The first Mothers’ Club in Australia was founded at Princes Hill School in 1917 at the initiative of Infant Mistress Lillian Horner. Pleased by the response to her invitation that mothers visit the school and observe their children in the classroom, Lillian Horner suggested that mothers return each month and read stories to the children. So the Princes Hill Mothers’ Story Telling Club was formed. The experiment was quickly copied elsewhere, culminating with the founding of the Victoria Federation of State School Mothers’ Clubs in 1925. The - Federation had as its motto, ‘We serve the children’. Its constitution clearly set out the Clubs’ intentions: to provide mothers with opportunities to tell stories to children; to promote a true spirit of helpfulness and friendliness among members; and to further the interests of children attending school.1
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On occasions, the Mothers’ Club also entered into the educational debate. In 1960 and 1963, the Mothers’ Club sent delegates to the National Education Congress. In 1965, it petitioned the District Inspector to support a library at Pigdon Street and donated £30 towards the cost of one. In 1974, it expressed dissatisfaction with the Ed.ucation Education Department about staffing at the school.
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