Scotch College

The 'Honorable' - a title Walter Jona has earned

The Honourable Walter Jona (’44) was the School’s special guest at the Remembrance Day Assembly on Friday 10 November (see reports on page 8). Walter read the ‘Ode to the Fallen’ with distinction to a packed Memorial Hall audience that included friends from Wesley College.

Walter Jona strikes you as a quiet and unassuming man – not the attributes that are high on the position description for ‘politician’! However, throughout Walter’s distinguished career of public service (‘I was a parliamentarian – not a politician’ he says), he was determined, passionate and considerate, as well as honourable and respectful. The ‘Hon.’ placed in front of his name is well earned.

In 1936, Walter marched with the Glenferrie State School Pipe Band to participate in the unveiling of a stone memorial, erected outside the Monash Gates to commemorate the first house constructed in the district by early settler John Gardiner, 100 years earlier.

Walter began at Scotch College in 1937, in class IVA. He has fond recollections of teachers such as ‘Monkey’ Thompson and ‘Spotty’ Sayers – men who then were in their first years at Scotch as well. He also remembers ‘Daddy’ Edmunds, father of F L Edmunds who was in his last year as writing master. He was to be succeeded in this position by his son.

Walter also remembers the infantile paralysis epidemic in 1937 and its profound impact on the School. Both the Foundation Day Concert and Annual Speech Night were abandoned as a result. While at Scotch, Walter was an integral member of the Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps. He helped to install air raid sirens and dig trenches around the school buildings and on the Meares Oval.

In his recently published autobiography, People, Parliament and Politics, Walter reflects: ‘How proud I was on 6 March of that year when I participated in the Cadet Corps march past before the morning-suited, top-hatted Governor of Victoria, Lord Huntingfield, as part of the ceremony for the opening of the School’s new Mackie Hall of Music and Library. Little did I realise at the time that five years hence, before my 18th birthday, I would be volunteering for the Royal Australian Air Force, with which I saw out the last year of the 1939–45 war in the south-west Pacific area.’

The following extract from Walter’s book depicts life at Scotch during World War II:

‘As the war progressed, its impact on Scotch College increased and the students became increasingly involved in related extracurricular activities. Fundraising projects were organised and a special War Effort Fund was established. Several of the teachers enlisted in the forces, their vacancies being partly filled by older professional men such as the psychologist, Mr R K Whately, and Dr G B Pritchard, a geologist, who had sought to ease the strain on the teaching profession arising from enlistments.

‘In 1941, the Australian Army was engaged in its first major campaigns in the Middle East, and casualty lists were being published in the newspapers almost daily. The crisis at that time was coming home to the boys at school, as the principal, Colin Gilray, periodically announced to morning assembly the names of old boys who had been killed in action, wounded or taken prisoner. I remember being emotionally moved in several instances when the names included the older brothers of boys currently at school.

‘Five days before the school year ended in December 1941 we, like the rest of Australia, were shattered by the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. During the subsequent school holidays and the early part of 1942, war-related events both nationally and within the School moved at a rapid pace. A week before first term commenced, Port Moresby suffered its first heavy air raid and five days after school began Singapore fell to the Japanese, to be immediately followed by a devastating Japanese bombing attack on Darwin. Scotch established a squadron of the Air Training Corps as a complementary unit to the Army Cadet Corps. The specialised training in each of these corps was considered an important preparatory service for those older boys who were destined for the armed forces at a time when Australia was being seriously threatened in the Pacific War.

‘The School Council decided that, as Scotch was in a non-target area and had large land space, it should not, as was the case for several other schools, evacuate to a country area unless directed to do so by government authorities. Nevertheless, the risk of air raids in Melbourne was very real and the school embarked on safety precautions on a large scale. I recall the installation of air raid sirens and regular air raid drill, with each class being required on the appropriate alarm to march off at top speed to its allotted trench. Hundreds of yards of trenches were dug around the school buildings, on the Meares Oval and on the School hill.

‘Wesley College had not been as fortunate as Scotch, for in early 1942 its St Kilda Road site and buildings were commandeered by the Army. Scotch, having been spared this fate, offered to share its classrooms, playing fields and amenities with Wesley. Arrangements were immediately put in place and on 19 March 1942 the greatest war impact on my school life began with the arrival of Wesley’s Senior School on the Scotch campus. It was a partnership that was to last for two years.

‘Scotch students began morning assembly daily at 8.25 am and completed its last class period for the day at 12.50 pm. Wesley took over at 1.00 pm, when Scotch students began their sport and other activities including Cadets and Air Training Corps. Wesley conducted their outdoor extracurricular activities in the morning. This makeshift scheme of sharing resources between two great schools, each with many hundreds of students, was obviously a masterpiece of organisation and cooperation, which exemplified the spirit and sacrifices that characterised the nation during the war years.’

Walter reflected that he was 13 when the war broke out, and as a cadet he never envisaged that he would be called for service. In 1945 when he, like so many others, put up his hand to join the services, he felt that the School had prepared him well through his involvement in the cadet corps. He recognised former Principal Colin Gilray’s role in preparing him and others for the daunting task at hand. Gilray had a distinguished record in World War I and was awarded a Military Cross.

Walter described the recent Remembrance Day, where we welcomed back Old Wesley Collegians who had shared the campus during 1942 and 1943, as ‘Memorable with a capital “M”!’ He felt it was a remarkable day that appropriately commemorated the unique and special relationship that the two schools have. ‘This was no ordinary annual celebration. It was unique for both schools. In fact it was an educational first, where two schools came together and maintained their separate entities.’ Walter felt the uniqueness of the time was embodied in the friendships made during the experience. He remembered that when Scotch had time out of the classroom they would go and support Wesley against whoever they were playing!

Walter is appreciative of the values that Scotch instilled in him as a young boy. ‘The culture of the School nurtured the concept of community service.’ He was delighted to hear from the Chaplain during the service that this concept is alive and well at the School today. He also reflected that the war brought out genuine patriotism (as opposed to nationalism), as people near and dear made the ultimate sacrifice. Walter is indeed, a great Old Scotch Collegian.

Walter’s autobiography, People, Parliament and Politics has been recently published by Swinburne Tertiary Press. It is available at many bookstores, including Readings in Malvern and Hawthorn, Novel Idea in Toorak Village, Books in Print in Glenferrie Road, Malvern and Dymocks in Burke Road, Camberwell.

Tim Shearer