Brandon, Miss Mercy Victoria
Family background
Mercy Brandon was born in Sydney in 1870, fourth of seven daughters to carpenter James Brandon, and Matilda nee Ardill. During Mercy's childhood, family income was augmented by accommodating boarders, and at one point her mother appeared at Sydney Coroner's Court to identify a lodger who, after being arrested at their premises, had died at the Darlinghurst House for Lunatics. Their financial state became precarious when Mercy's father was declared insolvent, which perhaps accounts for the early marriages of her older sisters, and for Mercy taking the pupil teacher entrance examination in 1885, which she passed satisfactorily.
Pupil Teacher: Macquarie St South & Paddington
In March 1886, fifteen-year-old Mercy was appointed to Macquarie Street South Public School, commencing a training course that would require a minimum of four-years to progress from Pupil Teacher Class IV through to Class I. From the outset of her training Mercy would have taught full-time, received instruction in class management, and completed sizable homework. An unfavourable report lengthened her probationary term from three to six months. Nonetheless, by the start of 1887 she was transferred to Paddington Public School, having progressed to the next stage of her training.
At the end of 1888, Mercy sat an examination to advance to the final pupil teacher level but her result was declared invalid because she allegedly prompted another pupil teacher. A year later she was permitted to sit the exam again but was unsuccessful in several subjects. The headteacher wrote in support of her abilities, describing Mercy as an 'excellent teacher' and in December 1890, now twenty years old, she was promoted to Pupil Teacher Class I. The following year, she required a month's leave due to 'catarrh & debility & other ailments'. Shortly after this she took a training college examination and while passing, did not gain a scholarship, so applied to teach in a small school.
Boambolo Provisional School
A lack of small school vacancies meant Mercy continued at Paddington until appointed to Boambolo in August 1895, which was reopening after a year's closure. The school was 'weatherboard, 17 x 14 x 8½ feet in size, with a corrugated-iron roof, fireplace, and two outhouses'. Mercy lodged nearby with the Frankum family, but after a year applied to resign, effective 30 September 1896, having completed ten years teaching service. Her resignation was accepted, although she was required to refund a portion of the travel expenses she had claimed when moving from Sydney as she had fulfilled less than three years of country service.
Later life
In 1897, Mercy married police constable Joseph Alexander Condie, originally from Braidwood. The birth places of their six children suggest they lived several years in Sydney, then moved to Goulburn. By 1913 Mercy was living in Bathurst where her husband was employed as a gaol warden. In 1914 they returned to Sydney as her husband entered the newly formed Naval Dockyard Police. They purchased a house in Lakemba in 1917, and although Mercy was widowed two years later, she was able to remain in the home, where her children grew up, married and moved away in turn. Mercy died at Lakemba in 1958, aged 88.
[Biography prepared by Joanne Toohey, 2023. Sources include NSW school teachers' rolls 1868-1908, NSW school and related records 1876-1979, historic newspapers, NSW births, deaths and marriages index, and 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region', (1999) by Lyall Gillespie.]
Schools
- Boambolo
08/1895 - 09/1896