Page 16 - My Memoirs - Max Kurz

bike to Bondi. My family provided regular social outings, sometimes by Aunty Anne’s own bus and driver to local haunts. It needs to be remembered that there were no distractions like television, social media etc.; self-entertainment was fundamental to your existence. For me that was my bike, friends, the beach, fishing, and bush walking. For my family it was all about horse racing, cards, social gatherings, picnics, and arguing.
The next event was 1956, my final year at secondary school. The next phase of your life was determined by how well you succeeded in your intermediate exams. This was your entrée to higher education i.e. to complete your leaving certificate for another 2 years which was the prerequisite to tertiary studies. My pass was not enough to gain access to tertiary education. Nor was it a consideration, my grandmother and Aunty Anne had it all worked out. My grandmother wanted me to work so that I could pay my board. The solution was to join the family business in car seat covers. It was never my choice; I did not have any idea what I wanted to do at 16 years of age. Therefore, my work life began by going down the pathway of trying multiple jobs until I found my vocation.
I worked in the family business until I came to the realisation that this was not going to provide me with a future and working with my family was a prescription for disaster. I remember a point of time where I started to think what I might like to do or be. There was one job that I had where I was a copy boy for the Women’s Weekly. The editor was a lady who took a liking to me and helped me with my work. She was grooming me for a cadetship as a journalist, which for the first time in my life excited me, here was an opportunity towards a future of substance. Since there was little other entertainment, as a young boy I enjoyed reading as they could carry you away on a magic carpet. I also enjoyed the work and for the first time, experiencing someone who was interested in me, she was even going to arrange for me to complete my leaving certificate at night school. Unfortunately, this idea all came to a finality when the recommendation for my cadetship was put to the editor-in-chief David McNichol of the Daily Telegraph.
He rejected it on the grounds that I came from the wrong side of the tracks. Confidentially, it was revealed to me by the editor that it was because I was Jewish. That was the first and only time in Australia that I experienced anti- Semitism. I was back to square one, extremely hurt and disappointed. Where to next at 18 years of age? I also made the decision to leave my grandmother’s flat after 5 tough years and live with my mother her husband Alex and my sister
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