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QMC boarders 1942, Left to right: Sally Whitehead, Noeline Henderson, Helen Challis. CENTENARY When Queen Margaret House opened its doors in January 2018 it was the first time Queen Margaret College had welcomed boarders since 1950. A lot has changed since 1950. Sally Chao (née Whitehead) was a QMC boarder in the 1940s, and her experiences were very different from how students live today. This is an abridged version of Sally’s memoirs. The boarding establishment was separated from the school by a connecting corridor at a junction between the dining room and kitchen on the right and Miss Betty Maynard’s junior classroom on the left, where a narrow staircase twisted up to the tower. Miss IreneWilson was the headmistress, and she and her aged mother occupied a private apartment on two levels at one end of the boarding establishment. There were two dormitories: a junior wing of half a dozen cubicles headed by a senior girl as monitor and a senior wing of the same, but longer, for the teenagers. There were roughly 20 to 30 boarders, from Junior to Senior. We were roused at 7am for a 7.30am breakfast downstairs seated on pews either side of several long tables. Dishes were collected from a servery at one end overseen by the house-matrons, who kept order. Elbows were to be kept close to one’s sides when eating to avoid jabbing one’s neighbours, and backs were to be straight (a ruler down the back of one’s dress helped to curb slumping). We were expected to eat what was put before us with no wastage. Each girl was allowed one exemption of a single detested food. Mine was tripe! After dinner came rostered bath times, about three times weekly for each girl, with hair washing at the weekend. Seniors had a period of Prep in an empty classroom, and for some, there was music practice in the spooky school music roomwith its large bay windows looking into the gathering dark beyond. Before bedtime, we gathered in the sitting room for vespers [evening prayer]. Sometimes a story was read aloud. “Granny”Wilson often attended and told a tale of how, as a child, she had watched the redcoats [soldiers] scouring Mt Victoria for fugitives. Miss Horner would belt out popular and humorous tunes from her wide repertoire for a sing-along before a final prayer and hymn, and juniors would retire for “lights out” at 7.30pm. Saturday morning was a time for chores. Shoes were cleaned and lockers tidied for inspection by the formidable Miss Horner, large in stature and voice, but with a twinkling eye. Pocket money was given out and recorded in individual notebooks with income and expenditure noted and signed by the duty mistress. Mine was roughly sixpence weekly [around $2], frequently squandered on a small selection from the large and colourful jars of sweets displayed enticingly Memories of boarding 7 Queen Margaret Calling :: ISSUE 63 :: May 2019