Hello @Historylover , @Anastasia , @Eve7
and others who may visit this thread
{Long Post - About 950 words}
For those who may be interested in a piece of my story
Thank you for your replies, @Historylover , @Anastasia and @Eve7 . I am pleased that some of the reflections were familiar to you, @Historylover . When I went back to the area in 1975, having driven with friends form Perth, I had drawn a map of the area in which I had lived in Bulimba, and found that even at that time, my recollection had been quite accurate and the area was still much the same as I had remembered it from 20 yrs before . The school “further up the hill” would very likely have been the Bulimba Primary School that you mentioned. However, I do not recall having gone that direction, or past it because the city was, from memory, in the opposite direction. It was, at the time, just “the big school up the hill” to me. It is interesting to consider the “what ifs.... “ and possibilities of where we may otherwise have been.
The military establishment, on the waterfront at Bulimba, was rather unimpressive. I remember the buildings, probably workshops, on the Eastern side of the area, along the South side of the river, with the administration to the western side along the same side of the river. There is a fairly big loop in the river at that location, and the military area was, roughly, on the Northern tip of the land on the South side of the river within that loop, from memory. There were Nissen huts, the types that were used at various locations around Australia, as temporary accommodation for refugees and migrants and probably military personnel during the war. The administration and the huts were adjacent to where the ferry landing was. Most of the land was open then, and used for tracked vehicle exercises. I can remember a small Bren-Gun Carrier being driven around the paddock. All this was only 10 years or less after the end of WW11. Consequently, most of what was happening would have been associated with winding down military activity and facilities. I do know that there was a substantial military camp at Enoggera, but that area was out of my range of reference at the time. I would imagine that the Bulimba site would subsequently have been sub-divided for housing, or possibly industrial use. However, that is only an assumption on my part.
I know that my interest in planes and boats was developed at that time. As I mentioned, that time was the most pleasant period of my life. I agree that the aspects of experience, that provide better memory recall, generally involve excitement, awe inspiring events, things that really cause the memories of events to “stick”. Memories are certainly almost branded into our consciousness when the senses are strongly involved, whether they be associated with excitement, or fear.
I remember going to a “military tattoo” which was presented, more for spectacle, than expression of power. It was probably held at Enoggera, which would be why the name stuck. There was a demonstration of a remote controlled Jeep, which in those days, consisted of a driver, somehow hidden from the audience view in the vehicle, following directions from someone outside the vehicle. Talk about the difference between analogue and digital!!
The fireworks display was probably a way of disposing of surplus military ordnance & inventory, in a spectacular and, at least from the point of view of the audience, useful way. It could possibly have been associated with the 10th anniversary of the end of the war.
Another memory was of a holiday at Maroochydore when there were probably 50 cottages there with a stream winding gracefully down to the ocean from the low hills further back from the beach. The area was beautiful then and probably is so now, but in a different sort of way. We arrived nearby and got a lift on the back of the ice truck to the place at which we stayed. Five star accommodation? No no no! But really very enjoyable. We were at the beach and what looked to me, at the time, like a fence going out into the ocean, was most likely a fish net on stakes laid out to be taken in with the catch.
I can certainly say that it is a long time since I have thought of much of what I have written here today.
Your comment about the flatness of Australia is appropriate. When corresponding with a friend in America, I was talking about “a wide brown land”, and decided to make a comparison. I stopped at 200. But there are many more than 200 mountain peaks in America that are higher than our tallest peak near Mt Kosciuszko.
I understand that many people found the SBS program on the Ghan, from Adelaide to Darwin, to be somewhat tedious and boring. I think that as a TV program, there cannot be the ambience of the train trip. Paradoxically, the people involved in the making of the program probably felt the excitement and vigour generated by that ambience, which does not really translate in film. However, I was fortunate to have been able to take the trip from Perth to Adelaide, on the Indian-Pacific, and the Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin with my mother and a friend about eight years ago. When actually travelling on the train and talking with others about the history of the land, what we saw and learned as we were travelling and at each of the stops, it is not simply about the landscape, which is awe inspiring in its austerity, but there really is a very rugged history there, which is still continuing to evolve. And an amazing amount of activity in the middle of Australia. Definitely not Las Vegas style. Very much more rugged.
Another unpleasant aspect to be aware of, which is unfortunately, a connected piece of history and knowledge, is to know how far warplanes came towards Alice Springs in Central Australia, Broome in Western Australia in addition to the attacks on Darwin in the Northern Territory. We may be even more at risk now, despite and possibly because of the vastness of this country.
That is a somewhat sobering note on which to close this story, however, it really is reason for us in this country to remain ever vigilant, and not to occupy ourselves too much or remain overly involved in “navel gazing”
Thank you all for your interest in this snippet of my story.
With My Very Best wishes for a Bright and Prosperous Future
@HenryX
