Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2010

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KATHLEEN MITFORD LILLEY, B.A., M.A. (1888 – 1975) WAS APPOINTED TO THE POSITION OF HEADMISTRESS OF THE BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL IN 1925. SHE WAS A GRAND-DAUGHTER OF SIR CHARLES LILLEY WHO HAD BEEN ONE OF THE COLONIAL LEADERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, AND WAS HERSELF AN OLD GIRL OF THE SCHOOL. UNLIKE HER PREDECESSORS, KATHLEEN LILLEY REMAINED HEADMISTRESS FOR AN EXTENSIVE PERIOD OF TIME, UNTIL 1952; A PERIOD BEGINNING IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR I, THROUGH THE DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II INTO THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION OF THE FIFTIES. THE LILLEY YEARS

such constraints as the financial conservatism of the Board of Trustees, limited financial means, the policy of ‘making do’ and meagre entitlements for employees. These characteristics, of course, must be regarded as reasonably typical in that era not only within the sphere of educational operations but in contemporary employment practices. Kathleen was a tall, handsome and imposing woman with ‘piercing blue eyes and a flawless complexion’, who always wore tailored, almost severe, clothing and whose hair was immaculately groomed. She never married and, in her initial dealings with others, was rather reserved and aloof, characteristics possibly born of shyness. She had a strong sense of family and was, according to a young colleague, ‘very good to her mother’; she was devoted also to her unmarried and brilliant brother Charles who was an outstanding Brisbane surgeon. Kathleen had a circle

When Kathleen Mitford Lilley became Headmistress in January 1925, she was thirty-six years old and formerly held the position of Headmistress of St Faiths, Yeppoon. The terms of her appointment had been fixed by the Trustees Meeting on 29 August, 1924 and were as follows: Appointment to date from 1st Jan. 1925 Salary, £450 until 1st July 1925 – thereafter if appointee still in our service, £500 per annum in each case with residence. One month’s notice on either side to terminate engagement. No travelling expenses to be paid. Head Mistress to be in charge of the Boarding House. These few sentences are not simply an explicit factual statement of the conditions of employment; they also foreshadow important issues which were to set boundaries for Kathleen Lilley and her working life at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. Implicit, were

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