Page:Gillespies Beach Beginnings • Alexander (2010).pdf/56

 lengthwise in the mouth of the offender, and tied a piece of cloth - or the miscreant’s handkerchief - to each end, knotting it behind the head. He was also a proficient wielder of the strap which was administered on the hand of the girls and the buttocks of the boys. All offenders were dealt with promptly in front of the whole class. Once a year the strap’s birthday was celebrated and it was given a new name with great pomp and ceremony. During my sojourn at the school, before I was sent away to boarding school, it was christened Marmaduke and later, Augustus.

One day, the strap disappeared from its usual place in the headmaster’s top drawer. Interrogation followed until its fate was revealed. One enterprising member of the class who had felt its sting too many times had thrown it down the boys’ lavatory. The unfortunate boy was forced to retrieve the strap under threat of even greater punishment than had already been meted out to him. He did so. It was duly washed, reinstated with a special welcome-back ceremony and promptly used.”

There are many ways of motivating children to learn. In earlier times, fear both of the teacher and of God, persuaded many unmotivated pupils to mend their ways.

As the Sullivan children grew older and as the government opened up opportunites to acquire land in the Cook Valley, acquisitions had gradually been made by a number of men. Fred Meyer and George Lyttle had been the first to take up land in the Cook Valley in 1881, and also H. Diedrichs. They were later followed by the Ryans and the Walshes. Some of the first holdings probably resulted from government policy such as that contained in the following notice which appeared in the Grey River Argus on 17 September, 1880, under PUBLIC NOTICES.