Baker Doris K

Doris Kathleen Baker (1891 to 1921) and MLC

Our paternal grandmother died young. She had married Bernard, our grandfather who had migrated from England. She had been born in Eastry Street Norwood, into a strong Methodist family. While pregnant with her first baby, at about the age of 30, she contracted tuberculosis, a common infectious disease at the time. As a result our father was separated from her at birth. She died 7 months later. She is buried at a grave in West Terrace in fair condition.

She attended MLC (later Annesley College) in its early years and was a diligent scholar. She won three prizes, including mathematics prizes, in her two years there and we each have one of them and she came top of the state in Botany.

I have a friend who has drawn attention of this to the ladies who work in the school archives on Mondays and they traced her enrolment and academic history, which also confirmed the three prizes.

The school opened in 1902. I have a copy of the official history of the school To Grow in Wisdom by Miss P.M Twynam, published by the school council in 1977. Page 1 of chapter 1 almost in Thomas Hardy fashion conjures up the atmosphere on the day of the school’s opening in 1902.

Doris Baker was enrolled in 1905 and 1906, effectively her last two years of school, during which she wrote the two main public exams. As well as emulating our skills in Mathematics and German she seems to have been especially strong at Botany.

In fact as the above Honour Board (photo by Susan in June 2013) at MLC (now Annesley College) testifies, Doris earned a Credit in Botany in the State Senior Public Exams.

1905

Sat for Junior Public exam and passed

Literature

Latin

German

Arithmetic

Algebra

Geometry

Botany (Credit)

She won school prizes in German, Algebra and Euclid.

1906

Sat for Senior Public exam and passed

English Literature

German

Arithmetic and Algebra

Geometry

Trigonometry

Botany (Credit)

Physical Geography

She won the school Prize for Improvement in Mathematics (The Miss Newman prize - Miss Newman B.Sc. taught at MLC 1902 - 1936 and was Chief of Staff).

Later

Doris Baker later worked as a telephonist, and was very handy with her hands. She made the hall seat, which is an intricate piece of carpentry and is now at Peter's Canberra house.

Peter also has a tapestry of the Boer War Memorial outside Government House, Adelaide, which was made by her older sister Ellen Maude Baker.