NARRABUNDAH High School was the brash new high school for the expanding suburban sprawl of Canberra’s ‘60s ‘burbs.

The choice of high school before that was either Canberra High or Telopea Park, with the two grammar schools if you wanted to spend up big.

These were the “good old days” for the Narrabundah class of ’65, returning to Canberra to celebrate their 50-year reunion at Manuka Oval’s Bradman Room.

They were among the first students and the last group to graduate after five years of high school under the NSW Leaving Certificate. Those days were when kids rode their bikes to school, wore a school uniform and bought Vegemite crusts from the tuckshop to take away the taste of the warm milk at recess.

But it was also the time of The Beatles and the generosity of Bill James giving his tickets to the Sydney show to two girls is still talked about. Margaret Hanson remembers all the girls complaining about doing gymnastics in the quadrangle where they could be easily observed by most classes and muso Bernie Nizynski reminisced with Peta Dawson about his musician days with one band Casual Set well remembered by these former students. They learnt the Pride of Erin but danced the twist instead.