memorabilia 14: the graduation 1965

My mother and I

See also End of decade – or not.

memorabilia 13: 1993-4

Clearly this is Christmas, and it is here in Elizabeth Street, but I am guessing which year. Oh my, have I ever aged! But fifteen years or so is a long time…

George, me, M

memorabilia 12: my grandfather in the 1880s

That’s Roy Christison, my maternal grandfather. The letter under his photo is in his mother’s handwriting.

memorabilia 11: 1944-1945

Yes, that’s me…

memorabilia 10: cradle roll 19 August 1945

 

I was a very rare attender over the next ten years

Memorabilia 9: RAAF in World War II – documents 2

Demobilisation

What an incredible time that must have been, when you think about it, and what a set of problems it must have presented, so much having changed in the years since 1939. As well as the return of all these people in 1945-6 the Chifley government was also putting in place the post-war immigration scheme which totally transformed much of the country. See A Concise History of Australia by Stuart Macintyre for an overview.

memorabilia 8: RAAF in World War II – documents 1

1942: not the best year of the war for Australia, but a turning point. This document, in a rather advanced state of decay, falls between the bombing of Darwin and Broome and the Battle of the Coral Sea. My father was still at Richmond Air Force Base at this time. The concern here is improving salvage procedures for wrecked aircraft, a rather vital matter at the time. My father had a few ideas, some of which, I believe, were adopted. This is of course just a tiny part of the history of that time. But he was proud of it, and rightly so, I would say, though I confess to turning off when he tried to tell me about it when I was a teenager…