Minnie Elizabeth Cawthorn (23 August 1898 – 10 May 1966) was an Australian headmistress and aviatrix. She transformed what is now

Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College Matthew Flinders Girls' Secondary College is an all-girls State secondary school located in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It provides education for students years 7-12. History The school opened as Flinders National Grammar School in January ...

from dilapidated to pristine.

Life

Cawthorn was born in

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...

in 1898. She was the third child of Fanny Adelaide, née Williams and William Cawthorn. Her English born father was a commercial traveller who went to work in publishing. She and her elder brother,

Walter Cawthorn Major General Sir Walter Joseph Cawthorn, (11 June 1896 – 4 December 1970) was an Australian soldier and diplomat, commonly known as a former head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). Early life Walter Joseph Cawthorn was bo ...

, trained to be schoolteachers. When she was senior mistress at Mildura High School in 1939 she found time to learnt to fly and she then qualified as a flying instructor. In 1948 Cawthorn became the head of a school in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

. The school in Geelong had been named by Governor, Major General

Edward Macarthur Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Macarthur (16 March 1789 – 4 January 1872) was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, Commander-in-chief of British forces in Australia from 1855, and an administrator of the Colony of Victoria for 12 m ...

after Captain

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

in 1856, but was now said to be "dilapidated" and "a dumping ground" for girls who would work in the mills as soon as they were fourteen. She took over from Frances Higgins and decided that the students should not just be trained for the mills and to be housewives but to be contributing citizens. The school was renamed the "Matthew Flinders Girls School", two new wings were built and the grounds were pristine. In 1950 the first students to sit the "Girls' Leaving Certificate" in Victoria were at this school. With her partner and deputy Ann Hooper she would surf and was known to turn catherine wheels for fun, although this aspect of her character was hidden from the girls. Discipline was strong at the school with a lot of marching and teachers who failed to meet Cawthorn's standards did not stay long. Her partner died and Mary Lazarus took over the headship leaving time Cawthorn to travel. She died in 1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawthorn, Minnie Elizabeth 1898 births 1966 deaths Australian people of English descent Australian aviators Australian headmistresses 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women People from Prahran, Victoria