Charlotte Lamb is an example of an unsung heroine, a teacher who performed her duties well and faithfully for over forty years, including a notable period of seven years at Collingwood’s Home of Hope in Easey Street, where her kindly approach would have brightened the lives of the unfortunate little inmates.

The Homes of Hope charity was founded in 1879 at the instigation of the Reverend Charles Cherbury, a minister associated with the Baptist Tabernacle in Sackville Street, to accommodate neglected and destitute children. From the mid 1880s they were housed in a purpose-built home in Easey Street. This incorporated a large schoolroom where the children were educated, as the Honorary Secretary of the charity argued strongly against any proposal for the children to attend a school outside the orphanage. Until late 1915 this operated as a private school, when the Education Department, after some years of discussion and arguments, took over the running of the facility which then became State School number 3925. The first appointed teachers had only short tenures, until Charlotte Lamb was appointed in April 1918 and stayed until the closure of the school. 

Miss Lamb, whose family lived in Moonee Ponds, joined the Education Department on 18 February 1891 at Moonee Ponds School 2901, was appointed Pupil Teacher on probation in 1893 and by 1894 was classed as a Pupil Teacher, class 4. During ensuing years she passed the required exams until she reached First Class, and from the end of 1900 she spent ten years as Head Teacher at a series of country schools before returning to Melbourne in 1911. Miss Lamb now broadened her experience, spending ten years at Parkville, Leonard Street, a school conducted with teachers supplied by the Education Department in Swinburne House, which was a home run under the auspices of the Victorian Neglected Children’s Aid Society.

This gave her an excellent base for running the school at the Home of Hope. Miss Lamb was assessed twice yearly by Education Department inspectors, and her reports indicate her experience in and aptitude for dealing with institutionalised children. These are typical comments on her teacher’s file: 

genial and sympathetic personality which easily wins the confidence and cooperation of her pupils … her government appeals to the best side of her pupils’ nature and is calculated to make good the want of home training and motherly affection … a sympathetic and encouraging manner particularly necessary in a school of this type

All her inspections both at the Home and other schools mention that discipline is well-maintained in addition to her kindly approach to her charges. A 1922 article in The Argus which is highly critical of almost every aspect of the orphanage highlights ‘One bright feature of the home … a State school with an efficient teacher, who does her best to make the lives of the little ones more cheerful.’

Miss Lamb took a leave of absence from February 1924 and spent twelve months travelling to Britain, the Continent and New York. During this period Dr Eileen Fitzgerald of the School Medical Service was critical of various aspects of the Home’s management and the impact on the children’s wellbeing, arguing for them to be sent to an external school where they could not be taken out of the classroom to carry out the excessive amounts of housework required of them. Miss Lamb must have been shocked when she returned to find that plans to close the school were well underway. She worked at compiling lists of Government furniture, equipment, maps and books that had been provided from the Government to the school and investigating which of the neighbouring state schools could take her young charges. From her notes we find her opinion that Cromwell Street would be the closest but was too crowded, while Gold Street school in Clifton Hill would not be much further to walk. Victoria Park indicated that they could accept the children; this school was not much further away than Cromwell Street, but might the children have to cross the train line? 

Finally, 20 March 1925 saw the last day of the little school, but to date no information on where the children were sent has been identified by this author. The criticisms of the orphanage management, which included the children’s poor eye health and thin clothing, took their toll and at some point in this period the Charities Board refused to re-register the organisations as a charity which meant they would be unable to solicit donations. Within a short while the Home itself was closed, so the children not only had to find a new school, but also a new home. In July 1926 the orphanage was advertised for sale as a ‘magnificent pile’ of old brick buildings suitable for conversion to factories. But the buildings were demolished and replaced with houses.

Miss Lamb was transferred to Essendon State School 483. To the end of her career (at Ripponlea State School 4087) she received positive reports as a very earnest, sympathetic and efficient teacher keenly interested in her work, who managed her class successfully with ‘very good results indeed’. She retired on 15 October 1937 at the age of 60 and continued to live in Moonee Ponds for another 23 years.

For further information on the Home of Hope, and other schools and kindergartens in Collingwood, refer to our publication Bitter roots, sweet fruit.

Cummings, Bitter roots, sweet fruit

PROV VPRS 13719, Teacher Record 13027

Homes of Hope 25th annual report for the year ending June 30 1905

PROV, VPRS 10300/PO, unit 10, school no. 612

PROV, VPRS 795/P0, unit 2914, school 3925

Trove list Charlotte Lamb: https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/220544

Trove list Homes of Hope: https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/223433