Kathy at her microtome.
Robyn Soper pauses for the camera...
Mickey & a mate of his at the Post Morten room.
Peace & harmony prevails at the office; from left to right: Linda, Sandra & Maureen.
Dr. Tatiana Jelihovsky being granted a Certificate of Appreciation 1954-2000.
Luiz Amorim ready to start filing slides away...
Linda Quinlan with Professor McGovern's portrait on the wall...
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as it was in 1988... a flame tree in the foreground and a piece of masonry marked 1881 left over from the old pavillion whose columns were left over as a reminder of its grandeur... When I visited RPAH 30 years later in 2018, I realized with sadness that those columns were no more...
Luiz Amorim on the top floor of Gloucester House bldg. in 1988.
Gabriel & Miss Clarice Solway chat during a Christmas party (probably 1988).
I started working at the Histology Department of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in late September 1981. From the very first day I realized I had been lucky to have got that Technical Aide position. I had been advised by Edson Pinho Rosa as soon as Myself and Silvio Theodore arrived in Sydney, we should look for a job as a Technical Aide, which was routinely advertised at The Sydney Morning Herald. Silvio & I applied for the Technical Aide-position together but Silvio was the one chosen to start working. Silvio, who had already started working as an orderly at Saint Vincent's Hospital suggested instead of ringing them and telling them he was not interested in the position any longer we should both go to RPAH's in person and tell them personally he was out but I was still very much interested. Sari, who interviewed Silvio with Myself on the side, looked at me and said she'd be alright with this arrangement but she had to go and ask Professor Ng across the corridor for his opinion. Sari soon came back and said I could start working on Monday morning.
I have worked with health-related jobs ever since I was 12 years old, in 1961, when I was hired as boy washer of dirty phials in a small laboratory on rua Theodoro Sampaio, in Pinheiros. I acted as a nurse at the Brazilian Army, and now in late 1981 I was going back to the Health Industry again. I was most content with my position. I thought everyone was friendly and matter-of-fact.
I did small jobs like filling a trolley with 1 gallon glass bottles, go down the lift from the 7th to the 4th floor, fill all bottles with distilled water and take them back to the histology lab which was the centre of the Anatomical Patology department on the top floor of the Fairfax building, the mid-floor being occupied by the Gastro-Enterology department.
The main lab which looked over Missenden Road, Camperdown, had benches all around it, with about 6 girls (or ladies) working on microtomes most of the time except 15 minutes after 10:00 am for tea break and 12:00 for a quick lunch that most of them ate in the lab itself for there was no tea-room as yet.
Sooner than later, I fell into a routine in the daily life of the lab doing things without having to be asked for. I would visit the operating theatres of King George V, across the Missenden Road - there was a tunnel underground that orderlies and caterers used to go from one hospital to the other. Coming from the Fairfax Building one would turn left to ....... and right to King George V. The biggest of them all was the RPAH's Operating Theatre down next to the chapel. I visited these 3 operating theatres 3 times a day. First at 7:00 o'clock when I arrived, then before lunch at 12:00 and finally at 3:00 pm a little before I left to go home.
The morning period was the most interesting in the lab. Doctors and all sorts of people like clerical staff and technical aides from other departments came and went. There was a particular older gentleman from Scottland who was known by the name of Scotty, who was flamboyant and talked to everyone. Scotty was a riot. As soon as he showed up in the lab the noise level went up considerably. Scotty was soon to be retired for he was in his late 60s. All he did was talk about his looming retirement when he finally could fly to Japan and live there as he saw fit. He was fond of Japanese boys and usually spent his holidays in Japan. He used to be friendly to me and say 'coochy coochy' which I thought it was Japanese but it has other meanings in English. Scotty was popular with some people and not-so popular with others. There was a blonde girl called Lynn, who worked on her microtone diligently and was very matter of fact didn't care much for Scotty; he referred to her as 'that woman'! Scotty finally got his retirement sometime in 1982, and Bobby Sellers, took his place at the Media Room on the 4th floor, which was actually underground.
