Lorna Campbell will be remembered by many residents of the Hawkesbury, and last month she turned 100, celebrating with family at Chesalon Beecroft where she moved in 2015.
Lorna was born in Orange, the last of five sisters. When she was two her family moved to Windsor.
When Reverend Jenkyn of St Matthew’s Church of England at Windsor moved out of the rectory and took rooms at Hawkesbury Hotel, the Campbell family moved in, staying there until 1936. Her association with St Matthew’s continued as choir mistress and for many years she arranged the fresh flowers in the church.
In 1936 her parents bought 458 George Street, between Windsor station and South Windsor shops. This was her home for most of her life. She went to Windsor Public School and Richmond Rural School in the now demolished Kamilaroi House.
She also went to Parramatta High, then Sydney Girls High as it had introduced music to the curriculum. She went to school there by steam train which meant a very early start from Windsor for the two-hour train trip each way.
Lorna gained her Leaving Certificate and then attended Sydney Teachers’ College where she trained as an infants and primary teacher. Her first posting was to Broken Hill, where she stayed for three years, during which World War II broke out Further appointments were to the north coast, Neutral Bay, Tamworth, Riverstone and South Windsor, where she finished her career as headmistress.
Riverstone and South Windsor were quite long appointments. During this time she also cared for her aging parents in the family home. Her father died in 1963 and her mother in 1967. Lorna stayed there until June 2015, when increasing frailness meant she had to move to a nursing home.
She was actively involved in the Dural and Hawkesbury Historical Societies and started the St Matthew’s rectory stables taskforce to raise funds to preserve the stables. Her drive and vision meant that St Matthew’s remains one of the few complete and unchanged Georgian-era church precincts in Australia.
When she retired she joined the University of the Third Age (U3A) where she lectured in history.
At one point Lorna and other family members inherited 41 George Street, Windsor on the Peninsula. It was on the site of the first Government House in Windsor. Lorna was given a photo showing the house and then worked at having the site put onto the NSW State Heritage Register. She was proud of this achievement and the acknowledgement of the historical importance of the site.
In 1953, Lorna and sister Dorothy travelled on the ship Orcades to Britain, her great adventure. At the Egyptian seaport of Aden they disembarked, hired a motor as Lorna called it, and took themselves off to see the pyramids and other sights. After arriving in London they hired another car and toured all over the UK.
She was also a painter of both landscapes and china. She had a small group of friends who would meet on Saturday mornings to paint in her garaged which had glass doors to bring light in. China painting is a labour of love as every layer of colour requires separate firing so is a very long process. It was probably her best work.
While she never married, her life was not without its love interests. One particular interest was when Lorna and Dorothy took a skiing holiday at Thredbo after the war. The ski instructor was Hans, an Austrian, and at the end of this skiing holiday, he presented Lorna with a small leather notebook with his photo inside. This was treasured and she still occasionally shows it to guests.
