Joan Montgomery

Montgomery was born in Melbourne in 1925, the eldest of four daughters of Beryl and William Montgomery. She attended Presbyterian Ladies' College in East Melbourne, where she played tennis and baseball. In April 1942, when Montgomery was 16, her mother died and her father's cousin Anne Montgomery came to live with the family; 20 months later, in January 1944, Montgomery's father died and Anne Montgomery assumed responsibility for the four girls.[2]

Montgomery studied at the University of Melbourne and graduated in 1948 with a bachelor of arts degree and a diploma of education.[2]

Montgomery's first teaching position was at Frensham School at Mittagong in New South Wales, from 1949 to 1951. She then taught in London for two years (1952-54), at Tintern Church of England Girls Grammar School for two years (1955-57) and then in London again in 1958 and 1959. In 1960 Montgomery took up her first position as headmistress, at the private Melbourne girls' school Clyde School, a position she held until 1968 when she moved to the position of principal of Presbyterian Ladies' College.[1][2] Montgomery retired from the college at the age of 60, in 1985, following a change in school governance due to the re-organisation of Presbyterian schools under the newly formed Uniting Church in Australia.[2]

Montgomery served the wider educational community as president of the Association of Independent Girls' School of Victoria and president of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools of Australia (AHIGSA). During her tenure with AHIGSA she advocated for a merge with the Headmasters' Conference of Independent Schools of Australia (HMCISA), a move which occurred in August 1985 with the formation of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA). She was also a member of the council of The University of Melbourne, Ormond College and Medley Hall. She was a board member of the Alfred Hospital, Geelong College, Melbourne Grammar School, Woodleigh School and St Margaret's School.[2] Montgomery was elected a Fellow of the Australian College of Education in 1977.[1]