Excerpt



Besides being liberally laced with social interchange, I attempted to make my Australian Year replete with academic, cultural, and adventurous events.

1. I researched Australian fossils. Shy of eight course credits for a masters degree, registrars at the Universities of New England and North Dakota eventually agreed that my fossil research in Australia would be worth the eight credits. I believe that my research amounted to more credits, but unnecessary beyond the eight. Dr. Alan Voisey, head of geology, served as my general supervisor but Dr. K. S. W. Campbell, paleontologist, gave me detailed guidance.

2. I took a course in beginning German. I took it mainly for fun, and to see how a university student in Australia feels and behaves in the classroom.

3. I participated in a community education class in landscape painting. During this class I gained some extracurricular culture.

4. I played the mandolin at church and other gatherings. Through such musical gatherings, I interacted with additional members of the community.

5. I played on the struggling University basketball team. Basketball was a new sport for my small university. Desperation for players explains my being chosen as a participantwilling, but not particularly adept. My team pulled off several victories, though, and I received considerable publicity. The local newspaper, The Armidale Express, reported: a) Star of the varsity team was Alan Cvancara . . . who featured a high brand of snap shooting (American style) and this trend has revitalised [sic] the Uni. team. (b Alan Cvancara was called upon to do more work than usual last evening but he covered the floor well and paved over any weaknesses existing in the defence [sic] as well as spearheading the attack. c) Main interest will be in Alan Cvancaras effort for a century of points in six games, a feat unequaled in many areas. d) Alan Cvancara set a record for individual points in one match by scoring 36 points. Cvancara was also the outstanding player and dominated both attack and defence. [sic]

6. I backpacked in the Cradle Mountain Reserve, Tasmania. My first backpacking trip, with Wendell Patton, a zoology Fulbrighter, tested my persistence and endurance during this 5-day, 50-mile journey in a federal area without roads. Venomous snakes, wallabies, tiny lizards, and land leechesone we discovered attached inside of Wendells naveladded spice to this trip.

7. I observed and collected intertidal marine life on a tropical island. I had a choice to attend the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne or spend two weeks on Heron Island. I chose time on the island, and would repeat that decision if I had the choice to make once again.

8. I hunted kangaroo with bow and arrow. This hunt had its roots in education. One weekend, Drs. Voisey and Campbell presented geology to adult education classes at two small towns west of Armidale, Narrabri and Boggabri. A German farmhand, Michael Steinhaeuser, who took the classes, invited me to a wild pig hunt during Easter. The possibility of my shooting an animal with bow and arrow excited him. An experienced rifleman, Ted Boehm, will join us on the hunt, said Mike. Hell back you up if you get into any difficulty with a charging pig. This comment offered me small comfort.

As we chugged along in Mikes Volkswagen on the first day of the hunt, I asked Ted, Where should I aim my arrow on a wild pig?

Oh, right behind a shoulder blade as it moves a foot forward.

I shook my head, and worried: How do I time a shot, provided that Im accurate, to place an arrow behind the shoulder blade of a running pig?

Our main hunting ground lay in the outback near Walgett some 300 air miles inland from the New South Wales coast and west of Armidale. The property, a grassy plain with scattered trees and home to 17,000 sheep and 500 cattle, encompassed 42,000 acres. Plentiful game included hundreds of kangaroo, numerous emu, and many pigs. But we couldnt approach the pigs closely enough for me to arrow in a shot. I think maybe you should try for kangaroo, suggested Ted.

On the third day of the hunt, I got within easy shooting distance of a kangaroo, and let arrows fly. My first missed. I paused.

Go, go! shouted Mike. Shoot again.

I let fly with three more arrowsand they all struck home.

Look at that, Ted marveled.

Great shooting, Alan! followed Mike.

I was amazed that I had actually hit the animal, and thrilled by the completion of an objectivealbeit kangaroo instead of wild pig. But I saw no need to repeat the performance. This adventure reinforced, once again, that I possessed no real flair for hunting. Michael documented the event with well-planned photos, including an action shot just before I released one of the arrows.

Upon return to Armidale, I mentioned my feat to a few, in particular, Dr. John Brereton, a zoology professor at the university who continued my informal education in zoology mostly by short field trips. You actually shot a roo with bow and arrow? he questioned.

Soon publicity about my feat ran a bit rampant, culminating in the national news. A repercussion followed. Unimpressed, and not to be outdone by a yank, a 50-year-old aussie archer claimed more noteworthy feats in the Sunday Telegraph. He shot an eagle in flight at a height of 250 feet in 1937; killed 38 kangaroo with a bow in 1939; and shot an applein William Tell fashion off a girls head in 1939.

These experiences during my Australian Year indelibly marked my life permanently. They filled gaps in my total being, and Ive become richer because of them. My worldly perspective changed by living in another nation looking toward others for growth and nourishment. I distinctly sensed acquiring a greater tolerance of others. And within my little encumbered environment, I saw clearly my niche in lifethat of a geology professor.