Geraldton Senior High School

This morning we returned home after an over-nighter at the Vines Resort. The function was Joan's year 12, 50th anniversary and surprisingly most of the group turned up. The high school was Geraldton Senior High, one of only five senior high schools in the state at that time.

There were very amusing speeches and a commemorative booklet of the careers of each of the cohort. Almost every one of them did amazing things in a wide variety of careers. There were airline pilots, medicos, lots of teachers and administrators. I was very impressed and wondered where I had missed out. I guess the answer is intelligence. In the 1950s very few kids went on to year 12 and a Leaving Certificate....a Junior Certificate was the crème de la crème at Fremantle Boys School. The Junior Certificate got you into a bank job or an accountant's office. This group all graduated and mostly entered university. At 67+ years many of them are still employed. They plan another reunion in three years when most of them will be 70.

One fellow attended briefly because of major physical problems. Some six years ago his daughter's estranged husband knocked on his front door and shot him twice with a double barrelled shotgun, blasting most of his gut out and losing a knee. The gunman then shot himself.
He was fed through a tube for months whilst surgeons rebuilt him.

The resort was very swish and Kangaroos seem to like it too. There were lots of them out on the greens this morning.