Two decades of volunteering have led to the announcement today of the posthumous award of a Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division to Miss Therese Margaret Post for her service to the community of Uralla.
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With a lifelong passion for music and education, Miss Post taught at schools across New England from 1954 for many years, in England during a sabbatical in 1963 and from 1992 in Hubei, China, until her retirement in 1999.
After beginning piano lessons at the age of six, Miss Post went on to study a Diploma of Music and undertook studies in music history, harmony, chamber music, and acoustics. After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium, she gained her Diploma in Education.
During her teaching career, she taught and developed the music curriculum in state high schools and worked at Newcastle Girls High School, Glen Innes High School, Inverell High School, Tamworth High School, and Armidale High School.
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While teaching at Duvall High School in Armidale in 1976, Miss Post was the first woman in the state to be made a deputy principal at a co-educational school, and in 1985 she was appointed as principal of Tamworth High School, making her the first woman in New South Wales to be made a principal of a co-educational school.
When she retired from teaching in China, Miss Post returned to Uralla, the town of her birth, and spent the next 21 years as an active community member.
She joined the Country Women's Association, the Australian Red Cross and was actively involved with the St Vincent de Paul's Society and the Catholic Women's Society.
Miss Post also volunteered with the Friends of McMaughs until she retired from driving. As an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, Miss Post would visit the sick and those in aged care, teach scripture in various state schools, and was a church choirmaster and organist at St Joseph's for many years. She began playing the organ at Sunday Mass at St Joseph's when she was just 10-years-old.
In 2010 she was made a Foundation Fellow, Specialist Music Educators, Sydney Teachers College, and the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music.
In 2020 Miss Post received an achievement award at the Uralla Australia Day Award ceremony.
Miss Post always held her family as the most important part of her life and dedicated herself to her parents, brother, and family.
Her nephew Conrad said his aunt loved helping the needy and sharing her knowledge with children, but her deep, deep love was her God, family, music, and travel.
Miss Post died in February of this year, aged 92. Mr Post said the family was delighted that she has been named a recipient of the Order of Australia Medal.
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