We held the reunion on the 25th and 26th of July 2024.
Back row - Roy Sonnenburg, Ray Perry, Darrel Elkins, Jack Taylor
David Delaney, Derrick Johnson, Brian Hoepper, Neil Murphy
Doug Bell (pink shirt), Jim Martin, Chris Sinclair
Robert Ryder, Rodney Bullpitt, Bruce Dymock , Harry Deacon , Bernie Meredith
Graeme H was organising the food for the lunch at Ululah. The V sticker indicates a visitor.
Harry D, Bruce D, Graeme H
Graham W.
It's wonderful to meet up with old friends.
Jim M, Darrel E, Rod Bullpitt. Rod was one of four ring-ins who attended. The others were David Delaney, Doug Bell and Ken McDonald. Ken is the younger brother of Malcolm McDonald who was a year behind us. All four have had interesting lives and Ken is now a song-writer. He sang us a couple of his songs which included references to the school.
Ken has enjoyed an interesting life and he gave out copies of a book he has written.
The inclusion of the ring-ins was a great success and it was a pleasure to meet them again after so many years.
A photo from the 1984 reunion. I remember walking into the room wondering what it would be like to meet you all again. Immediately, it became obvious that we would all really enjoy the occasion.
There were several of us who planned to attend this reunion but could not because of health issues. Hopefully, they can attend the next reunion.
Most of you will remember that I lived in the house next to the bowling green on the other side of Kent Street from the Central School. When my father was transferred to Brisbane at the end of 1967, the railway sold it to a private buyer. Over the years it became increasingly neglected but a few years ago, a new owner began the restoration process. I have been inside and talked to the current owners and am confident that the house will be fully restored.
Occasionally I would have dreams where I would visit the house which invariably was in danger of demolition. Since I returned to Australia four years ago, that dream has never reappeared.
Now that is an entrance.
The basketball court. I remember sitting at the left-hand end with some of you in October 1962 discussing the possibility of impending doom during the Cuban missile crisis. Apparently, we survived.
The ladies (female interlopers).
Bob with his sister Helen. She, along with Chris's sister Jennifer were classmates of my older sister Anne.
It's all incestuous in Maryborough. I received the following message from Wendy Benson who was our tour guide.
Roy Sonnenburg and Bev and I are related. His mum and our mum were cousins. Mrs Sonnenburg was my year 7 teacher at Central School. Brian Hoepper’s father was my accounting teacher in years 11 and 12. Graeme Howard was my year 6 teacher at Central School. It is amazing that Mrs Howard is still with us. That’s pretty special. My husband Neil fondly remembers Dick Howard.
By the way, John Goldsmith's mother (Mildred?) is also over 100.
Wendy's volunteer assistant was her sister Beverly. We must have behaved ourselves for a change because Wendy sent this comment -
Bev and I were saying that your group was one of the nicest we have had through the museum.
It must have been an interesting meeting where the older girls were allowed to stop wearing this monstrosity and look much more fetching in the following.
Wendy took me to the oval and showed me this plaque. From the May 7 1949 date, I was able to look up the Maryborough Chronicle on Trove for May 9 and discover my father's name as well as Dick Howard. The cutting is quite blurry and I hope to improve the quality in the near future.
Doug Bell, David Delaney and Bruce D.
My wife, Marianne looks for more evidence of my sins and wickednesses.
The school is looking in fine condition these days. I sent a message to the current principal praising Wendy and Bev and thanking him for allowing us to visit the school. I mentioned how good it looked and he responded:
you’ll be pleased to hear our plans for the final stages of renovation include lighting externally of the building to make it look as beautiful at night as it does in the day.
We then adjourned to Ululah and you might be interested in this link about the meaning of the word.
Graeme organized the lunch which came from the French Hot Bread on Adelaide Street. Marianne and I thought it was very good and I had my first lamington since returning to Australia four years ago.
Derek's distinctive head. Some of us are easily recognizable after all these years.
The former Robyn Coleman, Chris, Brian and his sister. Brian, could you let me know her name?
I was in the same class as Robyn from grades 1 through 6. I always think of her as twinkle toes because of her bare feet in this photo. Robyn told me her mother was less than amused.
Ruth Howard, Ray and Darrel.
A few years ago, I met Helen at the 150 year High School celebration. She told me that before he passed, she asked Darryl to recount some memories about us. His memory of the Perry's was always hearing classical music when he came to our house. My sisters and I realized how true this was. There was always music and when I subsequently became interested in classical music, I knew all the tunes.
Bernie has updated the contact details for all of us who attended and I will send them out soon. We are at that age where we are toppling off our perches so we need to add resilience to our reunion process.
This reunion was reasonably easy to organize. Most of it involved sending out emails which is easy and deciding where to hold the event. It became a lot simpler when we decided not to update the bios.
Ray Perry and Mary Goldsmith.
Alan Nolan, eat your heart out (according to Jack).
I am hoping to take the Indian Pacific next year and meet up with Harry.
Neil and Graeme, part of our small group that meet every couple of months for a lunch at one of the Marybough pubs. These lunches have been wonderful for me on my return to Australia. Many thanks to Graeme for organizing the picnic lunch.
A couple of years ago, I bought a couple of inexpensive camp chairs from Bunnings so that we could sit outside on our balcony overlooking the water and enjoy a wine conversation. I was quietly sitting in the chair when it suddenly gave way. Fortunately, I was not injured at all and there were several strong brutes who extracted me from my predicament. I suspect the salt spray and sun affected the material.
There were several suggestions about holding the reunions more often, perhaps in two year's time. If you have ideas that our lunch group can discuss, please send them to me. And of course, if you are in the area, let me know and we can organize a lunch very quickly.
Graham W subsequently sent me these photos from 1964.
They were taken by my brother Greg just before he left for the USA on a scholarship for twelve months.
