Dadswell Family History

Generation 10
Jean Marion Dadswell (1928-1985)

On this page:
Ancestors of Jean Marion Dadswell
Jean Marion's story
Key family dates
Photographs
Further information

Ancestors of Jean Marion Dadswell

Robert Doudeswell 1560 > Robert Doudeswell 1606 > Edward Dodswell 1659 > Alexander Dodswell 1686 > Thomas Dadswell 1732 > James Dadswell 1786 > Thomas William Dadswell 1828 > Alfred Otto Dadswell 1860 > Henry William Dadswell 1894 > Jean Marion Dadswell 1928

Jean Marion's story

Jean Marion Dadswell (Marion) was born at Windsor, Melbourne, on 8 May 1928, the first child of Henry William and Jessie Isabel (Smiley) Dadswell.

She attended Red Cliffs East School, Red Cliffs Central, Mildura High and MacRobertsons Girls High School in Melbourne.

She was a person who was active in many areas - she loved the cultural life of the city as well as the natural history of the country, loved singing and was in choirs at Red Cliffs Methodist Church and the Congregational Church at Hampton, and she sang with Brighton Philharmonic Choir.

After working for four years as a bacteriological laboratory assistant with the Kraft Cheese Company in Melbourne, she trained as a teacher and took classes at Sunnycliffs and Red Cliffs East Schools, and at Lee Street in Carlton.

She left Australia for 13 years, teaching at Harlesden Infants School in northwest London in 1957-59, at Parioli day school in Rome where she took an international class at the Italian Air Force language schools near Bari and in Rome, at the American Schools near Bari and in Rome, at the American school of Tunis teaching primary students and at the Rome campus of the Loyola University of Chicago where she taught English from beginner to tertiary level.

She also lectured on history, history of art and archaeology.

Marion Dadswell returned to Australia in 1970 and continued her teaching by taking up a post at the Migrant Education Centre in Melbourne for two years, and also teaching a two month course for European adults and developing a pilot course in industrial English for the Dunlop factory.

Five years teaching of oral and aural language courses for Asian-born adult students followed, and then came her leadership of the first ethnic teachers retraining course, offering English language for special purposes and education techniques. During these two years at the State College (Toorak), she also taught a general studies course to third year trainee teachers.

Her interest in teaching continued with the Council for Adult Education in Melbourne, helping migrants and others with English. Around this time, on 27 June 1980, she married in Melbourne Eric Christian Graham Larsen, son of Roy Christian James and Edith (Holliday) Larsen.

They returned to Mildura to live, where Marion taught Italian to students at the Sunraysia College of TAFE and at Mildura High School, where she also taught classes provided by Mildura and District Education Council.

In the early 1980s, she also undertook an Honours Degree at Melbourne University, and from her thesis produced a book, A Record of Rose Street, which was published by Prahran Historical Society in 1985.

Marion was diagnosed with chronic cancer in October 1983 as she was about to make a visit to Europe. She overcame the illness to make the journey in 1984 but returned home unwell.

She lived at Carramar Drive, Gol Gol, across the Murray River from Mildura, until shortly before she died on 29 April 1985 at the age of 56. She is buried at Gol Gol Cemetery.

Publications

A Record of Rose Street, published by Prahran Historical Society
Italian migration to Red Cliffs - an essay on Italians in a Victorian soldier settlement (PDF file, 480kB)

Key family dates

Photographs

Click on any picture to see a larger size photograph.

Further information

Generation 10 sister/brothers of Jean Marion Dadswell
Information on Henry and Jessie Dadswell (generation 9, parents of Jean Marion Dadswell)