Memories of
Liggins
Memories of Mrs Jenny Rudd O’Neil, Junior School Librarian 1980s.
As part of the celebration, Mrs Jenny Rudd O’Neil, the first Junior School Librarian at Redlands shared some of her memories with us. Jenny’s daughter is a Redlander and granddaughter a current student.
“Liggins was once the first Junior School Library. In 1981, I was invited by the new Principal, Peter Cornish, to set it up. I was given the hall area, complete with stage and a large grant of money to fit it out.”
There followed days of measuring and ordering, bookshelves big and small, lots of small tables, lots of small chairs. Then there were the books – what a joy that was! I spent weekends sitting on the floors of bookshops choosing a wide collection, helped by my own two children who loved the job, This was a time when Australian authors were making their mark on literature for children’s literature. We ended up with a collection of beautiful picture books – books by Pamela Allen, Hazel Edwards, May Gibbs, Libby Gleeson, Alison Lester, Mem Fox; and for older readers, Ursula Dubosarsky, Ivan Southall, Ruth Park or early Roald Dahl. Harry Potter wasn’t even imagined then!
I turned the stage into the Fiction area and some wonderful Redlands mothers, who could sew much better than I could, made colourful floor cushions with book characters on them, and a long Hungry Caterpillar that the little ones loved to sit on.
The large area of Liggins was used for the non-fiction books and for Library lessons, once a week for every class. Students were taught how to look up an encyclopedia – World Book and Britannica were the favourites – we didn’t know Google was about to be invented and encyclopedias would disappear like the dinosaurs. There were two classrooms next to Liggins, Sometimes I was interrupted by Mrs Julie Gillick next door, asking me to listen to her Year 6 recite “The Highwayman’ so musically, or by Mrs Roslyn Scouller on the other side telling us about her Year 4.
A comer of Liggins was portioned off (by bookshelves) for an ‘office’ where the indominatable Margaret Lynne came down from the Senior School Library a couple of days a week to help me accession, number, and catalogue numerous books and resources. All the cards were typed on a large Olivetti typewriter and filed in wooden drawers in alphabetical order. No computers then. Every child had a library card on which they hand-wrote the titles of books borrowed and returned. Another card was kept in a sieeve in the back of cach book to show who had borrowed it. It was filed and replaced when the book was returned. Quite a lot of writing on cards! A large group of enthusiastic Library Monitors helped with this and with reshelving and covering books. Naturally, they were all students who loved reading.
The library was full of activity during lunch hour and after school. For Science Week Mrs Barbara Potts from the Science Department brought over intriguing underwater creatures in glass jars and for History Week there were clothes and toys from earlier times. When Prince William was about to be born the old glassed-in notice boards on the wall outside Liggins were decorated with a doll wearing a crown and there was a competition to guess what the name of the royal baby would be.
After school there was the Chess Club and Liggins also became the centre for the Northern Sydney branch of the Puffin Club. We met with other schools for picnics, quizzes, Halloween parties. This club, linked with Puffin Books, was worldwide. Members received a special badge and a regular Puffin Post magazine that we even featured in! (The club ended in 1989.)
I like to think that the old hall (for it was old even then) listened and laughed at all the goings-on when it was the very first Junior School Library at Redlands.” Jenny Rudd O’Neill 2023
