Abbotsleigh Website - Margaret Murray

Miss Margaret Murray (1913 - 1924)

Miss Murray, a Tasmanian with a BA and MA, bought Abbotsleigh for £10,000. She was Headmistress at the New England Girls' School in Armidale (1907-1913), and before that was on the staff at Normanhurst, Ashfield. Marian Clarke called her "gracious and capable". Miss Clarke's sister, Emily, described her to a French class as "tall and fair, and very pretty, and she wears the most beautiful clothes".

She was responsible for starting the annual school magazine, The Weaver (1913), introducing a school uniform to check the unsuitable dressing of some girls (1917) and interschool sport (Tennis v SCEGGS in 1913). Wollumbin was purchased as a new Boarding House in 1913 to accommodate the greatly increased number of "House Girls". Day Girl versus Boarder sport also began in Miss Murray's time.

Miss Murray was a very devout person and kept a small luminous crucifix of alabaster on her mantelpiece. She always went around the school last thing at night with a lamp saying goodnight to girls and checking that everything was all right.

She suffered badly from arthritis and sold the school to a group of trustees under the auspices of the Church for £12,500 in 1924. She remained on the School Council until her death in 1935.