As It Happened

Chapter Fourteen -In The A.C.T. / Happy Days / Final Chapter

October 1964 slipped into being without fuss or ceremony. Canberra was like that, calm, orderly, a city still deciding what it wanted to be. Norman and Sandra had been there scarcely ten months, yet the rhythm of the place had already settled into them, or perhaps they into it. Most of what had unfolded since their arrival had been deliberate, planned with the steady patience learned from years of war, migration, and sheep. https://www.etteleah-books-cairns-australia.com/

Chapter Thirteen -BainesGate Field Day

1963 arrived without asking permission. Australia moved forward with the quiet certainty of a continent convinced of its own luck. Sir Robert Menzies remained Prime Minister, his voice familiar from radios perched on mantelpieces and workshop shelves. Newspapers spoke of Australian military advisers already in Vietnam, small numbers for now, though the tone suggested temporary things had a way of becoming permanent.

Chapter Twelve -Canberra - The Nations Capital

Canberra in 1960 with a population of around 56,000, felt less like a city and more like a polite suggestion someone had started building before fully committing. Roads led somewhere important-looking and then ended abruptly, as if changing their mind mid-decision. Signs pointed toward departments still in scaffolding. Gardens appeared planned by committees, sensible shrubs, dignified paths, nothing too expressive.

Chapter Eleven -Moving Forward

1959 arrived with its usual lack of ceremony, though Australia behaved as if someone had sounded a brass band. Holden released its new FC range, sedan, wagon, utility, an incremental improvement that Australians embraced with the fervour usually reserved for royal visits or test cricket. The Menzies Government returned itself to office, content with its own familiarity. Canberra, still half sheep paddock and half promise, issued declarations about national development, dams, roads, powerlines, the vague optimism of a nation convinced growth was inevitable.

Chapter Ten -Regina v Baines

It wasn’t long before the first letters arrived. Plain white, stamped, the kind of correspondence that could make a grown man itch just looking at it. They weren’t addressed to BainesGate Pastoral Pty Ltd, no, that would have been sensible. They were addressed to Norman Baines personally, as though the Taxation Department had discovered some secret truth that only he could explain.