Hello Janet and others During the 1980s and I assume prior to then, the children of lighthouse keepers were taught by what were then the Victorian Primary and Secondary Correspondence Schools. These schools combined in 1995 to become the Distance Education Centre Victoria-a P-12 school. I was an Emergency Teacher at the Primary Correspondence School during the 1980s and there were several families enrolled. I can recall a couple of teachers flying in by helicopter to do a "home visit" to Wilson's Prom. Children living in lighthouses in Bass Strait were also students. The year 2009 will be the centenary year for the school. Initially in 1909 the correspondence lessons were for young people of secondary school age who wished to become teachers. The lessons enabled them to pass qualifying exams. The primary school began in 1914 after an appeal from a Mrs Mabel Prewett who lived near Beech Forest in the Otways and wanted help to teach her sons. They were 8 miles from the nearest school. Beth Codling bcodling2@bigpond.com

Hello Beth and others, Thankyou to Beth for your information. There was a room in the former telegraph station building which was used as a school, and there is a photo there of children who would have been at the school. Judging from the clothes of the children we thought that the photo could have been taken in the 1920s. There has been significant restoration done on the old telegraph building which is a credit to the people who have been involved in achieving this. Regards, Janet. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Beth Codling" <bcodling2@bigpond.com> To: <aus-vic-western-district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 9:10 AM Subject: Re: [AUS-VIC-WESTERN-DISTRICT] Cape Otway Lightstation and Teachers > Hello Janet and others > > During the 1980s and I assume prior to then, the children of lighthouse > keepers were taught by what were then the Victorian Primary and Secondary > Correspondence Schools. These schools combined in 1995 to become the > Distance Education Centre Victoria-a P-12 school. I was an Emergency > Teacher > at the Primary Correspondence School during the 1980s and there were > several > families enrolled. I can recall a couple of teachers flying in by > helicopter > to do a "home visit" to Wilson's Prom. Children living in lighthouses in > Bass Strait were also students. > > The year 2009 will be the centenary year for the school. Initially in 1909 > the correspondence lessons were for young people of secondary school age > who > wished to become teachers. The lessons enabled them to pass qualifying > exams. The primary school began in 1914 after an appeal from a Mrs Mabel > Prewett who lived near Beech Forest in the Otways and wanted help to teach > her sons. They were 8 miles from the nearest school. > > > Beth Codling > bcodling2@bigpond.com > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-VIC-WESTERN-DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > --------------------------------------------------- Letter content was scanned by WinAntiVirus 2005. No threat detected. Please visit www.winantivirus.com for more details.