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ROSINE GUITERMAN — Biographical Material
No more appropriate verse could have been found for Rosine Guiterman than a line from Robert Browning, the poet she so loved, "I was ever a fighter, so one fight more". For her family, her friends, anyone in trouble and for the cause of peace she was a fighter. No matter how tough the job to be done, how many other commitments she had, or whether she was tired or ill, she would throw herself into the job, bringing to it her great energy, her great courage, her great generosity and her great and warm humanity,
Born in London in 1886, Rosine Lion came to Australia with her family in 1893. From a very early age she made up her mind to be a teacher, and despite greatly interrupted schooling due to the family's several travels to and from England, she worked hard to overcome this handicap and matriculate and to proceed to Sydney University.
She took her B.A. degree in 1908 and her M.A. degree (in English) in 1911. Due to her mother she had, since early childhood, a great love for Shakespeare's plays. The late Sir Mungo MacCallum, a fine scholar and lecturer inspired her to a lifetime study of Shakespeare. Three generations of senior school students benefited from this understanding and knowledge in their turn.
Rosine was also a fine producer of Shakespeare’s plays. At different times, she put on performances of Richard III, Lear, A Winter's Tale very successfully indeed. Her knowledge and understanding were really phenomenal. Many times her friends egged her to write a criticism of the plays for students, but although she wrote many short pieces, there was never time for a larger work. Anyhow the spoken word was always more attractive to her than the written word.
While at the University she was very active in student activities, particularly in the Sydney University Women's Society and in the Dramatic Society. She was secretary of the former organisation in 1908 and 1909 and a committee member in 1910 — in fact she was secretary in May 1909 when the society achieved a long standing ambition and the University Settlement was established. In the theatrical sphere she took parts in many plays the biggest production being the leading role in "The School-mistress" at a city theatre,
In 1911 her poem "Sic Vos Non Vobis” [Thus do ye, but not for yourselves] won the coveted Sydney University Prize for English verse. She was the first women to achieve this distinction. The same year, Rosine set off for London, and at Colombo a businessman, David Guiterman, boarded the ship. By the time they reached England these two were engaged,
David Guiterman was, and always remained, a convinced socialist, with progressive ideas on religion, politics and human morality, and human morality, and up till the time they met, such ideas had never come Rosine’s way. Their twenty-nine years of married life, in spite of much trouble, were ideally happy,
From 1911 to 1912 Rosine Lion with her sister, a trained kindergarten teacher, travelled extensively in France and Germany, teaching as she went.
Rosine and David were married in 1913 with very bright prospects, David representing a German firm doing good business in Australia.
Eleven months later the First World War broke out, the Australian Government confiscated the assets of the firm, including David's own money, and things became very difficult indeed. He was an American of German descent, with a German name. During World War I there was tremendous bitterness towards anyone with German connections, and in consequence David found it impossible to get another job. Rosine was ostracised by many former friends and even urged by some to leave her husband "at least for the duration of the war". It was strongly suggested that David Guiterman should change his name, but this he proudly refused to do, saying that it was a name that his parents and grandparents had borne with honour. His stand was almost universally condemned, but his wife proudly stood by him and with unshakable courage had her first experience of being on the unpopular side. They were both unalterably opposed to war as a method of settling international disputes and did not fear to say so.
In 1916, due to the family financial situation, Rosine began to teach again - becoming a tutor of English and drama with the Workers' Educational Association. By 1917 there were two daughters of the marriage. By 1919 Rosine Guiterman had taken on part-time school teaching. She worked tremendously hard. She may have neglected herself but never her family or her students. Her association with the W.E.A. lasted from 1916 to 1930, during which period she conducted very many classes, lectured at many summer schools, and in 1925 was a co-founder of the W.E.A. Drama League.
Rosine Guiterman engaged in school teaching continuously until 1950. Though from time to time she taught French and Latin, her main subjects were English and History and she was always the staff member to teach English and History honours. During this period she did many school broadcasts which were well received by both teacher and student listeners.
In 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany and any German Jews who could possibly do so, escaped to any country where they could gain admittance. Many came to Australia and during this period the Guiterman home was ever open to newcomers in trouble, just as David Guiterman's office door was also always open. These two once calculated that approximately 600 to 700 refugees had on few or many occasions come to their home with some type of problem.
Very many German children were coached in English by Rosine and subsequently shepherded through all ramifications of the Education Department, to ensure that they were graded according to ability and not held back through imperfect English. Many folk, still with very little English, were assisted to obtain necessary medical or hospital attention. These were just some of the host of problems which confronted the Jewish refugees, though the problem common to all was the confusion of being a stranger in a strange land.
In about 1940 Rosine commenced private coaching and continued to be a most successful teacher in this field right up to the time of her death. In fact her last lesson was given ten days before she died.
Immediately after World War Two, the Peace Council came into being with the object of working for the replacement of war by international co-operation. From its very inception, Rosine Guiterman identified herself with this movement, assisting to the maximum of her capacity in every way possible. In fact the day before she died, when her sight and physical strength had almost failed, she wrote a letter setting out clearly and concisely all details for the next function of the Peace Group of which she was the President. Many progressive causes over the years had her support - and her practical support was well worth having. In recent times she was very active in the Australian-Aboriginal Friendship Association, the Australia-China Association and the Union of Australian Women.
Truly indeed was all her life and all her strength given to the greatest cause in the world - the cause of humanity.
From W.A. Wood, M.A. (Oxon) former Rhodes Scholar:
In Mrs. Guiterman we salute one of the finest characters and clearest minds ever drawn towards the struggle for social advancement in Australia.
I am proud to think that my father, Professor G.A. Wood, may have had some part in this.
First to occupy the Chair of History at Sydney University, he was himself a strong partisan of what might be called a humanist, though not a socialist, interpretation of history. He never concealed the fact from his students. In reviewing the great controversies and contentions of the past, he was always on the side of those fighting for peace and progress, for intellectual and cultural enlightenment. However, he never imposed his views on his students. He expected, and indeed insisted, that they develop their own independently. And a sturdy independence of mind was, next to kindness, the main feature of Mrs. Guiterman's character. My mother, Mrs. Madeline Wood, herself a distinguished scholar of history, tells me that my father regarded Mrs. Guiterman as one of his best students. He frequently mentioned her abilities in the family circle. And he was never one to bestow such compliments idly.
She was an outstanding product of the School of History he founded, showing it in many ways, not least of which was the fact that she applied outside the university the most important lessons of international understanding that she learned within it. If by doing so she debarred herself from attaining the very highest teaching positions to which her abilities entitled her, she never complained. History had taught her that it has ever been thus with the pioneers. The main reward they look for is the esteem and affection of their comrades in the great crusade for human advancement. And this Rosine Guiterman possessed in the fullest measure.
From Hinda Lion, a sister.
As I look back on our childhood days, I always remember the wonderful games that we used to play - all invented by Rosine. Especially I remember the dramatisation of poems read to us by our mother and Rosine - such poems, Barbara Fritchie, Lochinvar scenes from Julius Caesar, Horatius and so on. We each had our own part to play, all the various back grounds being recited by Rosine who always had a wonderful memory and was a splendid organiser. All through our childhood days she was the kindly eldest sister always ready to help, never afraid to stand up for herself or us and to express her own views. She was always an avid reader and I can recall her practising scales with a book of poetry open on the piano.
From her earliest years she never swerved from her determination to be a teacher. Even at school she was ever ready to help a fellow pupil.
I look upon her as one of the cleverest people I ever knew and one of the most modest. She never complained of pain or ill-health or the sorrows in her life, but bravely tackled everything that she had to do, and a great more than she had to do - always ready with help to all who called on her.
Carlyle said "I shall pass through this world but once, any good, therefore, any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now, let me not defer it or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again". I think these lines can be especially said of Rosine.
From Gertrude Legge. a daughter.
Few children could have had such a mother as we had. She read to us tirelessly- Shakespeare, the Bible, all the best in English poetry, Scott, Dickens. And when we had a taste for what is best sufficiently developed, every sort of good literature was given to us, so that a foundation for life was laid down for a critical sense and enjoyment of the arts. There was little enough money, but somehow there was enough for us to see the great visiting English actors, the ballet and opera. One of my earliest childhood memories is seeing Pavlova in the Dying Swan, and later Dame Sybil Thorndyke as Lady Macbeth and Saint Joan.
In all my life I have never known such an enchanting companion, so full of charm, never-failing kindness and such a loving sympathy in the problems of others. She had such generosity, that she gave away all she had and had very little left for herself. But it was not only the generosity of giving, it was also a generosity of spirit. For instance, if someone had the bad luck to break one of her prized possessions, she would not say not to mind as it did not matter. She would say, "I am so glad. I never really liked that thing and I am pleased to be rid of it".
When we were children, she was our adored mother, and when we grew up she adjusted herself apparently without difficulty to becoming a most wonderful friend.
I do not believe that in her whole life, she ever thought of herself at all. The night before she died when she was in pain and her eyes had almost failed, her little grandson asked her to read him a story. I begged her not to bother, but she waved my protests aside, and read to him with all her old spirit, although she had to keep rubbing her eyes to see the lines and she was so weak that it was an effort to turn the pages.
She taught us to hate war, cruelty and injustice and to love humanity and all its wonderful achievements. These were her convictions and she worked for them right until the end. She never faltered in her courage and hope for humanity,
"Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake".
From a fellow undergraduate Phyllis St. Clair Maclardy.
At the Sydney University, Rosine Guiterman did a splendid course.
In her contact with fellow students she was very kind in offering all the help she could give, especially to the young newcomers.
She had very high ideals and even as a young girl did all she could to encourage ideals of world peace and understanding among the nations. As her life went on she felt ever more deeply the importance of these things in a rapidly changing world and her influence reached out to many people.
From Margaret Kent Hughes. B.A., a colleague:-
I had the privilege many years ago in the thirties of being on the same staff as Rosine Guiterman at S.C.E.G.G.S. Darlinghurst. She was always ready to help any member of the staff and to share her wealth of experiences and knowledge with others. She was one of the most selfless people I have ever met and I have known and to have worked with her is an unforgettable experience. Rosine will live forever in the minds and hearts of her friends.
From L.W. Chant., F.A.S.A., F.C.I.S. Coaching College:-