 
The 1970's - A Turbulent Decade

By Jon Peasey

Published by Peasey Publications

at Smashwords

Copyright 2019 Jon Peasey

ISBN 978-0-9941508-9-9

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Table of Contents

Preamble  
Chapter One: 1970 - Better health, strength and a new car  
Chapter Two: 1971 - Meeting my future wife  
Chapter Three: A Far North QLD Holiday  
Chapter Four: 1972 - Oh What a Year  
Chapter Five: 1973 - A Defining Year in Australia  
Chapter Six: The 1974 Floods  
Chapter Seven: 1974 - A year of economic and inflationary pressures  
Chapter Eight: 1974 - Marriage and fulfilment  
Chapter Nine: 1974 (continued)  
Chapter Ten: 1975 - Political Turmoil  
Chapter Eleven: 1976 - The Aftermath of the Whitlam years  
Chapter Twelve: 1977- A new job  
Chapter Thirteen: 1978 - Sorrow and Joy  
Chapter Fourteen: 1979 - The need for a larger home  
Epilogue  
About the Author

Cover photos:  
Ford Escort [Source: Ford Motor Co brochure]  
Skylab [Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]  
Cyclone Tracy [Source: National Museum of Australia]  
Whitlam dismissal [Source: Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC)]

Preamble

_"As the_ [1960's] _decade came to its final conclusion, Australia was poised for more expansion and a different political climate. What would the 1970's have in store for us all? Vietnam War issues had created a polarising effect and people in general wanted Australian troops out of Vietnam. On the home front my life was moving in a different direction and major changes were in store for me during the next decade."_

These were the concluding words from my eBook titled ' The 1960's - Changing Times'. The 1970's decade brought a huge shift in the socio-economic and political affairs of the entire nation. These changes would have an effect on every individual Australian. Changes were under way that would affect our living standards, our units of measure and even our sense of purpose as a nation.

On the world scene the 1970's decade saw several coups in various nations around the globe. Many of these coups were military coups which in the main ended up with dictators in charge of these countries. This usually resulted in many deaths and an economic down turn in the individual countries. In some cases genocide was practised by these dictators; just more examples of man's inhumanity to mankind.

Chapter One: 1970 - Better health, strength and a new car

On the national front, as Australia moved into the year 1970 the war in Vietnam was still cause for much contention and debate. Most Australians wanted our soldiers out of Vietnam and back home on Australian soil. However, this was not the Commonwealth Government's view on the matter. The Commander-In-Chief of the American military forces in Vietnam was pushing for more Aussie troops to be sent to Vietnam. Our Liberal/National Parties' Coalition Government seemed amenable to any requests from the USA. Australians in general had had a gut full of the Vietnam War and were prepared to show their displeasure to the Commonwealth Government. This anti-war feeling even went as far as ostracising Aussie troops on their return from Vietnam.

On New Year's Day 1970, Robert [Bob] James Lee Hawke (a future Australian Prime Minister) was elected President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). This man would soon make a name for himself.

On Monday, 12-Jan-1970 Prime Minister John Gorton announced that New South Wales, Canberra and Queensland would each receive one of the six cannons jettisoned by Captain Cook from the Endeavour on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. The canons would be distributed for the Captain Cook celebrations for the bi-centenary of his landing in Botany Bay NSW in 1770.

On Saturday, 17-Jan-1970 severe tropical Cyclone Ada hit the Whitsunday Islands region of North Queensland killing 14 people. The category 4 cyclone destroyed Whitsunday Island resorts and also many boats. An estimated 80% of mainland buildings in Shute Harbour, Airlie Beach and Cannonvale were severely damaged. This small but intense system accompanied by 24 hours of heavy rain caused the Proserpine River to peak at a record level of 11.16 metres; its highest recorded flood level. Due to the lack of public information prior to the cyclone crossing land, a new system of publicly broadcasting a "whooping" siren sound was introduced to warn people whenever a cyclone was imminent.

On Monday, 19-Jan-1970 notice was given by the Federal Parliament that Australia would change over to the Metric system of measure and weights. Since the time of Captain Phillip and the First Fleet, Australia had only known the British imperial units of currency, measures and weights. Decimal currency was introduced into Australia back in 1966. In monetary matters, Australians were used to dealing in multiples of 10 instead of multiples of 12. This would help to make the change in weights and measures much easier. The Federal Parliament later passed the Australian Metric Conversion Act on Friday, 12-Jun-1970. This Act enabled the Metric Conversion Board to be brought into being to facilitate the conversion of imperial measurements to metric.

A severe thunderstorm on Wednesday, 21-Jan-1970 in Brisbane Queensland (QLD) caused widespread damage to 1,000 homes. The storm also caused widespread power outages and chaos in the peak hour city traffic.

On the international front in Paris, France, the Australian Boxer, Johnny Famechon retained his WBC world title by defeating Fighting Harada of Japan for the second time.

On the home front as Australia moved into the new year of 1970 I was settled nicely into my job as a Telephone Clerk **/** Salesman with Dunlop Footwear at Bankstown in Sydney. Health wise I was gradually recovering from the bout of Meningo-Encephalitis I had contracted last year. Physically my body was regaining strength however my short term memory was not back to normal. January was a quiet month at work as traditionally retail trading was very slow after the Christmas holidays break. Many shopkeepers went on annual holidays at this time so orders were slow coming in. Our footwear factory was closed for the annual holidays and our team of sales representatives was also on annual leave. The bonus for me working over January was the very much reduced traffic on the roads.

When the schools resumed for the new year of 1970; in early February I re-enrolled at Fairfield Evening College to study for the NSW Higher School Certificate. This year I would study five core subjects of Maths, English, Geography, History and Economics. A different subject was studied each night from Monday to Friday. This new course was much harder than the School Certificate last year; which thankfully I had passed in all five subjects. Last year I had attended Evening College for four nights a week from Monday to Thursday. So I now had an extra night of study and would need two years to complete the course instead of one year.

On the national front in February 1970 trading in mining shares soared to new heights when on Tuesday, 10-Feb-1970 nickel shares in Poseidon NL reached $280.00 per share. Nickel prices rose sharply in late 1969 due to a shortage of the mineral out of Canada. Poseidon NL shares were only trading at $0.80 per share in September 1969; so the colossal rise in share prices set up a frenzied time of trading on Australian Stock Exchanges. Would the bubble burst?

On Monday, 23-Feb-1970 the 'Indian Pacific' passenger train began its inaugural journey from Sydney NSW to Perth WA a distance of 4,352 km. The much lauded new service broke through the old mishmash of different rail gauges in different States. This new line was also a boon for rail freight between the east coast and the west coast of Australia. The journey is considered to be the 7th longest train journey in the world.

On the home front I was now settled into a routine of working at Dunlop Footwear, Monday to Friday and going to Evening College at night. Saturday became a study day at home completing assignments. Sundays I spent with my grandparents at Naremburn on Sydney's north side. I went with them to the Berry Road Christian Assembly at St Leonards and participated in the usual Sunday assembly activities.

After my break up with my former girlfriend Maria last year I was not interested in looking for a new girlfriend. I was still getting over the break up so I chose instead to concentrate on my studies which were taking up a major portion of my time anyway.

At work as I regained my normal health and strength I began to do a lot more tasks involving walking to and fro between the Administration block, the Factory and the Warehouse. The packing and distribution departments were located in the Warehouse complex. A lot of liaising was required between (a) the production planning section, (b) what was already in stock in the warehouse and (c) what shoes and boots were scheduled for production. As we sometimes ran out of different sizes it was essential that we knew when those sizes would be back in the warehouse. The Warehouse handled all the orders for the whole of Australia, the NSW Branch where I worked did not have priority over other States; however, that did not stop my bosses from trying to get priority. The other State Branches required a different lead time as the goods had to be delivered over long distances. Fortunately, the Factory Manager and the National Sales Manager kept a close watch on distribution priorities, so it was fair for all concerned.

On the national front on Monday, 23-Mar-1970 the mining boom bubble burst as Poseidon NL shares took a severe tumble down to $145.00 per share. From then on it was a downward spiral. Many investors lost huge amounts of money, particularly those who had bought shares at $280.00 per share. Panic set in at the Stock Exchanges as investors began to unload their shares and tried to cut their losses.

Easter was early this year as Good Friday fell on March 27. Queen Elizabeth II was due in Australia on Easter Monday, 30-Mar-1970 for the Bi-Centenary of Captain Cook's landing in Botany Bay in 1770. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and their daughter Princess Anne were here for an official visit lasting 36 days. Yet again the reigning monarch of Australia was here for an official visit. This was her 3rd visit to our nation; (1954, 1963, 1970).

In late April a very controversial figure appeared on the national scene. On Monday, 27-Apr-1970 a chap from Western Australia (WA) named Leonard Casley formally seceded from the Commonwealth of Australia over a long dispute over wheat quotas. This action immediately created a huge furore. Leonard Casley created what came to be known as the Hutt River Province. The Province later became a Principality, in lieu of Province; in order to protect Leonard Casley's supporters from legal prosecution.

Hutt River Principality in Western Australia  
[Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]

As it was now a Principality, Leonard Casley took to himself the title of Prince Leonard. Neither the State of Western Australia, nor the Commonwealth of Australia nor any other nation recognised this new Principality. From TV interviews at the time with the so called Prince Leonard it became obvious to all and sundry that the man was a bit odd. He turned out to be very clever and was able to use the relevant Australian laws to keep his Principality in existence. Today the Hutt River Principality remains in existence in WA. The people who lived in the Principality did not pay taxes to the Australian Tax Office because they were deemed to be non-residents of Australia.

On Sunday, 3-May-1970 Queen Elizabeth on her final day in Australia opened a new International Terminal at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport. This airport is also known as Mascot Airport. The new terminal was a much needed improvement as the volume of international flights in and out of Sydney had increased dramatically with the advent of jet airliners. The old terminal had become woefully inadequate.

On Friday, 8-May-1970 anti Vietnam War demonstrations were held across the nation. This was an extremely unpopular war that Australia was involved in. Constant scenes from the battlefields in Vietnam were shown on the nightly TV news. People were growing sick of this war which seemed to be dragging on and on. A lot of pressure was being applied to the Commonwealth Government to bring our troops home.

With winter approaching the weather turned cold and we needed to rug up. I was continuing to go to Evening College, but it was now apparent that my short term memory recall was slow in improving. While I was at lectures I understood and was able to follow the tutors, however I had difficulty retaining that knowledge when I got home. As this difficulty was spread over the five subjects I had to make a decision. I could not see me being able to sit for exams and pass them.

Wednesday nights were when the Berry Road Assembly had its mid week Prayer **/** Bible Study meetings. While I was still in the throes of making up my mind about my studies an incident occurred that hastened that decision. I got ready one Wednesday evening to go to the College however I had a very strong impression from the Lord that I should go to the Prayer meeting. As I drove towards the College the impression became stronger. As I neared the intersection of Polding Street and the Horsley Drive it became obey or not! Where Polding Street meets the Horsley Drive the road kinks slightly to the left. I was in the right hand lane to make the turn down Horsley Drive to the College.

So I said to the Lord _, "Lord if you want me to go to the Prayer meeting I will take my hands off the wheel and you will direct the car through the intersection and down Polding Street."_ The lights were on green as I came to the intersection. I took my hands off the steering wheel and the car went round the kink and straight ahead! The point where I took my hands off the steering wheel was where the road began to kink. If the car had gone straight ahead it would have smashed into the house on the opposite corner! I took back control of the car and proceeded down Polding Street. I then made my way across the city to the Prayer **/** Bible Study at Berry Road, St Leonards. Imagine the surprised looks I got when I walked into the meeting that night.

Now I want to sound out a note of warning! Do not ever attempt anything like this unless you have absolute faith in the Lord and have absolute assurance that the Lord is directing you. The consequences could be disastrous!

So my decision was made for me as I now attended the Prayer **/** Bible Study each Wednesday. With reluctance I explained to my tutors that my short term memory problem was why I was giving up my studies.

On the work front at the end of June, Dunlop Footwear had its annual stocktake; which was held over the weekend of Saturday, 27-Jun-1970 and Sunday, 28-Jun-1970. I had done stocktakes before in small companies but this would be a real eye opener for me. Dunlop Footwear had its own small mainframe computer. The Computer Department was staffed by two programmers and two punch card operators. For the stocktake the complete inventory of raw materials and work-in-progress in the factory plus all the finished footwear in the warehouse was downloaded on to two sets of punch cards.

Buff coloured cards were used for the actual stocktake. Green coloured cards were used for checking if discrepancies were found. The amended green cards were then considered the correct figures. On Saturday I was put into the factory to count the raw materials along with other staff from the factory. I needed a bit of guidance along the way as measuring such things as long lengths of rubber for rubber thongs and sheets of leather were foreign to me. The next day Sunday I was directed to the warehouse and put on the checking team. Some of the discrepancies were easy to sort out, but other discrepancies took a bit of detective work to come up with the solution. The extra pay for the stocktake overtime certainly came in handy.

On the international front Australia triumphed in tennis at Wimbledon in the United Kingdom (UK). John Newcombe won the Men's Singles title. Margaret Court won the Women's Singles title. John Newcombe and Tony Roche won the Men's Double title. To cap it all off Margaret Court became the second woman to win the Women's Grand Slam of Tennis.

On the national front on Wednesday, 1-Jul-1970 Prime Minister John Gorton opened a new airport in Melbourne. The city's existing airport at Essendon had become landlocked and was unable to extend its runways to cater for the newer jet airliners. The increase in air traffic necessitated a much larger airport. The new airport was built at Tullamarine located 23 km from the Melbourne CBD. It had plenty of room for expansion and was situated on land that was previously used for raising sheep.

September (spring time) in Australia is the month that the Football codes have their grand finals. In Rugby League on Saturday, 17-Sep-1970 South Sydney defeated Manly Warringah in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) Grand Final. The South Sydney captain, John Sattler broke his jaw and played much of the game with his broken jaw.

On Saturday, 26-Sep-1970 the Victorian Football League (VFL) Grand Final was held in Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Carlton defeated Collingwood after an epic struggle. Carlton were 44 points down at half time and came back to be the eventual winners at full time. A record crowd of 121,696 were at the MCG.

On the international scene in September the USA defeated Australia by four races to one in the America's Cup. The American yacht Intrepid defeated the Australian yacht Gretel II. It would be a lot more years before Australia would eventually win the America's Cup.

On the home front I had time on my hands due to my cessation of Evening College studies. I was able catch up with some of my friends from my ballroom dancing days. On Saturdays, during the day, we would often go for drives and picnics.

The North Ryde Christian Assembly had young people's club nights during the week. I volunteered to help out in the young boys' club held on Thursday nights at the North Ryde Gospel Hall. There were four young men us leaders and about 50 young boys. The boys were allocated into specific teams. Team games and challenges were the norm. A short gospel message was followed by some refreshments and then it was time to go home.

The North Ryde Assembly bus was used to pick up a lot of the boys and then used to take them home again. I used to drive to North Ryde as soon as I finished work for the day. I did not have time to go home from Bankstown to Smithfield and then to North Ryde. I usually bought some take away food and ate it before club started.

My friend John Cook and I had bought our Ford Cortina sedans at the same time from the same car dealer. Now that I was settled in a good job I thought it was about time I traded in my Cortina for a brand new car. John was thinking along the same lines. I looked at Holden Torana models and at Ford products. As I like a sportier, good handling car I was leaning towards the new Ford Capri cars. The Holden Torana was a comfortable car to drive but the suspension was tuned more for comfort than for handling.

An added bonus for me was that I could order a Ford Capri coupe with the new radial ply tyres fitted as standard. So my mind was made up. I would order a new Ford GT Capri 1600 coupe from Peter Warren Ford at Fairfield in Sydney. John also ordered a Ford Capri 1600 coupe. The difference was that my car would have a more powerful engine and it would have black GT stripes running along the sides of the car. The bonnet would also have locking pins like the Rally cars. Several days later our cars were put through the pre-delivery process and we then had the joy of owning brand new cars.

My Capri was an aquamarine colour, with two broad black stripes on the long bonnet, with two locking pins on it as well. Also a narrower black stripe ran along each side of the car just below the window sills. This stripe swept up at the end near the roof line. Superoo decals were on each front mud guard giving the car a sporty air. Mag wheels with Dunlop radial ply tyres completed the picture. John's car was a beige colour and did not have stripes. His beige coloured Capri was fitted with Avon radial ply tyres. The look and the smell of our new cars were exhilarating to each of us! Both cars had 4 on the floor manual gearboxes. Most cars sold in 1970 were manual gear box cars. Both cars had radios and heaters fitted as standard.

My new car was a pleasure to drive. Because my car was a GT model it had higher gearing than the standard car. My car needed more revs to move it off from a standstill. However that was easy to adjust to. The higher gearing meant I could stay in a lower gear longer if needed. The difference the radial ply tyres made was incredible! So much better than the old cross ply tyres. The steering was more accurate, the handling was crisper and the braking more assured. All in all, a good all round package!

With my annual holidays due in October I made plans to visit Christian friends in Melbourne VIC. It would be a good long test run for my new car. I planned to drive down from Sydney along the Princes Highway into Melbourne. I stopped off in Narooma NSW to see other friends and stayed with them for a few days. Leaving Narooma on Thursday morning 15-Oct-1970, I continued down the Princes Highway into Victoria (VIC) and drove into Melbourne.

As I approached the city area the traffic became incredibly slow. I needed to go through the city and out to the western suburb of Footscray. It took me quite a while to get to Footscray; where I contacted a couple of older Christians who worked in a local hardware store. They gave me directions to my friends the Hepworths who lived in the suburb of Box Hill. I then made my way across the city to the eastern suburbs to Box Hill. I spent the weekend with the Hepworths and drove home on the Monday morning. I came home via the Hume Highway; which is a quicker route to Sydney.

At the Hepworth's house I learned why the traffic had been so horrendous on my way into the city area. A span of a new road bridge under construction had collapsed killing 35 workers. The authorities had cut off all access to that area, except for emergency vehicles and police. The result was a huge back up of traffic on the south eastern side of Melbourne. It was a particularly nasty accident as the span let go and fell down from high in the air. The workers on the span did not have time to get to safety. Many of them rode the collapsed span to the ground. Twelve of the men who rode the span down lived to tell the tale. A Royal Commission was set up to investigate this terrible incident on the new West Gate Bridge. Consequently, Work Place Health & Safety laws were tightened and legislation put in place to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The trip to Melbourne and back was a good way to see if my new car had any mechanical problems. It went very well and was an absolute pleasure to drive. I was very pleased with my decision to trade in the old Cortina and buy a new car.

On Wednesday, 25-Nov-1970 the State Government of Victoria brought in legislation to make seat belts compulsory in new cars. This far sighted initiative was a world first in Western countries around the world. The other Australian States quickly followed suit and by the end of 1971 it was compulsory throughout Australia. Other nations saw the benefit of saving lives through this means and passed their own legislation to make seat belts compulsory in new cars.

On Monday, 30-Nov-1970 Pope Paul VI became the first Roman Catholic Pope to visit Australia. He arrived at the new International Terminal at Sydney Airport; creating much excitement among Australia's Roman Catholics.

Chapter Two: 1971- Meeting my future wife

On the national front the New South Wales Transport Minister was concerned at the number of motorists charged or arrested over the New Year Holiday weekend. 8,148 people were charged in NSW. The transport Minister announced that intensified police weekend patrols might become part of the campaign to cut the road toll.

Evonne Goolagong, an Australian indigenous, female tennis player was named Australian of the Year.

On Monday, 4-Jan-1971 Federal Opposition Leader, Gough Whitlam, on a visit to Papua New Guinea stated in Port Moresby that the Australian Labor Party's timetable for independence for Papua New Guinea was acceptable to the PNG leaders.

On the local front on Sunday, 13-Jan-1971 severe hailstorms lashed Sydney resulting in widespread damages to houses and properties. The hailstorms caused traffic chaos. $150,000 worth of damage was caused to fruit and vegetable crops out at Cobbity (a possible site for a second international airport for Sydney).

On Wednesday, 10-Mar-1971, in a surprise move Prime Minister John Gorton voted himself out of office! The Liberal Party then elected William McMahon to replace him as Prime Minister. In Australian politics voters do not directly elect the Prime Minister. The political party in power elects their party leader who then becomes the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is thus the head of his own parliamentary political party and also the leader of the nation.

On Thursday, 18-Mar-1971 an announcement was made in the nation's capital Canberra that Dame Annabelle Rankin would become the first female High Commissioner to New Zealand. Then on Tuesday, 23-Mar-1971 a great, historic moment for indigenous Australians took place. Neville Bonner became the first indigenous Australian elected to the Senate in the Federal Parliament of Australia.

Easter this year was in the month of April. Our combined Australian Easter Youth Camp was held at a Christian Camp site at Elenora Heights in Sydney's northern suburbs. I was booked to go to this camp. So on Good Friday, 9-Apr-1971 I drove to the campsite at Elenora Heights.

The boys were lodged in dormitories in one area and the girls were lodged in dormitories in another area. The Camp Parents were in separate lodgings. There was a main assembly hall for meetings and activities and also a large dining room with an attached kitchen. The assembly hall had a stage down one end. Outside were grassy areas for sports etc. Bush walks were located at the rear of the grounds. Shower and toilet blocks were situated near the dormitories.

The camp format was: devotions and bible studies in the mornings, with leisure time in the afternoons. On Easter Sunday morning we remembered the Lord Jesus Christ in His death and partook of the bread and wine - symbols of His body and His blood. The camp broke up after lunch on Easter Monday.

I was quite surprised to find myself voted in as the Boys' Captain for the camp. Sally Jarman was voted in as the Girls' Captain. Part of the Boys' Captain's duties was to make sure that all the campers were awake in time in the mornings. A brass hand bell was used to accomplish this task. Not a very popular action and not well received! Nevertheless I did it with gusto!

Our cars were parked in front of our dormitories which were located at the rear of the camp. My friend Warren Whittaker had on older model, small, Datsun sedan. For a lark some of the boys took the handbrake off and rolled his car down one of the bush walking tracks. It was then covered up with branches and made to look like it had disappeared. Poor Warren he looked for his car all weekend and could not find it!

Boys being boys and girls being girls; some matchmaking usually occurred at Easter camps. I found myself attracted to a very pretty, slim, petite girl named Rachel Patane from the Brisbane QLD Assembly. She had hazel eyes and long dark hair. However, the matchmaker set was trying to pair her up with a friend of mine George Hawke. So I did not pursue the matter, but stayed on the fringes. I remember saying to myself, "That Rachel Patane sure is pretty."

Easter camps were times of good clean fun, companionship and spiritual enrichment. A concert was held on the Saturday evening. There were lots of skits, people playing musical instruments and solo items. I sang a song I had written called The Man of Calvary. I have included the lyrics.

The Man of Calvary

I felt a sense of peace  
I felt a sweet release  
Alone in that hour  
I felt the Spirit's power  
I knew my sins were gone  
Washed away in Jesus' blood

Chorus (x2)  
Come to the Cross  
Look up and see  
The man called Jesus  
The man of Calvary

It's there at the Cross  
You will see sin's awful loss  
You will see the reason why  
It was for man that Jesus died  
The wrath of God above  
Fell on the One He loved

(Chorus)

Oh will you come and stare  
And realise your load He bare?  
The burden of your sins  
God has put on him.  
Oh do you understand  
For you He died as a man?

(Chorus)

What will your reaction be  
To Jesus' loving plea?  
Will it be a careful, 'Yes'  
To the Saviour's great request?  
Make Him so glad today  
By giving up your wicked ways

(Chorus)

(Repeat 1st verse)  
I felt a sense of peace  
I felt a sweet release  
Alone in that hour  
I felt the Spirit's power  
I knew my sins were gone  
Washed away in Jesus' blood

(Chorus)

On Easter Monday morning Warren was escorted to his covered up car and willing hands helped him get rid of the branches covering it. He took it all in good fun, but not when his car first went missing.

My zealous bell ringing backfired on Easter Monday. During the night someone squeezed toothpaste on my face. By morning it had dried hard and my face was very uncomfortable, until I washed it off. This was not the end of the matter. As we were preparing to leave camp after lunch, I was grabbed by about six fellows and taken out horizontally through the doors. I resisted their attempts to take me outside. I stuck my elbows out and locked them tight. After a hard struggle I was carried outside to a garden hose. The hose nozzle was jammed down the back of my neck and the water turned on. Man it was cold! Easter time in Sydney is usually quite cold. I had to get warm dry clothes out of my car and change out of my wet clothes. Everyone, except me, thought it was very amusing. Overall, it was a great Easter camp!

On Wednesday, 26-May-1971 the nation was rocked by an AUD$500,000 ransom demand made to QANTAS, Australia's international airline. Just after noon a man calling himself 'Mr Brown' rang the Commonwealth Police in Sydney stating that a time-bomb was aboard QANTAS flight 755, a Boeing 707 jet bound for Hong Kong. He claimed that when the jet descended below 6,500 metres it would explode. For a small consideration of $500,000 in unused, unmarked bank notes, he would reveal where the bomb was hidden.

To vindicate his intentions Mr Brown directed police and QANTAS officials to a locker in Sydney's international terminal. They found in the locker a vinyl bag containing a home-made bomb. The home-made bomb was fitted with an altitude activator set at 1,500 metres. Experts verified that the bomb was live. It was defused and the explosives were replaced by a testing light bulb.

A Boeing 707 jet was then sent up to 2,600 metres with the device. A QANTAS official on board confirmed that when the jet descended to 1,500 metres the bulb lit up. A similar device attached to a bomb would explode in the aircraft blowing it up! QANTAS immediately ordered flight 755 back to Sydney telling the passengers it was due to a 'technical fault'.

Mr Brown contacted police at 3:00 pm with instructions regarding delivery of the $500,000 ransom. He phoned back an hour later and was told that QANTAS would agree to his demand. Mr Brown rang back about 5:30 pm to finalise delivery arrangements. Shortly after a Kombi van pulled up in front of QANTAS House in Sydney's CBD. QANTAS General Manager, Captain Ritchie pushed a heavy suitcase containing the money through a window; Mr Brown then drove off and disappeared in the Sydney traffic.

Meanwhile, flight 755 had been circling for hours out near Botany Bay, burning up fuel and waiting for instructions. At 6:20 pm Mr Brown rang, "You can relax, there is no bomb aboard the plane. You can land her safely." The jet landed safely and the manhunt for Mr Brown intensified.

On Thursday, 27-May-1971 well known Australian film star Chips Rafferty died at the age of 62. He had appeared in many Australian films and some overseas films as well.

The weather turned cold as we moved into the Australian winter period. In early July 1971 Federal Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam led a delegation on an historic visit to the Peoples Republic of China. He had lengthy discussions with Premier Zhou Enlai and made it quite clear that an Australian Labor Government would normalise relations between China and Australia; particularly by recognising the Peoples Republic of China at the United Nations.

Australian tennis player Evonne Goolagong defeated fellow Australia Margaret Court to win the Women's Singles Final at Wimbledon in the United Kingdom. This was her second Grand Slam title.

The South African Rugby Union Team known as the Springboks came to Australia for a series of tests against the Australian Rugby Union Team known as the Wallabies. South Africa was well known for its harsh, apartheid laws against its dark skinned, indigenous population. The all white Springboks team's visit stirred up many anti-apartheid demonstrations around Australia. About 700 demonstrators were arrested by law enforcement agencies during the six weeks tour. The State of Queensland went over the top by declaring a month long State of Emergency during the Springboks' tour in Queensland. This gave the Queensland Police additional powers to arrest demonstrators. The main aim for the demonstrators causing problems was to block the intended Cricket test matches by the South African Cricket team at the end of the year. This proved to be successful; the South African Cricket tour was subsequently cancelled due to security concerns over the safety of South African cricket players. Once again, they would have been an all white team of players.

On the home front in September 1971 I received my car insurance renewal notice. What a shock! It was about one third of the purchase price of my car. It was over $900.00 for one year's comprehensive car insurance! My car had cost $3,100.00 last year. This was ludicrous!

Apparently the designation 'GT' had become bad news to insurance companies, mainly due to the big V8 muscle cars sporting the 'GT' badges and logos. The 'GT' branding was now associated with excessive speed and 'hoon' type driving. My little four cylinder Capri had been unceremoniously dumped in with the big V8's. It was pay up and shut up!

There was no way I was going to pay over $900.00 to insure a car! I simply could not afford this rip off. So I down traded my Ford GT Capri for a four cylinder, two doors Ford Escort. The Ford Escort had a smaller engine capacity of 1.3 litres and was more economical to run, and had better fuel consumption. This car had purple metallic paint, with white upholstery and was fitted with rally type mag. wheels and was shod with Dunlop Aquajet radial ply tyres. It really stood out from the crowd! I was told that it was the first purple Ford Escort off the production line in Australia. As the Ford Escort was considered a basic standard car by insurance companies, the insurance premium was much lower, in the $100.00 range.

[Purple Ford Escort]  
[Source: Ford Motor Co. brochure]

My friends and family wondered why I had traded in the Capri. When I explained about the insurance premium renewal they thought I did the right thing. The Ford Escort was a brilliant little car, not as powerful as the Capri but very nippy around town. It had superb brakes and steering, with very sure road holding and handling. The Dunlop Aquajet tyres were great in wet weather conditions. The radial plies were fabric belted and gave a nice, comfortable ride; unlike some of the steel belted radials in later years. Looking back in hindsight, those original Aquajet radials were probably the best radial ply tyres I have ever had on any of my cars.

On the international front on Tuesday, 2-Nov-1971, US President Richard Nixon gave Australian Prime Minister William McMahon a strong endorsement of the ANZUS Treaty (between the USA, Australia and New Zealand). He stated that the USA would honour its commitment under that treaty.

At a White House Reception given in honour of the Australian Prime Minister's visit, his wife Sonia McMahon created quite a stir on the international stage. She wore a daring full length dress, with a long slit down each side revealing her legs. President Nixon took full advantage of this extraordinary publicity and made sure that Sonia McMahon stayed close to his side during the reception. Sonia McMahon became an overnight international media sensation. She is best remembered for that daring dress!

On the national front, Australia's combat role in Vietnam ended at Nui Dat on Tuesday, 30-Nov-1971; much to the relief of millions of Australians. It had been an ugly war drawn out over many years and a very unpopular war.

On the international front on Monday, 14-Dec-1971 former Governor-General of Australia, Viscount Sir William Slim a much lauded Commander of the 14th Army during World War 2 passed away in England. Viscount Sir William Slim had enjoyed a good rapport with the Australian people. He was a former veteran of the British Army in the Gallipoli campaign in World War 1 and Australians identified well with this man.

On Christmas Eve, Friday, 24-Dec-1971 severe tropical cyclone Althea struck the city of Townsville and the surrounding islands in Far North QLD. Three people died and many more were injured. Houses in Townsville were uprooted and widespread damage was everywhere. On Magnetic Island just off the coast of Townsville it was estimated that 90% of the houses were damaged. Wind speeds over 200 kph were recorded. Prime Minister McMahon toured the area a few days later and pledged huge financial support. On the surface this sounded fine; however the reality was that it was tied into whatever financial support the Queensland Government could provide. The Commonwealth Government would match Queensland dollar for dollar. So in reality not much financial aid was given to the cyclone victims.

Chapter Three: A Far North QLD Holiday

During the month of October my annual holidays were due again. I decided I would do a road trip up into Queensland (QLD). My Ford Escort sedan's motor was running in well so a long road trip should be OK. Warren Whittaker a friend from the Berry Road Christian Assembly was also on annual leave. I invited him to come with me. As he only intended staying around Sydney on his holidays he was happy to come along and share the driving.

We could probably visit the Brisbane QLD Christian Assembly and also the South Johnstone QLD Assembly. Thinking that South Johnstone was somewhere near Brisbane, imagine my surprise when I studied a road map and found that it was near Cairns in Far North QLD; about 2,634 km (1,660 miles) from Sydney. This trip was taking on an adventurous tone! Our journey would take us up the New England Highway to Brisbane QLD, and then up the Bruce Highway to Innisfail in Far North QLD. I already had NSW road maps but I needed to buy QLD road maps.

The New England Highway was the main road thoroughfare from Sydney to Brisbane in the early 1970's. The Pacific Highway was the secondary highway to Brisbane at that time. The situation today is reversed; the Pacific Highway is the main highway with billions of dollars spent on upgrades over the years. The upgrades are continuing at the time of writing. The highways back then were mainly two lanes, one on either side for two way traffic. There were no town highway bypasses; you drove through all the towns and villages along the route.

The NSW part of the trip would take us along the Pacific Highway until we joined the New England Highway near Newcastle. The New England Highway would take us up through NSW into QLD. With two drivers we could drive long distances each day. We set off along the Pacific Highway and drove through Gosford to Wyong. Near Wyong we turned inland along a shortcut to Cessnock and then on to Branxton. At Branxton we joined up with the New England Highway and drove north through the towns of Singleton - Muswellbrook - Scone - Tamworth - Armidale \- Glen Innes and Tenterfield. Leaving Tenterfield we continued on and crossed the QLD border at Wallangarra QLD. From there we continued on in QLD to Stanthorpe and then to Warwick. Just past Warwick we joined up with the Cunningham Highway for the run down to Ipswich and then to Brisbane where we stayed overnight.

Sydney NSW to Brisbane QLD via New England Highway  
[Source: Google Maps]

The New England Highway runs up and straddles the Great Dividing Range. The Great Dividing Range runs south from Far North QLD all the way down the east coast of Australia into Victoria (VIC). It involves a lot of hilly terrain and lots of bends; however there are areas of fairly flat terrain as well. Trucks and slow moving traffic often meant a slower trip. Fortunately, today many of the worst areas have been sorted out and it is a much better drive than it was in the 1970's. The power outputs of modern trucks also helps on the hilly sections as the trucks maintain higher road speeds.

Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia gives us the following information:

_'The_ _Great Dividing Range_ _, or the_ _Eastern Highlands_ _, is Australia's largest mountain range. It is the third longest land-based range in the world. The range is_ _3,500 kilometres_ _(_ _2,175 miles_ _) in length and runs along the whole east coast of Australia. In the north it starts from Dauan Island off the north eastern tip of Queensland. In Victoria the range turns west and ends at the Grampians in western Victoria. The width of the range varies from about 160 km (100 miles) to over 300 km (190 miles)._ _The difference in height between the narrow coastal area and the eastern mountains has affected Australia's climate. This caused by the mountains causing lots of rain as clouds move over them. There are many gorges where the rise is steepest.'_

Leaving Brisbane we drove north along the Bruce Highway. We planned to keep driving north to Mackay in QLD where Warren had an uncle and aunty. We planned to spend a night at their house. Our trip took us from Brisbane to Nambour - Gympie - Maryborough - Childers - Gladstone - Rockhampton - Marlborough - Sarina then to Mackay.

At Rockhampton we were excited as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and realised we were now actually in the tropics. The further north we drove the more gob smacked the locals were at seeing a bright purple car. I can definitely recall seeing people in conservative Mackay stopping in their tracks and staring at us as we drove through the city. Our bright yellow NSW registration plates were also a giveaway that we were not locals.

The highway narrowed as we continued north. The stretch between Marlborough to Sarina was known locally as the 'Chrystal Highway'. The present route from Marlborough to Mackay runs closer to the coast. The older highway section turned westward and went inland. There was only a narrow strip of bitumen running down the centre of this section of the highway; however it had broad dirt or gravel edges.

We soon found out why it was called the Chrystal Highway. Shattered windscreen glass littered the verges of the highway on both sides for mile after mile. Windscreens were not made of safety glass back then. They were designed to shatter into small fragments to protect the occupants from serious glass cuts. One of the major problems with this happening is that suddenly you could not see through the windscreen. It went opaque due to the shattering effect on the glass.

Now if a vehicle approached from the other direction, if it was a car the driver drove the passenger's side wheels off the edge of the bitumen and slowed down. If the other driver was courteous they did likewise and you passed each other safely. If a large truck came towards you he claimed the bitumen and you went off into the gravel at the side of the road. Unfortunately, even with being courteous to each other, gravel and stones were often thrown up by vehicles' tyres and thus shattered windscreens were often the results. The Chrystal Highway certainly lived up to its name! Thankfully my windscreen remained intact.

As we got closer to Sarina the countryside changed to verdant crops of sugar cane. The annual harvest was in full swing. From Sarina to Mackay and then north of Mackay to Proserpine we saw sugar cane mills in full operation. Care had to be taken when driving as cane trains could appear suddenly crossing the highway on their way to and from the mills. The beautiful, sweet smell of crushed sugar cane wafted into our nostrils when we were near a mill.

Warren's uncle and aunt lived at Blacks Beach on the northern side of Mackay. They were ideally situated to catch the cooling sea breezes. People around them thought they were very rich because they had insect screens installed when the house was newly built. Insect screens were not popular up north at that time as the locals thought they impeded the air flow. This was true, however the pay off was that they did not have to worry about the myriads of insects at night time. With ceiling fans installed and the prevailing sea breezes it did not seem to make much difference; and their house was much cleaner because they did not have to clean up dead insects each day. We enjoyed our overnight stay with Warren's relatives.

Next morning we continued north along the Bruce Highway passing through Proserpine \- Bowen - Ayr - Home Hill - Townsville - Ingham - Cardwell - Tully and Mourilyan to Innisfail. At Bowen we drove in off the highway into the town CBD area. We were pleasantly surprised at the lovely views looking out over the harbour. At Townsville we drove up to the top of Castle Hill to the lookout. A restaurant perched on the side of Castle Hill, on the road up near the lookout, was still in a wrecked condition from a previous cyclone. No attempt to repair it had been made. The view looking down over Townsville and across the Coral Sea to Magnetic Island was breathtaking. The drive up to the lookout was certainly well worth it. The countryside around Townsville was more suited to cattle than sugar cane crops.

As we approached the Ingham area miles and miles of sugar cane crops greeted our eyes. To our city bred eyes Far North QLD was like being in a completely different country. As we left Ingham the Cardwell Range could be seen up ahead of us. The drive up the range was steep and winding with a lookout up top with stunning views across to Hinchinbrook Island. Fortunately, the drive up and down the range is fairly quick in comparison to some of Australia's other mountain ranges. On the other side of the range on the way to Cardwell the countryside changed to pine forests and later to bush country.

Cardwell was a breath of fresh air. You emerge suddenly from bush land to drive alongside Rockingham Bay. The northern tip of Hinchinbrook Island could be clearly seen across the Bay. A jetty stuck its nose out into the aquamarine and emerald hued waters. Cardwell was certainly an unexpected and delightful surprise! After a brief stop to take in the views we continued north to the sugar cane town of Tully. The highway sits at the edge of the town, so there was no need to drive through Tully. We continued on and drove up through the rainforest to the small village of El Arish and from there to Mourilyan. At El Arish we came back into sugar cane country and from there to Innisfail we drove through good sugar cane land. Mourilyan had its own sugar cane mill.

I have always remembered that first drive from Mourilyan to Innisfail. The cane was fully mature and had flowers on top of the cane signifying it was ready to be harvested. The narrow two lane highway had cane growing right up to the headlands on either side of the highway. The various hues of green, from the cane crops and the rain forests on the mountains, were vivid against the clear blue of the sky. The day was hot and humid, with the broiling hot sun adding intensity to the sheer 'tropicalness' of the unfolding panorama.

We drove into Innisfail via East Innisfail, crossed over the narrow two lane bridge across the South Johnstone River just near the confluence with the Johnstone River. We turned right into Rankin Street and parked near the post office. I had the phone number of a contact person named Silvio Grasso from the South Johnstone Christian Assembly. The post office had coin operated public telephones outside. It was fairly late in the afternoon when I rang Silvio. He was quite surprised to get the phone call, but with true country hospitality he offered to come into town and guide us back to his house where we could stay the night.

About 20 minutes later he pulled up outside the post office. He had no trouble finding a bright purple car; it stood out like a sore thumb! He introduced himself and then we followed him back to his home at Mena Creek. He introduced us to his wife Ruth, his young daughter Judith and his young son Peter. We then sat down to a hearty, delicious meal.

Brisbane QLD to Mena Creek QLD via Bruce Highway  
{showing Great Barrier Reef off the coast}  
[Source: Google Maps]

Warren is a very accomplished piano player and we gathered around the piano after dinner and had a good sing song; singing gospel songs and choruses. After our singing session we asked Silvio about the local sights. He suggested that a drive up to the Atherton Tableland was well worth the trip. He got out a map of the area and showed us the best places to see. He also worked out the best itinerary to follow so we did not have to back track to get to the various tourist sites. Warren and I were quite excited about tomorrow's excursion. Silvio had plans for us to see places such as Millaa Millaa Falls, the Crater at Mount Hypipamee, Bromfield Swamp, the Curtain Fig Tree, Yungaburra and Lake Eacham. All these places could be reached on a day's outing from Mena Creek. Mena Creek by the way is the site of the world famous Paronella Park; more on this later.

Next day after an early breakfast Warren and I set off for the Atherton Tableland. We drove through South Johnstone to Wangan, where we turned left and went up Henderson Drive to join up with the Palmerston Highway. The Palmerston Highway was not in as good condition as it is in our modern day. When we left the cane fields and began to climb up through the rain forest we were on basically a single lane bitumen road. The canopy of the rain forest bordering the highway was very dense and often blocked out the sun. Careful driving was needed if vehicles approached from the opposite direction; we had to drive off the edge of the bitumen on to a very narrow shoulder. If it was a large truck coming towards us it claimed all the bitumen and sometimes it was too close for comfort; particularly if you met on a blind corner. The old highway was full of bends and slow going. Timber jinkers carrying logs and semi trailers carrying milk from the Malanda Dairy factory were frequent users of this highway.

We arrived safely at Millaa Millaa and went to see the famous Millaa Millaa Falls, a really lovely sight to behold. The falls are situated just a small distance from the township by car. We stayed briefly and then drove on to the township of Malanda. A short distance from Malanda Falls on the outskirts of the town we took the road to Bromfield Swamp, which is a local, privately owned bird sanctuary. The swamp is actually a large concave depression in the ground attributed to a possible meteorite strike. It certainly gives that impression when you look at it. In the wet season it is hard to tell as it holds a lot of water at that time of the year. Today there are viewing platforms along the side of the road facing the swamp; back then you just looked over a fence.

[Millaa Millaa Falls near Millaa Millaa, Far North QLD]

Leaving Bromfield Swamp we made our way to Mount Hypipamee, a volcanic crater. The Crater is part of the extinct volcano now known as Mount Hypipamee. It is accessed via a walking path through rain forest up to the lookout. It gives you an eerie feeling as you gaze down on to pale green water way down the steep sides of the crater. The water is completely still which adds to the eeriness of the place. The area around the crater is completely devoid of stones. Over the years people have gathered up all the stones and thrown them down into the pale green water. An eerie stillness can be felt as you approach this crater. It was certainly a different experience for us city boys.

We left the Crater and headed back to Malanda and then drove to the Curtain Fig Tree in the Yungaburra region. There was a car park situated on the roadside near the pathway to the tree. This is where we parked the car. The Curtain Fig Tree was a very short walk in from the roadside. What a fascinating sight! The fig tree roots were massive and yet because they had intertwined over the years they seemed to give the appearance of a large brown, detailed curtain. The tree soared up high in the rain forest surrounding it. It is a spectacular! Back then you could walk all around it and even sit on the roots. Unfortunately with today's bureaucrats to contend with, the area surrounding the roots is a 'no go' area. However there is a wooden boardwalk that encircles the tree and you can take photos from the boardwalk.

Leaving the fascinating fig tree we then drove to the small village of Yungaburra, a logging and timber mill village which was like a step back in time. Leaving Yungaburra we drove to Lake Eacham, a volcanic crater lake. Lake Eacham is a recreational lake with swimming and picnicking facilities. It was a favourite place with the Atherton Tableland locals. The Atherton Tableland was a much quieter place back then; the hordes of international travellers were yet to discover its secrets.

It was time to drive back to Mena Creek, so we left the Atherton Tableland with good memories of a fascinating day out. Tomorrow we planned to drive up to Cairns and Port Douglas for a look.

We set off early next morning to drive to Cairns. Our journey today would take us along the Bruce Highway through Mirriwinni - Babinda - Deeral - Fishery Falls - Gordonvale and Edmonton to Cairns. From Cairns we would drive up the Captain Cook Highway past the northern beaches area to Port Douglas.

On the way we would pass the small village of Smithfield where the Kennedy Highway from the Atherton Tableland terminates at the Captain Cook Highway. The Atherton Tableland could also be accessed via Gordonvale up the Gillies Highway a steep, winding, narrow road.

Travel along Far North QLD highways back then was a slower journey. Most road bridges were one lane only, with a 'give way' sign at one end of the bridge. If you had right of way it was good, but sometimes if there was a bit of traffic you could be held up at the give way sign waiting to cross the bridge. There were a lot of sugar cane mills around back in the 1970's. Innisfail had three mills in the area at Mourilyan, South Johnstone and Goondi; Babinda had a mill, Gordonvale had a mill and Edmonton had a mill. North of Cairns there was a mill at Mossman (near Port Douglas). These mills all had their own extensive, cane railway networks. As many of these cane railway tracks crossed the main roads, care was needed as you approached the crossings. There were no lights or boom gates, just warning signs.

Warren and I had one scary moment on a crossing near Silvio's house. We were heading towards South Johnstone; when we were nearly on this angled crossing a long line of empty cane bins suddenly appeared out of the cane fields. They were being shunted in reverse; the driver of the train had no idea if there were any vehicles on the crossing as he could not see them! Fortunately we made a panic stop and were ok. It took us a few moments to calm down. The area near the crossing was a marshalling yard for the cane train network. We were very cautious approaching that crossing after this scare.

Some of these cane railway networks crossed the main QLD railway line which runs from Brisbane to Cairns. The cane railway lines are classified as narrow gauge systems with 610mm (2 feet) widths. The main QLD railway network runs on a 1067 mm (3ft 6ins) gauge.

Just north of Innisfail the cane lands give way to rainforest areas. As you drive down to the Russell River, Mount Bartle Frere, QLD's highest mountain suddenly looms up before you. It is quite a sight when you first see it as you are not expecting it. Crossing over the bridge at the Russell River the scenery reverts back to cane lands and mountains close by. The drive up to Cairns is quite a picturesque drive. We soon arrived at Mirriwinni a small village on the Bruce Highway; it is surrounded by cane lands. The drive then took us through Deeral and Fishery Falls to Gordonvale then Edmonton and on to Cairns.

The city of Cairns was much smaller in the early 1970's. We stopped at the famous Marlin Wharf in Cairns for a look before continuing on to Port Douglas. North of Cairns is the northern beaches area. The Captain Cook Highway does not go directly to these beaches; access roads run from the highway to the various beaches. The beaches running north are Machans Beach, Holloways Beach, Yorkeys Knob, Trinity Beach, Palm Cove and Ellis Beach. The highway comes in close to the Coral Sea at Ellis Beach. We stopped for a break at Ellis Beach and went for a walk on the white sands.

The drive from Ellis Beach north towards Port Douglas has a long stretch where the highway hugs the shore line; the views looking down on to the turquoise and emerald hued Coral Sea are breathtaking. It is truly one of the great driving experiences in Australia. On a clear, sunny day the vista is quite simply superb! The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas was about 68 km.

Port Douglas was not on the Captain Cook Highway so we had to drive along the access road to the small village. Port Douglas was a sleepy little fishing port. Warren and I had a delightful lunch at a small cafe and then drove up to the lookout for the view down along Four Mile Beach; another superb sight. Vehicles were allowed to drive on the beach, so with Warren at the wheel we drove off the road on to the hard sand and travelled along the beach for a couple of miles. Instead of retracing our little drive we decided to drive up on to an access point at a park. Wrong decision! Just as we neared the access point we struck soft sand and became bogged in the sand. There was nobody on the beach to help us out of our predicament.

Fortunately, I spotted a truck in the shade of some trees in the park. The driver was having his lunch break. After he finished his lunch he tied a long, strong rope to my car and the truck pulled us out of the soft sand. We were very grateful to him. We did not do any other driving on beaches after that incident.

Leaving Port Douglas we headed back to the Captain Cook Highway and drove up to Mossman a sugar cane town with its own mill. We did not stay in Mossman but continued on to the Daintree River. The river had a small vehicular ferry to access the other side of the river. However, the unsealed road on the other side of the river was not suitable for my small sedan. So we had to stay on this side of the river. We had a bit of a look around and got bitten by 'midges', little sand flies. This sent us quickly back into our car. It was time to head back to Mena Creek.

Once again we marvelled at the beautiful sights as we cruised down the highway to Ellis Beach. We followed the Captain Cook Highway down to Cairns and rejoined the Bruce Highway for the trip down to Innisfail. This time we approached Innisfail from the northern side of the town and as we crossed over the main railway line were quite surprised to see that the town was much larger than we had thought. We had originally come into the town at Rankin Street and had gone out to Mena Creek along Rankin Street. This time we approached the town along Edith Street, the main street, and were surprised by the amount of businesses on Edith Street. We continued on to Mena Creek via Wangan and South Johnstone; it had been a long, interesting day for us.

On one of our drives we visited the small village of Kuranda near the Barron Gorge Falls. Kuranda was set in the rainforest alongside the Barron River. The railway station was a real eye opener. It had myriads of tropical plants adorning the platforms. Everything was lush and green with colourful flowers adding splashes of colour and variety. It was an amazing sight for us who were used to the dull, boring, suburban railway stations in Sydney.

Kuranda village was a 'hippy' haven with lots of 'alternate life stylers' about. This was the 'flower power' era. There were not many shops. Some of the back streets had old dumped car bodies with hippies actually living in them! We made our way down a path alongside the railway tracks to a spot where we could view the Barron Falls. As it was October there was not much water coming over the falls. When the wet reason is in full swing it is a spectacular sight as the waters roar over the falls and spray drifts upwards. Even in October the falls are impressive. Nowadays the Kuranda Scenic Railway stops at the Barron Falls; at a specially constructed viewing platform for passengers to get out and take photos. The modern village of Kuranda is now much larger with all sorts of shops and attractions. All the rubbish and refuse from the hippies' era has well and truly disappeared.

As I stated earlier Mena Creek is the site of the world famous Paronella Park, the ruined castle in the rainforest; which is situated on the northern side of Mena Creek Falls. Silvio and Ruth lived on the opposite side of Mena Creek Falls, on a block of land that had originally been part of Silvio's parents' cane farm. His parents lived just up the road on their farm. You could walk down through rainforest to Mena Creek which flowed at the rear of Silvio's property. Silvio often caught fish in the creek.

As Silvio was a local he had free access to Paronella Park because the Paronella family were still living on the property. So Warren and I got the grand tour for free. We were fortunate to see it before the disastrous fire in later years that destroyed some of the buildings. However, that is partly the reason why Paronella Park has such a romantic image today.

One of the nights we were at Silvio's home he and his wife Ruth had a gathering of young people for a sing song and gospel message. Warren played their piano and Silvio taped the singing on his stereogram which had a tape deck recorder. It was an enjoyable night.

On another occasion we went with them and their relatives to Etty Bay near Mourilyan. Etty Bay is a beautiful, small beach with white, clean sand. Large shade trees grew right up to the edge of the sandy beach. These trees provided abundant shade from the broiling, hot sun. What a pleasure to spread your towel out on the sand in the cool, shade of the trees and just relax. The northern end of the beach was set out with picnic tables under shade trees. A kiosk and small caravan park was also up this end. A surf life saving club was also located in this area.

Down the southern end, which was frequented by locals, the rainforest came right down to the beach. A dirt road wound its way along to the end of the beach where it had a turnaround point. You parked the cars off the beach side of the road. Immediate access to the sandy beach under the shade trees was then available. Swimming was not a good idea in October, as the Stinger season was in full swing. Box Jelly Fish were known to be extremely venomous and had caused fatalities. Even paddling in the water's edge could be dangerous as their tentacles could float to the water's edge.

Warren and I being Sydney boys did not know the dangers and we went in for a swim. The looks of consternation on everyone's face soon had us out of the water. When the Box Jellyfish danger was explained to us we made sure not to swim in the ocean in Far North QLD again on our holiday.

One morning Silvio drove us up to the end of Mena Creek Road where he parked his car. We then walked along an abandoned road left by the Cairns Regional Electricity Board (CREB). The rainforest was encroaching across the old road and the going was not easy in parts. Silvio took us up along Mena Creek to a beautiful, tranquil swimming hole. The water was clear and cool. We enjoyed a refreshing swim. Silvio reckoned that there was gold to be found along this part of the creek. The area we were in was part of a national forest area so it was off limits to gold seekers. After a nice swim our clothes dried off as we walked back to the car and headed to Silvio's place.

A funny little incident occurred when Silvio took Warren and me down through the rain forest on his side of Mena Creek to view Mena Creek Falls from a bank of the creek. As we made our way down a very faint path Silvio would stop and say, "Wait a while." Warren and I would dutifully stop. We then continued on again. This happened three or four times. Silvio saw us lagging and said, "Why are you stopping all the time?" We said, 'You keep telling us to wait a while.' Then he burst out in uproarious laughter. He said, "Wait a while is the local name for a very thorny vine. If you walk into it you have to wait a while before you extract yourself. If you are not careful the thorns will jag even deeper into your skin." We were the highlight of his day! He enjoyed telling everyone about our 'wait a while' experience.

Mena Creek Falls \- Mena Creek Far North QLD

Our last day at Mena Creek was on a Sunday. Warren and I were looking forward to meeting the local Christians at the South Johnstone Christian Assembly. They met in an old State School building that had been purchased from the Education Department. The school had been called 'Floriana' and had been a one teacher school. There was a main school room, which was now the main meeting room. An entry foyer had a room off to one side. At the rear of the building there was a covered verandah, with another room at the end of the verandah. Stairs were at the front of the building and another set of stairs at the side of the building leading up to the rear verandah. Downstairs was a concreted area used for dining. A kitchen was located here as well. The unsewered toilets were located on the perimeter of the property well away from the main building. There was plenty of parking for vehicles as the building was on one and three quarter acres of land.

The morning meeting was very interesting. Many of the brothers and sisters who met there were immigrants who had come to Australia back in the 1920's and 1930's. Their children were fluent in English and their native tongue. Many of the children had been born in Australia. Some of their children had attended primary school at Floriana.

English was not their mother tongue. The prayers were in English and Italian. We were using an English hymn book and an Italian hymn book. It was certainly different to sing hymns in Italian and listen to prayers offered in Italian. This local fellowship had been started by immigrants using their own languages. Little did I realise that I would have more to do with these folk in years to come. We were made very welcome and their hospitality was very generous. Warren and I brought a 'letter of commendation' from our local assembly at Berry Road in St Leonards with us, as an introduction and greetings from our assembly. We had an enjoyable day with these folk and came back in the evening for a gospel service.

Next morning we set off on our return journey back to Sydney. On one stretch of road when Warren was driving and I was dozing in the front passenger seat, the car suddenly became airborne! Warren had been unable to miss a small tree that had fallen across the highway. I had a sudden awakening! The front wheels began to vibrate and we pulled over to the side of the road. We had to change the left front passenger side wheel. The tree had damaged the rim of the wheel. Fortunately the tyre did not blow out. We put the spare wheel on and resumed our journey. (I later had the damaged mag. wheel rebalanced at a tyre outlet back home in Sydney.)

We spent another night with Warren's aunt and uncle at Mackay. The only other incident was when we were driving on the outskirts of Gladstone. A police escort waved us off to the side of the highway as a wide load was coming through. Unfortunately it had rained overnight and the side of the highway was muddy. We became bogged and were stuck in the mud! A panel beater's shop was situated across the highway. They saw our predicament and some of the workers crossed the highway and helped us push the car out of the mud back on to the bitumen. We were very grateful. We continued to retrace our journey back down the Bruce Highway to Brisbane and then down the New England Highway to the Pacific Highway which we followed to Sydney and then to our homes.

We had a great holiday with many enjoyable memories.

Chapter Four: 1972 - Oh What a Year!

On 26 January 1972, (Australia Day holiday) four Aboriginal men from Sydney arrived in the nation's capital Canberra. They were there to establish the Aboriginal Embassy by symbolically planting a beach umbrella on the lawn in front of Parliament House (the old Parliament House). The Embassy was established due to the Commonwealth Government's refusal to recognise Aboriginal land rights. Prime Minister McMahon instead favoured a new general purpose lease for Aborigines which would be conditional upon their 'intention and ability to make reasonable economic and social use of land' and it would exclude all rights they had to minerals and forestry.

The beach umbrella was soon replaced by several tents. Aboriginal people and non-indigenous supporters came from all parts of Australia to join the protest. During the first six months of its life in 1972 the Embassy succeeded in uniting Aboriginal people throughout Australia in demanding uniform national land rights and mobilised widespread non-indigenous support for their struggle.

'In February 1972 the Aboriginal Tent Embassy presented a list of demands to Parliament:

* Control of the Northern Territory as a State within the Commonwealth of Australia; the parliament in the Northern Territory to be predominantly Aboriginal with title and mining rights to all land within the Territory.

* Legal title and mining rights to all other presently existing reserve lands and settlements throughout Australia.

* The preservation of all sacred sites throughout Australia.

* Legal title and mining rights to areas in and around all Australian capital cities.

* Compensation money for lands not returnable to take the form of a down-payment of six billion dollars and an annual percentage of the gross national income.'

_The demands were rejected, and in July 1972, following an amendment to the relevant ordinance, police moved in, removed the tents and arrested eight people.'  
_ [Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]

On the work front I was now relieving all the NSW sales representatives when they went on holidays, or if they had an extended illness. Whether it was a Sydney city territory, or a suburban territory or a country NSW territory; I relieved all the Sales reps. during the year. Many of the customers I normally spoke to on the telephone, I was able to meet face to face and enhance the rapport I already had with them. I got to know many of the towns in regional NSW through these experiences.

My work skills became varied and often interesting. I became adroit in liaising with the various departments at Dunlop Footwear. My boss, the NSW Branch Manager, had rewarded me on two occasions with salary increases. I found that I could often get special favours done for the NSW branch by my rapport with people in other departments; although I was careful not to overdo it. The NSW Branch management team was not 'flavour of the month' with other departments.

Summer gave way to autumn and Easter rolled around at the end of March 1972. This year I did not go to the Easter Camp at Elenora Heights as a boarder; instead I just went to the beach outing at Narrabeen Beach on the Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I sat and talked with many of my friends. It was a pleasant afternoon and well worth the 33 miles (53 km) drive from my home at Smithfield.

On the home front I became interested in a red haired, attractive nurse who was down from Brisbane doing her Midwives' training at the Crown Street Women's Hospital at Surrey Hills in Sydney. Her name was Leah Gibbs and she attended the Gibbon Street Christian Assembly in Woolloongabba QLD. We got to know each other at young people's gatherings; held at different homes after gospel services in the evenings. It was difficult to meet up with each other during the week due to her shift work as a nurse.

Sometimes we were able to get the occasional Saturday together. We would go to a beach or a quiet park or bush reserve. We would chat for hours on these occasions. Leah loved the rural life and loved animals. Her midwifery course was due to run out midyear and then she would return home to Brisbane.

On the work front a sinister note crept into the work place. In the year 1972 an increase in the growth of trade unions was noticed; as they became more aggressive in enrolling new members. The footwear factory had a coal fired steam boiler. The steam pressure from the boiler was used to run a multitude of tasks in the manufacture of the footwear. The coal fired boiler was manned by firemen who kept the fire going to maintain steam pressure. There were three shifts each manned by an individual fireman. The union responsible for these firemen called a sudden 24 hours strike.

Dunlop Footwear Management seconded two sales clerks and a computer programmer to do the firemen's jobs. I volunteered to do a night shift as I was single and my friend Roger Ellul was married. The job was to shovel coal into a chute that fed the coal to the fire by means of a linked chain conveyor belt. A large steam, pressure gauge had to be constantly monitored to ensure that there was adequate pressure or conversely there was not too much pressure. The Head Engineer also worked that night. He had to ensure that sufficient water was fed to the boiler, as well as monitoring the pressure gauge. It was a long night; Roger took over from me in the morning and I went home to a very sound sleep.

The upshot of this was that the unions did not take kindly to Dunlop Footwear using other staff to keep its boiler going. So an aggressive campaign began to make all Dunlop Footwear's clerks join the Federated Clerks Union of Australia NSW Branch. A union organiser was sent out from their head office to accomplish this task. He approached all the clerks in an arrogant manner and virtually demanded that they join his union. Using what amounted to stand over tactics he succeeded in coercing some of the clerks into joining the union.

When he approached me; using the tactic that it was the people in the union who had won the wage levels and conditions non-unionists presently enjoyed. I simply told him that it was not a condition of my employment and I would not be joining his union. Anyway his argument did not affect me as I was being paid well above award wages. This really upset him.

The union organiser was successful in making all the clerks except me and another chap in the NSW Branch join his union. He kept up his arrogant attempt to force me to join his union. I told him that as far as I was concerned that he was just a 'rabble rouser'; which infuriated him. He told me that it would give him pleasure to see me join his union (and he did not mean voluntarily).

Now the subtle pressure began from Management. They could not make me join this union nor could they legally fire me if I did not. A round of informal talks began with me by different managers in Dunlop Footwear. No undue pressure was put on me, but they made it abundantly clear that my joining this union would take pressure off the Division. However, I carried on as normal.

The Factory Manager, a very decent man, put the situation into perspective for me. The Federated Clerks' Union was getting very frustrated by my refusal to join their union. So they began to employ a 'big stick' approach. If I stayed in the employ of Dunlop Footwear as a non-union member the whole Dunlop Group of companies would be black listed by all unions and boycotts would be put in place. I did not cave in - the law was on my side. However, I was not aware that the union had negotiated a three months period of grace with Dunlop Footwear. If I had not joined the union by then the sanctions would be applied to the Dunlop Group of companies.

It was a stressful time at work with this union business hanging over my head. Plenty of people sympathised with me, but kept right out of the matter. My work standard remained consistent though, as my nemesis was not Dunlop Footwear.

On the national front on Friday, 30-Jun-1972 the Ord River Irrigation Scheme was officially opened at Kununurra in Western Australia (WA) by Prime Minister William McMahon. This irrigation scheme opened up vast tracts of irrigated land to produce food crops. Kununurra was the main town in the region for services and supplies.

As July rolled around my own bosses in the NSW Branch began to apply pressure to me. The Factory manager called me in again for a meeting. I told him that I was adamant that I was not joining the Federated Clerks' Union; that's when he informed me of the combined Unions' threats against the Dunlop Group. I was a bit taken aback that I was in the position to cause a mass boycott of the Dunlop Group. However, he did not mention the three months period of grace.

My next meeting with the NSW Branch Manager and his Office Manager was a bit touchy. I mentioned that the Warehouse Manager had informed me of the Unions' threat to the Dunlop Group. They were a bit perturbed at this piece of news. I could see the reaction on their faces. They tended to keep things close to their chests. I told them that I would not be responsible for a mass unions' boycott against the Dunlop Group and that I would resign. Then the Office Manager let slip, "But you can work another month at least before the time runs out."

I immediately became angry. I said, "What do you mean that I have one more month to work?" He realised that he had said too much. That was when I learned of the three months period of grace. I then realised that Dunlop Footwear was only hanging on to my services as long as they could because of the value I brought to the NSW Branch. It was patently obvious that at the end of the three months some sort of incident would be fabricated for my dismissal. I immediately gave them notice; with the Office Manager protesting that there was another month to run. Perhaps I was foolish, but I gave them another week of my usual high standard of work. I finished up Friday, 28-Jul-1972. By that time I was glad to be out of there away from the awful stress.

On the home front, Leah had finished her midwifery training and was now a qualified Midwife. She had already returned to Brisbane. She was aware of my problems at Dunlop Footwear. After much thought I made up my mind to go up to Brisbane to see Leah and also find work.

My plans were put on hold because on Tuesday, 8-Aug-1972 my uncle Sidney Jackson died. It was a freak accident. He was making his way home from the local pub. He was crossing a plank over a drain that had a bit of water running down it. Being a bit inebriated he lost his footing on the plank, fell down, hit his head and drowned face down in about three inches of water.

Aunty Lucy asked me to go with her to the hospital to identify his body. I drove her to the hospital and we identified Uncle Sid's body together. Uncle Sid was my mother's younger brother. After the funeral was over, a couple of days later, I headed to Brisbane for a new start in life. My stepfather Collyn however put pressure on me to stay in Sydney for my mother's sake; but my mind was made up and I headed up to Brisbane.

The first night in Brisbane, I spent at Leah's parents' home at Manly West. Leah was expecting me at their home the first night. She had made arrangements with a young, married, Christian couple with two small children for me to board with them. Their names were Jack and May Weddell; their children's names were Shane (a boy) and Tracey (a girl). They lived at 10 Finucane Road, Capalaba QLD. It was quite rural at Capalaba back then; not the very busy retail and commercial centre it is today.

Jack's house was a timber framed weatherboard house. Jack was a builder and had purchased the vacant house off a property and then had it trucked to his current address. The house had been split in two and Jack rejoined it at the new site. The house had three bedrooms, so Jack and May were in the master bedroom. Shane and Tracey shared the second bedroom and I slept in the third bedroom. Jack had a shed at the rear of the property for his tools and equipment. He towed a large work trailer to his job sites.

The next Sunday I went with Jack and his family to the Gibbon Street Gospel Hall at Woolloongabba. It was quite a large fellowship. I was introduced to all the folk. The morning started with Sunday School; the adults stayed in the back room until it was over. This was followed by the Breaking of Bread meeting. Most folk had lunch in the dining/kitchen area located in the back room. At 2:30 pm a Bible lecture or a Bible study was scheduled for one hour. The rest of the afternoon was free time. Some folk went home. Afternoon tea was served at the hall for those who stayed on. After an early evening meal some of the folk then went out for open air gospel preaching at 6:00 pm. The rest of the folk stayed in the hall. A gospel service was held in the main hall at 7:00 pm which went for about one hour. The folk who went to the open air gospel returned in time for the gospel service in the main hall. After the gospel we all went to our various homes.

I decided to take a drive up to Toowoomba QLD for a short holiday and stay with my Christian friends Ralph and Constance Fitzsimmons and their family. The journey from Brisbane to Toowoomba took longer in the early 1970's. The Warrego Highway then went through all the towns along the route. The modern highway bypasses a lot of the towns and some of the hilly stretches have been reworked to keep the traffic flowing at 100 kph.

Toowoomba was much smaller in 1972. Ralph and Constance lived at Mary Street, Toowoomba. I spent a nice time with them and the children still living at home. My being in Toowoomba meant I could not be contacted. When I returned to Capalaba I was given the sad news that my maternal grandmother Sarah Ann Jackson had passed away on Friday, 18-Aug-1972 in Sydney. Her funeral was already over. I was very sorry that I was not there for her funeral.

I quickly packed some clothing and left to drive to Sydney to be with my family. I remember walking through the gate of where she had lived and had the distinct impression that, "She is with the Lord". That was a real comfort to my soul as I was never sure whether my maternal grandmother was saved or not. I spent about one week with Mum and Dad and Uncle Sid's family and then drove back to Brisbane. My uncle and my grandmother had both died in quick succession. It was turning out to be quite a year for me!

On the national front, Friday, 1-Sep-1972 was the day Australia changed from Fahrenheit to Celsius for temperature measurements. As most people still had Fahrenheit thermometers we had to use an equation to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius (Deduct 32, then multiply by 5, then divide by 9). For example 100 degrees Fahrenheit, using the formula 100-32 = 68; 68*5 = 340; 340/9 = 37.77 degrees Celsius. Conversion tables became a popular item.

On the international front the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany from August 26 to September 11, 1972. Australian swimmer Shane Gould won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal on Sunday, 3-Sep-1972. These games were destined to go down in the annals of infamy.

Let's see what Wikipedia; the free encyclopaedia has to say on the matter:  
_'The Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the "Munich massacre". Just before dawn on September 5, a group of eight members of the Black September Palestinian terrorist organization broke into the Olympic Village and took nine Israeli athletes, coaches and officials hostage in their apartments. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed in the first moments of the break-in; the subsequent standoff in the Olympic Village lasted for almost 18 hours._

Late in the evening of September 5 that same day, the terrorists and their hostages were transferred by helicopter to the military airport of Furstenfeldbruck, ostensibly to board a plane bound for an undetermined Arab country. The German authorities planned to ambush them there, but underestimated the numbers of their opposition and were thus undermanned. During a botched rescue attempt, all of the Israeli hostages were killed. Four of them were shot, then incinerated when one of the terrorists detonated a grenade inside the helicopter in which the hostages were sitting. The five remaining hostages were then machine-gunned to death.

All but three of the terrorists were killed as well. Although arrested and imprisoned pending trial, they were released by the West German government on October 29, 1972, in exchange for a hijacked Lufthansa jet.'

On the national front on Friday, 6-Oct-1972 in the small rural town of Faraday in VIC, a kidnapping and ransom demand was made. The local school was a small one teacher school; an easy target for the kidnappers. The school teacher Mary Gibbs and her six pupils were kidnapped for an AUD$1,000,000 ransom.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia has this to say about this incident:  
_'The_ _Faraday School kidnapping_ _occurred on 6 October 1972 at a one-teacher school in the rural town of Faraday in Victoria, Australia, where two plasterers, Edwin John Eastwood and Robert Clyde Boland, kidnapped six female pupils and their teacher for a $1,000,000 ransom._

Eastwood and Boland entered the school armed with a sawn-off shotgun at about 3:00pm, and forced the teacher, 20-year-old Mary Gibbs, and her six pupils (girls aged between 5 and 10) into a red delivery van, leaving a note at the school threatening to kill all of the hostages unless a $1,000,000 cash ransom was paid. They were driven off into a remote area in the bush.

That evening, the Premier of Victoria, Dick Hamer, announced that the State Government was prepared to pay the ransom. The Victorian Education Minister and future Premier, Lindsay Thompson, was driven to the scene by Assistant Commissioner W.D. (Bill) Crowley masquerading as the minister's driver and armed with a trousered derringer pistol. Future Chief Commissioner S.I. (Mick) Miller was concealed under a blanket in the rear of the car with a high-powered rifle. Thompson waited to personally deliver the ransom, but it was never collected. In the early hours of the next morning, the kidnappers told Gibbs they were going to collect the ransom and left her and the pupils.

When they were gone, Gibbs managed to kick the door panel out with her heavy, platform-heeled leather boots and escape with the children in the dark, finding help a few kilometres away. Eastwood and Boland were captured by heavily armed Victoria Police officers after an extensive manhunt. Mary Gibbs was later awarded the George Medal for her bravery.'

On the home front I was finding it difficult to obtain work. Brisbane employers were reluctant to employ people who had moved to Brisbane from Sydney. They had been caught out by unscrupulous people in the past. Even though I had excellent written references they were suspicious of people from Sydney. Apparently a lot of 'fly by nighters' and get rich quick types had spoiled the job situation for genuine job seekers who had moved interstate.

I did a bit of casual, builder's labourer type work with Jack Weddell and also on occasion helped out another brother in the Gibbon Street Assembly. Roy Paget was a sign writer; when he had a large roadside type of sign to erect I was able to assist him. However, these occasional jobs did not help my depleting bank balance. It was a matter of keep on trying to find permanent work. I was fortunate that I had my own car; it would have been very difficult using public transport to go to job appointments that were scattered all over Brisbane. Jobs back then were advertised in the Courier Mail newspaper. You then had to telephone the employer and try to get a face to face interview. A lot of credence was given to a good written reference. A job interview was highly desirable as often you got no further than the initial phone call.

Brisbane was on the cusp of a skyscraper building boom in the main CBD area. New buildings kept appearing as Queensland's economy continued to grow. However, there was a height limit on the buildings due to the proximity of Brisbane's main airport at Eagle Farm.

On the national front on Thursday, 16-Nov-1972 an Ansett Airlines' Fokker Friendship, turbo prop, jet airliner was hijacked on the way to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia gives us this account of the hijacking:  
_'_ _Ansett Airlines Flight 232_ _on Wednesday, 15 November 1972 was a trip from Adelaide, South Australia aboard a Fokker Friendship bound for Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It was the occasion of an attempted hijacking which resulted in the perpetrator's death by suicide._

A male passenger, subsequently identified as Miloslav Hrabinec, a Czech migrant, had boarded the flight in Adelaide with a concealed sawn-off .22 Armalite rifle and a sheath knife strapped to his leg. About a half-hour before the scheduled landing time, as the flight was making its descent into Alice Springs Airport, he emerged from the lavatory, produced the gun and said to a flight attendant named Kaye Goreham, "This is a hijack". Hrabinec then forced his way into the cockpit, however the captain informed Hrabinec that he was unable to speak to him as he was too busy landing the plane. Hrabinec was informed by Goreham that he needed to be seated for landing and he complied. After the plane landed police commenced negotiations with the hijacker. According to Goreham's account, Hrabinec stated his motive was not financial (he asked for no money) but that he wanted to commit suicide in a spectacular way by parachuting into a remote location and surviving for as long as he could before killing himself. To this end he demanded a light aircraft, a parachute and a jumpsuit.

A civilian pilot and flying instructor, the local Aero Club manager Ossie Watts, volunteered himself and his Cessna aircraft. An undercover police constable Paul Sandeman, posing as Watts' navigator, was also on board the Cessna. According to Watts, Hrabinec became suspicious upon seeing Sandeman and requested Goreham search Sandeman for weapons. Watts did so but did not inform the hijacker when he felt a small firearm Sandeman had hidden. Watts states that the policeman "went for his gun" and the hijacker shot Sandeman in the hand and stomach. The hijacker ran off and Watts, who had been shown how to use a gun minutes earlier, began shooting. Police marksmen also opened fire and Hrabinec was wounded. Hrabinec then retreated to a ditch where he fatally shot himself.

Constable Sandeman was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery.'

On the international front US President Richard Nixon and his administration were having difficulty containing the unfolding events linking them to the 'Watergate Scandal'. Nixon's administration had authorised the burglary and planting of surveillance bugs in the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate Building Complex.

During November 1972 Australia was in the grip of election fever. The Federal election was to be held on Saturday, 2-Dec-1972. A mood for change was definitely in the air. People were growing tired of the Liberal/Country Parties' Coalition Government; which had been in power for two decades. For the first time in many years the Australian Labor Party looked like it could win the election. The Opposition Leader, Gough Whitlam was running a very slick, efficient political campaign.

The Federal election was held on Saturday, 2-Dec-1972. On Sunday, 3-Dec-1972 it was apparent that Gough Whitlam had led the Australian Labor Party to victory! They had been in the Opposition wilderness for 23 years; mainly due to bitter factional infighting. This infighting meant that it was impossible for the Labor Party to maintain a cohesive approach in elections. Gough Whitlam had been the means of uniting the Labor Party and now he was able to taste the sweet fruits of victory. 1973 would see a new Prime Minister in power and a new Government more in tune with the average Australian.

On the work front my attempts to get a job as a salesman, or a clerk, or as a sales representative was fruitless. It was time for Plan 'B'. I decided to get some casual cleaning work to tide me over. So on Thursday, 7-Dec-1972 I commenced work with Crothall & Company Pty Limited, a large Contract Cleaning organisation. As I already had extensive cleaning experience my orientation session was quite easy and I commenced that evening at a National Australia Bank branch in Eagle Street in the Brisbane CBD. I worked alongside a middle aged woman who also cleaned in this bank. My main jobs were to empty the rubbish bins, polish the vinyl floors with an electric vacuum cleaner **/** floor polisher and clean and mop out the staff toilets.

The building had two floors serviced by a lift and a basement storage area. On the roof of the building was a staff dining room accessed by a flight of stairs. The basement was also accessed by a flight of stairs. The ground floor and the 1st floor were serviced by a goods lift so moving equipment around was easy. However, the staff dining room and the basement only had stairs, so equipment had to be carried up and down. The electric floor polisher was quite heavy and it had to be carried up and down the stairs.

We accessed the bank via the staff entrance and the lift was located close by. Bank customers accessed the bank via the main entrance. The public had no access to the lift as it was behind the tellers and the offices and was hidden out of sight. The basement area was also hidden from the public and was accessed from the offices' area. On the Eagle Street side of the building heavy duty glass bricks had been installed in the pavement adjacent to the building to let in light to the basement in case of electricity black outs.

The whole ground floor area was covered with heavy duty vinyl flooring. This had to be mopped and polished each evening Monday to Friday. Particular care was needed to ensure a clean, bright, shiny, non-slippery finish each time. My female co-worker was responsible for cleaning the counters, desks, office furniture and the windows and glass partitions. We commenced at 5:00 pm and finished at 9:00 pm. Brisbane CBD was not as busy back then and I was usually able to park my car close to the bank.

Office cleaning by cleaning contractors was usually done before commencement of business each day or after close of business. In 1972 there was no late night shopping. Retail businesses opened from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday and 9:00 am to 12:00 noon on Saturday. There was no Sunday trading. Banks did not open on the weekend.

I was happy to be earning money again. One night I was down in the basement cleaning the men's toilet block when the lights went out suddenly. It was pitch black. I could not see anything at all! You become disorientated as all familiar landmarks and objects can not be seen in total darkness. I was fortunate that I had a mop in my hand when it happened. Trying to keep a cool head I turned around slowly and headed hopefully towards the door of the toilet block. I used the mop handle to sweep slowly across my pathway. And when I say slowly, I mean s-l-o-w-l-y! I edged towards the door area until I felt the mop handle strike the wall.

I then used the mop handle to feel to the left and to the right until I heard a dull, wooden sound. I now knew where the door was. I moved up to the door and groped for the door handle. When I found it I eased myself and the mop out into the corridor. I knew that the passageway to the stairs was on my right hand side. So I turned to my right, still in total darkness and began a very slow trip down the passageway. Fortunately, the mop handle reached both walls of the passageway. Using a broad sweeping motion and the walls as a guide, I was able to shuffle along the passageway to the end of the passageway.

Boy was I thankful for the glass bricks up on street level. A very faint light from the moon was throwing a little light into the basement. This was enough for me to make my way carefully to the stairs up to street level; where sufficient light was coming in through the bank windows for me to find my way around. The city CBD was in darkness; no lights in buildings and no street lights to show the way. A bit of light from the moon enabled me to make out buildings. My co-worker was ok as she had been cleaning in the tellers' area at the time of the black out. She had a little bit of light from the moon and had not been in total darkness as I had been. All we could do was sit on chairs and wait. The black out went for about one hour before the lights and power came back on. There was no emergency power generator. No emergency power systems were in place in the bank.

On one or two occasions the lift broke down and we had to call the lift maintenance people to get it going again. This meant carrying the heavy floor polisher up and down all the stairs. One of the lift technicians told me a story about my co-worker. A few years earlier she had been in the lift when it broke down. She was stuck between floors. She made the call for assistance and waited for the technicians to arrive. They were delayed by other emergency call outs, so it was a couple of hours later before they arrived to fix the lift. When they arrived they expected to find a distraught woman. Instead they found her peacefully asleep on the lift floor! Apparently she was the talk of the lift technicians all over Brisbane for some time!

As December rolled on people were getting used to the idea of a Labor Party Government. However, it would not really take effect until the New Year. The previous Coalition Government had been in Caretaker mode until the transition took place. December proved to be a hot month weatherwise.

Jack and May invited me to spend Christmas Day with them at May's aunty and uncle's farm at Kincora QLD. Kincora is about 60 km south west of Toowoomba QLD on the Darling Downs. It was about 200 km from Capalaba to Kincora and the trip took well over three hours in Jack's car. The two lanes Warrego Highway that day was so hot the bitumen was melting on parts of the road. You could hear the tyres squishing the bitumen as we drove over it.

I had a very pleasant Christmas Day with May's relatives Gordon and June McMurray at their farm at Kincora. Gordon usually planted his farm with rotational grain crops. Gordon and June, with their children, were in fellowship at the Pittsworth Christian Assembly in Pittsworth QLD. The Gibbon Street Assembly at Woolloongabba was associated with both the Pittsworth and the Toowoomba Assemblies. Kincora is situated in black soil country, which is fertile and productive. The black soil however was a menace in wet weather; particularly to automobiles. The soil keeps building up like glue on a vehicle's tyres and eventually stops the vehicle in a bogged condition. Fortunately, the month of December had been fine and sunny. Christmas Day in 1972 was very hot and sunny; so there was no concern about wet weather conditions.

Chapter Five: 1973 \- A Defining Year in Australia

On the international front on Monday, 01-Jan-1973 Great Britain (UK) formally joined the European Economic Union (EEC). On Saturday, 27-Jan-1973 the Vietnam Ceasefire Agreement was signed and brought into effect. However, both North Vietnam and South Vietnam violated the agreement and many low level skirmishes took place during 1973. This resulted in casualties on both sides; about 25,000 South Vietnamese were killed and approximately 45,000 North Vietnamese were killed. The South Vietnamese had access to the latest American weapons.

On the national front the new Labor Government led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam had hit the ground running. The caretaker Prime Minister William McMahon was supposed to stay in power until the final election results were declared on Friday, 15-Dec-1972. However Gough Whitlam was not willing to wait out this period. He had the then Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck swear him in as Prime Minister on Tuesday, 5-Dec-1972 as soon as Labor's win was secure. Labor's deputy leader, Lance Barnard was also sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, These two men held 27 portfolios between them until a full cabinet could be sworn in.

Gough Whitlam & Lance Barnard 'the Duumvirate'  
[Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]

During the two weeks of the so called 'duumvirate' Whitlam and Barnard commenced actions that did not require legislation to be passed by the Federal Parliament. Such things as:  
* Negotiations to establish relations with the Peoples Republic of China  
* Break off existing relations with Taiwan  
* Grant exemption from conscription to seven men held in prison for refusing conscription  
* Reopened the equal pay case pending in the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission  
* Appointed a woman, Elizabeth Evatt to that Commission.  
* Appointed an interim Schools Commission  
* Barred racially discriminatory sports teams from Australia  
* Announced major grants to the Arts  
* Ordered home all remaining Australian troops in Vietnam  
* Instructed the Australian delegation at the United Nations to vote for sanctions against South Africa and Rhodesia for apartheid.

On Tuesday, 19-Dec-1972 the Office of Aboriginal Affairs was upgraded to full ministerial level; with a cabinet minister responsible for the portfolio. The Labor Caucus was responsible for choosing the 27 member Cabinet; however Gough Whitlam as Parliamentary Party Leader and Prime Minister was able to choose who he wanted in those portfolios.

The Australian people were reeling from the rapid pace of change. Yet Gough Whitlam had consistently outlined over a period of time, before taking over the reigns of government, that these were Labor election promises to the nation.

On 10-Feb-1973 Australia's first legal gambling Casino opened at Wrest Point in Hobart, Tasmania (TAS). It did not take long for other States in Australia to jump on the band wagon.

On Wednesday, 28-Feb-1973 a very important Bill was passed in the Federal Parliament; which lowered the voting age down from 21 years of age to 18 years of age. The Bill received bi-partisan support and went through both Houses of Parliament easily. This was a significant occasion for hundreds of thousands of young people. Not only did they now have the opportunity to vote in elections, they also were now considered legally responsible as adults, not minors in the eyes of the law. This enabled them to enter into legal contracts in their own right.

On the home front Leah came to a decision to break up with me and go with a chap named Eric whom she had known all her life. Eric had an agricultural and farming background. As Leah was very interested in that lifestyle she made the choice to be with Eric, not me. It hurt! However, I am a realist and have stayed friends with Leah, but our relationship had obviously changed. As Eric did not attend our Christian fellowship we saw less of Leah in the months ahead.

On the work front I was given the opportunity to work more hours. Instead of cleaning the National Bank in Eagle Street I was offered a day job at the new SGIO (State Government Insurance Office) building in Little Edward Street. The duties there were relatively easy, basically to keep the offices clean, particularly the inside windows and glass partitions. Mainly I had to be on hand in case of accidents such as spills and such like and to mop up messes after people. As new clients moved into the building it was also part of my job to do an initial clean on the toilet blocks for that floor. These toilet blocks were still in the condition the builders had left them in. This usually involved plenty of elbow grease. There were often paint marks on the floor, dust and rubble from the tilers and even cement marks to remove. The building was about eight storeys high, so there were a few toilet blocks needing initial cleans.

As an adjunct to this job I was also offered extra hours cleaning the SGIO Theatre after performances. The SGIO Theatre was located in Turbot Street not very far from the building in Little Edward Street (about four city blocks away). There were two mature aged sisters employed by Crothalls to clean the theatre. My job was to assist them by flipping up the seats and removing the rubbish left behind by patrons. The ladies then vacuumed the carpets and cleaned the seats. I moved into the areas behind the stage to clean the dressing rooms and staff toilets. I then helped the girls to finish off. The main foyer also had to be kept spotless as this was where patrons had their first impressions of the theatre. It was an interesting job with a bit of variety. Unfortunately, it also involved Saturday matinees when a show was on.

The SGIO theatre job went along well until one particular day one of the two ladies I worked with suffered a stroke whilst cleaning. It was a tragic sight seeing her lying on the floor unable to move or speak. Her sister became very distraught as she tried to help her. We had the Ticket Office girl ring for an ambulance. The ambulance bearers arrived very soon after and the poor lady and her sister went off to hospital. I remember finishing off the cleaning of the theatre on my own.

Not long after this incident I was promoted to Cleaning Supervisor. This meant a salaried position instead of wages. The downside to this was I was basically on 24 hours call if required. The job came with a Morris Mini Van to carry equipment around. I was given the suburban cleaning jobs; which were mainly Banks and some commercial premises. The job involved hiring and firing staff, training of all new staff as needed, quality control, staff liaison and very importantly, customer liaison and satisfaction. As the cleaning jobs were either before trading hours or after trading hours it meant very early starts and late finishes each day. The early morning jobs started from 5:00 a.m. and had to be finished before start of trading. The afternoon jobs usually began at 5:00 p.m. and most were finished by 9:00 p.m.

However for me I had to be the back up man. If staff reported in sick and I could not get relief staff in I ended up doing the job myself. During the morning and afternoon I would make courtesy calls on my customers. If there were any complaints it was up to me to sort them out. I counted myself fortunate if I had a break during the middle of the day for a couple of hours. Thus began a 17.5 hours day Monday to Friday. Saturday mornings were also very busy as Crothalls had one off cleaning jobs lined up for its supervisors (no need to pay them extra money). Sunday was my day off. I did not work Sundays unless it was an emergency cleaning type situation.

I was earning a good salary for the times. I had about 50 staff under my direct supervision; which often meant a bit of juggling to get all the jobs done each day. Sometimes equipment had to be swapped between jobs and time constraints were often tight. I had a good rapport with my staff and was thankful to them when they stepped up and helped me out when people called in sick. Since I did not need my car it stayed at Jack and May's place not being used. I suggested to May that she might like to use it whenever she needed to do shopping etc. She was quite happy to have the use of my car during the week.

Crothalls office and warehouse was situated at Sterling House 274 Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley. So I became quite familiar with the Fortitude Valley area. In March 1973 a terrible crime took place about 150 metres away at 356 St Pauls Terrace, Fortitude Valley. On Thursday night, 8-Mar-1973 about 2:00 a.m. night club patrons at Whiskey A Go Go were locked in and the place set on fire.

Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia has this to say about this horrific incident:  
_'The building was firebombed, resulting in the deaths of 15 patrons and staff. The fire began with the ignition of two 23-litre drums of diesel fuel in the building's foyer. The drums were thrown into the foyer then ignited by a lit torch thrown through the open door. When ignited the burning diesel sent carbon monoxide up to the club's main room on the first floor. Large quantities of grease had been smeared over the stairs of the building's rear fire escape. The door of the fire escape had also been greased. The fifteen people killed had died of asphyxiation as they struggled to open the greased fire escape doors. Police believed that had they been able to open the doors they would have slipped and fallen down the steel stairs. A fire brigade officer reported hearing screams from behind the closed door as firemen tried to smash it down. Other reports indicated that fuel seeped from the two 23-litre drums into the carpet of the foyer, causing a fireball to engulf the stairway.  
About 100 patrons, bar staff and entertainers had been in the club at the time of ignition. Many escaped by jumping from broken windows onto an awning and dropping 15 feet to the ground. Of the six person band, two musicians were killed. Also killed was the female singer they accompanied. Jennifer Denise Davie. A drinks' waitress employed in the bar, also died.'_

I drove past the gutted, fire bombed building the next morning. It was a very solemn reminder of the consequences of what intense hatred in men lead to. Knowing that so many people had died and that the doors had been locked and that people were deliberately locked in to die was chilling!

On the national front on Friday, 16-Mar-1973 the Commonwealth Attorney-General, Lionel Murphy ordered the Commonwealth Police to raid the Melbourne headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The Commonwealth Police believed that ASIO was withholding information about Croatian extremists in Australia. The Attorney-General believed ASIO had information he required to ensure the safety of the Yugoslav Prime Minister Dzemal Bijedic who was due to visit Australia. It was feared that an attempt could be made on his life. ASIO seemed to be very offhand about supplying the Attorney-General with all relevant information. The raids caused a furore and a media storm. It was certainly not a smart move by the Whitlam Government.

Easter was early this year Good Friday came on 23-Mar-1973 and Easter Monday was on 26-Mar-1973. Due to my work commitments I was unable to even think about going down to the Easter Camp in Sydney. However, I was able to enjoy some time off over the Easter weekend. Jack also took some time off from his building work. It was good to just chill out with Jack and May and their children. They referred to me as their 'ghost' lodger. I was gone before they got up in the morning and they were asleep in bed by the time I got home at night. May usually left me a hot meal in the oven warming drawer at night.

May was pregnant with their third child and found the strain of having a boarder was becoming a burden. They needed the bedroom I was occupying for the new baby. I was politely asked to find other lodgings.

One of the brothers in the Gibbon Street Assembly was living on his own and offered to let me lodge with him in his spare bedroom. Cor Groenestyn was a Dutch immigrant and a Naturalised Australian. This meant he had full citizenship rights; the same as if he had been born in Australia. This gave him full voting rights at elections and an Australian passport. Cor spoke very good English with a Dutch accent. He had a very good job as a design draughstman with Evans Deakin Industries in Brisbane. Cor lived at 32 Crown Street, South Brisbane in a weatherboard Queenslander style cottage. The house was situated near the top of the street on a hill side.

On the work front my suburban run was taken off me and I was given the supervision of two high rise city buildings, the MMI Building in Queen Street, Brisbane and a new building at Eagle Street, Brisbane. Both of these buildings were cleaned at night. During the day I was partnered with a chap named John King. John was Crothalls' carpet cleaning expert and their expert troubleshooter. He also did most of the one off cleaning jobs that were not on contract. Many of these one off jobs were for window cleaning.

John did not have any buildings allocated to him. He preferred to work daylight hours only.  
John was very efficient and fast; it was difficult to keep up with him. My window cleaning skills improved noticeably in both speed and efficiency. The one off jobs were priced on John's speed at finishing a job. There were no margins built in for delays. I soon learned to work smarter and faster. We also did the occasional house cleaning jobs for landlords when tenants moved out. In between times I had to keep up my customer liaison with our clients in my two buildings in the city.

I had very good cleaning crews in both buildings. I was thankful for the good rapport I was able to establish with them. They helped me out when we were short staffed due to illness. I let them know I appreciated them for it. Most of my workers did the office cleaning to supplement their day job earnings, so illness was usually a genuine reason for not turning up. When I was out on jobs with John King my Mini van was often used by the New Accounts Manager, Peter. I sometimes accompanied him on his new business quotations. It was a good learning experience. Peter and I had a good working relationship.

I also got on well with the other staff. Interestingly, the Queensland Manager, Allan Marshall knew some of the folk at the Gibbon Street Assembly. Allan's father in years gone by had fellowshipped at Gibbon Street. When I had applied for the job I had given two men from the Gibbon Street Assembly as personal referees. Allan knew both Cyril Gibbs and Roy Paget personally. I reckon that may have been a deciding factor in my promotion to Cleaning Supervisor.

On the home front I had gotten over Leah's break up with me. Anyway my busy work life did not leave hardly any time for thoughts of romance. Nevertheless, I began to notice the girl I had first met at an Easter Camp in Sydney a couple of years ago. Rachel Patane had blossomed into a very attractive, sensible young woman. Due to my work time constraints I did not actively pursue a relationship at that time.

On the job front my workload was increased. I was given the recently refurbished Prudential Building at North Quay in the city. This was not yet an established building. Some tenants were in; however many of the floors were vacant and there were lots of initial cleaning jobs to be done as the refurbishment progressed. Some office cleaning staff had been employed but more were needed. I had a busy time recruiting and training staff for the Prudential Building. One of the men I employed started out ok but turned out to be lazy and kept cutting corners. After serious complaints I had to fire him.

A little while later Crothalls decided to create an Area Manager's position. Subsequently, an ex Australian Air Force (RAAF) fellow was employed to fill the position. Unfortunately this chap was not used to supervising civilians and brought with him a 'put up and shut up' attitude to staff. Initially things were not too bad; however he soon put a lot people offside. He was not the type to listen to others. He did not realise that he could not use the same approach as in the air force. He alienated more people when he began an affair with the married, female team leader in my Eagle Street building. A lot of staff knew her husband was a good chap and they were not happy about the affair; to make matters worse the Area Manager was also a married man. He had a forceful personality and my team leader at the Eagle Street building was probably unable to withstand him. The possibility of losing her team leader's position was perhaps another factor.

The months of April and May came and went.

On the national front, the arrival of the much vaunted F111C fighter bombers for the RAAF was heralded with much excitement. The first upgraded F111C arrived at Amberley Air Base in QLD on Friday, 1-Jun-1973. Australia had ordered 24 of these fighter bombers. The first batch was actually delivered in 1968 and 1969 however major design faults were found and the entire fleet was then grounded in the USA until the problems were sorted out. All of the 24 aircraft were delivered in 1973.

On the work front as we headed into winter the tensions at work were slowly building up. This did not help the constant workload. The Prudential Building now had more clients and needed more of my time to set up good working relations with these new clients. Fortunately, the MMI building and the Eagle Street building had excellent team leaders and the quality control in both buildings was high.

On the home front I was becoming tired of the very long hours of work each day. Week in and week out, Monday to Friday was continual work until late at night. Even Saturdays had become an all day work day; the only exception was Sundays. I refused to work on Sundays; unless it was an absolute emergency. On top of that if there were staff shortages in my buildings and relief staff were not available, I was expected to pitch in and get the job done. Was the job worth it? The pay was good - but the hours were terrible!

Things at work came to a head in the month of June. I was at work and in the Crothalls' building and just happened to stick up for an employee that was being maligned by the Area Manager. The Area Manager took exception to this and said, _"Do you want to make this personal?"_ I replied, _"If you want to make it personal you can."_ I then outlined to him how his attitude towards staff was putting them offside and was not in the best interests of the company. I went on to tell him that if he was not happy with constructive criticism I would hand in my resignation.

The upshot of this was I wrote Arthur Marshall a letter of resignation outlining the problems with the Area Manager and also the excessive hours I was working which no other supervisor had to work. Arthur was very reluctant to accept my resignation; however he could not see how my hours of work at present could be lessened. So the resignation went into effect. I left Crothalls employ on Friday, 15-Jun-1973. I was quite relieved and was looking forward to a nice holiday. Arthur was decent enough to give me a good written work reference. It was good to sleep in a bit later each day and catch up on my reading and bible studies.

My landlord Cor was separated from his wife Jo; who was living in Toowoomba with their youngest son Paul. Paul was at primary school in Toowoomba. Cor and Jo's two older boys John and Peter were living and working in Sydney NSW. They both went to the North Ryde Assembly in Sydney. I knew them from the Easter camps in Sydney.

Cor was a typical Dutchman who could be quite arrogant at times. You always knew where you stood with Cor. He was very straight forward and did not suffer fools gladly. He had a very interesting past life.

He had been taken by the German army in the occupation of Holland in World War 2. As a 16 years old youth he was taken to Germany and forced to work in a German factory repairing steam railway locomotives for the German war effort. It was a very no nonsense place to work. The repair work had to be perfect or you would be shot on site. He had witnessed this happening. A prisoner had welded in a welding rod instead of doing a proper weld. When it was discovered he was placed against the factory wall and shot in front of everybody. The lesson was clear and plain! Sabotage was punishable by death!

After World War 2 was over he studied and became a 3rd Engineer on oil tankers that sailed between Europe and Venezuela. It was during this period he married his Dutch wife Jo. They later immigrated to Australia and settled down in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield; near my home town Smithfield. In later years they moved to Brisbane in QLD to the house at 32 Crown Street, South Brisbane.

Cor and I basically did our own things. We usually had meals together though. We often went to the meetings at Gibbon Street together. It was about five minutes drive away so it was nice and handy. We did our grocery shopping at Woolloongabba where there was a small BCC (Brisbane Cash & Carry) food supermarket. As well there was a pharmacy, a fish & chips shop, a post office and a couple of hotels. Our basic requirements were at hand in Woolloongabba. Woolloongabba is better known as the location of the internationally renowned 'Gabba' cricket ground.

Cor's engineering background as a ship's engineer and his draughtsman's skills assisted him to get a job in Brisbane with Evans Deakin Industries. Cor's job was to design high pressure pipe work for electric power generating stations. His company was in partnership with a German company that specialised in producing the coal fired boilers for the steam pressure that turned the turbine generators. Cor had worked on the design and implementation of Swanbank B Power Station, near Ipswich QLD; which was commissioned in 1971. Currently Evans Deakin and their German partner company were doing design costings for tenders on other Australian power stations.

I made plans to drive up north to Mena Creek and stay with Silvio and Ruth Grasso again. So in July 1973 I headed north up the Bruce Highway. My car did not cause as much excitement this time around. By now there were quite a few purple coloured cars on the road. Once again I stayed with Silvio and Ruth; however this time there was a new addition to their family, a baby boy named Stephen. This time around I did not do as much sight seeing; instead I tended to spend time with the Grasso families and some of the older folk from the South Johnstone assembly.

Silvio's parents Angelo and Josie Grasso had a sugar cane farm just up the road. I visited them a few times. Francesco (Frank) Trento, his married brother Gregorio (Greg) Trento and his wife Maria also had a cane farm near Mena Creek. I can recall helping them a bit by doing some odd jobs on their farm. I had a great holiday for a couple of weeks but then it was time to head back to Brisbane. Gregorio very kindly filled up my car's fuel tank with petrol from their farm's fuel storage tank and then I said my goodbyes and headed south.

I decided to drive straight through to Brisbane without stopping for accommodation. By the time I got to the pine forests north of Brisbane I just had to stop and sleep. So I pulled off the side of the highway and had a snooze for a couple of hours. I then continued on to South Brisbane and home and a good long sleep. I calculated that my actual driving time was 19.5 hours for the journey. This was an excellent time for the road conditions back in 1973.

My first priority was finding a new job. I did not want to get back into office cleaning again. I began to apply for sales jobs. I had money in the bank so I could afford to spend a bit of time looking for a new job. Cor started to get a bit edgy when I did not find a job after a couple of weeks. He obviously had visions of me sponging off him. As he was a bit on the stingy side this would have troubled him. I had one good thing on my side this time; I had a good reference from a Brisbane company which should make it easier for me to find work in Brisbane.

On Wednesday, 25-July-1973 after some interviews I commenced work at Elders Metals Ltd, who were Steel and Non-ferrous Metal Merchants located at Eagle Farm. I was employed as a steel salesman. My hours of work were from 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday. Lunch break was for half an hour. This job was a new learning curve for me; I had to learn as much as I could about BHP steel products. Products such as: flat steel bars, round steel bars, rolled steel joists (RSJ's), steel plates, RHS, deformed bar, hard drawn wire and galvanised sheet metal.

Along with this knowledge was the need to learn the various sizes the products came in. Fortunately I was a quick learner and within a few days I was able to take my place on the telephones with the other steel salesmen. The other very important knowledge I needed was the discount structure for our prestige clients. The discounts had to be applied to every invoice raised against those clients.

This was in the days before computers were on every desk. Calculators were in their early days and our calculators did not even have a memory key or a percentage key. I quickly got tired of having to calculate the percentage discounts and I thought _"There must be a better way to do this."_ So I set to work in quiet periods making up a discount table for our use. I worked out the decimal equivalent of each applicable discount and put that on my table. If it was a 15% discount my table showed the decimal equivalent of 0.15. If it was 12.5% then my table showed 0.125 etc. The discount table was quickly adopted and made discount calculations faster and easier. Every salesman had a photocopy of the discount table, even the bosses made use of it.

On the home front I was chatting to Rachel Patane after one of the Sunday meetings at the Gibbon Street hall. She was sitting curled up one of the padded bench seats. She gave me a look that gave me quite a jolt. Her eyes were saying to me, _"Why won't you take any notice of me?"_ I suddenly realised that she was really interested in me! I had been taking more notice of her but didn't realise that the feelings were reciprocated. What was I going to do about this?

The following day during my lunch break I went to the Hamilton shops to a Florist and ordered a nice bunch of flowers to be sent to her home address. I did not enclose a card. That night after dinner I went to the public telephone booth around the corner in Stephens Road, South Brisbane. I was feeling quite nervous as I made a phone call to the Patane house at Sunnybank. When I spoke to Rachel I asked her if she had received the flowers. Rachel was very happy to hear my voice and to know that they were from me. She was hoping they were from me but because there was no card there was no way of knowing. We chatted for a while and made plans to see each other the following night at her home. As the Patane family was in fellowship at Gibbon Street I was already friends with them. So it was not an awkward time for me.

I first met Rachel's parents when I was living at home in Sydney. Rachel's cousin Elizabeth Grasso from Mena Creek QLD was in Sydney NSW on holidays at her sister Mary's home at Earlwood. Elizabeth asked me if I could pick up her aunty and uncle Mr and Mrs Patane who were down from Brisbane. They were also staying with Mary and her family. _"Could you please take them to the morning meeting at the North Ryde Gospel Hall?"_ I was happy to do this for them. It meant a long detour for me as I had to drive from Smithfield to Earlwood and then take them from Earlwood to North Ryde. From North Ryde I then drove to the Berry Road Gospel Hall at St Leonards. I learned much later that from that time they saw me as a possible suitor for their daughter Rachel. I already had their approval!

Rachel and I would meet up most nights at the Patanes' house. Some nights we would go for a drive down to Wellington Point, sit in the car, cuddle up and chat. The moonlight on the waters of Moreton Bay made a romantic backdrop.

Rachel's parents were Sicilian and spoke Sicilian when their relatives visited them. Obviously, Rachel also spoke Sicilian. It was an interesting exercise for me listening to them talk and trying to understand what they were saying. After a few months I could pick up the general gist of what they were saying. As many of the words had Latin roots they were similar to some English words. This certainly helped my understanding. Rachel's relatives could speak English but whenever they were together they spoke Sicilian, their native tongue.

In September 1973 Rachel and her parents went on holidays to Innisfail in Far North QLD for a few weeks. Ruth Grasso was one of their daughters, so they stayed with Ruth and Silvio Grasso. They travelled up to Innisfail on the Sunlander long-distance passenger train. They were old hands at long-distance train travel. I can remember writing romantic letters to Rachel and mailing them to her while she was on holidays. Long-distance telephone calls from public telephone booths were very expensive and you needed a good supply of coins to feed into the coin slot.

On the national front during September 1973 the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) purchased 'Blue Poles' by American painter Jackson Pollock for AUD$1,300,000. The gallery's director at the time, James Mollison, was not able to authorise purchases over $1 million. The acquisition had to be authorised by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. The purchase caused a furore and people generally were gobsmacked at the purchase price. $1,300,000 was a considerable sum of money in 1973. In 2016 the controversial painting was estimated to be worth about AUD$350,000,000; a huge improvement over its purchase price!

'Blue Poles' on loan to the Royal Academy of Arts in London UK  
[Source: ABC News - Lisa Millar]

On the international front on Saturday, 6-Oct-1973 the Arab **/** Israeli War, also known as the 'Yom Kippur" War began. Egypt and Syria launched co-ordinated attacks at the Suez Canal and in the Golan Heights. The Israelis' were taken by surprise as Yom Kippur is their national 'Day of Atonement', a very sacred religious day. It took them a couple of days before they could mount a counter offensive attack. The Soviet Union was supplying both Egypt and Syria with additional armament for their campaigns. Initially the Israelis suffered losses and defeats.

On Wednesday, 10-Oct-1973 US Jewish leader Max Fisher at a meeting with US President Richard Nixon at the White House urged him to send the Israelis what they needed. Nixon contacted Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and told her that all their aircraft and tank losses would be replaced. He authorised an airlift of military supplies to Israel. The armaments from the USA helped the Israelis gain the upper hand in their battles.

On Wednesday, 17-Oct-1973 ten Arab member-nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made a far reaching decision to cut oil production until Israel withdrew from Arab territory captured during the 1967 'Six-Day War' and Palestinian rights were restored. The flow on effect from this embargo was a global oil shortage and increased fuel prices. It was a form of retaliation against Western nations, particularly the USA for assisting Israel.

On Sunday, 28-Oct-1973 Israeli and Egyptian military leaders met at the Kilometer 101 marker in the Sinai to implement a United Nations brokered cease-fire agreement. The oil embargo however remained in place. This oil embargo was to have a severe detrimental effect on the world economy.

Also in October Queen Elizabeth came to Australia specifically to open the Sydney Opera House. On Friday, 19-Oct-1973 Queen Elizabeth personally enacted the Royal Styles and Titles Act to formally make her title "Queen of Australia". Then the following day on Saturday, 20-Oct-1973 she officially opened the Sydney Opera House.

There were fierce demonstrations in the Sydney 'Rocks' area on Wednesday, 24-Oct-1973 to prevent development in this area containing some of Sydney's oldest buildings. On Wednesday, 31-Oct-1973 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam became the first Prime Minister of Australia to make an official visit to the Peoples' Republic of China. He had visited China in 1971 as part of a Labor Party delegation when he was the Opposition Leader in the Australian Parliament. This was an historic visit as Australia now recognised Communist China, instead of Taiwan, as being the official representatives of the Chinese people.

On the home front Rachel and I were now in a committed relationship. My sales job at Elders Metals was working out well and things on the personal level were going along nicely.

In the month of November, Brisbane experienced a severe weather event that caused considerable damage. On Sunday, 4-Nov-1973 a tornado appeared in the suburb of Brookfield and cut a swathe of damage across Brisbane and finally blew out to sea near Cleveland. The tornado varied in width from 100 metres to 200 metres wide with estimated wind speeds up to 300 kph. The trail of destruction went for 51 km. Over 1900 homes were damaged, some beyond repair, 500 of these homes had their roofs blown off. Businesses also suffered damage from this tornado. Thankfully there were no deaths; however, there were a lot of injuries reported.

Being a Sunday afternoon I was at home with Cor at South Brisbane when this event occurred. Because the tornado had such a narrow pathway, we were not even aware of the disaster. Cor and I went to the 7:00 pm gospel meeting at Gibbon Street, Woolloongabba as usual. We noticed that Rachel and her parents were not there. This was odd! We decided to go to their home at Sunnybank after the gospel meeting to check on them.

There was no South East Freeway to Sunnybank in 1973. From South Brisbane we drove to Annerley and then went out through Ekibin and Wellers Hill; then through the Toohey Forest area to Coopers Plains and then to Sunnybank. However this time we could not access the Toohey Forest due to the damage from the tornado. We soon realised why the Patanes' had not been able to get to Woolloongabba. We had to back track to Ipswich Road and drive down to Beaudesert Road and try to come around the Toohey Forest. We then drove along Evans Road back to Orange Grove Road. Still no success; the Police had closed off Orange Grove Road.

Unfazed we drove back out to Beaudesert Road and headed down to Boundary Road at Coopers Plains. Now we ran into a further complication - flood waters over the road! As it was night time; it made matters quite interesting. The aftermath of the tornado had dumped heavy rain in this area. There was water up to one foot deep (approx. 30 cm) along Boundary Road and deeper in some parts. It was slow going as we did not want to stall the car's engine. When we crossed over the railway lines at Coopers Plain the road began to clear up. We then had to drive with the brakes lightly applied to dry out the brakes. We had no further problems driving to the Patanes.

We pulled up at the Patanes' home and knocked on the door. They were happy to see us and to know that we were anxious to find out if they were safe and well. Rachel told me later in private that her father had told her that if I did not come to check up on her I was not worth hanging on to. So he in particular was happy to see me checking up on them. We stayed about one hour and then had a slow drive back to South Brisbane through the flood waters and then out along Beaudesert Road and Ipswich Road.

The full extent of the damage was not evident until the next day. The road through Toohey Forest was promptly cleared of trees and debris so work could begin on repairing and restoring the dwellings in the Nathan area. This Brisbane tornado is still regarded as the severest tornado to hit Australia. My builder friend Jack Weddell and his brother Roy ended up repairing at least two of the damaged homes in Nathan.

December 1973 was a busy month on the national agenda. The Whitlam Government granted self government to Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Saturday, 1-Dec-1973. This was the fulfilment of a promise that Gough Whitlam had given to PNG when he was Opposition Leader. On Tuesday, 4-Dec-1973 Australia's sea sovereignty rights were extended to the edge of the Continental shelf; thus preserving Australia's fishing grounds from foreign fishing fleets. Then on Saturday, 8-Dec-1973 a Referendum for the Commonwealth Government to make laws to control prices and incomes was rejected by Australian voters. Referendums in Australia have a sorry history of usually being rejected.

On the home front December 1973 was a happy time for Rachel and I; we became officially engaged to be married. We had been window shopping at Jewellery stores for engagement rings for a few weeks. I spotted a nice suitable ring in a jewellery store in Fortitude Valley, so one lunch time I drove to Fortitude Valley and purchased the ring. As Rachel is slim and petite I had them resize the ring. The ring is 18 carats white gold with a single diamond in a high setting to emphasise the brilliant cut diamond. It still is a very nice, simple and elegant ring.

I now planned to surprise Rachel with the engagement ring. So the next Saturday I drove out to the Patanes' home at Sunnybank. I had planned a gradual surprise. First I gave her a single flower. She was happy with the little gift. Then I gave her a nice flowered scroll with a Scripture text which could be hung on a wall. She was even happier. Then it was time for the grand finale. I asked her to put out her hand and I put the blue velvet ring box in her hand. She realised what it was and jumped backwards in surprise. When she calmed down she opened the ring box and tried out her engagement ring. It looked fabulous on her hand! Her parents were very happy for us both. We were now officially engaged.

My parents and my siblings were happy to hear that Jon was engaged to be married. Rachel's family and all her many cousins were also happy with our engagement. Our engagement was a happy ending to an often turbulent year.

The happy engaged couple

Chapter Six: The 1974 Floods

After a very wet Spring in 1973, the Summer season continued to be a problem. January 1974 in Queensland (QLD) had frequent downpours of rain. The river systems and catchment areas were saturated. Most of QLD was experiencing unusually high rainfall, with rivers now at high levels and local flooding in some areas of QLD. January was a very wet month over most of Australia. Tropical Cyclone Wanda on the eastern coast of Australia had a devastating effect on South East Queensland over the Australia Day weekend. Although it was a comparatively weak system in terms of wind speed it brought with it huge quantities of monsoonal rain which deluged both QLD and northern New South Wales (NSW).

The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology published the following details on the 1974 floods in Australia.

*****************************

_The Big Wet - January 1974  
_ The year 1973 was one of the wettest known over much of Australia, and in keeping with the strong La Niña event that prevailed, the 1973/74 northern wet season started early. By the end of 1973 large areas of the country were saturated. Then came January 1974, which featured probably the biggest continent-wide drenching since European settlement, inundating vast areas of the country.

New Year celebrations had barely finished when torrential rains on 4 January soaked northeast Victoria and parts of the Riverina, and flooded Albury. Meanwhile, far away in north Queensland, big floods on the 5th marooned cars and coaches across a broad area. The deluge then extended to northwest New South Wales on the 7th and 8th, causing flooding along the Namoi and Castlereagh rivers: railways and roads were cut, necessitating evacuations by helicopter.

Further heavy rain fell in NSW during the second week of January, and many rivers in the north of that State were flooded. On 11 January, creeks in Brisbane burst their banks, flooding roads and streets. Northern Victoria experienced a second burst of heavy rain on the 13th; this time, floodwaters swirled through the streets of Nhill and Dimboola. Rains also extended to the normally arid north of South Australia on the 17th, flooding opal mines at Coober Pedy.

As monsoonal rains poured down, the Gulf Country of Queensland, and extensive areas of the dry centre, were turned into vast inland seas, isolating pastoral stations and causing heavy cattle losses. About 500 people were evacuated from Normanton and Karumba, while 250 stranded passengers on the Townsville-Mt Isa railway were air-lifted to Mt Isa. Some 400-600mm of rain inundated the southern Northern Territory and southwest Queensland in January, more than twice the average ANNUAL total at some locations.

On top of all this came tropical cyclone "Wanda", which moved ashore north of Brisbane on Thursday 24 January, producing relatively little wind damage, but sending down enormous quantities of rain over the Australia Day weekend. In Brisbane, intensifying rain throughout Friday dumped over 300mm within 24 hours. In three days (ended 9am 27th) the Queensland capital received 580mm, with even heavier falls over river catchments near the city (1,300mm in five days at Mt Glorious). The first houses were washed away along Enoggera Creek early on the 26th. As rivers continued to rise, many more were lost. The Bremer River peaked at Ipswich on the Sunday, and the Brisbane River peaked early on Tuesday; both at their highest levels since the disastrous floods of 1893. Fourteen people were drowned, some trapped in offices by the rising waters.

By the end of January much of Australia - normally the "dry" continent \- was experiencing the problems of too much water. Vast areas of the inland remained submerged for weeks - in some cases, for months. Crops were destroyed, and outbreaks of disease, such as Murray Valley encephalitis, took their toll.

*********************************

So that is how the Bureau of Meteorology summed up the floods during January 1974. As I was living and working in Brisbane at the time; I can add my personal recollections of the Brisbane floods.

On Friday, 25-Jan-1974 it rained heavily all day making driving conditions slow and difficult. I worked that day and was glad to get home out of the traffic and the incessant rain. Tropical Cyclone Wanda, although a weak cyclone, had brought huge quantities of rain with it. On Saturday, 25-Jan-1974 the intensity of the rain and the wind increased as Cyclone Wanda began to pass over Brisbane. In Cor's backyard he had a huge umbrella tree growing. Gusts of wind pushed the tree horizontal at times, yet it returned to its upright position each time. The rain on his galvabond, custom orb steel roof was very loud. Water forced its way through the roof sheets and we had buckets and other vessels all over the house to catch the dripping water. The cyclonic winds were very loud. All we could do was sit tight and wait it out.

The Brisbane River meanwhile had burst its banks and was inundating large areas of low-lying suburbs. All the creeks which flowed into the Brisbane River were also in flood. This was to cause enormous disruption to Brisbane's industrial areas; many of which were along the flood plains of these creeks in 1974. The Story Bridge (between Fortitude Valley and Kangaroo Point) became the lifeline for vehicular traffic from the southern suburbs to the northern suburbs. Access to the other bridges in the CBD was cut off by the rising flood waters.

On Sunday, 26-Jan-1974 (Australia Day) the rains began to ease off. Normally Cor and I would go to the meeting at the Gibbon Street hall but due to the weather circumstances we did not go. Most of the fellowship would not have been able to get to the meeting due to road flooding in their local areas. I decided to volunteer my services at the Annerley RSL Club (Returned Soldiers' League) to help in the relief effort. So I drove to Annerley and volunteered to help in any way I could. At that point of time they were accepting food donations and things like blankets. The full extent of the disaster was not yet known. Families from submerged homes were already lining up to get food and assistance. Donations of food thankfully were pouring in as people realised the plight of those whose houses were submerged under the flood waters.

One of the most impressionable sights to me of the 1974 floods took place that afternoon. We heard sirens rapidly approaching along Ipswich Road. Two Police motorcycles were racing along Ipswich Road followed by a huge convoy of pantechnicon semi-trailers. We found out later they were on the way to the Tickles Wholesalers' warehouse at Rocklea to extract as much food as they could before the warehouse went under water. It was quite a sight, as the convoy was travelling at high speed due to the necessity to get to its destination as soon as possible.

The next day Monday, 27-Jan-1974 the river had not yet reached its peak flood level. I could not get to work so I again went to the RSL Relief centre at Annerley. Due to some very unscrupulous types getting food by pretending to be flood victims a more rigorous approach was taken to people asking for food donations. We now were checking out the addresses they gave to verify that their premises had been inundated. This slowed things down but it was the only way we could be sure that the people were genuine flood victims.

Submerged homes in the suburb of Yeronga  
[Source: State Library of Queensland]

I was amazed as we drove down towards the river area and street after street had submerged or partially submerged houses in them. I saw water in places I would not have dreamed that flood waters would reach. These areas were declared off limits by the Police; however this did not stop the looters. Looters in boats, and using snorkelling and scuba gear were diving into the flood waters and looting houses. The Police were tied up with rescue efforts and keeping sightseers away from the flooded zones. They did not have sufficient manpower to go after all the looters. It's a strong indictment of those low-life individuals in society that deliberately take advantage of other peoples' misfortunes caused by natural disasters. Unfortunately, there are like minded individuals in every society on Earth.

Back at the Relief centre I noticed that we were getting food, clothing, linen and blankets but we were not getting any toiletries. So I drove to a pharmacy on Ipswich Road and purchased a large quantity of toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap, from my own funds. These items were much appreciated by the flood victims. By now the full scale of the floods was becoming apparent. A major portion of Brisbane's industrial areas was inundated; in particular a lot of smaller family owned businesses.

At one point of time during the floods a large oil tanker being built and fitted out at Kangaroo Point became adrift in the flood waters. The great fear was that the tanker the 'Robert Miller' would swing around and jam tight across the river; creating in effect a dam wall and thus increasing the flood height. Two tug boats were called into action to manoeuvre the tanker downstream. The tanker at this point in its development had no power of its own to call on. The river was flowing at quite a fast rate which made the tug boats' job much harder. Upstream at Jindalee a large metal barge had lodged itself under the road bridge on the Centenary Highway. It had to be deliberately sunk to prevent further damage to the bridge. After the flood waters receded the bridge was closed for repairs to the damaged pylons.

Approximately three quarters of Queensland was flooded. The State was in crisis mode. As the days continued to unfold the enormous task of cleaning up and rebuilding began. When I returned to work I learned that my big boss, Branch Manager, Bill Reid had used his recreational fishing boat continually over the weekend to rescue people from their flooded houses. My little efforts paled in comparison.

Cor and I needed to restock our pantry. We went to the local BCC super mart at Woolloongabba. There was hardly any food on the shelves. People were panicking. I saw one person take food out of another person's shopping trolley without permission. They nearly came to blows. The situation was not good as we did not know when fresh food supplies would be delivered to the store. It took weeks before food deliveries normalised. In the meantime deliveries were spasmodic and stock quickly sold out.

The next time we went to the meetings at the Gibbon Street hall I was speaking to a friend Dick Roach who was the General Manager of Bailey Aluminium Products. They made aluminium ladders and had a storage warehouse at Rocklea. Dick needed to check out his warehouse after the floods. He told me that he never thought that one day he would be in a boat on Ipswich Road at the same height as the traffic lights! The boat was the only way he could access his warehouse.

An older couple from the Gibbon Street Assembly, Bryson and Esme Swann, who lived at Rosebery Terrace at Chelmer, had flood water through their house slightly above ceiling level. It was a fairly new house. Rosebery Terrace is situated alongside the Brisbane River at Chelmer.

Many of the houses inundated were wooden Queenslander style houses on stumps. They could be repaired but all the outside and inside cladding had to be removed as mud had gotten in between the walls. This type of mud has a malignant stench. All the mud had to be hosed off before repair work could begin. Some areas did not get fresh water from the water mains for many days. Pauls Milk Factory at South Brisbane used milk from their milk storage tanks to hose off mud as they had no fresh water. Electricity was switched off in inundated areas and could not be restored until the floodwaters receded and electrical circuits in houses could be inspected as being safe. Production from the industrial areas was slow to recover. Brisbane industry was paralysed by the floods. Public transport was severely affected and took many days to normalise.

At work a rather sad incident took place after the floods had receded. One of our steel sales representatives George took a phone call at work and he went as white as a sheet. One of the bodies recovered had been identified as his brother. It really brought home to us the personal losses as well as the material losses from this flood.

Chapter Seven: 1974 \- A year of economic and inflationary pressures

On the national front on Wednesday, 2-Jan-1974 steelworkers at Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd (BHP) were awarded large pay increases. These increases would add an immediate AUD$28 million to its annual wages bill and this would increase to AUD$38 million by December 1974. A growing trend by unions to demand higher wages would have a serious impact on the Australian economy during 1974. The Whitlam Government's spending spree on its social reforms and increasing the size of Commonwealth Government departments also would have an effect on growing inflation.

On Thursday, 3-Jan-1974 French President Pompidou upset Australia and New Zealand by reaffirming that France would continue to hold nuclear tests in the South Pacific. This did not bode well for trade between our countries and France.

On the national front on Sunday, 3-Feb-1974 a large scale riot broke out at Bathurst Gaol at Bathurst NSW. The prisoners were protesting at the primitive conditions they were forced to live in. A previous riot in 1970 had also occurred because of the conditions. This 1974 riot caused AUD$10 million in damages. Some of the buildings were set on fire and burned to the ground.

Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia gives us the following information.  
_"Prison officers were issued with arms, and without having been so ordered, began firing on the prisoners. '.....there was an indiscriminate use of firearms, with no proper instructions given or understanding gained of when or where to use them......' The shootings were, moreover, in direct contravention of instructions sent from departmental headquarters."_

Ten prisoners were wounded in the riot. The riot lasted for six hours until the prisoners could be brought under control. The Nagle Royal Commission into the riots had this to say about the conditions at Bathurst Gaol.

_"In common with all maximum security gaols built last century_ [19th century] _, Bathurst has no glass in the windows. Prisoners, who spent about eighteen hours a day in their cells, frequently had their bedding wet by rain and sleet. There was no heating in the cells despite the extreme cold experienced in Bathurst. The cells could be stifling in summer. Screens were not permitted on the windows, and the piggery operated by the gaol outside its southern wall (between towers 4 and 6) contributed to the flies and insects and all types of odorous smells which invaded the cells in summer."_

On Wednesday, 27-Feb-1974 Sir John Kerr was chosen as the next Governor-General of Australia. In Australia the Governor-General is Queen Elizabeth II's Vice Regal representative. It is in effect the highest office in Australia. The Governor-General as the Queen's representative has Vice Regal authority to carry out all the legal functions associated with the Australian Federal Parliament. In other words all the functions that the Queen herself would authorise if she was present to do so. Although we did not know it at the time this would prove to be a momentous decision.

On the work front an extra salesman was needed for the non-ferrous metals section at Elders Metals. I was asked to take on the job. This would involve me in another steep learning curve. I now had to learn about aluminium and copper products. The aluminium products differed markedly from the steel products. A lot of our customers had their own unique dies made up for specific aluminium extrusions for use in their own products. These dies became the property of the customer and could not be used by any other customer. This meant that the Elders Metals' sales staff had to do a lot of liaison with the Aluminium Mill and our customers; particularly in the making up of the dies. As there was also a lead time involved in producing the unique customer extrusions, time management also came into play.

Copper products were mainly copper sheets, copper pipes and copper wire. Copper was difficult price wise. The prices vacillated according to the current market price of copper. We really had to be on the ball with our current price to customers. It was easy to turn a profit into a loss. I remember a time when a large bundle of copper water pipes was sold to a customer in northern NSW. They were too heavy to be loaded by hand and were loaded by fork lift. The carrier used a crow bar to drop them over the edge of the truck's tray.

Unfortunately the customer did not require such a large bundle of pipes and rang us to pick them up for credit. This is where we ran into difficulty, the carrier and the customer had no means of loading the copper pipes back on to the truck. There was a stalemate for a few months until our sales manager eventually authorised the cost of loading the pipes via a fork lift. Here is the punch line. The price of copper had dropped dramatically in the intervening months. We bought the copper pipes when copper was about $900.00 per tonne; it was now only about $700.00 per tonne! There was no way we could recoup the loss at current prices.

Another non-ferrous metal we sold was lead ingots. The old saying, _"It's as heavy as lead."_ certainly became evident when you saw the size of a lead ingot. The ingots were only about the size of a larger common house brick, but each ingot weighed one tonne (1,000 kg)! Each ingot had to be loaded and unloaded by fork lift. A 10 tonne stack of lead ingots looked tiny compared to our other heavy products. They took up a very small space in the warehouse.

I was settling into my new job quite well, with only a few glitches along the way. So it was a complete surprise to me when my big boss Bill Reid asked me to take over the credit controller's job. Allan the branch accountant had apparently recommended me for the job as he had noticed that I followed up on queries and mistakes thoroughly. Elders Metals had advertised for a new credit controller but were not impressed with the calibre of the applicants.

The job came with an increase in salary and the work hours were the same. Guided by Allan I had to quickly learn the ropes; fortunately I had him around to mentor me. The Credit Controller's job was to collect and bank all monies received through the mail and from cash sales. All new applicants for credit accounts had to be vetted and their credit references checked before being assigned a credit account. Products were sold on 30 days credit from the end of the month the goods were purchased. A 2.5% percent settlement discount was applicable if the account was paid within 30 days. We did give them some leniency for their cheques to reach us through the mail.

The other important aspect of credit control is overdue accounts. Sometimes we had to resort to legal proceedings to recover overdue monies. Depending on the individual account, credit was usually stopped at 45 days or 60 days. No further goods were supplied until the account was paid up to date.

On the home front Rachel and I were busy looking at wedding reception venues. Rachel particularly liked a venue at 29 Murray Street, Wilston on Brisbane's north side. It was a very 'in trend' wedding reception venue in 1974. With the assistance of Rachel's parents we thankfully were able to book our wedding reception for Saturday, 24-Aug-1974. The venue had two function rooms and another wedding was also scheduled in the other function room for the same day. The venue at 29 Murray Street was completely booked out prior to Saturday, 24-Aug-1974.

We now had the usual wedding planning to go through. Fortunately the management and staff of 29 Murray Street were able to handle the catering arrangements and decorations for us. We had to work out an invitation list. Rachel had a lot of relatives who expected to be at our wedding. My list was a lot smaller. We also had to organise wedding cars for the day and a wedding photographer.

Rachel worked as a pharmacy assistant at Bruce Johnson's, Shauna Downs Pharmacy at Shauna Downs; which was located in a small, strip shopping centre off Beenleigh Road at Sunnybank in Brisbane. Rachel drove herself to and from work in her father's Holden EJ sedan. It only took her about 5 minutes to drive to work. She enjoyed working in the pharmacy and was well liked by the customers.

As the year rolled on the oil crisis began to bite globally. Australians suffered a rude awakening as we were made to realise just how much we as a nation depended on oil and petroleum products. For decades we had enjoyed cheap petrol, but those days were sadly over. Inflation began to rise as prices went up and kept going up. Meanwhile trade unions became quite militant in their quest for large pay rises. With a Labor Government in power, which was backed by the powerful unions, the Whitlam Government had problems trying to keep a lid on the wage demands.

Australia's change to metric units of measure took a giant leap forward during 1974. Australian schools had changed over from imperial units of measure to metric by the end of 1973. During 1974 Australian industries transitioned from imperial to metric. This is not as simple as it sounds. For instance, at Elders Metals all the steel products from BHP began to arrive in a metric configuration. The various BHP steelworks had to spend huge amounts of money converting their mills over to metric. There was of course an enormous flow on effect right through Australian industries. Just stop and think for a moment of how many products are based on steel, or have a large proportion of steel in their manufacture.

All these changes were costing money and as a result prices kept going up. In 1974 a Prices Justification Act was passed by the Federal Parliament. This effectively meant that any business trading in Australia that had an annual turnover of AUD$20 million or more could not increase prices until the Prices Justification Tribunal approved the price increases. This would soon prove to be a thorn in the flesh to the affected businesses. All these businesses now had to justify their price increases to the Commonwealth Government.

This of course affected Elders Metals, our big boss in Sydney now had to justify any price increases before they could be passed on to customers. As the documents contained sensitive financial details he took the completed documentation personally to the Prices Justification Tribunal. He would be quite irate, because a junior clerk received the submissions and if he did not like you your submission could easily find its way to the bottom of the pile. Multi-million dollar companies' profit margins could be affected by this junior clerk. After many complaints a more efficient system was soon put in place.

It became very difficult for Elders Metals to firm up prices. BHP was making monthly submissions to the Prices Justification Tribunal; so there were monthly price adjustments and then twice a year Elders Metals did their own price adjustments on top of the BHP increases. It got to the stage where our customers when dealing with their own customers had to put a clause on contracts stating that any price increases in raw materials would be passed on to them. While the Whitlam Government was in power, I saw the base price of our steel products double in price over an 18 months period.

On the national front on Monday, 8-Apr-1974 Prime Minister Whitlam announced that following a national opinion poll the Australian National Anthem would change to 'Advance Australia Fair'. The British National Anthem 'God Save The Queen' would no longer be the Australian national anthem. Henceforth, on all relevant occasions 'Advance Australia Fair' would be sung.

On the work front my job of collecting overdue accounts became harder as our customers had problems getting paid from their own customers. It became a bit of a balancing act. I could not let the overdue debtors slide out too far and yet I had to bear in mind that they could obtain supplies from other Steel Merchants. Some of our customers began a 'round robin' tactic. They would buy from us and let their account slide out to 90 days overdue or more; then they would do the same to one of our competitors. Then they would continue this tactic with another competitor. We would eventually get paid and they would be free to buy again. Oftentimes we would not get paid until their customers paid them. We had to face reality. If we took legal proceedings against them we still would not get paid until they had sufficient funds to pay us. Another factor mitigating against us was that Elders Metals had to pay BHP on invoice. As soon as we received an invoice from them we had to pay it immediately. BHP did not extend credit to its customers.

What a lot of people, including our own sales people did not understand is that if an account became a bad debt, we did not only lose the profit margin on the sales, We lost the complete cost of producing the merchandise, as well as any debt recovery costs. In other words, all the monies we had already paid out for the goods we sold to the defaulting customer. This bad debt went straight off the bottom line. It reduced our overall profit margin for the financial year.

Perhaps a simple maths example will help to explain the seriousness of bad debts to a business. Let's assume we sold $10,000 worth of merchandise to a customer. Our profit margin is 10% or $1,000. If we lose the $10,000 as a bad debt, we have lost not only our profit margin of $1,000 but also the $9,000 we have spent of our own money. In order to make up for our losses we will need to sell an additional $100,000 worth of goods, over and above our normal sales target to break even on the $10,000 bad debt. The additional sales of $100,000 will yield us a 10% profit margin of $10,000 - which will wipe out the bad debt. So you can see we would have to produce and sell a lot of additional merchandise, if possible, to wipe out the bad debt.

On Saturday, 18-May-1974 a Federal election was held due to a double dissolution of both Houses of Federal Parliament. All seats became vacant. On the same day a national Referendum was also held. The four proposals in the referendum were (a) simultaneous elections in the Lower House and the Senate (b) allowing electors in the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory to vote at referendums (c) Determining the average size of electorates in each State (d) giving Federal Parliament power to borrow money for any Local Government body.

The Labor Party under Gough Whitlam retained power. The referendum was a failure - none of the proposals were agreed to by Australian voters. It is an interesting fact that referendums in Australia usually fail. The Australian people seem to dislike referendums and distrust politicians generally. This election saw a young man named John Howard elected to the Lower House seat of Bennelong in the House of Representatives as an Opposition back bencher. John Howard in later years would become Prime Minister of Australia.

On the home front Rachel and I were busy with our wedding plans. We decided to spend the first week of our honeymoon on a houseboat on the Noosa River at the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. The remainder of our honeymoon would be spent in Sydney. We booked and paid for the houseboat holiday. As we were planning to drive to Sydney we would be able to stay with my parents at Smithfield. Our wedding invitations had been mailed out and replies were slowly coming in.

Metrification continued throughout Australia. Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia gives us the following information:  
_'1974 – large scale conversion across industries, including packaged grains, dairy products, eggs, building, timber, paper, printing, meteorological services, postal services, communications, road transport, travel, textiles, gas, electricity, surveying, sport, water supply, mining, metallurgy, chemicals, petroleum and automotive services. Most beverages, aside from spirits, also converted to metric units by the end of 1974. The conversion of road signs took place in July 1974. There was a publicity campaign to prepare the public.'_

On Monday, 1-Jul-1974 all Australian road signs changed from imperial to metric. All distances were now measured in kilometres instead of miles. Speed limit signs were now in kilometres per hour instead of miles per hour. As our motor vehicles speedometers were in miles per hour we quickly had to learn the metric equivalents.

30 mph = approx. 50 kph  
40 mph = approx. 64 kph  
50 mph = 80 kph  
60 mph = approx. 96 kph

The tricky one was the 60 kph speed limit; as 40 mph was too fast we tried to keep our speed around the 35 mph to keep under the speed limit. There were no digital speedometers back then. The mechanical speedometers could have up to a 10% error due to wear and tear of the speedo components. The changeover was an interesting time on the roads. There was a small van often seen around Brisbane with a large speedometer on its roof. You could check your speed by looking at the big speedometer on the van. That company specialised in repairing and adjusting vehicle speedometers.

In Melbourne VIC on Thursday, 11-Jul-1974 internationally renowned film star and singer Frank Sinatra was forced to apologise to Australian female journalists after he commented in a concert that they were 'hookers'. Hookers in Australian parlance are prostitutes. The comment caused a media storm.

Also on 11-Jul-1974 a new Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr was sworn in as the Governor-General; replacing the retiring Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck. This appointment was to have far reaching effects the following year.

As the month of August rolled on Rachel and I were looking forward to our big event of the year - our wedding on Saturday, 24-Aug-1974. We had been looking at furnished flats and apartments for a while and made a decision to rent a furnished unit in Hawthorne Street, Woolloongabba. The unit was close to the Gibbon Street Hall. It was an upstairs unit with the carport situated underneath the unit. I moved in a couple of weeks prior to our wedding. Rachel gave notice to her boss Bruce Johnson that she would be leaving his employ just prior to our wedding. We would be living in a different area to where she currently worked. I still had a similar distance to travel to work as Woolloongabba is the next suburb to South Brisbane.

I will leave the details of our wedding until the next chapter as it deserves a chapter of its own.

On the international front US President Richard Nixon resigned from Office on Friday, 9-Aug-1974 due to his involvement in the 'Watergate Scandal'. His successor Gerald Ford subsequently pardoned him from impeachment. He is the only US President to resign from the Office of President of the United States of America.

On the national scene on Thursday, 5-Sep-1974 a boiler explosion at the Mount Saint Canice convent in Hobart, Tasmania (TAS) killed 9 people and injured 21 others. This was a terrible tragedy.

In the month of October 1974 an Australian credit card called 'Bankcard' was introduced to the Australian market. Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia gives us this information.  
_'Bankcard_ _was a shared-brand credit card issued by financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand between 1974 and 2006. It was managed by the Bankcard Association of Australia, a joint venture of Australia's largest banks, and was the nation's first mass-market credit card. Before 1974, only store cards, Diners Club and American Express were available in Australia and these were either restrictive or only accessible to the wealthy. In the first decade after its introduction, Bankcard dominated the Australian credit card market, with more than 5 million cardholders at its peak in 1984. As a result of a declining cardholder base, falling transaction volumes and shrinking market share in relation to internationally accepted credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard, the card was withdrawn from use in 2006.'_

Here is my take on that time. Bankcard was available to just about anyone who had a bank account. In most cases you did not even have to apply for a card; the major banks sent a credit card out in the mail to their customers in a huge gamble to attract their customers into accepting Bankcard. Neither, Rachel or I took up the offer. Australia at this stage was basically a cash-based society. If you had a cheque account you simply paid your accounts by cheque. If you did not have a cheque account and you did not want to pay in cash you could obtain an 'over the counter' bank cheque from your local bank. Bankcard did catch on but one of the consequences was it substantially increased consumer debt throughout Australia.

On Tuesday, 1-Oct-1974 Cambridge Credit Corporation Ltd, the largest property financing and development corporation in Australia, went into receivership. It had defaulted on a regular AUD$2 million payment to its debenture holders who had lent the company AUD$90 million. Unsecured creditors were also owed AUD$50 million. It was the biggest corporate failure in Australia's history to that time. This incident really shook the nation and certainly did not improve consumer outlook.

Chapter Eight: Marriage and fulfilment

As the month of August rolled around our wedding plans came to fruition. Most of our invited guests had sent back their invitation replies and only a few would not be able to join Rachel and me on our wedding day. Regrettably my brother Neil could not come. My sister Lynn and her husband Bill were living in New Zealand and also could not come. My Mum and Dad and my grandparents Tony and Leila Natoli were able to come. A lot of Rachel's relatives were coming, as well as most of the folk at the Gibbon Street Assembly.

The wedding ceremony would be held in the Gibbon Street Gospel Hall in Woolloongabba; and the reception at 29 Murray Street, Wilston. An older, leading brother, Cyril Gibbs was a marriage celebrant and he would conduct the marriage ceremony. I ran into an unexpected problem with my birth certificate which was required for identity and proof of age requirements.

My birth certificate was in my birth name, 'Jon Ralph Endicott'. I could not get married under my surname Peasey. I found out that my stepfather Collyn had never registered the surname change legally with the Courts. I had to quickly apply through the Supreme Court of Queensland to change my name by Deed Poll to 'Jon Ralph Peasey'. We hoped it would happen before Saturday, 24-Aug-1974, our wedding day.

I ran into an unexpected obstacle in the QLD Supreme Court system. A clerk processing my deed poll change of name seemed to assume that I must have been a criminal from NSW wanting to change my name in QLD. I received a terse letter stating that further proof was required. I sent back a letter informing them that it was not my fault that my stepfather had not registered the name change to Peasey in the NSW Courts system. When I had requested a copy of my birth certificate from NSW, because I was getting married, it had come back in my birth name Endicott. Ever since high school my name has been Peasey and my driver's license has shown my name Peasey since I was 18 years old. Thankfully the deed poll change took place on Friday, 19-Jul-1974 and I still have the document in my possession.

Another problem occurred when my intended best man was already booked up at a wedding in Sydney on the same day. I asked Rachel's cousin Phillip Basilotta to be my best man instead. Phillip was happy to do the best man's duties. Phillip was a local and definitely coming to the wedding. Rachel's nieces Claudia Patane, Lois Witt and Judy Grasso were her bridesmaids.

The wedding day Saturday, 24-Aug-1974 was overcast and cold westerly winds were blowing. Thankfully it did not rain that day. We had hired two black American limousines as wedding cars. I made arrangements with the proprietors of 29 Murray Street to hide my car in a garage on the property on Saturday morning. I did not want it festooned with toilet paper, tin cans on strings and written all over with white writing. (Yes, I know I was a spoil sport.) As the unit Rachel and I were leasing was only a short walk from the Gibbon Street Gospel Hall I did not require transport to get there.

I still had my black tuxedo from my ballroom dancing days; all I needed to buy was a new white, fancy shirt and a new black bow tie. Rachel had a beautiful custom made bridal gown and a long brown, velvet like, going away dress. We planned to spend our first night at our unit and go away on our honeymoon on the Monday morning. However, we did not tell anyone where we were spending the first night. We did not want any noisy, unwelcome visitors coming around. The wedding presents would go back to Rachel's parents' home; until we got back from our honeymoon.

The bridesmaids Claudia, Lois and Judy were dressed in long pink dresses for the wedding. Phillip had hired a tuxedo for the wedding. At the appointed time Phillip and I were at the Gospel Hall to greet guests as they arrived for the ceremony which commenced at 3:00 pm. All the guests were in a happy mood. When it was almost time for the bride to arrive Phillip and I had to move down the front to wait for the bride and her entourage.

Was I nervous? No, I was not nervous. I was very happy my wedding day had come and my beautiful fiancée was about to become my wife. When Rachel arrived the organist began playing 'The Wedding March' and Rachel gracefully followed her bridesmaids down the aisle to stand beside me. There is a hymn by Samuel Rutherford; these two lines came to mind. _"The bride eyes not her garment, But her dear bridegroom's face..."_ How true they are! As soon as Rachel came through the doors she was looking straight at me - nowhere else! How happy we were our special day was here at last.

Rachel joined me for the marriage ceremony. To be quite honest I can't remember much about the ceremony. The time seemed to go quickly; then it was time to sign the marriage certificate in front of witnesses. This was done in the back hall. A female friend of ours Kerry Roach sang a beautiful solo for the guests whilst the signing ceremony took place. Then it was time for Mr and Mrs Jon Peasey to rejoin their guests briefly and leave for the wedding photography session. We moved outside to our wedding limousine for the drive to 29 Murray Street where the photo session was to take place. The sky was quite dark due to the heavy overcast conditions. It was quite blustery as we got into the limo.

From the left: My Dad & Mum, Collyn & Nancy Peasey  
Jon & Rachel Peasey, Rachel's Mum & Dad  
Vincenzina & Santo Patane

The guests had to be at 29 Murray Street by 6:00 pm for the reception to commence. Rachel and I were already there. We greeted each guest as they arrived. At 6:00 pm the reception activities began. Rachel and I are teetotallers so there was no alcohol at our wedding reception. Most of our guests were teetotallers as well so only a few missed having an alcoholic beverage. The meal was three courses. The entree was a cooked fish dish called Portuguese Fish. The fish was baked, with a delicious tomato based sauce and a small side salad. The main course was Roast Chicken with baked vegetables. The dessert was Bomb Alaska; which is an ice cream dish. Normally Bomb Alaska is splashed with brandy and set alight. It is a spectacular looking dish before it is served. However, we chose not to have the brandy. The Chef tizzied the dish up and instead of brandy being set alight we had sparklers inserted into the Bomb Alaska and the sparklers were set alight. This was very spectacular as the sparklers burned brightly for quite a while before they burned out. The dessert was simply delicious.

Of course it would not be a wedding reception without the usual speeches. Phillip as best man read out the telegrams of congratulations and the late apologies. (No emails back then.) The organist played hymns from our 'Spiritual Songs' hymn book softly in the background. When Phillip was being served his entree he tried to chat up an attractive young waitress as she served him. Her boss quickly moved her to another area. When the organist was playing; the proprietor's cat wandered in and started to rub against the organists' legs. The cat was promptly moved on. Our friends Jack and May Weddell had their little baby daughter Kylie with them. Kylie got away from them and was crawling around in the main reception space; much to everyone's delight. She was quickly picked up and rejoined her parents.

My sister Lynn phoned from Auckland, New Zealand at 6:30 pm (Brisbane time) to wish us all the best for our married life. She was apologetic that they could not be there for the wedding. Air fares in 1974 were much more expensive than today.

At the conclusion of the wedding reception Rachel and I went to separate rooms and changed out of our wedding garments into going away clothes. Then everybody formed a circle and we went around and thanked each one for coming. Our car was then brought out of the garage at 29 Murray Street. The engine was making a loud ticking noise; maybe the tappets needed adjusting again. Rachel and I hopped in and drove away with lots of well-wishing ringing in our ears.

Jon & Rachel at our Wedding Reception

We drove home to our unit at Hawthorn Street, Woolloongabba. I can remember sitting down on the edge of our bed and feeling the tension drain out of my body. I did not realise how keyed up I was from the day's activities. Both of us were tired so we had showers, got changed and went to bed. Next morning being Sunday we decided to go to the Gibbon Street Hall to the usual church activities. Everyone was surprised and delighted to see us. We had a good day with them.

Monday we packed the car and drove up to Tewantin, on the Sunshine Coast, for a week on a houseboat on the Noosa River. The houseboat was a small 2 persons' houseboat named 'Jabiru'. The proprietor had recently fitted out his houseboats with Italian made diesel outboard motors. Our houseboat was ready so we moved our belongings and groceries on board. There was only one problem to note; in his hurry to get the houseboat ready for us he had wired the steering back to front! So if you wanted to go left you had to steer to the right, and vice versa. This proved to be OK if we were in forward motion, but very confusing if we had to go in reverse! The only other thing we had to be careful of was not to use up our fresh water too soon otherwise it was a trip back to base to fill up the fresh water tank.

After a good run through of the appliances etc. and how to use the navigation maps it was time to go. So Rachel and I set out in the good ship 'Jabiru' for our honeymoon on the houseboat. We ventured out into the Noosa River and headed towards Noosa. We decided we would drop anchor opposite the CBD area of Noosa. Big mistake! When the tide started to flow out the houseboat was not stable and began to pull hard against the anchor and swing about. The current was too strong. I decided to put another anchor in to steady the houseboat. I got the other anchor out ready to throw it in. I did not realise that Rachel was standing behind me to help with instructions. So I swung the anchor back to throw it clear of the houseboat and it hit Rachel on her left thigh! Ouch! My bride of a few days was nearly a hospital patient. Not a good scenario! I abandoned the anchor idea and pulled up the other anchor and headed back up river, with Rachel nursing a sore thigh. What an inglorious start to our honeymoon!

We moored that first night on the starboard side of the river, in an uninhabited forest area. Our instructions were to light a kerosene lamp at night and hang it at the side of the houseboat. This was in case any vessels passing by at night could see us and not run into us. As it happened we had a bad storm during the night and unknown to us the wind blew the lamp out. The houseboat proprietors were notified about this and they came and told us that we had to have the lamp on at night. We explained that the storm must have blown the lamp out. We did not have any more storms the rest of our stay on Jabiru.

'Jabiru' house boat moored near the riverbank.

We stayed anchored at this spot during Tuesday and we decided to continue further up river the next day. So next day Wednesday we pulled up our anchor and cruised up the river into Lake Cooroibah, the smaller of two lakes on the river system. On the way we cruised over the top of the cables of the small vehicular ferry. The ferry was moored on one side of the river unloading its cargo of motor vehicles. We were fortunate that there was not much river traffic during the week. The river and lakes were very popular with recreational fisherman on the weekends.

Lake Cooroibah was a pleasant place to be but we continued up river to the larger Lake Cootharaba. We were enjoying our time at Lake Cootharaba when we ran out of fresh water. So we had to up anchor and return to the houseboat base at Tewantin to fill up the fresh water tank. We had forgotten the instruction to go easy on the fresh water. What with hot showers, cooking and washing up we forgot that we were not on the town water supply. The trip back to base only added to the adventure of being on a houseboat.

My beautiful wife Rachel

When we had replenished our fresh water we set off up river back to Lake Cooroibah. Our houseboat holiday was drawing to a close so we decided to stay in the smaller lake as it was closer to base. The weather except for that one storm was pleasant for the end of August. August is renowned in South East Queensland for cold, blustery westerly winds.

Rachel's new husband

The day of our departure came and we cruised back to Tewantin and unloaded our belongings. We packed our car and drove home to Woolloongabba. It had been a happy, memorable week on the houseboat Jabiru. We caught up with our clothes washing and began to pack our bags for the rest of our honeymoon in Sydney NSW. We would be staying with my Mum and Dad in the house I grew up in at Smithfield NSW. We were looking forward to our driving holiday to continue our honeymoon.

So on Saturday, 31-Aug-1974 we began our drive to Sydney. We planned to stay overnight along the New England Highway, probably at Armidale NSW. The car's engine was making a fairly loud ticking type noise as we drove along through Ipswich and later headed up Cunningham's Gap on the Cunningham Highway. The very steep climbs were too much for the ailing engine. There was a loud noise and suddenly the car was enveloped in blue smoke. Something was catastrophically wrong with the engine! It had very little power; we had to turn around and drive back down the mountain range in our cloud of blue smoke back home.

Being Saturday we could not get the car seen to immediately. Feeling a bit dejected we went to the meetings at Gibbon Street the next day. Everyone was very sympathetic when they heard the story. One of the aged brothers, Norm Jack told us that his son-in-law was an accountant at John Sivyer Holden at Moorooka. He would talk to him and see if he could help us out.

The upshot of this was that we took the car to John Sivyer Holden for them to put in a reconditioned motor in our Ford Escort sedan. Then we were given some really good news; John Sivyer Holden had managed to track down a brand new Escort engine which would cost only slightly more than a fully reconditioned Escort motor. We agreed to this as a brand new motor carried a 12 months warranty. The changeover cost us AUD $650.00 which was equivalent to about a month of my wages at the time.

When John Sivyer Holden stripped down the old Escort engine they found that one of the valve stem collars was actually from a Ford Cortina motor and it had been incorrectly fitted when the engine was new. This explained why that motor blew a head gasket a couple of times and the head was slightly warped and needed to be shaved back to normal. It had an incorrect part in it! There was no way we could claim against Ford as the car was well and truly out of warranty (only 12 months warranty back then).

With the new engine fitted we set off again for Sydney to complete our honeymoon. I needed to take the driving a bit slower to free up the new engine. No more problems on the range up Cunningham's Gap. The car now had adequate power for the steep climbs. We stayed overnight at Armidale and continued next morning directly to Mum and Dad's house at 19 Charles Street, Smithfield NSW. We arrived in the late afternoon. We had lost nearly a week of my holidays, so we only had about one week in Sydney instead of the planned two weeks. We stayed in my sister Lynn's old bedroom as my brother Neil who was separated from his wife Gail was living back at home again.

We took Mum shopping in Fairfield one day and it was like a comedy. Every two or three metres Mum would stop and introduce Rachel to one of her friends. Most of them already knew me. It was a very slow walk along Ware Street. Inside the shops was more of the same, except people stopped and chatted for longer periods. It's a wonder we managed to do any actual shopping!

On the Sunday, Rachel and I went to the meetings at the Berry Road Assembly, my home assembly. We were greeted very warmly and Rachel did not need introductions as the folk at Berry Road already knew her from conferences and camps. We spent the rest of the afternoon with my grandparents Tony and Leila Natoli at their home in Naremburn. In the evening, after the Gospel Meeting at Berry Road we drove home to Smithfield.

The time in Sydney passed quickly and we were soon pointing the car northwards to Brisbane. We stayed overnight at Armidale on the way back. Rachel enjoyed the scenery and the towns along the New England Highway. It is still one of our favourite highways to travel.

We settled into married life at Woolloongabba. Rachel began to look for work locally and obtained a sales job at a women's dress shop at Annerley in Brisbane. She was able to catch a bus along Ipswich Road which stopped quite close to where she worked. On her first day, they did not expect her to sell many garments as she was still learning the ropes. However, she sold more dresses than any of the other girls that day. Her boss was very pleased with her.

Chapter Nine: 1974 continued

Inflation rates kept climbing, consumer prices steadily increased and the economic outlook for Australians seemed to be worsening under the Whitlam Government. A quick perusal of the quarterly inflation figures (below) for the calendar years 1972-1974 reveal a disturbing trend. December 1972 when the Labor Party came into power showed that quarter's inflation rate as 4.7%. Two years later the December 1974 quarter's inflation rate was 16.7%. Global economic factors fuelled by the oil crisis also had a major impact on these inflation rates.

**Quarterly Inflation Rates Australia 1972-1974  
1972  
**March 6.9%; June 6.9%; September 5.7%; December 4.7%; Annual Average 5.8%  
**1973**  
March 5.6%; June; 8.3%; September 9.9%; December 12.5%; Annual Average 9.1%  
**1974**  
March 14.0%; June 14.4%; September 16.4%; December 16.7%; Annual Average 15.8%.

Wage demands by the trade unions intensified as people struggled to keep up with ever increasing living costs. These wage increases had a detrimental effect on businesses. Many of whom began to lay off workers to contain costs.

The Christmas period in the top end of Australia brought devastation and death to the residents of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Severe tropical Cyclone Tracy crossed over Darwin in the early hours of Christmas Day; Wednesday, 25-Dec-1974. Although Tracy was small in area it had very destructive winds. It literally flattened the city of Darwin. The residents of Darwin were too complacent as they had not had a severe cyclone for decades. Even though they were given warnings they adopted a wait and see attitude. Being Christmas Eve many were celebrating at Christmas parties and get togethers.

The ABC Emergency website has the following information:  
_* Tracy was reported as a category four cyclone.  
* It was small but intense, the radius of the gale force winds was only 50km.  
* Made landfall just north of Fannie Bay at 3:30am on Christmas Day 1974 and passed directly over Darwin.  
* Wind gust of 217kph_ [approx. 135 mph] _was recorded before anemometer at Darwin Airport failed. Maximum wind gusts have been estimated at up to 240kph_ [149 mph] _.  
* Darwin received 250mm_ [approx.10 inches] _of rain in 12 hours.  
* Debris indicated a four-metre_ [approx. 13 feet] _storm surge at Casuarina Beach.  
* Sixty-five people died — 49 in Darwin and 16 lost at sea.  
* At least 90 per cent of homes in Darwin were demolished or badly damaged.  
* Total damage bill came to around $800 million or nearly $4.5 billion in today's money.  
* More than 30,000 Darwin residents were evacuated after the cyclone, many never returned._

This devastation in Australia's northernmost city rocked the nation. This was far worse than the Japanese bombings in World War 2. One of the main problems was that communications were knocked out in Darwin. The rest of Australia was not aware of what had happened. I can recall that one of our Elders Metals' customers, Brisbane Livestock Transport had one of their specialised horse transport trucks on the way into Darwin. Their trucks were fitted out with very high power 2 way radio communication sets. The driver of that truck was one of the first people to get the message out via the 2 way radio to his Brisbane headquarters. That line of communications was vital in the early aftermath of the cyclone.

Due to the city's power, water and sewerage being out of action disease was an immediate concern. A huge airlift of residents took place to other regions in Australia. Many of those residents did not return to Darwin when it was rebuilt. Brisbane City Council sent a fleet of trucks and equipment north to help repair the electricity power grid. The technicians that went up had had plenty of practice after the Brisbane floods earlier in the year.

New building regulations for cyclone prone areas in Australia were put into operation after Cyclone Tracy; many of the dwellings in Darwin had not been suitably constructed to withstand cyclonic winds. The building codes had to change!

1974 finished on a sombre note.

Darwin after Cyclone Tracy  
[Source: National Museum of Australia]

Chapter Ten: 1975 \- Political Turmoil

The Whitlam Government's rapid changes and reforms continued on in 1975. Australians found it difficult to try and keep up with them all. It seemed every time you turned around the Commonwealth Government was enacting more legislation or introducing more reforms. Their increased spending was fuelling the inflation rate. Hefty wage rises had a big impact on employers' profit margins. The major trade unions kept up constant pressure to increase workers' wages. I can recall the time the warehouse storemen at Elders Metals received an increase of AUD$ 29.00 per week. Suddenly they were earning more money than the Warehouse Manager. The union involved having been successful in obtaining the increase for steel warehouse storemen then used that as leverage to get the wage increase for all storeman and packers in all industries in Australia.

On the national front on Sunday, 05-Jan-1975 the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra slammed into pylons on the Tasman Bridge spanning the River Derwent. Part of the bridge collapsed.

Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia gives us this information about the tragedy.  
_'The_ _Tasman Bridge disaster_ _occurred on the evening of 5 January 1975, in Hobart, the capital city of Australia's island state of Tasmania, when a bulk ore carrier travelling up the Derwent River collided with several pylons of the Tasman Bridge, causing a large section of the bridge deck to collapse onto the ship and into the river below. Twelve people were killed, including seven crew on board the ship, and the five occupants of four cars which fell 45 m (150 feet) after driving off the bridge. The disaster severed the main link between Hobart and its eastern suburbs, and there were social impacts from the loss of such an important road artery.  
The collapse of Tasman Bridge isolated two sides of the city which had heavily relied upon it for most daily activities. 30% of Hobart's residents lived on the eastern shore and were effectively isolated. The day after the incident, as 30,000 residents set out for work, they found that the former three-minute commute over the bridge had turned into a 90 minute trip. Within an hour of the incident, the Sullivans Cove Ferry Company started services across the river, and continued its services throughout the night.  
Three private ferries and a government vessel were in place the next day. People on the eastern shore quickly became isolated, as most schools, hospitals, businesses and government offices were located on the western shore. Prior to the disaster, many services on the eastern shore were severely lacking. Access to medical services in particular, posed problems for residents in the east, as services consisted only of local clinics. Hobart's hospitals—the Royal Hobart Hospital and the Calvary Hospital—were located on the western shore. What was previously a short drive across the river became a 50 km (31 mi) trip via the estuary's other bridge in Bridgewater. Most of Hobart's cultural activities, such as theatres, cinemas, the museum and art gallery, restaurants, meeting places, lecture theatres and the botanical gardens, were located on the western shore.'_

Tasman Bridge from east following collision 1975  
[Source: Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office (TAHO)]

On the home front Rachel's job was going along fine until we found out that we were expecting our first child. Due to morning sickness issues Rachel reluctantly decided to quit her job. Rachel's parents asked us to come and live with them until the baby was born. As our six months' lease was due to expire in early February 1975 it was an opportune time to leave. The unit we were in was fully furnished so we only had a couple of pieces of our own furniture to take with us. The added bonus was that we would not have to pay rent; which meant that we could save more money for a deposit on a house. The downside for me was a much longer trip to work at Eagle Farm. It added half an hour's extra driving time. Our niece Claudia benefitted because I could pick her up at her home in Coopers Plains and drop her off at the Kangaroo Point TAFE College. Once a week she was required, as an apprentice hairdresser, to go to the College for TAFE tutelage on her hair dressing apprenticeship course. I would pick her up again on my way home from work.

On Saturday, 01-Mar-1975 a much anticipated day arrived; the first public broadcasts of colour TV in Australia. Australia was quite slow adopting colour TV as it took years to decide what colour system to use. The PAL colour system was eventually decided on. Colour TV was very quickly adopted by the Australian TV viewing audience.

On Friday, 21-Mar-1975 – Malcolm Fraser replaced Opposition Leader Billy Snedden as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia; this was to have far reaching effects later in the year. Billy Snedden had not been as effective a leader as the Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam; particularly in parliamentary debates. Malcolm Fraser on the other hand was every bit as tough as Gough Whitlam and soon proved to be a formidable foe.

The Federal Opposition had a majority via two independent Senators in the Upper House, the Senate. They allowed a lot of legislation to pass through the parliament; but when they did not agree with Bills tabled by the Labor Government they refused to pass the legislation.

On Friday, 25-Apr-1975 The Australian Embassy in South Vietnam was closed and all staff evacuated prior to the Fall of Saigon. This brought to a close Australia's long involvement in the affairs of South Vietnam. The communist led North Vietnamese Army had proved to be successful and had ousted the mighty USA. Vietnam the 'unwinnable' war was finally over. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Min City.

During May 1975 Federal Parliament voted to make 12 months separation the only grounds for divorce. At the end of May 1975 the Family Law Court was established. This was sensational legislation. No longer did couples have to wait for seven long years to obtain a divorce and prove all sorts of matters to obtain that divorce. A new arm of the judiciary process was being brought into being to administer these matters.

June turned out to be another torrid month in Federal Parliament. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam sacked his Treasurer, Jim Cairns for misleading Parliament over loan-raising activities that were contrary to Treasury guidelines for raising loans. Jim Cairns had been approached by a Melbourne business man who offered to obtain loan funds for the Australian Government for a 2.5% commission. Cairns signed a letter in March agreeing to the 2.5% commission. However, during June he misled Parliament by stating that he had not authorised such a commission. When the letter was brought to light Prime Minister Whitlam immediately sacked his Treasurer and gave his portfolio to Bill Hayden.

On the family front Rachel was getting towards the end of her term of pregnancy. Our baby was due around the middle of June 1975. We had already been given, or purchased, the usual things a baby required. We had a bassinette, baby bath, lots of cotton nappies and waterproof pilchers. Plus of course numerous baby clothes and bits and pieces required. We also had a baby capsule for our car. All we needed now was for the baby to arrive! The estimated time for the baby to arrive came and went. By the end of June, Rachel's gynaecologist told us that the baby would have to be induced as it was now two weeks overdue.

On Tuesday, 1-Jul-1975 Medibank, Australia's first National Health Scheme was launched. This was to have far reaching effects on the health and wellbeing of the nation. On the same day, Australia Post and Telecom became two separate entities as the old Post-Master General's Department (PMG) was split up. Australia Post took over the postal needs of the nation and Telecom took over the telecommunications requirements of the nation.

On the home front the time had come for our baby to be born. I drove Rachel to the Mater Mothers' Hospital at South Brisbane where she was booked in to have the baby induced. As we had private health insurance at that time Rachel was put into the Private Hospital section. I should point at that up until the introduction of the Medibank Scheme that Queensland was the only State in Australia that had free public hospitals. However, you had to attend the hospital personally to obtain the free treatment. You also had to have been a permanent resident of Queensland for at least three months. If you had private hospital insurance you could not get the free treatment.

In the early evening of Thursday, 03-Jul-1975 Rachel gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I was present in the delivery room until just before the actual birth; I was ushered out to wait for the outcome. What a change in your life! You are now responsible for the bundle of life that is your son. It was a mixture of elation, joy, relief, and tension release! We had chosen the name of Joel, if we had a boy. So our baby boy was duly named Joel Peasey on the birth registration form.

These were the days before the existence of mobile phones; so I waited until I returned home to tell Rachel's parents the good news. They were very pleased to have another grandson in their extended family. Rachel spent the obligatory days of rest in the hospital until it was time to bring baby Joel home. What a weight of responsibility I felt as we took our baby home. Rachel and I were now completely responsible for this baby. It was a bit unnerving. However that soon passed as we began to learn what first time parents all over the world have to learn; how to look after and care for your new born.

Rachel and I were struggling with interrupted sleep at night. I found it difficult to get going in the mornings due to the constant lack of sleep. Thankfully, it did not impact on my job as a credit controller. I was due for some holidays in August so we decided to fly up to Cairns and show off baby Joel to all the relatives in the Innisfail area. Joel was six weeks old at the time. We drove to Brisbane Airport at Eagle Farm and we parked the car in the free, long stay car park at Eagle Farm airport. We then made our way with our luggage to the Domestic Terminal to board our flight to Cairns. We checked in our baggage and obtained our seat allocations.

Baby Joel

Then just before we were due to board the plane Joel needed to be changed! Rachel had to go to the amenities area, to the Mothers' change room. I stayed at the boarding gate to inform the airline staff of our predicament. Rachel meanwhile had a few problems. Joel was dressed in a one piece baby's outfit which was now slightly soiled. Rachel being a new mother had not packed a spare set of clothes for the plane trip. This meant that Joel was cleaned up and left in a singlet and nappy with water proof pilchers. Rachel then wrapped him up in a baby blanket.

By this time the passengers had all boarded our aircraft. We were holding up the plane from taking off. I was getting a bit frantic wondering what was happening. Rachel finally appeared with Joel in her arms and struggling with her bags. We were hurried out to the plane and boarded via the back steps. We were the last people to board. As soon as we were seated they made ready for take off.

The flight to Townsville then Cairns was uneventful and we had a good flight. The old Cairns Domestic Terminal was basically a refurbished Nissen hut and was probably a leftover from World War 2. The furnishings were quite basic. The weather was quite hot when we landed in Cairns. The twin engine jet had to keep one engine running to keep the aircraft's air conditioning going while the plane was resupplied with food etc. Silvio and Ruth met us as we came through the departure gate. They drove us to Silvio's Mum and Dad's sugar cane farm at Mena Creek; where we were staying on our holiday. Everyone was excited to see baby Joel.

We had an enjoyable holiday. Silvio let us borrow their car, a yellow Morris Marina, if we wanted to do any shopping in town. You should have seen the looks we got in Innisfail! The whole town knew that the car belonged to Silvio. What were these strangers doing with Silvio's car? We certainly could not have gotten away with anything. Countless eyes followed our every move.

As Ruth needed their car most of the time a friend of ours Gregorio Trento decided to lend us the farm utility from the Trento sugar cane farm. The utility was an older model Ford Falcon with a bench seat capable of seating three people. Behind the cabin was a large tray tub for all sorts of gear. The utility suited us well. We put Joel in his baby bassinette between us on the bench seat and Rachel held the bassinette steady while I drove along. The road rules back then were less stringent than today's rules. Seat belts had only become compulsory in new vehicles in 1971. Traffic was light around the Innisfail area.

One fine, sunny day we decided to drive to Etty Bay for a picnic lunch by the sea side. Etty Bay is such a pretty spot; with nice shade trees at the edge of clean, white sands with views out over the Coral Sea. As it was August it was not the Stinger season; so it was safe to swim in the clear, warm waters. I drove under a nice shady tree and we unpacked our picnic lunch and ate it gazing out at the beautiful vista before us. It was so relaxing and baby Joel was sleeping peacefully. It was a good way to spend a couple of hours on such a lovely day.

The afternoon rolled on and soon it was time to pack up and drive back to Mena Creek. However, when I began to back out of our parking spot the back wheels began to spin in the loose sand! We were bogged! The car tyres were the old conventional ply tires and were fairly worn. They were adequate for bitumen roads but not for sandy loose soils. I had to spend time digging the loose sand away from the back wheels until I reached some compacted sand. This worked well and I was able to reverse out of the parking spot on to hard soil near the bitumen road. I filled in the two furrows and then we set off for Mena Creek. Lesson learned - we did not drive anymore on to loose, sandy soils on our northern holiday.

Our two weeks holidays soon came to an end and it was time to fly back to Brisbane. Silvio drove us back to Cairns Airport for the journey home. We did not have any dramas with Joel prior to boarding and had a good flight home via Townsville and then Brisbane. We collected our luggage and made our way back to our car and then drove home to Sunnybank.

Also in August the new Treasurer Bill Hayden handed down his first budget as Treasurer. It was a more fiscally responsible budget which set out to curtail some of the excessive spending by the Labor Government. Part of the budget package was some rearranging of income tax rates. The Whitlam Government promised tax cuts across the board. However, when I perused the upcoming new tax rates I realised that they were 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'. Most workers on the new rates would actually be paying slightly more tax - not less! I had a hard job trying to convince the storemen in the warehouse that they would be paying more tax. They did not believe me until they received their first weekly pay with the new tax rates in force.

We said goodbye to our Branch Manager Bill Reid who after a lot of pressure on him from Elders Metals top management decided to retire. Bill Reid was part of the old William Atkins team who were the Steel Merchants until Elder Smith Goldsborough Mort bought in and became the dominant company. We found out later it was Elders Smith Goldsborough Mort's policy to squeeze out the William Atkins management team around Australia and put Elders' personnel in place. So Bruce Annan from the Elders team became the new Branch manager. He had been told to bide his time. He had been the Branch Sales Manager up until Bill Reid's forced retirement.

On the international front on Monday, 15-Sep-1975 a very important event took place in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea (PNG). As the sun set over Hubert Murray Stadium the Australian flag was lowered for the last time. Sir John Guise, the first Governor-General of PNG, said at the flag lowering ceremony: _"It is important the people of Papua New Guinea, and the rest of the world, realise the spirit in which we are lowering the flag of our colonisers. We are lowering the flag, not tearing it down."_

The next morning (Tuesday, 16-Sep-1975) at 9:30 am a new flag was raised signifying the new, independent, sovereign nation of Papua New Guinea. Present at the official Independence Day handover ceremony was His Royal Highness Prince Charles representing Great Britain, Sir John Kerr Governor-General of Australia, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Michael Somare Chief Minister for Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea became a constitutional monarchy and a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Michael Somare became the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam had made good on his promise to grant independence to PNG.

National flag of Papua New Guinea  
[Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]

The Whitlam Government suffered another blow to its reputation when Minerals and Energy Minister Rex Connor was embroiled in an additional loans affair scandal. Since the end of 1974 Rex Connor had sought to obtain loan funds for national development projects. He was trying to obtain loan funding of AUD$4 billion dollars outside the Loan Council's overseas borrowing guidelines. An Adelaide builder introduced Rex Connor to a Pakistani dealer named Tirath Khemlani. The supposed deal was to be a 20-year loan at 7.7% and Khemlani was to get a commission of 2.5% if the deal was successful.

Khemlani however began to stall on the loan; particularly when Reserve Bank of Australia officials wanted him to go to with them to Zurich in Switzerland to prove that the funds were in the Union Bank of Switzerland. When he did not co-operate the Federal government revised Rex Connor's authority down to AUD$2 billion dollars. The authority was later revoked.

When news of the Loans affair became known the Federal Opposition led by Malcolm Fraser began to apply pressure in Parliament to the Labor Government. As the month of October rolled around, the Opposition decided to block supply to the Government by not passing the Appropriation Bills through the Senate where they had a temporary majority of one seat. The Opposition believed that if Prime Minister Whitlam could not deliver supply and would not advise new elections that the Governor-General Sir John Kerr would have to dismiss him and his government.

The situation hotted up on Wednesday, 14-Oct-1975 Rex Connor the Minister for Minerals and Energy was forced to resign after Tirath Khemlani released documents showing that Connor had made misleading statements regarding the Loans affair. This was essentially a death blow to the Whitlam Government; although it was not apparent at that moment. This confirmed the Opposition in their action to block supply in the Senate. The effect of blocking supply would be to starve the Commonwealth Government and Commonwealth Government departments of funds; even down to paying salary and wages. Their funds would run out on 30-Nov-1975.

It was a very tense situation in Australia at that time. The Appropriation Bills would be sent to the Senate for approval and they would be rejected by the Opposition Parties. They would be sent again to the Senate and rejected. Gough Whitlam refused to hold elections to resolve the matter. Whitlam told the House of Representatives on Tuesday, 21-Oct-1975:  
_"Let me place my government's position clearly on the record. I shall not advise the Governor-General to hold an election for the House of Representatives on behalf of the Senate. I shall tender no advice for an election of either House or both Houses until this constitutional issue is settled. This government, so long as it retains a majority in the House of Representatives, will continue the course endorsed by the Australian people last year."_

An important international incident occurred on Thursday, 16-Oct-1975 in Portuguese Timor (now East Timor). Five TV journalists from Australia were killed by Indonesian soldiers in the town of Balibo. The Indonesian Army was making incursions into Portuguese Timor. It was preparing to take over Portuguese Timor and annexe it as part of Indonesia. There was a huge cover up by Indonesia who claimed the journalists were caught in cross fire and not summarily executed for filming the invasion forces. The complete story has yet to be told. Successive Australian Governments have shied away from putting political and international pressure on Indonesia over the incident. Indonesia is considered to be a major trading partner and friend of Australia; therefore Australia did not want to damage relations with Indonesia.

In Australia the Governor-General Sir John Kerr was keeping a close eye on proceedings in the Federal Parliament relating to the blocking of the supply bills. Let's see what Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia has to say on the events at that time.

'Governor-General Kerr was following the crisis closely. At a luncheon with Whitlam and several of his ministers on 30 October, Kerr suggested a compromise: if Fraser conceded supply, Whitlam would agree not to call the half-Senate election until May or June 1976, or alternatively would agree not to call the Senate into session until after 1 July. Whitlam rejected the idea, seeking to end the Senate's right to deny supply. On 3 November, after a meeting with Kerr, Fraser proposed that if the government agreed to hold a House of Representatives election at the same time as the half-Senate election, the Coalition would concede supply. Whitlam rejected this offer, stating that he had no intention of advising a House election for at least a year. With the crisis unresolved, on 6 November, Kerr decided to dismiss Whitlam as Prime Minister. Fearing that Whitlam would go to the Queen and have him removed, Kerr did not give Whitlam any hint of what was coming. He conferred (against Whitlam's advice) with High Court Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick, who agreed that he had the power to dismiss Whitlam.

A meeting among the party leaders, including Whitlam and Fraser, to resolve the crisis on the morning of 11 November came to nothing. Kerr and Whitlam met at the Governor-General's office that afternoon at 1.00 pm. Unknown to Whitlam, Fraser was waiting in an ante-room; Whitlam later stated that he would not have set foot in the building if he had known Fraser was there. Whitlam, as he had told Kerr by phone earlier that day, came prepared to advise a half-Senate election, to be held on 13 December. Kerr instead told Whitlam that he had terminated his commission as Prime Minister, and handed him a letter to that effect. After the conversation, Whitlam returned to the Prime Minister's residence, The Lodge, had lunch and conferred with his advisers. Immediately after his meeting with Whitlam, Kerr commissioned Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister, on the assurance he could obtain supply and would then advise Kerr to dissolve both houses for election.

In the confusion, Whitlam and his advisers did not immediately tell any Senate members of the dismissal, with the result that when the Senate convened at 2.00 pm, the appropriation bills were rapidly passed, with the ALP senators assuming the Opposition had given in. The bills were soon sent to Kerr to receive Royal Assent. At 2.34 pm, ten minutes after supply had been secured Fraser rose in the House and announced he was Prime Minister. He promptly suffered a series of defeats in the House, which instructed the Speaker, Gordon Scholes, to advise Kerr to reinstate Whitlam.

By the time Kerr received Scholes, Parliament had been dissolved by proclamation. Kerr's Official Secretary, David Smith came to Parliament House to proclaim the dissolution from the front steps. A large, angry crowd had gathered, and Smith was nearly drowned out by their noise. He concluded with the traditional "God save the Queen". Former Prime Minister Whitlam, who had been standing behind Smith, then addressed the crowd:

"Well may we say "God save the Queen", because nothing will save the Governor-General! The Proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General's Official Secretary was countersigned Malcolm Fraser, who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr's cur. They won't silence the outskirts of Parliament House, even if the inside has been silenced for a few weeks... Maintain your rage and enthusiasm for the campaign for the election now to be held and until polling day".'

A very ugly, tense mood swept through Australia with the dismissal of the Whitlam Government. Most Australians (including me) had no idea that a Governor-General had the power to dismiss a Government elected by the people of Australia.

The reaction was swift and immediate. Australia became instantly polarised by this dismissal.

Whitlam Government dismissal proclaimed by Governor-General's Official Secretary  
on the steps of Parliament House 11-Nov-1975  
[Source: Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC)]

Malcolm Fraser became a hated man. However, many Australians were relieved that the stalemate had been broken; but just as many were enraged that an elected Government could be dismissed in such a curt manner. People who under normal circumstances would not say, _"Boo!"_ to a goose were so enraged by the incident that they were almost ready to take up arms about it. I was amazed at people's reactions. There seemed to be no in between, you were either on one side or the other.

The Caretaker Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser held Federal elections on Saturday, 13-Dec-1975. The Liberal **/** National Parties' Coalition swept into power and Malcolm Fraser became Prime Minister. It seems that upon reflection a lot of Australians had had enough of the Labor Party's handling of the Australian economy and the constant scandals. The Whitlam era was over consigned to history!

On Christmas Day, Thursday, 25-Dec-1975 the Savoy Hotel was deliberately set on fire by an arsonist. The five storey hotel was located in the Kings Cross area of Sydney NSW. Sixty guests were in the hotel, 15 people died as a result of the fire and 25 were seriously injured. It was the deadliest hotel fire in Australia at the time. The arsonist Reginald John Little, a 25 years old cook, was sentenced on 25-Nov-1976 and spent a total of 34 years in prison. He was released back into society in May 2010. [Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia].

What a tumultuous year we had just gone through. What would 1976 have in store?

Chapter Eleven: 1976 \- The aftermath of the Whitlam years

On the national front on Monday, 5-Jan-1976 the new Family Law Court came into being. In Melbourne VIC an estimated 1,000 people lined up to file for divorce at the new Family Law Court. Previously divorce law was the responsibility of the individual States and Territories. It now became a Federal responsibility. The only State not to come under the Federal umbrella was Western Australia (WA). They retained their own Family Law Court; however in complicated, or difficult cases they followed the Federal Family Law Court's legal framework. Divorce became an easy way out for troubled marriages. When you consider back in the 1950's my Mum had to wait 7 years for her divorce to be finalised through the NSW legal system; now it takes one year simply on the grounds of separation. However, even today there are many more people seeking divorce from their spouses than there are judges to try each individual case. The result is a backlog and people sometimes waiting years for their cases to be heard.

The Fraser Government began a drive to cut back the financial excesses of the Whitlam Government. A 'Razor Gang' was set up to slash spending and to reduce the size of Government departments. The Labor Party had expanded many Government departments during its term of office, with lots of additional staff employed. On Saturday, 31-Jan-1976 Prime Minister Fraser stated that no 'soft options' were left to get Australia out of its economic difficulties. His Government was opposed to wage indexations. He stated that it was _"a matter of wage increases or jobs."_ thus beginning a period of 'belt tightening' for all Australians.

On Thursday, 18-Mar-1976 Federal Treasurer Lynch had to step in and reassure Building Society investors that the events in Queensland should not affect other States. Building society investors in QLD had panicked and made heavy withdrawals from building societies in the State. (There was also an earlier withdrawals run on building societies in QLD in 1974). Five smaller building societies were now suspended due to their perilous financial situations. The Queensland Government stepped in via its State Government Insurance Office (later known as Suncorp). SGIO took over the assets of the troubled building societies and combined them into one entity. SGIO was at that time 100% owned by the QLD Government. Suncorp in later years became privatised and was no longer completely owned by the QLD Government.

On the home front we had been looking at purchasing our own home. At the time we were banking with the National Australia Bank (NAB). We applied for a home loan and even though I had stable employment our application was refused. Rachel's father offered to go guarantor on a loan. Even though he owned his own home outright and had a half share in a block of flats at Sunnybank, NAB still would not give us a home loan.

Undeterred, we looked at other options. AGC Finance would loan us the money for a home loan. Their interest rates were a bit higher than the banks; but they were quite happy to loan us the money. We began looking in earnest for a home in the Sunnybank region. We liked a small two bedroom cottage at 1 Selsey Street, Runcorn for AUD$17,500.00; so we paid a deposit on the house subject to finance approval. The house sale went through ok and we had no problems at settlement. We were now the happy owners of our own home on a level block of land.

As it was our first home we were eligible to apply for the first home buyer's grant from the Commonwealth Government. The grant was for a maximum of AUD$2,000 subject to a savings guideline. In other words we had to save a certain amount of money towards our deposit within a stipulated time frame. Rachel and I had been saving up for our deposit for a while so we applied for the grant. We received only $1,500 instead of $2,000. Upon inquiry we were told we had saved up too much deposit in the time frame and were penalised $500! Talk about beaurocracy gone mad! You would have thought the Commonwealth Government would have been pleased that we had been diligent and saved our share within the time frame allowed. We felt a bit perplexed and were puzzled about their decision; however there was nothing we could do about it. We were of course happy that we received the $1,500 grant.

Our cottage had been owned by an elderly couple. The husband had heart problems. The house was quite hot in the summer months and he was beyond being able to do any alterations to cool the house down. So he suffered a lot in the hotter months and had no energy. They were glad to sell and move to a cooler property.

Rachel and I began to tizzy up the place. I repainted the kitchen cupboards a nice green shade. Rachel got out her sewing machine and made curtains for all the windows. Wallpapering was in vogue in the 1970's so we set about choosing different wallpapers for the different rooms. I certainly had a bit of fun learning how to put the wallpaper up and matching the patterns correctly. I also decided to buy aluminium flat pack awnings for the bedroom windows which faced west. I am fairly handy with tools and it did not take me long to put the green and white fixed awnings together and screw them to the weatherboards on the west wall. The house was immediately cooler inside.

Later Rachel wanted a nice window box outside the lounge window. So I found the right type of timber and made a window box and set it up under the lounge window. Next was a trip to a local nursery to buy some potting mix and flowers for the window box. Rachel enjoys gardening and she soon had the window box looking pretty with various flowers and splashes of colour. It was a nice vista as you approached the front door. The other thing we decided to do for extra shade on the western side (Selsey Street) was to buy three large lillypilly shrubs. We planted them outside the front fence on the fence line. Rachel kept up plenty of water to these and within a couple of months we had dense shade in front of the bedrooms. There was now a good cool area for Joel to be able to play in the shade.

There was an area of lawn between the house and the garage. This is where the Hills hoist clothes line was set up. It was a nice flat area with good grass; a pleasant place for Joel to play on. We were able to set up gardens at this end of the house and alongside the garage wall. On the other side of the garage was another grassed area with some small trees. We rarely used this area. The house was situated on a corner block. The end bedroom wall faced Dew Street. A garden was located at the base of that wall; however it was a winter garden with seasonal bulbs in the ground. A mature orange tree was growing in this area and also a bougainvillea bush. Mowing was a bit of a chore; with three inside lawn areas plus two wide grass footpaths to mow outside the fence lines.

This area of Runcorn was an established residential area. Housing developers were opening up the suburb and lots of new houses were being built further along Selsey Street and its surrounds. Over the road on Dew Street were sporting fields and near the railway line a large foundry was located. I had a slightly longer journey to my work in Eagle Farm.

We settled in and made a nice home for ourselves. A program of housing improvements was set in motion. There were no cupboards in the laundry so we had our friend Jack Weddell build us a large floor to ceiling cupboard which housed our washing machine, laundry basin and the hot water system. Adequate storage was available for linen, towels etc. in the top half of the laundry cupboard. Doors were fitted which kept everything neatly out of sight when not in use. We also had Jack build us a lattice type enclosure at the rear of our house for privacy and shade. He concreted the floor of this enclosed area. Our garage did not have a door at the front only a normal side door at the side of the wall facing the house. I negotiated with one of Elders Metals' clients to have a steel roller door made and fitted. The garage was now secure and weatherproof.

As we lived fairly close to Rachel's parents in Sunnybank, Rachel had the use of her parent's car while I was at work. This meant she was able to do shopping etc. and run errands for herself and her parents.

On the national front on Tuesday, 8-Jun-1976 Federal Cabinet agreed to changes in the laws governing building societies. This series of changes related to the establishment, operation, management and supervision of building societies in Australia. Cabinet was forced to act after the temporary suspension of five smaller building societies and the subsequent collapse of two of them.

On the work front I wanted to obtain a Credit Controller's job that paid more money than my present position. I began to check the Courier Mail on Saturdays for positions vacant for credit controller jobs. A Ford car dealership at Woolloongabba was advertising for a credit controller. The position had a higher wage and was closer to home. I applied by phone and was given an interview. The interview went very well and my current work experience well and truly qualified me for the job. I went away feeling pleased with the interview. A couple of days later I received a morning phone call at work to say I was successful and they would phone again with commencement details.

This was good news! I went home that day feeling excited at the prospects of the new job. Rachel was also pleased with the news. As soon as I had details of a start date I could give notice at Elders Metals. The next day I received a phone call from the Ford dealer. It was bad news! They had withdrawn the offer of the job and gave it to a credit controller, from another Ford dealer. He had made a late application. He already knew their systems and the customer base. I went from elation to deflation! If I had not been successful in obtaining the job it would not have been so exasperating. To be given the job and then have it withdrawn was a bitter pill to swallow. I continued to look in the Courier Mail but nothing of interest seemed to come up.

On the national front on Wednesday, 11-Aug-1976 in Sydney NSW the Commonwealth Literary Fund Prize was awarded to Peter Kocan. This was a highly controversial decision. Peter Kocan spent time in a psychiatric hospital after he attempted to assassinate former Labor Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell in June 1966. It was a deliberate act by Kocan at the time. Fortunately for Arthur Calwell the window glass deflected the bullet and he only received a minor injury.

On Wednesday, 1-Sep-1976 cigarette and tobacco advertising was banned Australia wide on TV and Radio. The Commonwealth Government was concerned at the upsurge in smoking related diseases and deaths. This ban did not deter the tobacco companies they just found other ways of getting their advertising done. However, the ban did have a detrimental effect on their sales for a while.

On Friday, 1-Oct-1976 Medibank Private came into existence after legislation was passed permitting the Health Insurance Commission to enter the private Health insurance sector. Medibank Private soon became a major player in the health insurance sector.

It was around this time of the year I arranged to take three weeks vacation leave. Rachel and I planned to take baby Joel down to Sydney and stay with my parents at Smithfield. Joel had grown into an inquisitive, full on toddler. He was a happy child with heaps of energy. Usually you could hear him as he played by himself; however if he went quiet and stayed quiet you knew he was doing something he ought not to be doing. He was a lot of fun and loved cars and speed. We purchased a small 'Tot Rod' for him to ride around on. It was shaped a bit like a motor bike with handlebars. It had four small wheels for stability. Joel used to race around the house and the yard on his tot rod. If you happened to be in his way he did not stop but yelled out "Scuse me peoples!" He just kept on coming and you had to step quickly aside or be run into.

Joel with his Tot Rod

We loaded up our Ford Escort sedan, put Joel into a forward facing baby capsule on the rear bench seat and strapped it in. He was sitting directly behind Rachel's front passenger seat. Our planned route took us down the New England Highway to Sydney NSW. We were nearing the QLD **/** NSW border when a small voice said, "It's too far. Let's go home!" Joel used to stretch his legs forward and put his feet on Rachel's shoulders. He seemed to find this comfortable. I don't think that Rachel found it particularly comfortable. We had problems convincing Joel that there was a long way to go yet. We booked into a motel in Armidale NSW, which is approximately halfway to Sydney along the New England Highway route. This way we split the journey over two days. We had a good holiday in Sydney and far too soon we had to drive back to Brisbane QLD.

On Friday, 5-Nov-1976 after a very lengthy trial lasting 126 days a jury in Brisbane found three men not guilty of official corruption. One was a retired police officer, one was a serving police officer and the third person was the person allegedly trying to bribe him. Allegations of police corruption were generally known in QLD at the time. Proving these matters was very difficult. The Queensland Cabinet did not seem to be sympathetic towards people raising the allegations.

On Monday, 15-Nov-1976 the Queensland Police Commissioner, Ray Whitrod resigned as Police Commissioner stating that he could no longer function in his duties under such a high level of government interference. His resignation did not bode well for Queensland. He was succeeded by Assistant Police Commissioner, Terry Lewis. Lewis had been promoted to the rank of Assistant Police Commissioner upon insistence by Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Ray Whitrod refused to work with Lewis and resigned in protest. With Ray Whitrod out of the way Premier Bjelke-Petersen appointed Terry Lewis as Police Commissioner. Bjelke-Petersen now had the Police Service under his control.

On the national front on Saturday, 4-Dec-1976 the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) fleet of Grumman Tracker aircraft based in Nowra NSW were destroyed by arson. The southern end of the hangar housing the aircraft was also severely damaged and part of the roof collapsed on to several aircraft. The arsonist was later found to be a junior sailor from one of the Tracker squadrons based in Nowra. One hundred navy personnel plus Nowra fire fighters took part in quelling the inferno. Some personnel risked their lives by climbing into burning planes and releasing the brakes so the planes could be towed outside. Some of the planes were towed outside the hangar by private cars. It was a calamitous day for the RAN.

Chapter Twelve: 1977 \- A new job

January 1977 started out with two disasters. On Wednesday, 5-Jan-1977 an aircraft suicide attack took place at Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (NT). A former disgruntled employee of Connellan Airways stole a Beechcraft 58 Baron aeroplane (VH-ENA) from Wyndham airport in Western Australia (WA) and flew it to Alice Springs airport with the sole intention of crashing the plane into the Connellan Airways workshop and killing as many Connellan employees as possible. His murderous action resulted in the deaths of six people, including himself.

On Tuesday, 18-Jan-1977 Australia's worst railway disaster occurred at Granville in Sydney, Australia. The crowded Sydney-bound eight carriage commuter train, having left Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains at 6:09am, was hauled by a New South Wales 46 class locomotive, No. 4620. It was approaching Granville railway station when it left the rails at approximately 08:10am and hit a row of bridge supports of the overhead Bold Street Bridge; which was constructed out of steel and concrete.

'The derailed engine and first two carriages passed the bridge. The first carriage broke free from the other carriages. Carriage one was torn open when it collided with a severed mast beside the track, killing eight passengers. The remaining carriages ground to a halt with the second carriage clear of the bridge. The rear half of the third carriage and forward half of the fourth carriage came to rest under the weakened bridge, whose weight was estimated at 570 tonnes (560 long tons; 630 short tons). Within seconds, with all its supports demolished, the bridge and several motor cars on top of it crashed onto the carriages, crushing them and the passengers inside.

Rescuers also faced great difficulties as the weight of the bridge was still crushing the affected carriages, reducing the space in which they had to work to get survivors out, until it was declared that no one was allowed to attempt further entry until the bridge had been lifted. Soon after, the bridge settled a further two inches onto the train, trapping two rescuers and crushing a portable generator "like butter". Another danger came from gas; LPG cylinders were kept year-round on board the train to be used in winter for heating. Several people were overcome by gas leaking from ruptured cylinders. The leaking gas also prevented the immediate use of powered rescue tools. The NSW Fire Brigade provided ventilation equipment to dispel the gas and a constant film of water was sprayed over the accident site to prevent the possibility of the gas igniting.

_The rescue operations lasted from 8:12am Tuesday until 6:00am Thursday. Ultimately, 84 people were killed in the accident which included an unborn child; and a further 213 people_ _were injured, many with severe injuries.'_ [Sourced from Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia]

When I was still living at home at Smithfield prior to coming to QLD to live; I can recall an incident probably 10 years before the crash. I was driving over the Bold Street Bridge and I had the queerest feeling come over me; I had a sensation that the bridge was moving under me. It was an odd sensation. I had driven over this bridge several times over the years and it felt normal each time. Perhaps it was a premonition, the sensation soon passed.

On Monday, 7-Feb-1977 refugees from the Vietnam War arrived in Melbourne VIC. Four hundred and eighteen (418) refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were flown to Australia from Thailand. They left refugee camps around the Bangkok area in what was the largest airlift of war victims from Thailand.

On the work front I continued on in my job as Credit Controller for Elders Metals; however I was still on the look out for a better paying job. I continued to peruse the Courier Mail on Wednesdays and Saturdays for credit control related job vacancies. The incident at the Ford dealership last year was still fresh in my mind.

On the national front Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrived in Australia for a regal visit during March. This visit formed part of her Silver Jubilee celebrations as the reigning monarch of Australia. On Tuesday, 8-Mar-1977 the Commonwealth Government held a reception for Queen Elizabeth. On Wednesday, 9-Mar-1977 the Queen arrived in Brisbane.

I remember this day. The Royal cavalcade had to pass along Kingsford Smith Drive right past Elders Metals. Some of us went out on to the broad median strip and waited for her to come by. I remember I had a big smile on my face as the Rolls Royce sedan drew close. Queen Elizabeth had a lovely smile for those of us waiting to catch a glimpse of her and Prince Philip. It was a lovely moment in time. She was only about two metres away as the Rolls Royce went past. On Sunday, 13-Mar-1977 in Sydney NSW the Queen was hit by a placard thrown by a protester. The flying placard grazed her left shoulder

It was about this time that I saw a newspaper advertisement in the Courier Mail for a Credit Manager for Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd. The job description was written in a light hearted manner and it appealed to me. It required a written response for the job application. I replied in a similar writing style to the way the advertisement was written. I was fortunate to be given a job interview. The job entailed converting a part time credit function to a full time Credit Department. A retired Brisbane City Council accountant and a young male credit clerk were currently responsible for the accounts receivable functions of Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd. The retired accountant worked only two to three days per week. The credit clerk worked a normal five days week.

This job offered a better salary at AUD$10,000 per annum and more scope in the job. (My present job at Elders Metals was AUD$8,500 per annum.) I was shortlisted and then offered the position as Credit Manager by the Financial Controller at Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd. Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd was a national clothing manufacturer and wholesaler. My bosses at Elders Metals were a bit surprised when I put in my resignation. They came back a couple of days later with a counter offer of AUD$9,500 per annum, hoping that I would stay on. I gave it some serious thought but decided I could do with a change of jobs, plus the pay was better and the new job had a broader scope. The other concern for Elders Metals would be the reaction of other staff when they learned that I would be given a substantial pay rise. So my resignation went into effect. I finished up at Elders Metals on Tuesday, 26-Apr-1977 and commenced at Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd on Monday, 2-May-1977.

Now I began a new learning curve. The Credit Department (as such) was crammed into one small office with two desks. Now there would be three of us sitting at three desks. I was very surprised to learn that Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd did not bother to reconcile their debtors' accounts each month. This was very disconcerting! The retired Brisbane City accountant had never worked in a manufacturing & wholesale type of financial system before. So he did not understand the importance of reconciling debtor accounts. He had decided that the customers would reconcile their statements from Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd each month; therefore there was no reason for us to do it. I was about to learn the absolute futility of this approach. As I was in a transition mode I could not yet apply my full authority to make changes. Until the retired accountant finished up it was an awkward transition.

On the national front on Sunday, 15-May-1977 a new political party, the Australian Democrats was launched by former Liberal MP Don Chipp in Melbourne Town Hall in Melbourne VIC. This minor party would soon make its presence felt on the Australian political scene.

On the work front when the retired accountant finished up his part time job at Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd, I was finally able to do a more thorough assessment of the credit department. My findings were not good. Our largest customers were Woolworths and Coles. Both companies paid on receipt of invoices - not on our monthly statements. There were large amounts of outstanding unpaid invoices on both accounts. A 'Provision for Doubtful Debts' had been made in our company accounts to offset this problem. I now fully understood why it was necessary to appoint a full time Credit Manager. The onus was now squarely on my shoulders to rectify matters and quickly.

It appeared that the main function of the accounts receivable department had been to receive and bank monies due from customers' accounts. A few queries were attended to as they arose. No wonder the debtors' ledger was in such a mess. It would take more than two staff to sort this out. Edward Fletcher & Co Pty Ltd had recently been bought out by Bradmill Limited and they had appointed a new CEO, Terry Parry (formerly from Levi Jeans). Terry Parry was not impressed by the current Financial Controller; and when he understood the extent of the problem with debtors' accounts he sacked him on the spot.

A new Financial Controller, Warren Brockwell was appointed to oversee the financial affairs of the company. He was aware of the problems in the Credit Department and called me in for a briefing. Warren was a smart young, university trained, switched on Financial Controller and was sympathetic to my ongoing efforts to improve the situation. I needed more staff as the backlog of unpaid invoices required someone full time to chase up the unpaid invoices. A mature experienced female credit clerk was employed immediately. I experienced a bit of reluctance from my male credit clerk as he was not used to reconciling customers' accounts. He stayed on a couple of months and then decided to resign. A very experienced female credit clerk was employed in his place.

I now concentrated on Woolworths and Coles and their unpaid invoices. Unfortunately neither company would pay for outstanding invoices unless they had proof of delivery. In other words they required a photostat copy of the signed delivery before they would pay an outstanding invoice. We were about to drive our national transport carriers up the wall with a flood of requests for signed delivery dockets. It was slow work! At the next Board meeting I was called in and asked what time frame I expected before the mess was sorted out. I explained that it would take twelve months before the mess would be sorted. The huge backlog of unpaid invoices would take time to clear up.

I put in a request for more staff and was given permission to employ two more clerks. In those transition days the company did not have a Human Relations department so there was no Personnel Manager; thus I had to hire and fire my own staff. Fortunately, I was able to hire two very efficient female clerks; who made an immediate impact on the debtors' ledger. All the smaller debtor accounts were brought up to date and were reconciled each month. Queries were now followed up immediately. I gave the new clerks a major account each; one did Woolworths and the other did Coles. They concentrated on current outstanding invoices on each account. My other clerks were basically following up on the older outstanding invoices. One of these clerks was assigned the daily banking duties. My department's expansion necessitated a move into a larger area. Rearrangements within the main office area meant I now had my own office and an area outside my office with four desks for my staff. This move made it so much easier for us to carry out our duties. I became very proficient in my knowledge of overdue accounts and customers' outstanding claims for credit.

The area of outstanding claims for credit was a major problem for me. The National Marketing Manager and the National Sales Manager deliberately held up claims. The reason was that credits passed to customer accounts reduced their sales figures each month. This was a 'head in the sand' attitude. They did not realise that their attitude was actually detrimental to their sales. Disgruntled customers would only buy what they had to and were not inclined to increase their orders. I had learned that lesson at Dunlop Footwear and Elders Metals. Unfortunately, my big bosses did not appreciate this fact. I had no control over passing credits to customers; those responsibilities lay with marketing and sales. My hands were tied as I could not reduce the overdue portion on many customer accounts due to their outstanding claims.

On the home front the change from a weekly wage to a monthly salary meant a few adjustments to our financial set up. The difficulty we experienced was balancing out the amount of cash needed for each week and also have sufficient put aside for monthly bills etc. The tendency was to overspend in the early part of the month and run short in the latter part of the month. To control it we worked out how much we needed each week for groceries etc. and likely bills for the month. Then we drew out the amount of cash for the month and put the weekly amounts into various envelopes marked specifically for the various expenditures. In this manner we managed to even out our cash flow each month. Banks issued savings account books and personal cheque accounts back then. My monthly salary was paid to me by cheque which then had to be deposited at a local branch of my bank. The cheque took days to clear before the funds were actually in our account.

On the international front on Wednesday, 15-Jun-1977 a meeting of the Commonwealth of Nations took place at Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland. Commonwealth Presidents and Prime Ministers as part of their support for the campaign against apartheid agreed to discourage competition between their sporting teams and athletes with teams or individuals from South Africa. This became known as the Gleneagles Agreement.

On the national front on Wednesday, 22-Jun-1977 the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. This followed the union of the majority of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Union churches in Australia.

On Sunday, 3-Jul-1977 our son Joel had his second birthday. He was full of energy, always on the move, always something to do. He was a happy, fun filled little boy and when he wanted to he could 'charm the birds out of the trees'.

On Thursday, 14-Jul-1977 Governor-General, Sir John Kerr resigned from office. This brought some closure from the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975. Most Australians were glad to see the back of Sir John Kerr. The former Governor-General subsequently chose to leave Australia and reside in France where he remained in a self imposed exile.

On Tuesday, 23-Aug-1977 Federal Cabinet endorsed the main findings of the Fox inquiry and agreed that uranium mining could go ahead provided that strict environmental controls and stringent nuclear safeguards were put in place. The Ranger mine could be developed; however approvals for Jabiluka and Koongarra would be some time in the future. Federal Cabinet also agreed on the establishment of the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory (NT); however exemptions for the uranium mine leases were excluded from the proposed National Park.

On the work front we were gradually making inroads into the backlog of outstanding unpaid invoices. We were relying on the photocopies of signed delivery dockets from our carriers. It took time for them to search for the dockets and then photocopy each one. After we received them we then had to forward them to Woolworths and Coles accounts payable departments; who would then have the individual stores check the signatures on the dockets from their payroll records. It was a lengthy process. I had a list of outstanding invoices going back years. We started at the more recent outstanding invoices and gradually worked backwards. Thankfully the remittances from both companies listed the invoices being paid. The utter folly of not reconciling debtor accounts became more apparent as the days went by. The older the debt the harder it was to prove the goods had been delivered.

It was around this time that the CEO Terry Parry called me in and asked me why so many accounts still had outstanding overdue amounts. I explained that a lot of these accounts had outstanding claims for credit which had never been actioned by the Sales Department. He was thoughtful for a while and then asked me what was needed. I told him that there was no written claims procedure which held anyone accountable to action credit claims and that my hands were tied as I had no authority to override the Sales Department. He made an instant decision. I was given the task of writing a new claims procedure with supervision from my boss Warren Brockwell.

On Thursday, 15-Sep-1977 the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) congress made a resolution to ban the mining and export of uranium ore from mid-November unless The Commonwealth Government agreed to hold a referendum on the issue.

On the home front we saw Joel gazing wistfully out of his bedroom window at the children playing baseball in the park across the road. So we asked him, "Joel would you like a little brother or sister to play with?"

'Yes, I would.'

"Well maybe we can do something about that."

So we made plans for another child in the very near future.

On Saturday, 8-Oct-1977 the Tasman Bridge in Hobart TAS was re-opened. The damage caused by the collision with the bridge by the bulk ore carrier MV Lake Illawarra on 5-Jan-1975 had been fully repaired. Hobart could get back to normal again; the dichotomy caused by the damage to the bridge was now rectified.

On Thursday, 8-Dec-1977 Sir Zelman Cowen was appointed the new Governor-General of Australia ending a turbulent period in Australia's political history. On Saturday, 10-Dec-1977 a Federal Election was held. It was won by the Liberal **/** National parties' coalition. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (Liberal Party) and Deputy Prime Minister Doug Anthony (National Party) retained their positions as leaders of their parties and their respective portfolios.

Subsequent to their election defeat the Labor Party had a change of leadership. On Thursday, 22-Dec-1977 Bill Hayden replaced Gough Whitlam as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Lionel Bowen replaced Tom Uren as his deputy leader. The Whitlam era in Australian politics was now over. However, many of the reforms and legislation enacted by the Whitlam Government are still with us today.

On the work front after consultation with the new National Marketing Manager and the new National Sales Manager and with input from Warren Brockwell I drafted up a new Credit Claims procedure. From now on every claim for credit had to be entered into a sequentially numbered claims ledger. A copy of this was sent to the National Sales Manager, a copy to the Sales Department and my department retained the copy in the ledger. The claim had to be actioned and a result given within 30 days. Except for large claims I had authority to pass a credit to the customer's account if there was an element of doubt.

The draft claims procedure was discussed by Top Management and agreed upon. I then made arrangements to have our Printers and Stationers print up a run of the new claims books. When the new claims procedure went into action the difference was almost immediate. The Sales Department knowing that claims had to be settled quickly did not sit on the claims. Most of the outstanding claims were related to price disagreements and I liaised with the customer and our sales department to resolve these disputes. If the customer was adamant they were owed a credit it was up to me to make a judgement and pass the credit.

On the sporting scene the game of Cricket entered a whole new phase when Kerry Packer launched his World Series Cricket in opposition to the Australian Cricket Board. This new series of cricket soon earned the nickname 'the Pyjama Game' due to the colourful outfits worn by opposing teams. Cricket's traditional white costumes looked drab in comparison. Kerry Packer's cricketers however were not eligible to play international Test cricket. They did however have a substantial increase in their pay packets to offset any disappointment. World Series Cricket for a couple of years created a time of much controversy and debate in the international cricketing world.

Chapter Thirteen: 1978 \- Sorrow and Joy

On Wednesday, 4-Jan-1978 the Australian dollar (AUD) was devalued from 89.4 cents to 89.2 cents against a drop in the US dollar. This brought the total devaluation since November 1976 to 15.3%. Whilst this helped our exporters it also meant that imported goods became dearer.

In February 1978 Australia had its first taste of terrorism.

_'The_ _Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing_ _occurred on 13 February 1978, when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the time the hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM), a regional offshoot of the biennial meetings of the heads of government from across the Commonwealth of Nations._

_The bomb was planted in a rubbish bin and exploded when the bin was emptied into a garbage truck outside the hotel at 12:40 a.m. It killed two garbage collectors, Alec Carter and William Favell. A police officer guarding the entrance to the hotel lounge, Paul Birmistriw, died later. It also injured eleven others. Twelve foreign leaders were staying in the hotel at the time, but none were injured. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser immediately called_ _out the Australian Army for the remainder of the CHOGRM meeting.'_ [Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]

I flew into Sydney that same morning on monthly business for work. The airline's shuttle bus had to take a slightly different route to the airline's branch in the city. The ground floor of the building had a bus terminal for the airline's shuttle buses to go to and fro from the airport at Mascot. We soon found out why we were unable to go on our normal route. All the passengers on the airline's bus were just as shocked as I was at the dreadful news. If it had been a bit later in the morning we could have been driving past the Hilton Hotel as it was happening.

On Monday, 15-May-1978 Australia's longest serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies died at the age of 83 from a heart attack. He served as Prime Minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941. Later he again became Prime Minister from 1949 to 1966.

On the home front Rachel was pregnant again with our second child. Joel's wish for a baby brother or sister was to be fulfilled. Joel had by now graduated to a single bed; the new baby would sleep in the cot. The room did not need any new decorations as it was wallpapered in children's wallpaper and set up for children.

On the work front the pile of unpaid invoices was reducing; however it was reaching a stage where the transport companies were having problems retrieving delivery dockets several years old. On the plus side, my team and I were successful in having a large amount of unpaid invoices paid up. The difficulty was invoices dating back for several years. Top Management made a decision to stop throwing good money after bad money. A substantial 'Provision for doubtful debts' was already in the Balance sheet to cover the expected bad debts' loss we had incurred. I was instructed to meet with Senior accounting management in both Coles and Woolworths. I was to try to reach an agreement with both companies to pay half of the remaining unpaid invoices. We would write off the remaining invoices and stop trying to prove that merchandise on invoices several years old had been delivered.

I arranged appointments with Woolworths in Sydney and Coles in Melbourne. I flew down to Sydney first and had a good reception from the senior accountant responsible for the accounts payable department. He was able to see the situation from both perspectives and realised it was also costing them time and money having to follow up the photocopied delivery dockets in their warehouses and retail outlets. As there was over $100,000 in unpaid invoices on the Woolworths accounts he agreed to pay us $50,000 to settle the matter. I was pleased about this outcome.

Coles in Melbourne was a different story. The senior accountant responsible for accounts payable was of the opinion that we had to prove that Coles owed the money. No agreement could be reached with him. Coles also at that time owed over $100,000 in unpaid invoices. We would have to continue to get signed copies of delivery dockets if we wanted payment of outstanding invoices.

Can you see the subtlety of payment on invoice? If an invoice remained unpaid then either of the companies gets the merchandise for free! The supplier bears the full cost! I reported back to my bosses. They were happy that Woolworths would pay $50,000 off their unpaid invoices. They were not happy about Coles' stance on the matter.

In our accounts at the end of the financial year the very old portion of the unpaid invoices was written off as bad debts. The provision for doubtful debts was then applied to offset these bad debts. Some serious lessons had been learned. From now on I instructed my staff to automatically obtain a photocopy of signed delivery dockets on any invoice 90 days or over. I had to bear in mind that deliveries went all over Australia from our Brisbane warehouse. Delivery times to Western Australia and the Northern Territory could be weeks. North Queensland and the top end of Australia in the wet season could also be a problem due to flooding and road closures. Common sense had to prevail in these matters.

Around this time the job of reconciling the major accounts became a lot easier. Our parent company Bradmill Ltd negotiated a group transport contract with McPhee Transport. Due to the amount of requests from my department McPhees installed a very modern system by copying all delivery dockets on to microfiche film in date order. What a boon this turned out to be for us. We could now get signed photostat copies of delivery dockets in days instead of weeks. On one of my Sydney trips I made a call on McPhees Transport to look at their new photocopying set up. I came away very impressed.

My job as Credit Manager was now a lot easier. I was quite well informed by my staff on what was outstanding on any of the debtor accounts. So when my boss Warren asked for information on what was outstanding I could usually inform him in detail as to the particular problem with any account.

Another important aspect of my job as Credit Manager was to do the annual forecast for the accounts receivable budget. In other words I had to try and forecast how much money I would collect each month during the financial year. Using historical data and factoring in seasonal swings I came up with a set of percentages I could apply to each month of the financial year. Of course it was not as simple as that to do the budget. Many variables had to be weighed up and factored into the budget.

The data set of percentages proved to be fairly accurate in the years ahead. My budget was critical for the company's cash flow for the year. Other departments needed to know what monies were expected each month so they could plan their own budgets.

We were now in the winter months with cold nights and early mornings. The days were usually warm and sunny however you needed a cardigan or a sweater when the day cooled down. Rachel was now heavily pregnant. The baby was expected around the middle of September. Rachel's mother was expecting visitors at the end of August from Sydney. She decided that her guest bedroom's ceiling needed to be either painted or wallpapered. She decided on white wallpaper called 'Anaglypta' which looks like a pressed metal ceiling. So I went to work wallpapering the ceiling. The wallpaper was quite thick as it was embossed with the Anaglypta design. It required a thick coat of wallpaper glue to adhere to the ceiling. The end result was quite pleasing.

On Monday, 28-Aug-1978 my grandfather Tony Natoli died from a suspected heart attack at his home in Naremburn a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Attempts to phone us at home in Runcorn were fruitless. Some of the trunk lines from Sydney were experiencing problems. Eventually they were able to contact Dick Roach at his home in Manly West. Dick was able to get through to us Monday night. To say I was shocked was an understatement. Pop was always happy and cheerful so this was unexpected news.

I packed a bag with clothes for the trip to Sydney. I took Rachel and Joel over to her parents' home at Sunnybank. Rachel was eight months pregnant and I did not want her staying at home without support. I then commenced the long drive down to Sydney NSW via the New England Highway route. I did not have any qualms about falling asleep at the wheel as I was fully awake and alert. I had plenty to think about.

I find it interesting driving along in the countryside in eastern Australia at night. Obviously you need to keep a sharp eye out for wildlife suddenly crossing the road in front of you. As you approach towns along the way the town's presence is signalled by a glow in the sky ahead of you, long before you reach it. Moonlight nights are also special. The soft glow of the moonlight reveals properties and mountains. It's nice to see the way ahead instead of driving in the inky blackness of moon-less nights.

The drive to Sydney back then took about 13 hours. Today the same journey would take about 11.5 hours due to the much improved highway conditions and towns' bypasses. I drove to my parents' home at Smithfield and arrived about mid morning. I wasted no time in driving to Naremburn to be with my grandmother and the rest of her family; my aunt Marie, her husband Barry and their children Bronwyn and Warwick, also my aunt Gloria.

Nanna told me that Pop had been fixing up the roof of his shed at the rear of his property. He was happy and cheerful as usual. He called out to her to make a cup of tea. He then climbed down the ladder and was walking across the lawn to the back door of the house. When Nanna looked out she saw him lying down on the grass. She said to herself, "What's Tony doing lying down on the grass?" He had passed away peacefully on his way in to have a cup of tea.

Arrangements had already been made for the funeral on Wednesday. I was able to take Mum to the funeral services at the Berry Road Gospel Hall and at the graveside. We then went back to Nanna's place for refreshments. Mum had met some of Nan and Pop's friends years ago when I was a small boy. So she knew some of the people at Nanna's house.

I was anxious to get back home to Brisbane; with Rachel due to have our second child very soon I wanted to be with her and Joel. Thursday morning bright and early I began the long drive home. As it was during the day there was a lot more traffic on the New England highway; with plenty of trucks to contend with. I was glad to get home Thursday night.

While I was away Rachel's mum had noticed that some of the new wallpaper on the ceiling in the guest bedroom had begun to lift. I was not available so she had Rachel (heavily pregnant) climb up on a chair and from there on to a table to re-glue the wallpaper where it had lifted. Rachel managed to do this unsafe act for her mother. I heard the story when I got home. I was not pleased. It was a dangerous thing to do in Rachel's present condition.

The upshot of this action was the next day Saturday, 2-Sep-1978 Rachel began to have contractions and needed to go to hospital in the afternoon. We took Joel over to stay with Rachel's parents while we went to the Mater Mothers' Hospital at South Brisbane. Rachel was admitted and taken to her ward. The lady in the next bed had given birth and a large gathering of her family was around her bed all happy and excited and a bit noisy. Rachel in the mean time continued to have contractions and was moved up to the Labour Ward. I accompanied her up and was asked to stay in the visitors' waiting room, while they settled Rachel in.

It was taking quite a while to settle Rachel in. When a nurse finally came out to see me she said, "Congratulations Mr Peasey you have another son." I was gobsmacked! Rachel had already had the baby! It was the same birth date as my mother Nancy. Andrew Jon Peasey was born at 9:50 pm. He was born two weeks premature.

Baby Andrew had a few problems; he was a bit smaller and had phlegm or mucose preventing him feeding properly. He was taken to a Paediatric ICU and kept overnight to sort out the condition. Andrew was a short time later found to be unable to tolerate milk or milk solids. He was put on soy milk (Prosobee) for six months before he was gradually introduced on to a milk formula. When he started on solid food he began to gain weight and was much healthier.

On the national front in NSW on Saturday, 7-Oct-1978 The Australian Labor Party (ALP) led by Premier Neville Wran was re-elected with an increased majority of 13 seats in the NSW State Parliament. The win became known as a "Wranslide". The following day Ken Warby an Australian set the world water speed record at 510 kph (317.6 mph). The record was set at Blowering Dam in the Snowy Mountains in NSW.

On Tuesday, 21-Nov-1978 an historic occasion happened at Albany in Western Australia (WA). It was the last day of commercial whaling in Australia. No whales were caught that day by the chaser ships Cheynes II, Cheynes III and Cheynes IV. Whaling in Australia ceased that day.

Christmas Day this year was more enjoyable with our three years old son Joel and our three months old baby son Andrew. Joel was very pleased to have a baby brother. He sure enjoyed playing with his new brother.

Chapter Fourteen: 1979 - The need for a larger home

On Thursday, 4-Jan-1979 at Bellenden Kerr in Far North QLD Australia's highest rainfall to date occurred. 1,140 millimetres of rain fell in 24 hours; that is just over one metre of rain in 24 hours.

On the national front on Tuesday, 9-Jan-1979 the Deputy Prime Minister Doug Anthony signed a pact that would allow uranium mining to begin at what would be known as the Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory. This pact gave authority to the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, Peko Wallsend and the Electrolytic Zinc Company to develop 100,000 tonnes of uranium for a period of 21 years.

On the home front Rachel and I decided that our current home at Runcorn was a bit small now we had two children. We placed our home on the market with a few real estate agents. They were soon bringing people through to look at our place. We put a price of $20,000 on the property. As we had done some improvements we were hoping to recover those costs. We had plenty of low offers, some even lower than what we had bought the place for.

I remember one arrogant Dutchman who marched in with a real estate agent and began banging on walls and trying to lift up the carpet. He then confidently stated, "The place looks like a chook house." He then proceeded to say, "I will give you $17,500 and you can pay my legal expenses." I looked at him and said, 'That's a lot of money for a chook house, however the price is $20,000 and you can pay your own legal costs.' He was not pleased and left in a bit of a huff.

We got used to real estate agents coming and going over the next few months. A Mr Payne was keen to buy our place but he had to sell his own place first. He was a nice man who only had one lung and was eager to sell his large three bedrooms Queenslander home, on a large block of land, and downsize to a smaller house and yard. Regrettably he had no takers for his home.

On the national front on Friday, 9-Mar-1979 the Arbitration Commission awarded Australian women in the non-government sector the right to six weeks compulsory unpaid maternity leave. The provisions would flow on to all awards in the private sector and would come into effect on Monday, 2-Apr-1979. There was also an option to extend the unpaid leave out to one year. Employers did not have the right to dismiss their workers in that period.

On Wednesday, 11-Apr-1979 a truck drivers' blockade on major highways in the eastern States of Australia ended after 10 days. These blockades caused huge disruptions on the major highways, with large semi-trailer rigs actually blocking the highways in both directions. The blockades were in protest against very high State road taxes and low cartage rates which were forcing many out of the transport business. Freight consignments and deliveries were interrupted. Normal traffic to and fro on the highways was suspended for the 10 days. On the TV news were scenes of long lines of trucks stationary on parts of the highways where there were no alternative routes available.

On the home front our house had not been sold and we were wondering if we should pull it off the market for a while. Hardly anyone was looking at it now. So we informed the real estate agents that we were taking our house off the market.

On Saturday, 9-June-1979 a tragedy occurred at Luna Park in Sydney NSW. Luna Park was situated at Milsons Point on the north shore of Sydney Harbour, in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a very popular entertainment venue for people of all ages. A fire broke out in the Ghost Train ride which engulfed the building. Seven people died as a result. A father and his two young sons and four young boys died in the inferno. Luna Park was forced to close its operations. I remember riding on the Ghost train when I was a teenager in Sydney. It was quite dark in there as obviously they were trying to scare people on the ride. This would have made any exits hard to find and with a fire breaking out people on the ride would have been completely disorientated. They would not have known where to go in their panic.

On the national front on Thursday, 21-Jun-1979 up to a million workers went on strike across Australia. They were protesting the arrest of unionists in Western Australia (WA). The unionists were arrested for addressing a public meeting without police permission. All over the country public transport, industries and commercial services were disrupted by the strike. The unions sending a clear message that they had the power to cause major disruptions across Australia.

On Saturday, 23-Jun-1979 an event took place that many people in NSW thought they would never see. The Eastern Suburbs railway line was officially opened by NSW Premier Neville Wran. This line had originally been proposed 100 years before. Much discussion and debate took place in the ensuing years and some underground work had started and stopped then restarted and stopped again. The railway line runs from Redfern through the city of Sydney out to Bondi Junction.

I took advantage of this railway line on one of my trips to Sydney for work. My company had a long standing accommodation arrangement with an upmarket hotel in the Kings Cross area. That evening after dinner I walked up to the new railway station at Kings Cross and caught a train to Town Hall station. At Town Hall station I changed trains and travelled on the Liverpool via Granville line to Fairfield station. I then hired a taxi to my Mum's house at Smithfield. Mum had a lovely surprise visitor for a couple of hours and then I retraced my steps back to Kings Cross.

In July there was a big hullabaloo about an American space station called 'Skylab' which was due to crash back to Earth. The space lab could end up anywhere across the world and people were very concerned it could crash on to them. It certainly aroused a lot of speculation and fear.

Skylab [Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia]

As the time for the space lab drew near for its entry back into Earth's atmosphere the anxiety levels increased around the globe. On Wednesday, 11-Jul-1979 the space lab crashed to Earth near Esperance, Western Australia. Thankfully it crashed in an area away from homes and properties. Rachel was up for hours that night hoping to get a glimpse of the space lab in the sky. However it was on the other side of Australia. One person somewhere overseas got so worked up about the space lab possibly landing on him that he suffered a heart attack and died.

In NSW on Tuesday, 24-Jul-1979 at 11:00 pm a lethal explosion of methane gas at the Appin Colliery, an underground coal mine caused the death of 14 coal miners. The mine's owners were later to be found at fault for not notifying the miners of a build up of methane gas. As a result of the inquiry into the mine disaster the NSW Government instituted more rigid controls across the NSW mining sector on ventilation standards in mines.

On the home front baby Andrew celebrated his 1st birthday at home in Runcorn on Sunday, 2-Sep-1979. Andrew was turning out to be a quiet, shy little toddler. However, he was also a real fidget. If he sat on your knee or on your lap he could not sit still for more than 30 seconds. He was the opposite of Joel. Joel was a true extrovert; Andrew was a true introvert; although they played together happily with Joel taking the lead.

On the national front on Thursday, 27-Sep-1979 Australia announced it had abolished trade preferences with Great Britain. Since white settlement in Australia in 1788 Australia had always given trade preferences to Great Britain.

That same day the Federal Primary Industry Minister, Ian Sinclair resigned his portfolio. Allegations had been made in the NSW State Parliament that he had forged his father's signature on the family's annual returns. The Finnane Report tabled in State Parliament stated that Ian Sinclair had been dishonest in arranging loans from a group of companies of which he was the 'de facto managing director' to the family pastoral company. Ian Sinclair had already denied the allegations. He was later acquitted of the charges.

On Sunday, 14-Oct-1979 the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President Bob Hawke won the pre-selection for the Federal seat of Wills. This action made way for him to enter Federal politics in 1980. Wills was a safe Labor seat and Bob Hawke was virtually assured of a seat in Federal Parliament next year after the elections.

On Friday, 19-Oct-1979 The Australian Federal Police (AFP) was established under the command of Colin Woods. This superceded the old Commonwealth Police which was set up back in 1917 by the then Prime Minister William (Billy) Hughes during World War 1. Some other agencies were also amalgamated into the AFP, particularly the agency responsible for catching drug smugglers. The AFP today is well respected nationally and internationally and co-operates with many law enforcement agencies around the world.

The following day Saturday, 20-Oct-1979 Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser proclaimed the first section of the Great Barrier Reef National Park, the Capricornia section. He also announced an allocation of $300,000 to fund research projects in that region. The Federal Government wanted to increase its marine knowledge of the area.

On the home front Rachel and I decided to put our house back on the market. It was becoming obvious that our small two bedrooms bungalow was not really large enough for our growing family. We set a price of $20,000 again. The usual run of real estate agents brought people to the house for inspections. There were plenty of lookers but no takers.

As we counted down to the end of 1979 our house remained unsold, but it was not from the want of trying by our real estate agents. The major shortcoming for most people was that the house was too small for their needs. Would 1980 change our fortunes?

###

Epilogue

As the 1970's decade came to a close, upon reflection, I could see that the decade had been a turbulent period in Australia; with major political changes and also the transition from imperial measurements to the metric system. The nation had been polarised during the Whitlam years, especially after the dismissal of the Whitlam Government by the Governor-General.

During 1974 I married my fiancée Rachel and subsequently we were blessed with two young sons. The joys and responsibilities of married life became an everyday occurrence. At the end of the 1970's decade we, along with many others, were looking forward to a stable political climate and better prosperity for all.

About the Author

I am a retired male nurse, married with three sons, who have grown up and left home. My wife Rachel and I moved in December 2018 to a high rise unit block in Nundah, a suburb of Brisbane the capital of Queensland (QLD). This move brings us closer to two of our sons. One son Andrew lives in a high rise unit across the road and our youngest married son Michael and his family currently live at Brighton, a seaside suburb of Brisbane. Our eldest son Joel and his family live in New Zealand.

I am a committed Christian and I fellowship with like minded Christians at a Gospel Hall near Nundah. I enjoy writing and reading my Bible and Christian books. I also enjoy reading other non-fiction books in my spare time; particularly biographies and autobiographies. However, a well put together novel can also be a good and satisfying read. My interests are my family, writing, bible study, gospel preaching and bible teaching, beach walking, car touring with my wife and driving holidays.

Thank you for taking the time to read my 1970's memoirs. You are invited to check out my other ebooks.

Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

I also blog on my two blogs:  
Biblical Perspectives blog http://www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com  
Words of Life blog http://www.jrpeasey.blogspot.com

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