Helen’s pages of history

Her son, Graeme, will be delivering the eulogy. He spoke to The Riv this week about his history-loving mother.

Graeme, a retired Melbourne University science lecturer, said his mother was involved in a variety of groups, but most led back to her passion for history.

Outside of family, it was probably his mother’s greatest passion, he said.

Graeme said she was always active in one group of another, but it was without a doubt history that appealed to her most.

Unbeknown to many who she taught at Echuca Technical School in the 1960s and 1970s, Mrs Coulson was not a qualified history teacher.

That is despite the fact she taught at the tech school for 11 years from 1965, six years after she and her husband Max moved to Echuca when he was appointed manager of the hospital.

“She didn’t do a teaching degree. It was back in the days when schools were growing rapidly and there was a lot of demand,” Graeme said.

“She was asked to do it and people still remember her as a teacher at the tech.

He said it was quite common for unqualified teachers with specific skill sets to act in a teaching capacity.

"They were importing teachers from Canada and the United States. It fitted in with her interest in local history,“ he said.

Mrs Coulson was a founding member of the Echuca Historical Society, which formed the year after she arrived in town with her husband.

Mrs Coulson grew up in Tecoma, in the Dandenong Ranges. She had one younger brother, Peter, who died in 2015 at the age of 94.

Her father died quite young and her mother ran a business.

She spent her early years in the Dandenongs, marrying Max in 1946 and moving to Horsham in 1950 when her husband was appointed to an administration role with the town’s hospital.

Her aptitude for history, and writing, led to one of her first history roles as the author of a history of the Dandenongs.

“That is still a major reference book for the region. It was 400 pages and was published in 1959, while she was in Horsham,” Graeme said.

Mrs Coulson worked as a journalist and secretary before arriving in Echuca.

Max was manager of the hospital for many years and then became a public accountant, running his own firm in Echuca. He died in 2002, aged 89.

In 1976 Mrs Coulson was appointed manager of the Port of Echuca, a role she held until her retirement in 1991.

“She was the first manager of the port and helped it to become an important part of the town’s operation,” Graeme said.

“It didn’t exist before that. She pretty much set the whole thing up.”

The Port of Echuca was experiencing a booming phase at that point, with All The Rivers Run filmed during her tenure.

In 1979, Mrs Coulson wrote the first book on the history of Echuca, Echuca-Moama Murray River Neighbours. That was followed by Echuca-Moama on the Murray, which was published in 1995.

There are multiple editions of her work on the history of the towns.

Mrs Coulson’s sons, Graeme and Rick, both grew up in Echuca. Since moving to Melbourne for work, both have made regular visits to their home town to see their mother.

Her extended family included four grandchildren — Michelle, Melanie, Carlyle and Reifa — and two great-grandchildren, Romy and Callum.

Mrs Coulson was a very keen golfer and enjoyed playing tennis, balancing her penchant for history and books with a touch of sport.

She was part of the Friends of the Library group, Friends of Old Moama and was a keen member of Probus until the past couple of years. She was also a member of the Australian National Maritime Museum, having served on its council.

Graeme said his mother was proud of the fact Echuca-Moama had maintained its heritage.

“She was pretty pleased to see how the history side of things have gone, and how the history of Echuca has been maintained and promoted,” he said.

Mrs Coulson was an active member of the Uniting church and, before that, the Presbyterian church.

She was awarded an Order of the Medal of Australia in 2016 for service to the community.

And the home she moved to with her family in 1962 remains part of the family.

“They originally had a house provided by the hospital for the manager. It is now a car park,” Graeme said.

“They moved to Echuca south in 1966 and she lived in that house right up until three years ago, when she moved to Southern Cross Care in Moama.

“We had her 100th birthday party at home.”

Graeme said the combination of both journalist and historian meant his mother was great at finding out information.

“It wasn’t necessarily what she knew, but what she could find out. She would be able to dig out the information,” he said.

He said his mother was not a collector of physical items, but instead collected files, books and other information.

"Quite a lot has already been given to the historical society and the rest will also go to them,’’ he said.