Recollections
This is an area for some lighter historical content
- a scrapbook of various recollections; drawn from other articles; elaborations on other content; and other ramblings.
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- Written by: Richard_McKie
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A Pivotal Year
1963 was a pivotal year for me. It was the year I completed High School and matriculated to University; the year Bob Dylan became big in my life; and Beatlemania began; the year JFK was assassinated.
The year had started with a mystery the Bogle-Chandler deaths in Lane Cove National Park in Sydney that confounded Australia. Then came Buddhist immolations and a CIA supported coup and regime change in South Vietnam that was both the beginning and the begining of the end for the US effort there.
Suddenly the Great Train Robbery in Britain was headline news there and in Australia. One of the ringleaders, Ronnie Biggs was subsequently found in Australia but stayed one step of the authorities for many years.
The 'Space Race' was well underway with the USSR still holding their lead by putting Cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova into orbit for almost three days and returning her safely. The US was riven with inter-racial hostility and rioting. But the first nuclear test ban treaties were signed and Vatican 2 made early progress, the reforming Pope John 23 unfortunately dying midyear.
Towards year's end, on the 22nd of November, came the Kennedy assassination, the same day the terminally ill Aldous Huxley elected to put an end to it.
But for sex and scandal that year the Profumo Affair was unrivalled.
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The following family history relates to my daughter Emily and her mother Brenda. It was compiled by my niece Sara Stace, Emily’s first cousin, from family records that were principally collected by Corinne Stace, their Grandmother, but with many contributions from family members. I have posted it here to ensure that all this work is not lost in some bottom draw. This has been vindicated by a large number of interested readers worldwide.
The copyright for this article, including images, resides with Sara Stace.
Thus in respect of this article only, the copyright statement on this website should be read substituting the words 'Sarah Stace' for the words 'website owner'.
Sara made the original document as a PDF and due to the conversion process some formatting differs from the original. Further, some of the originally posted content has been withdrawn, modified or corrected following requests and comments by family members.
Richard
Stace and Hall family histories
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I have owned well over a dozen cars and driven a lot more, in numerous countries.
It seems to me that there are a limited number of reasons to own a car:
- As a tool of business where time is critical and tools of trade need to be carried about in a dedicated vehicle.
- Convenient, fast, comfortable, transport particularly to difficult to get to places not easily accessible by public transport or cabs or in unpleasant weather conditions, when cabs may be hard to get.
- Like clothes, a car can help define you to others and perhaps to yourself, as an extension of your personality.
- A car can make a statement about one's success in life.
- A car can be a work of art, something re-created as an aesthetic project.
- A car is essential equipment in the sport of driving.
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The musical Les Misérables has returned to Sydney. By now we have both seen several versions.
But we agreed that this new version is exceptional, with several quite spectacular staging innovations and an excellent cast of singers with perhaps one exception who was nevertheless very good.
Despite an audience that was obviously very familiar with the material (if I'm to judge by the not so sotto voce anticipatory comments from the woman next to us) the production managed to evoke the required tears and laughter in the appropriate places. The packed theatre was clearly delighted and, opera style, the audience shouted approval at and applauded several of the vocal performances, some were moved to a standing ovation at the end.
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| This article was written in 2012 and already some of the changes noted have changed. For example, in the decade that followed, 'same sex' marriage became legal. And sadly, several of those friends and relations I've mentioned, including my brother, died. No doubt, in another decade, there will be yet more change. |
Elsewhere on this site, in the article Cars, Radios, TV and other Pastimes, I've talked about aspects of my childhood in semi-rural Thornleigh on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. I've mentioned various aspects of school and things we did as kids.
A great many things have changed. I’ve already described how the population grew exponentially. Motor vehicles finally replaced the horse in everyday life. We moved from imperial measurements and currency to decimal currency and metric measures. The nation gained its self-confidence particularly in the arts and culture. I’ve talked about the later war in Vietnam and Australia embracing of Asia in place of Europe.
Here are some more reminiscences about that world that has gone forever.