Builders find 600 canes under school floorboards
PRIMARY SCHOOL CANES
During its centenary
celebrations, Lansdowne Crescent Primary School staff were told a tale of
discovery evoking memories of corporal punishment days.
A former pupil named Jan explained
that her brother, also a former student, who went on to become a builder, was
completing renovations at the West Hobart school in the 1960s and laying new
floorboards throughout the property.
As his crew ripped up the
boards in a classroom, they found an incredible 600 canes piled up beneath the
floor.
Current principal Monique
Carter says accounts from former students have confirmed there was a teacher in
the 1940s who was known for her use of the cane on students. “She was also
renowned for standing on a little platform at the front of the class and
jumping up with the cane in her hand and coming down and hitting them with it,”
says Carter.
At any given opportunity,
students would take the canes and poke them through holes in the floor to hide
them, but with 600 found under the floor, it’s fair to assume she had an
unlimited supply.
Carter says she understands
that the builder contacted the Education Department and the Tasmanian Museum
and Art Gallery at the time to see if they were interested in taking the
artefacts, but apparently they weren’t. She is not sure where the 600 canes are
now. “We have two canes here, but we’re not sure if they’re from that group,”
she says.
As published in the Mercury,
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 17
September 2016.
Picture credit: Unknown.
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