Joyce Overton

Memories of My Time At Canterbury

My name is Joyce Overton and I attended Canterbury School from the beginning of 1941 to the end of 1943. I was then Joyce Hanlon. The school was known as Canterbury Domestic Science School and during the period I was enrolled there, Australia was at war. First with Germany and then at the end of 1941, with Japan.

There were many changes because of this situation. First trenches were dug in the playground and we had air raid drills once a week. A loud bell was rung and we had to proceed to our individual tranches by different routes that had been allocated to us.  This proved the best time waster we had ever had. We had to get into the tranches quickly but when the “all clear” was sounded we all took a great amount of time to return to lessons.

We had to carry a first aid kit which was made from navy material similar to our tunic and was worn on our side with a long strap across our shoulder. In this bag as small containers with Iodine, sal velate, bandages and a clothes peg – to be placed in our mouth if bombs were dropped and it would prevent lock jaw. We also had to cut a tennis ball in half with an elastic between the two halves. Again if there was bombing we were to put them over our ears to protect them from the noise.

We didn’t have large assemblies as crowds in one area were not allowed. We had no school photos taken as film was very scarce because the forces took all the available film.

One concession we got was that we were allowed to leave our black stockings off and wear short white socks, because we had clothes rations and there were coupons on stockings but not on socks.  Also there were less coupons on boys shirts than girls blouses so most of us work boys shirts with the tail cut off.

We had an evacuee from Great Briton – her name was Cynthia White and she would not leave her gas mask at home although the teachers tried to tell her it was not necessary. Of course this created a bit of amusement for us especially as poor Cynthia had a strong English accent.

Other effects were felt when was casualties were experienced. I remember when HMAS Sydney was lost; there were a couple of girls whose fathers were on this ship.  The casualty lists were very distressing if anyone connected with the school was involved. These were acknowledged by moments of silence.  When Singapore fell in February 1942 things got more serious and there was a threat of invasion from Japan. We also wore an identification disc on a chain around our neck with name, address, date of birth and religion.

Every window and glass door was strapped with sticking plaster so if they were shattered by a bomb they would hang together. All the station signs and locality signs were removed to confuse the Japanese when they came.

Then in May 1942 three Japanese submarines entered Sydney Harbour and I remember waking up at night and hearing the alert being sounded and the warden was knocking on every door. Each street has a warden. My mother and father and brother sheltered under the kitchen table until the “all clear”. I remember my mother getting angry with dad for not building an air raid shelter and saying “see the Japanese are here and we have nowhere to go”.

All jokes aside, I loved my years at Canterbury, and made friends I still have today and look back on it as a great three years in my life.

The Hanlon’s of “Jessamine” - Written and submitted by Joyce Overton