Aurora. The. Old Hamptonians Association Inc Patron: Dr ROSS SMITH. President s Report

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1 The Aurora Newsletter of the Old Hamptonians Association Inc Patron: Dr ROSS SMITH President s Report Happy New Year to Everyone. Well! what a beginning Mother Nature gave us for the start of 2011! Devastating floods in Queensland and Victoria and suburban Melbourne and catastrophic bushfires in and around Perth. We hope none of our members were affected, but our thoughts and prayers are with everyone caught up in these events. As well we remember the tragic loss of life, property and animals two years ago on Black Saturday. On a brighter note I have had the pleasure, over the past few weeks, of speaking to some senior ex Hamptonians about their lives and families. It is obvious just how much our members look forward to receiving their copy of the Aurora, finding photos and articles of great interest about former school friends and school events. We are always looking for stories, photos and items of interest about your time at Hampton High, so if you can put pen to paper, or fingers to the keyboard, we would love to hear from you, just send them to our Editor. I had a blast from the past before Christmas when I caught up with Larry Rowe, whom many of you would remember as a great sportsman and identity during the fifties. He was down from the Sunshine Hinterland visiting family and friend so it was good to chat about old times. Many friendships from our youth have been rekindled after chance meetings and planned reunions. With this in mind, as promised at the last AGM, we are planning an informal get-together on Sunday April 3rd at the Hampton High Reserve, am to 3.30 pm. As we grow older we realise the value of our school friends and contacts and how important those links are. We are aiming for the support of all those who attended H.H.S. in the fifties and sixties but we welcome friends from all years. It will be a B.Y.O. picnic and chairs and a request to wear your house colours as this will also be a dedication of the Cairn for FLINDERS, KENNEDY, EYRE and STURT. Rally all your friends and come along on Sunday, April 3rd to make this reunion a success. Phyllis Marsche - President Special Re-union event (see above) HHS Reserve, Sunday 3rd April am pm. BYO Picnic & Chairs Hampton High School Ludstone Street, Hampton Issue No March 2011 Your Committee President: Phyllis Marsche (Craig) (h) Vice President: Wendy Laughton (Walke) (h) Treasurer Joan Bennett (Crocker) (h) Secretary and Public Officer: Christine Hargreaves (Moore) (h) Committee: Andrew Harman Barry Harman Berice Jones (McCallum) Shirley Keen Christine McKell Aurora Production: Bruce Bathols (h) (h) (h) Mail Address for all correspondence: Old Hamptonians Association Inc PO Box 410 CHELSEA VIC aurora@oldhamptonians.org.au Website: We are very grateful to the following ex students for their donations: DONATIONS Helen Elvery Joy Singleton Elaine Jones Betty West Ray Verity Hans Ibel Alan Denham Ian Quartermain June Callil A member - anonymously From AGM Lei Thomson Ted White Nigel Ford Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 1

2 Death Railway s Tragic Human Toll Walking the route of the Thai Burma Railway and through the cutting of Hellfire Pass has a profound effect on visitors, as Defence communications adviser, Darryl Johnston found. The local Thai people say the area is haunted; they warned me so before I set out on my journey. They believe there are many lost souls living in the jungle. Perhaps they re right, because as I walked down the steep and narrow track toward Hellfire Pass the atmosphere was eerie. There was also an abnormal silence no insects or birds to be seen or heard. It was as if they sensed something and avoided the place. The only other time I experienced this inexplicable conflict between past and present was when I visited Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp in Austria. It too was shroud in a ghostly ambience. Today I was following my local Thai guide, Tik, as we descended the same path through the bamboo forest trod by thousands of prisoners of war who had been enslaved by the Japanese to build a 415km rail line from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma. The construction of what was to become known as the Death Railway took place between October 1, 1942, and October 16, 1943, and claimed tens of thousands of lives. Tik assured me that if I kept an eye to the ground I might find a small relic from the past a button or badge that once belonged to a POW. But, he said, the rule is to look but don t take. Once at the bottom of Konyu Cutting the air was cooler. A large grey marble monument with gold inscription marks the site of one of the darkest chapters of WW11 and honours those who worked and died here. The cutting is about 500 metres long and 26 metres deep. The rock was dug out by POWs using no more than picks, hammer and tap, and dynamite (used by the Japanese engineers) together with there bare hands. Tik pointed out a stark reminder of their labour on the cutting walls. Scars from metal taps driven into the rock by sledgehammers can be seen clearly. The combination was used to drill thousands of holes that were filled with explosives to break through the mountain. On one wall a broken metal tap is still embedded in the rock. Apparently it was not unusual for a prisoner to be killed if he broke a tap. From April 1943, the POWs and Asian labourers were forced to work long and punishing hours as the Japanese raced to meet an August deadline for completion of the railway. This became known as the speedo period, with POWs forced to work well into the night. And this is when Hellfire Pass got its name. Men working at the top of the pass said it was like looking into the fires of hell when they glanced down and saw the flickering lamp and bonfire reflected on the rock walls and the emaciated bodies of their mates. As I walked further into the cutting the emotion of the moment and significance of the place became obvious on my face. Tik saw the experience had profoundly shaken me. In a reassuring gesture he put his arm next to mine and, pointing to them, said, The only difference between the men that were here was the colour of their skin. At the end of Hellfire Pass lies a section of the rail line. It is said that every sleeper laid on the notorious railway represented a life. That may not be far from the truth when you calculate the human cost and consider that many victims were buried along the route. Between 70,000 and 90,000 Asian labourers died working on the railway. Of the 60,000 allied POWs, more than 12,300 died. I can only assume that death would have been considered escape and freedom for many who worked under the cruel and harsh conditions. They were beaten and starved - and if not killed by their captors they fell victim to disease such as beriberi, pellagra, cholera, dysentery, malaria and stinking tropical ulcers that ate flesh to the bone. For many their saviour was Edward Weary Dunlop, a medical surgeon who became a Japanese prisoner of war when he was captured in Java in This article appeared in The Senior newspaper February 2011, and is considered such and important part of Australia s WWII history, we are proud to re-print it in its entirety in The Aurora. Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 2

3 From the HHS Archives Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 3

4 From the 1954 Archives - continued EYRE FLINDERS KENNEDY Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 4

5 Engraved Brick pavers ordering information For more information on the Pavers project, please refer to previous issues, or our web site Individual Brick / Paver - Your donation of $40 entites you to have your name engraved into a brick / paver as a lasting record of your valued support. This will be permantly installed in the main pathway at the Memorial. Engraving details: Please print clearly in block letters, max 32 characters. One character represents one letter, number, space or punctuation mark. Please copy this form and forward it to Pavers Co-Ordinator, (see below) together with your remittance. Costs: One paver: $40 each. Additional pavers: $30 each. Are you ordering One Paver Two Pavers Three or more pavers (if ordering more than one paver please return all orders together) Enclosed is a cheque for $ Contact name:... Address:... Phone:... Postcode... Archival CDs - Our history of Hampton High School Stage 1 of the Electronic Scanning of the old Hampton High School archives has now been completed. This includes all of the original editions of The Aurora produced by the school, and class photographs of students. This has been a massive project and we thank the members for your donations in being able to support the scanning over the past several years. A number of CDs have been prepared covering overlapping years. Number of Copies CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4 Send this order to Old Hamptonians Archival CD, PO Box 410, Chelsea Vic 3196, together with your remittance for the total amount being the CD number x Number of Copies reqd. Please do not send cash in the mail. Name... Address......Pcode... Orders for CDs are now being Amount enclosed $... accepted. Each CD is $10 posted Tel No:... anywhere in Australia. Depending The CDs are available in the on your response, a delay in following groups :- processing may occur. CD1 Years 1920s to 1945 Scanning will continue as we CD2 Years 1940 to 1955 receive new material, and will be CD3 Years 1950 to 1965 added to the CD archives. These CD4 Years 1960 to 1988 will form the basis of Stage 2 for release at a later date. If paying Subs, CDs, Pavers etc by Direct Credit, our Bankers are : COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA, CHELSEA BRANCH BSB Acct No Old Hamptonians Association Inc Please advise us by or telephone so that we may track your payment. Simply fill out this form, and return it with full payment to : Old Hamptonians Pavers Co-Ordinator PO Box 410 CHELSEA VIC 3196 OLD HAMPTONIANS ASSOCIATION INC. Membership Subscriptions 1st July 2010 to 30th June 2011 Membership $15-00 All subscriptions are to be forwarded to :- The Secretary Old Hamptonians Assoc PO Box 410 Chelsea Vic 3196 Memorabillia for Sale Pennants $10 Commemorative Certificates $ edition Aurora $ 4 Caps [baseball type] $15 TeeShirts [new design-collared] $30 Wine glasses [etched with motiff] $ 8 Box of 6 $40 Postage extra $8 for most items. Glasses may be extra. Please contact the Secretary, or send us an if you desire to purchase any of the above items. Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 5

6 REMEMBER WHEN: All the girls had ugly gym slips You got your windscreen cleaned, oil checked and petrol served, without asking, all for free every time. It took five minutes for the TV to warm up Nearly everyone s Mum was home when the kids got home from school All male teachers wore ties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels Your Mother wore nylons that came in two pieces It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents They threatened to keep children back a year if they failed the school year... And they did! Nobody owned a purebred dog When a Ford Zephyr was everyone s dream car... And people went steady Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles? Playing cricket with no adults to help the children with the rules of the game You d reach into a muddy gutter for a penny No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 6

7 Magazine Advertisements from the 40s and 50s Here is a selection of Advertisements which appeared in magazines during the 1940s and 50s. Today they would be banned. Can you even imagine giving a child a revolver?? Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 7

8 The late Jeffrey Hodgson It was sad to read of the passing of my old friend and neighbour Jeffrey Hodgson and regretably, being overseas at the time, missed his notices and memorial service. The Obits column in the Aurora, though not an entirely popular subject, does keep ex-students informed of former friends, whether students, teachers or simply people they knew. Our family lived at 24 Avondale St Hampton on the corner of Arcadia Street and the Hodgsons ( Peter, Jeffrey and Judith) lived in The Avenue where Arcadia Street meets it. Jeffrey was about 6 years older than me and as there were few kids around the same age as Jeffrey, he tended to mix with us and others of our age in Avondale St including Terry Cairnes and Clifford Simmons both ex-hhs students. Ross Smith did not come to live in Avondale St till later and probably did not mix with Jeff as much. Too busy playing football!.the attached photo was taken on the 14 September 1945 in the paddocks opposite the then Hampton Memorial Hall where years later La Finestra opened. The paddock is now a medical clinic and accountants offices but was a short cut from the lane way at the rear of our house to Hampton Primary and later on HHS. The occasion was Howard Healey s 4th birthday and Jeff as usual received an invite and acted as big brother to us all. My brother John is at Jeff s right arm, I am next to his OBIT Chris Fraser (nee Harrison) Chris was an ex Hamptonian from the sixties. She passed away on her birthday, 4 th October 2010 after a short illness. She is fondly remembered and missed by her classmates. left arm with Howard and his brother Rodney next to me. The Healeys lived in an Antique restoration shop in Hampton St next to Miss Rob s newsagency and opposite Villeroy St. I arrived at HHS in 1951 from Hampton Primary and for memory Jeff left that year or the following and went off to drama school. He first appeared on the stage in a 1956 version of Separate Tables followed by many supporting roles on the stage including Oh what a lovely war in 1969 plus some roles in films. However following the arrival of TV in 1956, Jeff found his acting career better suited to this medium and from 1967 through to 1990 featured regularly and in prime roles in such TV shows as Prisoner (79-86),Flying Doctors, Ryan, Neighbours, Special Squad, Matlock Police, Homicide, The Long Arm, Hey You, Lancaster Miller Affair, All the Rivers Run plus acted in many commercials of the day. We lost touch in the early 60 s after our family moved to Cheltenham and only caught up occasionally though watched with interest as his career blossomed. In the 50 s another student and later school captain, Phillip Hedley also took up acting and ended up in London as a successful actor/ director. Maybe good teaching by Miss Marshall, Miss Goldthorpe and others helped them along.there are photos in the Aurora s archives of Phillip acting in the same memorial hall in Hampton St, mentioned above, where HHS used to hold its concerts and some assemblies. A note from the Editorial Committee The Committee is very grateful for the positive outcome of the 2010 Annual General Meeting. With the likelihood of having to close down the Old Hamptonians due to the lack of financial support, we have been overwhelmed with the number of members offering assistance. In particular we would like to acknowledge two very generous donations, from Lei Thomson and Alan Mance. Graeme Venn POBox 4144 Copacabana NSW 2251 (HHS ) HHS can be very proud of producing these and many other successful ex-students over the years. The financial support from these members means we are able to continue publishing The Aurora. From our initial beginning of having over 800 financial members, our current membership has dwindled to just over 300. This was not enough to sustain the Old Hamptonians with the mandatory Public Liablility insurance and publishing costs, and we thank our benefactors most sincerely. Bruce Bathols - Editor Old Hamptonians Association - Aurora - March 2011 Page No. 8