Moon landing: Aussie stars share memories
As the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing approaches, Australian celebrities look back on the jaw-dropping moment when they witnessed history in the making.
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It will go down as the one time in history that the Moon totally eclipsed even the brightest stars on earth.
Politicians, sporting greats, actors and musicians from around the world were among the throngs who gathered, glued to black and white television sets, hoping for a glimpse of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they stepped onto the Moon.
In the US they watched the lunar landing and moon walk on July 20, but on the east coast of Australia we saw the space capsule touch down at 6.17am on the morning of July 21 and Neil Armstrong step on to the moon’s surface at 12.56pm that afternoon.
Movie star Sam Neill, who years later was to star in a quirky classic about the moon mission, watched the landing of Apollo 11 with his fellow students at university in NZ.
“We watched it with our jaws on the floor,” he recalls.
“I really don’t think there has been anything since then that even comes close to it. I cannot believe it happened so long ago and that it was possible to have achieved such a thing. What a brave and imaginative thing to do!
“Nothing since has really captured people’s imaginations like that.
“And what have we achieved since then? The internet and the creation of Twitter?”
Neill went on to star in The Dish, a playful account of Australia’s role in helping to televise the space mission to the world.
“I have such fond memories of making that film,” Neill says.
“It has become a film that people still take to this day because it is so gentle and wry and well, iconic, I guess.”
Gold Logie winner Denise Drysdale was at a bar in Saigon having just finished entertaining Australian troops in Vietnam.
Over a scotch and coke and a bowl of fried rice, Drysdale and her fellow entertainers watched Armstrong take his giant leap for mankind.
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett was doing his own tour of duty when the milestone took place. Having spent three weeks leading his troops on exercises in the Malay jungles, Kennett secured access to a television from one of the local rubber plantation owners for his 30-strong group of soldiers.
They were joined in a makeshift screening room in an outdoor shed by the Indian plantation
workers.
“The workers had gone home and showered, and I remember the women were all dressed in these beautiful coloured saris and the men were all neat and tidy,” he says.
“We, however, were filthy, dirty and smelly after spending three weeks in the jungle. So here we were together to watch this moment. The moment was significant for us because we saw Armstrong step on the moon for the first time but for the workers it would be their first time ever watching TV. Such a profound contradiction in experiences. It was an experience ever embedded in my memory.”
Journalist Kerry O’Brien was in a Sydney mall with his young family when he stopped short in front of a TV with other shoppers.
“I was utterly riveted as Armstrong walked slowly down the steps of the moon landing capsule and stood on the moon’s dusty surface,” O’Brien remembers. “It wasn’t just the landing itself, but the fact that we were witnessing it as it happened. If ever there was a window into the future, that was it.”
Former Blue Heelers star John Wood was in his second year at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) and watched events unfold at a student’s share house.
“My memory of the landing is very hazy because the TV pictures were really atrocious and I suspect the aerial was pretty crook,” he said.
“But we did see it live and were suitably elevated by it.”
Bert Newton was preparing to film In Melbourne Tonight at Puckapunyal army base when Armstrong took that famous “small step for a man”.
Newton — who has long endured the nickname Moonface — recalls gathering alongside hundreds of soldiers to watch the grainy images.
And, later that night, when IMT went to air, the moon landing was still the talk of the town with the presenter’s famous nickname giving him plenty of comedy material to entertain the troops and viewers at home.
Marcia Hines celebrated her 16th birthday on the day man landed on the moon. Celebrations were put on hold so that her family could gather around the TV to watch events unfold in outer space.
“The only way I can describe that moment is surreal. It was really the first time there was any real awareness about people leaving the planet let alone landing on the moon,” she said.
Footy Show star Sam Newman watched it in a typically Australian style, over beers at the pub with his teammates.
While the counter meal was mostly forgettable, the sight of one of history’s greatest moments lingers with Newman to this day.
“I seem to recall it was a Monday, so a quiet day pub-wise, and some of my Geelong teammates were present as the hotel is adjacent to the GFC,” he says.
“Standard fare was on offer _steak and two veg _ and we toasted the event with a couple of jars.”
John-Michael Howson was in the make-up chair getting his face painted for his role as a clown in Adventure Island when the historic moment took place.
“The cast and crew gave out a big cheer when Armstrong set foot on the moon and I couldn’t help but think that all the Buck Rogers serials I had watched as a kid at Saturday matinees were coming true,” he said.
“I remember going home and watching a repeat with my grandmother who was born before there was any electricity in houses or cars on the road. Amazing!”
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