April 18th

Buckingbong Primary School was a very small school in Buckingbong State Forest (NSW) just beside ‘Woodlands’, the family property since 1909. Nothing is left of the school now except for a few silvered and splintery stumps of wood and a stone with a plaque. The school closed sometime during World War II, I think, probably shortly after my father was there. They had a nice line in bookplates for their prizes.

My father turned 79 today. I don’t think he knows how old he is, and I don’t know if he remembers anything of his primary school days tucked away in the bush. Probably not.