Talk on Queenie the elephant at the Whitehorse Day Club 14.8.12
15 Aug, 2012 | What's happening in my writing life
Yesterday I spoke to the members of the Whitehorse Day Club a group sponsored by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs which meets fortnightly at the Box Hill RSL. Members of the group include three 90+ year old veterans of WW2, a Burma railway p.o.w., a Coastwatcher behind enemy lines in Japanese captured Papua New Guinea and a ‘Rat of Tobruk.’ Average attendance is over 100 which is wonderful for a group of senior citizens.
The topic I was asked to speak on and share with members was ‘The life and love by Melbourne for Queenie.’ I’ve never been given the topic in such detail before and the more I speak to these groups of seniors, the more they tell me of their memories, not only of Queenie but of their visits to The Dog on the Tuckerbox statue and their memories of the carousel at Luna Park.
The problem is that it’s just not possible to speak about all of my three social history picture books, ‘Queenie One Elephant’s Story’, ‘The Dog on the Tuckerbox’ and ‘Flame Stands Waiting’ within a time frame of 45 minutes. My talks almost always begin at 11.00 and by midday, these sprightly over 70’s like to escape for lunch, on the dot at 12.00 noon and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about that punctuality!
All of these below, are Queenie riders, except me.
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