Eileen Fairbairn (27 June 1893 – 9 August 1981) was a New Zealand teacher and geographer who pioneered the teaching of modern geography in New Zealand secondary schools.

Biography

Fairbairn was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand on 27 June 1893. Her parents were Ada Pilkington and her husband, Andrew Fairbairn, a "commercial traveller" who shared with her his passion for climbing. Eileen Fairbairn, in turn, nurtured her love for mountains and mountaineering. In 1906 she walked the 53.5 km

Milford track The Milford Track is a hiking route in New Zealand, located amidst mountains and temperate rain forest in Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the South Island. The 53.5 km (33.2 mi) hike starts at Glade Wharf at the head o ...

on the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

with her family. Her passion for nature would later focus her interest in geography. Fairbairn attended

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

Girls’ High School and then Canterbury College (now

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

), graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1915. In 1921 she began teaching at Girls’ High School but her father disapproved of her having a career, so for several years, she continued to live at home and drew no salary. In 1927 she was in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

, earning a diploma in the study of geography at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

there. By 1929 she had returned to New Zealand and Girls’ High School to teach geography, biology and mathematics. At the time geography was not recognised as a separate field of study in New Zealand. "Eileen Fairbairn brought new perspectives to the curriculum, including field trips and the making of relief models. Later she would comment that the new methods were introduced ‘in the face of Departmental opposition which now seems ludicrous’". In 1942 Fairbairn officially retired from the Girls’ High but returned to do substitute teaching and to take classes at St Andrew’s College and Christ’s College during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Geographer

She was an enthusiastic tramper and an associate member of the

New Zealand Alpine Club The New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) was founded in 1891 and is one of the oldest alpine clubs in the world. The NZAC is the national climbing organisation in New Zealand and is a member of the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme. It ...

, climbing extensively in the Mt Cook region. In 1928, Fairbairn was the first geographer from New Zealand to participate in the International Geographical Congress. In retirement Fairbairn widely travelled and attended international geographical conferences. Her special interests were "the effects of landscape on people and the processes that formed mountains." In 1956 while in Brazil, she made a detailed study of coffee-growing lands, and in 1960 she journeyed north from Sweden into Finland to examine the effects of glaciation. Fairbairn was a founding member of the Canterbury branch of the

New Zealand Geographical Society New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. She became president in 1961 and in 1973 was named one of its first life members. Fairbairn never married and died in Christchurch on 9 August 1981 at 88 years of age. The University of Canterbury awards the Eileen Fairbairn Award to the top geography master's student, who wears the Fairbairn gown at graduation.

Select publications

* Fairbairn, Eileen. "Geographical congress in Brazil." ''New Zealand Geographer'' 13.1 (1957): 84–84.

Literature

* Banks, Eileen. "Miss Eileen Fairbairn." ''New Zealand Journal of Geography'' 72.1 (1982): 22–22. * Matthews, Kay Morris. "'Imagining Home': women graduate teachers abroad 1880–1930." ''History of Education'' 32.5 (2003): 529–545.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbairn, Eileen 1893 births 1981 deaths Schoolteachers from Dunedin New Zealand geographers People educated at Christchurch Girls' High School Women geographers 20th-century geographers University of Canterbury alumni Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge