A Life
Peter Barry Imberger was born at Randwick on Easter Sunday 8th April 1928, and was one of two children (he has a younger brother Justin) to Clarence and Melinda Imberger.
He was raised at Tenterfield, but attended all of his schooling (from infants to secondary) at the Tamworth school site, spending a lot of his early life with his grandmother.
His favourite subject was geography, which probably explains his later passion for travel to all corners of the globe. He was not particularly interested in sports at school, but had represented the school in swimming and football.
Peter loved going to the cinema on Saturday evenings and, from an early age, he aspired to be a boy’s secondary school teacher. He has often stated that the film ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’, released in 1939, provided that inspiration.
Peter failed English in his final year at school, and rather than accepting a job offer in a bank, his father (a secretary for a sawmill) encouraged him to repeat his final school year during 1946.
He was not accepted into The University of Armidale to study for his Bachelor of Arts, and the only other entrée into teaching was by gaining acceptance into Sydney Teachers College to train as a physical education teacher. He gained one of only five places on offer to school leavers, with the majority of positions being reserved for returning World War II servicemen. It was his swimming abilities that helped gain entry into physical education.
During his three years at teachers college (from 1947 to 1949) he set three new swimming records (the 200 yards freestyle was his speciality) and was eligible to try out for the 1948 London Olympic games. As he was attending teachers college on a scholarship, he was therefore deemed as a ‘professional sportsman’ at the time and disallowed from participating.
Peter’s first teaching assignment was at Coffs Harbour in 1950, and he spent most of the '50s teaching in the region. He was very involved with the National Fitness Council during this period, and held the position of secretary. It was also during this period where he first became involved in live theatre and he joined the local theatre group (it was here he participated in his first musical). Peter formed a very close and lifelong relationship with all members of the Walters family (his adopted family) whilst living in this part of the world.
In 1959 Peter was assigned to Hunters Hill High School, as the first PE teacher for the school and, due to his obvious abilities and excellent results achieved, he was offered to go to London as an exchange teacher the next year.
‘The happiest time of my life’ is the way Peter described working and living in London in 1960. He worked at a comprehensive ‘all boys’ school of 2500 students and 129 staff. He taught PE, set up a new gymnasium, and introduced basketball to the school and won the south east London competition that very first year the school entered. His love for the theatre developed even further during his stay in London – and in fact he attended 57 productions! Upon his return to Australia in 1961 he was very disappointed to be assigned to a different high school as Sports Master (this was at Belmont High – south of Newcastle). As a consequence of this, and as there was a shortage of mathematics teachers at this time, he volunteered to change career paths and become a mathematics teacher.
His first assignment in this new role was to Bathurst in 1962. He married his very good friend Margaret during this period, but the relationship did not last and they separated.
The opportunity to set-up a new school starting in 1963 in the Newcastle district (at Whitebridge) was offered to Peter (which he enthusiastically accepted). He formed the nucleus of the mathematics staff and also initially acted as the school sports master as well. The school built up to all six forms over the following years. Peter added to his initial qualifications of ‘Diploma in Physical Education’, gaining his ‘Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics’ at the end of 1966, which then allowed him to teach mathematics to the senior students progressing through the school.
Whilst teaching in the Newcastle area and at Bathurst Peter continued to be involved with the local theatre groups.
Peter received a promotion to mathematics master and was posted to Manly Boys High School in 1969, where he taught for a total of seven years. Peter’s home base was at his unit at Dee Why for many years, until he relocated to the Tweed area in 1995 to be closer to his family.
At Manly Boys High, Peter’s musical and theatrical talent flourished. At speech night during his first year there, the school performed ‘Food Glorious Food’ from the stage show ‘Oliver’. Peter was so impressed with this that he quickly formed what was to be a magical partnership with the Music Master of the time (Murray Holmes) and together they went on to produce a major musical at the school each year - to truly professional standards.
These included such major productions as ‘Paint Your Wagon’, ‘West Side Story’, ‘Oliver’, ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Bye Bye Birdie’, and in fact the school won the Arts Council of Australia, NSW High School Drama Festival, Best Musical Production for ‘South Pacific’ in 1973. The reviews and accolades from the press and from all levels within the community and officialdom were outstanding.
One would have thought that teaching, as well as the extra curricular theatrical productions, would be sufficient to occupy Peter’s time, but simultaneously he was involved with the Mackellar Theatrical Society of Manly Warringah Sydney producing and playing in such shows as ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and ‘My Fair Lady’ – two of his all time favourites (closely followed by ‘Westside Story’). He was also president of the society and made a life member.
In 1976 Peter was transferred to country Grafton for several years, and during this time he commuted to and from Coffs Harbour. Once again his passion for introducing his new school to the excitement of the theatre could not be restrained and the major productions continued, and introduced something special, that was previously missing, in the community. By the time Peter was to leave Grafton he had over 70 stage productions to his credit!
Then it was off to the Riverina area in 1979, with a new promotion as Deputy Head Master at Yanco Agricultural High School, for a couple of years, but that did not halt his theatrical leanings and the shows continued to the delight of the community. It was during his tenure here that the heart troubles started, resulting in several open heart surgery operations being necessary.
This was followed by a return to his favourite Coffs Harbour area as founding Deputy Head Master at Woolgoolga High School. Unfortunately the heart problems continued and he was forcibly retired from the education department in the early eighties.
Clearly this was a major setback for Peter, but by pacing himself to live with his health issues, he was able to lead a fairly good life over the next twenty years, with a continuing involvement in the theatre (but at a much lower level of participation), and allowed greater opportunities to travel the world (which he did on a regular basis). In Peter’s study there is a map of the world marked up with all the destinations he has visited – I don’t think that he has missed many! His last trip was to Antarctica in the year 2000.
Peter’s home at Tweed Heads South is absolutely full of memorabilia from his trips, from the schools he taught at, and from the theatrical societies he has been involved with. In fact he has his ‘scrap books’ from all the shows he has ever participated in, and for each of the trips he has been on. He also tried his hand at painting at one stage and there are many of his efforts on display. Other keen interests included his involvement in his bridge and probus clubs. There is also an extensive catalogue of some 2000 movies, reflecting his life long love of the cinema as well.
On proud display is the Olympic torch that he carried through Lismore in the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Things changed dramatically in early 2002 when Peter suffered a major, disabling stroke at home, causing paralysis of his right side. After stints in various hospitals Peter found his new home at Kirribilli Aged Care Nursing home, later to be called Domain Kirra Beach, where he reluctantly resided almost 5 years to the day - and being fully dependent on others for all of his needs.
Peter found it difficult and very frustrating to accept his new lot in life and often wished for it all to be over. Nonetheless he was always very praiseworthy of all the staff at the nursing home, and in particular he held Bill Butler in high regard.
Peter’s computer workstation became his contact with the outside world by the use of emails. His Christmas letter to all of his friends became a legendary, with the last one being fairly brief, basic and to the point. Peter had a band of regular local supporters, as well as friends who made the effort to phone, write a letter, send an email, or more preferably from Peter’s perspective to call in and visit him as time permitted, or to take him out for a few hours, or to a show, or to his home, to break the boredom. He treasured something to look forward to doing. We should also mention that Peter had a very good (if not wicked) sense of humour!
It’s a testament to the man’s character, charisma, and passion that he has ‘true’ friends from his teaching days, his involvement with the theatre, his world wide travels, and his ‘family’, and all over a very large time frame of almost 60 years! Not many can claim that!
Clearly this man had that special ‘something’ – to achieve much, to inspire many, to be passionate, to entertain, to teach, to strive for perfection. We are all saddened by his passing, are thankful his final suffering is now over, but are all privileged to have known such a wonderful person.
A response just received from one of Peter’s ‘musical’ friends in the United Kingdom was “I will miss him, but am consoled with the thought of his directing wonderful musicals in heaven”! Hear, hear!
Farewell Peter.