Highlights - Sydney High School Old Boys Union
Highlights - Sydney High School Old Boys Union
Highlights - Sydney High School Old Boys Union
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Reminiscences<br />
Max Lake (1940) recalls an incident from his school days:<br />
I received a superb, lower case ‘e’ education from a group of truly dedicated and<br />
able teachers and mentors. Although the garden was late bearing, it was well tilled<br />
and planted. Four Bs in the Leaving Certificate, topped the year in Clinical Surgery<br />
at the Medical Finals and I can still swear in French.<br />
Three friends and I, well away from the prefects, had a prominent part in the<br />
running of many non scholastic aspects of the <strong>School</strong>. We used Rudyard Kipling’s<br />
Stalky and Co as a training manual. We had the keys to the tennis court and in the<br />
afternoon after school always had first crack at it. We were all rankers in the<br />
cadets, had the keys to the storeroom on the girls’ school side of the gym, where<br />
we reflectively puffed the occasional pipe, Temple Bar granulated tobacco, for<br />
elevenses. I think the masters let us run because they were amused, no real harm<br />
came of it and we saved them some bother, as they must have pondered our exploits<br />
at their own bar at the “Bat and Ball”.<br />
World War II had started and there were lunch-time concerts and films, admission<br />
one penny, proceeds to the <strong>School</strong> soldiers’ comforts fund. Geoff Lunsdaine and<br />
I planned a diversion. Over some weeks we accumulated a large bag of torn paper<br />
fragments in the loft above the stage. The plan was to shower the performers with<br />
confetti and make our escape across the tiled roof to the science lab where we<br />
were due first period after lunch. Should be a piece of cake inserting ourselves<br />
into the general melee the science class usually generated.<br />
The best-laid plans. It all went swimmingly. We dropped the confetti on to Ian<br />
Thomas, solo clarinet raised skyward in an impassioned moment in Traumerei.<br />
He was not pleased, in fact it was some years before we were forgiven. Observers<br />
told us later the Boss was convulsed with laughter. Geoff and I had our<br />
handkerchiefs tucked in our gobs to try and make less racket ourselves. Now to<br />
escape. The damn window on to the outside roof was jammed!<br />
We weren’t too upset. Keep mum for half an hour and we could get down to the<br />
quadrangle and creep into the science experiment class. Terrific. We could scarcely<br />
believe our eyes. Seated at a desk parked at the foot of the stairs, detention book<br />
open, was the Boss, Jas H Killip, formally attired in executioner’s garb complete<br />
with mortar board. He rolled our surnames over his tongue repeatedly, savouring<br />
them like lollies. We were summarily sentenced to a month’s afternoon detention.<br />
This was suspended the second afternoon when we were bid to go and sin no<br />
more.<br />
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