EX LIBRIS : "THE MODERN WORLD BOOK OF RAILWAYS GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

The Bookplate says it all: in 1952 I was in First Year "A" of Marist Brothers College Lidcombe NSW, and I received Second Aggregate Prize for the year on this day in 1952 -59 years ago. In a very nice compliment , the Brothers had chosen a Railways book , thus acknowledging my consuming interest at the time. But this put me "under pressure"for , as it happened, I already had the book selected. As Brother made the presentation , on the Stage in the Parish Hall in front of the hundreds of students, he said "Congratulations - I hope you don't have the book - we chose it specially"- I did my best to mask my shock and disappointment and assured him I did not. A fib to save the Brothers disappointment!

A NICELY PERSONALIZED PRIZE

1952 had not yet seen the effects of World War II fully put aside. In book publishing, Australia published few books by present day standards. And imports were mainly sourced from the United Kingdom under still lingering Imperial Preference deals.The quality of books produced in the U.K. was poor indeed, the paper was often closer to cardboard or blotting paper than was desirable. Illustrations were limited and mostly black and white. This book was something of an exception with several color plates and numerous black and white photos , generally of poor quality as regards definition and contrast.

The text still harked back repeatedly to the War, though it was already 7 years gone.Steam was still King and most of the glorious achievements the book celebrated were from the pre War period. I loved the book, kept the prize copy, which as you see, I still have, and I don't remember what became of the other copy.

1952 opened with the death of King George VI on February 6th, and the ascension to the Throne of Queen Elizabeth II. The British propaganda machine began churning out breathless, excited talk of a" new Elizabethan Age". And at the end of the same month, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, back in harness, announced that Britain had the Atomic Bomb.Shortly after on the Island of Reunion, 73"of rain fell in one day- a record for all time. The famous educator Maria Montessori died on 6th of May and the notorious Eva Peron died on 26th July. Earlier, in June, South Eastern Australia had been drenched in heavy rain and severe flooding resulted.      On 3rd October the U.K. detonated the first Nuclear Weapon in Australia on the Monte Bello Islands - Australian servicemen observing were told to turn their backs to the Blast to protect their eyes, radiation did not seem to get a mention. As if to show that the U.K. would always be trailing, the United States detonated the first Hydrogen Bomb on All Saints Day. Later in November, on the 25th, Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" opened in London, and the same production is still running 59 years later. Little Vladimir Putin was born on 7th October  , and in other negative news there were 58,000 cases of Polio in the United States resulting in 3,145 deaths and leaving 21, 269 with varying degrees of paralysis. Billy Hughes "the Little Digger"our contoversial 7th Prime Minister died on 28th October, and, on 8th December the day before my Prize giving, Charles Lightoller the Second Officer of the TITANIC died, forty years after her sinking.

And as we have seen, Tony Dixon ( NOBODY yet called me "Tony" , that didn't start until a fateful day in 1955) came Second in First Year "A" !!

I still retain my unbounded admiration for the Marist Brothers, I owe them a great deal, Brothers Albanus, Samuel, Loman, Verius, Malachy, Timothy, Cloman ,Dominic, Athanasius, Patrick , Cassian and Fergus- exemplary Teachers.