Hi,
My name is John Wickens,We first went to Woomera in 1967,arriving in
March.I remember going swimming on Anzac Day,much to the consternation
of the locals,(the pool closed the very next day)."Mad Pom" was the
comment I heard.
My first job was at Evetts Field with the Target Aircraft
Group,employed by Short Bros. & Harland,I was an Auto Pilot Tech.
The summers standing out on the runway was a bit of a strain so I
opted for an air conditioned environment and went to Island Lagoon,the
NASA tracking station.
Woomera at that time had a population of about 6,000 ,even had a
nightclub called the (?),My memory of it is hazy,used to be in the
what was the Library.
Used to take the family out to Woomera West open air cinema on balmy
nights.
Everyone had to belong to a "Mess",as the place was run on a military
system,I was assigned to the Staff Mess (Sergeants Mess), according to
the "pecking order" laid down by the Department.
I remember starting a vegie garden with the dry waste from what I call
the "violet farm",I planted all sorts of stuff ,never had to plant
Tomatos,thay came up by themselves !!!
My wife,Paula started a group with the Area Administrator's wife Mrs.
Duke for teenage girls
called the Air Rangers,they used to go all over the "donga" doing I
know not what.
Due to the wonderfully clear skies at night it was a stargazers
paradise and I remember seeing
many satellites overhead,many in equatorial orbit and occasionally the
odd North/South trajectory which I presumed would be so called "black
project" birds.
The road to Port Augusta was all dirt from the Island Lagoon
turnoff,and what a road it was !!
I lost quite a few exhaust systems off my car due to that road. The
powers that be thought it was adequate as if it was good enought to
bring rockets etc. up it then it was good enough for us.It used to get
washed out occasionally.One certainly took ones life in one's hands
when overtaking,driving into a red cloud is not for the faint
hearted !!
We lived in Carinya Street right at the bottom facing the donga in a
house called a "Riley"
other families in the same street were, the
Browns,Williams,Spiess,Cladingboles,Adcock
Oakleys.
When Island Lagoon closed I got a job in Tidbinbilla at a NASA
tracking station there.
I wonder if there any people who remember us ?
more later about our secod visit to Woomera which lasted 16 years.
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