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
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