The School Children's Club...'The Thomas Street Chatter' (1937).
While many children from the Thomas Street State School and Subiaco State School were writing to a range of children's pages in state newspapers, some children at the Thomas Street State School produced their own. They wrote articles and managed the newspaper themselves (then being edited by their teacher Mr. A. Jackson) in 1937 and 1938.
In 1938 the following year after the article 'School Children's Club : The Production of a Magazine' was published in the West Australian newspaper, The Daily News' newspaper printed a photographic series of the children from the Thomas Street State School at work on their newspaper. Some of the photographs are copied below. No copyright infringement intended.
The articles can be found at Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia.
West Australian, 23 September 1937.
SCHOOLCHILDREN'S CLUB. Production of a Magazine.
Produced by the Literary and Debating Club in Class VIa at the Thomas-street State school, a magazine is issued regularly for the pupils of that schooL The first issue, published last year, ran to 120 copies, and sold out. The second issue totalled 163 copies, and work is proceeding on the third issue, which is nearly ready for the printing machine on an ordinary office duplicator.
Administrative heads of the enterprise are chosen by the children from their own ranks, and the material is handled on the model of a newspaper. Various sections of the paper have their own sub-editors, namely, literary (Joy Walton), sporting (Mabel Compton and Dennis Varian), personal (Shirley Kingsley), and hints and tips (Beryl Werndly).
Contributions are received by these children, who sub-edit the efforts and pass them to the joint editors (Joan Lowe and Douglas Friend). After supervising the sub-editors' work, these editors collaborate in the presentation of their "matter" and the sequence of pages, and pass the work to their teacher, Mr. A. Jackson, who induced the children to launch the enterprise last year. Mr. Jackson re-types the pages, and during that process controls the production.
The children take the pages to elder sistes working in offices in the city, and thus get the stencils done. On the return of the stencils, publication proceeds and the copies are sold at 2d. each. After meeting any expense incurred the children pass the net proceeds to the Parents and Teachers' Association, which uses its funds for library books and other requirements of the children.
Posters to promote sales, and the number of papers to be issued, are the responsibility of the secretary (Jacqueline Sedgwick), while the treasurer (Peter Nash) collects the subscriptions, which must tally with the circulation.
A new cover design is used each time. being produced by one of the children with a lino cut embodying the name of the publication ("Thomas-street Chatter"). Features are an editorial with the reproduced signatures of the joint editors: crossword puzzle; personal items; short stories; poetry; comments on the form of players in basket-ball and cricket; and a tiny tots' page.
Though intended mainly to encourage the children's literary talents and to give them another object for pride in achievement, the magazine is really an adjunct of the Literary and Debating Club. This activity is designed to train the pupils in civics. Elected by ballot, the president of the club for the current quarter is Beryl Werndly and the secretary is Marjorie Paddison.
A committee composed of an equal number of girls and boys conducts the club, the meetings being on formal lines. Officers are changed every term in order to give each boy and girl a chance to participate in the experience of management. The club arranges lecturettes, mock elections (in which the preferential system and party representation are taught), mock trials, and visits to points of interest such as factories (trips to confectionery factories being rather popular), the Museum and Art Gallery and the Observatory. Plays are rehearsed and produced, and the club is now contemplating the presentation of a mock wedding.
The Daily News, 14 May, 1938. (No copyright infringement intended)
