© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

Nine decades of memories

In recent times I've taken the opportunity to sit down with some nonagenarians - that's people aged in their 90s - to hear a sampling of their recollections. What follows is a selection shared by Leonie Leben and Ken Watt, who grew up in Merewether and Cooks Hill, respectively. Leonie Leben. Photo by Greg Ray Leonie Leben grew up in the Newcastle suburb of Merewether and was a schoolgirl during the years of World War 2. Her father, Leopold "Bob" Hay, spent most of his working life on Newcastle Harbour, on dredges and tugs operated by…

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Some wartime plane crashes in Newcastle, NSW

When a US Army Douglas C-47A Skytrain aircraft crashed into a stormwater drain at Broadmeadow in World War 2, plenty of people crowded around for a look. Quite a few took photos, despite efforts by authorities to prevent this. The plane had been forced to make an emergency landing at Broadmeadow airstrip because of a severe storm, but it skidded on the wet runway, crashed through a fence and ended up in the drain. Of the 25 men aboard, two were slightly injured. According to newspaper reports, the plane was the seventh in two years to…

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