PAGE FORTY-SEVEN: are you new here?

It wasn't long before I discovered that the Narromine High School song had been written by the headmaster to be sung to the famous Ode To Joy theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Unfortunately the way it had been fitted to the tune made it sound like the above representation. I wonder what Philip Percival, the Christian songwriter who taught there after me, thought of it?

We had a few funny experiences in Narromine. One day we went into a milk bar and asked for some creaming soda. The man behind the counter asked if we wanted

crim - a - SOH - nuh, 

or

a- CRIM - a - SOH - nuh

which both sounded the same to us.  I think he meant

Do you want creaming soda, or crimson?

But I'm not sure.

Then, we were driving along a country road and came to a flock of sheep in the middle of the road. We stopped the car, and waited. A farmer came over and yelled:

Are you new here?

We discovered you can drive through a mob of sheep, if you do it slowly and don't disturb them as you move through.

And when we took our growing boy to Dundas Park, we were delighted to see him walk and walk and walk all around the big park. He was loving the freedom.

And Danny loved to play with Gran and Grandad's tennis equipment, when we went back to Newcastle for a visit.

In those days, children used to visit their parents. Parents also visited their children, but it worked both ways.

I haven't yet worked out why so few young folk travel home to visit Mum and Dad, as was done in the past.

Someone told me it's because the trip from Sydney to Bathurst is much further than the trip from Bathurst to Sydney, but it seems to me to be more than a crossing the Blue Mountains thing, because this is the experience of many parents in many different circumstances and places of residence.

Another possibility is that children whose parents have left the home they grew up in are disinclined to visit a house and town they are unfamiliar with. What do you think?

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PAGE FORTY-SIX: super revelations

I made two discoveries when we went for our medical check-ups for superannuation, just before we received our first postings to schools:

1. It isn't easy to pee at call!

It was the first time that I was given a jar and told to provide a urine sample. We gathered in the canteen at Newcastle CAE and drank lots of soft drink. Others also found this a bit daunting.

2. I was born with cataracts on my eyes.

When I went back to my ophthalmologist and asked him why he hadn't mentioned it to me, he told me that it wasn't significant, and I hadn't needed to know.

Now where do you suppose students were hoping to be sent to, after they left college?
I had spent 19 years in Newcastle, and was interested to see where the Department of Education would post me. But some students, particularly those who had grown up in Newcastle, had their hearts set on staying there. I was looking for a bit of adventure!

As it turned out, my first appointment was at Narromine, which I'd never even heard of! Narromine had been a central school (combined primary/high school) and had only just been upgraded to be a dedicated Years 7-12 High School. The town's population was 2,200 and the high school had about 400 students. The principal, Bernie Gallagher, had come from being deputy at Broken Hill High School, where there had been 400 in Year 8!

I was the only Music teacher, and had to teach Music in a science lab. I don't recommend it: there are too many temptations for kids to play with. Even if the teacher turns off the central gas tap, someone will find a way to distract you, and their accomplice will turn them on again.

I was very relieved when I was given my own classroom.

We had an appalling old green record player, issued to P E departments, for dancing classes. The sound was so bad, the kids confused the sound of the french horn with the sound of the violin. On that old monstrosity, they did sound the same!

Joan and baby Danny, 22 Sixth ave, Narromine

One day, 11th November, 1975, I went home for lunch with Joan and baby Danny and heard on the radio that the governor general, Sir John Kerr, had sacked the prime minister, Gough Whitlam. I went back and reported this in the staff room I shared with the Science department. The head teacher told me that I was mistaken. It was impossible and could never happen.

But when we came back to school the next day, did I get an apology? What do you think?

Speaking of Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party, early in my time at my new school, the Australian government gave small grants to every Music department in Australia, which was a part of an Arts grant they made. We got $2,200, which seemed like a lot of money. It was meant to be spent on musical instruments, and we did spend most of the money on some guitars and trumpets and clarinets and other instruments I thought I might be able to help students learn on.

But we also purchased a decent record player and cassette player. It made a huge difference to be able to play the music through a decent amplifier and speakers.

In 1975, Paul Hogan was very popular: mostly through his larrikin Winfield cigarette advertisements, which used Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony as their theme, with the punchline:

Any'ow, have a Winfield!

So when I attempted to play my students some Beethoven, they called him Bate Hogan, as if he were Paul's brother. I could never tell if they were serious, or were pulling my leg.

Abba was at the height of their fame, and the students enjoyed watching black and white videos of Abba's Australian TV special. So when I managed to get a choir together, their first song was SOS.

After we got the kids to sing at a school assembly, the deputy principal commented that they sounded out of tune. Thanks Noel!

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Baby's First Words

What were your first child's first words? I am guessing that you didn't record your second and subsequent children's as rigorously.

This is a list of our first child's first words. They are not in any order, but some of the words later in the list were learnt later. But the first to appear are not to be taken as the first to be said.

I wrote these words down in Narromine in 1976. I wish I had written the date on the sheet!

1. Dee dum dee-dum [Humpty Dumpty]
2. book
3. look
4. deedle deedle [= I’m going to drop this plate if you don’t take it!]
5. bease [please]
6. Bease Mummy
7. dogge [thank you]
8. more
9. nice
10. like
11. bib
12. cup
13. cheese
14. meat
15. egg
16. pea
17. bean
18. tato [potato]
19. Daddy
20. Zustin [Justin]
21. bapple [the first vowel should be a shwa, = apple]
22. peg
23. shoes
24. duss [socks]
25. pants
26. door [= Pick me up, please!]
27. tree
28. dook [drink]
29. boon [balloon]
30. dock [clock]
31. geetar [guitar]
32. speaker [part of hifi]
33. dickie [biscuit]
34. ears
35. eyes
36. nose
37. phone
38. teeth
39. wool
40. eyebrow
41. hair
42. chin
43. beard
44. juice
45. night night [Goodnight]
46. boom boom
47. Brass [Tijuana Brass LP]
48. Ring Ring [Abba song]
49. Bar Bar [Barbara Ann, Beach Boys song]
50. powder
51. hand
52. dirty
53. wet
54. yuck
55. bath
56. hot
57. Bach
58. Chee-cho [Tchaikovsky]
59. Ine [Haydn]
60. Quaygwer [Captain Quaver, Aussie children’s record]
61. brush
62. tractor
63. teapot
64. Joan
65. Gran
66. Dad-dad [Grandad]
67. Pa
68. Nanna
69. Nina [Sheena]
70. bird
71. Georgie
72. dirt
73. grass
74. chair
75. paper
76. duck
77. car
78. truck
79. doash [toast]
80. kee-cat [cat]
81. dawg [dog]
82. beetbic [Weetbix]
83. tissue
84. pen
85. purse
86. keys
87. fish
88. two dolls
89. teddy
90. ball
91. one
92. two
93. sss [three]
94. sharp
95. pin
96. mook [rhymes with book = milk]
97. wash
98. down
99. Bible
100. bed
101. ring
102. light
103. sugar [= sugar bowl]
104. woee [water]
105. man
106. toe
107. woof woof
108. moo
109. pom pom
110. ride
111. stuck [in rocking horse]