Well, as I just said on our RHS Facebook page… oh what a night!
Keep in mind this was a 40 year reunion for the Class of 1972, so by rights, you still had to be at RHS in 1972 to be invited. But James and co very kindly included 1971 veterans and the night at Richmond Bowling Club became a mixture of 2 years from RHS.
For the uninitiated… 1971 was a sad year for students as it was their last year at RHS because there was not going to be a Form 6 (yes, year 12 for the current generation). The last year for students that were the very first students of RHS that had started in 1967 and 5 years later through no choice of their own, were being forced to either move to other schools to complete Form 6 or get a job.
Reunion
We had students, teachers and the odd wife (of) celebrating 40 (and 41) years since we all last amalgamated together at the mecca of high schools, that of Richmond High School 1971 & 1972. Did I just say “40” fucking years? To be honest, I didn’t recognise many faces, but some faces I looked at seemed like it was yesterday… yes you malacca Con! The moungrel has not changed a bit in 40 years! Many a face had aged, some with distinction, while others had grown into other parts of their features (like ears), while one or two were distinctly who they always were.. simply larger than life.. yes, you Rhonsley! Rhonsley, we never called him that, he was always Ron, you know, the one with the broken nose.
I didn’t spend a lot of time talking with Ron although I wanted to. I tried to but found it very hard to understand what he was saying. On reflection, and its easy to say now that I am at home with a scotch, but he was excited when he first arrived and I was one of the first people he bumped into. Unlike me, I found myself giving him a brotherly hug and saying how good it was to see him.
It was truly a night of contrasts.. from nerves to laughter, from tears to glee, everyone found a friend to reminisce something with. The large black and white photo’s pinned to the wall promised so much, but then a group of ex-1971 students found the promise in Ian Siever’s photo’s, along with his quite amazing memory. He not only had 2 photo’s that included this writer, that I don’t remember ever seeing but a number of other photos that clearly no-one had seen in 40 years. He even remembered the circumstances around why the photo’s had been taken.
The things that stuck in my mind.. just how many times we all (boys and girls) had been married (and re-married). The number of failed business ventures. How well we all got on as possibly one of the first multi-cultural schools in Australia.. Greeks, Italians, Egyptians, Kiwis, Poles, you name it, we had it. It was clear the Greeks stuck together long after school to this very day, and it was great to see.. I was jealous.
A nice speech by Peter reminding us how old we all were, and Puppy Love (Donny and Marie) was the hit song of 1972.
My little recap here is obviously mainly about the 1971 crew and not meant in any way to denegrate the time had by the 1972 students. Its just that I didn’t talk to them, well other than some mad woman who discovered she had bullied everyone at high school.
A few names had promised to come but didn’t for one reason or another, and there is already talk about another reunion, but this time it looks like it will target the inaugural 1967 students.. the very first students of Richmond High School.
1967 – 1971 RHS Reunion
It seems quite a few ex-students from this era stayed away simply because the reunion described above was all about 1972.
We have quite a few names, plus we’re going to raid the archives to find out more.
I’d apreciate any advice and suggestions regarding this new reunion including what, why when and how. Simply shoot an email to me or call me.