AllStars Magazine

Issue 33 * Spring 2113 * Keeping the great ex-ICL community in touch, in contact and informed
Welcome to that time of the year when the season is about to spring, the grass about to rizz and we are all wondering about the whereabouts of the birdies. And on that vernal note, we are delighted to present another edition of the AllStars magazine. As ever, its replete with a range of contributions from all over the place and from a staggeringly broad range of eras. Our enormous thanks for all of that fabulous input. Just to kick things off, our Feedback section carries on with the theme of men with huge sideburns f rom the 70s. In this instance with a pic of Cliff Bosson. And then our now Canadian-based chum Christopher Greaves lets us know what he got up to after the ICL Software Development Centre. A locale where the likes of Chris and Marita Bushell, Robin Goodchild, David Lee, and John Holden also wove their systems crafting magic. With Chris B, and DL, later in the magazine, providing some anecdotes about operating system developments and magnificent ponderings on the Deuce computer. Its then time for yet another tale to do with ICL South Africa. In this instance, from the currently US-residing David Godbold who talks of his secondment from Brisbane to Johannesburg and beyond. Again our item is replete with the appearance of other AllStars. Including Richard Cross and Warren Grace. And also the ilk of John Wolton, Bill Leakey, Phil Page, Sandy Hinshelwood, Bob Ajax, Graham Mail, Buster Fabig and Dave Applegate.

Next on the agenda, there is a note on the dragon boat racing endeavours of George Webster. We noted last time that GW had done extremely well in the 2013 national championships. Well that performance has now seen his selection as a member of our Australian squad for the worldwide titles in Hungary. Also carrying on from Issue 32 are some more photos taken at the LEO reunion in Sydney earlier this year. These include snaps of Tony Joyce,

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Tony Weber, Ian Ellis, Roy Bissell, Peter Butler, Sean Ferguson, Joe Samanak, John Simpson, Gary Preston, Neil Lamming, Peter Gallagher, Bob McMicking and Jack Russell. Great to see them all.

Moving back to the topic of sport, our coverage adds comment on the continuing golfing prowess of Rod Rodwell who recently gained an impressive New South Wales Masters title. And we also move back to Issue 32s story on our contribution to the ABCs election result reporting with a hotchpotch of a few more voting-centric items. This time around, recalling when the Australian Electoral Commission was so impressed by what we had been doing they bought our online system ; including a pic of John More that we didnt have to hand before; and noting that our contact with senior politicians was far from limited to voting time. Thus the photos of Bruce Lakin, John Marshall and Philip Sugden with Joe Bjelke-Peterson and Mike Haines, Harry Gill and Brian Calvert with Don Dunstan.

David Stafford then weighs in with a follow up to the David Godbold story on visiting Hell and tells a few nearlibellous tales about ICL Cookham training courses (of the rolling total tabulator type) involving a young Bill Leakey. There are also some reflections from John Haug on his times in Tasmania and learning about ICL. While Chris Bushell amusingly narrates a very fine yarn on the George 1S operating system.
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Next we have a piece from Sydney based Jon Price, a long time South African ICLer, who includes a pic from a 2970 project he worked on. In that shot, three of the other four RSA blokes depicted Mike Banham, Mike Booth and Dave Owen are now also in Australia. And its about here too that we slip in an art tale from Anthea Vitarelli. Tis then over to Mike Benton who weighs in with a photo from Seville and, more locally, to Adelaide where a gaggle of AllStars convened a Chinese-style get together with their corps including John Holden, Geoff Sandell, Geoff Ridings, Chris Bushell, Raf Dua and your humble editor. Which is not to forget some Cleopatra-ish shots from Ros Johnson and which feature Tony Webb, Peter Williams, Peter Seymour and Louise Rock.

And so to the very end, where our double-column photograph spread hails from New South Wales. Yes, we have used it before. But only in fairly minute single-column format. It includes Mike Benton, Paul Beckhaus, Alan Cox, Chris Howells, Roy Townrow, Gwyn Harper, David Eastwood, Angus Neil-Smith and Kryn Versteeg. And just to keep the credit-where-it-is-due record straight, theres also an associated snap of part of the States CES team of the time. The team with an enviable record for making things happen and then keeping them that way. And in this instance, including Alan Butt, Doug Chapman, Bruce Hannah and George McMillan.

Please keep the contributions coming in and as ever. Ian Pearson

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Feedback
Last
time around, we featured the rather marvellous sideburns that were sported in the early 70s by both Raf Dua and Philip Sugden. Not to be outdone, our Commonwealth Government Area (CGA) team of yore remind us that they too had a most noble contributor to this fashion statement. In the form of Cliff Bosson. Fair enough guys. We did actually carry this photo previously to accompany Cliffs great piece on our Kidsgrove plant in the UK. But were more than happy to run it again. .

An oarsome performance: George in action. Incidentally, tradition suggests that dragon boat racing was born after poet Qu Yuan (343-278BC) threw himself into a river to protest against corruption and the local fishermen took to their boats to help keep evil spirits away from his body. Most importantly, following those Aussie titles, George was selected as part of the Australian over 60s crew to compete at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Szeged, Hungary during July. There was an initial three day training camp for the team which was held on the Gold Coast. And it was then off to Hungary for a lead-up Regatta before the main event. Well keep you posted.

While talking about AllStars who once helped

strategically drive our personnel department (or human resources as its now want to be called), we felt that it was about time to provide an up-to-date photo of Ken Simper who plied his HR craft for us both in Australia and South Africa.. Shaving for a rainy day: The mutton-chop bearing Cliff Bosson (seated) accompanied by Roger Birch and a more conservatively coiffured Alan Kreeger. . Our more recent magazine images of Ken were, of course, of a 70s-vintage genre and with the most recent of these depicting him with a packet of biscuits, the reasons for which are well lost in the mists of time.

In our last issue we had a note on the herculean

efforts of George Webster in his now favoured sport of dragon boat racing. We were able to record the amazing number of recent events in which GW participated and his most impressive medal tally. These including that for the New South Wales state teams over 60s victory against Queensland in the national titles. However, as Paulette Weber reports, the hard fought race saw Georges crew defeating their rivals by just 16/100ths of a second in the grueling 500m final. Certainly a close thing. But it did serve it up to those from up north who had won the contest five times out of the last six. With this as but one of the 20 races in which our mate competed over three days, its not surprising that his summary of things was that he was just a tad tired!

Sao-nara: Saying goodbye to our dated biscuit bearing images, we happily present a current Ken Simper photo.

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Feedback cont
Our updated photo library entry was gleaned from a web site that notes Kens latter day work as the principal of Future Fit: Simpwade Consulting. A human resources consultancy that specialises in organisation and strategy development, leadership development and performance management. Ken, incidentally, is now Brisbane-based so we believe.

Geoffrey Howell has been subtly chasing our

great Canadian colleague Christopher Greaves for some notes on his post ICL career. Christopher, most will remember, having been part of our Software Development Centre (SDC) team down in Adelaide, starting there back in the early 70s. Which is as good a reason as any to commence this item with a few shots of one time SDC troopers and a couple of mates. Men in black: David Lee (right) from the SDC on the Adelaide plains with Cam Angus who was based in the city at our South Aussie Wakefield Street offices. .

A toast to the 70s: Fellow SDC travellers Chris and Marita Bushell seen in Adelaide with Raf Dua and the pure SA marvel that is Coopers Ale.

Now thats a real red: The SDCs Robin Goodchild. But back to Christopher who has now responded to Geoffreys overtures. And he did so in the style of that marvellously understated humour that any number of our SDC colleagues seemed to display. Not to mention ever so many other AllStars. Perhaps it was just a company thing. Anyway as Christopher notes: Sure Geoffrey, I suppose a brief recap of my post-SDC days might be in order. This began with a one year stint at the Uni of Western Australia, struggling to cope with the LOANLY design for a PDP-11-40 that had, from memory, an 11-second response time to the charging logic (chained records everywhere).

In a holden pattern: Noted SDC campaigner John Holden (right) with another one-time ICL Adelaidian Val Mickan.

But as a bonus Phil Dufty introduced me to a singleinstruction computer, which fascinated me for about 20 years.

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Feedback cont
It was next back to the South Australian Institute of Technology (now Uni SA) as Librarian (systems), where Pat Buxton taught me to ask a reference librarian, which I've done ever since. There were then some six months in Mitcham Junction reprogramming a 1903A COBOL payroll system. With an ensuing stint in Paris with Cap Sogeti Logiciel. In getting there, let me recount an all too true conversation: Me: Hi; I'm responding to your ad in the evening paper Short-term contracts, London, UK, Europe. Them: What do you do? Me: I write compilers. Next thing you normally hear is a dial-tone, but ... Them: How does 12 months in Paris sound? Me (again): No way; I don't speak French and have never set foot in a foreign country. A not-to-be-fobbed off them: OK; how about six months? A by now acquiescent Me: OK. Yes, my brain was addled that day. I stayed for two and a half years and left only because my Aussie reentry visa was expiring.

I am retired, which means only that I no longer market myself. If a job comes along I'll do it for the fun of it, but not for the money. Right now, Im heavily into SUFE (second use for everything), and especially vermicomposting**. There's an intellectual challenge in finding a second use for some things, for example, handles broken off mugs or ball-point pens that have ceased to write. I'm downtown (Google maps M4Y 1A3) and enjoy walking the streets chatting with strangers. Or other ex-ICLers. **Editors note: Wikipedia tells us that vermicompost is the product or process of composting using various worms, usually red wigglers, white worms and other earthworms to create a heterogeneous mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. Containing water-soluble nutrients, vermicompost is an excellent, nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner. So now you know.

Last time around, we carried a pic of the not too

long ago LEO Computers reunion held in Sydney. Regrettably, our edition deadlines didnt allow us to await the names of those pictured or further snaps from the great gig. Well now, we can set the record straight. First up with the same snap from before but with names. And then, in just a page or two, a rather more complete pictorial wrap up of the great luncheons events. In both instances, our thanks to Ian Ellis and Tony Weber for the inputs.

Well, Im off then: An earlier days Christopher Greaves exiting stage left. A stint back in Perth was then on the agenda, thence on to Singapore (teaching programming in BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL) Toronto was then to rear its delightful head and I've lived and worked there ever since. Been here 30+ years now and five years ago I took out Canadian citizenship to make it easier for me to get into the USA. That means that I have claim to three nationalities and may well be the only person who holds a Canadian passport to make it easy to get out of the country!

Lioning up for a group shot: Our LEO team photograph shows (from left to right standing) Jack Russell, Gary Preston, Tony Joyce, Roy Bissell, John Simpson, Tony Weber, Joe Samanak, Peter Gallagher, Bob McMicking, Peter Butler, Peter Moye, Ian Ellis and Sean Ferguson. While seated are Susan (?), Yue Min Samanak and Jane Simpson.

Weve mentioned that the latest project for Raf Dua

is his critical project management work for the development of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

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Feedback cont
The largest infrastructure in its states history, the new RAH, when complete, will be Australias most advanced hospital. So its a big undertaking indeed. And to give some impression of that, and what Raphaels associated with, an aerial shot of the work currently in progress.

And I suspect that early ICT intelligence gathering was helped somewhat by the early links between Elliot Brothers and NCR in the UK before the EB commercial divisions were rolled into English Electric. That collaboration had led to the National-Elliot Automation Elliot 405 sale in 1962 to the Snowy Mountains Authority. An identical machine was installed in the bowels of the (then) Sydney HQ of NCR Australia on the corner of Barrack and York Streets.

First dig your hole: WIP on Rafs new RAH site.

Responding to our last issue, John Haug writes,

good good good team ... keep it up. I learn a lot more about ICL with every issue. There is so much that is new to me even though before moving to ICL Brisbane from NCR Victoria in 1979 I was aware of ICLs diversified history through several channels. I did, of course, join ICL in 1979, after Val Mickan showed me the light, and then there were many great teachers in the Brisbane branch who taught me what I needed to know. But interestingly, none of it referred back to other than the origin of the 1900 and 2900 ranges and the 2903 (plus a soupon on the Singer range). That because we were almost totally focused on the future, VME-B, the new TME 2903 and beyond. We had no English Electric presence or history in Queensland as far as I know. And maybe thats why I find all the LEO and English Electric references in the AllStars news so fascinating. I was reminded of my diverse ICL information gathering history again when reading the latest issue. Firstly, there was what NCR (or, more properly back then, The National Cash Register Company) used to refer to as SOT (some other type) bulletins. There was a lot of such information in the firms competition library - going waaaaayyyyy back. SOT bulletins covering all makes were still being distributed across Australia weekly while I was at NCR between 1965 and 1979.

All part of the history: An Elliot 405 and yet another ergonomic-deficient operators chair. Secondly, and up to the mid-70s, some info came via my quite close association with ICLs office in Hobart, even though I was their main competitor. I was the Tassie NCR branch manager and because Geoff Johnson for a few years my ICL counterpart in the southern isle was involved in the Hobart Jaycees as was I, we enjoyed more than the occasional beer together at and after various service club events.

Hot stuff: John Haug (centre) kicking off a pretty recent AllStars Brisbane curry lunch with the great Steve Rudlin and the fantastic Roy Lester. In fact, together we organised a Hobart Jaycees Series of charged-for, day-long EDP for Management Seminars in Hobart over a couple of years. Plenty of steak and wine over lunch and at sunset made some quite senior people quite relaxed. Both ICL and NCR flew in high-powered IT

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Feedback cont
lecturers as part of that series, which was very successful. Incidentally, I once stole a bottle of Hill of Grace from a stash that Geoff was keeping aside at a wellknown Hobart eatery. With it, I was able to indulge a wine-loving member of the management team at an ICL account and talk NCR to him ... Alls fair in love and war. Although I did subsequently confess to Geoff about the whole episode.

He visited Hobart several times to help me out in important negotiations. He was a font of knowledge and his help got us short listed in several key opportunities. The bad news for me was that we failed to displace ICL from EZ (as already noted), the HEC, Websters and S&T. Although on the plus side we won the highly profitable smart terminals deals at Transport and HEC though, with the revolutionary NCR Model (whatever it was). Fourthly, there was my all important hands-on learning once I actually joined ICL. But through all of those exposures, as I have said, nary a mention of LEO and English Electric. An oversight now well addressed through the pages of this magazine. Thanks. jmh

Wheres my bloomin Henschke? Geoff Johnson (second from left) enjoying a pale substitute with Pat Terry, Kent Brooks, Pat Brazier, Warren Grace, Ray Grose, Howard Cork and Ian Richard. During the period that Barry Allsop was working with ICL Tasmania, I attended some wild parties at his house in West Hobart. I also played weekly squash games with him and others plus Gil Townsend from Electrolytic Zinc (an ICL user). Again on the devious front, I spent a lot of time grooming Gil so that he knew ICT/ICL wasnt the only IT supplier in town and eventually proved to him over time - that NCR could do their job when it came time to upgrade from their 1004. Sadly, for me, that exercise proved fruitless because I didnt properly cover EZ senior management as well. ICL retained the business. Still, Gil and I both learned what a Century 200 Series NCR Computer had over the ICL range on offer and that information helped me subsequently when I sold a Century to David Ambrose at the Purity Group. Anyone know what happened to Barry and Geoff? I think GJ went to Canada and BA returned to UK. Thirdly, on that ICL exposure front, was an amazing bloke, Bill Parker, that we had running NCR in South Australia. During the sixties and seventies he wrote quite a lot of Century-system business and often competed against ICL. A right Tasmanian devil: John Haug in Hobart with some of his NCR Tassie team. Our picture from the fallen off the back of a truck files.

In Issue 32 we mentioned that one time South

African ICLer Jon Price was now well and truly ensconced along with wife Lin on Sydneys northern beaches, at Warriewood to be precise Last time around, we pictured two of Jons old colleagues Graham Mail and John Wolton. But now for a pic of JP himself, replete with some further project mates. As Jon explains: The project we were all, when the photo was snapped, was that for Greatmans, a large departmental store chain in South Africa. We were bringing out the first 2970 to RSA. And memory suggests we had 16 on the project where I was one of the two South Africans. The rest were all poms. Dave Owen (bluish shirt and red shorts) was the project manager. Michael Banham was the software manager. Steve Landels was the sizing man. Mike Booth was on the conversion team and I was the joint systems centre manager. (I wont bore you with an explanation of the JSCs functions.

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Feedback cont

Good memories: David Nowlan (right), seen at a Melbourne AllStars function with Anthea Gedge (Morgan-Long), Rick Schoff and David Stafford. Greater mens business: Left to right - Mike Booth, Steve Landels, Dave Owen, Jon Price and Michael Banham. After the project, the team moved on to pursue individual careers. And the rest, as they say, is history. Personally, I moved into sales management and spent a several more years in RSA, finally leaving in 1997. Lin and I then moved to the UK where we owned and ran a large B&B in The Cotswolds. We loved it. Then, in the early 2000s, we headed off to Las Vegas. We spent a couple of years there and then headed down here to Sydneys northern beaches. A great spot thats now seen us ensconced for the last seven and a half years. Incidentally, we had the operation a few years ago to become true blue Aussies. And just for the record, Mike Banham, Mike Booth and Dave Owen are also now in New South Wales. Warm regards. Jon. Jungle tales: Jane Simpson and Roy Bissell swap some grand yarns from yesteryear.

A LEO convocation
From Ian Ellis
Just for the record, the great LEO 2013 convocation was held at the North Sydney Rugby Club. And we reliably understand that a similar get together is now being considered for Melbourne.

Grahame Knight dropped us a line to say: Hi

Geoffrey, as I read the newsletter, it brings back many memories. My time in North Sydney was when it was ICT, became ICL, 1300 to 1901, 2 and 3, paper tape from Putney (UK), punch cards, mag tape sorts and disks (known as the washing machine). I remember many of the old gang, including Eric Swinerton and Pat Terry. Cheers. Grahame Knight (Melbourne).

In a similar vein, David Nowlan also sent Geoffrey

Howell a note with the simple but right to the point message So many memories. Two of the mane men: Peter Butler and Joe Samanak looking as cubish as ever.

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Lion up the usual suspects: Peter Gallagher, Jack Russell, Joe Samanak and Bob McMicking.

Seriously though: In deep LEO luncheon thought are Gary Preston, John Simpson, Jane Simpson and Yue Min Samanak.

Now what was his name again? Tony Joyce and Tony Weber pondering old contacts at the LEO reunion.

Where it all started: An original LEO the worlds first programmable computer used for commercial business applications.

Fishing in Joburg
Purrfect: Enjoying a darn fine red Peter Butler (right) joins Sean Ferguson.

From David Godbold in Washington DC

Fishing you say? Not a lot of open water in Johannesburg; were talking a city almost a mile high and many miles from the sea. Several springs, but mostly built over today. Did you mean phishing? Well, thats gone global, but thats another story. No, this tale has parallels with decoy boots (for those who have a memory of this periodicals edition 16). Editors note: Indeed, those with the suggested grey matter will recall a much earlier article from David which talked of our teams 2900 adventures in Bougainville. These included trying to deter petty thefts from ones place of residence. A task partly achieved by leaving, outside the front door, the biggest, roughest and meanest pair of work boots it

Having a roaring good time: LEO lunchers John Simpson, a fashionably late Neil Lamming and Ian Ellis.

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was possible to acquire. A devilishly clever strategy that often seemed to work.

Their interest (apparently) was to compare operating notes but think about the date; folks werent exactly buying LPs in RSA that year.

The order of the boot: David Godbold (front) in Bougainville with Chris Jenkinson, Ian Blyth, Ian Craig, Rob Hack, Mal Hill, Bob Casey, Mike Lynn and Kevin Eickenloff. All with Bougainville Coppers new 2900. I guess it all started one Friday afternoon in Brisbane, late 1975. Bob Ajax and I had just returned from one of those now forgotten 14 martini lunches. Wed tucked away our cheap port in a brown paper bag and staggered up the SGIO steps to the home of ICL-DS. The art of (night shift) motorcycle maintenance th classes on the 11 floor had finished but cleaners were still swirling tire marks off the linoleum.

Try as you may: Sandy Hinshelwood doing his stuff in an international rugby match against the All Blacks. In any event, Richards team toured a few of the major Oz bureaus and discovered that we had our act together, albeit with some distinct regional differences. One thing we had accomplished in Brisbane was the transition to George 2+ as the operating system of choice. With the assistance of Trevor Davey and George Lucas, Dave Applegate and I had improved the performance and run time stability of the batch suite, meaning fewer late night calls if payroll or brokers updates went awry.

In their penguin suits: ICLs once in a while lunching legend Bob Ajax together with noted businessman/entrepreneur Dick Smith, both on route to Antarctica in 1977. We were considering approaching Trudi Bogyays stockbroker buds, hoping for some fiscal inspiration for the coming year, when Sandy Hinshelwood informed us that we would have to smarten up and prepare for a delegation from ICL-DS RSA (Republic of South Africa) led by Richard Cross.

Awry smile: Dave Applegate in highly effective run time stability action. This seemed to be of value to RStJC and associates, so much so that they offered me a role in helping migrate all of the RSA DS bureaus to G2+. This was more than a spiv trip. Brisbane DS would be paid for the service, so Sandy was happy. I too was motivated by a year in Africa, and therefore a singularly willing participant.

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After transferring the cat to a neighbours charge we left right after New Years Day 1976 and ended up in an apartment in Hillbrow. Braamfontein was then the HQ of ICL RSA, close to downtown. And we immersed ourselves in the surroundings, dirt cheap avocados and good wines. We had opportunities to travel outside of work, so Kenya, Malawi and Rhodesia were soon crossed off the list. The G2+ project itself meant that I was moving around RSA frequently; Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Germiston bureaus were all on the schedule. Once we had the projects milestones established, folks trained and macros being written, we took a quick trip back to UK, checking in with Putney and other old friends in North Wales (think The Prisoner). Upon our return to South Africa we moved into a house in Randburg with the head of ICLs Dataskil consulting services. From then on the goal was to move out and sell G2+ to clients of ICL, which is what we did in earnest. In between this activity we took (some) personal time to further explore our surroundings, driving the garden route from Cape Town to Joburg via Port Elizabeth. We did this with other ICL colleagues: getting an ICL company car stuck in a game park in Swaziland; learning to surf in Durban (with the help of Graham Mail); rebuilding the clutch of my Spitfire in the corporate car park in Braamfontein (with the help of Charles Swindell); and in the process added additional clients to ICLs G2+ roster.

From those prospects and clients came more names from our illustrious past Buster Fabig, who, with Brian McCarthy, was running Foschini in Cape Town. They, along with George Africa, later came to Sydney and built up Dalgety Farmers into a large ICL account, owned by Phil Page and Bill Leakey.

Taking things into account: Phil Page (centre) seen here with Val Mickan, Harry Gill, Dennis Rex, Neil Lamming, Robyn Hodges and Robert Timms. In a later year Warren Grace had me assigned to Dalgetys as a consultant (sometimes known as an insultant), yet another watershed moment in my time with ICL.

I really dont want to do karaoke: Warren Grace (right) with Simon Fowler. The latter, if our memory is not totally out of kilter, was another ICLer with one time RSA connections. Other bureau folk from RDA who shared our love of curry also turned up in Oz the following year and contributed to ICL DS success in Oz. Anyone for a waltz: David Godbold seen here in Vienna with a couple of rather nice wooden doors. Such fine folk including Richard St J Cross, John Wolton and Graham Mail.

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Huge prize for mates golfer

From John Nash via George Webster
John writes, Rod Rodwell, well known New South Wales seniors golfer and member of the notorious (ICL) Mates golfing group recently won the States Seniors Order of Merit handicap competition at the well-known Mona Vale course. Thereby winning the huge sum of $200. I am sure hell show his appreciation for all the support he gets from the Mates when we next meet. Spicing things up: Curry aficionados Graham Mail (left) and John Wolton (centre) with fellow DS stars Glyn Homer, Brian Exton and Brian Magill. A Val Mickan shot from 1977. OK, now (at long last) to fishing. Homes in Randburg were typical ranch style with large yards. The security situation at the time meant a majority of residences in this suburb had bars on the windows and most were blessed with live-in domestic staff. So (despite the pass laws) it wasnt unusual to see numbers of indigenous folk moving around during the day. Some carried poles on their shoulders. Why you might ask? Well, windows were often left open during the day, but with everyone out and a dog asleep in the yard, a clever angler could cast inside through the bars and maybe reel in some valuables off a dresser or table within the room. And then off into the veld Sad but true; but what an exciting country and what a great experience that year was. Thank you, Richard Cross for the opportunity. Par for the course: Rod (right) receiving yet another golfing award. In this instance as a victor in a significant European amateur championship a couple of years ago. Seriously, major congratulations Rod on a great performance against spring chickens as young as a mere 55. Cheers. John.

Thanks for the memories: Richard Cross (right) and Jim Fairweather. An Ian Richard pic.

At the crease: John Nash (as northern region CD manager), seen here with Judy Pollard, one of our support award programme winners for 1981-2. And our apologies for the crease right across Johns face.

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George 1S and the 1901A

From Chris Bushell
In our last issue, Duncan MacAuslan had reason to mention the 1901s and their operating systems. Which led the inimitable Chris Bushell to recall . Reading the reference to George 1S in the last ICL AllStars magazine reminded me of my time at Putney and one of the two occasions that I nearly got into serious trouble.

The upside was that it was, I think, the saviour of the 1901A and they forgave me. The downside was, as observed in the last magazine, it ran like a dog and you could see it thinking. The other time I got into trouble was when we gave the source of George 2 to a University and they discovered the whole text of Eskimo Nell on the end of the source file. But thats another story.

Hell, of course, is exothermic

A note from David Stafford
Reflecting on the item on Hell from David Godbold in Issue 32 and the Places to go when you retire feature from Bill Leakey in the edition before that, inspired David Stafford to comment as follows .

Executive stress: Chris Bushell. When the 1901A was released, it came with an absurdly small memory and an overlaid executive. Now at the time, I was in charge of George 1 production. Id been seconded, for a period of time, to Stevenage where the executives for small 1900s were written. Those for large 1900 were written at West Gorton where the boxes were built. I had built up a good rapport with the folk at Stevenage. And, as you do, we discussed the 1901A and realised there was no possibility of putting any of the George family into the machine because there was simply not enough memory. Well you could have installed it, but there would have been no room for a program to run. So we came up with the bright idea of writing the George 1 functionality as a set of additional overlays to the executive. This wasnt too difficult and in a matter of months (nine I think) we had it working. We then presented it to management as a completed product whereupon the proverbial hit the fan. Although everyone realised that it was essential to sales of the 1901A, I had omitted to gain approval for the project. We just did it as part of the George 1 project.

Telling them where to go: Bill Leakey (right) with fellow destination expert Peter Springett (plus Tony Weber lurking in the background). As Bill Leakey and Dave Godbold both considered hell as a destination on their bucket list, they clearly suspect that hell is exothermic. They now have proof. This has been provided by a chemistry student who was set a philosophical question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well. Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

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This student received the only A. And if ICL had recruited him, VME/K might have been heaven, rather than the hell it was.

More on those election things

Last time around, we made special mention of the pivotal contribution that ICL had made to ever so many years of election broadcasts by the ABC. And that has led to a more than solid amount of feedback. First up, for example, we noted that the elections included those in which Queenslands Joe BjelkePeterson and SAs Don Dunstan were returned to office. Practising for the heat: David Stafford (right) and David Jones drive a Melbourne AllStars barbeque back in 2009. Perhaps rehearsing for the future. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all hell breaks loose. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God." No pink shorts today: Don Dunstan (second from left) in the company of Adelaide CES manager Mike Haines, state manager Harry Gill, the Premiers press secretary (and later Premier in his own right) Mike Rann, ICL director Peter Owens and region DS manager Brian Calvert. As some were want to point out, the poll-night television events were not the only time we were exposed to such state leaders. As just a couple of pics from the Ian Richard and Val Mickan archives demonstrate.

Dont you worry about that: JB-P giving some optimistic advice to Bruce Lakin.

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For that 75 election, 100 VDUs throughout Australia were linked to the system on election night, notably including those provided for the personal use of the major combatants Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser.

Waiting for the pumpkin scones: Joe BjelkePeterson (second from left), with John Marshall, Brisbane lord mayor Clem Jones and deputy state premier GW Chalk. Most importantly, thats our own Philip Sugden in the background keeping an eagle eye on things. . Next up, we did indeed mention a lot of people who made all of our great election efforts happen. And we then went on to picture most of them. But not so for Canberras John More who remained image-less. So lets now set that record straight for the one time Scotsman who joined ICL in the UK and worked on operating system development at Kidsgrove before moving down under.

Yet again, an impressive cast of ICLers made everything work perfectly. Some of who are captured in the central tally room in these shots from the archive.

In the picture: John More (left) with Alan Wyburn, Beryl Jones (Hulley), Bob Philipson and Martin Lack. Last but not least is the stern reminder that while our association with elections began as a very successful publicity exercise indeed, it went on far beyond that. Over time, the Australian Electoral Office had been closely (and flatteringly) looking at what we had been doing for the ABC. And by the time of the 1975 federal elections, they had decided they needed and wanted their own system. One that was very much along the lines of ours and which they duly purchased along with the necessary terminals. We carried out the necessary program modifications. And then helped set up the national landline and terminal network that was need to drive everything.

Putting in a liberal dose of hard labor: Top from left Barry Ross, Alan Webster, Phil Jeffreys and Lawrie Preston. Bottom from left Jeff Allen, Mike Haines and Tony Hall.

A lone rattie & a bit of a sail

Weve had cause, on many occasions, to refer to that elite sub-group of old ICLers known as The Ratbags. A noted gaggle of fine folk who seem to get together in the most diverse of worldwide locales. Most regrettably, rattie-in-exile, the UK based Mike Benton, has, it seems, elected to go on his own sweet Spanish way. Without fellow ruminants. And rather with the questionable company of some old chums from Big Blue who were meeting for their own latest reunion. MB, of course, having had a stint with that particular IT firm.

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The friends, in question, were MB work colleagues from the time our man worked with IBM in Endicott USA. Circa 1970 so we gather.

Indeed, at about the time this issue hits the streets, MB has been crewing on a Halberg Rassy 40, as it has been working up for a cruise to much farther afield. The yacht belongs to a mate of Mikes and the following pic shows our intrepid helmsman on the famed Solent and on a trip from Portsmouth (Gosport) to Beaulieu River and back. For our other readers of a boating persuasion, we record that the winds were weighing in as a 10 to 20 knot south-westerly. While for the befit of those Victorian sailing aficionados, such as Bill Chalkley, Mike noted that I did have my Blairgowrie hat on shortly before this picture was taken but it got a bit gusty.

Crossing to the dark side: Mike Benton (right) with Valencian friends of an IBM persuasion. And with apologies to all our Starwars fans. Notes Mike: We gathered in Valencia and were all very impressed with the city, its most wonderful architecture and excellent food. Some time ago now, the locales troublesome river was diverted around the city and the riverbed has subsequently been filled with an art centre, museums and so on, plus sport facilities, gardens and cycle tracks. Importantly, the weather was warm and dry. Quite unlike what I had happily left behind in England. Love to you all. Mike

Boom times: Mike Benton enjoying the mighty conditions on The Solent.

Chinese down South Adelaide

With Raf Dua in Adelaide on project management assignment (see Issue 32), it was more than appropriate to once again orchestrate a select gathering of some of the AllStars SA corps. Somewhat surprisingly, the crow eaters eschewed their more usual meeting place this time around. Electing instead to dine at Ky Chow a Chinese restaurant in the Citys noted central markets precinct. Keeping him in the picture: Fellow Ratties, Sean Ferguson, Mike Beilby, Pam Garnsey and Rod Rodwell convene with a photo of Mike Benton. Such is tradition. Speaking of Mike, we are delighted to note that his long time enthusiasm for sailing is still very much alive and well. And not just in the form of those model sailing craft that several of our editions in the past have pictured him competitively racing. A great choice, recommended by Chris Bushell, that presented super food and extraordinary good value. Aside, that is, from the vegetables with tofu dish added to the communal order by John Holden. As JH noted, what was actually served was a veritable mountain of the bean curd stuff with the most modest suggestion of added veggies possible. Still, as he was about to head off to Indias Kashmir region for a walking holiday, the healthy nature of the selected fare was probably something of a plus.

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enviable reputation for sales and marketing challenges and a great passion for developing new business opportunities. He did, of course, work for ICL in two distinct stints. With the likes of sales supremo Harry Gill, as his first ever manager, and then the maestro that was and still is Gil Thew. It was then on to Tandem (along with the likes of Dean Littlefield), to Aspect (with Dagmar Egen) and thence to Fujitsu.

Please, please no more tofu: John Holden (right) and (for just the third time in this issue) Chris Bushell. On the subject of walking, it was a great coincidence that most of those present are avid fans of shanks pony perambulation. Chris B, for example, has long pursued the pastime and is presently working on the creation of the Murray Bridge to Clare walking trail in South Australia. This 150K long project is well progressed and, for those with some knowledge of the area, we note it passes through spots such as Monarto, Mount Beaver, Springtown and Truro. As Chris explains, getting such a trail in place is not quite as difficult as some might imagine. Provided you start off with the right sort of maps. In South Australia, for instance, there are any number of theoretical or virtual roads all over the State. The land has been historically allocated, but no roadworks have ever been actually built. That said, the designated tracts can be used to set up walking trails. Provided, of course, you have the rather special maps that enable you to find out where in the heck they are in the first place. Whats more, Chris tells us, many local landowners, along the way, are more than happy to help. Sometimes offering a far better option than that presented by those virtual rights of way. Like Chris, Geoff Ridings is also a great walking buff. Locally extoling the virtues of such facilities as the Lavender Federation Trail. Further afield lauding the masterful trek that follows the Great Coast Road. And on an international bent, swapping notes with fellowICL-hoofers on the great trails in Wales, Scotland and particularly France. Always the salesman, Geoff R firmly believes that walking trails have the potential to become a major tourist attraction for the State. Provided they are properly and potently promoted. And those that know him, might well suggest that GR would be just the person to do just that. He has an Walking the walk: Geoff Ridings (right) and Geoff Sandell. One aspect of IT: The notable Dagmar Egen.

Now the point is: A demonstrable Dean Littlefield.

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Yet another AllStars clansman who loves being on his feet is bush walking and camping aficionado Geoff Sandell. Coming to Adelaide with ICL in 1983, GS went on to subsequently establish his own IT recruitment business known as The Tennyson Group. Some three years ago, this extremely successful venture was bought out. And while always eager to be in the business driving seat, GS humorously notes that right now he is rather in-between doing nothing. Gatherings, such as Adelaides, inevitably bring about some real old time memory dumps. With Raf present, PERT was predictably on the agenda. But while no one disputes he certainly worked on the development of our first version of this software in 1956 and for virtually every hardware option ever since the jury is still out on whether or not his services were ever needed at our Software Development Centre at The Levels. On the yes side of the debate are those who suggest that the SDC would sometimes need a little help in keeping projects on track. Those supporting the no case stridently argue that such a state of affairs never would never and did never arise. And, incidentally, those ancient manuals that our last issue mentioned Raf had sent off to the Flossie project in the UK were for 1301 PERT and of a 1960/61 vintage.

part of a UK Government initiative that ICL actively supported. And, among other things, gave a major presentation entitled Application of computers for the planning, scheduling and control of large complex projects at the British Industrial Technology Exhibition.

Thoughts of Chairman Raf: RD (right) in Beijing in 1973 along with two ICL UK colleagues and Bill Jackson (left) our far east region general manager at the time.

What the deuce

A note from David Lee
David Lee dropped us a note to say: T hank you for the ICL All Stars newsletter and none the least the May 2013 edition. I was one of the ICL backroom boys, who worked at the ICL Software Development Centre to the north of Adelaide in the early 1970s and who only relatively* recently were acknowledged in the pages of the ICL All Stars newsletter (* yes, an adverb can describe an adverb). I was especially interested in the item from Dick Sudweeks, who told, among other things, of his time as a programmer at the Marconi Research Laboratories in Essex, UK, from 1961. Dick developed software for the TAC computer and also programmed the English Electric Deuce system, installed in 1959. Now, as it happened, I was the maintenance engineer for that Deuce from 1959 to 1964 when I migrated with my family to Australia. The name Dick Sudweeks sounds familiar, but I now cannot put a face to the name. He refers to the tiny machine with its 380 32bit words of RAM, although physically it stood 15ft long x 6ft wide x 7ft tall. When Dick referred to the mean time between failures (hardware failures I assume) being about 30

Rif Raf: (Or at least thats how one of the Geoffs summed up the recent Adelaide gathering). The Raf part of this seen here with his dedicated drink pourer. Raf, of course, is no newcomer to matters Chinese. Back in 1973, for instance, he joined the ranks of but a few early western IT specialists to have visited the Middle Kingdom on business. He travelled there as

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minutes he was probably remembering a particularly bad day, because generally the Deuce ran all day without problem.

But why this was so and what their non-ICL colleagues wore remains a mystery. But no matter. And indeed, as Ros notes: In those days we knew how to have fun. Incidentally, RJ remains with Fujitsu and is currently their northern region deployment manager. OK, so what about some close-ups. Well here goes.

Inside running: David Lee (left), with computer manager Geoff Wardell, in front of the magnetic drum backup storage bay of the Marconi Deuce. Perhaps Dick might remember us from this photograph. Regards. David Lee, Athelstone, SA

Tiptoe down memory lane

Some Ros Johnson pics
Ros Johnson, a great one-time member of our North Ryde based retail team, has been trawling through her pic files and has sent us the following samples. With more to come we hope. Now, what we know for sure, is that the photos in question were taken at a Fujitsu foundation day gathering around about 1993. And also that all of the subjects were all ICLers who had moved to Fuj. But then things all get a tad puzzling. As far as we can work out, the AllStars contingent opted for Cleopatra-style attire (with suitable Roman accessories) on the day. As you do. One of his many big fans: The ever popular Tony Webb. Affecting a charming little temple goddess number. Tone suggest that white is the new black by the way.

Asp and yee shall receive: Among those we can identify are Peter Harris, Tony Webb, Louise Rock, Melanie Gatmanin, Peter Seymour and Peter Williams. Our apologies to everyone else.

Next time Ill wear a calf length number: Peter Williams, Peter Seymour and a forgotten name with one of the three, at least, having serious concerns about the updraft. .

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Wits end
From John Haug
A man is lying quietly in bed reading when his wife

looks over at him and asks the question .... Wife: "If I died? Would you get married again?" Husband: "Definitely not!" Wife: "Why not? Don't you like being married?" Husband: "Of course I do." Wife: "Then why wouldn't you remarry?" Husband: "Okay, - okay, I'd get married again." Wife: "You would?" (with a hurt look) Husband: (makes audible groan) Wife: "Would you live in our house?" Husband: "Sure, it's a great house." Wife: "Would you sleep with her in our bed?" Husband: "Where else would we sleep?" Wife: "Would you let her drive my car?" Husband: "Probably, it is almost new." Wife: "Would you replace my pictures with hers?" Husband: "That would seem proper." Wife: "Would you give her my jewellery?" Husband: "No, I'm sure she'd want her own." Wife: "Would you take her golfing with you? Husband: "Yes. Those are always good times." Wife: "Would she use my clubs? Husband: "No, she's left-handed." Wife: --Silence Husband: "Bugger..."

Any newbies will find The Royal Exchange across the road from the Toowong railway station and the dominant, glass-clad tower of the Toowong Village shopping centre. (Or to be even more specific, the RE is at 10 High St., Toowong which youll find on Refidex map 16/A.)

Looking forward to your company: Elaine (Eccles) Smith and Bob Brammah two of the Queensland AllStars organising committee seen here along with Ian Bone (left) at an earlier sunshine state luncheon. On the 12 wed love you to come enjoy the ambience either for the first time, or once again. Choose the REs famous $10 lunch or go with their very reasonably priced a-la-carte menu. And complement your meal with a selection from the pubs fine range of beers, ciders and wines. Getting there and home again is a breeze. The Toowong Tower has ample and free undercover parking (OK so its a four hour limit if you are thinking of settling in). While the railway station is under the tower, the bus terminal right next to it and City Cat Ferries stop-off at the 10 minute away Regatta Point. So why not make up a party with your old ICL mates. Bring your partner and please phone and remind any missing AllStars that spring to mind that they too are invited.
th

Dont miss the ever so fantastic Queensland AllStars 2013 lunch

First up the key details: The date is Thursday 12 September at 12:00pm for 12:30pm and the venue is the Royal Exchange Hotel Toowong.
th

An exchange of ideas: The RE. Yes, its all booked. So you will soon be able to enjoy your 2013 AllStars spring lunch in the private bar of one of Brisbanes oldest and most iconic hotels. This time around, weve chosen the Royal Exchange or RE as its more typically known that old, beautifully preserved example of our local pub history and a Brisbane institution since 1876. If, perchance, you went to the Uni of Queensland, then the chances are that you knew it well, probably before its restoration.

To help our arrangements sing, please RSVP to Graham Palmer email gpalmer@netspace.net.au.

Cookham and all that

From David Stafford
You may have seen reference in another article to Leakey Bill. (Editors note: Bill Leakey of course). Now as it happened, Bill and I were on the same ICT training course in 1961, learning about rolling total tabulators, plugged board calculators, 65 columninterstage and many other great technical advances.

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We prepared these a little earlier: Some rather more (unflattering) historical shots of a hatted David Stafford (left) and a fringe-inspired Bill Leakey. Bill had a Sunbeam Alpine, whose role in life was to add sex appeal, get him back to the bright lights of London at high speed (very high speed) and act as our booze bus. Moor or less: Moor Hall. An ICL training venue known to more than a few AllStars. PS: Bill scored another title at a Users Dinner in Melbourne. I hired Campbell McComas, the great performer, impersonator and speechmaker, to come on stage as the newly-appointed sales manager. Complete with plummy English accent and bow-tie, he announced that he was in Australia to tighten up the sales management - even changing names of key people to Bill Watertight, David Cheapman. Once in a blue sunbeam: What we gather to be the one-time and rakish Leakey Alpine. This entailed driving us from our luxury digs at Moor Hall round the many pubs in Cookham such as The Bell & The Dragon, The Crown and The Ferry. Until he revealed his true identity at the end, most in the audience were totally taken-in and dumbstruck.

Just checking your real name mate: Geoffrey Howell (right) checks out whether this really is David Dearman (another David Stafford changed-name target). Bitter memories: The Ferry: one of Cookhams fine locals. Even a half in each of the 12 pubs was a strain on the bladder (especially Bills). Hence the aphorism at the start of this yarn.

Retail detail
In a couple of recent AllStars issues weve had great pleasure in featuring some pics of our one time retail girls. Part of the sometimes North Ryde based team that helped drive our successes to that selling sector.

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Along the way, team member Lynda Tate also sent us some brief notes on the photographed subjects. So lets catch up with those right now. But first one of the original group photographs taken at a 2012 Christmas get together.

scored the location trifecta having been progressively based in North Sydney, Frenchs Forest and North Ryde. But thats not to forget that Yvonne also worked for us for extended periods in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart, Launceston and Singapore. And for some shorter periods in Auckland, South Africa, Nigeria and the UK. In 1997 she left for all of five weeks, returning part time until the end of 1998. All in all, YB enjoyed a plethora of roles, working as a programmer, a product specialist, in training, as a business analyst and also as a project manager. From 1998, for a decade and a bit, Yvonne starred as an IT contractor, working with such well-known entities as Franklins, Woolworths, Retalix and Object Consulting. And right now? Well in her own words, Yvonne reports that shes happily retired, travelling a hec k of a lot and generally enjoying life. Currently at Fujitsu as its manager of northern region deployment, Ros Johnson started DataChecker in 1989 at Artarmon and, like so many others, moved to our new North Ryde centre in 1990. Which, dear reader, is about all our intrepid reporter was able to glean about the life and times of RJ. Perhaps one of her colleagues can help by spilling a few more beans. North Sydney was also the ICL locale that first introduced us to Lynda Tate. She came on board there in 1980 when she recalls she first met Yvonne and where both worked brilliantly as business analysts. It was then a transfer to ICL Brisbane which saw her departure in 83 to have her daughter. In 1990, it was then back to ICL and the start of an extended gig with our retail group. Which, a year later, also saw a move back down to Sydney. With the ICL takeover by our Japanese friends, Lynda was initially Chatswood-based with Fujitsu as part of its project team rolling out new NT servers and office systems throughout Australia. But in 1997, it was then a move to Fujs International Support & Development (IS&D) team along with John Watson. First up this was as a principal consultant, but with a major management role following on but two years later. Lynda is, indeed, still with IS&D having had the opportunity to travel extensively to Japan and other parts of Asia over what has now been a quite remarkable 16 years.

Secret retail business: From left we see Louise Rock, Stephanie Lee, Ros Johnson, Jenny Brundle, Lynda Tate and Yvonne Bulluss. Noting that Hwee Lim was behind the camera taking the shot. So as far as some personal details go, we note that Jenny Brundle was with the old firm from 1989 through to 1995. All of that time spent at North Ryde and with her main work spanning retail client support and projects. Back then, of course, she was better known as Jenny Bourke. A state of affairs that continued until she met one Bob Brundle and married in 1992. She pretty much parted ways with us when son Liam was born. But, for a while, went on to work with Lynda at Chatswood. Right now, you could count on finding Stephanie Lee at NCR who she joined in 1998. Eight years before that, shed signed on with the ICL retail gang at Hotham Parade in Artarmon before that stellar group moved to Lane Cove Road North Ryde. For the record, we gather that most of Stephanies time with us was spent working with 9520 Team POS and Storemaster in the IGA space and for specialty retailers. Which we are sure means a heck of a lot to the retail cognoscenti. It was then ISS400 and ISS60 at Woolworths, before a short stint on Health. Louise Rock started with ICL in 1989 and, like Stephanie, worked with the retail team at Artarmon before heading off to North Ryde. Over the years she worked on projects for us at the Department of Health and the New South Wales Police. And, just for the record, she still contracts for Fujitsu. According to Yvonne Bulluss, her history at ICL is very straight forward. She joined us in 78, and

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Retailers one and all: Jim Tully (who we recall was also part of the retail group for a while), Hwee Lim and John Watson, the man that ever so magically worked on our massive Woolworths account. Last, but certainly not least, is a note or two on Hwee Lim, who also boasts a rather international career with ICL. She joined us in Singapore during 1984. Two years later she was seconded to Bracknell. While, in 86, it was North Sydney that was graced with her presence, at 98 Walker Street to be precise. Next was North Ryde, although in 95 Hwee left us only to return to the fold a year later as an IT contractor. A role in which she continued until around the 2003 mark after which she joined Jim Tully at Object Computing. Now with added balconies: Bill and what was once known as ICL Bridge House South. Now a Premier Inns establishment.

But back to Bill

Also on matters of a UK and Bill Leakey bent, we are rather chuffed that the latter has sent us the following pics of the old ICL International Division precinct in Putney, right there on the banks of the Thames. Not all is the same of course. But delectably, some things never change.

Confusion reigns supreme: MaryAnne Leighton pictured, as we recall, when she was on assignment to S&TS in the UK. And for the record, BHS was actually on the north side of the Thames. It was merely down the road a modicum from ICLs Bridge House North. On the south side of the river it was ICL House that youd find. And some of us wonder why VME was so confusing.

Now that was a mining boom

Tales from the wild west
For whom the bells toll: At least some Putney icons are still prospering. Bill making a more than mandatory visit to one of ICLs favourite Putney watering holes. With all of the talk in recent times about the Australian mining and resources boom (and its current slowing down), some are apt to forget about

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the huge level of activity in the sector that happened several decades ago. Together with, most relevantly, the absolutely pivotal role that ICL played in all of this. Not that one has much chance of overlooking this for too long if you have the pleasure of running into WAbased Clive Davies. An engineer by both choice and training, Clive was part of our rather wild Perth DS team from 1975 through to 1979.

And it was pretty much the same with Grocon adds Clive. But while it was processing and presenting a never ending stream of complex information, ICL was also all about devising highly creative solutions for singularly demanding problems. Take the analysis of drill holes. Or dip-tapes as the work is called we seem to remember. Bores can obviously be sunk thousands of feet, with readings being taken all the way down as work progresses. All of this being converted into useful analysis that shows exactly whats happening at a precise x, y and z coordinated spot. But what happens when you have drilled for something like 5,000 feet, but it seems you have only gone down 3-4,000? Something has obviously gone off at an angle. And so you have the good news that that your bore has detected gas (say), but the bad news is that you have no certainty where the bit actually is. At least with any sensible and demanded degree of precision. But for the ICL guys, solving this was simply a matter of some solid engineering logic. Thinking that said we seem to have collected all the data we actually need. Its just needs some smick analysis to make it usable. In this case, it took us about 20 to 30 minutes to design and write a special program and the problem was resolved. Resolved to the extent that the routine then travelled around the world solving similar problems for others. And when there was a major problem in a Brunei gas and oil field, the self-same ICL routine was used to detect exactly where the problem lay so the bore could be plugged. And what about a full 30 years later with a like issue on the northwest shelf. The same ICL program technique again resolved it all. What Clive stresses, of course, was that this can-do approach and our huge success was all about our amazing people. It was one hell of team he notes, but cites Mario DAlessandro as but one example. Id come up with a rather extreme demand and suggest to him it would be great to have things fixed by lunchtime tomorrow. Although breakfast time would be even better. Hed mumble this and grumble that and throw in a few serious expletives. But sure enough, by the next morning hed have come up with the goods. Time and time again.

Memory mining: Clive (left) in Adelaide recently on railway upgrade business with Raf Dua, similarly the festival city for his new Adelaide hospital project management work. Grabbing a quick bite at The Stag Hotel, where parents are warned that unattended children will be given an espresso and a free kitten. At that time, names such as the North West Shelf, Burmah Oil, Woodside, Gorcon, RTZ and Hammersley among many others, were all suddenly becoming identities that everyone seemed to know. All were having to process massive amounts of exploration data. Some of this being aerially logged by planes patiently traversing the state. And others from the plethora of exploration wells being drilled all over the place both onshore and offshore. Making sense of all of this input called for some pretty serious IT grunt and a lot of smarts. And in pretty much all cases, ICL was there to help. As Clive fondly recalls, things could be really exciting. Thus the occasion when we and our client were fairly aimlessly standing around the DS plotter as it spewed out line after line of fairly tedious and uneventful material. The users view being that this was pretty much all hed expect to see. Then suddenly there was a massive and repetitive spike in the data being meticulously presented. We asked what that was likely to be and the suggestion was that the geological nature of the area in question could make diamonds a likely possibility. So there was ICL right there when Argyl Diamond Mine was about to be born.

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Again no problem. Use dial up lines to jump onto the machine at ICL Stafford in the UK, whenever one felt like it, or to somewhere else in Australia. It was sort of like Western Australias early version of the web. Although the phone bills were said to be tad steep. And certainly not forgetting Clive Davies trial of all of this from a pay-phone box on Georges Terrace.

You want it when? Mario DAlessandro (second from right) seen with Trevor Street, Fred Allen and Rob Hack. A Val Mickan pic. Creative thinking also came into play as WA DS needed an ever growing range of IT resources to keep up with customer demand. There was, for instance, the saga of the special and rather costly flat-bed plotter (a Xynetics device we sort of recollect). This was exactly what was needed. The only problem being that capital expenditure approval was not forthcoming. But the lord (and DS) do indeed work in mysterious ways and said device just seemed to turn up somehow. Fortunately it paid for itself in pretty near record time. But it did little to dampen the perception of just how wild the west could be.
Well I think its a miracle: celebrating the mystical arrival of that Xynetics plotter are Jim Paice, Carlos Pena, Noel Fogarty and Mario (once again). From the Ian Richard archives.

Vale Jerry M
Pretty much as we were preparing to go to press, we learnt of the very sudden and unexpected death of the inimitable Jerry Montgomery. Well present an apposite review of the brilliant, eclectic, delicious and often highly humorous life and times of JM in our next issue. Such reflections courtesy of such luminaries as Jim Tully, Mike Benton, Neil Lamming and Rod Rodwell. But in the meantime, just a poignant couple of passing reflections on Jerry, one or two happy snaps and the recording of our love and sympathies to his long term partner, friend and colleague Pam Garnsey.

Sometimes thought of as a bunch of cowboys: Some of ICLs WA team. Peter Garnham, state manager Warren Grace, John Baistor, Dave Varey, Rick Gallagher and Gary Hooley. Our Val Mickan file shot taken to celebrating the announcement of another major order from Burmah Oil. An Ian Richard photo. Much the same sort of approach was taken when the amount of processing time needed for our mining work far exceeded what was available on the Perth machine. Greater than the sum of the parts: Jerry, Pam and Mike Benton. As Mike so aptly puts it: with Pam and Jerry it was a classic case of one plus one equals three. A Mike Benton pic.

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And speaking of parts, Jerry had many. No, make that an absolute heap. Indeed, as Rod Rodwell points out: He excelled at such a wide and diverse variety of things including being the only person I know to have driven a bulldozer in Greenland. As you do.

A matter of taste: Jerry about to knock up a little duck a lorange in Paris if our photo library memory serves us well. As Neil Lamming recollects, for instance: there was a time when we decided that our Australian management team should have lunch together in the office once a month. An initiative to help build team spirit and to aid communication across the divisions. Each manager took turns to take responsibility for the lunch. Some did sandwiches, some take away. Jerry, on the other hand, personally cooked a great spread with a distinctly American flavour. I particularly recall experiencing pumpkin pie for the first time in my life. And it was an introduction to his enormous culinary skills for which he became so very well known. Incidentally, Pam records that she is still receiving emails, cards and flowers from ICLers all over the world. I am so grateful to all who have contacted me, passed on the word to others and who turned up in unexpected numbers to the funeral. Please will you add a note in the magazine to thank them? The impossible is easy its just miracles that take a little longer: Jerry, Jim Tully and Dave Watkins. Reflections on Jerrys ICL career naturally spend a lot of their focus on matters to do with S&TS. Says Jim T: We were not always popular, of course, but JMs professional principle was to tell the customer what they were going to get and then damn well deliver it. Integrity became fundamental to the way we did business and the professionalism of all involved was lifted in an enduring manner. Delivering what people expected didnt, however, extend to the kitchen. Because here, our mates cooking skills meant he always out-performed and dangerously exceeded all expectations.

Beats dozin: Jerry with Eileen Rodwell in Geneva. But there again, and as pointed out by Jim Tully: Somebody forgot to tell Jerry that some things could not be done.

Hidden artistic talents within AllStars ranks

From Anthea Vitarelli (Saint James)
As retirement allows us to take life at a more moderate pace, inevitably we reflect on what is important in our leisurely years and what we should focus on. Collecting art has always been a passion of mine and now I am no longer time poor (assuming I am now time rich?) I am able to devote myself to this pursuit. Art collecting has always been common among the wealthy. And many say that it developed, in its modern form, during the Renaissance where it continues to the present day.

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The tastes and habits of collectors have played an important part in determining what art was produced and thats certainly the basis my favourite piece of ICL inspired creativity. Although not directly commissioned, it was presented to me as a gift. It has been treasured over the decades as a very special, unique piece reflecting the technical skills required during the 1980s it was based on an essential tool of trade for any aspiring programmer. I am looking to have this work of art valued for its investment potential.

Our art critic comments: The work noted by Anthea was taken from Jones nave period in which his focus on social commentary far exceeded his interest in a palette of rich colour. The sometimes enigmatic opus was all crafted on the back of a plastic flow-chart template cover. And each of the symbols, and their descriptive text, had been taken by the young Jones and redefined. This impersonal manifestation of the growing computer era being taken, if you will, as a poignant reflection on the mores of everyday life.

In the frame: Anthea in acquisitive mode. The inspired artist of this piece cleverly managed to combine functionality, aesthetic appeal, wit and humour in this masterpiece whilst staying true to the meanings. My heartfelt thanks to Dave (Picasso) Jones. Art in all shapes: Part of the inspirational Jones masterpiece.

Thats all folks

Well thats another AllStars edition done and dusted. Our sincere thanks to all our many contributors who are drawn from an ever increasing range of locations. But now, of course, we have to start thinking of our next issue. And to prevent that being a rather uninspiring collection of mostly blank pages, we really do need your help. Wed love to hear from you with reflections on the past, observations on the present and plans for the future. Long tales are super. But so too are brief comments and one or two lines of feedback. So hope to hear from you soon.

An impressionist, a cubist and a fauvist walk into a bar David Jones, Ron Fitzpatrick and Roger Steel at an AllStars hotel luncheon in Melbourne a couple of years back.

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Doubling Up
For this issues double-column photo spread we move to Sydney and the steps of the Opera House. And while we did once before include this shot, that was very much in a single deck format which hardly did it justice. The image was taken to grace the cover of a special New South Wales edition of The Reporter in 1976. Which, among other things, marked a frenetic period of selling that saw us win new systems and major enhancements from mining company Nabalco, retailer Woolworths, auto parts and accessories supplier Bennett & Wood, food products manufacturer Cerebos, the multi-faceted Dalgety Australia and shipping agent Hetherington Kingsbury

Stepping out: Alan Bingham, Alan Cox, Kryn Versteeg, Angus Neil-Smith, Roy Townrow, Paul Beckhaus, Chris Howells, Peter Frank, Tim Baker, Gwyn Harper, David Eastwood and Mike Benton.

While behind the NSW scenes: Were the super CES team that included Brian Page, Eileen Touhy, Reg Smith, Ken Adams, Wayne Norton, Alan (Nugget) Butt, Bruce Hannah, Garry Carter, David Ford, George McMillan and Doug Chapman.

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