Queensland personalities recall the moon landing
Humankind’s first landing on the Moon in 1969 was unforgettable. As we approach its 50th anniversary, some Queensland personalities share their memories of the big event
Opinion
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Former Lord Mayor of Brisbane - Sallyanne Atkinson
We were in Edinburgh and we just got a TV. I had three small children and it was one of the first things I saw on it. I remember being very excited hearing that famous quote and thinking it was marvellous – that was the journalist in me. All my life growing up we had spoken about this great myth of the man on the Moon, and then it actually happened. We fully expected people to be settling on the Moon shortly after.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology - Karen Andrews
I was totally in awe at what was happening on the screen and kept thinking how amazing it must feel to be there and how I wished it was me. My parents encouraged my interest in space and my Dad used to buy my sister and I cardboard models of the Apollo spacecraft to make. The excitement around the Apollo missions is part of what I think inspired me to become an engineer, before I got into politics.
Former Queensland Minister - Henry Palaszczuk
We arranged for a number of 21-inch TVs – which was a big TV in those days – in the school (where I taught Year 3) because we had about 1000 students there. Then when the live telecast started all the students and teachers watched the Moon landing. I thought to myself ‘I’m part of history’. Watching Armstrong coming down those three steps and the on to the Moon, we were all aghast thinking that he might sink into the surface of the Moon but it didn’t happen.
Courier-Mail Arts Editor - Phil Brown
It was a hot, humid Hong Kong summer and we were sweating through our last months in Hong Kong. We had lived there for nearly seven years and would soon emigrate back to Australia. We had the television on in our loungeroom in Kowloon Tong all that day. We were playing in the yard, waiting for them to land, and then my parents called us all in as they were nearing the Moon and, quaffing soft drink, we watched the landing in grainy black and white in sheer amazement.
Television Broadcaster Kay McGrath
I was 13 years old and back then, like a lot of teenagers, I thought the universe revolved around me!
We were sent home from school to watch history unfold on the black and white televisions most families had.
Following the landing, there was plenty of talk about how brave the astronauts must have been and there was no shortage of school assignments on the subject!
Fashion Presenter and Stylist - Dianne Cant
At the time, I was aged 25, married to John Cant (luxury car dealer) and we had two children under five. I remember well John and I being so excited, glued to the TV, and gobsmacked by the fact it had really happened. We remembered the words of US President John F Kennedy: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” What an inspiring President. And what brave, brilliant people who worked on this mission.
Queensland’s leading jockey - Jeff Lloyd
I was not quite eight years old at the time and living in Epping, just outside London. I remember it very clearly. My family had followed the Moon mission for a long time and we watched the big event on our little black and white TV. The build-up was very exciting and no one really knew what to expect as Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. But as a little boy I could only wonder why he was just floating around in his space suit and not able to walk properly.
Jeff Horn’s Boxing Trainer - Glenn Rushton
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in Grade 7 at Currajong State School in Townsville. We were all sitting on the floor and the teachers brought a black and white TV into the room. It was around lunchtime but there was no more schoolwork after that. We were all in awe, as though the future had arrived in this huge rush. We were all shocked it had actually happened and when we went outside we were all looking up at the Moon and saying ‘Wow, there are men walking on that up there.’
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