Anne Clarke was born in Devon around 1814 and arrived in Portland in 1854 aboard the "Francis Henty". She opened Portland's first "Ladies School" which she operated until 1891. Many young ladies from the Western District passed through the school, and in some cases, two generations of girls. It is thought that before coming to Australia, Anne taught at a school for the daughters of clergymen at Cowan Bridge, Lancashire, aptly named the Clergy Daughters' School. It was attended by the Bronte sisters and is said to have inspired the Lowood School in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre". Anne Clarke never married and died in Portland in 1892.Photographic print of a rephotographed photograph. Image of single storey building, front view, verandah, wooden shingle roof. A number of girls of various ages and some adults, standing on verandah. Annie Clarke's ladies school, 52 Gawler Street.anne clarke, seminary for young ladies, gawler street, portland

In 2005 Michele Matthews interviewed current and former residents of Bendigo for her thesis on the 1930s Depression as part of her PhD Research, with the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts, History Department. Michele interviewed fifteen members of prominent Bendigonian families. The thesis was titled: "How Depressing?: The impact of the Great Depression on Bendigo and District 1925-1935". The Michele Matthews Collection contains fourteen audio cassette tape recordings and one written transcript. The tapes are each approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes duration. The questions presented to the interviewees explore everyday experiences they would have lived through at the time of the Depression. The questions covered sixteen relevant subjects: • Introduction and housing • Social activities, swimming, cinemas, school and games played with friends • Organizations such as the RSL, Relief Committees etc. and any effect they had on family life • The life of the single woman • Unemployment and Employment • Government Assistance • Charities Aid • Self-help • People Power, e.g. boycotts or protests • Politics • Trouble or crime • Family Health, Medical and Diet • Education • General memories of, and hardships encountered, during the DepressionAudio tape interview with Lillian Lenore Taylor (Nee Carey). Daughter of Gordon Wilfred Carey (who was a wheat and oats farmer at Prairie then a dairy farmer at Mandurang and also a letter carver at Bendigo) and Charlotte Lillian Grylls. Lillian was born in 1922 and attended school at Prairie State School, 1928-1929, and Mandurang. She did domestic arts at Bendigo 1923-1933. Lenore married Norman Henry Taylor in 1943. The tape has been converted to a sound file. The 90 minute interview can be listened to, and the notes viewed, at the Bendigo Historical Society. By appointment only. Also included are four handwritten pages by Lenore of the depression and war years.history, bendigo, michele matthews collection, the 1930s depression tapes, lillian lenore taylor