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Myrtle June (Georgie) Holderness-Roddam

Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women logo
Myrtle (Georgie) Holderness-Roddam

Awarded for service to education and training

Born: 6 November 1950

Entered on roll: 2019


“Dedication to nurturing and educating children”

Georgie Holderness-Roddam believes in promoting the individual child’s optimum wellbeing, self-esteem and development, by supporting the family as the child’s foundation stone, and treasures enduring bonds with families.

For decades, Georgie has supported children professionally and voluntarily through Sunday school and high school teaching, leading playgroups, fostering (including an intellectually challenged child), assisting home educators and as a family day-care educator.

Georgie believes in advancing social justice and advocacy. As a volunteer English tutor of migrants, Georgie discovered that one family had left a new baby daughter behind in Syria, as she was born after the official documents were finalised. A two-year battle between Georgie and immigration officials resulted in the child being reunited with her family in Tasmania.

Georgie and her husband decided to home educate one of their children who was being bullied and didn’t fit the school mould.

Georgie joined others advocating for the legalisation of home education. She became a member of the committee of enquiry that led to the creation of the Tasmanian Home Education Advisory Council.

Georgie played a key role in the home education movement, running activities, a newsletter, a resource library and camps, mentoring, and helping isolated families.

Georgie arranged for 50 Tasmanian families to participate in research spanning home educators in Australia and London, looking into whether the prodigious learning of infancy would persist if uninterrupted by formal schooling. For 10 years, Georgie kept a detailed journal of her youngest child’s home education. The books subsequently published by the researcher drew considerably on his Tasmanian research.

In 2004, Georgie became a family day-care educator, providing a rich and varied self-learning environment, especially steeping the children in art, music, nature and community.

In 2016, Georgie retired to concentrate on grand-parenting, helping with the juniors at Van Diemen Fencing Club and helping to establish sword fencing in local schools.

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