Rona Glynn
Introduction
Rona Ellen Schaber (née Glynn) (24 September 1936 – January 1965) was the first Indigenous school teacher and nurse in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. In 1965 she became the first Aboriginal woman to have a pre-school named in her honour in Australia.
Early life
Glynn was born at Woodgreen Station in Central Australia, the daughter of Ron Price and Topsy Glynn, a housemaid and cook. She had one half-sister Freda. Topsy and her two children were placed in a "half-caste institution", a home for people of mixed European and Aboriginal descent known as The Bungalow at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station in September 1939. Glynn was just three year's old at the time. Topsy worked as a laundress at the institution in order to stay with her children.
Career
Glynn attended the Alice Springs Higher Primary School in 1951 and was known to be an excellent student. At the age of 16, she became the first Aboriginal school teacher in Central Australia. She was appointed by the South Australian Department of Education as junior teacher at the Alice Springs school after gaining her Intermediate Certificate in four subjects. She then took the position of a grade two teacher at Hartley Street Primary School. She later wrote a column for the Centralian Advocate.
She was evacuated from Alice Springs to New South Wales during World War II. When she returned, she lived at the newly established St Mary’s Church of England Hostel on the Stuart Highway.
In 1954, Glynn moved to Melbourne in 1954 to train as a nurse, returning a year later. In 1962, Glynn became the first Aboriginal Charge Sister (Maternity Ward) in Alice Springs Hospital. She delivered around 2000 babies. She was known for taking grapefruits from the garden of the matron's quarters and distributing them among the new mothers on the ward. Annoyed, the matron stormed the ward asking whether anyone what was happening to the fruit. Glynn apparently placed her finger to her lips indicating the mothers to be quiet. When the matron left, they continued eating the grapefruits.
Legacy
In 1964 Glynn married pastoralist Bill Schaber. She died the following year after complications from childbirth.
A pre-school located at Ross Park Primary School was named after her in 1965. She was the first Aboriginal woman to have a pre-school named in her honour in Australia. Over 100 people attended the opening in September 1965.