Loomes, Bertha Agnes
Family background
Bertha Agnes Loomes was born in 1863, the third of twelve children to farmer and grazier John Loomes, and Margaret nee Silver. Her parents both arrived in Australia as children – her father's family from England and her mother's from Ireland – both eventually settling in the Yass district. After marrying, Bertha's parents moved to Two Mile (Sheep Station) Creek near Bowning, along with her grandparents, (John Loomes senior and Ann nee Speechly), and her paternal uncles.
Pupil Teacher: Bowning Public School (1880-1885)
In late 1880 Bertha, aged seventeen, was accepted as a pupil teacher and assigned to Bowning Public School, which fortunately allowed her to continue living on the family property at Two Mile Creek. Bertha's employment had some significance in the school's history as she was both the first pupil teacher appointed, and the first female teacher. Bowning school at that time had an attendance of over fifty students, including Bertha's younger siblings and cousins, taught by the principal as a single class. After Bertha's arrival, two classes were formed, and an extra classroom built, likely aided by efforts of the School Board, which included Bertha's father, and her uncle, James Loomes.
Bertha commenced her training under principal Thomas Wellings, a newly married man of ten years' teaching experience, recently transferred to Bowning. Mr Wellings was responsible for ensuring Bertha taught a class full-time and received guidance in class management and the 'higher branches of learning'. She was also expected to study at home to prepare for annual examinations to assess her readiness to advance through the pupil teacher system, a process that required a minimum four-years to move from the initial rank of Class IV to the ultimate level of Pupil Teacher Class I.
Bertha failed at her first examination in 1881, not an unusual occurrence for pupil teachers, but by January 1883 was progressing steadily. Two months later her father died, leaving her mother with twelve children ranging from twenty-four to one year old. While clearly a devastating loss, Bertha's life does not seem to have altered much as her mother inherited the entirety of her husband's estate, which meant a half-share in the Two Mile Creek property, where the family continued to live. As a token of respect, John Loomes' friends erected a marble tablet in his memory in the Bowning Church of England, where he had been a warden.
In mid 1883, Thomas Wellings was promoted to a position in Sydney, and John Mitchell became the
Bowning principal. Mr Mitchell, like his predecessor, was a married man – a preferred situation for rural appointments as teachers' wives could give needlework instruction. The school's character at that time is reflected in a report of the annual picnic, highlighting the children's obedience and good behaviour and commending Mr Mitchell's leadership ['Yass Courier', 10 April 1885, p. 2].
Bertha seems to have continued capably under Mr Mitchell's tuition, attaining Pupil Teacher Class I in July 1885. She remained employed at Bowning while also studying for the Sydney training college entrance examination, which she attempted in June 1886 but unfortunately failed. Both she and Mr Mitchell had to submit an explanation for her failure, which revealed she had been quite ill at the time (a doctor's testimony being included as evidence). She was permitted to repeat the examination later in the year and this time secured a college position.
Hurlstone Women's Training College (1887-1889)
In January 1887 Bertha left Bowning to take up her teachers' college position, while a new pupil teacher, Mary Hannah Hill, was appointed to Bowning. Before departing, Bertha received a workbox as a gift from her students and in thanking them stated she 'would ever have an affectionate remembrance of them, and of the Bowning school with which she had been so long connected' ['Yass Courier', 18 January 1887, p. 2].
Bertha spent the next year in studies at the Hurlstone Women's Training College, a recently opened institution wholly staffed by women. This was followed by practical experience in large Sydney schools and over the course of the next two years she taught at Sussex Street, Williams Street, Crown Street and Macdonaldtown Superior Public Schools. An inspector's report at the time endorsed her skill, usefulness, disciplinary power, and teaching ability as 'very fair'.
Country Appointments (1890-1905)
In 1890 Bertha left Sydney, embarking on a series of teaching appointments in large country schools. In time, she increased her classification to Mistress level, which involved staff management and pupil teacher supervision, as well as teaching – one of the few influential positions available to women, although still under the headmaster's authority. Over the next fifteen years she held positions at Adamstown, Albury, Narrandera, Wagga Wagga South, and Goulburn North. The combined managerial and instructional duties, however, began to take a toll on her health and in 1904, now aged forty-one, and having taught for over twenty years, Bertha was 'thoroughly run down and in a highly nervous condition'. After a month's complete rest, she asked to 'be relieved of the position of Mistress of the (Goulburn North) Girls Department'.
Later life: Bertha Bergin (1906-1924)
In 1906 Bertha returned to Sydney to take up an Assistant Teacher position at Newtown Public School. At the end of that year, she married James Bergin, a surveyor's clerk, originally from Bowning. (His father, Daniel Bergin, had been a member of the Bowning School Board with her father.) Bertha continued teaching at Newtown after her marriage and in 1913 independently purchased a house in Croydon. Three years later she retired, seemingly due to a chronic illness. She was then fifty-three and had fulfilled thirty-six years' teaching service. Her ill health, however, persisted after her retirement and she died at her Croydon residence in 1924, aged sixty-one, and was buried in Rookwood Catholic Cemetery.
[Biography prepared by Joanne Toohey, 2023. Sources consulted include NSW school teachers' rolls 1868-1908, NSW school and related records 1876-1979, probate packets, historic newspapers, NSW births, deaths and marriages index, 'Bowning Public School: 125th Anniversary, 1849-1974' and 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region', (1999) by Lyall Gillespie.]