MAGICIAN AND KOALAS LEVITATED ON ABC

 Many and  varied are  the  subjects  raised  on the ABC's Radio National. Some  bring  back old memories .  On Trevor Chappell's  Overnights  show an  unexpected  person  mentioned  late  one  evening was  the American  magician  and  film  star ,  John Calvert ,  who  sailed  his  yacht, Sea Fox  , into  Darwin in  June  1959,  on  his  way  to  perform  in  Sydney. 

By Peter  Simon 

  He   was  mentioned  briefly  in  passing  in  a  talk  about   magicians in  Australia  during  which it  was   said  that   he  had  had  some trouble  with  his  yacht .  He  sure  did.  

 I  went  aboard  the yacht   when  it  first arrived   in Darwin  from Asia  and    interviewed  Calvert   and  his  pet, chain-smoking  caged  chimpanzee  for  the   Northern  Territory  News.  

A  dramatic  situation  developed  when  the Sea Fox  left  Darwin for Sydney and soon  after  radioed that it was sinking   off   Arnhem Land . I was  aboard a  Darwin  based   RAAF  Lincoln  Bomber which flew over the  stricken  yacht  ;  another  plane  from  Townsville  joined  in  the   operation. 

The  battered   yacht was eventually towed back to Darwin  and placed up on the  hard , below,  where it was  photographed  by  Robert Wesley-Smith. 

On air , it was suggested  Calvert   had  only  died   recently . Chasing up this  aspect on  Google it was found  Calvert  had  actually died  on September 27, 2013, aged  102, in Lancaster, California.  The International Brotherhood of Magicians  said his   wife  of  many years, Tammy, had been  at  his  side.    

In  another   superb  ABC  regular, Conversations, my ears pricked up  during a discussion  by Sarah Kanowski   with   Wendy Sharpe , appointed  an official  East Timor  War  Artist ,  which   covered   her  Jewish   family background , including   a  Russian  psychic .

Sharpe  recalled  that  when   she  was being    brought up  in  the northern Sydney  beach suburb of  Avalon there were  koalas  in  the  area . The  implication  seemed  to  be  that  you  would  not   find   them  there  today .  

 This immediately   rang  a  bell  with  me  because  when I  was a schoolboy in  the  1950s ,I used to go camping on  a  bush  block   at  Avalon  with  my mother and stepfather  and   there  were    koalas   in  the  area .   On  tracks in   the  Avalon  area  I   found   flannel  flowers  growing, even  a  waratah  .  

The   road  running   past  the  block  went    down  to a  Pittwater  boatshed    through  thick  bush  in  which  koalas  were  regularly  seen.