My Bentleigh High Days

On 5th February, 1982, together with sixty other sponsored students from all over Malaysia, I left Kuala Lumpur's Terminal 2 airport for Australia. The DC-10 aircraft reached Melbourne's Tullamarine International airport in the wee hours the following morning. This marked the beginning of the year I did my Victorian Higher School Certificate at Bentleigh High School.
I rented a unit in a two-storey flat at Robert Street together with Yusof Zamri from Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, Seremban and Sahlan Subari from Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak, Seremban. We had our own rooms. At Bentleigh High, we were joined with three other Malaysian girls. They were Azlina Aziz from Sekolah Seri Puteri, Kuala Lumpur, Halimah Hamid from Tunku Kurshiah College and Hamizah Hamzah from Sekolah Menengah Sains Ayer Keroh, Melaka. All six of us took 6 subjects. These were Chemistry, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics, English and Indonesian.
Our class size was around 15 students. I still remember some of them like Shinta, Joanne, Olga, Shane, Jim, George, Darren and Heather. My teachers were interesting characters. Mr. Cronk taught us Physics and Applied Mathematics. He was around 40, sports a moustache and quite handsome. Chemistry and Pure Mathematics were taught by Mr. McConchie. He was around 45, sports a beard and quite tall. Our Indonesian class teacher was Mrs. Beaumont, while I cannot remember exactly our English teacher because we had three different teachers.
The best part being in Year 12 was that we were free to wear anything we liked to school. Whereas, for Years 7 to 11, a uniform was required. For the girls, it was a brown skirt and top. While for the boys, it was grey trousers and white shirts. Some girls wore their skirts real short! The school had an enrolment of around 600 students and is located in the suburb of Bentleigh East. The three of us bought racing bicycles and we cycled to school. It took us around 10-15 minutes to reach depending on how fast we peddled.
I remember getting 100% for an essay I wrote for my English class. It was entitled "The Day I Cried" and the teacher who marked it really cried. The news spread among the sponsored students and the next thing I knew was that some of them wanted to read my "perfect" essay. I obliged. Classes start at 8.55 a.m. We had six sessions of an hour each with two breaks in-between. The first break was for 10 minutes, while the second was actually for lunch and was an hour long.
The school architecture was typically Australian with buildings close to one another. It was interesting to note that all buildings were only a storey high. The school hall was impressive and the field was quite adequate. Everyday, we would finish school at 4.15 p.m.
We would normally do our shopping at Safeway or Coles. The latter was chosen when we moved to Whitmuir Street. Of couse, we had to cook our own meals, like it or not. Bentleigh is 16 km south of Melbourne and is served by a train and bus system. It contains a cinema, some banks, a post office, restaurants and many other shops. All are located either side of Centre Road. On weekends, I would sometimes visit Melbourne or go visit other friends around Melbourne, or maybe, catch a movie. This was when Melway comes handy. Melway is a comprehensive book that maps all roads and locations in Melbourne. It was quite fun to try out the trains, trams and buses to go to these friends' places.
During the second term school holidays, I went for a trip to Mount Buller, also in Victoria. It was a four hour drive from Melbourne. We had fun playing with snow, but I did not dare try out skiing. The best I managed was using the toboggan to slide down the slopes.
HSC came in December and we sat for it, doing our best. After that, together with another friend of mine, we flew to Hobart, Tasmania to attend a leadership course and to holiday. Tasmania is an island. Both of us had a splendid time there. We visited places like Port Arthur and Launceston. It was very interesting, indeed!
Back to Melbourne, it is a cosmopolitan city with a population of about 2.5 million people. Aussies say that in Sydney, the weather is better, but in Melbourne, the food is better. Talking about weather, Melbourne experiences a Mediterranean type climate, meaning that it will rain during winters. Winters come at the middle of the year as opposed to the northern hemisphere. As for the population, many had migrated from different parts of Europe and Asia, making its culture, food and people quite diverse. Aussie Rules football is the most popular sport here, besides cricket and rugby. Other sports are also being played.
My Bentleigh days certainly made me a more mature and experienced person. And if I had the chance, I certainly want to make a return visit.