… and delivered a surprise.
Consider my classmates at Sutherland 70 years ago
See From my past they come — the boys of 70 years ago…
There am I in the back row, circled. And to the right (from your viewpoint) if memory serves is Laurence Napier, and to the left Brian Smith and next to him Ross Mackay. Laurence, Ross and I all in 1955 went on to Sydney Boys High, which is to say the Class of 1959. Which recently had its 65th Reunion.
I did not go, but celebrated the event here and in the Facebook Old Boys Group with the earlier posts in this series. Via Facebook my 1959 classmate and FB friend Richard Buckdale, who did go, told me how it had turned out. Until yesterday no photo was available.
10th May: Ian Toll sends a heap of us the PHOTO
Here is his email.
Greetings to all SHS Class of 1959 members! Our Class Reunion at the School on 14 April 2024 was a great success! If you attended…..many thanks! If you apologized….you must have a ‘better option’ …or were sick! (really!)
The Headmaster – Kim Jagger AO attended – & spoke well!
We look forward to you joining us in April 2026 on our next Reunion.
Attached is the photo we had taken on the day! See if you can recognize any of your old Class mates?
Best wishes,
Ian D. Toll
Reunion Organiser.
Ever the optimist, Ian! We’ll see how we feel should we indeed see 2026!
As for the photo, I have studied it carefully now. Ian I instantly recognised, but him I had seen on many occasions since 1959, including many a time at SBHS when I was on staff and he was working with the School’s Foundation organisation. And of course I recognised next to him the Boss, Kim Jaggar! But beside him is none other than Ross Mackay! Yes, the very same from Sutherland days, including not only Sutho Public but also for some years Sutherland Presbyterian Church. I in fact knew the family, visited his place in Kirrawee more than once, met his brother and sister — I thnk he had a brother, but am sure about the sister. And Ross 2024 edition has about the face a bit of a look of his mother, I think.
Not that you will see that, because I have decided on privacy grounds to post a disguised version of the pic, which still lets you see how many of us turned up. If later I get permisssion to post the clean copy I will.
The spotty Class of 1959
Translation not needed as we were taught by Edgar Bembrick!
Neil's Commonplace Book 