SCHOOL mates come and go but a group of former year 1 classmates from Millaa Millaa in far north Queensland are living proof friendships made in school can last a lifetime.
Millaamates - a group of year 1 students enrolled at Millaa Millaa State Primary School in 1954 - have come together periodically at unofficial reunions in the six decades since their early education years.
At the weekend, they celebrated 60 years since their first year at school, together with their original teacher Marjory Daley (nee Kelley) and music teacher Denise Burke, with a series of celebrations at Millaa Millaa on the Atherton Tableland.
Thirty students originally enrolled in 1954. The closure of the Brook Road State School delivered three more, with numbers varying over the next eight years.
The school's 75th anniversary in 1993 brought 17 students back together.
In 2004, the group celebrated 50 years of their enrolment at Millaa Millaa and officially formed Millaamates, keeping in contact through Yahoo electronic media. They caught up in 2008 to mark each celebrating their 60th birthdays and again in 2011 at the Millaa Millaa centenary celebrations.
Remarkably, more than 20 of the original enrolled class attended the weekend's reunion along with two Brooks Road students and three late starters.
Glenda McAuliffe, one of the lead organisers of the reunion, remembers their former school days fondly.
"When we started school we wrote on slates with slate pencils that had tin handles," Glenda said.
"We washed the slates with a wet rag or sponge. We sat on forms at long wooden school desks, and the smart kids sat up the back of the room.
"We learnt spelling and tables by rote and did mental arithmetic with our hands on our head.
"We wrote neatly in copy books with pens and ink using blotting paper and learnt to recite poetry by heart.
"In the morning we lined up on parade in two lines and sang the National Anthem, God Save the Queen, and then marched to our class room.
"We played marbles in the dirt under the tank stands, red rover in the yard, which caused many wardrobe malfunctions, and when it rained we danced the gypsy-tap on the school veranda to She wears Red Feathers and a Hula Hula Skirt."
Teacher Marjory Daley was transferred to Millaa Millaa in 1953 from Goondiwindi.
She remembers not seeing the sunshine in Millaa Millaa for six weeks after her arrival but it failed to dampen her spirits for she has remained a local resident ever since.
Marjory believes Millaamates is one of a kind.
"I think it's wonderful," she said. "I am so proud of what they have all achieved in their lives, particularly coming from a small little town like Millaa Millaa."
Glenda agreed.
"Our wealth and our extreme good fortune originated from those wonderful school days," Glenda said.
"We have had the unique opportunity to remain good mates and in contact over the last 60 years.
"Our skills were many and varied and our loyalties have never wavered."
Sixty years done and dusted, Millaamates plan to continue.
The group hopes to form a ukulele band under the direction of former music teacher Mrs Burke, who guided the school choir to a win at an eisteddfod in Cairns, and sing Whispering Hope again.
They are also planning another reunion at the Millaa Millaa school centenary in 2018.
