FLANKED by her brothers and sisters, Cathy Matthews caught the school bus to her first day of work at Tullamore Public School.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Straight out of Bathurst Teachers College, she was assigned year three in the single stream school, and had her younger sister in her class.
Fifty years on, she has guided thousands of students across the Central West through their primary school education, and as she prepares to teach her last lesson, she said she has loved every minute of her career.
The second of 12 children, “Mrs Matthews”, as she is known to her charges, always wanted to be a teacher - but, ironically, she didn’t think she'd be good enough for the job.
Luckily, her parents had faith in her and talked her round.
“Mum and Dad said to me ‘don't be ridiculous, you'll be good at it’, so I gave it a go,” she said.
READ ALSO:
Being part of such a large family, Mrs Matthews said she was always surrounded by children and loved being with them.
“I remember being very upset when I went off to boarding school because my sister learned to walk when I was away,” she said.
After finishing high school, she went to Bathurst Teachers College for two years, but said she came out feeling less than confident.
“When I went through, we sat around the Demonstration School and watched the lessons, did prac teaching and that was it.
“You didn’t come out feeling confident. I was just lucky I knew about kids,” she laughed.
Her first position, at Tullamore, could have been challenging considering she was teaching her younger sister, but it worked out well.
"It was great. She and I were best buddies,” she said.
Mrs Matthews met her husband Rick Matthews (well-known himself in the Bathurst community through his ties to the Leagues Club, which he managed, and his involvement in Bathurst Penguins Rugby League) in Tullamore.
His parents owned the pub there and the couple married in Tullamore before moving to Canberra, and then Parkes, where their first child, Jacqui, was born.
Rick managed motels for Travelodge and, in the next few years, the couple had three more children, Joseph, Benjamin and Sarah, while moving between Queensland and Victoria.
By the time Jacqui started school, the couple had settled at Cobar, where Mrs Matthews returned to teaching.
She said the family had moved to the town when she got a call asking her to come back to work.
The family moved around out west, and Mrs Matthews took a position teaching correspondence students.
She made teaching videos which were sent out to students as far away as Louth and Wilcannia.
After this, the family moved to Dubbo, where she returned to full-time university study, graduating with distinction, while looking after four kids and working full-time.
The family moved to Bathurst in 1988 and Mrs Matthews worked at Stannies for a term, before getting a call from Assumption School, where she has taught for 30 years.
“I’ve absolutely loved it here. It’s like a family - caring and welcoming,” she said.
And as retirement looms, she said she will miss the school greatly.
“I will definitely miss it. It will feel very lonely without them, but it’s time to find life outside of school.
“I’m very grateful for my career. It has been wonderful and there have been so many rewarding moments.”
Assumption School principal Sue Guilfoyle paid tribute to Mrs Matthews’ contribution, saying she has truly made a difference to generations of students in regional and remote areas.