U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Policies
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2025
    • Program Ideas
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • Chess
      • Cooking Solo
      • Demystifying Psychology Course
      • Enjoying the Internet (S2)
      • Family Research Drop In
      • Lifeball >
        • Home
        • Lifeball Videos
      • Sky's the Limit
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair History (British)
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Family Research - Advanced
        • German - Beginners
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
        • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Jane Austen Book Club
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Meditation
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Russian Literature
        • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Wise Guys Book Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Ch
    • A-Ch
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • American History
    • Art Appreciation
    • 'As Time Goes By'
    • Australian Shares and Stock Market
    • Be Connected - Android
    • Be Connected - Tech Advice
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Car Torque
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
  • Co-E
    • Ch - E
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
    • Colour Mixing and Watercolour Techniques - Botanical
    • Come and Learn Croquet
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology - Discussion Group
    • Demystifying Psychology - Perception
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Exploring Writing Children's Books
  • F-Pa
    • F- Pa
    • Family Research
    • Film Discussion
    • French at the Table
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • German Home
      • Lessons
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Mahjong
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
  • Ph-W
    • Ph -W
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder
    • Singing for Fun
    • Spanish
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Talks
    • Train Buffs
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide
    • Timetable with Dates
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News Update
    • June Newsletter
    • 'What's On' Calendar 2025
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
    • U3A Murrundindee East
    • U3A Wangaratta
  • Contact

The Year That Made Me - 1956

22/11/2015

 
I’m not sure if 1956 was the year that made me, but as a Melbournian it was certainly interesting and for me personally, very exciting.  It was the year of the Olympic Games.  The streets were full of sailors in different uniforms and people of varying colours in varying tracksuits wearing footwear called thongs.
 
The most exciting thing about 1956 for me was that I started at Brighton High.
 
In those days there were schools called Central Schools where students did Years 7 and 8, getting their Credit Certificate ready to go into factory work.  I went to Caulfied North Central, which had been the school I went to through what for me were the horror years of primary school.

Central School opened the door to timetables; different teachers for each subject; softball instead of rounders; rooms upstairs and a uniform to be proud of in the marching team.  Most of all there were exams to see who was good enough to go on to the Macrobertson High School for girls, or Melbourne High School for the boys.

I wasn’t good enough for Macrob but was offered a position at a brand new high school being built at Brighton for the ‘Baby Boomers’.  It was certainly a building site and being a wet year in ’56 was awash, with sticky clay everywhere. 

I loved my new school and felt at home from day one.  Our school colours were purple, green and gold and I was in purple house, Grant by name. 

I was keen on all sporting activities and the first up were the swimming sports.  I had given up ballet lessons to follow up my first true love, swimming and had a great coach, Marj McQuade, who had swum for Australia in the Empire Games (later to be known as the Commonwealth Games)..  Dad had struck a deal for a free lesson with Marj, who was just starting out as a coach, so when I started winning races I could tell people Marj McQuade was my coach.  Perhaps I showed some talent for she agreed to this arrangement.  Anyway, I won first the house sports and then the inter-school sports. 

In those days all the students went to the sports, swimmers or not.  I became well known in the small population of our new school, so was voted into positions of responsibility such as Prefect.  I shudder now when I think of how I carried out the duties allocated to this role.

One of the tales I have told over the years that have passed since ’56 is of sitting in Year 9 History with Miss Drummond upfront trying hard to interest us in the importance of modern history to our everyday lives.

Dawne, who was sitting next to me and at the time was one of my best friends, whispered, ‘Which of these boys would you go out with?’.  ‘None!’ was my answer, as we girls at this stage liked our boyfriends to be more mature and outside of school.  For instance, I was keen at the time on the best diver, (who happened to be 18), at the Malvern Baths.
 
Dawne kept pushing as Miss Drummond droned on, so I looked around and picked out the redhead two desks over.  At that stage I wasn’t that sure of his name, let alone my ‘for better for worse’ destiny with the redhead two desks over.
 
So it was that 1956 was an important year in my life. 

    'Our Stories'

    Carole's page


    Picture

    Archives

    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All
    'Advice'
    A Place Of Importance
    A Test Of Courage - 'Everyday Courage'
    Car Stories
    'Christmas'
    'Cringe'
    'Failure'
    Fairy Stories
    'Faking It'
    'For Better For Worse'
    Friendship Tested
    Grandparents
    'Grandparents And Grandparenting'
    I Quit
    'I Was There'
    Lost And Found
    'Mr Nicksar'
    'My Other Life'
    'New In Town'
    'Shaped By Childhood'
    'Stock And Land'
    'The Year That Made Me'

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2025
Membership Application/Renewal 
​
Semester 1 Program Guide 2025
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2025
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria