Wade Halvorson

I lecture at Curtin University (WA) in Internet Marketing and Global Marketing Communications. I also own a manufacturing business and have a two year old boy, Riley, with my wife Cathy.

RAAF School Penang……
1961 Kinder C….liked my teacher Mrs Charlesworth so much I asked my folks how to give her my mumps
1967 6D…..Mr Torpey with the tuning fork "Ceeeeeeeeeeee"
1968 Form 1B….Mr Swinton said it hurt him more than me when he gave me the cane????
1969 Form 2W

Penang Memories, a random selection……
I remember……Crying when we were packing up in '62 because I didn't want to leave my Indian friend who was the gardener…… We'd only been back in Penang for a few weeks when the '67 riots broke out - we rode the bus home from school squatting below the windows in case we were fired on……all very exciting for an 11 year old who'd spent the previous 2 years in Toowoomba Qld……what a contrast, from a sparse dry Australian landscape to thick green grass and jungle with heavy moist air that seemed to smother everything……Getting up in the dark to catch the morning bus to school on the island…..Feeling so mature when we got to walk on and off the ferry each day rather than staying on the bus like the juniors……All white school uniforms……Having the choice of chocolate or strawberry flavoured milk at recess…….seeing how much of it got onto the white uniform by the end of the day……Playing handball on the cement squares in the car park of the school……The sadness of finding out that Steven Curry had been hit and killed by a truck while riding to school……

Robina Park……
Kampongs with houses on stilts….. Buying warm peanuts in paper cones from vendors on motorbikes…… The smell of the prawn factory in the kampong next to where we lived……Watching the fishermen on stilts in the mud flats at the beach……Walking from Robina Park to the base swimming pool along the beach strewn with coconuts and dodging the king crabs whose tails could prove 'fatal' if stung…… Sheriff's store……

Getting scared as the time for Injections approached, every six months……My head blowing off at school when I bit into a English mustard sandwich, made by the Armah who thought it was like any other sandwich spread……Rugging up on holiday in the Cameron Highlands and enjoying the delicate fern trees, room fires, jumpers and blankets……Getting wiped out, at age 12, of the Malaysian Championships tennis tournament in the first round by a 6ft tall Seikh……Playing pinball and drinking coke at the NAAFI store at the base pool……Flying in a Dakota DC3 to Langkawi island with the Air scouts……Climbing up Penang hill with the scouts and getting busted for throwing stink bombs from the top of the Penang pagoda at the crowds below……

Dancing at the Youth club to the Beatles 'Hey Jude'….wearing paisley shirts with epaulets and tailor made trousers….finding the courage to ask girls to dance……Preferring to eat fish and rice with the amahs to sitting down for the family dinner…..Saturday movie matinees at the base cinema……The train ride to Bangkok for the Scouting Jamboree……Smuggling a transistor radio from duty-free Penang back to Butterworth……The sweet sticky scent of Magnolias……Playing tennis next door to the base swimming pool……Checking all the bus tickets to find ones that added up to 21……Swimming in the rain and the smell of tropical storms……The smell of mosquito coils at night……

Feeling special the rest of my life because I'm one of the lucky kids who got to live in Penang at a very special time in my life.

Friends……
Daryl Furze, Peter Alexander and Tony Bugden……we all ended up finishing high school together at Mt Waverley in Melbourne……bumped into Frank Shilton in Perth in 1982……would like to hear from or about Andrew & Tim Pickering, Cathy Boyle, Craig Stevens, David Wyatt, Rob Lowe, Kim Frost.