Time to get on the right side of history
More than 30 years ago, I had the privilege of working as a media co-ordinator for The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. In those days we were fighting for the right of people not to be considered a criminal or be beaten on the streets because of whom they loved. I saw what a community could achieve when they stood together and proud. These days my teenage children can't believe that it was once a criminal offence to be in a same sex couple. Their children won't believe that in 2017, same sex couples weren't allowed to marry. Let's get on the right side of history, Ballarat and show that as a community we stand together in support of marriage equality. When the postal ballot arrives this week, I will be voting yes and making sure my vote is counted. Vote yes and vote early.
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Michaela Settle, Ballarat
Fond, if not so proud, memories
Battle of Britain celebrations bring back a memory from Sept 15, 1950, when several hundred trainees and staff from the Air & Ground Radio School marched down Sturt St., to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Ballarat. A wonderful picture in The Courier next day, showed the column of men approaching, rifles with fixed bayonets on their shoulders, an impressive sight. But one man's rifle was totally askew, spoiling the whole picture! Yes, yours truly. When I saw the picture next day, I said to Brian Adams, an airman who had served in WWII and re-enlisted, "Why on earth didn't you tell me?" "Gus, he said, I was screaming at you, all the way down the hill. 'Comer, straighten your rifle'"! Sadly, lost in the romance of it all, head in the clouds, I had not heard one call! I spoiled an otherwise perfect picture. But I did go on to set a record which may never be beaten, the fastest ever peace-time promotion for a Radio Technician, from Aircraftsman to Warrant Officer in under ten years.
Arthur Comer, Sebastopol.