Physical description

White hard covered book. Biography by daughter-in-law of Stanley Porteus, pioneer of modern psychology and one-time resident of Ringwood, Victoria.
SUMMARY NOTES.
Stanley David Porteus was born in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia in 1883, the only son of a Methodist minister. Like other now large suburbs of Melbourne such as Canterbury, Mitcham and Ringwood, Box Hill was a mere village. Each was surrounded by bush. He grew up like most Australian boys with a love of sport and, although lightly built, did quite well at Australian Rules football and was above average at cricket.
He became a schoolteacher with the Victorian Education Department. Promotion within the department depended on experience gained at teaching in tiny rural schools so he applied for such a position at Glenaladale, on the Dargo Road, some 35 miles north west of Bairnsdale.
He walked about 6 miles from the nearest railway station at Fernbank to find the school surrounded by virgin forest with only one dwelling in sight. Attached to the school were lean-to rooms that were to be his residence for the next 2 ½ years. He was fascinated by the nearby Den of Nargun and Bull Creek, which joined the Mitchell River in a deep gorge containing a profusion of rainforest vegetation.
While at Glenaladale, he met Frances Evans who became his wife. To seek promotion, he left Glenaladale and taught at Leneva and Benambra. While at the latter school, he learned of a position becoming available as superintendent of special schools in Melbourne.
As the available means of transport, coach and horses to Bairnsdale, then by train to Melbourne, would not get him to Melbourne before the close of applications, he borrowed a bicycle and rode through the bush to his in-laws home at Lindenow and thus made it before the deadline.
He was successful in his application and it set him on a course that lead to him becoming Australia's first Clinical Psychologist. His work, particularly, the development of the Porteus Maze Test, attracted the attention of American educators and he was offered an appointment for a year at Vineland Training School in New Jersey.
On a stopover in Honolulu, he was impressed to the extent that he expressed a desire to work there. Not the least of its attractions was the mix of races that offered opportunities to study psychological differences, if any, between various races. His wish was to be granted unexpectedly as he was, in 1919, invited to Honolulu to set up a Psychological and Psychopathic Clinic at the University of Hawaii.
From his home in the hills north of Honolulu, on December 7th 1941, he saw the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. He lived there until his death in about 1980.