Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Some of you probably weren’t even born then, but I was!

I was in high school and they packed all the kids into the school hall. Some teachers had bought in their black and white TV sets (there was no colour TV in Australia until 1975) and set them up on tables around the hall. We watched very grainy pictures of the moon walk live! It was just amazing.

But I’m not sure how much we really appreciated this achievement — it was just something on TV after all, and all the usual suspects (boys, mostly) were being a nuisance.

I still remember being in the school hall for the moon walk. It was one of those defining moments you remember. I remember Kennedy’s assassination but I can’t remember where I was (I think I was a bit young to realise the significance), and I can remember hearing that Churchill had died (1965) when we were travelling in the car and it was announced on the car radio. And I remember exactly where I was when I heard Elvis had died (Geraldton, in the kitchen drying dishes). And I know exactly where I was when Australia II won the America’s Cup in September 1983 (Wickham, 2:30am, watching with a sailing friend drinking lots of wine and screaming our lungs out!)

Happy 40th anniversary to the REAL moonwalkers!