Kathleen Mary Egan

In 1929 she returned to Tamworth and in 1931 she was asked to lead the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Waratah[1] which was run by the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia.

She decided to use textbooks from the National Curriculum and she made no assumptions about her charges based on their lack of hearing.

[2] In 1938 she decided that the school should improve its use of sound amplifiers, speech and lip-reading to mitigate their charges lack of hearing.

[1] In January 1948 the new St Mary's School for Deaf Children was opened on the coast at Portsea 60 km from Melbourne.

[3] Egan left the school after nine years, during her time the high standard of the children's speech impressed government inspectors.