Chapter 8

Dad was transferred from Southport to Suva in December, 1939. Dick started work in Brisbane and stayed at a boarding house, and I went with Mum and Dad to Fiji. We travelled by way of Auckland in the Matson liner Monterey, taking about 5 days for the voyage. While it was not the first voyage I had taken (the two others were between Sydney and Brisbane when I was rather small and retained only faint memories of them) it was very exciting, novel and rather luxurious. However we were also conscious of the possible danger on the seas. Although the war had not reached the Pacific area, the warships and merchantmen that berthed in Suva bore camouflage paint, and some of the merchant ships carried a 4 inch gun on the rear deck. Where the papers once used to carry arrivals and departures of ships this had now ceased as the release of such information could place a ship at risk of submarine or surface attack. Apart from loss of life, loss of ships was of course very much more serious than it would be considered today as it was the only way freight could be carried overseas, or at least the main way, airlines not being highly developed yet.
In Suva, year 1939 closed with a New Year's Eve party at the house of the Government Veterinarian, Mr. Turbot. We met a few people young and old. We had been in Fiji only since 15 December.
The school year at the Suva Boy's Grammar School started in February. Settling in was rather difficult as all the pupils were locals, mostly born in Suva, and hence had known each other from early childhood. It was good training, I suppose, but I had already been through this phase in early 1939 when I started at TSS, and even earlier in the changes between Sydney and Southport. It was a rare child that enjoyed changing schools.
I played cricket soon after commencement of the school year and must have made a good impression as I was promoted to the Senior team. In my first innings in that team I scored 9, made a few friends, and was accepted. I have always remembered with gratitude that being able to play a team game helped in this settling in period.
Notes made at the time say little about school subjects or teaching but usually noted the activities carried out after school-plenty of "practised cricket" or "went for a swim" or "played water polo".
We lived in a house in Williamson's Road overlooking a park, with Government buildings in the right foreground, the Grand Pacific Hotel in the left middle distance and Suva Harbour in the background. The park (I think it was Albert Park) became famous when Kingsford Smith landed there on one of his early trans-ocean flights. The Grand Pacific Hotel referred to as GPH was apparently one of the social centres of Suva, and there were evening parties there that sent the sounds of revelry wafting on the night air across the park right up to our house. I can still remember the sounds of the new hit tune "Roll out the Barrel" coming into our house. The harbour view was constantly fascinating. In the distance a half circle of high hills covered in lush tropical greenery enclosed the harbour and coconut trees fringed the foreshore. Ships entered and left the harbour within our view and provided interest not only by their majestic movement but also from the visions they conjured up in the imagination. Although the Pacific theatre was still nominally at peace, it was wartime and secrecy shrouded most shipping movements. Naval vessels as well as passenger and cargo ships called at the port. It was a time of the armed merchantman, and most ships carried a 4" gun at the stern. Ships were painted in various shades of grey and green and with various shaped segments or patches for camouflage. This was a forbidding reminder that each time they ventured out they ran the risk of being fired on by warships including submarines. Mines had been laid in the harbour and pilots had to steer the ships in lanes through these. The "Niagara" and "Aorangi" ran the regular services to Australia from Vancouver via New Zealand to Sydney and the American Matson line ships "Monterey" and "Mariposa" sailed between San Francisco and Sydney. Later the "Niagara" sank off New Zealand after hitting a mine. Rumours had the cargo being gold worth millions.
Our activities were somewhat restricted even though we had taken our car over by ship. There was a limit on the petrol available. However we did see some parts of the country near to Suva and went out to some other islands including Beqa on a yacht on one occasion. There was quite a lot of social activity that took Mum and Dad out. I'm not sure whether they enjoyed it all. They did play golf and already had some good friends among the locals, as well as the Cable friends they had known before in other stations. For my part I seemed to get to a few parties and had some good friends, male and female. Strangely several of the people mentioned in my diary, I met again much later when I was in Adelaide after the War. Also when working at CSIRO Parkville, one colleague Marjorie Jago and the Chief, Alan Donald were both born in Fiji, but I did not meet them there. Mrs. Graham, our neighbour whose husband was Chief Justice, was a good friend to my parents and her grandson married one of Alan Chenu's daughters. A boy named David Simmonds lived nearby. He was the son of the Government Entomologist and was schooling in Australia, so I saw him only in school vacations. Later when I undertook Chemistry as part of my science course, we met again, as he was a third year student demonstrating to the lowly first years. He had not been in the Services, so was ahead of me. Later he worked at CSIRO in Sydney Road, Parkville.
Later, when we lived in Adelaide, I met up with Kathleen Steadman with whom I had been quite friendly in Suva. She married a Roger Freeman who was friendly with Brian Coulls, a contemporary of mine at Adelaide Uni.
Dad had lived and worked in Suva many years before and some of the friends he had made were still there. The “Oceanic” in Williamson’s Road was a guesthouse even in those days and was run by Mrs. Bartley, the wife of a Cable man. Her daughter Nona and I became good friends.
In early June just 6 months after we arrived, we had to return to Australia as Dad had received a transfer back to Southport. That meant a whole repack, and a sea trip back again. We stopped for a day or so in Auckland on the way back to Sydney, and hired a car. Dad and Mum had lived there some years ago and Dick was born there. They were eager to catch up with good friends they had not seen since they left so we did see a little of suburban Auckland, and met the friends.
Considering that few of our Australian friends had been away from Australia I felt rather privileged to have widened my horizons a little. I had seen another race of people, or two races, for there were as many Indians living in Fiji as native Fijians. The natives were happy and endearing people, at that time anyway. Nowadays so many Australians have their holidays in Fiji that it has become well known. There is not much point in going in to depth about how the population lives and their customs and so on. One aspect that I had enjoyed was learning a bit of the language and for many years after, one party "trick" (requested rather than being offered) was to "say something in Fijian". I usually responded with "ke sa dua na kama voroko na iloilo, ka tabaka na bulukau varasa" It gave the impression of at least an acquaintance with the language, but it simply was from a notice that said "In case of fire break the glass and ring the bell". If an encore was requested I was at the time able to recite the Lord's Prayer. "Tamai keimami mai lomalagi me vakarokorokotaki na yacamuni, me yaco mai na nomuni lewa, me vaka na lomamuni" and so on. All party tricks aside it was a fine sounding language probably assisted by the fact that consonants were always separated by a vowel. Probably other Pacific languages are similar. There were occasions when I picked up a few Samoan words as well, as I had a distinct liking for languages. Our cook, an Indian, by name Rampersad occasionally helped me but he spoke Fijian with a Hindustani accent! The Fijian anthem (I guess it was) was a song called “Isa Lei” and is a haunting melody.
Isa Isa vulagi lasa dina, nomu lako.......
Isa Lei, na nogu rarawa, nikosana vodo ena mataka
Domoni dina bua na kukuwalu, kena kau ni levu tu na ua..
Bau nanuma, na nodaru lasa
Mai Suva na numa tiko ga.

On arrival back at Southport I quickly caught up with old friends and prepared for school that was to resume shortly. The second year of High School carried with it the Junior Public Examination and a pass was necessary to continue through to the Senior years. Having had to accept a totally different curriculum in Suva, which used the New Zealand system of education, and where staff shortages resulted in three grades being handled by two masters in the one large room. It was because of the shortage of teachers that the class to which I had been allotted was told that they would just be revising for the whole year. In effect then, I lost six months of schooling. On my return to TSS I set out to make up this time and really worked hard, catching up at the same time as taking in new material.
During our absence in Suva, Dick had continued working at Thomas Borthwick's and boarding in Brisbane. Now that we had returned he usually came down for the weekends unless social engagements were available. At this time he was in the Air Force Reserve studying to be ready for call up to the RAAF.
Our period in Fiji was just six months. It was fortunate that we were returned to Southport when Dad was transferred as I was able to go back to TSS, albeit well into the year of the Junior Public Examination. As Dad again took up the reins as Manager, we lived in the Manager’s house again and I attended TSS as a day boy. We had taken the Chevrolet sedan Q100-634 to Fiji, and had brought it back with us. Everything pointed to a resumption of our former tranquil lifestyle.
It was not long, however, before the peace of our existence was again shattered. Dad was transferred back to Fiji, again as Manager. We decided that Mum would stay with me until the end of the school year so as not to make schooling even more difficult. Already I had got behind in the Junior curriculum. I cannot recall whether my standard was equal to, greater or lesser than that of the others in my class. I can remember learning some British History at Suva Grammar, but had made little progress in any of the 7 subjects that I had chosen for the Junior at home. Presumably I must have learned some Maths and English, but did not do any French. This meant that my preparation for the Queensland Junior was very poor, as I found when I returned. When Dad left for Suva, Mum and I had to leave the Cable house. We rented a small flat in Chester Terrace owned by the nurse who brought me into the world, Julie White.
Dad left for Fiji as I recall in October 1940. For a while Dick came down at weekends from Brisbane, and hence the car was useful for him. However, as Mum was eventually to go to Fiji, and Dick was due to go into the RAAF, it became obvious that the car had to go. Mum arranged to sell it to the garage where it had been serviced since new. It was a 1934 model, and well looked after. In fact Lindsay Firth, the garage owner used to say to Dad “it's the best kept car in Southport”. It had cost four hundred pounds, but by 1940, even though cars were not being produced or imported; we got only one hundred and twenty pounds for it. But I advance too quickly. Getting the car to the garage was an adventure in which I took part. Neither Mum nor I had driving licences and it was many years since Mum had driven a car. My driving experience consisted of backing the car down the drive to the gate and then going forward in low gear. Possibly at times I had managed to get up speed sufficient to change into second gear. At any rate I knew the working of brake, accelerator and clutch. Using the back streets where there was little traffic, keeping a wary eye out for the police (of which there may have been fully 4 or 5 for the whole town) we slowly wended our way to the garage- Mum petrified and me nervous but exhilarated. That was the total of my driving experience for at least 3 more years when I learned to drive trucks in the RAAF, after learning to fly!
The school year ended soon after the Junior Examination, which I am proud to say I passed, with 2A’s, 2B’s and 3C’s. The effort that I had put in since returning to TSS had proved worthwhile.
After the end of the school year, I went to Brisbane to stay at the boarding house in which Dick lived, and Mum left to rejoin Dad in Suva in December, 1940 or January, 1941. I spent the remainder of the holidays in the same boarding house as Dick, although he was going off to work each day. This was the Highgate Hill house of Mrs. Beale. When I returned to school it was as a boarder- a rather different life. In fact it was probably better for me because I could concentrate on all the activities, both school work and sport. However I did miss Mum and Dad a lot.
Naturally boarding school was highly regulated from time of rising, type of clothing to be worn and participation in all the daily doings right down to time of going to bed. There were no options to be considered. The dormitories were uncluttered, and sparsely furnished as only the required clothing was kept and there was no time for any personal deviation from the activities of all. We were not allowed to be in the dormitories during the day or indeed at any time other than when changing clothes or sleeping. Looking back this was ideal training for the Air Force when similar regulations applied. The events of the year have not been recorded so there is no list of stories or funny happenings. I took part in schoolwork, chapel and sport as it came along, and rather enjoyed the team spirit that arose from the idea of belonging to one of three houses. Lessons finished daily at 3 p.m. and sport began.
Everyone was expected to take part in the main sports of cricket and football in the appropriate season. Tennis, rowing, gymnastics and athletics were also available, and sailing for some (there was only one boat) together with music and hobbies for some others. I played or tried to play all the sports with varying success, the best being tennis and cricket.
The outbreak of war had severely affected the numbers attending this particular school. There were a number of reasons for this. Many of the boys from sheep and cattle properties were required to help on the property to replace older brothers who had enlisted in the armed forces. Also incomes had diminished in those households from which the breadwinner had enlisted Another factor was the feeling that a school situated on the coast could be in the firing line should an attack be launched on Australia. This became something of a reality in the north of Australia later in the year when USA came in to the war after the assault on Pearl Harbour.
At TSS mealtime was one of the best times for social activity. There was little of philosophical discussion but certainly all sorts of practical jokes were perpetrated.
I was in the school cadets for a while but was not keen on their activities but when the Air Training Corps was formed I was a keen participant. We learned signalling, some drill and had the advantage of priority in "call up" at age 18.