So begins J. Margaret Fendley’s preface to the 2004 edition of A School on a Hill, her landmark history of Strathcona first published in 1986. In 2024 – Strathcona’s Centenary year and Margaret’s 91st – she remained the keeper of hundreds of Strathcona stories. Her own story was entwined with her School’s for more than eighty years as a student, teacher, parent, historian and later, as an active and valued member of the Strathcona community over many decades.
In 1944, she was eleven-year-old Margaret Haines, a student at Mont Albert Central School, when she won a Strathcona scholarship. Back then, Strathcona was twenty years old, having reopened a year earlier under the auspices of the Baptist Union of Victoria. Wartime fabric shortages meant she had no summer uniform for her first day in 1945, and instead wore a tunic with her new white Strathcona summer hat.
The Principal at this time was Miss Dora Featherstone. ‘She was the archetypal academic woman, with a short Eton type of haircut, and she wore an academic gown,’ Margaret recalled later. ‘She was quite a formidable figure.’
Miss Featherstone’s intellect, academic stringency and recruitment of inspiring teachers were key to Margaret’s decision, on leaving school in 1950, to embark on a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne. Margaret became a teacher and worked at country schools before returning to Melbourne with her husband, Graham Fendley.
By the early 1960s, they had three young children and a neighbour who worked at Strathcona, at whose suggestion Margaret returned to her old school in 1964, teaching English and later, Christian Education. In the 1970s, Margaret’s daughter Anne finished her schooling at Scott Street, then continued the family tradition with a degree in English and History and would go on to teach at Strathcona.
In 1984, Strathcona’s 60th anniversary year, Margaret was among Strathcona’s longest-serving staff members when the Principal at that time, Ken Lyall, asked her to write a school history. Margaret decided to structure the book around the achievements and character of each of Strathcona’s principals. Much of the work involved delving into Strathcona’s records and the Baptist Union archive as well as interviewing former pupils and staff. Never having learned to type, Margaret penned the entire text in longhand. The book was published in 1986 and reprinted four years later, with further editions in 1995 and 2004.
Margaret’s last year as a Strathcona staff member was as Year 12 Coordinator in 1997. It was a job she delighted in: ‘I’ve always loved the kids. They were terrific, right through.’
In the years afterwards, she continued to attend reunions and served on the Strathcona Medal committee, and a student writing competition was named in her honour.
In 2024, at her Canterbury home a few streets away from Strathcona, Margaret reflected on the school to which she gave so much.
‘Strathcona, particularly in its early years, was a school of modest economic means and therefore of limited material offering. Its gift to me, however, was inestimable: the example – and later, the company and shared enterprise – of strong, independent and intellectual women who embraced the life of the mind. Whatever their particular subject or area of interest, they delighted in it, and constantly strove to deepen their knowledge of it and involvement in it. Above all, they regarded it as a treasure to be cherished and shared and passed on. I look back on a long line of those women with admiration, with deep respect and with immense gratitude.’
Margaret Fendley passed away in August 2025 at the age of 91. We extend our sincere condolences and gentle prayers to the Fendley family and to all those who loved and cherished Margaret.
A Memorial Service will be held for Margaret at 10.30am on Saturday 13 September at Tay Creggan. All are welcome to attend.
