1955 Poseidon and Canton Island

When we left Australia in November 1955, we completed our around-the-world trip that we had started a year before.  This time we flew on Pan American Airlines (PAA) from Sydney to Canton Island in the Pacific to Hawaii and then to San Francisco.  I don't remember too much about that trip, I was pretty upset to have left Australia.  I loved it so much there, I think I cried all the way to San Francisco and then on to New York.


One thing I remember is approaching Canton Island and my dad telling me about its role during World War II.  

It was an incredible looking place, a ring of land with a lagoon in the middle.  I asked my mother if they could just leave me there.  She said no, but I wonder how many times she regretted that response.

After WWII, in November 1946, Pan Am resumed service to Australia and New Zealand via Kanton with Douglas DC-4 aircraft. British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, Australia's first trans-pacific airline,flying luxurious DC-6Bs, used the island as a stop over on the way to Hawaii, flying the Sydney to Vancouver BC, Canada route. Qantas followed shortly thereafter when BCPA went out of business. Canadian Pacific Airlines used the island as well.This service continued through 1958, when the DC-4's were replaced with the Douglas DC-7C. A full-scale community was established to support this operation, including an electrical power station, a hotel for the airline passengers' use, a medical dispensary, school for dependant children of station personnel, and other necessary facilities. The island was jointly administered by the United Kingdom and the United States, and the British and American post offices were both operated from a single building. The American administrator, who was an employee of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (predecessor to the FAA) and island manager for that agency, also served as the U.S. resident administrator under the Department of the Interior and as a U.S. special deputy marshal under the Department of Justice. William J. Evans held this position from 1952-1956, during which time a crew from The National Geographic Magazine visited the island and highlighted it in the magazine's January 1955 issue. Ultimately, the introduction of long-range jet aircraft spelled the end of Kanton's usefulness as an aircraft refueling station, and all airlines ended their operations there by the late 1950s. The airport remained operational, however, as an emergency landing field.

The other thing I remember is that not long after we left Canton Island,  the Captain came back into the cabin and told me that Poseidon had spring from the waves and brought some certificates especially for me.  One was for crossing the Equator, and the other was for crossing the International Date Line.  Being the smart ass that I was, I asked him, "How come if he just jumped out of the ocean, the certificate isn't wet?"  The captain just laughed (my mother was furious, my dad was proud).  I also wanted to know how he was able to enter the cockpit without depressurizing it.  No answer to that one either.

PAA had a great sense of humor.  The text is priceless on both of them.  I realize now that they certificates were brought on board at Canton Island, where they had typed my name onto each.  They went to a lot of trouble in those days.

I got a lot of stuff on those flights, flight wings, pins, cups, etc., but mostly I loved my certificates.  I still have them.  

1954 Yelambi Avenue, Yowie Bay, NSW, Australia

In Australia, we first lived in an apartment in Sydney.  We had some really nice neighbors.  But then, not long after we got Velvet, we moved to a wonderful house on Yalambi Avenue, in Yowie Bay, in the outskirts of Sydney.  I had to wear a uniform to school, it was navy blue.  I liked it though.  I would ride the bus but I had to walk to the bus stop.  

Our house was amazing.  It was at the bottom of a long driveway that wound around through the trees. My mother was terrified at first, driving down it.   In the back we had a patio and climbing up the hill behind the patio was a mass of plants and flowers.  Above the patio was a greenhouse filled with orchids.  Someone related to the owner of the house came and took care of them, and I rarely went inside.  Sometimes, though, I saw the caretaker and she would let me watch her water and pamper the flowers.  I never saw anything like them.  I actually didn’t like them very much, They seemed to fancy somehow, not like real flowers.  

Our house had a big lawn and then it dropped down to the water.  We had a pathway that led down to the pool, which was carved out of rock, and the tide filled and emptied the pool every day.  There was a rock wall and the water would flow through and over it and back out again.  My dad the engineer loved it.  

We had to be careful because creatures would wash in.  Usually, they were fish but one day we had a small shark in it.  We also had octopus.  My dad and I would sit on a rock above the pool and fish using drop lines.  We were pretty successful and often had our catch for dinner.  I remember once he caught an octopus and once he unraveled it from the line, he put it in a bucket of pool water with a board over it.  It stayed in there all afternoon, its tentacles wrapped around the board.  He eventually put it back in the bay.  

Every Saturday night, we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  We would eat on the floor in the living room in front of the fire, like we were camping out.  Then I would like down with my head on Velvet,and listen to his heart beat.

Australia was absolutely wonderful.  It was one of the best times of my life.  I had a good friend, Elsa, and I rode horses a lot.  We had our wonderful dog, Velvet (“Bebby”) and I loved my school.  We had to wear a uniform, which was a long white shirt with a dark blue pleated outfit.    

I remember walking down that long driveway one day after school and realizing that I would be leaving soon.  I remember the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I remember kicking a stone in anger and watching it roll down the driveway.  And I remember thinking “I love every stick and stone of this place”.  

Yowie Bay

Yowie Bay