SDN Archives Officer Ben Woods went on a mission to the UNSW Archives to discover why the centres were named’ ‘House of Pooh Corner’, ‘Tigger’s Place’ and ‘Owl’s House’.

I managed to discover some new details about the formation of the UNSW centres.

House of Pooh Corner was the first centre to open at UNSW in 1969. It was begun and run by the student union, at the time referred to as the Student Guild. This much was well known but why did they name it after Winnie the Pooh? There was nothing in the records to shed any further light on the matter, but I did find reasons for the other names. It was simply to keep the theme of Winnie the Pooh going.

We can only speculate over why Winnie the Pooh stories were chosen over others, but the Disney short film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree was released in 1966 and the Oscar-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day feature from 1968 might have had something to do with the renewed popularity of Winnie and the gang (the first Winnie the Pooh story was published in 1924).

Beyond all that I did discover some other items of interest. For example, the first item in the Pooh Corner UNSW Archive file is a letter from a student parent to the UNSW Acting Bursar dated 18 February 1966. Asking for a “creche or a baby-sitting service”, her letter begins:

I am a final-year student and as I have a baby, I foresee certain difficulties attending the lectures and practical classes this year. I have known several such “mother-students” who had to give up studying for their degrees because they had nowhere to leave their babies during lectures.

The Bursar replied that he was sorry that he couldn’t assist but noted that some universities do provide a “limited baby-sitting service” and suggested she contact the Vice-Chancellor.

According to an article in Tharunka, the UNSW Student Newspaper on 29 July 1969, the genesis of House of Pooh Corner was student Monique Bond asking the Student Guild about child-minding which she believed should be part of the university’s welfare service. They suggested she speak to the university administration. This meeting led to the formation of the Nursery/Kindergarten Committee and the rest, as they say, is history.

Another discovery was a copy of The Story of House of Pooh Corner, the brochure put out by the Student Guild promoting the centre in 1970, just a year after opening. It features lovely hand drawings of Pooh & co by student Mea Surry modelled on the originals. But because they are considered the work of the student, we can’t reproduce them. However, we can show you the following drawings from Tharunka promoting the centres in the early days.