Julia Flynn

Julia Teresa Flynn (1878-1947), inspector, was born on 24 January 1878 at West Melbourne, youngest of six children of Bridget (born Burke) and Daniel Flynn, grain and corn merchant. She attended a convent in Carlton, the South Melbourne College and the Presbyterian Ladies' College, and trained as a pupil teacher and at Training College (1900-01). She taught at Christmas Hills, Bright and the Continuation School (later Melbourne High School) and in 1914, having graduated BA from the University of Melbourne by part-time study, was appointed an inspector of secondary schools. She had a reputation as a brilliant mathematics teacher.

Julia was a committed Catholic and a feminist reformer. She was a member of the Women Graduates' Association, the Lyceum Club and a foundation member of the Catholic Women's Social Guild (1916), formed to extend the social and political role of Catholic women with particular concern for women's equality, in both the family and the workforce. The Guild defended women's right to employment and to equal pay, publishing a monthly journal, Women's Social Work, to inform and educate women - to 'make women capable of using liberty well'.

In 1924 Julia Flynn was appointed a senior inspector in the Victorian Department of Education, where she encouraged the introduction of music and creative arts into secondary schools; in 1928 she was appointed assistant chief inspector. When the position of chief inspector fell vacant later in 1928 the advertisement stated 'Male Required'. There was widespread protest but the Director, Martin Hansen, defended the decision, arguing the greater importance of education for boys - 'fitting them for the future vocation in the best possible way'. He regarded a woman as unsuitable for such responsibility. Nevertheless, the position was opened to women and on appeal Miss Flynn was appointed, but under public service regulations Hansen secured her demotion at the end of a probationary period. In defending herself Julia revealed she had particularly objected to 'little girls of 12 and 13 . . . spending more than half of their school time in cooking, washing, ironing and scrubbing, to the sacrifice of their general education and health'. She had risen in the service in a period when educational policy was distinguishing ever more sharply between girls and boys and though her rise was facilitated by the expectations that a woman was the appropriate person to oversee 'girls' work, her progression was blocked on similar grounds.

Her relations with Hansen were permanently strained and she took leave in 1932 to travel overseas, attending the Women Graduates' International Congress in Edinburgh. On her return she worked amicably with Hansen's successors and in 1937 was accepted as chief inspector of secondary schools. She pressed for more elective and creative subjects in secondary schools, for the adoption of the Class A system with fewer examinations in Class B schools, a higher leaving age and expansion of school libraries.

In 1936 with Anna Brennan (q.v.) she was a foundation member of a Victorian Branch of the St Joan's Alliance. After her retirement in 1947 Julia Flynn joined the Catholic Education Office in Melbourne as secondary school adviser. She died on 14 October 1947.

Heather Radi

Tony Hannan 'Julia Flynn and the Chief Inspectorship of Victorian Secondary Schools, 1928-29', ANZHES Journal Spring 1975.