In the early 1950s, New Lambton's David Stuart was reading the Newcastle Herald at the kitchen table while his mother was peeling beans and shelling peas.
"An article about the Japanese submarine attack in 1942 caught my attention and I asked mum if she remembered it," said David, who was 10 at the time.
"She stopped what she was doing and her expression changed to a look of anger and frustration.
"She said that on that day my eldest brother John, who would have been about nine at the time, was at nearby Merewether Beach with a friend when they saw something reflecting the sunlight, out to sea.
"However they couldn't see any object near the reflection, so his friend went back to his house to get his father's binoculars."
Through the binoculars, they thought they saw something similar to a periscope.
"When John came home, he told mum about it but she assumed that they were mistaken. Later, she decided to advise Fort Scratchley just in case," David said.
She phoned and asked for the commanding officer. She was asked what it was about and she told them what the boys believed they saw.
"The person on the phone wanted to speak to the man of the house and mum explained that she was a widow. He then told her there were no submarines in the area and they didn't have the time to deal with mystery sightings. He advised her to go about her usual activities and they would deal with any such issues if they arose.
"My mother was so upset when she was telling me about it that I never mentioned it again, even to my late brother, John.
"One can only imagine what went through my mother's mind when the city was shelled that night, but she kept it to herself until I raised the subject years later. I don't wish to change the course of history or denigrate the efforts of personnel attached to Fort Scratchley, but simply to relate a different side of the story as it was told to me as a 10-year-old."
Lady on a Train
Judith Haigh, of Gateshead, told Topics she had a "lovely experience on the train a few weeks ago".
"I was travelling between Cardiff and Tuggerah and I spent about three quarters of an hour speaking to three 14-year-old girls from Hunter School of Performing Arts at Broadmeadow.
"I'm 85. The reason they spoke to me was I was reading a book. They thought that was cute. They asked me questions about my life, where I lived and what sort of books I like to read.
"They all read books and that's why they wanted to talk to me. I told them about where I grew up in Maitland. They were interested and said 'this is the best train trip we've ever had'."
The girls also took a photo with Judith.
Judith said it was "lovely to know there's some polite 14-year-olds in this world".
"They were just a credit to themselves, their school and parents. When I got off the train, they gave me a hug. As the train was pulling out, they ran along the platform and waved to me.
"I said when you're old like me, remember speaking to an old lady on the train when you were 14 and think about what you've seen in your life. Imagine what will happen in the next 70 years. It'll be unbelievable.
"I'm just saying with the changes I've seen, what changes are those girls going to see in their lifetime. My grandfather drove a horse and sulky. They didn't know what a sulky was, of course."
Judith believes she was "born in the best of times".
"I was born before the war. It didn't really affect us. It was a good time to live. We didn't have as many bad things going on.
"I could walk a couple of miles from my house to the town hall in Maitland to go to a dance and walk home on my own. I'd hear the boys who lived near me talking and following behind. But we were never frightened of anybody. We didn't have the fear in the world that we have now."
Judith forgot to give the girls a phone number to send her the photo they took.
If you know the girls and can help, contact us at topics@newcastleherald.com.au.
The War Years
Judith also shared a memory of 1942, during World War II. She was five.
"It must have been when Newcastle was bombed [by the Japanese submarine]," she said.
"I was in kindergarten and we had to get our mothers to make a little bag with a strap to go over our shoulder and head. We also had a bit of hose about three or four inches long and two bits of cotton wool.
"They'd ring the bell and we'd have to jump under our school desks, put the hose in our mouth and the cotton wool in our ears so, if the Japanese dropped a bomb, we wouldn't shatter our teeth and burst our ear drums."
She lived in Maitland.
"We could see the searchlights in the sky in Newcastle. We weren't frightened because I don't think we knew we needed to be frightened."
Fake Money
A counterfeit $20 note has been found on a footpath on Kahibah Road in Charlestown.
Silly money, that.
