Physical Culture
The Sun Herald
Sunday December 20, 1992
ONE of the most frequently asked questions about the Bjelke-Petersen School of Physical Education is: How did a pumpkin scone fancier like Joh ever get mixed up with an exercise regime? And the answer is, he didn't.
One of the little-known facts about this thriving organisation is that it was two other esteemed members of Joh Bjelke-Petersen's family who started the business 100 years ago in Tasmania - hence the name.
Anyone over the age of about 35 will "affectionately" remember Physical Education (or Physical Culture or just plain "physie") for its military-style marching and the jaunty little uniforms worn over regulation black knickers. But you can forget all that now, physie has changed with the times.
While marching is still seen in physie competitions, the average class these days includes jazz ballet, cardio-funk and Madonna-style routines. And the uniform has given way to leotards. The only thing that hasn't changed is that this exercise organisation is for women only, and that's the way it intends to stay.
Managing director, Judy Spence, said though many people thought physie was more popular in the past, its heyday was actually now.
"It was well-known before because there was nothing else. There was no other form of exercise. You went to ballet or physie, that's all there was. Now girls have the option," she said.
And they are still choosing physie which now has over 20,000 members in eastern Australia (the organisation is not national), comprising 250 clubs. And the fact that classes are held mostly in school or church halls has kept the price down well below most gyms.
But the name remains a slight worry.
"The name Physical Education hardly does much justice to our up-to-date image now. It sounds old-fashioned. But we'll never change it because we're proud of the tradition. We tend to shorten it to BjP Physie," Ms Spence said.
Classes are divided according to age with children's classes (starting age is three), junior classes for young girls, senior classes (15 to 27) and the"ladies" classes for 28-year-olds and upwards.
Mrs Spence said there was a huge number of women in their forties and over who did the classes and even an 80-year-old who teaches physie.
"The syllabus for everyone contains a warm-up, low-impact exercises for the ladies, a set of standing exercises and floor exercises - like basic ballet movements."
There are different degrees of difficulty for the age groups. The senior classes do a cardio-funk warm-up and higher impact work.
Routines are also geared towards annual physie competitions with a grand champion selected from the ranks of the senior girls. This year's winner was 20-year-old model Natalie McCamley who started at age eight.
While physie may seem to some like a soft exercise option, it's not. Some of the up-tempo routines look as strenuous as a rugby game with, naturally, a lot more grace and poise.
Poise and posture was something that set the physie girls apart, Mrs Spence said.
"Over the years we've had four Miss Australias. I'm loathed to say all these things because it sounds like blowing your own trumpet but it seems to us that physie gives girls confidence.
"There's a saying: 'Once a physie girl, always a physie girl'," she said.
One of the organisation's great selling points is that it differs from gyms with its friendly, club atmosphere.
When I went along to watch an informal physie exhibition, a few synchronised manoeuvres - done by a ladies' group - that should have come off like a Hollywood musical, had participants colliding in fits of giggles in the centre of the room. But no sweat. This was exercise without angst.
And several of the group (all in their late forties and admirably toned)later tried to explain their life-long allegiance to the organisation.
Toni Falla said: "There are about eight in a class and a camaraderie builds up. If you missed a class you'd be letting other people down. And you're perfecting yourself as well as the team.
"If there are seven women, they're all at their correct weight and you're the one carrying extra weight, you'll try to get it off."
Physical Education classes start in February. It costs $18 to register and then $2 a week for classes. For more information call (02) 235 2139 or for Queensland readers, (074) 985 294.
* The Edith Parsons School of Physical Culture is reported to be the second largest physie establishment in NSW and has some 2,000 members; about 60 clubs. The school was started by ex-BjP student, Ms Parsons, in 1961. Classes include deportment exercises, rhythmic movement and some marching and are open to any age group with a $20 registration fee and $2 per lesson. For more information contact Shirley Bullock on (02) 790 6723.
LIFE-TIME ADDICTION
JOAN Stewart, now in her late sixties, started exercise classes at the age of 16.
"I went to classes at my local church. The girls wore black bloomers, white blouses and sandshoes. I thought they looked ghastly. My teacher was a member of a physie class at Petersham and persuaded me to join. At least there they wore short frocks and ballet shoes.
"They did floor exercises, folk dances and marching. It was all for deportment and posture. And I've been doing it ever since."
Mrs Stewart was possibly one of physie's first celebrities when she had her photo taken at Farm Cove as part of a physie exhibition to raise money for the war effort in the 1940s.
Mrs Stewart later progressed to teaching physie, which she still does at the Earlwood Club.
"I'm pretty fit. I don't suffer from too much. My husband says they will have to wheel me out of physie in a wheelchair.
"I've been teaching about 50 years and I'm now teaching the grandchildren of some of the original girls I had."
Mrs Stewart is now one of a team who works out routines for the annual syllabus, though not cardio-funk she's quick to point out.
"We have a young girl doing the cardio-funk for us."
© 1992 The Sun Herald