Kevin Whalan
St Edwards Convent School in Canowindra was staffed by about eight sisters of St Joseph nuns who lived in the two storey convent next door to the school. The parish priest and his assistant priest lived in the presbytery next to the school.
A busy roadway separated St Edwards from the public school and sometimes the rivalry between us Connie Wackers and public school kids flared up, with stones being thrown and insults exchanged.
I was ten years of age when Hitler and his henchmen decided to start World War II. I was riding my malvern star bike the 2km or so to St Edwards.
I remember when the Japanese prisoners of war broke out of their nearby Cowra camp. Our neighbour, Tom Mullampy, came over with his big blunderbuss of a gun and sat on guard at our back door. He was a Boer War veteran complete with handlebar moustache. He also used the blunderbuss to scare away the colony of flying foxes which took up residence in our huge apricot tree with its copious supply of delicious fruit. Our Tom was quite a character. Our neighbour, Harold Goodacre, used to drive to his farm every day. He had a glass eye.
“Now Mutty,” Tom said, that is what he used to call his son. “When you see that one eyed old bugger coming – you get off the road.”
I got to continuously ring the big school bell when victory in the Pacific (VP Day) was declared in August 1944.
By Kevin Whalan
www.kevinwhalan.wordpress.com