Alf McKenzie

Alf McKenzie

1927

Skipton, Victoria

Alf was born in Skipton, central Victoria, in 1927. His father was a rabbiter and then a boundary rider on the Trawalla South Station following the death of his own father. The family lived on the property and, as it was a long way from town, Alf and his twin brother did correspondence schooling, with his mother as supervisor: ‘we did correspondence at the breakfast table; my mum with the bucket of water to wash the dishes in front of her’. When the boys were old enough to ride a horse together, they travelled to a neighbouring Pura Pura station where the owner had provided some land for a one-teacher primary school. This was followed by a number of moves, which saw Alf educated in Trawalla, Beaufort and Ballarat. When Alf was at school in Trawalla he would visit the Beaufort library and he says, ‘I think I discovered the world at that library’. He would read the Illustrated London News and other periodicals and recalls that this was at the time of the Spanish civil war. A particular highlight of his education was his time at Ballarat Technical School, the most valuable aspects being the confidence it instilled in him and the time the teachers had to converse with and get to know the students. He also notes the trust teachers had in students to complete tasks and work independently. Alf taught at two Geelong technical schools for one year prior to his teacher training at South Yarra Teachers College. He was then accepted to teach at the School of Mines in Ballarat, also spending some time as a teacher in Britain and the United States. His interest in metals and chemistry had been encouraged at school and he also spent some time working as a metallurgist. Alf mentions that the highlight of his teaching was ‘the students, the interaction with the students’ and although he had to deal with a few ‘larrikins’ it was the students that kept him teaching: ‘that’s what education should be about, a joint exercise’. He also believes, ‘it’s very difficult to dissociate life in general from schooling and if you were a teacher from life’.

Image credits: Page from Alf McKenzie's Pupil's Record Book from Boys' Technical School Ballarat, 1942. Courtesy Alf Mckenzie

Primary: Correspondence

Primary: Pura Pura Station school (1930s)

Primary: Nerrin Nerrin Primary School (1930s)

Primary: Trawalla Primary School (1930s)

Secondary: Beaufort Higher Elementary School (c1939–1941)

Secondary: Ballarat Technical School (1942–1943)

Secondary: School of Mines, Ballarat (1944–1946)

Tertiary: South Yarra Teachers College (c1940s?)

Tertiary: La Trobe University

Tertiary: Deakin University

1.Page from Alf McKenzie's Pupil's Record Book from Boys' Technical School Ballarat, 1942. Courtesy Alf Mckenzie
2. School of Mines, Ballarat, c1950. Photographer unknown. Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 14514.P1.Unit 40
3. Alf McKenzie's Pupil's Record Book from Boys' Technical School Ballarat, c1942–1943. Courtesy Alf Mckenzie