CROMMELIN, MINARD FANNIE (1881-1972), postmistress and conservationist, was born
on 29 June 1881 at Aston station, near Bombala, New South Wales, eldest daughter
of George Whiting Crommelin, station manager, and his wife Frances Emily, née
Dawson. At 12 Minard left Pipe Clay Creek Public School to help the postmistress
at Burrawong who, to compensate for her tyranny, later sent her for a year to the
Sydney Church of England Grammar School for Girls. After assisting in the post
office at Moss Vale in 1906, Minard became acting postmistress at Woy Woy, where
she remained five years. She then took public service examinations and over the
next twenty years was relieving postmistress at over 150 towns. She was described
in 1916 as 'tall and thin, with very thin features and very black hair'.
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Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
Minard Crommelin, generally known as "Crommy", was educated at Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School at Darlinghurst. She began work at fourteen as an unpaid assistant to the postmistress at Mittagong and eventually became an official member of the Postal Service. She worked as a postmistress for over 25 years and was one of the early operators of the "Morse Telegraph Key". She was the first postmistress at Woy Woy (1906-1910) and it was during this period that she grew to love the bush of the New South Wales central coast area. After her retirement in the mid 1930s she visited England and Europe, contacting many conservation and natural history societies (she was a member of 154 of them). On her return to Australia she bought seven acres of land at Pearl Beach, which she donated to the University of Sydney in 1946 to establish the Crommelin Biological Field Station, known as Warrah. She continued to be interested and active in nature conservation and from 1960 onwards donated a total of $17,768 to the Australian Academy of Science, some of which still exists as the Crommelin Conservation Fund. A road in Campbelltown has been named in her honour. She was appointed MBE - Member of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) - 1 January 1959 for flora and fauna.
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Australian Women's Register
Minard Fannie Crommelin, generally known as "Crommy", was educated at SCEGGS at Darlinghurst. She began work at fourteen as an unpaid assistant to the postmistress at Mittagong and eventually became an official member of the Postal Service. She worked as a postmistress for over 25 years and was one of the early operators of the "Morse Telegraph Key". She was the first postmistress at Woy Woy (1906-1910) and it was during this period that she grew to love the bush of the New South Wales central coast area. After her retirement in the mid 1930s she visited England and Europe, contacting many conservation and natural history societies (she was a member of 154 of them). On her return to Australia she bought seven acres of land at Pearl Beach, which she donated to the University of Sydney in 1946 to establish the Crommelin Biological Field Station, known as Warrah. She continued to be interested and active in nature conservation and from 1960 onwards donated a total of $17,768 to the Australian Academy of Science, some of which still exists as the Crommelin Conservation Fund. A road in Campbelltown has been named in her honour. She was appointed MBE - Member of The Order of the British Empire (Civil) - 1 January 1959 for flora and fauna.
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Encyclopedia of Australian Science