I am still in Sydney.  However, my departure is imminent.

A few days ago I had a chance meeting with an old colleague from my days at Caltex Oil Australia. She gave me the details of other colleagues. I have taken the opportunity to meet up with a couple of them.

Last night met up with one of my ex Caltex colleagues in pub in Surry Hills, a suburb which close to the Sydney CBD.  The pub is on Devonshire Street.  This street has been earmarked as part of the route for the Eastern Suburbs Light Rail (tram).

Like many cities, Sydney had an extensive tram system in 20^th century.  It is claimed it was second only to London’s in tack length.  It covered the inner city and extended to the coast (Bondi Beach) in the eastern suburbs, through the lower north shore (Mosman, Balmoral and Cremorne) and up the Northern Beaches to Narrabeen.

Also like many cities, Los Angeles being another classis example, Sydney ripped up its tram network.  The network was closed in 1961.  The prevailing view was that the city’s transport needs would be better met by the car and buses.  How short sighted that proved to be.

A classic example of the failure of the car and bus based transport  solution is George Street.  This is the main street running from the west of the CBD to Circular Quay on the harbour.  It is the route that takes the buses from the west into the CBD, and the buses travelling from southern part of the CDB, over the bridge to the north shore.  It is also used by hundreds of taxis and cars.  At the best of times the traffic on the street is slow.  At the worst of times the traffic barely moves at walking pace.  The worst time is Friday after 5.00 pm, when the street suffers the classic’ grid lock’.  Buses and car approach the intersection at the Town Hall often have to wait through 3 or 4 traffic light cycles before crossing Park Street.  It is a farce.

The George Street problem has finally prompted to Government take some action.  The solution:  surprise, surprise – is a tram network.  The CDB and South East Light Rail will run down George Street and out through Surry Hills past the Sydney Football Stadium and Cricket Ground.   It will be fantastic.

In my travels I have seen many tams systems.  Few are better than Melbourne’s.  How clever was that city in deciding to retain and develop its network?  Other good examples are of course found in Europe.  Lisbon, and most German cities, being good examples.   Other examples I have seen recently were in provincial cities in France: Orleans and Angers in the Loire Valley being case in point.

Some residents of Devonshire  Street are objecting to tram route passing through their street.  It is good that their objections are being heard, but that is all.

There is a tram museum at Loftus in Sydney’s south.  It is worth a visit.

Lets’ hope that the’ new tram’ network is extended and some of the old routes, including the lower north shore are re-established.

New Tram Route

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/lightrail-program/cbd-and-south-east-light-rail

Tram Museum

http://sydneytramwaymuseum.com.au/

 

Photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am still stranded in Sydney.  This has not been a bad thing.

I was going to post about golf last Monday when Adam Scott won the US Masters.  As has been highlighted, he is first Australian to win that ‘Major ‘golf tournament.  The fact that no Australian has won that particular tournament before has been one of sporting’s great mysteries for some time.

Australian Comparative Advantage

Australians have always ‘punched over their weight’ for ever in international sport.  That expression related to the fact on a simple population basis more Australians have won more international sporting competitions, including golf tournaments,  than any other country than any other country .  This has also applied to many sports, including swimming, tennis and cycling.  The others are of course, cricket and rugby union.

The ratio of sporting wins to the population of a country is a nonsense measure.  The real measure that should be used is the number of people playing a particular sport compared to the international success. For Australia, an obvious example is swimming: virtually every child in Australia swims.  Even the population of the country is small relative to other countries (even compared to other countries such as the USA, UK etc), the number of regular swimmers is high relative to the rest of the world.

Another example of a disproportionate participation rate relative to population is the game of golf.  There are golf courses every in Australia.  If you want to play you can and it is relatively cheap.  This is particularly the case in the country towns.

Yass Golf Course

This brings me back to may ride from Canberra.  It took me through Yass.  Yass is a quintessential Australian country town.  It is has been prosperous for years.  Its wealth was, and  as still is, based on  the wool industry.  Like virtually all country towns it has a golf course.  I know the course well.  When I was young I played the course with my Dad.

When I turned 18 used travel to Yass with my mates.  Initially we took our parents cars.  In my case it was a Triumph that my Dad had bought from tennis mate who was a Diplomat  at the British High Commission.  Quite stupidly I did not observe the speed limits on the trips to and from Yass – 100 mph (160 kph) was not uncommon.  Fortunately I am still here to write this and the passengers are still around to read it (if they can be bothered).

The course at Yass looks almost exactly as I remember it from over 40 years ago.

Greg Norman

Getting back to the US Masters: the most famous Australian loss was in 1996 when Greg Norman blew a 6 stroke lead to lose.  Refer to the link below.

Norman is example of what Australia can produce as sports person.  He was brought up in Mt Isa, country Queensland, and had access to a golf course.

I have two memories of seeing Norman playing live.  The first was in (I think 1984) t Royal Canberra.  It was that Australia v Japan Cup (played by the top Australian and Japanese golfers).  Norman was just of his way up in the international scene.  The 18^th at Royal is 535 metres.  There is a big dip around the 320 metres mark.  To clear the dip required a drive of 350 metres plus.  Virtually none of the players could think about getting anywhere near the dip.  If they did, they laid up before the dip and played two more shots to the green.

In the round I saw Norman play, he hit his first shot over the dip – ta least 350 metres.  It was an awesome drive.  I have never r seen a ball fly so high and so far.  The sound when he hit the ball was amazing.  The gallery were simply stunned.  He was left with a simple 9 iron to the green and regulation two putt for a birdie. He was playing a different game to all the other players.

Tiger Woods

The other memory of seeing Norman play was at the Australian Open in February 1996.  It was played at the Australian Course in Sydney.  By this time Norman was an international super star and the World No 1.  I went to the tournament with my journalist mate mentioned in other posts.  Most of the gallery was watching Norman.

My mate suggested we follow an American he had heard about.  He was playing a few groups ahead of Norman.  This player was not what I expected – a short skinning black guy.  We watched him play a couple of holes, including a long par 5.  He hit a monster drive on that hole.

We waited for Norman’s group to play the same hole.  Norman’s drive came up about 10 metres short of the skinny American’s drive.  My mate said: “I think that Tiger Woods guy will go far”.

Good call TR.

Norman won that Australian Open.  He tragically lost the US Masters in April of that year.

How Good was Greg Norman?

http://www.ausgolf.com.au/greg-norman

1996 Masters

http://www.golf.com/special-features/normans-collapse-paves-way-faldo

I appear to be stranded in Sydney waiting for my bike to be repaired and the sorting out of  some personal stuff.  Yesterday I decided to go to the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch a Rugby League game.

The weekend’s round was named the ‘Heritage Round’, celebrating the history of the game.  Part of the celebrations the game between St George Illawarra (the Saints and formerly known as the simply St George) and West Tigers (formerly known as the Balmain Tigers)

The game was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (the SCG).  The ‘heritage’ bit of this was that Rugby league was played at the SCG up until 1987.  It is not usually played there now.  Up until 1987 it was usual practice for the match of the round to be played at the SCG on a Saturday afternoon.

Two things changed that; one was the construction of the Sydney Football Stadium which was designed for Rugby and Soccer, the other being the demand of TV which meant that big games were typically scheduled on Friday or Saturday night.

When I was growing up, the  only ‘comp’ was the Sydney Rugby League competition .   All the best players played for the Sydney teams.  St George is a very famous Rugby League team.  They won the premiership for 11 years straight from 1955 to 1966. For that reason, like heaps of other non -Sydney residents, I became a supporter of St George from the time I knew about Rugby League.

My Dad also supported the team, but am not sure why.  When we visited  Sydney we went to the football quite often.  If we did go it would typically be to the game of the round at the SCG.

In the period after 1966, St George fell on relatively hard times ,in that they didn’t win any Premierships.  They went close in in 1974. That final is remembered by all League fans for the ‘white boots’ worn by ‘Changa’ Langlands.   Langlands was a great from the Saints 65 to 66 era.  In 1974 he was at the end of a great career.  He came into the game injured and was given a pain killing injection.  He was wearing white boots.  In that time wearing anything other than standard black boots  was unusual.. The injection affected Changa badly.  He had a shocker, The Saints were flogged 34-0 by Easts.

A memorable game I can recall seeing with my Dad was the St George v Newtown game on 12 May 1973.  The final score was 1-0 to Newtown.  The winning point was a field goal kicked by a bloke called Ken Wilson.  It is very rare for League games to involve only one score.  It has only occurred once in the top competition where  the scoring point was a field goal.

Watching the game on Sunday, I also called other times I had been to the SCG.  Most of these relate to cricket.  I will probably post about that sometime.

Another memory is going to a Wallabies v All Blacks Test Match at the SCG with a very attractive girl from Seattle in 1982.  She thought “the game was rough”.   She also liked the fact the there was “old and new” – referring  to the fact that the original Member’s Stand stood next to the newly built stands.

The score in the game I went to see on Sunday was 13-12 to St George.  The winning point was a field goal scored by a by a bloke called Soward.

A one point win to St George in 2013 and a one point loss in 1973.  Forty years have passed so fast.

The most important comment I have to make on the game relates to the crowd: Just look at the photographs.  There are groups, and couples of opposing supporters together.  The banter between the two sides of supporters is always good humoured.  On the walk to Central Station all the supporters walk together and often stop off for a beer in pub.

One last thing, a funny comment (for some):  A Lecturer I had at university had this story:

There were two Churches, one Catholic and the other Anglican, opposite each other on a road in Kogarah, the main suburb where St George supporters live.  They both had Notice Boards.  Their practice was to put up comments and slogans to which the other would comment.

One day the Catholic Church posted this on its Notice Board:

“What would you do if Jesus came back to Earth?

On the other side of the road, the Anglican Church responded on its Notice Board:

“We would move Changa from Fullback back to Outside Centre”

I rode from Boorowa to Cowra on Saturday and checked into the Imperial Hotel.  Preparations were being made for a ‘big party’ later in the night.  Well that party did go off.  The best part for me (a non-guest) was the selection of music: Deep Purple, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cold Chisel etc. There was one song that was played at least seven times: the Choir Boys’ Run To Paradise.  A great song and their only real hit.

An interesting experience staying in the hotel was that it closed on Sundays.  In Cowra ‘closed’ means ‘closed’.  In the morning and for the rest of the day and night, there was no one in the place except me. I had the key to place and that was that.

I decided to spend the day taking in the sights of Cowra.  Essentially there are two: the WWII POW Camp and the Japanese Gardens.

Cowra is famous for being the place where Japanese Prisoners of War (POWs) staged an escape from camp on the outskirts of the town.  The Australian Ware Memorial site provides the following details:

“By August 1944 there were 2,223 Japanese prisoners of war in Australia, including 544 merchant seamen. Of these 1,104 were housed in Camp B of No. 12 Prisoner of War Compound near Cowra, in the central west of New South Wales. They were guarded by the 22^nd Garrison Battalion.

On Friday 4 August, in response to information that the Japanese were discussing a mass outbreak, notice was given that all Japanese prisoners below the rank of Lance Corporal would be transferred to the Hay Prisoner of War Camp. About 2 am on Saturday 5 August 1944 a prisoner ran shouting to the camp gates. Soon afterwards an unauthorised bugle was heard and prisoners, armed with knives and improvised clubs, rushed from their huts and began breaking through the wire fences. Sentries opened fire but several hundred prisoners escaped into open country, while others who remained set fire to the camp buildings.

On the night of the breakout three Australian soldiers were killed and another three were wounded. Privates B.G. Hardy and R. Jones, who were overwhelmed while manning a machine gun post, were posthumously awarded the George Cross. In the following nine days 334 prisoners were retaken. In all, 234 Japanese were killed and 108 wounded”.

At the Cowra Visitors Centre there is a display with a quiet clever hologram.  The hologram is a girl talking about the break out and her boyfriend who was captured by the Japanese in Singapore.

There are several sections to the presentation.  In the final section she talks about her boyfriend being beaten and starved by the Japanese on the Thai -Burma Railway – the Death Railway.  Over 16,000 British, Australian, and other allied soldiers were killed on the railway.  This represented over 30% of all prisoners.

My father, a British Soldier, was on the railway and was later sent to Japan.  He experienced more hardship than most that survived.

The Cowra Visitor Centres’ display also highlighted that fact that the Japanese, along with Italian and other prisoners in the camp, were all well treated.

The Japanese Gardens is beautiful and tranquil place.

I am in Cowra.  My route from Canberra took me via Yass and Boorowa.  Boorowa is small town north of Canberra.  Being there reminded me of the wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer back in July 1981.

In 1981, I was working in the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).   My Team’s major client was the Department of Defence.  We were located at the Defence offices in Campbell Park.  Given the size of Defence there was an ANAO Team working in the same building and we were collocated in the same area.  Albeit we worked in different area of the client the two ANAO interacted  and socialised a bit, over lunch and after work drinks etc.

One of the members of the other Team was a bloke from Adelaide.  He was a little different.  Longer term members  of my team had given him the nickname of ‘Frighteners’.  This was in the same vein as calling someone with red hair, ‘Bluey’.  Frighteners was a huge fan of the Royal Family. He was obsessed with the forthcoming wedding between Lady Di and Charles.

One of the members my Team was a bloke, Paul, who played Rugby League in the Group 8 competition.  Group 8 included teams  from Canberra and the surrounding country towns including Yass and Goulburn.  These country towns drew some of their players from smaller country towns such as Boorowa.

One feature of Australia country life is the annual Bachelor’s’ and Spinsters’ Balls (B&S Balls).  As the name implies these are for unmarried men and women.  In the 1970’s and 80’ these Balls were very popular.  Virtually every country town had an annual B&S Ball.  A really good one was the Cooma Ball.  I went to couple of those with the girl the unusual name that I mentioned in previous post.

The above mentioned bloke Paul was a great fan of the B&S Balls.  As a result of playing in the Group 8 competition, he had made a large number of contacts in the various country towns and was a regular at all the B&S’s in the district.

As   few readers may know that Lady Di’s mother Frances divorced her father when she was young.  She married a man by the name of Peter Shand Kydd who owned a property near Yass.

In the months leading up to the wedding rumours circulated Canberra that the young Diana Spencer was a regular visitor to the Yass district.

I can recall the impeding Royal Wedding was the subject of a fair amount of discussion among female members of the two ANAO teams at Defence.  The above mentioned Frighteners was also a keen participant in the discussions.

I can recall a particular conservation which discussed whether Lady Diana was virgin.  I can  recall ‘Frighteners’ made the comment along the lines that: “of course she was, she is pure and the Royal Family would have checked out her past”.

I remember Paul was half listening to the conversation without saying anything until the virginity issue was discussed.  He made the comment: I assume you are talking about the blonde Shelia that’s marrying Prince Charles.  Someone  said “yes”.  Paul then went on to say that that: “it was very unlikely she was a virgin.  She was at the Boorowa B&S a couple years ago.   She was ‘hit on’ by a bloke called Xxxxx (I can’t remember the name) who played for the Yass Magpies”.  Before the end of the Ball he took her into his Shagging Wagon”.  Shaggin Wagon was a Holden Panel Van with double mattress..

For most Australians, certain activities are assumed to take place in a Shagging Wagon, particularly during or after an event like a B&S Ball.

I note that the internet is not full of reference s to Diana Spencer being in Boorowa.  When I was in the Boorowa Pub I asked about the possibility of her  being at the B&S Ball.  The locals confirmed it was highly likely.  I am not sure about Paul’s version of events though.

B&S Balls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_and_Spinster_Ball

I have decided to ride back to Sydney.  This will enable me to sort some stuff following the property settlement and plan my next moves.

As I left my host’s place in South Canberra, he and his wife were so pleased they took a number of photographs of me heading down their drive way.

My route north took me around Lake Burley Griffin.  I came across a large number school age kids on the path.  I asked one group if there was some sort of event.  They told me that it was the Canberra High ‘Walk at Thong’.  Canberra High is my old secondary school.  I thought if the students are all out walking, this is may be an opportunity to check the old place out.

The  route to the school took me past a townhouse I owned in from 1980 until I left Canberra to move to Sydney.  It was interesting to see the place again after all those years.  I have good memories of being in that house.

The old school is a short distance from my old house.  I started at Canberra High when it was located in Acton.  Acton is next to the city centre known as Civic.  The school was founded in 1938 and serviced the inner city suburbs.  A decision was made that Canberra High would be relocated from the city to the newly developing suburbs in Belconnen.  My form was the last to start at the old school.  The move was made in 1969.  The old school buildings are now the School of Art.  The Conservatorium of Music, which is now part of the Australian National University, was built on our old school oval.

Given that we lived in the inner part of the city we had to be bussed to the’ far flung’ suburb of Macquarie.  I am sure that for most of us this was a unique experience, given that for all of our lives we had walked, or ridden bikes, to school.

Probably one of the biggest changes was being exposed children from big cities. The old Turner/O’Connor gang had been brought up in the Inner North of Canberra.  It was essentially a small town.  Most of the residents of Belconnen were imports from Melbourne.  These were street wise kids from the ‘big smoke’.  It took a number of years before the gang  from the ‘old Canberra High’ and the ‘rest ‘really merged.  This merger really started in forms 5 and 6 when we all started going to parties.  I got to know a great looking girl from Box Hill in Melbourne.  She is giving me advice on what may become my new career.

I can still recall the day that one of my mates was casting his eye over the new arrived student in 4th Form.  He had learned that one very attractive girl was called Beth.  He announced to the group around him that he “was going to marry that Beth Chick”.  He did and they are still married.

As I walked around the school I came across the bloke who looked after the maintenance of the building.  He asked what I was doing there and we had a bit of a chat.  I told him that as well as being a former student, my other connection to the  place was that my father’s company had installed the heating in the buildings.  The bloke told me that heating was not a problem for him.  However, he did say that the roof was a nightmare. It is in desperate  need of replacement, but the government will only do repairs.

My route out of Canberra took me through the suburb of Kaleen.  This suburb was developed in the late 1970’s.  A number of my friends married shortly after leaving school and bought houses in Kaleen and nearby suburbs.  Today it is difficult to imagine 21 to 23 year old couples, on single incomes and with the children, buying houses.

One disappointing aspect of Kaleen and other suburbs in Canberra today, is the state of the houses and gardens.  It would appear that there are fewer people that have the time or the inclination to look after their 3 to 4 bedroom houses on large blocks of land.  Many would obviously prefer to live in higher density housing with less maintenance.  The gardens in many of the houses in all Canberra suburbs have been left to rack and ruin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My host in Canberra is an old school mate.  He and I are part of small group, some of whom, go back to pre-school.  Others in the group became friends in Infants and Primary School.

My host’s wife has kept all of their family photographs.  They are filed and recorded, archive style.  She also managed to retrieve and file photographs of his pre –marriage days   These include photographs from Primary School.

Looking over the old photographs has led me to reflect on our early school years and our school friends.  Our school serviced the inner Canberra suburbs of Turner, O’Connor and Acton.  Like most of Canberra, the demographics of these suburbs was mixed.  The occupations of the children in the school included; public servants of all levels, professionals, tradesmen and clergymen  etc.

The children in our classes came from families with parents from a typically wide range of occupations.  These include: the Medical Head of Canberra Hospital, a leading Economics Professor, Plumbers (me and at least one other), a Quantity Surveyor, leading Scientists, a House Painter, a successful Artistic Painter, and low, middle and high level Public Servants.   Also, included in the classes were children from single parent families where their fathers had tragically died at young age.  The income levels of the families were also varied.  This variation was not as wide as it probably is today.  However, the variation was significant.

What I think was really important was that, irrespective of our family backgrounds and the incomes of our families, all of the children were in the classes based on their abilities.  Everyone was given an equal chance to succeed.  The mixture of the backgrounds of the children provided each child the opportunity to experience social contact across very different families.  This is one of the great advantages of the Public School system.

I have had the opportunity to see the experiences of my daughter and stepsons at one the most expensive Private Schools in Sydney.  The cost would put them among the most expensive schools on the planet.  As would be expected the students at that school are typically drawn from families that are well off.  While the range of incomes is broad, all the families would have above average incomes.  Some of the families have extremely high incomes, putting them among the richest families in Australia.

Attendance in Public Schools has been on the decline across Australia.  I understand that this trend has also occurred in Canberra.  Critics of this trend point to the development of a ‘two tiered’ system.  The Private Schools are being very well resourced and the Public Schools are being slowly starved of funds.  A dichotomy is also developing in backgrounds of children that are attending the schools.  Children of the Private Schools come from the higher income earning families and the children from the Public Schools from the lower income families.   The two groups rarely mix.

It also appears that the advantages conferred on the children from the Private Schools extend to their career outcomes later in life.  Conversely, the disadvantages conferred on the children of the Public Schools extend into their lives, irrespective of their abilities. I believe that our nation is poorer as a result this development.

One bloke that does not appear in the photographs below is trying to address this problem.  He was in the year below us, but played in the same cricket and rugby teams as us. He has received a bit of publicity recently following the announcement that he will be gifting $A50 million to the Australian National University.  This money will be used to provide scholarships the talented students.  Let’s hope that 7 to 10 years’ time, children from Turner Primary win some of those scholarships.

Flickr Photos

Turner Primary 1964 – 67

https://flic.kr/s/aHskMbvJpJ