Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 133
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[Page 133]
66
Actually, the first three drinks that I ever had in a hotel bar, were with my Father : also my first presence on a racecourse was in his company.
Sydney's first taxis had just been put on the streets, a small fleet of six specially designed Renaults imported from France. One Saturday afternoon Dad hired one to take a couple of his farmer clients and me out to the "trots" at Harold Park. It was my first ride in a motor vehicle, and I was almost a hero to my schoolmates when I described the experience. The number of private motor cars had been steadily increasing, but they were still possessed by only the very wealthy. Almost all the Heads of the big businesses, the Government, the Civil Service, and the professions rode from their homes in the fashionable suburbs, to arrive at their city offices by 9 a.m., on trams or trains: the Heads of Dalgetys and the Colonial Sugar Company were "regulars" from Bellvue Hill.
The school year at "Scots", as at the other colleges, was divided into four terms of about ten weeks each, and the basic fee was £27 a term, plus a charge for compulsory extras, totalling about £5, for Sports Fund, Church pew rents and, Laundry. The Christmas holidays lasted nearly six weeks, and the Mid-Winter vacation about five: there were breaks at Easter and end of third term, of a week each.
The year's studies ended with "Speech Day", a week or ten days before Christmas Eve. This was the College's most important function, attended by parents, friends of the School, and members of the College Council. Handsome leather-bound book prizes for success in the several school forms, and cups, honour caps and blazers for prowess in sport, were presented by some personage (sometimes a personality too) prominent in public life, or the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, or on rare occasions by the State Governor. Whoever it was, generally delivered a long speech intended to inspire the boys to achieve great success in worldly life, the speaker's exalted position in the community being an example to be emulated. The Principal read his report on the year's work; the College's academic and sporting successes; and the benefactions received. The Chairman of the