Dr Winifred CurtisThe grand lady of Tasmanian botany

Teaching at Fahan

Winifred's Map of Interlaken

 In 1939, Winifred also found employment as Science Mistress at Fahan, a private girls school established four years previously.  It was during her time at Fahan that Winifred wrote the textbook, Biology for Australian Students.

In 1942, Fahan was evacuated to Interlaken on the Central Plateau as Australians feared Japanese invasion following the Fall of Singapore. Winifred commuted every few weeks between the school and her work at the University of Tasmania.  She often made brief detours to the village National Park,  the gateway to Mt Field National Park, where her parents had rented a house. The journeys were adventurous because the wheelbase of the small family car was not wide enough to fit the ruts of the unmade roads.

I used to commute and do so many days at Fahan and the rest of the time at the Uni…in Father’s little Vauxhall 10…and the road then was quite appalling. But that didn’t last for very long. I suppose a term…I have a vivid recollection of one class at Interlaken…talking about plants’ response to stimuli…Interlaken was fun.

Winifred Curtis