QUESTION: What is the connection between the 1937 coronation of King George V1 , a Sydney girls high school , the Queen of the Nightcliff Uniting Church Op Shop and the musical Oklahoma ? ANSWER : It is a bit involved, but follow the bouncing ball as we sing along .
It all began when Dr Vicki Beaumont , of Nightcliff , deeply involved in organising medical supplies for Timor-Leste , discovered at Humpty Doo an interesting pile of old Australian school magazines, some more than a hundred years old, assorted booklets and a souvenir programme for the 1937 NSW special ceremony marking the coronation of King George , father of the now Queen.
Knowing this writer’s interest in ephemera , Dr Beaumont produced the bag of treasures for a second opinion. Eureka ! The coronation pamphlet , above, for the Sydney Showground rally, attended by 40,000 children , listed the various dignitaries and others expressing loyalty and devotion to his majesty , one being a pupil from the Hornsby Girl’s High School, Miss Jean Levido , who spoke on behalf of the children of NSW . It just so happens that two of the longtime women involved with the Nightcliff Op Shop- Mary Penton and Shirley Downing are - to use an expression which now could be considered as politically incorrect- Hornsby old girls.
Mary Penton remembers Jean Levido, a small girl, who may have been in the debating club. Latin and science were studied at the time. Mary, who served in the WAAFS and made an early helicopter flight , celebrated her 90th birthday on December 10 . Shirley Downing , 80, said Miss Levido was a teacher at Hornsby when she attended the school. Shirley became an art teacher and married the late Reverend Jim Downing .
Knowing this writer’s interest in ephemera , Dr Beaumont produced the bag of treasures for a second opinion. Eureka ! The coronation pamphlet , above, for the Sydney Showground rally, attended by 40,000 children , listed the various dignitaries and others expressing loyalty and devotion to his majesty , one being a pupil from the Hornsby Girl’s High School, Miss Jean Levido , who spoke on behalf of the children of NSW . It just so happens that two of the longtime women involved with the Nightcliff Op Shop- Mary Penton and Shirley Downing are - to use an expression which now could be considered as politically incorrect- Hornsby old girls.
Mary Penton remembers Jean Levido, a small girl, who may have been in the debating club. Latin and science were studied at the time. Mary, who served in the WAAFS and made an early helicopter flight , celebrated her 90th birthday on December 10 . Shirley Downing , 80, said Miss Levido was a teacher at Hornsby when she attended the school. Shirley became an art teacher and married the late Reverend Jim Downing .
To mark Mary's birthday, Shirley composed and sang a special version of the Hornsby Girls’ High song to the tune of Oklahoma at the Op Shop.
