Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2011

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HAZEL TULLY ALUMNI 1931:'BORN LUCKY' Hazel TulNy's jotrrrNey frnm Bnisbame Gilrls Gramil"nar Schoo| schotarship student to tiara- wearing jouril^railist covenireg thae eoronation nf Queen Eiltuabeth ll illustrates her observation thlat -life sornetimes carnies a person aflor,lg ar: unexpected coutrseo. Hauel's extraurdiraary ilife also shows how ilnteililtgence, hand wnnk and seizing opportunity ilead to remarkable achievernents.

ln 1927 thirteen-year-old Hazel Muirhead, a bright girl from a Montville farming family of modest mea ns, successf u lly a pplied for a state scholarship to Brisbane Girls Gram mar School. Girls Gram mar set Hazel on a path that transformed her life. During her four and a half years as a boarder at Girls Grammar, Hazel excelled academ ica lly - pa rticu la rly in English, Languages, History and Mathematics - and each year received multiple awards. She was also a gifted poet and short story writer, contributing many articles to the School magazine. Well-liked and respected for her leadership abilities , Hazel was Head Girl, Prefect, Senior Boarder, Form Captain, and Netball Captain in her final year. She also served on the Library Committee and the Sports Association Committee, and edited the School magazine. Her outstanding

fellow school teacher who was studying to become a lawyer. For the next few years, Hazel and Bill settled down to married life in Brisbane. Then, with Bill at her side, Hazel made another leap into the unknown, just as she had a decade and a half earlier leaving sleepy, dea rly-loved Montville. Hazel's birth year had seen the onset of World War l; World War ll would be another catalyst in her life. Men were serving in the armed forces, resulting in staff shortages everywhere. Positions that had previously been deemed suitable only for men were now opening up for women. ln 1943, confident in her writing skills honed at Girls Gram mar and UQ, Hazel applied for a journalism position at the Sun newspaper in Sydney. The news editor ca lm ly told a terrif ied a nd th rilled Hazel to'start at 9am on Monday'. Journalism opened up a whole new world for Hazel and her education continued as she discovered that 'everything, good or bad, that influences h u ma n life ma kes news'. After severa I yea rs in Syd ney, where B ill joined Hazel in the field of print journalism, the couple seized another opportunity to experience the wider world. ln 1950 they left Australia for England to work as Fleet Street journalists in London. After a short time, Hazel experienced a homecoming of sorts when she secured a position working in the Sun's London bureau . Hazel's boss was freewheeling journalist George Johnston. George, the husband of respected Australian writer Charmian Clift, would later write the 1964 Miles Franklin Award-winning classic Australian novel My Brother Jack.

academic career was crowned with the Lady Lilley Medal and an Open Scholarship to The University of Queensland in addition to a teacher tra in ing schola rsh ip. Hazel's fina I yea r of h igh school, 1931 , coincided with the nadir of the Great Depression. U na ble to attend u n iversity full-time because she had to earn a living, the teach ing profession beckoned . Wh ile teaching secondary school , Hazel studied during the evenings and externally until she was awarded her Bachelor of Arts degree from UQ in 1936. The following yea r Hazel retu rned to G irls Grammar as a Resident Staff member, living in the boarding house. Teaching English and French, she also ernployed her netball skills in coaching the boarders and the School netball teams. Hazel taught at Girls Grammar until 1940, the year she married Bill Tully, a

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