Loris Rosenblum - the First Woman to be appointed to School Council

By Ian Robertson, Alumni Manager

One point of commonality in our alumni is a strong sense of service to others and it goes back to the School’s foundation.

If there was one positive from the pandemic, it was allowing time for reflection, and out of this came the idea of acknowledging Korovians for their service on the School Council and ensuring their contributions were recorded for posterity.

Research began by going through the Council minutes from the School archives that dated back to the School Council’s formation in 1912. What this research revealed was most interesting, particularly in the context of a girls school. The School Council was comprised entirely of men until 1922 when Korovian Loris Rosenblum (Coleman, Class of 1912) was invited to join, becoming the first female to serve and how fitting that it was a Korovian and it was Loris.

Loris was Dux of the School in 1911 and 1912 and was Korowa’s first Head Prefect. Loris, defying community expectations of women at the time, became one of the earliest female undergraduates at Trinity College at Melbourne University.

She commenced in the Law Faculty in 1913, but soon switched to the Arts Faculty, and in her final year won an Exhibition and was runner up for the prestigious Shakespeare Scholarship.

Loris was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in early 1916 thus having the distinction of becoming Korowa’s first university graduate. As another indication of her academic ability, she continued studying at the University of Melbourne, gaining her Master of Arts degree in 1920, another first for Korowa.

Sadly, Loris never used her outstanding academic results in the pursuit of a career. She became engaged in 1920 and married Alexander Rosenblum in 1922. As was the custom of the time for a girl of her social class, Loris occupied herself with charitable pursuits such as the Red Cross and bringing up her children. However, her old School realised her talents and she was appointed to the School Council.

She served on the School Council from 1922 until 1927 and I fully expected to see her joined by other women as I scanned through the minutes. What I discovered amazed me. Year after year, apart from the Principal who was not a member of the School Council, no women’s names appeared – indeed not until Valerie Watts (Errington, Class of 1933) joined the School Council in 1959 – a gap of some 32 years!

What does this say about the role of women in society and societal attitudes that at the time would not have found such an absence surprising? Val served for 23 years on the School Council until she retired in 1982 where she was described as having worked ‘tirelessly, loyally and productively’.

In all her time on the Council, Val was a lone female voice until Dawn Upton (Cope, Class of 1954) joined her 17 years later in 1977. Subsequently, both Dawn and Val were joined by fellow Korovian Margot Gibson (Perdriau, Class of 1947) in 1980 and the redoubtable Margot went on to serve until 2012 – a staggering 32 years of service to her old School! Margot was described as a person of strong opinions and keen intelligence who always provided wise counsel and mentored so many over the years. She loved her School.

We pay tribute to these four trailblazing women.

Honour Board

Korovians who have served the School Council

L to R - Margaret Hill (Class of 1968), Sarah Tinsley (Class of 1997), Megan Pepper (Esson, Class of 1997 ), Karrie Long (Class of 1989), Dawn Upton (Cope, Class of 1954), Joanne Chin (Class of 1993), Kathryn Shedden (McNeill, Class of 1980) , Victoria Ponsford (Class of 1970) and Sally Gluyas, (Class of 1980).

All of the 19 Korovians whose names appear on this Honour Board were honoured at the annual School Council and Foundation Christmas event where they were recognised and thanked for their collective years of service to their old School.

The list of honorees now includes two Deputy Chairs, one past (Sally Gluyas, Class of 1980) and one current (Joanne Chin, Class of 1993), and of the 10 current members of School Council, four are Korovians – a vast contrast of the days of Loris a century ago.

Indeed, the School Council for the first time in its history has elected a female Chair, Catherine Robson (see p.6) who joins Korovian, Joanne Chin as Deputy Chair.

Wouldn’t Loris be pleased!