Memories shared by Korumburra High School class of 1966

MEMBERS of Korumburra High School’s class of 1966 travelled back 60 years on Saturday, sharing their memories at a reunion in the town’s top pub.

Rex Grass drove all the way from Darwin for the occasion, catching up with people he hadn’t seen since leaving school.

“I used to play up a bit,” he admitted of his school days, recalling woodwork teacher Laurie Suffield as “very strict”.

When Rex focused on academia, English and Arithmetic were his favourite subjects.

He went on to become a policeman in the Northern Territory, also running a Cooktown post office and a real estate agency in Western Australia’s Shark Bay, eventually heading back to Darwin.

Graeme Clements, who was a Poowong boy but now lives in Batemans Bay, was happy to pose for a photo with Rex, describing seeing him again after so long as “unbelievable”.

Graeme’s favourite memories are of sport, particularly footy but also tennis.

“We had a pretty handy side,” he said, recalling football clashes with the likes of Mirboo North and Wonthaggi High Schools.

While Paul Keating’s former speech writer Don Watson wasn’t present, Korumburra High School’s other 1966 School Captain Julie Clements (Bond) was.

She’s still married to fellow prefect Graeme, sharing his fondness for sport, netball her specialty, with Geography among her favourite subjects.

During the afternoon’s speeches, she thanked Terry Waycott and Eula Manger (Sleeth) for organising the celebration.

“Eula’s capacity to find people has been amazing,” Julie said, noting Terry still lives in Korumburra.

Members of the class of ’66 who have passed away weren’t forgotten, with a list of their names at Saturday’s gathering.

Reflecting on his time at Korumburra High School, Wes Olden said, “I couldn’t wait to get out of the place.”

While he had thoughts of becoming a vet, he ended up farming in Korumburra South instead.

Memories no doubt flooded back for all as a video played, school photos combining with a song paying tribute to the 1966 group written by one of its members Siggy Nowak.

“To be able to write something like this is very important because everybody identifies with the song,” he said, having long written poetry and branching out into songwriting with the assistance of AI.

Terry Waycott’s speech recalled the introduction of decimal currency just 12 days into the 1966 school year.

He reminded St Kilda supporters that 1966 was the club’s only VFL (AFL) Premiership, adding, “There’s little chance they’ll see Premiership glory again anytime soon.”

Terry recalled the class of 1966 as “Baby Boomers ready to change the world,” remarking they can take pride in their achievements and contributions.

While those were broad ranging, Saturday’s gathering took everyone back to their final year of school.

Congratulations to the class of 1966.