Given NameKathleen WindeyerLast NameGaleDate of Birth1890Date of Death28/03/1981Biography
Kathleen (Winnie) Windeyer Gale was born in 1890 and educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School for Girls, matriculating on 21st April 1909. She studied at Sydney University, graduating with a BA in 1913. It appears from a letter from her aunt Violet (Mrs Walter Frederick Gale) and from a letter from Fanny Cohen, that she travelled to England for the first time shortly after graduating. Her sister Helen (christened Dorothy Helen) was born in 1895 and also educated at SCEGGS. Two brothers, Jack and Blair, both fought in World War 1, Blair being killed in France on 14th July 1918. Winnie's father, Charles Henry Gale, was appointed a Police Magistrate for NSW in 1912. One of his five brothers was Walter Frederick Gale, the noted astronomer. His mother was Mrs. Henry Gale (Susannah Gordon Windeyer) daughter of Charles James Windeyer who was appointed assistant Police Magistrate at Sydney in 1831. Charles Henry Gale and Sir William Charles Windeyer were first cousins. Henry Gale arrived in the colony in 1854, and was Susannah Gordon's second husband - she had three sons from her first marriage to Francis Henry Fortunatus Phillips, and five sons and one daughter from her marriage to Henry. According to a reference from E. Ralston, Winnie taught at Wenona School, North Sydney for a year, before leaving for England to attend the Cambridge Training College for Women in 1926. Some time in the late 1920s, Winnie opened the Audley School, Killara, a day and boarding school for girls, ranging from Kindergarten through to Leaving Certificate Honours. In one of her undated handwritten principal's reports, Winnie writes 'but though it is our second breaking up we are not yet two years old' and goes on to thank her sister and the rest of the staff 'who have given of their best service'. Audley School closed in 1946 after the sale of the premises, and Winnie became the Principal of the Boarding School at Roseville Girls' College, Roseville in 1947. She died on the 9th August, 1976 and her sister Helen died on the 28th March 1981.
