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Kay Johnson of Wolli Creek wasn’t an unaccompanied minor (C8), but her early aviation encounter is memorable: “About 1947, my father decided to take my mother and me to Tathra by Dragonfly biplane. The back of each seat had a pocket crammed with heavy duty paper bags. The scenery was spectacular, but the thermals caused us to violently drop, so the bags were soon in use. Dad and I were unaffected until the door of the pilot’s cabin flew open and revealed the pilot reading the Herald and having a cup of tea. As I knew nothing of autopilot, I needed a bag. We landed in a paddock at Bega and taxied up to a shed. An old bus came trundling across the paddock to take us to Tathra. Mum made Dad buy a car to come home.”
From planes to trains: “No aircraft tales, but in my teens I was often sent solo from Sydney to Melbourne on the overnight train,” says Andrew Taubman of Queens Park. “Seated only – no sleeper for me! Most memorable were the winter heating arrangements which consisted of a large metal container with some sort of chemical. If you shook it vigorously for a few minutes it emitted a feeble heat for a few more minutes. I suspect the exercise did as much to ameliorate the cold as the device.”
To ships: “At the mall, I saw a citizen sporting a B-cap with a nautical badge,” writes Mike Fogarty of Weston (ACT). “Being ex-navy, I was intrigued by its unfamiliarity. He laughed. ‘Not an RAN warship, but the Spanish Armada. Of course, it was much bigger in 1588, than it is now.’ Noted. Another reason why the Government should augment the HMA fleet with more galleons.”
“I just received an invitation to a birthday bash for an old friend who died earlier this year,” explains John Swanton of Coogee. “What do I bring? A ‘Get Well Soon’ card? A bottle of vintage wine? A scented candle?”
John Affleck of Sydney believes that “it was Wanaaring, not West Wyalong, that was the last manual exchange (C8), closing in 1991. I was there for that last call and the little celebration that followed.”
“Kettles (C8) don’t need more innovation,” declares Mary Watson of Balgowlah Heights. “Recent experiences required an engineering degree to boil the water. Eventually, made the cuppa but needed a good lie down.”
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