Waiau District School History - Teacher profile, Mrs Tillard (Frances)

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Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Mrs Tillard (Frances) - teacher at Rowallan, Te Tua and Tūātapere Schools: IMAGES 1. Waihōpai School Prefects 1920, Frances Murray (later Tillard) in the front row, 2nd from right. NOTE: Unknown publication and copyright. 2. Frank Tillard & Frances Murray, Wedding Day at All Saints Gladstone. Family photo, licensed CC BY - please use attribution if sharing this. 3. Tillard Family at Te Tua Jubilee. Back row - John Tillard, Frank Tillard, Frances Tillard, Eileen Tillard (later Kiffin). Front row - Carolyn Tillard (later Read), Peter Tillard, Anne Tillard (later Dyhrberg). Family Photo, CC BY. 4. Te Tua School after closing. Unknown photographer and copyright. 5. Waiau DHS in 1968, staff photo - Frances Tillard is next to the Dental Nurse, in the front row, 2nd from right. After she left Te Tua teaching. 6. Last Train Ride, as told by the Waiau Gazette in 16 October 1970. Mrs Tillard Teacher (Frances) was one of those tied up by the 'bandits'! Printed here in Des Williams book, "Hole In the Bush", licensed CC BY 7. Waiau DHS in 1972, staff photo - Frances Tillard in in the front row again and once more 2nd from right. Unknown photographer/Copyright. 8. Gravestone of Frank & Frances Tillard at Tūātapere Cemetery. The following biography on Frances Tillard was sent into the Community Archives, as a record of a local and district teacher from times past. It reads as follows: "Frances Margery Murray was born in Gore on October 8th 1910. Her parents were Frank Murray, a railway linesman and Charlotte (Cissie) Folley Murray. Cissie was an accomplished bookbinder but was unable, because she was a woman, to be apprenticed to her father who owned RH Folley and sons, printer bookbinders. Childhood illnesses, including scarlet fever, delayed her entry to school, and she spent some of her childhood with her Murray grandparents in Gore as her mother was in delicate health. Frances attended Middle and Waihopai Schools and in 1920 became a Waihopai School prefect. Again illness saw her return to her Gore grandparents and delayed her entry to Southland Girls’ High School. After she left school worked in the Georgetown dairy then became a pupil teacher at St George School in Invercargill in 1929 before going on to Dunedin Teachers’ College for two years. After graduating Frances was caught in the aftermath of the Great Depression when teaching positions were in short supply. She helped nurse her mother and returned to work in the Georgetown dairy. When teaching positions became more available Frances taught at Roslyn Bush School, then at Glenham and then Mataura Island from 1937 until February 1939. She was transferred to Haldane School on February 18th 1939 . This was a special move as she taught there until the end of 1940, by which time she was Mrs Frank Tillard. Frank and Frances were married at All Saints Anglican Church in Gladstone, Invercargill, on August 24th 1940. As they were Francis and Frances there was extra care needed by the vicar in the ceremony. They lived at Haldane until the end of the year when the sawmill closed and they moved to Tawanui in the Catlins River District. Frank and Frances had five children:- 1. John, born in Invercargill. He became a fitter turner with NZ Rail after serving an apprenticeship at Hillside in Dunedin and worked there until retirement. He then became a tutor of a Maori Access scheme. John married Pat Crichton. 2. Eileen, born in Owaka. She became a teacher after attending Dunedin Teachers’ College, moving to Australia and undertaking graduate training to become a specialist teacher. Eileen married Joe Kiffin. 3. Anne, born in Owaka. Anne did teacher training at Dunedin Teachers’ College. She married Carl Dyhrberg. 4. Carolyn, born in Owaka. Carolyn worked at the Tūātapere Post Office, then moved to Australia where she worked in hospitality and the health sector. She married Robert Read. 5. Peter, born in Tapanui. He joined the RNZAF and became an Engine Fitter/Mechanical Engineer. Following his retirement he worked in service industries. He married Gladys Greenem, and moved to live with Eileen after she was widowed. During the war Frances was raising their children. Frank was manpowered for the duration of the war, then the family moved to Tapanui in West Otago in 1948. In May, 1952 Frances returned to teaching, the family moved to Rowallan in Western Southland. In those times a school needed 9 children to have a qualified teacher. With their 4 school age children and Peter almost 5 years old, the local school was “saved”. Throughout their marriage Frances was supportive of Frank’s Ngai Tahu heritage. Her mother in law recognised this and entrusted the whakapapa records to her. She encouraged the family’s involvement in the Ngai Tahu education foundation trust fundraising prior to the treaty settlement and was an active member. Another of her qualities was her skill as a baker. Her tins were always full and students with scant lunches benefitted from her quiet largesse. Life at Rowallan was challenging with the lack of electricity, telephone and road access. An horrific accident at the Rowallan sawmill left Frank with lifelong injuries. He was unable to be moved and Dr Elder walked the beach to bring medical care and pain relief. The doctor visited regularly until Frank was able to go into Invercargill for treatment. After he returned home more sadness struck. Frances’ mother became bedridden after a stroke left her a quadriplegic and Frances added this care to her duties. She would take Peter into Invercargill each weekend to care for her mother, do lesson preparation and then return to Rowallan for the school week. Frances was interested in education for all. She arranged for the National Library service to send cartons of books regularly and the school's house was the local library. Her housekeeping skills were excellent, and the family and friends were treated to local produce, toheroa, whitebait, mussels and paua. As the children grew older and went to secondary school in Invercargill another decision was made. The Rowallan school population had dwindled and the teaching position was in jeopardy. In 1957 she was appointed to the position of sole teacher in Te Tua. Anne, Carolyn and Peter attended this school. The school's house was in need of ongoing repair and Frances’ wrote regular letters to the Education Board on this topic. In one especially graphic letter she explained that she had to wear her spectacles in bed to keep the borer dust out of her eyes. Later board members recounted how they looked forward to additions to the Mrs T files. Frances was the second last permanent teacher at Te Tua as the roll fell. The school closed in 1967. By then Frances had transferred to Waiau District High School in 1963." - the above biographical notes were compiled and sent in by Frances Tillard's daughter, Eileen Kiffin. We are grateful to have these on file. Extra information from our Community Archives researchers: Charles Francis “Frank” Tillard, was born 10 Jul 1905 and died 6 Nov 1983 (aged 78). He is buried at Tūātapere Cemetery Frances Marjory Murray Tillard, was born 8 Oct 1910 and died 31 Aug 1992 (aged 81). She is buried with her husband at Tūātapere Cemetery. COMMUNITY MEMORIES: Some children who had Mrs Tillard (Frances) for a teacher remember have said they remember her as a stern disciplinarian, who took no nonsense! Many more pupils vividly remember the "last train ride" as recorded in this entry. It was a fantastic trip, then suddenly the teachers were held up! We are working on another online entry which covers the whole train ride and other events that day. Watch out for this on here in the coming weeks. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Mrs Tillard, teacher (Frances) during the years, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page. Note: these entries are compiled with information provided by donors with the records, from locally reported news, from national and occasionally international reports in publications, from personal records made by the people themselves - such as their electoral enrollments, wills, war records etc., also from government and council held records such as births, deaths and marriages or cemetery information, and lastly, from community memories, such as those passed on by friends, family and contemporaries. It is not always possible to verify memories from others, so please let us know if you believe we have any incorrect information. If you believe that any public or personal record information quoted is wrong, if you can provide proof of any alternative fact to us in a document showing evidence of the correct details, that would be very helpful to us. Thank you.