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Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people

Livin’ for today

Ah

Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Livin’ life in peace

Imagine – John Lennon 1971

When Joanne arrived at Teachers College she still thought of herself as a Christian.  After being leader of the ISCF (Inter School Christian Fellowship) in High School she, along with Margo, began attending the college equivalent, TCCF. However it was not without some reservations.  For a start, some of the people there were just too inflexible and unbending.

Having a father who challenged her to think about what she was taught in Sunday School opened her mind to alternate ways of thinking. Even at the age of ten she wondered why her religion was the only right one in a world of different beliefs.

In her small township of Yerrinbool the Baha’is held their annual summer school. With nothing else to do she enjoyed the company of other teenagers at the camp. As well as hiking to the creek for a swim or playing games, she sat in on some lectures explaining the philosophy of the Baha’is. It seemed Jesus was one of many prophets sent by God, the last being Baháʼu’lláh.  She liked their belief that all religions have the same spiritual foundation, despite their apparent differences. She also thought they were on the right track when they said no one can describe God because they don’t have the mental ability and everyone’s view of him was coloured by their own experiences and cultures.  They didn’t believe in the use of alcohol or drugs unless prescribed by a doctor, as it destroyed reason and led people astray.  However they did believe in dancing, singing and enjoying themselves as she found one New Years Eve.

Her best friend at school was a Seventh Day Adventist so she spent time at their holiday camps, listening to their beliefs and experiencing a vegetarian diet long before it was fashionable. When her friend married a Methodist, Joanne and Will wondered which religion would win out. The ceremony was held in the Methodist Church but then they moved on to a Seventh Day Adventist Reception Centre. Will wished vehemently that the reverse had been the case as he ate his gluten steak, bemoaned the lack of wine, stared around at the unadorned women and worst of all, spat out his decaffeinated coffee!

Joanne was disturbed and puzzled at the examples of hypocrisy where people she had respected refused to participate in events run by other religious denominations. She had the time of her life as a model in a mannequin parade organised by two local Catholic Colleges. All the local Secondary Schools were asked to volunteer two models but her equally tall, third best friend refused to participate on religious grounds. One afternoon a week she would catch a bus to a grand house in Burradoo where the group of girls would meet, trying on clothes and walking the improvised catwalk. Joanne felt a stab of envy as the students from Dominican Convent took her up to their Science Lab to check on their mice. They seemed to be having so much fun at boarding school, reminiscent of Enid Blyton’s ‘Malory Towers.’

When Joanne started dating Will they would drive to a scenic lookout and watch the moon over the Tasman Sea. Talk invariably moved to religion and they had long discussions about the nature and existence of God. Will was enthusiastic about science being the basis of all knowledge. Charles Darwin was his hero and to him, his theory of evolution made absolute sense. While they didn’t agree on absolutely everything they both decided that organised religion was not for them.

Joanne reasoned that if all the religions of the world were the same and only altered by their environment and way of thinking, then maybe they were man’s way of explaining the creation of the universe, life and death. She decided that if there was a God, he had created them and left them to it. It was up to them to do the best they could with the world they lived in.

Will had already decided he was an atheist but Joanne was hedging her bets, just in case.

Of course, Joanne still told her mother everything. They had been so close since her father died that they used to think as one. Leaving home was changing their relationship as Joanne insisted on discussing religion and the pros and cons of sex before marriage, oblivious of her mother’s increasing concern.

Annie had walked out with thousands of others to rededicate her life to Christ at the Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney (1968) and now her once religious daughter had turned against God, all because of the new boyfriend.

Several years later, when she found her Dutch husband, Annie faced her own religious dilemma.  Lars was a Catholic so they agreed to marry in a Catholic Church.  Joanne had to laugh when the priest read from the service that the couple were to bring up any children they might have in the Catholic religion.  After all they were in their sixties!

It wasn’t long before her newly married mother converted to the Catholic faith.  Joanne wondered what her atheist father would think about it all.  Before he died he told her he would try to contact her from the afterlife if it was at all possible, but he didn’t think there was anything after death but a long sleep.  She had never heard from him in the nine years since his death so she could only conclude that he was right.

It amazed Joanne that some people never thought about religion at all, while others found that faith was enough to sustain them without question. She was careful not to offend and avoided the topic except when Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on her door. This was the only time she could discuss religion in depth with someone who actually wanted to listen and debate.

There is a house way down in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I’m one.

House of the Rising Sun – The Animals 1964

February to November 1970

Towards the end of the year with Mrs Kruger, Margo asked Joanne what she thought about renting a flat.  They looked at a high rise block near the beach and imagined having a quick surf before lectures.  Another girl called Shauna was also interested.  She wore John Lennon glasses, was into Folk Music and protested against the Vietnam War.

At first Joanne’s mother opposed it.  She could see that without the watchful eye of Mrs Kruger the girls could easily be led astray but she relented as she realised she could do little to stop them.  All she could do was help them find a place to live.

The Real Estate Agent was doubtful. ‘There’s not much available.  Anywhere near the beach is out of the question.  However there is an old house in Atchison Street which might suit.  It’s only a short walk to the bus stop and not far from the shops in the CBD.  Also the rent is $66 a fortnight which is quite reasonable for a house in the city.’

Margo and Shauna looked at the house with dismay.  It was what was known as a ‘Federation’ house, built in the early 1900s, timber clad, with a covered verandah around two sides.  Images of neat little apartments with sea views were cast aside and Shauna remembered her manners and thanked Joanne’s mother for the effort she had made.

At first Joanne and Margo shared the large front room with the bow window. Shauna had the other bedroom because growing up in a large family, she had never had a room to herself. Also at the front of the house was a small lounge room with an open fire-place and stained glass windows. Margo later used this as a bedroom. The kitchen at the rear was large and homely. A fuel stove promised warmth on cold nights and was kept running with wood off cuts ‘liberated’ from a nearby timber yard. The most interesting feature of the kitchen was a walk-in pantry lit by one small window. With their meagre allowances the girls were never able to fill the pantry shelves but it did add a certain grandeur to their new home. Out through the back door a covered area led to the bathroom and laundry. Over the free-standing bath, the shower only produced boiling hot or cold water, necessitating the use of the bath instead. In the same room a washing machine had lost its ability to spin. A manual wringer was attached to the cement sink. The girls thought it was fun to insert the washed clothes in between two rollers and turn the handle to squeeze out all the water.

Joanne missed the meals served each evening by Mrs Kruger. The girls decided to take turns preparing the evening meal but towards the end of each fortnight their money and enthusiasm had dwindled and they resorted to fish and chips or even just chips. Joanne brought cooked chickens and fruit cake down the mountain each Sunday night to supplement their food supplies but when Will started calling around, he would often find Joanne hadn’t eaten and would take her to the Adriatic Coffee Lounge and watch her eat schnitzel.

At the end of the year the girls completed their two years of teacher training and returned to their homes, ending their lease. All that was left was to wait for notification of their teaching post, somewhere in New South Wales.  

In the summertime, when the weather is hot

You can stretch right up and touch the sky

When the weather’s right

You got women, you got women on your mind

Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime 1970

Joanne was idly reading The Daily Mirror at home one weekend when something caught her attention.  In a wanted column she saw that an American stationed on the Marshall Islands was looking for a penfriend.  She had penfriends all over the world but they were all girls.  Maybe this one would be fun to write to and she might even get an answer.

The reply arrived a week later.  The American said his friends had placed the ad as a prank but he would be happy to write to her.  The letters led to an exchange of photos and cassette tapes, even Christmas presents.  He was from Alamogordo in New Mexico but instead of going home for his vacation he was coming to Australia.  

It was then Joanne found she wasn’t the only penfriend.  She had offered him accommodation on their twelve-acre farm when she found he was staying with another girl as well.  ‘I’ll meet you at the airport,’ she wrote excitedly.  ‘You can visit your other friend and then come and stay with us.’

Joanne had never had a sleepless night in her life but this was an exception.  She was up at dawn to catch the diesel train to Sydney.  Alighting from her taxi at the airport she saw a huge run in her stocking. Nothing could be done about it now so she pushed on regardless looking for a likeness to the photo in her hand.

He seemed nice and asked if she would like to travel with him to Kings Cross where he had booked a room.  He dumped his bags and they made their way to Circular Quay where they caught a ferry to Manly.  The Opera House drew their attention, with its tall cranes and unfinished sails.

‘It’s supposed to represent the sails of the yachts in the harbour but it’s quite different to the original design by Jorn Utzon, the architect,’ said Joanne. ‘It’s certainly not like any other buildings in Sydney, I’ll give you that.’

They ate a meal together in Kings Cross and bid farewell.  Joanne caught the train to her grandmother’s house in Cronulla, excitedly looking forward to meeting again in a couple of weeks.

He arrived by train at the small station of Yerrinbool.  Annie had fixed up a room for him in one of the outbuildings.  She didn’t want this stranger in the house near her daughter.  Joanne had planned every day of the week; a bushwalk, horseriding in Mittagong, a train trip to Canberra, a visit to the Lion Park at Warragamba and a drive down to Wollongong and the south coast.

During this time the American became a little restless, especially with the constant supervision of Joanne’s mother.  He bought a bottle of bourbon and suggested to Joanne that they visit the young stationmaster who lived in the residence up the road.  When he knocked on the door the stationmaster and his wife were already in their pyjamas but that didn’t deter the American.  They sat and talked for a couple of hours.  

The following day Annie said it would be all over the township and Joanne’s reputation would be in tatters.

‘First you go to a Kings Cross hotel with a strange man, and then you go uninvited to the stationmaster and keep him up all night drinking!’

When would Joanne learn to keep her mouth shut?

Hello darkness my old friend

I’ve come to talk with you again

Sounds of Silence –Simon and Garfunkel 1964

May 1969

When it was all over Joanne realised she had never seen him in daylight.  It began at the second sockhop.  The Teachers College gymnasium was something to be proud of, Dr Whitebrook told them.  The floor was made from a special timber and it was supposed to be the best gymnasium floor in the southern hemisphere.  Which meant you were to never, ever wear shoes on it.  Hence the sockhops.

When she arrived with Margo it looked like a single sex event.  Not one male could be seen anywhere.  ‘Wait until the pubs close at ten,’ whispered a knowing second year.  ‘Then they’ll arrive but they’ll all be drunk.’

Like clockwork, around 10 past 10, the men arrived.  Actually they were boys, mostly under 20 and nearly all working for Australian Iron and Steel (AI&S) or BHP.

Ben asked her to dance and then just stayed with her the whole evening. They went outside while he had a smoke. She hadn’t tried smoking herself but decided it gave him a ‘bad boy’ image which she liked. They discussed favourite TV shows and she found that they had a mutual admiration for Star Trek. In fact he was a great science fiction fan. He had grown up in a very religious household and was keen to move away from organised religion. She was keen to discuss whether he thought he was an agnostic or an atheist. He also played the trumpet, just as she did. They had so much in common!

They exchanged addresses and went their different ways.

Joanne wondered if she would hear from him again and was delighted after the Easter break when Mrs Kruger handed her a letter.  She tore it open in the privacy of her room and discovered that he wanted to see her again, that he had had the best night since he arrived in Wollongong and how did she feel about him?

Careful not to give too much away, she replied that she would like to see him again and what did he suggest they might do? She knew he didn’t have a car but hoped they could go to the pictures.  After posting it she calculated the earliest reply would be on Thursday so now all she had to do was wait.

On Thursday his letter arrived.  He suggested that she ring him at the staffhouse where he boarded, at 5.00 o’clock today or tomorrow. She walked down to the college with Margo and used one of the pay telephones. He answered her call and during the next twenty minutes they agreed to see ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’ the following Thursday.  She would catch a taxi to his hostel and then they would walk together to the Regent.

Mrs Kruger thought Joanne should meet him at the picture theatre.  ‘You don’t want to appear too eager,’ she said.  Joanne was too busy thinking what she would wear.  She found a blouse she loved in Katies for $7 but that would have taken all her cash.  She settled on a lemon shirt for $2.99 but wondered how she was going to pay for a recorder, recorder book, hire of the trumpet, a taxi fare and maybe her ticket to the pictures.  She would have to withdraw money from her bank account to cover the $11.50 she calculated she needed.

Somehow the pictures had changed to a double feature,  ‘From Russia with Love’ and ‘Thunderball’.  Afterwards they caught a taxi home and chatted to Mrs Kruger before Ben left to walk home.

The TCCF (Teachers College Christian Fellowship) was a Christian organisation which Margo and Joanne decided might be a source of that rare species, the male college student. Someone was picking them up just as Ben arrived unexpectedly so he went too. He complained he had been ‘earbashed’ as a child as he grew up in the Salvation Army. He suggested they go to see ‘Showboat’ on Thursday night. That was more to Joanne’s liking as well.

The local theatre group, the Arcadians, performed to a high standard. However it seemed the night was ending too fast. After catching a taxi to Mount Ousley they sat on the step and talked until 3.00 am. Mrs Kruger complained next day about the ‘natter, natter, natter’ and her mother said that if Joanne continued to behave like that she would ‘get a bad name’.

The weeks passed.  They tried ice skating at the Glacarium at Wollongong Showground, Joanne clinging to the edges of the rink, too scared to let go.

They watched ‘The Sand Pebbles’ and ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, sometimes walking the two miles home so they could extend the evening. He suggested seeing ‘Hair, the Musical’ in Sydney and she wondered aloud about seeing nude people on the stage. Then one Tuesday he didn’t come around. In fact she never saw him again. Her new friends rallied round and told her she was too good for him. Apart from hurt pride she realised she didn’t really mind.

‘Plenty more fish in the sea!’ said her friends.

The road is long

With many a winding turn

That leads us to who knows where

But I’m strong

The Hollies-He Ain’t Heavy 1969

Day one of college dawned, the girls filled with excitement and trepidation.  Margo and Joanne crossed Mount Ousley Road, walked past some new houses in ‘College View Estate’, through a grassy area intersected by a creek, past a tennis court with a sign saying ‘Whites only must be worn on the tennis court’ and arrived at an interesting sloping structure known as the music auditorium.

After a welcome assembly the students poured out into the sunshine and fresh air, eating their cut lunches in the area known as ‘the cloisters’. While the college liked to use traditional English names, and some of the lecturers walked around wearing black gowns, the buildings were very modern. The grey cement block construction was brutalist in design and very different to the sandstone buildings Joanne had envisaged at Sydney Uni. To make matters worse, there was not enough room for all the students so a bus was to run to the Technical College for some of the lectures.

Next to the music auditorium was a double storey lecture block with a flat roof.  A library with an unusual pointed roof sat next to the administration block, where they were to line up for their pay once a fortnight.  They would receive a cheque which they could cash at the National Bank situated half a mile away at the University or in town at David Jones or Anthony Horderns.  The remaining building was a gymnasium, also built in the pointed roof style and the pride of the college.

Across grassy fields was the tiny Wollongong branch of the University of NSW.  It consisted of two lecture blocks and specialised in the sciences needed to train employees of the steelworks.

The first week flew by with a barrage of tests; psychology, music, spelling and social statistics.  A barbecue and sock hop on the precious gymnasium floor revealed the distinct shortage of boys but Joanne enjoyed dancing to the music with the other girls. The postal service efficiently delivered Joanne’s swimming costume after a panicked phone call to Annie so that on Friday she and Margo made their way by bus to the Continental Baths to swim laps of the 50 metre pool.

Packing their bags that afternoon, the two girls made their way to Wollongong Station, Margo travelling north to Sydney and Joanne filling in time until the rail motor bound for Moss Vale left at 5.40 pm.  Joanne had been told by her section advisor that she had to have a chest X-ray to test for Tuberculosis.  A mobile clinic was parked in Crown Street but they sent her away, requesting paperwork from the college.

For one hour and forty five minutes Joanne looked out the window as the little rail motor climbed the mountain.  At first she could see Lake Illawarra and the ocean below her.  The train stopped at tiny sidings called Dombarton, Mount Murray and St Anthonys.  At some stops the guard did a ‘staff exchange’ with a railway employee and only then could the rail motor move forward.  Robertson was the first major stop, followed by the end of the line, Moss Vale.  Joanne talked to Annie all the way home and all evening until her throat was sore.

The college had supplied Joanne with a piece of material reminiscent of a tablecloth, with yellow, red and blue stripes screen printed on a white background. It took Joanne all of Saturday to turn it into a gym skirt, to be worn over black leotards. On Sunday everyone at Church wanted to know about college, so that Joanne again found she couldn’t stop talking. On Sunday afternoon they visited an elderly friend in a nursing home who also wanted to hear all the news. A missed train ended Joanne’s weekend and meant Annie had to drive her back down Macquarie Pass on Monday morning.

And Honey, I miss you

And I’m bein’ good

And I’d love to be with you

If only I could

Honey- Bobby Goldsborough 1968

---

January 1969

The Boeing 707 had just arrived from Wellington, New Zealand.  As the passengers climbed carefully down the mobile stairs, a small, elderly man waited on the tarmac, a white envelope clutched in his hand.

Joanne’s mother saw him as soon as she stepped onto the ground. 

‘Thank you for meeting us, Mac. Everything all right at home?’

‘No, no it’s not good.  She didn’t get Sydney.  She’s going to Wagga.’

Secretly Joanne was delighted.  Mac had organised for her to live with his sister in a gloomy inner-city terrace while she attended Sydney Teachers College, but it wasn’t going to happen. 

‘Wagga!’ exclaimed Joanne’s mother. ‘I’ll never see you.  It would be at least five hours by train so you could hardly come home for the weekend.’

Annie wasn’t having that.  Bravely she marched into Blackfriars in Sydney the next day.

‘I am a widow with only one child.  I run a small business on my own in a country town.  If my daughter goes to Wagga I will only see her in the holidays.  I’ve already arranged accommodation in Sydney for her which is only two hours from home.  Would it be possible to change the offer to a Sydney college?’

No, no, that couldn’t be done, but there was another solution.  Wollongong Teachers College still had vacancies so would that be a possibility?

The rail motor from Wollongong to Moss Vale took an hour and a half.  Annie was delighted.  Joanne was happy that she was going somewhere away from home.  Only Mac grumbled that his sister was very upset about losing her star boarder.

The steep highway that wound down the escarpment showed tantalizing glimpses of ocean.  To her right Joanne could see Wollongong Teachers College and the University College of the University of NSW.  

Her mother turned left into the suburb of Mount Ousley and pulled up beside a small green fibro house with a butterfly roof. This was to be her home for the next eleven months, from Monday to Friday. They met the landlady, Mrs Kruger, and her cat Ludwig (Luddy for short). A girl about her own age but a good six inches shorter, smiled and introduced herself as Margo. She would also be attending the college. Joanne would have someone to share the experience of being away from home.

Alone at last!  Her mother had driven away to stoic farewells.  Margo wanted to ring her boyfriend in Sydney to let him know about her day so they followed Mrs Kruger’s directions to find the nearest public phone box.

Suddenly Margo clutched Joanne’s arm tightly.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘It’s a dog.  I‘m terrified of dogs.  Let’s go another way.’

An hour later, carefully avoiding all dogs, they found a phone box.  As Margo chatted to her boyfriend, Joanne wondered what tomorrow would be like. At high school she had been reserved and quiet with few friends.  Mostly that didn’t worry her because she was happy in her own company, but now she had an opportunity to meet new people and with the chatty Margo by her side she felt optimistic about the future.

Mrs Kruger cooked dinner for the girls each night.  Also she made a cooked breakfast.  This, she said, was unusual and not normally called for but Annie had insisted.  Each girl had her own room and a shared bathroom. Of the $42 a fortnight they received for their scholarship, $22 would go on board.  That would leave the remaining $20 to cover lunches, the train trip home and any other incidentals.  Once the money was spent they could appeal to their mothers for a helping hand.

Having Margo right beside her was such a godsend.  They discussed what they would wear to college and decided on stockings and low heels, skirts and blouses. They would maintain a strict standard of neat, tidy attire as students.  Little did they know how much their world would change in the next two years.