01-01 The Gals 1954

“You are introduced to 18 gals your own age who want to party, and you show them a photo of your girlfriend. You’ve got to be crazy.”
These were the words of my 17-year old brother speaking with disgust to me in Amsterdam, 1954 after meeting all the people who were on our two-week Cook’s Tour of Europe. This tour was a gift from my father, and an experience I will never forget.
I guess I was just too crazy about my gal back home to flirt with these Aussies. Mary and I were married in 1955 while I was still an engineering student. And we have been married for 63 years.
But those wonderful gals, who had all just graduated from a three-year degree in Social Work at the University of Melbourne, gave me my first education on Australia and New Zealand.
They were just full of fun, and they loved to wear “thongs” as they called them. Even when walking into a cathedral. And, wow, they sure knew how to put down the beer.
I took a special interest in a young girl who was from Perth Australia. She liked telling me about their “Penguin Island” close to the city. But my interest was in Bulloch ancestors who settled there. And wow, she had a high school friend with the family name.
Then there was another gal who lived in Melbourne but was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. Apparently, her parents moved to Melbourne because of better job opportunities. This seemed to be part of the history of the two countries. United in war and peace, and highly integrated economically.
The photo is of the downtown Dunedin, a city with a name that in Gaelic means Edinburgh, which of course, is the capital of Scotland.
This young lady’s ancestors came to New Zealand in the mid 1980s from Scotland to look for gold. It was the first time I discovered that there had been a gold rush in New Zealand.
What was of special interest was that one of her ancestors had married a Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. She had the same package as the actor Russel Crowe, who was born in New Zealand and with Maori ancestors.
This young lady was also very proud to tell me that New Zealand had the opportunity to join Australia as a state in 1901. But instead, decided to remain an independent country. And she was also proud to tell me that New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote.
This was all very intellectually stimulating. I ignored the fact that they were all so cute and full of fun. After all, I had a serious girl friend back home.