A Journey through Time - 1943 to 2011

Welcome to my on-line autobiography "A Journey through Time - Memories and Recollections, 1939 to 2011".

I am Robert J. Padula, OAM, of Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia.

This work chronicles the most important events and experiences of the greater part of my life, surrounding my interests and activities, much of it linked to my involvement in electronics, radio technology, the cinema, photography, bushwalking, travelling, and astronomy.

My Journey begins in the days of crystal sets and spark radios, and I will lead you through the succeeding years with articles, stories, images, and anecdotes about my hobby experiences in electronics and radio communications, which ultimately paved the way for my full-time employment as a Technician, and later a Professional Engineer, in the Postmaster's General Department (now Telstra).

After 41 years with the Company, I left Telstra in 1997, having reached the ranks of senior engineering management, and since then I have provided expert professional advice and consultancy in fhe field of international broadcast engineering.

I am a Chartered Professional Engineer, and a Life Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia.

My Journey looks at many activities, a lot of this linked to my radio and electronic interests, where I talk about many non-professional activities which impinged on or have been associated with my technical pursuits. Much of this concerns my involvement in the monitoring of international shortwave broadcasting and research into high frequency long distance radio propagation.

In 1955 I undertook a Vocational Guidance program when I was in Year 10 at Camberwell High School - the assesement said that I should pursue a "Technical Career" - they were spot on!

I now invite you to share my experiences - join with me and smile when you read about my exploits and adventures!

Copyright
This work is intended principally for my family, friends, past and present business associates, colleagues in the broadcasting engineering industry, college alumni members, and the many people with whom I am in frequent contact across the Internet.

No part of this work may be further distributed, in any form, without my specific advance written permission

The work contains over 1000 images, and 70 Sections (Pages). Many images are from my private and family photograph albums - others are out-of-copyright material drawn from public websites.

In accordance with current journalistic practices, source attribution for out-of-copyright images and documents is not shown, except in special circumstances.

My own images are scans produced from size-620 and 2.5" by 3.5" black/white prints, and from 35 mm black/white and color transparencies, prints and negatives.

Images shiown as pre--1940 are from the public domain - most of the others are from my own personal or family albums.

Locations

Many of the events and actvities described in this work took place in or near Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.:

1939 to 1959 - Auburn - an inner-eastern suburb, 8 km from the CBD

1959 to present - Mont Albert - an eastern suburb, 15 km from the CBD

Another location mentioned often in this work is the western suburb of Altona, 20 km from the CBD, where my family owned a bungalow in West Altona, near the beach. We owned that property from 1948 to 1959, where we spent many happy weekends and holdays.

This work is intended essentially for readers who are familiar with Melbourne, its culture, its character, its geography, and its history. Much of the narrative and imaging pre-supposes an awareness of Melbourne and its individuality, one of the great cities of the modern world!

Navigation
There are 65 Sections (Pages) in this work. all of which are shown in the Navigation Bar at the left side of each Section. The Sections are generally arranged in chronological order of the year in which the interest or activity commenced, some of which span many decades. Some Sections are descriptive, and do not have years shown.

There is a Search Engine at the top of this Home Page - enter the desired word or phrase and you will be taken to a new window where a listing, with links, of the page(s) containing your search query will be displayed. External links about your query will also be shown.

This work is dedicated to the memory of my mother and father, without which many of the events and experiences in this work would not have been possible.

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