The death of Ray Meredith, third full time principal of Eden High School after Les Sheffield and Wes Saxby, occurred on December 13, 2019, after a long period of illness. Ray was born in Wollongong on June 10, 1939, to George and Ida Meredith. George was a coal miner who worked in hard and dangerous conditions, a fact which urged him to seek better opportunities for his children. Ray, the eldest, had brothers Gordon and Ron and a sister Fay.
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Ray never forgot his upbringing and the periods when the family lived on what rabbits and fish they could catch and what handouts they might have received. This period shaped his thinking about the rights of people and workers and was responsible for the fair and just treatment of staff. This period in the 1940s and 1950s was one when miners had to strive to better their working conditions and strikes were fairly frequent. Ray trained as a PE teacher at Sydney Teachers College from 1956 to 1959.
His first appointment was to Granville Boys High in 1960. He married the lovely Josephine English, a Wollongong girl, in 1961 and they moved to Young where he taught for three years. He was appointed to Keira Boys High in 1964 and remained there till appointed to Warilla High in 1981. He took on the deputy principal role at Canowindra High in 1982 and became principal at the same school in 1986. He became principal of Eden High in 1989 and retired from there at the end of Term 2, 1996.
Ray and Jo had three boys, Grant, Todd and Lee, two of whom sadly predeceased Ray. They have grandchildren Dylan, Rhys and Liam from parents Todd and Debbie, Lilly and Bryn from parents Grant and Jenny and Thomas from parents Lee and Lisa.
Ray's crowning achievement at Eden High was the development of the school as a centre of excellence in Marine Studies which led to the renaming of the school to Eden Marine Technology High and later to Eden Marine High School. This was achieved after much hard work in getting around the bureaucracy of government departments, in securing the backing of local industry groups associated with maritime activities (notably the fishing industry) and in securing links with other branches of the Education Department, notably TAFE. He helped develop cooperative links with NSW Maritime, the Australian Maritime College in Launceston, the NSW Board of Studies and the State Fishing Industry Training Council. Strong support from Jim Snow, Federal Labour member for Eden-Monaro and Peter Cochran, State Nationals member for Monaro, helped the establishment of the course. He was supported in his endeavours by staff members Harry Jones, Peter Ranyard, Tony McDonnell, Bernie Langford, Pam Gollan and Dave Prowse. These teachers attended many courses to learn new skills to assist in the teaching of the necessary subjects.
Ray's thinking was that there was a definite need for local students to learn the skills necessary to transition them into careers suited to their interests and to better prepare them for occupations in the local area. He fought very hard for this, even being threatened with severe disciplinary action for overstepping the mark in dealing with bureaucrats. The number of ex-students working in marine occupations now, and some holding high positions, is testimony to the success of the thinking and hard work of this group.
The other crowning achievement of his time as principal was construction of the multi purpose hall. There was a very definite need as the school numbers advanced to around 800. Speech nights on the quadrangle were always a risky proposition, musical/drama productions were extremely difficult to put on in the first gymnasium and student/parent comfort at assemblies was hard to achieve. Night time basketball was a featured use of this facility. The recent public meetings associated with the bushfire crisis are testament to the very useful functions that can be held at this community hall.
Ray worked hard to achieve the best outcomes possible for students and staff. His enthusiasm and boundless energy were noteworthy. Activities like painting the bleak grey brick interior of the administration block at weekends with P&C members illustrate his desire to improve the school. There were times in the life of the school when very heavy tragedies had to be dealt with and Ray and his staff worked to the best of their abilities to overcome the hurdles put up by these events.
He will also be remembered for his sense of humour and his sayings - "just testing", "the mind boggles", "never mind, we'll get there", "the sun will still come up tomorrow" were just some that staff will long remember.
Ray was very community minded. He was president of both Canowindra and Eden Rotary Clubs and held other portfolios in them. He and wife Jo hosted exchange students over a number of years from Japan, USA, Canada and Switzerland. He was a life member of Bulli Surf Club where he served from age 12. He rowed in the first George Bass Surfboat Marathon and was later involved in the running of this event. He was also a member of Pambula Surf Life Saving Club.
Much more could be written about a man who worked hard for his family, for his chosen profession and for his community. His later retirement years were marked by poor health, an unfitting reward for someone who had been so full of life. Vale, Ray.