Xavier's cathedral, but they marched over on their own, the boarders."

Whilst at St. Mary's Roma travelled to and from school by steam train every day, between Unanderra and Wollongong. Upon alighting from the train, or travelling in the opposite direction to Wollongong station from the school, Roma and the other female students were not allowed to fraternise with any males. This especially applied to boys from the Christian Brothers school which was then located on the hill half way up and on the northern side of Crown Street. The girls had to walk down the right (south) side of Crown Street, and the boys down the left (north) side. If any fraternisation took place, such as talking, the nuns at the college would find out and the student would be reprimanded with the cane. Such fraternisation lead to expulsion during the 1960s and later, as a result of the strict behaviour regime maintained by the nuns and the antipathy towards any public scandal. Roma noted that she was not aware of any expulsions during her time at the college. This is perhaps a reflection of the tight moral code then in existence in comparison with that from the 1960s and later, when the girls sought more personal freedom.

Roma Crutchley interview, 25 May 2019. Talking about her time at St. Mary's. Source: YouTube.

One regular instance of fraternisation Roma remembered would occur during monthly mass at St. Francis Xavier’s cathedral when St. Mary's girls would sit next to Christian Brothers boys and sometimes secretly hold hands. There would also be occasions when a group of girls would engage in after-school encounters with Christian Brothers boys at football training in Pioneer Park (modern-day Macabe Park). On these occasions Roma and her friends would catch the 5.30 train and tell their parents that the nuns had kept them back after class. Needless to say, if the nuns found out there would be repercussions. These encounters were some of the first in which Roma developed crushes on specific boys, as was typical for the time, though, as she says, the boys probably never knew.

Roma recalls that Sister Gabrielle, and most of the other nuns, were very strict and “cruel", with frequent use of the cane upon the hand as punishment. Students who got into trouble would have to visit Sister Gabrielle’s office where they would receive their punishment. 

“Sister Gabrielle was cruel as cruel. God she was cruel, with the cane. For example, the girls were told we had to walk down the right side of Crown Street. If you got caught talking to boys Sister Gabrielle would find out and you would get the cane. I got it a couple of times for that. She used to smile when she was caning you.”

Roma noted that the nun who taught music and choir was perhaps the warmest and friendliest of them all.

Roma came from a relatively poor family, as did many others at the school. She felt discriminated against in comparison to those students from wealthier backgrounds who were able to participate in fee-based activities such as obtaining music lessons and singing in the choir.

"There were a lot of rich people and a lot of poor people at the school. None of use poor people were in the choir – not because we could not sing, but because of our situation.”

One of her friends had to leave because her family could not pay the fees. This would be an ongoing issue in Wollongong for many years as the Illawarra was primarily an industrial, working class region during much of its history and prior to the 1990s when electrification of the railway and downturn in the steel industry based at Port Kembla transformed it into a satellite suburb of Sydney. At the time of Roma's attendance there, St. Mary’s also offered tuition in music on a payment basis to students throughout the region and conducted annual exams according to the rules of the Trinity College of Music. This was a significant role taken by the school at the time, similar to that later carried out by the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music.

Whilst at school Roma played basketball for sport on the tennis court located on the grounds, and also participated in regular exercise drills, or calisthenics. Most of her activity centred around class work in mathematics, algebra, geometry, English and history - primarily English history concerning the kings and queens and Australian history with stories of bushrangers such as New Kelly - geography, religion and domestic science. There was also time for play and fun with her friends during morning playtime and lunch. Roma remembers occasionally slipping away with some of her friends at lunch time and heading down to North Beach for a paddle at what she called the Nuns Pool, or Nuns Baths.

“One of my friends was a Greek girl – Poppy Scorma. She used to lead us astray. Eileen Doolan, Mary George, myself and Poppy were great friends at the time.”

There were no beach activities at the school during this period, and such activity as visiting the Nuns Baths was liable to get the girls into trouble with Sister Gabrielle.

Roma Crutchley's 'Nuns Pool', Wollongong. This was located in a relatively secluded area north of the current Continental Pool and south of the North Beach kiosk and pavilion. It was generally known as the Ladies Baths. However, Roma refers to it as the Nuns Pool, which is not to be confused with the similarly named chained pool on Flagstaff Point to the south.

The facilities at the school were limited in comparison with the modern-day equivalent. 

“We would always bring our sandwiches. The school did not have a tuck shop or anything like that there. Sometimes we would buy a bag of broken biscuits and lollies for 2d. from Woolworths.”

Woolworths was then located on the lower part of Crown Street, near the old Town Hall.

 

At St. Mary's there were classrooms behind the main building which fronted on to Harbour Street and Market Square. Within this latter structure was the chapel, administration and accommodation for the nuns and boarders. Occasionally a priest would come and hear the girls confession in the chapel. Religion was a big part of the school curriculum, with the girls studying catechism, attending confession and mass, and being groomed for a possible religious vocation.

“Two of the girls I went to school with went away to become nuns. One of the girls came from Unanderra and her mum had the [railway] gates at Kembla Grange... One of our friends wanted to be a nun and her mum and dad said, "We will let you have a trip overseas and you can do this before you do it." And she did all that for them, and went on a boat to England and worked for a couple of years and then she came back and said, "Well, that's how I am!" She then went to Tasmania to train to be a missionary and work in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, and with lepers in the Pacific islands.”

Apart from classes and sport there were few special activities and no real excursions. War was raging around them, but life went on largely as normal for the young girls at St. Mary's. Roma remembers the sirens going off at nearby Port Kembla harbour around 1 June 1942 during the Japanese submarine attack on Sydney harbour. It did, however, get closer to home on the morning of Friday, 9 July 1943, when a low flying bomber on a training run mistakenly strafed the school and a nearby block of flats with machine-gun bullets. Fortunately no one was injured. A newspaper report of the time describes this strange encounter with the war:

[9 July 1943 - Wollongong Was Machine-Gunned! Wollongong, Monday. — As Wollongong residents were watching three planes sweep out to sea on Friday morning, a sudden burst of machine-gun fire sprayed the roofs and walls of a number of buildings. It is believed the planes were practicing dive-bombing and bullets ricocheted from the water some distance from the coast. No one was injured but tiles were blown off the Catholic convent, while a water pipe on a block of flats opposite the convent was punctured. (Northern Star, Lismore, 13 July 1943. C.f. Wollongong Area Sprayed with Bullets, Advocate, Burnie, 12 July 1943.]

During the 1943 end of year school holiday break, on 10 January 1944 Roma was a bridesmaid at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, for the wedding of her sister Phyllis (Maisie) to Russell Smith, an army captain and former plantation manager in New Guinea. When she returned to school that year as a 3rd form (year 9) student, Roma undertook an additional course in secretarial skills, in preparation for a future working career. The lay teacher Miss Lyons taught the girls shorthand and typing during that year. She later became a nun. A picture exists of Roma around this time, standing on the Harbour Street path near the college entrance and leaning against the brick fence.

Roma Crutchley standing outside St. Mary's College, Wollongong, winter 1944. Roma is dressed in her school uniform, and is also wearing a cardigan from home, donned due to the cold weather.

It was a cold, winter's day in 1944 and on top of her school uniform she wears a cardigan, with its pockets serving as hand warmers.  

 

Roma left St. Mary’s at the end of 1944, having completed her Intermediate Certificate. Memories of her time at the school are mixed – she did not enjoy the harsh discipline, but was thankful for the education she received and the lifelong friendships she made. The nuns instilled an element of independence in their students which would hold them in good stead over the years ahead as they pursued domestic, working, and professional careers. Upon leaving school Roma obtained a job with the Woolworths department store in lower Crown Street. She worked there for a number of years during her late teens. She  was at Woolworths  in September 1945 when a great celebration took place in the city as the end of the war in the Pacific with Japan was announced. Crown Street was filled with thousands of people as members of military units and a few returned soldiers marched down towards the showground, followed by families, friends and the general public. 

 Crown Street, Wollongong, circa 2 September 1945. Crowds celebrate the end of the war in the Pacific. Source: Lost Wollongong, Facebook, 26 March 2019.

The mood was buoyant, though also somewhat sombre, as the streets filled with people from all over the region, with Dion's and other bus companies waiving fares for the day. Whilst at Woollies between 1945-7 Roma enjoyed life as a young teenager, socialising alongside her best friend Nancy and travelling to local tourist spots such as the National Park, Kangaroo Valley, Sydney and the nearby beaches. A number of photographs exist from the period 1946-7 of Roma at National Park, North Beach, Kangaroo Valley and Sydney with friends Betty, Nancy and Beryl. Roma and Nancy played hockey for Figtree for a number of years. They were the best of friends, despite the fact that Nancy was Church of England and as a result her grandmother tried to separate the girls because of Roma's Catholicism. 

 

In 1948 Roma turned 18 and entered a nursing course at Wollongong Hospital. In association with the nursing entrance exam, she and fellow candidates undertook tuition at St. Mary’s on a Saturday afternoon, paid for by her mother. They were taught English and arithmetic by Sister Gabrielle. Following this they undertook the examination at Wollongong Police Station, with Roma the only successful candidate out of the eight who sat. Roma subsequently worked for a number of years as a trainee nurse at Wollongong Hospital, from 1948 through to 1951, prior to her marriage and starting her own family. She met her future husband Keith at a dance held in a hall near the hospital. He happened to be there with a group of friends from Austinmer Surf Club.

Family and later life 1951+

On 23 June 1951 Roma married Keith Organ (1930-2002) of Bulli. They subsequently had three children – Denise (1952-2015), Michael (b. 1956) and Terence (1960-2016). Keith, from Bulli, worked as a postman at Bulli and Austinmer, then in the brick works at Bulli and Thirroul through to the 1980s. When the kids were old enough, Roma worked throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a domestic at Bulli Hospital. The family initially lived at Thirroul, then moved to Housing Commission houses at number 30 - and later number 6 - Westmacott Parade, Bulli, near the beach at Sandon Point.

Roma and Keith’s children attended St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Bulli, and the adjacent primary school. This was operated by sisters of the St. Joseph's order, supported by the local parish priest. After finishing primary school, Denise went to St. Columkille’s at Corrimal where she acquired her Intermediate Certificate. Michael attended St. Paul’s College for boys at Bellambi between 1969-74, and then the University of Wollongong in 1975. Terry went to Bulli High School and worked for a time with the railway, before securing a position as a wards man at Wollongong Hospital.

Roma and Keith retired during the 1980s and moved into a Housing Commission unit at Point Street, Bulli, where they took on the new role of grandparents. In 1998 Roma attended the 125th anniversary celebrations of St Mary's Star of the Sea mass of celebration at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, accompanied by her old school friend Mary George (1929-2013). Roma's husband Keith passed away in 2002. She resided in a Housing Commission unit at Point Street, Bulli, until her death on 27 October 2019 following a fall the previous day. During that year Roma was looking forward to attending the annual gathering of former students at her old school, but unfortunately missed out due to ill health. She was nevertheless heartened at the time by the knowledge that her granddaughter would be attending St Mary's in 2021.

Updated: 20 January 2002

Michael Organ