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| SCHOOL UNIFORMS -1950 A Rather Tubby me in the Hat and best mate Brien Dryden who went to Marist Brothers Auburn. |
Mum and Dad decided that I should move to Marist Brothers Lidcombe to commence 5th Class in Primary School. This was my elder brother Pat's old school where he had finished up during the War years, in the time when the diminutive but legendary Brother Loyola was Principal.
Lidcombe Station is the junction of the Main Southern Line and the Main Western Line , the former heading off to Melbourne and the latter to Broken Hill and the South Australian Border. Lidcombe Station was about twenty minutes brisk walk from my home, or one could catch the bus - McVicars( lots of old Albions with front mudguards and bonnets) from the end of the street, or walk for about 10 minutes to Berala Station and catch the City bound train the one stop to Lidcombe.
Despite the fact that it is an eminently plausible name, Lidcombe is probably unique worldwide, because the name was cobbled together by two local businessmen and I think Councillors , from their surnames LIDbury and Lar COMBE. Such distinction!
In my early years,1950/51 I used to travel by train to Lidcombe and back. In the Winter the unair-conditioned carriages' windows would fog up in the cold from exhaled air, and in the majority of carriages this was combined with smoke from cigarettes ( there being only two out of eight electric train carriages designated "Non-Smoking") . The air was vile and I preferred to stand in the vestibule near the sliding doors where some fresh though cold air crept in.from around the doors.From Lidcombe's central double-sided platform it was a steep climb up the stairs to the overbridge which also housed the Ticket Office and a Newsagent and then a right turn to the North Side and off along John Street toward St. Joachim's Church ( then half -completed) and the School, just beyond the State School. The "publics"as we knew them, were not so much a factor here as they had been in our minds at Berala where their School was much further away.We studiously ignored them and they us.
The School and Parish site was a large one , occupying the Western end of a block bounded by John Street running North/South from the Station toward Parramatta Road ( or the Western Road as it had been known) and Keating Street on the North side and Mills Street on the South Side. The School was built at the Eastern end of the property facing North. It was built in cream brick, which was uncommon, and I believe it had won an architectural prize when built in the 1930's. It was an attractive building with a substantial Northside Verandah on both levels, the upper one bricked up to a boy's chest height and it was referred to as the parapet.There were stairs at either end of the Verandahs.On the Ground Floor, from the East end The Chemistry Room with tiered seating and lab benches, then 5th Class, then 6th Class then the Principal's Office at the rear and a Kit Room at the front. On the Upper level I can recall First Year, then Second Year and finally Third Year of the Secondary School at the West end.
Beyond the School at the East end, the Playground was on a lower level ( about three feet lower) . At the Keating Street side there was an old shelter from the sun then a Toilet Block and the Brick wall with a gate next to the drinking taps entering the grounds of the Brothers'Monastery a two- storeyed building in the same cream brick, with its own small Chapel and a direct Frontage to Mills Street. I can recall going into the Monastery on only two or three occasions , to get something from, or deliver something to, the Brothers'Common Room, which was often pressed into service to organise major events at the School.
As I remember it, my Teacher's were :
5th Class Brother Verius whom I liked and admired a lot, he seemed a very large manly fellow, crew cut grey hair with dark complexion - now I think, maybe Lebanese? He was kind and made School interesting, with a good fund of stories.
6th Class Brother Samuel whom I also liked very much and who liked me I believe , but I was in the second rank of "favourites" not being any good at sports at all. Our 6th Class was HUGE, I believe there were 62 Students - more than double present day norms,and Brother Samuel had his hands full. He was very tall and young with a largeish nose and he was very lanky. He had a good rapport with the kids whilst preserving firm discipline.
1st Year Brother Albanus ( Now in the sad Post- Conciliar shambles Brother Peter Salta). He was my favourite Teacher of all time. He was also young and very athletic , with dark, Italian complexion and great energy. I can still recall him gathering up his Soutane and flying up the stairs in leaps and bounds at a great rate!He had a great Faith and devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady which I was very ready to warm to. He was very good to us boys in giving his great enthusiasm to the cause of our education both secular and religious.He was the very model of what a Religious should be, On occasions, he would announce a "Reign of Terror" when discipline would be strictly enforced - but I doubt anyone was done an injustice. I am glad to read that he is still loved by even more recent students , as lives out an active retirement.
2nd Year As best I remember it , Brother Vincent Ferrer. Poor man - his Class control skills were not strong at the best of times , and 13 Yr Old boys can be a handful! I think they sensed a weakness in him , and instinctively moved to take advantage of it.
3rd Year Brother Loman, the School Principal. He was a nice man, a very earnest, undemonstrative personality, but a dedicated serious teacher. 3rd Year was of course difficult and some boys had no intention of going further in their schooling and were already scenting the heady air of "freedom"- which made them fractious.
I recall that in that Year, we had a boy expelled for Shoplifting which was a shock for the School. I can recall his name, but it would seem unfair to mention it. It is a difficult and surprising age at which personalities are really beginning to achieve some degree of maturity and alliances begin to be formed and broken as some move ahead and others remain in their relatively childlike state.
Our uniform was a light grey suit, blue shirt, blue tie with pairs of gold diagonal stripes and a grey hat. The hat I wore as little as possible. I have never been a "hat person" . I think my large hat size had something to do with it.
We had several colour defined in- school sporting teams - they were not named "Houses"- but the Reds, Blues, Golds and Greens got us by.I have in mind that I was most often in the "Blues", but whether it was Athletics,or swimming ( which I could not and still cannot do) ,football or Cricket -I was a disaster - none of it interested me, I lacked physical aptitude and condition - and as much as I could I spent the time day- dreaming and wishing it was over.
An institution in the School was the Tuck Shop which was at the Western end of the building but back from it toward Mills Street and beside the Presbytery Garages. It was run by "Ma"as everyone called her and featured such exotic dishes as, in winter, hot Mince meat Bread Rolls and those ubiquitous commercially made Blackberry Jam Tarts about 4"Inches in Diameter in short crust pastry with 1/2"high edges and a ring of cream inside it - Bliss and black teeth!
St Joachim's Church and the large Presbytery behind it was always a joy to me. It was half finished, TThe Sanctuary, Sacristy and two side altars completed and about 20 feet of the Nave - then it was walled -up in Fibro I think. But by keeping one's eyes on the High Altar and Tabernacle, it was possible to concentrate on Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. I loved to pay visits there on arrival at School and on the way home. and sometimes at Lunchtime. The Parish Priest retired but still living in the Presbytery was Father Lloyd. Other Priests I knew of there were Father John Gallagher and young crew cut athletic Father Barry Nobbs whom I admired very much - he was extremely devout. I was shocked to hear in later years that "he had left the Priesthood" - I can't think who it was told me - but I would like to bust them on their stupid gossiping nose! BECAUSE HE HAD NOT DONE SO! Rather , with the Archbishop of Sydney's approval he had gone to work in the Missions in Papua New Guinea and was still there a few years ago and probably still is.So much for idle gossip!
I enjoyed my years at Lidcombe and always did well academically there without great effort. I was not one dedicated to homework or exceptional study, I just found it very easy to learn and get along. In truth I never did seriously apply myself to any intellectual effort until my time in the Commonwealth Bank years later as a Lender, developing lending proposals,assessing diverse business situations, analysing facts and marshalling them and arguing and defending a case. The skills I learned there were brought to a very high level of development later still in the Banque Nationale de Paris in relation to major corporations, private and Public, and I was able to diversify them and apply them much more widely later still as Canonical Financial Administrator of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, in areas as diverse as Finance, Law, General Management and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
By the time I was in Secondary School , I was attending daily Mass at St.Joachim's usually at 7.00 a.m. So I was always early at School and got to know more and more fellows better just yarning before School. I always followed the practice of not "running with the mob"but choosing who I wanted to speak to or was interested in speaking to. It served me well over the years.
As the years went by , I came to be regarded as one of the trusty and reliable students and on several occasions I was sent on messages for the School into the City and over to the Brother's' North Sydney Monastery.On one occasion this led to a painful but ridiculous experience. I had been sent to a Religious Goods Supplier, "Christopher & Co."in York Street Sydney. The name and address had been carefully impressed on me. But by the time I reached York Street, I was looking for "Columbus & Co." ( I had then, and have always, enjoyed playing with names!) Up and down York Street, several times , trying various combinations of the street number - but no "Columbus & Co."- oddly there was a "Christopher & Co."but I was having nothing of that distraction. Finally in great anguish I phoned the School and was set straight!! But my ingrown toe nail was in the meantime giving me Hell!
I greatly admired some of the fellows at "Liddie"as we called it - Frank Orioles son of an Italian Greengrocer who wanted to become a Priest but was not allowed by his family. He later became a Doctor and died just a few years back - a lovely , gentlemanly man. Alan Pooley a wiry, good athlete and very bright scholar, Peter Cassidy who seemed to be able to wring larrikin fun out of life and whom I kept bumping into on trains to and from the City as the years went by. He worked as Qantas Flight Crew I think.Wallace Simpson was a good friend and Ray Hall also. They were good years - if one had to go to School it was hard to beat MBHS Lidcombe I reckon.
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