Miss Eunice Macindoe
Miss Eunice Macindoe 1946 - 1956
Miss Eunice Macindoe served as the College’s fifth Principal,
during a period of post-war consolidation.
Eunice Nellie Morris Macindoe (1904-1997) enjoyed a unique
association with PLC Sydney: as student, teacher and Principal.
She was born in Strathfield, one of eight children, five of whom
became students at PLC. Eunice enrolled I912, when she was
eight years old and Dr Marden was Principal. She left in 1921,
when Dr McQueen was Principal.
After receiving her BSc from the University of Sydney Miss
Macindoe began her career as a teacher at SCEGGS
Darlinghurst, only to return to PLC in 1926 to teach Physiology
and Biology. She taught in several other schools, including one
in India and another in Hong Kong, before taking up her
appointment as Principal at PLC Sydney in 1946.
As Principal, her first brief was to re-establish the College in the Croydon campus. Largely due to her
efforts, the doors opened on the first day of term one in 1946, despite various traces of military
occupation, i.e. neglected gardens, unreliable boilers and several Nissan huts. Indeed, during her
tenure various improvements and additions were made to the physical fabric of the campus. “The
School Hospital Unit, the purchase of Pickard House, the modern bathrooms, the conversion of the
laundry block into our most modern classroom, the new tennis courts and the projected new
classroom block are all the result of her planning”.1 A preparatory and kindergarten school was set up
in Branxton, in Strathfield, in 1946.
The curriculum continued to offer English, Modern History, Ancient History, Geography, French, Latin,
Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Commercial subjects and extra subjects such as cookery,
dressmaking, classing singing and musical appreciation, physical education and swimming. Girls were
prepared for the examination of the Australian Life Saving Society. One period each week was devoted
to hobbies, when instruction was given in weaving, leather work, pottery, photography and other arts.2
The range of co-curricular activities increased during Miss Macindoe’s years as
Head. The first Pet and Doll Show took place in 1953, films and documentaries were
shown in classrooms, a photographic competition was introduced, there was a
Chess Club and a Historical Society. In 1956 a television was purchased. Giving to
charitable organisations continued to be important; in 1955 more than £400 was
given to 25 organisations.3
By 1956 the enrolment had increased to 590, including 117 boarders and 83 young scholars at
Branxton.4
In that year there were 45 staff members, 72 pupils sat the Intermediate Certificate and 25
the Leaving Certificate.5
In his tribute to Miss Macindoe, her successor Dr William McKeith AM wrote that she “strongly
advocated equal education for girls and she encouraged all with whom she came in contact to
continue their education to their maximum ability and to achieve independence. She expected girls to
set high standards and not be bound by the then current views of careers considered ‘suitable’, but to
be ambitious and achieve in their chosen field”.
6
In her own words, “Our changeless dream at PLC is that of life and of beauty of usefulness and
comradeship, of high adventure and of clear simple thought of love and happiness within the school
and of youth entering a new world with faith and courage.”7
- The Macindoe Library, built in 1992 and enlarged and renovated to become the Macindoe
Research Centre in 2010 honours the College’s fifth Principal.
- Adelaide Elizabeth Perry (1891-1973) was an Art teacher and Art Mistress at PLC Sydney from
1930 – 1962. She studied with Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery School and later at
the Royal Academy of Arts in London. She exhibited works at the Salon des Artistes Français in
Paris. Her works are held by the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Victoria, the National
Library and the Queensland Art Gallery.
1
Aurora Australis, 1956, p. 13.
2
Series 3 Prospectus, Prospectus c1953.
3
Aurora Australis, 1956, p. 21.
4
The Golden Hope Presbyterian Ladies’ College 1888-1988, John McFarlane, 1988, p. 100.
5 Record Books 1917-1958, p. 297-298 and p. 304-305.
6
Series 43 Principals, Miss Eunice Macindoe, Box 402, Folder 1.
7
Ibid.

Miss Eunice Macindoe
Portrait by Adelaide Perry, 1962