Brush with fame.
Alison McCallum and I both attended Maroubra Bay High School. One of us became far more famous than the other.
Brush with fame. belongs to the following groups:
Dutch Touch, Everyday Life and The Dutch ConnectionThat’s Alison MacCallum !
There is no way that she’ll remember me!
Even though we have some common interests.
Like music!
The difference is that she climbed a long way to the top.
There was less call for piano-accordion players, on the hit-parades of the the 50s, 60s and 70s!
The other thing that we have in common is that we both attended Maroubra Bay High School, at the beginning of The Sixties!
Maroubra Bay High School was brand-new then.
And it was an almost daring experiment!
It was co-educational.
In pre-school, in Gouda, the Netherlands, we sat at little (tiny) desks, in rows.
The teachers there sat me in the girls’ rows. 
60 years later, I am still not sure why they did that.
Was it to protect me?
Or to cure me?
Primary school, in Gouda was, of course, co-educational (as were just about all schools (when I grew up there, in the 40s and 50s.)
When we migrated to Sydney, I was allocated to South Sydney BOYS Junior High.
So, in my second year there, I was put in a play about a Chinese couple sailing down the Yang Tse River, as the mother.
(In the first year when I had about 10% knowledge of English, I was put in as The Butler. – Smaller speaking part.)
None of these experiences have done me any harm.
I’ve already quoted a fellow ex-MBHS student, as writing:
Attending MBHS where there were girls was an eye-opener.
..
When we were transferred from South Sydney Boys Junior High, we were in the third year of high school.
Sneaking a picture of Alison, at the athletics carnival, on the oval, in Kensington, seemed a little like cradle-snatching.
But, 50 years later, at the reunion, on the 7th of March, in 2009, I don’t think the age difference is going to seem as marked as back then. 
(I’d like to think that 37 years of starting many days, with some singing, to put my pupils and I in the mood for work, may have had some effect on their experience with music. Whether that was good or bad?????? )
..
The Bra Girls….
hilarydougill
Wonderful story, love to hear about your life. hugsxxx
MrJoop replied
Oh. Hilary, thank you. No doubt you realise that it’s to do with trying to get fellow ex-mbhs students to get a move on and register and pay for the reunion, on March 7th, 2009.
However, I was also motivated by being with the committee members, last night, all of whom are just only a little bit older but interact as though half a century has not happened.
Just have more knowledge, I guess.
Thanks for reading and the compliment.
Jo