User talk:Bronwynhelicopter1

Florence Mary Taylor
Hi Bronwynhelicopter1, Nice work on the Florence Mary Taylor article. I just wanted to clarify your changes to her high school education (the removal of Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney). It is P.L.C's understanding that she did indeed attend the school and is listed in the schools role of leavers for 1896 (as Parsons, Florence). The Australian Women Biographical Entry and Pioneer Women also state that she attended P.L.C. What does your source say about her education? Would appreciate your thoughts on the matter. Loopla 14:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Dear Loopla I'm brand new to making changes in Wikipedia and not sure how to respond but hope this works. Thanks for your fast response and I appreciate your query. It is true that I am not sure where Florence attended school, and that PLC is mentioned in those published sources. Another print source says it was Greenwood School in North Sydney - so there is already some uncertainty about this in the printed material. I think these sources are incorrect and they have been reproducing the mistake without researching the material. And I think the mistake arose bceause "Florence Parsons" and "Florence Taylor" are pretty common names for the period. I would love to know if FMT did attend PLC, but wonder what evidence they have that their Florence was our Florence. I think FMT attended the local "state school" in Parramatta because that is where her family was living at the time and that is what Kerwin Maigraith wrote in his manuscript biography of her life, which was "authorised" by FMT and which was pretty obviously dictated by her in the 1960s. In all the biographical accounts she gave of her life (and there were many), she never stated where she attended school. She was into prestige in later life and tended not to underplay status issues like being at a private school if that was the case. Similarly, if she'd gotten a scholarship, she would have let us know. Perhaps just as importantly she was Anglican, not Presbyterian. Most importantly the family was poor. Her birth certificate from Bristol states her father's occuption as "labourer", and he took a big step up to be working as a clerk for local council in Parramatta. She was the seventh or eighth of ten children and it is hard to believe that private schools could have been affordable for any of them. My co-authored biography book on FMT is due out this year, being published by Halstead Press, so maybe I should have waited until it was actually out in print. Cheers Bronwyn