Lumen Wirltuti:Warltati 2025 - Flipbook - Page 28
Letters
to the
Editor
there that I also saw members of the crowd
trying to storm the stage and being repelled,
including some of them being bodily
thrown back from the edge of the stage on
to the seething mass of humanity below.
The scene from behind the makeshift
bar of trestles at the other end of the hall
was of a wall of empty jugs being thrust at
us barmen. The demand was such, the jugs
were so crowded together, that beer barrel
guns were directing beer jug to jug without
the trigger on the gun being released until
the keg was empty. At the end of the night,
after all but the volunteers had left, the floor
of the hall was seen to be covered with a thin
sea of beer, etc. After such a great party, a
letter was received at the Adelaide University
advising that the hall would never be hired
out to the University’s students again!
Lou Crotti, LL B 1969
Have your say! Letters to the
Editor are most welcome –
email lumen@adelaide.edu.au
“Fitzy” and the FJ
Your readers may be interested in some
further details about one of the students
involved in hanging the FJ off the Uni
footbridge in 1971.
One of those mentioned in the Lumen
article was the late David Fitzsimons.
“Fitzy” was a fantastic middle-distance
runner who competed in two Olympics
and two Commonwealth Games.
Not only was he a South Australian
Olympian, but he also has another bridge
achievement in that he was the site engineer
for the 120-metre bridge over the railway
line on Park Terrace at Brompton, which
was named in his honour in 2017.
Wombats rock
Associate Professor Wayne Boardman’s
letter in the recent time-themed issue of
Lumen brought a smile to my face. As
someone who grew up on the Copper
Coast, I am very familiar with the story
of copper’s discovery in the region, even
referencing Sir Walter Watson Hughes’
philanthropic role in the creation of the
University in my job interview.
Pranks and pipe organs
Having just received my latest copy of
Lumen, I was interested in the wonderful
article by Dr John Lowke (A new prank
revealed!). Dr Lowke is related to me
through my mother’s family, who came from
Germany to settle in the Barossa Valley, and
elsewhere in South Australia.
I was a student at the Teachers College
in the University of Adelaide and worked
pretty hard to get the qualifications I
needed to get a job. I managed to get my
B.A. Diploma of Music, Ed. Psychology etc.
etc. I even passed my swimming test, done
in the old city baths.
Professor Boardman suggested the
University could consider erecting a statue
to the wombats involved in the discovery.
I’m delighted to report there is one already
in Moonta’s Queen Square. Two little
creatures are depicted next to a burrow,
as shepherds Patrick Ryan and James Boor
both found green copper next to wombat
holes, sparking the copper boom which
helped fund the creation of the University.
To return to the theme of student pranks,
during rag week, there was a great float,
about the Town Hall organ. At the time,
it (the organ) needed lots of renovation/
restoration, as it had been neglected for a
long time. Various firms had been brought in
to “fix it up”, and finally it was dismantled
and taken to Tanunda. I’ve been fortunate
enough to play this magnificent pipe organ,
albeit before it had all the reeds etc. in place.
However, it remains a wonderful instrument
and will give pleasure to many people in the
years to come.
Rhiannon Koch, Media Officer for the
University of Adelaide
Merrowyn Deacon, Dip. Mus. (1961), BA
(1962), Dip. Ed. (1964), all at the University
of Adelaide; MA Monash University
Bernard O’Neil,Visiting Research Fellow,
Department of Historical and Classical
Studies PhD (UniSA) 1999
Beer and pretzels
With all due respect to the anonymous
author of the letter published under the
sobriquet “a senior South Australian legal
figure” in the recent “Time issue” of
Lumen, I write to correct an error. I was a
volunteer barman at the Prosh Prang held at
the Thebarton Town Hall (in the 1960s). It
was there, not at the Waterside Workers Hall,
where there were “scantily clad dancers on
stage” including the memorable Big Pretzel.
I took a break from my barman duties to
observe the performance of the dancers
from the wings of the stage. It was from
28
