Nancy Jobson (17 April 1880 – 22 June 1964) was an Australian teacher and headmistress.

Biography

Jobson was born at

Clunes, Victoria Clunes is a town in Victoria, Australia, 36 kilometres north of Ballarat, in the Shire of Hepburn. At the 2016 census it had a population of 1,728. History Pre-colonial The Djadja Wurrung people were the first inhabitants of the region ...

in 1880 to Christopher Jobson, a merchant from Northumberland, England, and his second wife Elizabeth Cameron, née McColl, from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Jobson attended

Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne , motto_translation = The law of God is the Lamp of Life , established = 1875 , type = Independent, single-sex, day and boarding, Christian school , denomination = Presbyterian , princip ...

and in 1897 she began university studies at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. She completed a bachelor of arts degree in 1900, with honours in classics and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

, and a master of arts degree in 1902. Following her graduation, she returned to Presbyterian Ladies' College as sports mistress, and in 1920 moved to

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

, New Zealand, to take up the position of headmistress of Southland Girls' High School. She held the position until 1919, when she moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, becoming the first principal of Queen Margaret College. Two years later she moved to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

to become headmistress of Fairholme Presbyterian Girls' College in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

. In 1921 she moved again, to Sydney, and became principal of the Presbyterian Ladies' College in Pymble after the resignation of Gladys Gordon Everett. During Jobson's tenure the school experienced significant change; enrolments increased from 256 in 1921 to 414 in 1929 and the number of boarders from 95 to 161, however the Great Depression later caused a slump in enrolments to only 208 by 1932. Jobson left the school in mid-1933 with a negotiated redundancy settlement following a disagreement with the school council over proposed downsizing measures prompted by the economic downturn. In 1934, Jobson founded Hopewood House, a finishing school for girls which taught homecraft and secretarial studies. The school closed in 1943 and Jobson went to teach for the

International Correspondence Schools ICS Learn, also known as International Correspondence Schools Ltd, is a provider of online learning courses in the UK. It was founded in 1889 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The UK branch was set up in 1904, and it now serves around 25,000 current stu ...

. Throughout her years in headmistress positions, Jobson advocated for domestic education for girls and focused on encouraging girls towards excellence in home management, the cultivation of manners and artistic sense. She introduced courses in domestic science and music. She also wanted girls to have an ethic of community service and the schools she ran were involved with welfare work in hospitals and Christian organisations. Jobson was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1955, for services to education in Australia. She died on 22 June 1964. Jobson Place, in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm, is named in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jobson, Nancy 1880 births 1964 deaths People from Clunes, Victoria Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire University of Melbourne alumni Australian headmistresses 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women