Jac Elborough has returned to Tongala Primary School as a teacher, 42 years after she first attended the school as a prep student.
Forty two years after starting her primary school education at Tongala Primary School a former netball star has returned to her home town as a teacher.
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Jac Elborough, who has spent the last 16 years in Western Australia, arrived back in Tongala for the start of the 2025 school year after accepting a 12-month position at the school she attended from 1983-89.
She was greeted by a number of familiar faces when she took up her role as the grade 3-4 classroom teacher.
In the classroom right next door is Liana Haw, another grade 3-4 teacher who attended the school as a student at the same time as Jac in the mid-1980s.
“I went to school with Liana, Maree (Holyman, another teacher) and Jayde (Waasdorp), who is the groundsperson at the school. Several of the girls I coached in the under-17 competition have children here now.
Jac’s uncle, Kyabram Mayor John Elborough with father Bruce, who was elected as Deakin Shire president.
Photo by
Kyabram Free Press
Jac, and her younger sister Rebecca, were star netballers who ended up with a number of individual and team accolades.
The returning school teacher captained Tongala to a Goulburn Valley A-grade netball title, in 2002, and was coach of the 2009 A-grade team that won the first Murray League grand final.
“I remember after finishing the celebrations in 2009 I packed up and headed for Perth,” she said.
Jac now has two teenage children of her own, son Lachie has returned to the area with her and is planning to pursue an apprenticeship, while daughter Sophie has remained in WA.
It wasn’t only on the netball court that the Elborough name was well known.
Her parents, Kim and Chris, ran several Tongala-based businesses - including the takeaway and supermarket - for more than a decade in the 1990s.
Her nan and pop were also owners of the much loved Falcon Hotel and prior to that operated the Merrigum Hotel.
“When they sold the take away they packed up and started travelling. Once they got to Perth they decided to stay,” she said.
Jac’s grandparents, Bruce and Nance, were also held in high regard in the community, with Bruce Mayor of the Shire of Deakin for a period of time and Nance the owner/operator of a sports store in the town.
Her uncle, John, was also a former Mayor of Kyabram and the Shire of Campaspe.
Jac’s penchant for being a high achiever has continued into her professional career, with her role as an extension teacher at the renowned Harrisdale Primary School in WA.
She is part of the Gifted and Talented Academic Program at Harrisdale, which has won several WA Education Awards and been recognised by the Australian Council for Educational Leaders.
“There are 300 grade five and six children at the school (almost double the size of Tongala primary’s entire student body) and 26 are offered scholarships in the gifted and talented students program,” she said.
Jac had been at the school less than a week when she spoke to the Free Press, but said she expected to see a number of familiar faces around town and at the school in coming months.
“I’m really pleased to be part of this caring, connected community,” she said.
“Tongala Primary School staff are wonderful and TPS is a great school with many community activities.
“I’ve really enjoyed my start and look forward to catching up with the locals and getting to know the students.
“My grandmother, Nance, turns 94 in a couple of weeks. That is part of the reason we have moved back, as well as the fact the kid’s nan (Joan Hanson) is also in Tongala, just around the corner from the school, in fact, so we are enjoying lots of visits and quality time together.”
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