Pioneering Queensland educator now Alumna of the Year

Esther (Strahan) Lane loves to teach. Yes, teaching has shaped her career, but no, it has not defined it. Those in Esther’s classrooms have defined a calling that began with her graduation from the Australasian Missionary College in 1957 and continued for 40 years—Esther took only five years off to raise her children.

Across those decades, Esther taught in almost all levels of education, from preschool to university. She remembers teaching at mini-schools in the Queensland outback, where children studying by distance would meet at a homestead for a block of intensive classes. In 1973, the then Division of Preschool Education in Queensland selected Esther and other teachers to establish the first state preschools. Esther headed the preschool in Chermside. She also enjoyed teaching students with disabilities as part of a role with the Endeavour Foundation and teaching English as a second language to Technical and Further Education students.

Many of the students taking the English classes were those seeking refuge in Australia following the break-up of Yugoslavia. The experience taught Esther skills in diplomacy. “I said, ‘Leave all your baggage back where you came from. In Australia, these are your new friends.’ This experience was almost more of an education for me than for them.”

Esther would teach similar classes at Griffith University and in several of the private language schools in Brisbane. In retirement, she continued to serve as a volunteer in applied linguistics—she and husband Warren taught English in Korea for two-and-a-half years.

The couple’s four daughters—Bronwyn, Andrea, Wendy and Penelope—all married, so Warren and Esther can now count four sons-in-law, 14 grandchildren and one granddaughter-in-law. Between them all, they have about 30 university degrees. “Our family rejoices in the love of God,” says Esther, “and we’ve appreciated how the Seventh-day Adventist Church has conveyed that love through its beliefs and values over the years.”

Avondale Alumni honours Esther Lane for her lifelong commitment to the ministry of teaching.

Brenton Stacey

Author

Brenton Stacey

Brenton is Avondale University’s Public Relations and Philanthropy Officer. He brings to the role experience as a communicator in publishing, media relations, public relations, radio and television, mostly within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific and its entities.