*1963 MY FIRST CAR DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLES!

1961 VOLKSWAGEN - MY PRIDE & JOY - WHEELS AT LAST!

In 1963 at age 23 I finally was in a position to buy a car. Already the fascination with things German had ensured that it HAD to be a VDub. In any case, the mighty VWs were enjoying cult status at the time, and why not? They had several times won the epic Round Australia Car Rallies, knocking the Peugeot 203s off their perch. And if we didn't know it before , full page ads. in the daily press told us that our VDubs were so well built they would float!Which they did. 

Driving around in a VDub made one a member of an instant fraternity, exchanging discreet waves of the hand or nods of the head as we drove along . That was a bit demanding as there were so many of us. The Fuhrer would have been pleased!(Joke - in case any of the humourless PC police are reading!)

The car was bought from a VW dealer in the heart of Double Bay. It had had one owner - a Commercial Traveller- who used it on regular trips Sydney to Melbourne. It was in superb condition and had done only 23,000 miles and went like a VDub dream! At that stage they still had orange lighted turning indicator arms which came up out of the door posts and dropped back with a good Germanic clunk when cancelled. In addition, there was no fuel gauge! Instead, there was a floor mounted small lever which when turned as the engine began to splutter, gave access to a Reserve level of fuel which was good for about 40 miles I think.I was so absorbed in the joy of mobility that I did not think much about the practicalities surrounding this device.Until one day......heading West on Parramatta Road, just at the junction with City Road, the car started jerking about , the engine sputtered, and in great confusion, to the sounds of derisive following cars ( and horrors, possibly trams!-I dare'nt look) hanging onto the Steering Wheel with my right hand, I reached down with my left hand to turn the Reserve lever...but couldn't contact it!!!In desperation I took a quick look down and kicked at it with my foot and all was well as the Reserve came on stream. As I drove off looking resolutely ahead I realised it could only work properly foot activated. The worst times are when you realise you have been stupid!

I have very happy memories of the VDub, the comforting reliability of the chaff-cutter sound from the great hearted flat four rear engine and the dream to use Gear Box. Oh! That brings to mind one special feature( I nearly said "deficiency"!)- no synchro on First! It seems incredible now , and even then the Car Reviewers were hypercritical. But we loyal VDubbers would not publicly acknowledge it as a problem when speaking to drivers of "ordinary" cars".

I have had one occasion to sit in the front seat of a Beetle as they were also known, in recent years and found it hard to escape the idea that the windscreen was "in my face"and that a fuel tank "bomb"was immediately in front of me! We change after long years of conditioning,this time for the better. But it isn't always so.

A very poor photo of the 23yrs old Banker and his German wheels -
I guess these days it would have to be a Beamer !

IT WAS A WEDNESDAY TOO.

My Grandfather Edward Beckmann

To-day Wednesday, 29th June, 2011 is the 49th Anniversary of the death at 84 Years of age of my Mum's German born Father Edward Beckmann. Ever the gentleman, he lived a remarkably full life. God Love him! And May he rest in peace.

And it was a Wednesday also on that day, 29th June, 1962.

You will enjoy his Blog :http://edwardbeckmann.blogspot.com/

SIGNS OF LIFE

GLOBAL WARMING 2011 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

Just when you thought I had finally taken a vow of SILENCE - I have found the keyboard for BUT NOUGHT and return to the fray!

The last two weeks have been pre-occupying, great things are afoot, requiring a reconnaissance mission into darkest Sin City ( sometimes still called Sydney) and particularly those northern parts in the realm of Bishop David Walker ( nicely summed up in the Latin phrase "in partibus Infidelium") - more about that in the near future. We are greatly appreciative of the generous hospitality of Jut and Paul, Emily and Chris and Daniel during our search.

Also events have lead me to be heavily engaged in a series of historical pieces over at VEXILLA REGIS:http://vexilla-regis.blogspot.com/ the idea being to get down the story "before the colours fade".

For the last week I have been battling severe Sinus problems, a virus manifesting many different unpleasant symptoms , all against a backdrop of the several coldest days we have experienced in Queensland over 20 years!Truly this "Global Warming"- like "Climate Change" is meaningless. The world is obviously in a cooling phase (see the big freeze last Northern Winter) and the "Climate " has ALWAYS been changing.We have recent evidence of 150 ships wrecked off the English Coast in a huge storm in the 1860's with immense loss of life.It is a complex Planet with weather patterns continually evolving from accidents within its own systems and even from outside those systems and its atmosphere - e.g. the Sun.

The naked Emperor is rushing about crying "Science!"when we all know that to-day's Science is often tomorrow's "Error". There should be no mystique about "Science"- the word originally and fundamentally means "knowledge". What researchers "know"to-day is often corrected by what is surprisingly discovered tomorrow, often to the amazement of all. Meanwhile it pays to keep looking out the window. The people who were telling us twelve months ago that it would not likely rain again in our lifetime were strangely silent as much of Queensland washed down into NSW and Victoria 6 months ago.

Not to worry!We are too busy preparing to downsize to fit into a two bedroom home unit to get too involved in the political farce.Currently surveying the Library to see what books are surplus to requirements: interesting task in this high tech. age! Then plans for a dreaded Garage Sale!

Despite all these distractions I shall soon be back with more and regular recollections and reflections.

MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY - 28th May, 1905 : 106 YEARS AGO

Baby Elsie Georgina Beckmann looks out on the world.

 This little baby, the first Australian born Beckmann, was to grow up through World War I in which she would be reviled by fellow schoolchildren as "a German ",and into the jazz age 1920's .

In 1927 Miss Elsie Georgina Beckmann
had this Portrait taken as a gift for her
Husband- to- be Jack Dixon.

Soon after her marriage to Jack Dixon and the birth of the first child Patrick, they were overwhelmed by the Great Depression, throughout which Elsie was able to get work in Vicars Woollen Mills at North Parramatta, whilst Jack could not obtain work.

He did obtain work in the construction of the huge Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island Sydney in the run up to World War II and, in 1940 they had their second child Anthony , born on the day Hitler's Nazis invaded Norway.

She had a hard life , always selflessly and frugally lived, setting others first, always a peacemaker and sadly abused for it on occasions. Illness plagued her, and inappropriate medical attention for some years increased the distress of it.The last years of her life were less stressed perhaps, and she had the joy of seeing her first grandchild born, Marianne Elizabeth. But the years had taken their toll, and at age 66 she suffered a fatal heart attack.

She lives on in Heaven I am sure , and lives  in my heart in great love and gratitude forever.


.TONY DIXON

MORE THAN YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW

"What?...Dead you say?"Some things are even more distressing as one is about to enter the War Cabinet Rooms! 

Here is my very favourite internet item of all time. If you can't get a laugh out of it....."Get a life!"

http://ottodafe.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.htm

A quirky sense of humour helps!

*1946 - SCHOOL DAYS BEGIN - ST.PETER CHANEL'S CONVENT SCHOOL BERALA N.S.W.

First Holy Communion Class 1947 - Yours Truly second from left front row
Brien Dryden on my left, Billy Cowan on my right, Cyril Spencer on his right
The great Father Con Donovan at the Centre - God Bless him.

After the short Bus trip,Mum dropped me off at the School and was quickly relieved of her parental responsibilities by a confident little bloke whose name was Cyril Spencer. He came up pleasantly and respectfully, and having sagely assessed the situation, said: "Don't worry lady, I'll look after him!" "Bye Mum!"and I was off into the new world
.
I had not gone to Kindergarten, and so commenced my Primary Schooling in First Class.This was something of a minor disadvantage, because I found that very many of the boys knew one another, whereas the only boy I knew was my best friend Brien Dryden who lived across the street.

The Church/School I have described earlier. It stood at the Western end of the large Parish site that had been accumulated running from the top of the hill on Kingsland Road in the East down to Regent Street(which led directly into Regents Park - all of these Royal word associations were entirely lost on me) Our Irish Parish Priest Father Con Donovan regularly reminded us of the great Archbishop of Brisbane James Duhig, an Irishman of course, who had built most of his churches on hilltop sites around Brisbane, that fabled city in exotic Queensland.So Father Donovan had also chosen a hilltop location for our future church.

This first morning at School was bewildering with hundreds of children ,boys and girls, swirling around and eagerly chattering. Then games started forming up and another boy, Brian Edwards from a more senior class,who appeared to be regarded as rather worldly wise, took me under his wing and we ended up joining a game called "Cocky Lorum"( I have been unable to find any Web references to it.) . It involved forming into two large groups of about thirty each, facing one another at a distance of about 25 metres, then someone would yell "Cocky Lorum"' and each group would charge toward and through the other. There was no ball involved as far as I can remember, and my opinion then was that it all seemed rather pointless.I am not sure if anyone got "out" or otherwise penalised - utterly pointless. If anyone could ever enlighten me about some detail I had missed, I would be very grateful.

I think it was on that first day some boy whose face or name I can't remember started some petty bit of bullying which was promptly terminated when Billy Cowan a stocky pleasant faced little bloke with curly hair intervened and warned the bully off. Amazing the things we remember.

We were in Sister Alan's Class. The School was staffed entirely by the Sisters of Saint Joseph founded by the recently canonised Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Saint Mary would have been proud of them. The Principal ( we always said Head Nun) was Sister Austin ( which you will probably know is a contracted form of Augustine) who was Irish and always very kind to me over the years, I loved her lilting voice and the way she used to call me "Ant'ny".Sister Alan was really good with us littlies, kind and motherly, whilst steering us through the very basics and getting us used to Class discipline.Rewards for good performance consisted of Rubber Stamp impressions on one's exercise book, whether varying animals or, if your achievement was exceptional, the Map of Australia about 7inches by three inches with ink from a violet pad! ( I never got it ! Scarred for life? No.)

It was in Primary School that I noticed my strong interest in stationery. I have since then always been attracted by the rich texture and subtle colours of paper stocks as well as by all the paraphernalia of pen and ink, Fountain Pens ( no one ever tells you that their ink bladders wear out), Propelling Pencils, Biros - not to mention the humble lead pencil and its sharpener.

School Fees in First Class were Sixpence a Week ( 5 Cents), which Sister marked off in a special record book. A Year or so later Class fees went to one shilling ( 10cents) a week.

Discipline was mild in First Class with Boys sometimes being sent outside the Class for 5/10 minutes.In Third and Fourth Class there was talk of "the Strap"but I don't recall ever seeing it used.

As I moved through Primary School , I came to love the first days of each New Year for the experience of getting new Textbooks, often published by BROOKS BROTHERS (I think it was) Their emblem was a Shield with books & other schoolish  things on its four quartered front. I particularly remember in Second or Third Class a History Book, and as I quickly explored "it, my eye was caught by a painting of the First Fleet coming through the Sydney Heads. The ships were PURPLE! Enough to turn one off the British for keeps!

We always brought our lunch, Brien Dryden and I and with all the other children ate it sitting in , or around the "Shed", a fairly primitive sun shade in the middle of the Parish land. We often swapped lunches just for a change - I always ended up worse off. Apart from the Church/School, the only other buildings on the site were, up on Kingsland Road, the Convent -  an 1880s solid brick building with a colonial style front verandah, and the old wooden Parish Hall ( the former Church School) .It had long ago been moved up the Hill from Fourth Avenue where it had sat on land over the back fence from Grandma Dixon's house at 34 Third Avenue, Berala, as I mentioned earlier.



There were two ways home - the long way down Kingsland Road, right into Walters Road down the hill until the left hand turn into Second avenue and home. However, the SHORT way led across the street from the Convent and diagonally across vacant land resumed by the State Government for a State School that was never to be built, and then quickly onto Walters Road and down the hill etc. There was from time to time, a problem with a sharp faced runty  English bully a nasty piece of work we thought - though he just menaced, but never did anything. Often we took the "risk", but after a while we gave it away and found great advantages in visiting Ma Brearley's shop on Kingsland Road, to buy lollies, the occasional Sherbert (sucked from its paper package by means of a licorice straw. Favourite lollies were Musk Sticks - sickly- and grey Pastille sticks - aniseed flavour. But on hot days Ma B. was tops with her own "home made" ICE BLOCKS about 7 inches long and square in section, eaten from their long white paper bags. Life can be great!

Children's crazes for collecting cards were very strong before the War, and I had seen plenty of examples.Now they are back in fashion. But in those days I can't recall any. However we had great fun collecting Cigarette Packets which were carefully folded in on themselves to show the front off to advantage. Very many people smoked then - far more than now it seems, and there were few restrictions on smoking , except on trains which had certain designated Non-Smoking carriages.The Cigarette Packets were great pieces of Commercial design. My prized possessions were Players with a Naval theme, Garrick I think it was, which were bright green - actually, I thought they all looked pretty good. The craze never inclined me to smoking which I always thought was a disgusting habit .

I really did enjoy my time at the Convent School where I went through to the end of Fourth Class in 1949.

It was there in 1947 that I made my First Holy Communion with the rest of the Class. We were carefully and prayerfully prepared by the Sisters who were truly Faith - filled women. Then we were examined by Father Con Donovan and, having proved ourselves, made our First Confessions and a few days later, our First Holy Communion. There followed a Breakfast in the old Parish Hall catered by the Parish ladies , which for some reason brings to my mind brilliant red jelly!

Well, it was not the Breakfast, no. But from that day Our Lord had won my heart and mind and soul totally, and at 71 that dedication has never wavered. Sure, I have let Him down from time to time, but He has never let me down .He is always the first to offer His Hand. And I always know He is the Way and in the Catholic Church and in Holy Communion, I am one with Him. Way to go!( As our American cousins would say!)

Last detail - I almost forgot- our uniform was Navy Blue Shorts, White Shirt and a Black Boucle Tie with pairs of Gold Stripes horizontally across it. I could rabbit on about the other boys and their characteristics and nicknames for a bit, but is it fair to name "x" who was called ""taps"because he would burst into tears regularly and at the slightest provocation - I think not.

Next, I was to follow in my brother's footsteps and go to Marist Brothers'School Lidcombe. That would be in  1950 and I would be 10 years old.

*1954 MY BROTHER UPGRADES - VESTIGIAL CHROMED FLUTES

1954 VAUXHALL SEDAN - THERE WAS A SECOND OPTION WITH A SILLY LOOKING ABBREVIATED BOOT

In 1954 my older brother Pat bit the bullet and bought a brand new car. A Vauxhall of course, maintaining the link with his earler Tourer. He chose an Olive Green Vauxhall Wyvern which was the 4 Cylinder version of the car . I have very pleasant memories of the car. Which seemed to me at age 14 to be very pleasant and neat and quiet in operation.

It was an interesting offering from General Motors'U.K. operation. If you follow the design outline, it was a shrunken version of the Chevrolet "Fleetmaster"of 1948.

The shrinking process had its costs. It made the car look slightly "Dinky", especiially when there were still plenty of Chev. Fleetmasters on the street, since U.S. Dollar imports had been eased under the Liberal Government elected in 1949. The Vauxhall also looked small when compared to G.M.'s new Australian Car the Holden which had commenced production in 1948. It was yet another shrunken version of the Chev Fleetmaster - but not reduced as far as the Vauxhall.

 Even though it featured still a divided windscreen, the Holden result was far happier in appearance than the Vauxhall which  by comparison looked relatively feeble . My brother had I think, been led astray from sensible choice by brand loyalty!

The saddest aspect of the Vauxhall design was the reduction of the traditional and iconic Chromed Flutes on the edge of the bonnet, to mere vestigial traces - the times were a'changin 'even then!

How different the world of automotive manufacturing is to-day! So many of the Brands of those days are gone, the companies that made them are gone and car designs have become truly international with only modest tweaking for vastly different markets.The high cost of developing and manufacturing a new model is nw so high that economies of scale have had to be achieved even at the cost of mergers and acquisitions and co-operative deals that in the past would have been unthinkable are now routine. In recent years Ford has owned Jaguar, SAAB and VOLVO. VW has owned AUDI etc etc.

My brother's auto adventures continued so stay tuned. Then there have been my own....be prepared!