School Reunions

Over the years, almost everyone I know has been invited to a school reunion.

Almost everyone I know has complained about receiving the invitation to their school reunion, while I was secretly envious, and wishing it was my invitation! Sadly,  most of them did NOT attend their school reunion.

My Dad worked in 'oil search' so his job involved travelling, not just around Australia, but also to other countries.  I have a very limited knowledge of his career in this industry, but I know that he operated a drilling rig and drilled for both oil and for water.

We lived on Brampton Island for a few months way back in the 60s and Dad's job was to drill for water.  We lived in one of the resort rooms, which were nothing like they are today.  They were more like the little portable units that you find in caravan parks these days.

I remember the Owner/Manager's name as  'Smithy'.  He owned a boxer dog that I used to play with on the beach and every Friday night the resort had 'horse races' which involved horses made out of beer or soft drink cans.  I was very young at the time, maybe 5 or 6, so I don't remember a lot of detail.

I think I was about six years of age when Mum and Dad bought a caravan so that we could follow Dad around the country in his work travels.  It was a 19 foot long brand new Franklin van that Mum towed behind an old lemon and green FJ Holden, and we followed the drilling rig that Dad was driving.

Sometimes Dad would let my brother and I take turns sitting in the passenger seat of the drilling rig.  I didn't like it very much because it was loud and bumpy in there.  No such thing as air conditioning and they certainly weren't built for comfort!

We travelled as far north as Cairns, south to Geelong,  across to Adelaide and as far west as Perth.  I attended 17 different schools, which included at one stage, School of the Air and also lessons by correspondence.  My lessons would arrive in a big envelope (I can still remember the smell) and I would sit at the table inside the caravan to do my work.

Living 'out bush', we bathed in a half 44 gallon drum, hiked for 100 yards carrying a shovel and roll of toilet paper to go to the toilet and made friends with kookaburras and magpies.  At night we used a kerosene lamp or a torch to find our way to a far away tree for toileting and there would be little beady eyes glowing back at us from a distance.

The longest I was ever at one school was the last school I attended.  Pine Rivers High School in Strathpine.  I was there for about 2 miserable years.  So that means that I attended 16 schools over an eight year period, which averages about 6 months per school.

I remember, while living in Cootamundra in 1982,  receiving an invitation for a school reunion in Perth, which would be held the following year.  Carine High School, which was a brand new school when I attended, was having a 10 yr reunion for the inaugural class of 1973.  Unfortunately, I had two young children, we had just bought our first home and couldn't afford for me to travel across the country to attend.

That was my first and last invitation to a reunion.  I wonder if the 40 yr reunion will be held in 2013?

I am very envious of people who got to experience their entire education at one school, with the same friends, the same school bus drivers and knowing, at the end of one year,  the teachers whose classes they would attend the following year.  I envied the familiarity and (my imagined) feeling of security.

I tried to create that for my own children.  I wanted them to experience that stability.  Of course, they did not enjoy the experience and don't have fond memories of school!  The grass is always greener isn't it?!

So, I imagine that the majority of schools that I attended, don't even remember me being there, and if they did, they certainly would have no idea how to contact me now.  I did not keep in contact with any of the friends that I made over those years, because we never knew where we would be living from one town to the next and mostly because I was never in a place long enough to form close enough friendships.

If there is anybody out there from Pine Rivers High who knows of a reunion for classes of 1975/76, please let me know.  I would love to attend.  The same goes for Carine High in Perth for the classes of 1973/74.

Being the 'people watcher' that I am, I imagine a school reunion being a most amazing experience.  I have so many high school 'experiences' because I was a naughty teenager, so there are quite a few names that stand out in my memory and old school pals that I would love to catch up with now.  They weren't close friends, but the sharing of some experiences creates a bond, however small, and the 'where are they now' scenario is highlighted in my brain.

Oh!  The ammunition it would give me for future posts on this blog!!