Categories
Culture News and events

My late father’s account of the newspaper story in 1964 that led to a suicide

In looking through my late father’s papers, I found the following, which he wrote about an incident on Rupert Murdoch’s Sydney Daily Mirror in the mid-1960s. I found it fascinating in light of the News Of The World controversy that was uncovered during 2011, though of course one should not jump to conclusions about the  ... [More]

Categories
transport

My dad and the Brisbane PT campaign, circa 1951

I was interested to see this post complaining about Brisbane bus services to the University of Queensland. In this Courier Mail article it appears that the most overcrowded bus services in Brisbane all serve university precincts. My dad was editor of the UQ student newspaper Semper Floreat in 1951. UQ has recently put many (possibly  ... [More]

Categories
Brisbane 2011

Brisbane Day 3

Monday 3rd October Day three in Brisbane, and it was time to get to the whole point of the trip: to visit my Dad’s memorial bench at the University of Queensland. After waiting for my Uncle Frank (Dad’s last remaining sibling) to arrive (his bus was delayed), we headed down Adelaide Street to find the  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones

A year since Dad left us

It’s a year today since Dad passed-away. It’s got easier to deal with and think about as the months have passed. Life goes on. But yes, today (and on the 7th, which would have been his 80th birthday), I did find myself in contemplation. Doubly so when a $7 refund cheque for him for a  ... [More]

Categories
Brisbane 2011 Friends and loved ones

The memorial bench

At the University of Queensland this week, they installed a park bench, a memorial to my father, who studied there and was editor of the student magazine Sempor Floreat sixty years ago this year. I’m told it’s beside the lake (obviously) next to College Road, close to the intersection with Staff House Road. Judging from  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones music

The power of music

(My blogging is likely to be a little sporadic for the next week or two. I’m sure you can work out why.) Music can often be very powerful at capturing an emotion, a feeling, a memory. After that post a couple of months ago about songs on a theme, here’s another theme that’s become relevant  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones

Things I discovered when picking up my father’s ashes from the crematorium

Things I discovered when picking up my father’s ashes from the crematorium: 1. At Fawkner, you pick them up from the office, not the crematorium itself. If you catch the train there, the office is in a non-intuitive location, back towards Sydney Road. 2. Make sure you have photo ID. I guess they don’t want  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones

“You couldn’t have a full-blooded aborigine or Chinese teaching”

“You couldn’t have a full-blooded aborigine or Chinese teaching.” Well, *obviously*.