Today, May 16th, is exactly 50 years ago that a group of 60 trainees, selected from all states of Australia, landed in Rabaul in what was then the Territory of Papua & New Guinea.
We were the second batch of teacher trainees rushed through to bring fast tracked education to remote and isolated schools throughout the ‘Territory’. The big push was in answer to the United Nations criticism of Australia’s progress in bringing PNG to Independence.
Of the 60 trainees on my course, I was the second youngest at 21 years of age. Many friendships were formed and I still keep in touch with four of that group. A good friend during training and since, is Jim Meehan who is still teaching at Batchelor College south of Darwin. Batchelor College is not as one would think, a college for batchelors. The town of Batchelor was named after a politician.
Only one successful reunion has been made. Many of the 300 plus teachers were in their 40s and 50s at the time of training and have since died. The reunion in 2010 in Queensland’s Gold Coast rallied only about 20 attendees which included two of the original lecturers. They looked in better condition than most of the teachers there.
Growing old gracefully is a myth.
1 comment:
Kev ' Had would have loved to have been with you ' he would have enjoyed it ' but they told him that I couldn't go with him. What year did Joan join you there? Had , in later years regretted not going there. marg.
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