'I LOVE THIS LIFE' WHEN DISCUSSING THE ARCHIVAL ANECDOTES FOR THIS EDITION OF FIDELITER, A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE SANG A FEW BARS OF AN OLD ABBA SONG TO ME:
“ …I have a dream, a song to sing To help me cope with anything If you see the wonder of a fairy tale You can take the future even if you fail I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream, I have a dream…” After my initial chuckle and disparaging remarks about finding inspiration in an ABBA song from 1979, it actually started to sit beautifully with the message I believe some relatively unknown, but spectacular Old Girls from the 1920s and 1930s have left us. One Old Girl who really broke the mould for her time and was selected for the Old Girls’ Honour Wall for her achievements, was Julia Lazarus. Born on 7 July 1909 in Perth, the only daughter of Mr and Mrs E.S. Lazarus, Julia was a Prefect in 1925 and Head Girl and editor of the Almerta in 1926. She was prominent in drama and Girl Guides and at the young age of fifteen whilst still at school, joined the Egypt Exploration Society based in England. After leaving school, Julia travelled to London with her mother and returned to Perth in 1928, renewing
her strong friendships with St Mary’s Old Girls and the Girl Guides. Her family moved to London in the early 1930s, taking up residence in Hanover House Regent’s Park, where Julia began studies in Egyptology at University College London with the renowned Professor Stephen Glanville. Her studies included extended archaeological excavations with the Egypt Exploration Society in Amarna, Egypt. She contributed a significant chapter in the studies of this ancient city to the Petrie Museum’s Amarna Collection in London in 1936. Julia married Norman Lionel Samson on 18 August 1938, and continued to excavate archaeological digs in Egypt. Julia’s work was interrupted by World War II, where she redirected her energy to a distinguished career as a press officer for the Ministries of Food and Health, until in 1967 she retired early to devote herself to her true love of Egyptology. As an Honorary Research Assistant at the Petrie Museum, Julia went on to study, research and publish unique works on the city of Amarna, the Pharaoh Akhenaten, Queen Nefertiti and Cleopatra. When Julia passed away on 6 April 2002 aged 93, she had been a member of the Egypt Exploration Society for 77 years and her colleagues said of her: ‘The breadth of Julia’s intellectual interests, the force and magnetism of her personality and her geniality and kindness made her a truly remarkable woman…’ It appears that Julia followed her dream as a fifteen year old, to explore and research the ancient sites of Eygpt, and stayed true to the person that made her popular and a Head Girl of St Mary’s in 1926. The Almerta of 1927 says of Julia: ‘Our Head Prefect last year - Julia Lazarus - made herself popular throughout the School by the wise use of her authority and her friendliness to everybody…’
Above: Julia Lazarus early 1920s with St Mary's ribbons; Julia as Head Girl in 1926; and Julia Samson (Lazarus ’26) at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in 1998
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Archival Anecdotes