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December 2011 - author at Harrietville
2011 - author, with cousin Coral
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Welcome to my on-line autobiography "Looking
Back - 1939to 2011".
I am Robert V. J. Padula, OAM, of
Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia. I was one of the first Victorian War Babies of the Second World War, having been born on
September 6, 1939, in Melbourne. On September 3, 1939, Britain
and France declared war on Germany. Neville Chamberlain broadcast the announcement that the country was at war.
MyAutobiography is a Journey, in words, pictures and sound, looking at 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.
Much of this concerns my involvement in
the monitoring of international shortwave broadcasting and research into high frequency long distance radio propagation
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.
In 1955 I undertook a Vocational Guidance program when I was in Year 10 at Camberwell High School
- the assessment 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!
Ericsson telephone c.1890
232 auto telephone 1945
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 67 Chapters. 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 cited as pre-1940
are from the public domain - most of the others are from my own personal or family albums.
Automatic wall telephone, c.1935
1890 - PMG poster for telephone
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.
See the Chapter designated as "2011 Epilogue"for some location maps!
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 This work is divided into
many Chapters, all of which are shown in the Navigation Bar at the left side of each Chapter. Theyare generally arranged
in chronological order of the year in which the interest or activity commenced, some of which span many decades. There
are someSPECIAL FEATURES included.
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.
Robert V. J. Padula
December 2011
This Autobiography 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,
and for my family and friends.
Please post your comments in the Guestbook!
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