Ray Harris

2004

Born in North Sydney 1947 and moved with my parents to “the Bush” in Burns Road Turramurra at the age of 3. We lived in a pokey little garage with no running water and a “thunder box” down the back. My Dad, being a carpenter, built our house in his spare time.

The property backed onto “Lovers Jump Creek”where I would spend most of my time playing in the bush with the local kids, fishing for eels, building dams and skinny dipping.

Primary school days were at Wahroonga Public.Fellow pupils who accompanied me onto ABHS were Richard (Rick) Gibbons, Phil Reddan, Ross Stephens, Gary McMahon and Phil Gibb. I still keep in touch with Rick but wouldn’t have a clue as to the whereabouts of the others.

Saturday mornings involved playing cricket and soccer for Wahroonga.

Later on I switched football codes and ended up playing rugby for Turramurra with Ken Davis, along with Gary McMahon, Phil Gibb, John Parton, Bruce Kneeves and Rob Webeck (except for Ken, all early leavers from ABHS). Thanks to the hard working Parents and Citizens the school was fortunate enough to build its own swimming pool.

I Was able to gain lifesaving awards and become a Pioneer member of the Wahroonga Swimming Club. From there the club moved to the new Olympic pool at Hornsby to become The Hornsby Wahroonga Swimming Club.

High School began at Chatswood High for a couple of weeks and then onto the partly burnt out Hornsby Domestic Science School to join up with the other half of the school.

I still remember the day on the 24 June 1960 when we all marched down the Pacific Highway to our brand new school.

Although I didn’t excel academically I look back on high schooldays as an enjoyable part of my life. Apart from gaining an education, making new friends and playing sport made everything worthwhile.

I can still recall playing Water Polo with Ken Davis,Phil Reddan,David Wilson,Les Drake & Randall Jones.(If my memory serves me right, we did pretty well in our first year of competition).

I remember our school sports zone covering a large area of the North West requiring us to travel long distances to venues such as Ryde Pool and Roseville Baths against some pretty tough competitors from Drummoyne,Hombush,Meadowbank,Epping and Normanhurst

I can also remember making theWednesday trek out to North Turramurra Golf Course by train and taxi for Golf in winter.

(40 years later, I’m still trying to work out how to play that bloody game.)

Certain classroom antics come to mind such as the “mirror on the shoe trick” (whilst seated in the first row) allowing one to see how far those beautiful legs of Miss Dear went up her skirt. Who can forget the teary Miss Smith.A lovely lady, but simply had no control over the class and would often go off bawling to the Staff Room. Consequently Mr Hayes the English Master would promptly reciprocate by giving those disruptive offenders 6 of the best.

Oh yeah, it seems that no one has forgotten Mr Goldstein and his “you do not explore your nose in class”nor his sensitivity towards the “swastika” which some smart arse had drawn on the blackboard one day.

Can’t forget Deputy Mr Holme and his lectures at assembly. He’d get himself that worked up that he looked like he would blow a blood vessel at times.

The first 5 years at ABHS whizzed by very quickly and before I knew it, I was sitting for the Leaving Certificate and failed miserably. So after a big lecture from my Parents I returned in 1965 (along with quite a few others it seems) for a second attempt with aspirations of becoming a Manual Arts teacher.

I did a lot better this time but the A and five B’s was still not good enough to get a Teachers College Scholarship. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, so I started a Drafting Apprenticeship at Gordon Bull & Associates, Consulting Engineers.

As apprentice wages were paltry, I could’nt afford a decent car so most of my spare time was spent cutting out rust from an old FB Holden “Shagging Wagon ”. 50% of that beast was filled with fibreglass and bog. Anyway, it had wheels and got me from A to B. Saturday Night was a regular trip down to the Charles Hotel at Chatswood with the hope of picking up women, but must confess not much luck in that department. I suppose it wasn’t exactly what you would call a “chick magnet”. Anyway at least I had somewhere to sleep when I was too pissed to drive.

Through those early years I hung out with Frank Clarke (1965 LC) and a few other cronies and spent a lot of time spear fishing up and down the coast. Drove The Beast as far as The Whitsunday’s and The Barrier Reef one year. That was the ultimate diving spot. Have always enjoyed sailing skiffs and if I wasn’t diving I’d be sailing my VJ down at Middle Harbour

Later on I Joined The Legacy Younger Set, where things started looking up in the chick department. Great times were had raising money for Legacy with plenty of “wine, women and song”along the way.

It wasn’t long after that I met my soul mate Janel and in 1970 we got married.

Went to Sydney Tech and after a 4-year apprenticeship, with The Structural Engineering Certificate in hand got a job with another Consultant,Crooks Michell Peacock & Stewart.

Did a stint down at Cooma working for SMEC and then back to Sydney.

Started to get itchy feet so in 1972 Janel and I decided to pack up and take off around Australia in our new (second hand) Kingswood.

Headed west across the Nullabor to Perth then up the West coast to Broome and then to Kununurra.It was here that we found out that my 48 year old Dad had suddenly died. We then drove the next 700 miles to Darwin and flew back to be with my Mum and 15-year-old brother, Peter. As we were flat broke it was necessary to fly back to Darwin to retrieve our car and gear and start looking for a job. Ended up working for another Consultant, Gutteridge Haskins and Davey on a variety of projects such as the Darwin Central Sewerage Scheme, roads and drainage as well as aboriginal housing development at missionaries throughout the Territory.

Most weekends we would either be off with Janel’s cousins, water skiing or heading down the track to South Alligator River, Yellow Waters or Jim Jim Creek fishing for Barramundi.

I adapted to theTerritorian boozy lifestyle very easily. We seriously considered settling down there,but for fear of becoming an alcoholic decided to return to Sydney. Besides my Mum wasn’t traveling too well anyway.

In1973 after being away for one year we headed south via Ayers Rock, then up to Normanton and across The Athertons and down the coast to Sydney.

Lucky we did I suppose as Darwin was never the same after Cyclone Tracy wreaked havoc on Christmas Day 1974.

We bought a block of land in Hornsby Heights when we got married and had a house built in 1974. We had 3 children. Craig was born in 1974, then Trevor in 1976, followed by Belinda in 1978.

Hornsby Heights was a great neighborhood to raise a family and over the years we thrived on being actively involved with anything that our kids undertook. In the early part of the eighties I built a holiday home at Budgewoi where we enjoyed many wonderful holidays, surfing, fishing & sailing on Lake Munmorah.

I remember bumping into Howard Cairns in BBC Wyong when I was looking to buy PC items for the house. It just so happened that he managed the store and being a fellow ABHS Old Boy, I was very appreciative of his generous discount.

Over the years I have bumped into a few Old Boys; Randall Jones in a Hardware store in Parramatta, Chris Kent at parent/teacher nights at ABHS and Jim Hobbs at Junior AFL.

Errol Trimmingham and his wife Carol are in a circle of friends who we see regularly at dinner parties. Janel and I also catch up with the Davis’s & Booths a few times each year.

I have been friends with Rick Gibbons since we were in kindergarten. Best man at his and Christine’s wedding and God Father to his son Neil.

I am a Life Member of Asquith Rugby League Social Golf Club where there are quite few of my golfing mates who are of ABHS (younger) descent.

Having gained confidence building one house, our family needed more space, so I then moved on to my next project in doubling the size of our home in Hornsby Heights. The years of part time work for my Dad (a Builder) in my teens certainly paid off.

Both boys played soccer, cricket and AFL for Hornsby Heights Sports Club, while Belinda was into netball (Ken Booth’s wife Helen was her coach one year). Like me in my younger years Belinda swam for the Hornsby Swimming Club and played Water polo for the school. She also loved to dance and we would often going back to ABHS Auditorium for the end of year Eileen Phillips School of Dancing concerts.

Belinda went to AGHS and I am proud to say that the boys attended ABHS.

Both the boys played AFL with Craig later playing for Pennant Hills under 19 and Reserve grade sides. Trevor was a talented AFL. Rep. player and junior member of Asquith Golf Club as well as my Social Club.

For about 20 years I was self employed as a Contract Draftsman, working for clients on projects such as houses, units, commercial buildings, hotels, marine works, shopping centres, bridges, roads, water and sewer reticulation, dams, power stations, coal mines, washeries, conveyors, materials handling and shop detailing.

Working in the Engineering field has been satisfying and having children has been the best part of our lives but on 1 June 1994 our whole world came crashing down when our dear Trevor contracted the horrific meningococcal septicaemia and died within hours. He was only 18.It was the blackest day of our lives. He had just finished the HSC and had started a career in Retail Management for Woolworths.You hear about other people losing children but in your wildest dreams would never expect something like this happening to one of your own. I now know how Rory Tuck and Martin Sotter’s parents must have felt. The pain is dreadful. We have good days and bad days, but with the support of family and friends we cope the best way we can and take each day as it comes.10 years have passed and we now realize that we will never get over it, but learn to live around it and don’t let go of the cherished memories we have of our loving son.

The past 10 years have been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride for our family. In1995 Craig completed his Bachelor of Commerce Accounting Degree at Western Sydney and took off to backpack around Europe and Scandinavia .He worked in London for Qantas Jetabout and then travelled around India and into the Himalayas to return home 3 Years later. He then worked as a Financial Controller for Flight Centre and took off again to travel through Laos and Vietnam and later on spent 6 months backpacking through Central America. He is currently working in Sydney as GM for Tramada Systems, which is a Travel Industry IT company. He now lives in Leichhardt and has just announced his engagement to Maria. So hopefully grandparenthood won’t be too far down the track.

Belinda, who is now 25, has just finished travelling through Europe and is currently temping in London as a Legal Secretary.

I stopped working for myself 7 years ago and am now employed by Meriton Apartments.

At long last someone else is paying my superannuation.

Now that our kids are doing their own thing, Janel and I are still happily married and would be lost without each other.

In 1997 I came close to losing her when a common angiogram procedure at RNSH went terribly wrong. The negligent doctor had accidentally torn the main artery of her heart when manoeuvering the catheter, resulting in an emergency double bypass operation.

If it weren’t for the Heart Surgery Team being on standby she wouldn’t be here today.

The irony was however, there wasn’t anything wrong with her heart in the first place.

Nevertheless, with sheer willpower and determination, she battled her way through that crisis to make a full recovery.

Two years ago, it was my turn to put the wind up my family when I underwent surgery for bowel cancer, resulting in my colon being made 300mm shorter. I had all the chemo and lucky for me everything seems OK.

Yeah, life can be a bugger, with a lot happening since leaving ABHS.We have learnt to make the most of everyday. But work seems to get in the way of doing things more and more these days and it looks like I will have to consider retiring to “our house by the lake” sooner than later. More time is needed to work on the golf handicap, sail the Hobie, go fishing and go for the odd overseas trip and hopefully one day be surrounded by Grandchildren. You just never know, a third generation of the Harris family might be lucky enough to enter Asquith Boys High to “Grow In Wisdom”.