i Cl Oz Newsletter

8/12/2019 i Cl Oz Newsletter

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llStars MagazineIssue 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 allwondering about the whereabouts of the birdies. And on that vernal note, we are delighted to presentanother edition of the AllStars magazine. As ever, its replete witha range of contributions from all over theplace 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 from the 70s.In this instance with a pic of Cliff Bosson. And then our now Canadian-based chum Christopher Greaves lets usknow what he got up to after the ICL Software Development Centre. A locale where the likes of Chrisand MaritaBushell, 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 magnificentponderings 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 DavidGodbold who talks of his secondment from Brisbane to Johannesburg and beyond. Again our item is replete withthe appearance of other AllStars. Including Richard Cross andWarren 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 timethat GW had done extremely well in the 2013 national championships. Well that performance has now seen hisselection as a member of our Australian squad for the worldwide titles in Hungary. Also carrying on from Issue 32are 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, GaryPreston, 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 Rodwellwho recentlygained an impressive New South Wales Masterstitle. 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 beendoing they bought our online system; including a pic of John More that we didnt have to hand before; and notingthat our contact with senior politicians was far from limited to voting time. Thus the photos of Bruce Lakin, JohnMarshall and Philip Sugden with Joe Bjelke-Peterson and Mike Haines, Harry Gilland Brian Calvert with DonDunstan.

David Stafford then weighs in with a follow up to the David Godbold story on visiting Hell and tells a few near-libellous 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 ChrisBushell 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 a2970 project he worked on. In that shot, three of the other four RSA blokes depicted Mike Banham, Mike BoothandDave Owenare 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 agaggle 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 shotsfrom Ros Johnson and which feature Tony Webb,Peter Williams,Peter Seymour andLouise Rock.

And so to the very end, where our double-column photograph spread hails from New South Wales. Yes, we haveused 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-Smithand Kryn Versteeg. And justto 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 inthis 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 cont

Our updated photo library entry was gleaned from aweb site that notes Kens latter day work as theprincipal of Future Fit: Simpwade Consulting. Ahuman resources consultancy that specialises inorganisation and strategy development, leadershipdevelopment and performance management.

Ken, incidentally, is now Brisbane-based so webelieve.

Geoffrey Howell has been subtly chasing ourgreat Canadian colleague Christopher Greaves forsome notes on his post ICL career.

Christopher, most will remember, having been part ofour Software Development Centre (SDC) team downin Adelaide, starting there back in the early 70s.

Which is as good a reason as any to commence thisitem with a few shots of one time SDC troopers and acouple of mates.

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

In a holden pattern: Noted SDC campaigner JohnHolden (right) with another one-time ICL AdelaidianVal Mickan.

Men in black: David Lee (right) from the SDC on theAdelaide plains with Cam Angus who was based inthe city at our South Aussie Wakefield Street offices. .

Now thats a real red: The SDCs Robin Goodchild.

But back to Christopher who has now responded toGeoffreys overtures.

And he did so in the style of that marvellouslyunderstated humour that any number of our SDCcolleagues seemed to display. Not to mention ever somany other AllStars. Perhaps it was just a companything.

Anyway as Christopher notes: Sure Geoffrey, I

suppose a brief recap of my post-SDC days might bein order.

This began with a one year stint at the Uni ofWestern Australia, struggling to cope with theLOANLY design for a PDP-11-40 that had, frommemory, an 11-second response time to the charginglogic (chained records everywhere).

But as a bonus Phil Dufty introduced me to a single-instruction computer, which fascinated me for about20 years.


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Feedback cont

It was next back to the South Australian Institute ofTechnology (now Uni SA) as Librarian (systems),where Pat Buxton taught me to ask a referencelibrarian, which I've done ever since.

There were then some six months in MitchamJunction reprogramming a 1903A COBOL payrollsystem. With an ensuing stint in Paris with CapSogeti Logiciel.

In getting there, let me recount an all too trueconversation:

Me: Hi; I'm responding to your ad in the eveningpaper 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 havenever 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 twoand a half years and left only because my Aussie re-entry visa was expiring.

Well, Im off then: An earlier days ChristopherGreaves exiting stage left.

A stint back in Perth was then on the agenda, thenceon to Singapore (teaching programming in BASIC,FORTRAN and COBOL)

Toronto was then to rear its delightful head and I'velived and worked there ever since.

Been here 30+ years now and five years ago I tookout Canadian citizenship to make it easier for me toget into the USA. That means that I have claim tothree nationalities and may well be the only personwho holds a Canadian passport to make it easy to getout of the country!

I am retired, which means only that I no longermarket myself. If a job comes along I'll do it for thefun of it, but not for the money.

Right now, Im heavily into SUFE (second use foreverything), and especially vermicomposting**.There's an intellectual challenge in finding a seconduse for some things, for example, handles broken offmugs 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 otherex-ICLers.

**Editors note: Wikipedia tells us that vermicompostis the product or process ofcomposting using variousworms, usually red wigglers,white worms and otherearthworms to create a heterogeneous mixture ofdecomposing vegetable or food waste, beddingmaterials, and vermicast. Containing water-solublenutrients, vermicompost is an excellent, nutrient-richorganic fertilizer and soil conditioner. So now youknow.

Last time around, we carried a pic of the not toolong ago LEO Computers reunion held in Sydney.

Regrettably, our edition deadlines didnt allow us toawait the names of those pictured or further snapsfrom the great gig.

Well now, we can set the record straight. First up withthe same snap from before but with names. And then,in just a page or two, a rather more complete pictorialwrap up of the great luncheons events.

In both instances, our thanks to Ian Ellis and Tony

Weber for the inputs.

Lioning up for a group shot: Our LEO teamphotograph shows (from left to right standing) JackRussell, Gary Preston, Tony Joyce, Roy Bissell, JohnSimpson, Tony Weber, Joe Samanak, PeterGallagher, 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 Duais his critical project management work for thedevelopment of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compostinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenia_foetidahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchytraeus_buchholzihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthwormhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterogeneoushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_fertilizerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_fertilizerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterogeneoushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthwormhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchytraeus_buchholzihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenia_foetidahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting


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Feedback cont

The largest infrastructure in its states history, thenew RAH, when complete, will be Australias mostadvanced hospital.

So its a big undertaking indeed. And to give someimpression of that, and what Raphaels associatedwith, an aerial shot of the work currently in progress.

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

Responding to our last issue, John Haug writes,goodgood good team ... keep it up.

I learn a lot more about ICL with every issue. Thereis so much that is new to me even though beforemoving to ICL Brisbane from NCR Victoria in 1979 Iwas aware of ICLs diversified history through severalchannels. I did, of course, join ICL in 1979, after ValMickan showed me the light, and then there weremany great teachers in the Brisbane branch whotaught me what I needed to know.

But interestingly, none of it referred back to otherthan the origin of the 1900 and 2900 ranges and the2903 (plus a soupon on the Singer range). Thatbecause we were almost totally focused on the future,VME-B, the new TME 2903 and beyond.

We had no English Electric presence or history inQueensland as far as I know.

And maybe thats why I find all the LEO and EnglishElectric references in the AllStars news so fascinating.

I was reminded of my diverse ICL informationgathering history again when reading the latest issue.

Firstly, there was what NCR (or, more properlyback 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 firmscompetition library - going waaaaayyyyy back. SOTbulletins covering all makes were still beingdistributed across Australia weekly while I was atNCR between 1965 and 1979.

And I suspect that early ICT intelligence gatheringwas helped somewhat by the early links betweenElliot Brothers and NCR in the UK before the EBcommercial divisions were rolled into English Electric.

That collaboration had led to the National-ElliotAutomation Elliot 405 sale in 1962 to the SnowyMountains Authority. An identical machine wasinstalled in the bowels of the (then) Sydney HQ ofNCR Australia on the corner of Barrack and YorkStreets.

All part of the history: An Elliot 405 and yet anotherergonomic-deficient operators chair.

Secondly, and up to the mid-70s, some info camevia my quite close association with ICLs office inHobart, even though I was their main competitor.

I was the Tassie NCR branch manager and becauseGeoff Johnson for a few years my ICL counterpartin the southern isle was involved in the HobartJaycees as was I, we enjoyed more than theoccasional beer together at and after various serviceclub events.

Hot stuff: John Haug (centre) kicking off a prettyrecent AllStars Brisbane curry lunch with the greatSteve Rudlin and the fantastic Roy Lester.

In fact, together we organised a Hobart JayceesSeries of charged-for, day-long EDP forManagement Seminars in Hobart over a couple ofyears. Plenty of steak and wine over lunch and atsunset made some quite senior people quiterelaxed. Both ICL and NCR flew in high-powered IT
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Feedback cont

lecturers as part of that series, which was verysuccessful.

Incidentally, I once stole a bottle of Hill of Gracefrom a stash that Geoff was keeping aside at a well-known Hobart eatery.

With it, I was able to indulge a wine-loving memberof the management team at an ICL account and talk

NCR to him ... Alls fair in love and war. Although Idid subsequently confess to Geoff about the wholeepisode.

Wheres my bloomin Henschke? Geoff Johnson(second from left) enjoying a pale substitute with PatTerry, Kent Brooks, Pat Brazier, Warren Grace, RayGrose, Howard Cork and Ian Richard.

During the period that Barry Allsop was workingwith ICL Tasmania, I attended some wild parties athis house in West Hobart.

I also played weekly squash games with him andothers plus Gil Townsend from Electrolytic Zinc (anICL user).

Again on the devious front, I spent a lot of timegrooming Gil so that he knew ICT/ICL wasnt the onlyIT supplier in town and eventually proved to him -over time - that NCR could do their job when it cametime to upgrade from their 1004.

Sadly, for me, that exercise proved fruitless becauseI didnt properly cover EZ senior management as well.ICL retained the business. Still, Gil and I both learnedwhat a Century 200 Series NCR Computer had overthe ICL range on offer and that information helped mesubsequently when I sold a Century to DavidAmbrose at the Purity Group.

Anyone know what happened to Barry and Geoff? Ithink GJ went to Canada and BA returned to UK.

Thirdly, on that ICL exposure front, was an amazingbloke, Bill Parker, that we had running NCR in SouthAustralia. During the sixties and seventies he wrotequite a lot of Century-system business and oftencompeted against ICL.

He visited Hobart several times to help me out inimportant negotiations. He was a font of knowledgeand his help got us short listed in several keyopportunities.

The bad news for me was that we failed to displaceICL from EZ (as already noted), the HEC, Webstersand S&T. Although on the plus side we won thehighly profitable smart terminals deals at Transportand HEC though, with the revolutionary NCR Model(whatever it was).

Fourthly, there was my all important hands-onlearning once I actually joined ICL.

But through all of those exposures, as I have said,nary a mention of LEO and English Electric. Anoversight now well addressed through the pages ofthis magazine. Thanks. jmh

A right Tasmanian devil: John Haug in Hobart withsome of his NCR Tassie team. Our picture from thefallen off the back of a truck files.

In Issue 32 we mentioned that one time SouthAfrican ICLer Jon Price was now well and trulyensconced along with wife Lin on Sydneysnorthern beaches, at Warriewood to be precise

Last time around, we pictured two of Jons oldcolleagues Graham Mailand John Wolton. But nowfor a pic of JP himself, replete with some furtherproject mates.

As Jon explains: The project we were all, when thephoto was snapped, was that for Greatmans, a largedepartmental store chain in South Africa.

We were bringing out the first 2970 to RSA. Andmemory suggests we had 16 on the project where Iwas one of the two South Africans. The rest were allpoms.

Dave Owen (bluish shirt and red shorts) was theproject manager. Michael Banham was the softwaremanager. Steve Landels was the sizing man. MikeBooth was on the conversion team and I was thejoint systems centre manager. (I wont bore you withan explanation of the JSCs functions.


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Feedback cont

Greater mens business: Left to right - Mike Booth,Steve Landels, Dave Owen, Jon Price and MichaelBanham.

After the project, the team moved on to pursue

individual careers. And the rest, as they say, ishistory.

Personally, I moved into sales management andspent a several more years in RSA, finally leaving in1997.

Lin and I then moved to the UK where we ownedand ran a large B&B in The Cotswolds. We loved it.

Then, in the early 2000s, we headed off to LasVegas. We spent a couple of years there and thenheaded down here to Sydneys northern beaches. Agreat spot thats now seen us ensconced for the last

seven and a half years.

Incidentally, we had the operation a few years agoto become true blue Aussies. And just for the record,Mike Banham, Mike Booth and Dave Owen arealso now in New South Wales.

Warm regards. Jon.

Grahame Knight dropped us a line to say: HiGeoffrey, as I read the newsletter, it brings backmany memories.

My time in North Sydney was when it was ICT,became ICL, 1300 to 1901, 2 and 3, paper tape fromPutney (UK), punch cards, mag tape sorts and disks(known as the washing machine).

I remember many of the old gang, including EricSwinerton and Pat Terry.

Cheers. Grahame Knight (Melbourne).

In a similar vein, David Nowlan also sent GeoffreyHowell a note with the simple but right to the pointmessage So many memories.

Good memories: David Nowlan (right), seen at aMelbourne AllStars function with Anthea Gedge(Morgan-Long), Rick Schoff and David Stafford.

A LEO convocationFrom Ian Ellis

Just for the record, the great LEO 2013 convocation

was held at the North Sydney Rugby Club. And wereliably understand that a similar get together is nowbeing considered for Melbourne.

Jungle tales: Jane Simpson and Roy Bissell swapsome grand yarns from yesteryear.

Two of the mane men: Peter Butler and JoeSamanak looking as cubish as ever.


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

Now what was his name again? Tony Joyce andTony Weber pondering old contacts at the LEOreunion.

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

Having a roaring good time: LEO lunchers JohnSimpson, a fashionably late Neil Lamming and IanEllis.

Seriously though: In deep LEO luncheon thoughtare Gary Preston, John Simpson, Jane Simpson andYue Min Samanak.

Where it all started: An original LEO t he worldsfirst programmable computer used for commercialbusiness applications.

Fishing in JoburgFrom David Godbold in Washington DC

Fishing you say? Not a lot of open water inJohannesburg; were talking a city almost a mile highand many miles from the sea. Several springs, butmostly built over today.

Did you mean phishing? Well, thats gone global, butthats another story. No, this tale has parallels withdecoy boots (for those who have a memory of thisperiodicals edition 16).

Editors note: Indeed, those with the suggested greymatter will recall a much earlier article from Davidwhich talked of our teams 2900 adventures inBougainville. These included trying to deter pettythefts from ones place of residence. A task partlyachieved by leaving, outside the front door, thebiggest, roughest and meanest pair of work boots it
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was possible to acquire. A devilishly clever strategythat often seemed to work.

The order of the boot: David Godbold (front) inBougainville with Chris Jenkinson, Ian Blyth, IanCraig, Rob Hack, Mal Hill, Bob Casey, Mike Lynn andKevin Eickenloff. All with Bougainville Coppers new2900.

I guess it all started one Friday afternoon in Brisbane,

late 1975.

Bob Ajax and I had just returned from one of thosenow forgotten 14 martini lunches. Wed tuckedaway our cheap port in a brown paper bag andstaggered up the SGIO steps to the home of ICL-DS.

The art of (night shift) motorcycle maintenanceclasses on the 11th floor had finished but cleanerswere still swirling tire marks off the linoleum.

In their penguin suits: ICLs once in a whilelunching legend Bob Ajax together with notedbusinessman/entrepreneur Dick Smith, both on routeto Antarctica in 1977.

We were considering approaching Trudi Bogyays stockbroker buds, hoping for some fiscal inspirationfor the coming year, when Sandy Hinshelwood informed us that we would have to smarten up andprepare for a delegation from ICL-DS RSA (Republicof South Africa) led by Richard Cross.

Their interest (apparently) was to compare operatingnotes but think about the date; folks werent exactlybuying LPs in RSA that year.

Try as you may: Sandy Hinshelwood doing his stuffin 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 acttogether, albeit with some distinct regional differences.

One thing we had accomplished in Brisbane was thetransition to George 2+ as the operating system ofchoice. With the assistance of Trevor Davey andGeorge Lucas,Dave Applegate and I had improvedthe performance and run time stability of the batchsuite, meaning fewer late night calls if payroll orbrokers updates went awry.

Awry smile: Dave Applegate in highly effective runtime stability action.

This seemed to be of value to RStJC and associates,so much so that they offered me a role in helpingmigrate all of the RSA DS bureaus to G2+.

This was more than a spiv trip. Brisbane DS wouldbe paid for the service, so Sandy was happy. I toowas motivated by a year in Africa, and therefore asingularly willing participant.


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After transferring the cat to a neighbours charge weleft right after New Years Day 1976 and ended up inan apartment in Hillbrow.

Braamfontein was then the HQ of ICL RSA, close todowntown. And we immersed ourselves in thesurroundings, dirt cheap avocados and good wines.

We had opportunities to travel outside of work, soKenya, Malawi and Rhodesia were soon crossed offthe list.

The G2+ project itself meant that I was movingaround RSA frequently; Cape Town, Durban, Pretoriaand Germiston bureaus were all on the schedule.

Once we had the projects milestones established,folks trained and macros being written, we took aquick trip back to UK, checking in with Putney andother old friends in North Wales (think The Prisoner).

Upon our return to South Africa we moved into ahouse in Randburg with the head of ICLs Dataskilconsulting 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 timeto further explore our surroundings, driving thegarden route from Cape Town to Jo burg via PortElizabeth.

We did this with other ICL colleagues: getting an ICLcompany car stuck in a game park in Swaziland;learning to surf in Durban (with the help of GrahamMail); rebuilding the clutch of my Spitfire in thecorporate car park in Braamfontein (with the help ofCharles Swindell); and in the process addedadditional clients to ICLs G2+ roster.

Anyone for a waltz: David Godbold seen here inVienna with a couple of rather nice wooden doors.

From those prospects and clients came more namesfrom our illustrious past Buster Fabig, who, withBrian McCarthy, was running Foschini in Cape Town.

They, along with George Africa, later came toSydney and built up Dalgety Farmers into a large ICLaccount, owned by Phil Page andBill Leakey.

Taking things into account: Phil Page (centre) seen

here with Val Mickan, Harry Gill, Dennis Rex, NeilLamming, Robyn Hodges and Robert Timms.

In a later year Warren Grace had me assigned toDalgetys as a consultant (sometimes known as aninsultant), yet another watershed moment in my timewith ICL.

I really dont want to do karaoke: Warren Grace(right) with Simon Fowler. The latter, if our memory isnot totally out of kilter, was another ICLer with onetime RSA connections.

Other bureau folk from RDA who shared our love ofcurry also turned up in Oz the following year andcontributed to ICL DS success in Oz.

Such fine folk including Richard St J Cross, JohnWolton and Graham Mail.


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Spicing things up: Curry aficionados Graham Mail(left) and John Wolton (centre) with fellow DS starsGlyn Homer, Brian Exton and Brian Magill. A ValMickan shot from 1977.

OK, now (at long last) to fishing.

Homes in Randburg were typical ranch style withlarge yards. The security situation at the time meanta majority of residences in this suburb had bars on

the windows and most were blessed with live-indomestic staff.

So (despite the pass laws) it wasnt unusual to seenumbers of indigenous folk moving around during theday. Some carried poles on their shoulders.

Why you might ask? Well, windows were often leftopen during the day, but with everyone out and a dogasleep in the yard, a clever angler could cast insidethrough the bars and maybe reel in some valuablesoff a dresser or table within the room. And then offinto the veld

Sad but true; but what an exciting country and what agreat experience that year was. Thank you, RichardCrossfor the opportunity.

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

Huge prize for mates golferFrom John Nash via George Webster

John writes, Rod Rodwell, well known New SouthWales seniors golfer and member of the notorious(ICL) Mates golfing group recently won the StatesSeniors Order of Merit handicap competition at thewell-known Mona Vale course.

Thereby winning the huge sum of $200.

I am sure hell show his appreciation for all thesupport he gets from the Mates when we next meet.

Seriously, major congratulations Rod on a greatperformance against spring chickens as young as amere 55.

Cheers. John.

Par for the course: Rod (right) receiving yet anothergolfing award. In this instance as a victor in asignificant European amateur championship a coupleof years ago.

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


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George 1S and the 1901AFrom Chris Bushell

In our last issue, Duncan MacAuslan had reason tomention the 1901s and their operating systems.Which led the inimitable Chris Bushell to recall .

Reading the reference to George 1S in the last ICLAllStars magazine reminded me of my time at Putneyand one of the two occasions that I nearly got into

serious trouble.

Executive stress: Chris Bushell.

When the 1901A was released, it came with anabsurdly 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 1900swere written. Those for large 1900 were written atWest Gorton where the boxes were built.

I had built up a good rapport with the folk atStevenage. And, as you do, we discussed the 1901Aand realised there was no possibility of putting any ofthe George family into the machine because therewas simply not enough memory.

Well you could have installed it, but there wouldhave been no room for a program to run.

So we came up with the bright idea of writing theGeorge 1 functionality as a set of additional overlaysto the executive. This wasnt too difficult and in amatter of months (nine I think) we had it working.

We then presented it to management as acompleted product whereupon the proverbial hit thefan.

Although everyone realised that it was essential tosales of the 1901A, I had omitted to gain approval forthe project. We just did it as part of the George 1project.

The upside was that it was, I think, the saviour of the1901A and they forgave me. The downside was, asobserved in the last magazine, it ran like a dog andyou could see it thinking.

The other time I got into trouble was when we gavethe source of George 2 to a University and theydiscovered the whole text of Eskimo Nell on the endof the source file. But thats another story.

Hell, of course, is exothermicA note from David Stafford

Reflecting on the item on HellfromDavid Godbold inIssue 32 and the Places to go when you retirefeature fromBi l l Leakey in the edition before that,inspiredDavid Stafford to comment as follows .

Telling them where to go: Bill Leakey (right) withfellow destination expert Peter Springett (plus TonyWeber lurking in the background).As Bill Leakey and Dave Godbold both consideredhell as a destination on their bucket list, they clearlysuspect that hell is exothermic. They now have proof.

This has been provided by a chemistry student whowas set a philosophical question: Is Hell exothermic(gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

The answer by one student was so "profound" thatthe professor shared it with colleagues, via theInternet, which is, of course, why we now have thepleasure of enjoying it as well.

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefsusing Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands andheats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell ischanging in time. So we need to know the rate atwhich souls are moving into Hell and the rate atwhich they are leaving. I think that we can safelyassume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave.Therefore, no souls are leaving.


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Practising for the heat: David Stafford (right) andDavid Jones drive a Melbourne AllStars barbequeback in 2009. Perhaps rehearsing for the future.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look atthe different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not amember of their religion, you will go to Hell. Sincethere is more than one of these religions and sincepeople do not belong to more than one religion, wecan project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expectthe number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume inHell because Boyle's Law states that in order for thetemperature 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 atwhich souls enter Hell, then the temperature andpressure in Hell will increase until all hell breaksloose.

If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increaseof souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressurewill drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresaduring my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day inHell before I sleep with you," and take into accountthe fact that I slept with her last night, then numbertwo must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell isexothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell hasfrozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any moresouls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven,thereby proving the existence of a divine being whichexplains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh myGod."

This student received the only A.

And if ICL had recruited him, VME/K might have beenheaven, rather than the hell it was.

More on those election things

Last time around, we made special mention of thepivotal contribution that ICL had made to ever somany years of election broadcasts by the ABC.

And that has led to a more than solid amount offeedback.

First up, for example, we noted that the electionsincluded those in which Queenslands Joe Bjelke-Peterson and SAs Don Dunstan were returned tooffice.

As some were want to point out, the poll-nighttelevision events were not the only time we wereexposed to such state leaders. As just a couple ofpics from the Ian Richard and Val Mickan archivesdemonstrate.

No pink shorts today: Don Dunstan (second fromleft) in the company of Adelaide CES manager MikeHaines, state manager Harry Gill, the Premiers presssecretary (and later Premier in his own right) MikeRann, ICL director Peter Owens and region DSmanager Brian Calvert.

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


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Waiting for the pumpkin scones: Joe Bjelke-Peterson (second from left), with John Marshall,Brisbane lord mayor Clem Jones and deputy statepremier GW Chalk. Most importantly, thats our ownPhilip Sugden in the background keeping an eagleeye on things. .

Next up, we did indeed mention a lot of people whomade all of our great election efforts happen. And we

then went on to picture most of them. But not so forCanberras John More who remained image-less.

So lets now set that record straight for the one timeScotsman who joined ICL in the UK and worked onoperating system development at Kidsgrove beforemoving down under.

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 ourassociation with elections began as a very successful

publicity exercise indeed, it went on far beyond that.

Over time, the Australian Electoral Office had beenclosely (and flatteringly) looking at what we had beendoing for the ABC. And by the time of the 1975federal elections, they had decided they needed andwanted their own system. One that was very muchalong the lines of ours and which they duly purchasedalong with the necessary terminals.

We carried out the necessary program modifications.And then helped set up the national landline andterminal network that was need to drive everything.

For that 75 election, 100 VDUs throughout Australiawere linked to the system on election night, notablyincluding those provided for the personal use of themajor combatants Gough Whitlam and MalcolmFraser.

Yet again, an impressive cast of ICLers madeeverything work perfectly. Some of who are capturedin the central tally room in these shots from thearchive.

Putting in a liberal dose of hard labor: Top fromleft Barry Ross, Alan Webster, Phil Jeffreys andLawrie Preston. Bottom from left Jeff Allen, MikeHaines 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 togetherin the most diverse of worldwide locales.

Most regrettably, rattie-in-exile, the UK based MikeBenton, has, it seems, elected to go on his ownsweet Spanish way.

Without fellow ruminants. And rather with thequestionable company of some old chums from BigBlue who were meeting for their own latest reunion.MB, of course, having had a stint with that particularIT firm.


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The friends, in question, were MB work colleaguesfrom the time our man worked with IBM in EndicottUSA. Circa 1970 so we gather.

Crossing to the dark side: Mike Benton (right) withValencian friends of an IBM persuasion. And withapologies to all our Starwars fans.

Notes Mike: We gathered in Valencia and were allvery impressed with the city, its most wonderfularchitecture and excellent food.

Some time ago now, the locales troublesome riverwas diverted around the city and the riverbed hassubsequently been filled with an art centre, museumsand so on, plus sport facilities, gardens and cycletracks.

Importantly, the weather was warm and dry. Quiteunlike what I had happily left behind in England.

Love to you all. Mike

Keeping him in the picture: Fellow Ratties, SeanFerguson, Mike Beilby, Pam Garnsey and RodRodwell convene with a photo of Mike Benton. Suchis tradition.

Speaking of Mike, we are delighted to note that hislong time enthusiasm for sailing is still very muchalive and well.

And not just in the form of those model sailing craftthat several of our editions in the past have picturedhim competitively racing.

Indeed, at about the time this issue hits the streets,MB has been crewing on a Halberg Rassy 40, as ithas been working up for a cruise to much fartherafield.

The yacht belongs to a mate of Mikes and thefollowing pic shows our intrepid helmsman on thefamed 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 20knot south-westerly.

While for the befit of those Victorian sailingaficionados, such as Bill Chalkley,Mike noted that Idid have my Blairgowrie hat on shortly before thispicture was taken but it got a bit gusty.

Boom times: Mike Benton enjoying the mighty

conditions on The Solent.

Chinese down South Adelaide

With Raf Dua in Adelaide on project managementassignment (see Issue 32), it was more thanappropriate to once again orchestrate a selectgathering of some of the AllStars SA corps.

Somewhat surprisingly, the crow eaters eschewedtheir more usual meeting place this time around.Electing instead to dine at Ky Chow a Chineserestaurant in the Citys noted central markets precinct.

A great choice, recommended by Chris Bushell, thatpresented super food and extraordinary good value.

Aside, that is, from the vegetables with tofu dishadded to the communal order by John Holden. AsJH noted, what was actually served was a veritablemountain of the bean curd stuff with the most modestsuggestion of added veggies possible.

Still, as he was about to head off to Indias Kashmirregion for a walking holiday, the healthy nature of theselected fare was probably something of a plus.


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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 coincidencethat most of those present are avid fans of shankspony perambulation.

Chris B, for example, has long pursued the pastimeand 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, forthose with some knowledge of the area, we note itpasses through spots such as Monarto, MountBeaver, Springtown and Truro.

As Chris explains, getting such a trail in place is notquite as difficult as some might imagine. Providedyou start off with the right sort of maps.

In South Australia, for instance, there are any numberof theoretical or virtual roads all over the State. The

land has been historically allocated, but no roadworkshave ever been actually built.

That said, the designated tracts can be used to set upwalking trails. Provided, of course, you have therather special maps that enable you to find out wherein 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 afar better option than that presented by those virtualrights 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 themasterful trek that follows the Great Coast Road. Andon an international bent, swapping notes with fellow-ICL-hoofers on the great trails in Wales, Scotland andparticularly France.

Always the salesman, Geoff R firmly believes thatwalking trails have the potential to become a majortourist attraction for the State. Provided they areproperly and potently promoted.

And those that know him, might well suggest that GRwould be just the person to do just that. He has an

enviable reputation for sales and marketingchallenges and a great passion for developing newbusiness opportunities.

He did, of course, work for ICL in two distinct stints.With the likes of sales supremo Harry Gill,ashis firstever manager, and then the maestro that was andstill is Gil Thew. It was then on to Tandem (alongwith the likes of Dean Littlefield), to Aspect (withDagmar Egen) and thence to Fujitsu.

One aspect of IT: The notable Dagmar Egen.

Now the point is: A demonstrable Dean Littlefield.

Walking the walk: Geoff Ridings (right) and GeoffSandell.


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Yet another AllStars clansman who loves being onhis feet is bush walking and camping aficionadoGeoff Sandell.

Coming to Adelaide with ICL in 1983, GS went on tosubsequently establish his own IT recruitmentbusiness known as The Tennyson Group.

Some three years ago, this extremely successfulventure was bought out. And while always eager tobe in the business driving seat, GS humorously notes

that right now he is rather in-between doing nothing.

Gatherings, such as Adelaides, inevitably bring aboutsome real old time memory dumps.

With Raf present, PERT was predictably on theagenda. But while no one disputes he certainlyworked on the development of our first version of thissoftware in 1956 and for virtually every hardwareoption ever since the jury is still out on whether ornot his services were ever needed at our SoftwareDevelopment Centre at The Levels.

On the yes side of the debate are those whosuggest that the SDC would sometimes need a littlehelp in keeping projects on track.

Those supporting the no case stridently argue thatsuch a state of affairs never would never and didnever arise.

And, incidentally, those ancient manuals that our lastissue mentioned Raf had sent off to the Flossieproject in the UK were for 1301 PERT and of a1960/61 vintage.

Rif Raf: (Or at least thats how one of the Geoffssummed up the recent Adelaide gathering). The Rafpart 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 buta few early western IT specialists to have visited theMiddle Kingdom on business. He travelled there as

part of a UK Government initiative that ICL activelysupported. And, among other things, gave a majorpresentation entitled Application of computers forthe planning, scheduling and control of large complexprojects at the British Industrial TechnologyExhibition.

Thoughts of Chairman Raf: RD (right) in Beijing in1973 along with two ICL UK colleagues and BillJackson (left) our far east region general manager atthe time.

What the deuceA note from David Lee

David Lee dropped us a note to say: Thank you forthe ICL All Stars newsletter and none the least theMay 2013 edition.

I was one of the ICL backroomboys, who worked atthe ICL Software Development Centre to the north ofAdelaide in the early 1970s and who only relatively*recently were acknowledged in the pages of the ICLAll Stars newsletter (* yes, an adverb can describe anadverb).

I was especially interested in the item from DickSudweeks, who told, among other things, of his timeas a programmer at the Marconi ResearchLaboratories in Essex, UK, from 1961.

Dick developed software for the TAC computer andalso programmed the English Electric Deuce system,

installed in 1959.

Now, as it happened, I was the maintenanceengineer for that Deuce from 1959 to 1964 when Imigrated with my family to Australia.

The name Dick Sudweeks sounds familiar, but I nowcannot put a face to the name. He refers to the tinymachine with its 380 32bit words of RAM, althoughphysically it stood 15ft long x 6ft wide x 7ft tall.

When Dick referred to the mean time betweenfailures (hardware failures I assume) being about 30


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minuteshe was probably remembering a particularlybad day, because generally the Deuce ran all daywithout problem.

Inside running: David Lee (left), with computermanager Geoff Wardell, in front of the magnetic drumbackup storage bay of the Marconi Deuce.

Perhaps Dick might remember us from thisphotograph. Regards. David Lee, Athelstone, SATiptoe down memory laneSome Ros Johnson pics

Ros Johnson, a great one-time member of our NorthRyde based retail team, has been trawling throughher 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 inquestion were taken at a Fujitsu foundation daygathering around about 1993. And also that all of thesubjects were all ICLers who had moved to Fuj.

But then things all get a tad puzzling. As far as wecan work out, the AllStars contingent opted forCleopatra-style attire (with suitable Romanaccessories) on the day. As you do.

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

But why this was so and what their non-ICLcolleagues wore remains a mystery. But no matter.

And indeed, as Ros notes: In those days we knewhow to have fun.

Incidentally, RJ remains with Fujitsu and is currentlytheir northern region deployment manager.

OK, so what about some close-ups. Well here goes.

One of his many big fans: The ever popular TonyWebb. Affecting a charming little temple goddessnumber. Tone suggest that white is the new black bythe way.

Next time Ill wear a calf length number: PeterWilliams, Peter Seymour and a forgotten name withone of the three, at least, having serious concernsabout the updraft. .


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Wits endFrom John Haug

A man is lying quietly in bed reading when his wifelooks 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..."

Dont miss the ever so fantasticQueensland AllStars 2013 lunch

First up the key details: The date is Thursday 12th

September at 12:00pm for 12:30pm and the venueis the Royal Exchange Hotel Toowong.

An exchange of ideas: The RE.

Yes, its all booked. So you will soon be able to enjoyyour 2013 AllStars spring lunch in the private bar ofone 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 historyand a Brisbane institution since 1876.

If, perchance, you went to the Uni of Queensland,then the chances are that you knew it well, probablybefore its restoration.

Any newbies will find The Royal Exchange acrossthe road from the Toowong railway station and thedominant, glass-clad tower of the Toowong Villageshopping centre. (Or to be even more specific, theRE 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 QueenslandAllStars organising committee seen here along withIan Bone (left) at an earlier sunshine state luncheon.

On the 12th wed love you to come enjoy theambience either for the first time, or once again.

Choose the REs famous $10 lunch or go with theirvery reasonably priced a-la-carte menu. Andcomplement your meal with a selection from thepubs fine range of beers, ciders and wines.

Getting there and home again is a breeze.

The Toowong Tower has ample and free undercoverparking (OK so its a four hour limit if you are thinkingof settling in). While the railway station is under thetower, the bus terminal right next to it and City CatFerries 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 anymissing AllStars that spring to mind that they too areinvited.

To help our arrangements sing, please RSVP toGraham Palmeremail [email protected].

Cookham and all thatFrom David Stafford

You may have seen reference in another article toLeakey Bill. (Editors note: Bil l Leakey of course).

Now as it happened, Bill and I were on the same ICTtraining course in 1961, learning about rolling totaltabulators, plugged board calculators, 65 column-interstage and many other great technical advances.
http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thefotofanatic.com/Photography/Forums/Your-Brisbane-Past-and-Present/brisproj-321/769803399_AWMXW-X2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.yourbrisbanepastandpresent.com/2010/03/royal-exchange-hotel-toowong.html&h=720&w=1280&sz=281&tbnid=nSE1RjmUkYMBcM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=117&prev=/search?q=royal+exchange+hotel+photos&tbm=isch&tbo=u&zoom=1&q=royal+exchange+hotel+photos&usg=__RoLoBBUkN27o0Qsz5ACQKi7tD9A=&docid=f4LN24NKIhgSCM&sa=X&ei=BgqLUY-ZMMu8iAeiqICwAQ&ved=0CE8Q9QEwCg&dur=2901


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We prepared these a little earlier: Some rathermore (unflattering) historical shots of a hatted DavidStafford (left) anda fringe-inspiredBill Leakey.

Bill had a Sunbeam Alpine, whose role in life was toadd sex appeal, get him back to the bright lights ofLondon at high speed (very high speed) and act asour booze bus.

Once in a blue sunbeam: What we gather to be theone-time and rakish Leakey Alpine.

This entailed driving us from our luxury digs at MoorHall round the many pubs in Cookham such as TheBell & The Dragon, The Crownand The Ferry.

Bitter memories: The Ferry: one of Cookhams finelocals.

Even a half in each of the 12 pubs was a strain onthe bladder (especially Bills). Hence the aphorism atthe start of this yarn.

Moor or less: Moor Hall. An ICL training venueknown 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 asthe newly-appointed sales manager.

Complete with plummy English accent and bow-tie,he announced that he was in Australia to tighten upthe sales management - even changing names of keypeople to Bill Watertight, David Cheapman.

Until he revealed his true identity at the end, most inthe audience were totally taken-in and dumbstruck.

Just checking your real name mate: GeoffreyHowell (right) checks out whether this really is DavidDearman (another David Stafford changed-nametarget).

Retail detail

In a couple of recent AllStars issues weve had greatpleasure in featuring some pics of our one time retailgirls. Part of the sometimes North Ryde based teamthat helped drive our successes to that selling sector.


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Along the way, team member Lynda Tate also sentus some brief notes on the photographed subjects.So lets catch up with those right now.

But first one of the original group photographs takenat a 2012 Christmas get together.

Secret retail business: From left we see LouiseRock, Stephanie Lee, Ros Johnson, Jenny Brundle,Lynda Tate and Yvonne Bulluss. Noting that HweeLim was behind the camera taking the shot.

So as far as some personal details go, we note thatJenny Brundle was with the old firm from 1989through to 1995. All of that time spent at North Rydeand with her main work spanning retail client supportand projects.

Back then, of course, she was better known asJenny Bourke. A state of affairs that continued untilshe met one Bob Brundle and married in 1992.

She pretty much parted ways with us when son Liamwas born. But, for a while, went on to work withLynda at Chatswood.

Right now, you could count on finding Stephanie Leeat NCR who she joined in 1998.

Eight years before that, shed signed on with the ICLretail gang at Hotham Parade in Artarmon before thatstellar group moved to Lane Cove Road North Ryde.

For the record, we gather that most of Stephaniestime with us was spent working with 9520 TeamPOS and Storemaster in the IGA space and forspecialty retailers. Which we are sure means a heckof a lot to the retail cognoscenti. It was then ISS400and ISS60 at Woolworths, before a short stint on

Health.

Louise Rock started with ICL in 1989 and, likeStephanie, worked with the retail team at Artarmonbefore heading off to North Ryde.

Over the years she worked on projects for us at theDepartment of Health and the New South WalesPolice. And, just for the record, she still contracts forFujitsu.

According to Yvonne Bulluss, her history at ICL isvery straight forward. She joined us in 78, and

scored the location trifecta having been progressivelybased in North Sydney, Frenchs Forest and NorthRyde.

But thats not to forget that Yvonne also worked for usfor extended periods in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth,Hobart, Launceston and Singapore. And for someshorter periods in Auckland, South Africa, Nigeria andthe 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 aprogrammer, a product specialist, in training, as abusiness analyst and also as a project manager.

From 1998, for a decade and a bit, Yvonne starred asan IT contractor, working with such well-knownentities as Franklins, Woolworths, Retalix and ObjectConsulting.

And right now? Well in her own words, Yvonnereports that shes happily retired, travelling a heck ofa lot and generally enjoying life.Currentlyat Fujitsu as its manager of northern regiondeployment, Ros Johnson started DataChecker in1989 at Artarmon and, like so many others, moved toour new North Ryde centre in 1990.

Which, dear reader, is about all our intrepid reporterwas able to glean about the life and times of RJ.Perhaps one of her colleagues can help by spilling afew more beans.

North Sydney was also the ICL locale that firstintroduced us to Lynda Tate.

She came on board there in 1980 when she recallsshe first met Yvonne and where both workedbrilliantly as business analysts.

It was then a transfer to ICL Brisbane which saw herdeparture in 83 to have her daughter.

In 1990, it was then back to ICL and the start of anextended gig with our retail group. Which, a yearlater, 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 andoffice systems throughout Australia.

But in 1997, it was then a move to Fujs InternationalSupport & Development (IS&D) team along withJohn Watson. First up this was as a principalconsultant, but with a major management rolefollowing on but two years later.

Lynda is, indeed, still with IS&D having had theopportunity to travel extensively to Japan and otherparts of Asia over what has now been a quiteremarkable 16 years.


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Retailers one and all: Jim Tully (who we recall was

also part of the retail group for a while), Hwee Limand John Watson, the man that ever so magicallyworked on our massive Woolworths account.

Last, but certainly not least, is a note or two on HweeLim, who also boasts a rather international careerwith ICL.

She joined us in Singapore during 1984. Two yearslater she was seconded to Bracknell. While, in 86, itwas North Sydney that was graced with herpresence, at 98 Walker Street to be precise.

Next was North Ryde, although in 95 Hwee left usonly to return to the fold a year later as an ITcontractor.

A role in which she continued until around the 2003mark after which she joined Jim Tully at ObjectComputing.

But back to Bill

Also on matters of a UK and Bill Leakey bent, we arerather chuffed that the latter has sent us the followingpics of the old ICL International Division precinct inPutney, right there on the banks of the Thames.

Not all is the same of course. But delectably, somethings never change.

For whom the bells toll: At least some Putney iconsare still prospering. Bill making a more thanmandatory visit to one of ICLs favourite Putneywatering holes.

Now with added balconies: Bill and what was onceknown as ICL Bridge House South. Now a PremierInns establishment.

Confusion reigns supreme: MaryAnne Leightonpictured, as we recall, when she was on assignmentto S&TS in the UK. And for the record, BHS was

actually on the north side of the Thames. It wasmerely down the road a modicum from ICLs BridgeHouse North. On the south side of the river it was ICLHouse that youd find. And some of us wonder whyVME was so confusing.

Now that was a mining boomTales from the wild west

With all of the talk in recent times about theAustralian mining and resources boom (and itscurrent slowing down), some are apt to forget about


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the huge level of activity in the sector that happenedseveral 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 fortoo long if you have the pleasure of running into WA-based Clive Davies. An engineer byboth choice andtraining, Clive was part of our rather wild Perth DSteam from 1975 through to 1979.

Memory mining: Clive (left) in Adelaide recently onrailway upgrade business with Raf Dua, similarly thefestival city for his new Adelaide hospital projectmanagement work. Grabbing a quick bite at The StagHotel, where parents are warned that unattendedchildren will be given an espresso and a free kitten.

At that time, names such as the North West Shelf,Burmah Oil, Woodside, Gorcon, RTZ andHammersley among many others, were all suddenlybecoming identities that everyone seemed to know.

All were having to process massive amounts ofexploration data. Some of this being aerially loggedby planes patiently traversing the state. And othersfrom the plethora of exploration wells being drilled allover the placeboth onshore and offshore.

Making sense of all of this input called for some prettyserious IT grunt and a lot of smarts. And in prettymuch 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 fairlyaimlessly standing around the DS plotter as it spewed

out line after line of fairly tedious and uneventfulmaterial. The users view being that this was prettymuch all hed expect to see.

Then suddenly there was a massive and repetitivespike in the data being meticulously presented.

We asked what that was likely to be and thesuggestion was that the geological nature of the areain question could make diamonds a likely possibility.

So there was ICL right there when Argyl DiamondMine was about to be born.

And it was pretty much the same with Grocon addsClive.

But while it was processing and presenting a neverending stream of complex information, ICL was alsoall about devising highly creative solutions forsingularly demanding problems.

Take the analysis of drill holes. Or dip-tapes as thework is called we seem to remember.

Bores can obviously be sunk thousands of feet, withreadings being taken all the way down as workprogresses. All of this being converted into usefulanalysis that shows exactly whats happening at aprecise x, y and z coordinated spot.

But what happens when you have drilled forsomething like 5,000 feet, but it seems you have onlygone down 3-4,000?

Something has obviously gone off at an angle. Andso you have the good news that that your bore hasdetected gas (say), but the bad news is that you have

no certainty where the bit actually is. At least with anysensible and demanded degree of precision.

But for the ICL guys, solving this was simply a matterof some solid engineering logic. Thinking that saidwe seem to have collected all the data we actuallyneed. Its just needs some smick analysis to make itusable.

In this case, it took us about 20 to 30 minutes todesign and write a special program and the problemwas resolved.

Resolved to the extent that the routine then travelledaround the world solving similar problems for others.

And when there was a major problem in a Brunei gasand oil field, the self-same ICL routine was used todetect exactly where the problem lay so the borecould be plugged. And what about a full 30 yearslater with a like issue on the northwest shelf. Thesame ICL program technique again resolved it all.

What Clive stresses, of course, was that this can-doapproach and our huge success was all about ouramazing people.

It was one hell of team he notes, but cites MarioDAlessandroas but one example.

Id come up with a rather extreme demand andsuggest to him it would be great to have things fixedby lunchtime tomorrow. Although breakfast timewould be even better.

Hed mumble this and grumble that and throw in afew serious expletives. But sure enough, by the nextmorning hed have come up with the goods. Time andtime again.


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You want it when? Mario DAlessandro (secondfrom right) seen with Trevor Street, Fred Allen andRob Hack. A Val Mickan pic.

Creative thinking also came into play as WA DSneeded an ever growing range of IT resources tokeep up with customer demand.

There was, for instance, the saga of the special and

rather costly flat-bed plotter (a Xynetics device wesort of recollect). This was exactly what was needed.The only problem being that capital expenditureapproval was not forthcoming.

But the lord (and DS) do indeed work in mysteriousways and said device just seemed to turn upsomehow. Fortunately it paid for itself in pretty nearrecord time. But it did little to dampen the perceptionof just how wild the west could be.

Sometimes thought of as a bunch of cowboys:Some of ICLs WA team. Peter Garnham, statemanager Warren Grace, John Baistor, Dave Varey,Rick Gallagher and Gary Hooley. Our Val Mickan fileshot taken to celebrating the announcement ofanother major order from Burmah Oil. An Ian Richardphoto.

Much the same sort of approach was taken when theamount of processing time needed for our miningwork far exceeded what was available on the Perthmachine.

Again no problem. Use dial up lines to jump onto themachine at ICL Stafford in the UK, whenever one feltlike it, or to somewhere else in Australia.

It was sort of like Western Australias early version ofthe web. Although the phone bills were said to be tadsteep. And certainly not forgetting Clive Davies trialof all of this from a pay-phone box on GeorgesTerrace.

Well I think its a miracle: celebrating the mystical arrivalof that Xynetics plotter are Jim Paice, Carlos Pena, Noel

Fogarty and Mario (once again). From the Ian Richardarchives.

Vale Jerry M

Pretty much as we were preparing to go to press, welearnt of the very sudden and unexpected death ofthe inimitableJerry Montgomery.

Well present an apposite review of the brilliant,eclectic, delicious and often highly humorous life andtimes of JM in our next issue. Such reflectionscourtesy of such luminaries as Jim Tully, MikeBenton, Neil Lamming andRod Rodwell.

But in the meantime, just a poignant couple ofpassing reflections on Jerry, one or two happy snapsand the recording of our love and sympathies to hislong term partner, friend and colleague PamGarnsey.

Greater than the sum of the parts: Jerry, Pam andMike Benton. As Mike so aptly puts it: with Pam andJerry it was a classic case of one plus one equalsthree. A Mike Benton pic.


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And speaking of parts, Jerry had many. No, makethat an absolute heap.

Indeed, as Rod Rodwell points out: He excelled atsuch a wide and diverse variety of things includingbeing the only person I know to have driven abulldozer in Greenland. As you do.

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 couldnot be done.

The impossible is easy its just miracles thattake a little longer: Jerry, Jim Tully and DaveWatkins.

Reflections on Jerrys ICL career naturally spend a lotof 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 thecustomer what they were going to get and then damnwell deliver it.Integrity became fundamental to the way we didbusiness and the professionalism of all involved waslifted in an enduring manner.

Delivering what people expected didnt, however,extend to the kitchen. Because here, our matescooking skills meant he always out-performed anddangerously exceeded all expectations.

A matter of taste: Jerry about to knock up a littleduck a lorange in Paris if our photo library memoryserves us well.

As Neil Lamming recollects, for instance: there wasa time when we decided that our Australianmanagement team should have lunch together in theoffice once a month. An initiative to help build teamspirit and to aid communication across the divisions.

Each manager took turns to take responsibility forthe lunch. Some did sandwiches, some take away.

Jerry, on the other hand, personally cooked a greatspread with a distinctly American flavour. I particularlyrecall experiencing pumpkin pie for the first time inmy life. And it was an introduction to his enormousculinary skills for which he became so very wellknown.

Incidentally, Pam records that she is still receivingemails, cards and flowers from ICLers all over theworld.

I am so grateful to all who have contacted me,passed on the word to others and who turned up inunexpected numbers to the funeral. Please will youadd a note in the magazine to thank them?

Hidden artistic talents withinAllStarsranksFrom Anthea Vitarelli (Saint James)

As retirement allows us to take life at a more

moderate pace, inevitably we reflect on what isimportant in our leisurely years and what we shouldfocus on.

Collecting art has always been a passion of mine andnow I am no longer time poor (assuming I am nowtime rich?) I am able to devote myself to this pursuit.

Art collecting has always been common among thewealthy. And many say that it developed, in itsmodern form, during the Renaissance where itcontinues to the present day.


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The tastes and habits of collectors have played animportant part in determining what art was producedand thats certainly the basis my favourite piece ofICL inspired creativity.

Although not directly commissioned, it was presentedto me as a gift. It has been treasured over thedecades as a very special, unique piece reflecting thetechnical skills required during the 1980s it wasbased on an essential tool of trade for any aspiringprogrammer.

I am looking to have this work of art valued for itsinvestment potential.

In the frame: Anthea in acquisitive mode.

The inspired artist of this piece cleverly managed tocombine functionality, aesthetic appeal, wit andhumour in this masterpiece whilst staying true to themeanings.

My heartfelt thanks to Dave (Picasso) Jones.

An impressionist, a cubist and a fauvist walk intoa bar David Jones, Ron Fitzpatrick and RogerSteel at an AllStars hotel luncheon in Melbourne acouple of years back.

Our art cr i tic comm ents: The work noted by Antheawas taken from Jones nave period in which hisfocus on social commentary far exceeded his interestin a palette of rich colour.

The sometimes enigmatic opus was all crafted on theback 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 poignantreflection on the mores of everyday life.

Art in all shapes: Part of the inspirational Jonesmasterpiece.

Thats all folks

Well thats another AllStars edition done anddusted. Our sincere thanks to all our manycontributors who are drawn from an ever

increasing range of locations.

But now, of course, we have to start thinking of ournext issue. And to prevent that being a ratheruninspiring collection of mostly blank pages, we reallydo need your help.

Wed love to hear from you with reflections on thepast, observations on the present and plans for thefuture. Long tales are super. But so too are briefcomments and one or two lines of feedback.

So hope to hear from you soon.


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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 wedid 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 enhancementsfrom mining company Nabalco, retailer Woolworths, auto parts and accessories supplier Bennett & Wood, foodproducts 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, ChrisHowells, 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,

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