My first secondary school was Camberwell Church of England Boys Grammar School, which I attended for three years. It was a mixture of old and new buildings, the main part being an old mansion named Roystead House. The newest buildings were a large assembly hall and a science block for the senior classes.
School started at nine o'clock in the morning and finished at half past three, except on Fridays when we left at three o'clock. On Mondays, for last period, we had Club activities, during which each boy was a member of one of the various clubs run by the teachers. One of the most successful of these was the Model Aeroplane Club. I was in the Musical Appreciation Club at first, but as I was the only person who turned up, this did not last long, so I joined one of the much more popular (but unofficial) activities, the "Going Home" Club.
I don't think I had many real friends, but I remember I made a few enemies. Two of these I remember in particular. One was a boy named Covell who would hit anyone he didn't think would hit back. Sometimes he made a mistake and I had the pleasure of seeing him get bashed up, not realising that I probably could have done the same to him myself.
My other main enemy was a tall, strong person named Robinson, also known as "Myrtle". Unlike Covell, he was not just a coward disguised as a bully. He thought nothing of committing acts of vandalism or giving cheek to the teachers. I tried hard to keep away from him and his gang but was occasionally tortured by them at the bus-stop.
Of course not all my acquaintances were like this. I knew a lot of friendly and helpful boys, but I don't remember them in much detail.
My memory is a lot clearer with regard to the teachers. My first form-teacher was Mr Brokenshire, a man I will never forget. He made the mistake of treating us like human beings and expecting us to treat him the same. He was a young handsome man with a Canadian accent and a wonderful personality. He could take a joke against himself (unlike many of the teachers) and could hold his temper well. However, when he did lose it, he certainly let us know. After teaching our class English, History and Geography for a year, he gave up teaching and went into real-estate. Although I don't remember any of the schoolwork he taught me, I think I have learnt more from him than from any other teacher I have ever had.
My French teacher in first and second form was a short fat bald man named Mr Key. He had once lived in South Africa, Where he was a personal friend of the late Lumumba. He was a good-humoured man and was made the object of many jokes by the boys. One thing they did which he eventually got sick of was writing "my derriere" on a piece of paper, sticking it on his backside and then seeing how long he would walk around the schoolyard without realising this notice was there. As well as French, Mr Key also taught us German in second form.
Our Maths teacher was bot very popular. I will not name him, but his initials were D. A. G. S. so, of course, he was nicknamed Dags by the boys. He gave us a number of detentions every week, during which he would try to explain that he was really "quite a good chap" and would ask why we treated him the way we did. I cannot remember how we did treat him, but I don't think it was much worse than we treated any other teacher.
Our Science teacher was Mr Fischer. The only things I remember avout him are the dislike he had of the word "suction", his claim being that there was no such thing, and his stories of what Mr Brokenshire did during the war. Mr Brokenshire was a bombardier in the war, and hated it.
One teacher I didn't like much was my second-form teacher. He was always using that corny joke, "I don't care what you call me, so long as you don't call me late for dinner." I was quite tired of this before the year was over.
My music teacher was a tall, bald man, appropriately named Mr Stringer. I had piano lessons from him privately as well as going to his normal music class. During the piano-lessons he was extremely friendly and patient, but in the classroom he was the most bad-tempered and dreaded teacher we had. He could fly into a rage at very short notice, and gave quite a few long detentions. The year after I left Camberwell Grammar I was sorry to hear that Mr Stringer had died of cancer.
Our headmaster was the Reverend Timpson, who (unlike my present headmaster) was very rarely seen. Therefore I can't say much about him. He seemed to be quite a likeable person even though he was the headmaster.
I left the school after third form because the fees had risen so much that my scholarship allowance which had originally covered most of the fees now covered only half of them.
I am now going to Ashwood High for the second half of my secondary-school education, and am much happier here than I was at Camberwell Grammar, a school of which I have a few happy memories and a lot more unhappy ones.
I am the eldest of six children, three boys and three girls. After me comes Valerie, who is in third form this year, and who wants to be a doctor. Alan, in first form, is very interested in science and knows more about chemistry than I do. At the moment he has some scars on his face and hands which he obtained while experimenting with his chemistry set. The latter has now been put away for a while until Alan is older. Ronald and Dianne are at Ashburton State School, and Annette, three years old, is still at home. They are all quite busy and I don't see very much of them, except perhaps when I'm trying to study.
The kitchen table is my studying-place at present, but we are having a sleep-out built for my brothers, so I will soon have a room of my own to study in.
Now that I have introduced my brothers and sisters, I had better say a few things about myself, and my interests.
Probably my main interest is reading. Some of the writers whose books I have enjoyed are Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, Alan Marshall, P.G. Wodehouse, George Orwell and John Wyndham, a well-known science fiction writer. I have read all his novels. At present I am reading "David Copperfield" and like it very much.
Another of my hobbies is collecting folk-song records. I have three LPs of Joan Baez and three of The Weavers. Among my collection are singers such as Pete Seeger, Odetta, Paul Robeson, Nancy Ames, The Coachmen, Terrea Lea, Bud and Travis, Erik Darling, Brian Mooney, Martyn Wyndham-Read, Peter, Paul and Mary, Josh White, Big Bill Broonzy and many others. There are a number of folk-music programs on the radio but I am limiting myself to one very good one on 3AR every Sunday night.
Besides listening to folksongs I also try to sing them. I bought a guitar during the holidays and, with a bit of help from Laurie Cohen, I am teaching myself to play accompaniment to my folksongs. Of course I will not have much time for anything like that during this year, as I must concentrate on my matriculation.
Another interest I have is home movies, which I make with my father's movie camera and his assistance. With my family and a few friends there are plenty of actors available. So far I have made two films; "Kidnapped" and "Barbara Allen". The better of these is the latter. While we project it we play a record of Burl Ives singing "Barbara Allen". A lot of work was put into this film to make the scenes coincide exactly with the correct words of the song. We cut bits out and put bits in, and were quite pleased with the result, except that we had forgotten to film one of the scenes. I intend to make another film next time my father has a free weekend.
The only sports I am really interested in are squash, tennis and swimming. I went swimming at the Southern Pool every day during the holidays. I may do basketball as my sport for this year, although I don't know how to play it yet.
The first school I went to was at Ballarat. Missing first grade, I went into second grade at Maldon State School, and, after leaving Maldon during the year, finished second grade at Ashburton State. After sixth grade I went to Camberwell Grammar on a scholarship, but after third form I left, an action which I have not regretted.
I did Intermediate at Ashwood High, taking English Expression, English Literature, Maths A, Maths B, Science, History, Geography, Art, French and Piano. I failed History, Geography, Art and French. For Leaving I did English, Maths 1, Maths 2, Physics, Chemistry, French and Piano. I passed all except Chemistry, which I unofficially dropped halfway through the year.
This year I am taking English Expression, Pure Maths, Calculus and Applied, French and Piano. The only one of these subjects I am really worried about is French, for which I am going to have a tutor. Also I will have some help from my Grandmother, who is French. At university, I hope to do an Arts course, including English, Maths and Psychology.
The main reason I want to matriculate is to get a good job, one which is well-paid and which will make me of some use in the community. I will probably be a secondary teacher, but I could change my mind yet.
As I will have a lot of work to do this, I have cut out some activities which were taking some of my time, such as Senior Scouts, and I will be seeing very little television except for a few educational programs and, perhaps, "Coronation Street". I am starting off at three hours study a day, apart from my music practice which takes a couple of hours each day. As the year progresses I will add to this time. By hard work and proper study methods I hope, at the end of the year, to have reached my goal - Matriculation
I made my debut as a folksinger towards the end of the first term this year, when Allan Gyngell and I sang a program of six songs, mainly spirituals, to an I.S.C.F. (Inter-School Christian Fellowship) social. For weeks before the night we practiced together at my place, deciding which songs to sing, learning words and guitar chords, and working out which would be the best order in which to sing the songs. We decided to do the program in two sections. We started off with "Hullabaloo Belay", the theme song of a television folk music program which was popular at that time, after which we sang two spirituals - "Mary, don't you weep", and "Kumbayah." For the next section, later on in the evening, Allan sang "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho", with me accompanying him and helping him with the chorus. Then I sang a solo, "Miller's Cave", which was on the Hit Parade some time ago. We finished with "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore'" with audience joining in on the "Hallelujah" in each verse. Altogether I think we were quite successful, though we made a few slips in places.
Not long after this I sang a half an hour of children's songs to my father's fourth grade at Auburn State School. This was on Correction Day of first term, Correction Day being the only chance I have to go with my father to visit his grade. On the same day I went to town and bought a guitar strap, so I could stand up when singing, and a capo, which would enable me to sing in any key.
In the term holidays I sang for about half an hour at a family reunion in the picnic grounds at Kallista. This was the first and, so far, the only time I have sung outside in the open air. It was a cold day and I performed near a barbecue fire, with a crowd of uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and a few strangers, gathered round listening and singing with me if they knew the song.
The first time I sang to the young people of my church was at a BYF (Baptist Youth Fellowship) house-party on the Queen's Birthday weekend. On the Saturday night we had a concert and I sang four items, two near the beginning of the concert and two towards the end, including "Bonnie Wee Lassie" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" After that I was invited to sing a couple of songs each week at Christian Endeavour meetings. These were mainly spirituals or songs with a message, like "Blowing in the Wind."
For some time the only people I seemed to sing to were the young people of the church, apart from those at a twenty-first birthday party where I entertained one time. The largest BYF audience I had was at a Youth Tea, where I sang "Scarlet Ribbons" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hand."
My main aim in doing all this was to get as much experience as I could and also to become good enough to win a three-gong award on Radio Auditions, which is heard on 3UZ on Saturdays mornings. First I had to learn to sing with the minimum amount of nervousness and not be frightened of my audience. I have found that the easiest people to sing to are children. On the second Correction Day of this year I again took my guitar to Auburn State School, where I sang to two fourth grades at once, and also to a sixth grade and a third grade. This time I had no stage-fright at all and was able to study the children's reactions to the various songs I sang. One song which is popular with children is Pete Seeger's song "Little Boxes". When I sang it to the third and sixth grades all the children sang it with me, to the surprise of their teacher who had never heard of the song.
Perhaps the song which was most successful with the children was "The Old Lady who Swallows a Fly", sung in the same way Pete Seeger sings it. By the time I had finished all the children were doing the hand-action of the spider that "wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her," and making "euyh" noises at the thought of the things she swallowed.
I have not yet succeeded in winning three gongs on Radio Auditions. I entered for it and sang "Bonnie Wee Lassie," but only had time to sing the first two verses before the gong sounded - twice, giving me a prize of 10/6. The main reason I did not get three gongs was that I had a cold. Although I was more frightened than I have ever been while singing, I think the experience of singing into a microphone for the first time was of great value to me and I intend to return in a few weeks and try again, probably singing "Scarlet Ribbons." If I still fail to get three gongs I will go back yet another time, but I probably won't attempt anything more ambitious until I succeed in winning three gongs, the highest award in Radio Auditions.
And so, for my first year as a folksinger, I will continue to get as much experience as I can, and improve my style wherever possible. Next year I will probably take some lessons and spend a little more time on practice but as it is I must concentrate on my Matriculation and regard folk-singing as just one of my hobbies.
[Additional note: Not long after writing this, I did a talk for my class on folk music, illustrated with several examples. I eventually won three gongs on Radio Auditions with the songs "Three Pigs", and went on to be a regular performer on another radio show - The Country and Western Hour.]
