'I now live in Perth, Western Australia.  Recently I was in Melbourne visiting my family...my mother still lives there as do my children. I am now 74 years old. I was in the neighbourhood of Elwood where I used to live in the early 1950s, when I attended Elwood Central School. I was walking along the banks of the Elwood canal and the smell of the wild fennel, which used to grow in abundance on the canal banks and pathways hit me.  Now only small patches of the fennel grow there but it took me back vividly to the days when I used to walk along the canal to and from school.   It reminded me of the friends I had there then and the teachers I had...things I had not thought about for over 60 years. On a recent trip to Paris I suddenly remembered some of the French my teacher at Elwood Central, Miss Egan, taught me and I also remembered her and the school. I know education has moved on, and probably improved, but the memories of Elwood Central still remain with me.'