Obituaries Australia

It is often the measure of someone's worth to see who turns up to their send-off, and Nancy (Nan) Hind was blessed by the presence of one of St Catherine's most famous products, La Stupenda.

Dame Joan Sutherland attended St Catherine's School, Waverley, in Sydney's eastern suburbs before Hind got there.

But such was the esteem of Hind that Dame Joan went anyway, when Hind finished 33 years of splendid service at the school in 1989.

Nan Hind had been boarding mistress, a disciplinarian with a heart of gold who helped generations of young women make their start in life, helping with coaching in mathematics to fixing the plumbing.

Never marrying, she made the school her life. The then headmistress, Jo Karaolis, said on her retirement: ''She always had the same dry humour and practical common sense, and total absence of any thought that any job was beneath her. Miss Hind has been prepared to do the Lord's work in whatever form it took, be it a leaky drainpipe or a simultaneous equation or a homesick boarder.''

Nancy Youle Hind was born at Hurstville in Sydney's south on July 20, 1928, the fourth of six children of twice-decorated World War I veteran, Reginald, and Blanche (nee Semmens). Her father became an evangelist, giving her a strong Christian influence in her upbringing. In her early life she quickly demonstrated her intellectual ability and practical aptitude.

Her sister Margaret said: ''She didn't have a doll. Instead there was a hessian bag with nuts and bolts and screws.''

Hind went to Kogarah Girls High and topped the state in mathematics. She went to Sydney University and to Sydney Teacher's College, then taught at Hurstville Home Science School, Kurri Kurri High and Wollongong High. She joined the staff of St Catherine's, the oldest independent girls school in Australia, in 1956.

Appointed resident mistress, then mathematics and scripture teacher, Hind stayed for more than 30 years, rising to the position of deputy headmistress.

She was much more than a teacher, equally at home with stoking the boiler or unblocking drains. Thorough and hardworking, she was a person who could be relied upon to turn her hand to whatever needed to be done.

New students, initially overawed, quickly warmed to her, especially in the boarding house, where she was mentor for the girls, most of them far from home and lonely. Students struggling with academic subjects or personal problems found her a sympathetic and discreet source of help and encouragement. Many were imbued by her philosophy: ''Put your hand to the wheel and do whatever needs to be done.''

The Nan Hind Prize, endowed by the Class of 1989, recognised her unique place in the school.

It rewards someone who, despite struggling at school, achieves success in senior years; a ''giver'' who contributes to the wellbeing of the school, upholds its values and acts as a positive influence.

On retirement she remained a close friend of the school, attending reunions and celebrations and apparently never forgot the name of one of her former charges. On September 8 this year, the school opened its Nan Hind Centre to promote an interactive and experiential approach to learning. She inspected the building in July but was too ill to attend the opening. Nan Hind is survived by her sister Margaret and her brothers John and David and their families.