Sacred Heart School

MEMORIES of my school days at the Sacred Heart Girls’ School

(Henrietta BIANCARDI, née DELBOURGO – from 1938 to 1942).

More than 60 years ago I left the Sacred Heart School at the age of 17. I can see myself sadly going down the stairs of the De FARRO building where I spent four years switching from the French educational system I had attended to the Oxford English the Franciscan Sisters taught.

The Nuns had a great influence on our lives. To this day we can spell better than our children who all went through a tertiary education. When I look back I am amazed at how very modern they were. I remember going to the cinema with the Class and Sisters to see Going my Way with Bing Crosby and also the life of Chopin.

The thorough grounding of shorthand, typing and bookkeeping we were taught allowed us to obtain good jobs both in Egypt and Australia. We enjoyed music and dancing and I remember being part of an Irish Jig and imitating the steps which one of the Sisters showed us while lifting the heavy woolen habit she wore.

Our Catholic religion has remained important thanks to the clear and non biased lessons we were given – we were taught to respect other people’s creeds. The population in Alexandria was very cosmopolitan and the students were from many ethnic backgrounds.

After I left school the war was still on and the Sisters entertained some of the troops regularly for afternoon tea and the old pupils were invited to join them and play music for them.

My last visit to the Convent was on my wedding day (4^th December 1948) when I called in to introduce my husband Edwin Biancardi and left my wedding bouquet for the Convent Chapel.

In 1949 we migrated to Australia and it was not till more than 25 years later that, on a business trip to New York, I met up with Sister Mary Stella Therese. From then on we have kept in touch.

We will for ever be grateful to the missionary Nuns for dedicating their lives to the education of the children in Egypt and we will always remember them with great affection.