DORIS McRAE
Doris McRae (1893-1988)
Teacher and social activist
From her first teaching post at SS 112 Faraday Street in the slums of Carlton to her last as headmistress of Flemington Girls School, Doris McRae was an inspirational teacher whose left-wing view of the world meant her out-of-school life was dominated by causes that she believed would bring about a better world, especially for women and children. Her social and peace activism began in 1914 as a student at the University of Melbourne and continued for the rest of her life.
She was also a prominent union figure in the Victorian Teachers’ Union (VTU), rising to the position of Vice President in 1941. Her union activities, which began while she was teaching at Coburg High School from 1932-1935 during the H.P. Bennett era, included the promotion of the industrialisation and politicisation of the VTU.
She was driven out of teaching in 1950 when she was named as a communist in the Lowe Royal Commission, but remained loyal to her causes until her death in October 1988 aged 95. She saw Coburg High School as her spiritual home, so it seems appropriate that a memorial service was held for her at Coburg High School at which Joan Kirner, then Minister of Education, gave the eulogy.
High Schools Branch of the Victorian Teachers’ Union (VTU)
It is likely that Doris McRae became involved with the activities of the High Schools Branch of the VTU when she moved to Melbourne to join the staff of Coburg High School. It was from there, as a representative of Secondary Women, that she joined the VTU Council in 1934. She joined the committee of the High Schools branch in 1935 and during the war years was its president.
This Branch, based at Coburg High School, was perhaps the most industrialised and political of the many branches of the VTU. It was prepared to speak out and to act, even when the VTU Council was reluctant to do so.
Tensions between the left and the right played out within the Branch during the 1930s and 1940s culminating in the late 1940s with a conservative member of parliament claiming that there were at least six communists on the committee of the High Schools Branch. After a particularly fraught annual meeting in March 1948, two candidates claimed victory as branch president. After seeking a legal opinion, R.J. Lees, a member of the Coburg High School staff, was proclaimed president. Doris McRae remained on the committee as past-president for the rest of 1948, and although she was nominated by the branch as President of the VTU for 1949, she was unsuccessful in that, or any other capacity. And so her days as a member of the High Schools Branch ended.
A breakaway group, the Victorian Secondary Masters' Professional Association, was established in 1948 and by 1953 it had become the Victorian Secondary Teachers Association (VSTA), thus spelling the end of the High Schools Branch of the Victorian Teachers Union, a group that had made its home at Coburg High School for over two decades.
Local Historian, Cheryl Griffin, a regular adviser to our Historical Group, suggests that Coburg High was probably used as the home of the High Schools Branch because H.P Bennett was branch president from 1927 to 1929 (and possibly earlier).
Teacher and social activist
From her first teaching post at SS 112 Faraday Street in the slums of Carlton to her last as headmistress of Flemington Girls School, Doris McRae was an inspirational teacher whose left-wing view of the world meant her out-of-school life was dominated by causes that she believed would bring about a better world, especially for women and children. Her social and peace activism began in 1914 as a student at the University of Melbourne and continued for the rest of her life.
She was also a prominent union figure in the Victorian Teachers’ Union (VTU), rising to the position of Vice President in 1941. Her union activities, which began while she was teaching at Coburg High School from 1932-1935 during the H.P. Bennett era, included the promotion of the industrialisation and politicisation of the VTU.
She was driven out of teaching in 1950 when she was named as a communist in the Lowe Royal Commission, but remained loyal to her causes until her death in October 1988 aged 95. She saw Coburg High School as her spiritual home, so it seems appropriate that a memorial service was held for her at Coburg High School at which Joan Kirner, then Minister of Education, gave the eulogy.
High Schools Branch of the Victorian Teachers’ Union (VTU)
It is likely that Doris McRae became involved with the activities of the High Schools Branch of the VTU when she moved to Melbourne to join the staff of Coburg High School. It was from there, as a representative of Secondary Women, that she joined the VTU Council in 1934. She joined the committee of the High Schools branch in 1935 and during the war years was its president.
This Branch, based at Coburg High School, was perhaps the most industrialised and political of the many branches of the VTU. It was prepared to speak out and to act, even when the VTU Council was reluctant to do so.
Tensions between the left and the right played out within the Branch during the 1930s and 1940s culminating in the late 1940s with a conservative member of parliament claiming that there were at least six communists on the committee of the High Schools Branch. After a particularly fraught annual meeting in March 1948, two candidates claimed victory as branch president. After seeking a legal opinion, R.J. Lees, a member of the Coburg High School staff, was proclaimed president. Doris McRae remained on the committee as past-president for the rest of 1948, and although she was nominated by the branch as President of the VTU for 1949, she was unsuccessful in that, or any other capacity. And so her days as a member of the High Schools Branch ended.
A breakaway group, the Victorian Secondary Masters' Professional Association, was established in 1948 and by 1953 it had become the Victorian Secondary Teachers Association (VSTA), thus spelling the end of the High Schools Branch of the Victorian Teachers Union, a group that had made its home at Coburg High School for over two decades.
Local Historian, Cheryl Griffin, a regular adviser to our Historical Group, suggests that Coburg High was probably used as the home of the High Schools Branch because H.P Bennett was branch president from 1927 to 1929 (and possibly earlier).