FORTY-EIGHT years ago a young teacher stepped off the night train at Cootamundra Railway Station, knowing precious little about the town she was about to call home.
Who would have known at the time that the then 19-year-old would go on to become one of the most endearing and respected teachers Cootamundra has ever seen.
Mrs Ruth Thorburn celebrates 50 years of teaching this month and is still teaching today.
She spent her first year of teaching at a tiny two teacher school at Tumbulgum on the Tweed River before being called on to spend a year at Murrami Public School, another small school between Griffith and Leeton.
From Murrami, Mrs Thorburn came to Cootamundra and has been here since.
She recalls arriving in Cootamundra at 6am with two suitcases and no plans as to where she would live, not that this phased her one bit – it was just how things were done in that era.
The taxi driver who collected her from the railway station, Mr Walkham, took her to the Coota Hotel, which he reliably informed her was the “best establishment for young ladies”.
Here Mrs Thorburn made her home before boarding with a number of other young teachers from the public school.
Her first day at Cootamundra Public School was a shock to her system after having come from two ‘small schools’.
She says she still remembers the crying of the kids on the first day. With no preschool or orientation in those early days, Kindergarten students attended school straight from home, which generally resulted in tears for both the children and mothers.
The public school, like most schools of the time, had a policy whereby parents had to say goodbye at the gate and were not allowed into the school grounds, let alone the classroom.
“It was basically bedlam and we were young teachers trying to find our way,” Mrs Thorburn said.
At the time fundraising had just begun for a pre school in Cootamundra.
With up to 12 infants classes at a time, the school was huge compared with what Mrs Thorburn was used to.
Soon after she arrived in Cootamundra, EA Southee School was built easing the pressure on the public school.
She recalls the other Kindergarten teacher in her first year was also new to Cootamundra.
The fact Cootamundra Public School had such a young, supportive network of staff allowed Mrs Thorburn to fit into the school seamlessly.
Soon she was a well established member of not only the school but also the community, throwing herself into numerous activities.
Today, Mrs Thorburn looks back at when she arrived in Cootamundra and says she never imagined still being here almost half a century later.
“When you’re young, you don’t think too far into the future but I would not have changed my time here for anything,” Mrs Thorburn said.
She had been in Cootamundra for a couple of years when she met Eric, a local boy from Wallendbeen, who she would go on to marry and raise a family with.
She recalls the early days of her courtship with Eric, saying they led a lively social life in Cootamundra and the surrounding district, consistently socialising and attending the many balls which took place across the immediate area.
Mrs Thorburn retired from full-time teaching at the end of 2000, however has not left the classroom yet, filling in as a casual at schools across Cootamundra and the wider region, including EA Southee, Cootamundra Public, Stockinbingal Public, Wallendbeen Public, Sacred Heart and Young Public.
She says the biggest changes to education over the years have been in the areas of technology and teaching methodology.
The Thorburn’s two children Craig and Alison attended EA Southee School and Cootamundra High School and Mrs Thorburn was on the P and C at both schools.
Over the years she has taught so many children and today is meeting the third generation of some families in the classroom.
Her last Kindergarten class was in 2000, meaning most of the students from this class completed their HSC last year.
She said she loves it when her former students come up to her while she is out and about and say hello.
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