The life of Joyce Chin

Joyce Cheong Ah Toy (now Joyce Chin) was born in Pine Creek of the Northern Territory on July 12, 1940 as the eldest daughter of five children. Her family moved from China to Australia in 1850 during the gold rush, and Joyce being third generation Australian, has only ever spoken fluent English. Growing up in a poor family in Pine Creek, Joyce’s parents didn’t have the opportunity to seek a higher education, and were therefore very conscious of the importance of schooling. After completing High School in Darwin, Joyce and her two younger sisters, Elaine and Grace, were expected to move back down to Pine Creek to work in the family ‘Ah Toy’ Shop, whilst her two elder brothers, Edward and Lawrence, had the opportunity to receive tertiary education.

Figure 1: Joyce with the School House Captain shield at Darwin High School

However, Joyce had dreams of entering a career in dressmaking and cooking, to which her father did not approve, and instead persuaded her to work at the family shop in Pine Creek. Whist Joyce’s parents had high hopes of a change in mind; she quietly kept up with her studies and took a correspondence course in physics.

After one short year of working, Joyce’s parents reluctantly allowed her to have a tertiary education at a Teachers College in Adelaide. With no encouragement from either parent, she was independent in finding and paying for her own accommodation and education at the young age of 17. The education department generously paid her eight pounds a week to be educated at the Teachers College with the assurance that she would teach for the department for three years following her education.

Figure 2: Joyce at Teacher's College in Adelaide

In 1958 Joyce left Darwin to Adelaide and was looked after by an Uncle whom she’d never met, before heading to the all girls boarding accommodation. The new experience in a new city was frightening, as she’d never been further away from home then Alice Springs and had never experienced a family holiday, as her parents simply couldn’t afford it. Joyce lived in the all girls boarding accommodation for three years, where she independently paid four pounds a week until she completed her teaching course.

Following her tertiary education, Joyce applied to go back to Darwin to work as part of her bond from the education department. However, with little say of the location of her work, Alice Springs became her teaching ground. From 1961-62, Joyce taught home science at Alice Springs High School, which involved cooking, home management, laundry work and dressmaking. As the subject was considered feminine, pay was the lowest in teaching of all the high schools, which became tedious and frustratingly partial.

Figure 3: Joyce speaking on assembly at Alice Springs High School

                                                                       

In 1962, Joyce got married to Kevin Chin in Darwin. These actions proved to be scandalous, when Joyce had no choice but to break her bond with the education department after only a year and a half. Following marriage women were expected to resign, which after doing so, Joyce became pregnant and had her son Mark Chin in 1963.

Within a few short weeks following the bond breach, Joyce received a dis-heartening letter from the Government demanding the three years worth of education they had provided her in cash before the month was up. Joyce felt her only option was to reply and explain that she simply could not afford it. Thereafter, an agreement was made for her to pay 20 pounds upfront, and one pound a week from then on until all her owing’s to the Government were paid off.

Throughout this period, Joyce’s parents were very disappointed in her choices, particularly her father, as he had warned her from the beginning that tertiary education for women was a  terrible idea. With continued negativity and no support, Joyce felt the need to continue teaching after Mark was of age to be in childcare. This decision came about not only for her personal beliefs in herself, but to also prove to her father that he had made the right decision by allowing her the opportunity for a higher education.

After living in Brisbane for a year for Kevin’s work, Joyce moved back up to Darwin with her husband and son in 1964 to complete her outstanding teaching bond. Here, Joyce became the first home science teacher at Darwin High School. Once completing her obligation, Joyce stopped full time work to resume having more family, and received all the money she gave the department following her bond breakage.

Joyce had her second child, Natalie Chin, in 1968. Once her daughter was of childcare age, Joyce resumed teaching part time, moving from high school to adult education. As women were expected to look after children and do household jobs, only part time teaching was available to work. However, in 1969 Joyce built up enough classes to create herself a full time position of teaching fashion and dressmaking. Through this, Joyce was the first female full time lecturer in the Northern Territory. Eventually, Joyce took on the role of responsibility for women’s subjects including pottery, dressmaking, cooking and yoga, where she pushed to develop courses for women. Throughout her years in this role Joyce introduced day classes (initially only night classes were available), initiated the first ‘Child Minding Centre’ where opportunities developed for women to study and have a qualification whist having children, as well as various course awards for women. Through this, Joyce introduced the Certificate of Dressmaking course so women had the opportunity to pursue more serious studies and receive qualifications.

In 1970, Joyce was acknowledged for her outstanding achievements and was appointed as the first female full-time technical teacher at the Adult Education Centre in Darwin. In this year, Joyce also initiated sewing classes for female prisoners at the Fannie Bay Gaol in Darwin.

In 1974, Joyce was assigned Senior Lecturer and Head of Department in Dressmaking at the postgraduate institute for higher education, called the Darwin Community College. Throughout this period, there were very few female executives, and many females complained about there being a glass ceiling impossible to break into. However, Joyce’s diligence and determination reached her success as she quietly work away at it before she was acknowledged for her achievements.

 Figure 4: Joyce as Associate Dean of the Northern Territory University

Joyce’s achievements were further recognized in 1984 when she was assigned Senior Lecturer and Head of Department in Dressmaking at the Darwin Institute of Technology. After five years of teaching, Joyce was appointed the same position at the Northern Territory University (now known as Charles Darwin University). Here, Joyce was further given the role of Associate Dean of the School of Fashion and Library Studies, where she succeeded in further upgrading the fashion and dressmaking course to a diploma with national recognition.

In 2000, Joyce retired after over 34 years of dedication working full time at adult and tertiary levels. During this time Joyce was recognised as the longest serving staff member of Tertiary Education in Darwin.

Joyce’s family, and in particular her father, were very proud of her achievements and outstanding determination to follow her dreams.

Figure 5: Joyce recognised by the Chief Minister on International Women's Day

On International Women’s Day in 2004, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory praised the service of women who have made a significant contribution in the development and advancement of Darwin’s community. On this day, Joyce received a personal tribute for her outstanding contribution to women’s education and the economic, social and cultural life of the Northern Territory. Today the Damoe-Ra Park, located in Darwin holds a mosaic pathway of recognised women, where Joyce’s name and photo is on display.

Figure 6: Joyce recognised at the Damoe-Ra Park, Darwin

My grandmother has had a long and fulfilling life, achieving her dreams and exceeding her family’s expectations. I am so very proud of her successes throughout her life, and only hope I will have the opportunity to make my mark on the world as she did. This story inspires me to be the best I can be, and do all that I can do, to prove as she did, that the ‘impossible’ really is possible.

Lecture 8

In lecture 8 we discussed the ethics of Journalism. Some issues that aroused include discrimination, stereotypes and feminist advertising. There are three types of ethical theories; deontology, consequentialism and virtue. Deontology involves following rules and principals and simply doing the “right” thing. Consequentialism theory is getting a “good” or “right” outcome, despite how you get there or who you affect by doing so.  Virtue involves “goodness” coming from good habits of character such as courage and justice, which are developed over time and tempered by experience.  Deontology is clearly the most ethical theory, and something I gather many Journalists struggle to stand by. I believe that in a way, it is almost impossible for successful Journalists to be deontologists, but instead pretend they are and be very tactful in finding out information. The idea of simply putting aside ethics and potentially emotionally harming someone just to obtain a good news story worries me. I am one who thinks a lot, almost too much about how others feel and what they think of me, and this lecture really got me considering if the road of Journalism is the right path for me to persist. I think I am going to complete this year of study before considering altering courses. 

Looking forward to the Weekend!

As of today I have finished Uni for the week – which is a relief! I have finally found a new job, just around the corner from college. I have a shift today, which I’m looking forward to! I am also catching up with one of my friends from Boarding School for dinner tonight. Tomorrow night is the first College Exchange, meaning that all the Colleges get together and party in a club! I am not entirely sure where we’re going but it is usually somewhere in the Valley. I can’t wait to meet other people and see friends I know from various colleges! This weekend is also a huge weekend for Cromwell. It is “Boat Cruise” on Saturday, where everyone from Cromwell gets dressed up really nicely and goes on the three-story boat on the Brisbane River! I can’t wait to see all the girls in their new dresses and heels, and the boys in their classy suits! It should be a really fun night. The day after a big Cromwell event it is tradition to have “recovery” the day after. Recovery usually begins at about 10am and doesn’t finish until dinner – some people even keep partying after dinner! Everyone basically dresses up in ridiculous clothes ranging from lime green tutu’s to stripy pajama pants and a clown suit. We all continue drinking at recovery with the theory that if we do so, we won't get a hangover from the night before! The few times we’ve had a recovery this year it has proven surprising effective and extremely fun! Last recovery the exec team planned a massive jumping castle and slide, and this Sunday we have one of the well-known singers from the Royal Exchange Hotel (RE) to come and perform on the day! I best continue studying throughout the week so I can have an enjoyable and stress free weekend!

Lecture 7

In lecture 7 we discussed commercial media verse public media. I could gather just from the title of the PowerPoint that I should have invested in some lollies beforehand to keep me awake. Public media was defined as media whose mission is to serve or engage a public. The lecturer went on to mention some well-known Australian, International and Community public media companies. After discussing that Public media should have public value, we went on to learn what exactly public value is. Such definitions described it as embedding a ‘public service ethos’ and weighing public value against market impact. As thrilling as this was, we went on to discuss two vey well-known media companies: ABC and SBS. After a very dreary and obvious 10 minutes learning that the ABC holds local and national radio as well as TV, and that SBS is a multicultural channel owning the same, the lecturer continued to blabber on about Public media functions and mechanisms. Something I luckily stayed awake for was learning the news style of Public media (I figured this is only SLIGHTLY important!). Such positive news styles include seriousness, broadsheet style, importance over interest and considered, not quick and unchecked. Adverse news styles include being boring, elitist, of limited interest, poor presentation and out of touch. Similar to commercial media, public media also need audiences and in order to do so it can be recommended that they produce quality, make themselves relevant, engage with the democratic process, inform the public and be independent. I found this last point to be very important to know and be aware of!

Lecture 6

Today’s lecture focused on what is commercial media. We learnt the major players of commercial media and what they produce, including news limited, Fairfax media, APN, nine entertainment and Southern Cross broadcasting. The social responsibility of the media in a democracy involves the truthful comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context, which gives them meaning.  It also involves a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism, the protection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society and the presentation and clarification of the foals and values. I think it was interesting to discover that there is an “ethical wall” between commercial and social functions to ensure morals are kept true. As the lecture continued, we discussed the news controls on commercial media. Such controls include having a Government agency, State press subsidies and licensed journalism. Whilst this began to get very tedious and my lack on concentration dropped, my interest was picked up again when we discussed the challenges and future of commercial media. I was surprised when the lecturer mentioned that advertising media revenue for broadcast media is down and continues to drop. This suggests a cycle commercial media may follow. A loss of revenue provides low investment, therefore less money for quality production, which will in turn lose the opportunity to have more original and sought after information. Some of the questions posed for the future of commercial media includes how does commercial media continue to make profits if advertising revenue is declining and what kind of audience can it expect to get? In all, I found this lecture to be quite interesting in the end, which how commercial media will continue successfully with the drop of revenue and investment.