Birdsville 1993

I visited Birdsville in August 1993 for the Birdsville Races.

I got arrested by an amazonian policewoman, drank lots of beer that cost an arm and a leg per can, sat on a toilet that got flushed by boiling bore water, slept in a tent city and had a fantastic time.

If you ever want to do something unusual when you visit Queensland in mid "winter" (I use the term loosely), then check out the Birdsville Races. It's something you just have to do :)

Washing day at the Hostel

Washing day at the Hostel

Mum hangs up our washing outside our Nissen hut at the Wacol Hostel in 1965.

More memory excavation

Another one of my very early memories is visiting the Daily Mail Boys and Girls Exhibition at Olympia in London sometime between December 1964 and January 1965.

Dr Who had just recently hit the airwaves and was very popular, so they had a Dalek Exhibition.

I used to be terrified when Dr Who came on the TV. Just the music was enough to make me hysterical.

"Reckles"

One my earliest childhood memories was sitting on the loungeroom floor of my Mum and Dad's old house in the UK playing with their 45rpm records.

I used to call them "Reckles".

We'd play them on an old portable white record player with a blue fabric front, and brass buckles, so you could do it up like a suitecase and carry it.

In an attempt to chase down old memories, I re-enacted the scene of the crime, playing in my own loungeroom with the same "reckles".

(I mamaned to convince mum to give them to me).

No stunning results yet.

But as the Beatles say in one of their "reckles" that I played today. "It's not like me to pretend, but I'll get you! I'll get you in the end!".

Here's a video I did of it - mainly to help jog my memory, but also to have a bit of fun!

A good impression

A good impression
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

It looks like Dad made a great impression on the interviewer.

"Recommendation: A"

"Medical Arranged"

"Excellent fellow (Scotch origin) with wife and children to match. Suitable for A/P under C/N. Conditions explained".

The First Step

The First Step
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

The greatest journey starts with a step.

This is the form that Mum and Dad completed in order to apply to come to Australia in February 1963. They were 22 years old at the time. I wasn't even a year old, and Mum was pregnant with my sister, Karen.

Click on the thumbnails below to see any of the 32 pages in the application.

If you were a Ten Pound Pom, you can order your own set of documents. Just go to the Australian National Archives (http://naa.gov.au/) and follow "record search" links.