1. Waiting for the proceedings to start.
Note the blue cans of Aerogard insect repellent! The Collimation Tower clearing is visible at centre on the ridge. So is the cherrypicker which will be used to afford guests a bird’s eye view of the site.
Honeysuckle Creek Opening Day - photos by Martin Geasley
with very special thanks to, and in memory of,
Martin Geasley (1930 – 2008)
Martin scanned his slides for us in April 2006.
In 2020, Bec Bigg-Wither contacted Martin’s daughter, Trish O’Neil, to borrow the slides
with a view to re-scanning them with the latest equipment.
Very special thanks to Bec and Trish!
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1. Waiting for the proceedings to start. Note the blue cans of Aerogard insect repellent! The Collimation Tower clearing is visible at centre on the ridge. So is the cherrypicker which will be used to afford guests a bird’s eye view of the site. |
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1a. Ginette Geasley and Liz Lee chat while waiting for the proceedings to start. (Betty Saxon is facing the camera.) Dead Man’s Hill is in the background. |
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5a. Station Director Bryan Lowe (at left) and Dr. Robert Seamans wait fro the Prime Minister to arrive. |
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4. Prime Minister Harold Holt and his wife, Dame Zara, walk from their Bentley up the hill towards the antenna. The PM’s Press Secretary, Tony Eggleton, is at right. |
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5. Introductions. Senator Denham Henty (Minister for Supply) stands behind the Prime Minister, facing the camera. |
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6. The Duntroon Military Band plays. Honeysuckle’s Ron Hicks, with camera at the ready, is in the middle distance at right. |
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7. The band plays as the invited guests wait for proceedings to start. |
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9-2. Proceedings are about to start. |
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9. Prime Minister Harold Holt speaks. |
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9-1. Dr Seamans speaks. |
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10. Dr Seamans presents the Prime Minister with a model of the Apollo spacecraft. Hamish Lindsay is standing at right with his camera. (Older scan.) |
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10a. The crowd is dwarfed by the 85 foot antenna. |
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15. Christopher Kraft Jr, Assistant Director for Flight Operations – and later Apollo Flight Director (facing camera) and Willson Hunter, NASA Senior Scientific Representative to Australia (back to camera) on the cherrypicker. |
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16. John Saxon films the ride in the cherrypicker with his Super 8 movie camera. Ginette Geasley is in the middle and Betty Saxon at left. |
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17. Up they go! |
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18. There they are, in the cherrypicker at full extension. |
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19. Marquees erected for the luncheon. |
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20. Ginette Geasley. |
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21. The Lees chat with the Westbrooks. L-R: (Standing) Ken Lee, Kevyn Westbrook. (Seated) Joan Westbrook, Liz Lee. Wes Moon is outside, on the right. The Gemini X capsule is in the background. |
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22. John and Betty Saxon. |
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23. The Gemini X capsule on display. |
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3. Dr. Robert Seamans, Associate Administrator of NASA, farewells the Prime Minister. |
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2. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt leaves in his Bentley. The PM’s Press Secretary, Tony Eggleton, is in the front seat. |
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24. The Honeysuckle Antenna at stow. |
Slides by Martin Geasley, scanned by Bec Bigg-Wither,
some minor
photo restoration by Colin Mackellar.