She made her first jump at Aldinga on that historic weekend in November 1961 and quickly went on to secure a place among the nation's best known jumpers of the day.
Cathy, who won a place on the 1964 Australian team and competed in Europe, recalls the early challenges of a young woman taking part in what was still in many ways a macho, fringe activity.
Extracts from a transcript of a recorded interview with Cathy Burrow (nee Williamson) by Narelle Hall in 1996.
The interview was one of 45 recorded with early jumpers from all over Australia as part of an oral history project for the Australian Parachute Federation.
Cathy made her first jump at Aldinga on November 19, 1961.
NH: Cathy, you were one of the first women jumping in Australia. How old were you when you did your first jump?
CB: I was 20. But there were certainly three South Australian women, I remember in that first group. There were probably more and I would remember with logbooks etc – Kathy Henderson, who is now Kathy Flynn, and Susie Wright who became Susie Brown, were certainly in that first group in SA in 1961. But again I would have to check the records to be absolutely sure.
NH: And did you all start jumping at the same time?
CB: Yes, we were all in the first group. We were, in a sense, pioneers and we had very little experience from other people (except the military) to go on.
Ted Harrison had something like 4 military jumps and he was our instructor/mentor. So there was quite a large group of us and we took several months of training because we had lots of enthusiasm but no parachutes!
That was one difference, certainly, as foundation parachutists in SA. But it must have been the same in NSW, I guess, and in Victoria too. And we were following slightly behind Victoria.
Claude Gillard was jumping, Bill Sparke – they are names I certainly remember. And they were giving advice, I should have thought, to Ted. But they were only slightly ahead and there was no one really who was experienced.
Not like today, where there's a great wealth of experience to draw on. And we were learning as we went along. It was trial and error. People were learning about frog positions, and about spinning, and how to control spinning, and so on.
NH: I'm really interested in those aspects because we have talked about them, both in interviews and with other people, and I feel they need a bit more clarification.
It’s not exactly clear as to how people came to become stable; how they knew to become stable; and how they knew to use the position. But I'll come back to that. How did you first become interested in jumping? How did you first hear about it?
CB: I was at University at the time. As one would expect I was impecunious, but I have a brother who is two years older, and it was certainly my brother who enthused me.
And Susie, the sister of one of my university friends, was also keen. My brother sponsored me initially, because I wasn't earning any money at that time.
I mean, I was on a scholarship. It was my 4th year at university. So it was actually through John, through my brother initially, and then I just sort of got caught up in it – the usual motivation, challenge, and all that. The same as just about everyone really.
NH: So when you said the eight months training, do you mean it was 8 months ground training?
CB: Yes – I'm not sure of the exact time, but it was long! Simply because there were no rigs and no equipment and no aeroplanes to jump out of at that stage.
And really Ted Harrison has credit for this – he was able to enthuse everyone and keep motivation up over this long period when we hadn't even seen a parachute! We would go out each weekend and practise these military type manoeuvres – so that was a bit odd.
NH: That's amazing! An interesting question too, Donna Berthelsen interviewed Warren Hutchings in Victoria and Warren said that he refused to train women because he didn't know how they were thinking – he couldn't understand them at all and he refused to train them.
So, with him being the main trainer in Victoria refusing to train women, there would have been very few women jumping, and you in Adelaide were being encouraged by Ted, so it's a very different scenario for a woman.
CB: Absolutely. In fact, now that you mention that, (and we probably didn't think much about it because we didn't have a lot to do with the Victorians in the early days), but, yes, there seemed to be a dearth of women.
I can't remember any in Victoria. But yes, we had quite a few women, and I think Newcastle did too. That's why the 1964 team comprised two South Australians and two New South Welsh women.
Because we were in an egalitarian environment. Yes, South Australia – I can't remember any problems except that the men would be more aggressive in their pursuit. And we tended to follow behind them; maybe because we were more cautious, or they were leading faster, and we were sort of watching to see what we could learn from them.
We were all teaching each other and learning as we went along. But, yes, South Australia, they were certainly very positive towards women, and there were more than those three names that I mentioned ... I can remember Mary Summers. Yes, there were quite a few women.
NH: So, getting back to the stability situation – were your first jumps static line, or how was the progression at that time – how were you trained?
CB: Because of the military influence, and the general lack of experience per se, our first several jumps were static line – we only did eight statics. I think it was some years that they stayed with eight and then they switched to about six.
I remember in New Guinea we were using six. But in the early days, it was always eight statics. But I seem to remember the first four were military type – you sat on the edge and just sort of lifted yourself out into space – it was really a bit weird, in this foetal military position, as I remember.
There were probably about four like that, or maybe only two like that. I'd have to check with somebody. And then there would have been the standard star-type exits, eight static lines and then a gradual build up in delays.
It probably didn't change a great deal for 10 to15 years perhaps. I mean now it is radically different, but in those early days there was no great revolution – they seemed to stick to the same sort of structured development.
NH: It seems that when jumping first started nobody knew how to fall stable, so was that still being discussed when you started or was stability old hat by then?
The frog position seemed to have been developed along the way.
CB: There was, of course, communication between America and Australia with some of the leaders. Not so much in South Australia. But, publications – there were some publications and articles available.
I mean we didn't have the globalisation you've got today, but this information did spread across from America and Canada to Australia so one knew about the frog position.
But early in the piece it was just the basic spread. And I can't remember when we started talking about "frogs" and so on. The NSW people would have been regarded as the leaders, I would have thought.
They had people like Andy Keech, Col King, Allen Jay and Don McKernbut Andy especially of course, (we've still got his books), but he especially was a great propagator of information.
He was very generous, he shared his information, and that was not only within his State but interstate as well.
And of course there were frequent travels. We went to Victoria, we jumped in Victoria, we hitchhiked to Victoria; we hitch hiked up to NSW. And there was also an exchange of information then.
NH: So, the first baton pass was done in SA?
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| Climbing over Adelaide's suburbs in the old Dragon en route to a jump-in at Aldinga in the early 1960s. From left: Len Hunter (Vic), Cathy Williamson and Les Sampson (NZ). Photo from Cathy's book, "Falling Free." |
Lipstick passes became the thing and I seem to remember I got the first lipstick pass – maybe in Australia, but it was all a bit ... It would have been Ted – Ted of course being a journalist, and the media – Oh, it was with Hans (Magnussen), that's right.
It sounds so puerile now, doesn't it, when people are doing advanced relative work. But in those days ... the thrill wouldn't have changed but the relative work was so hit and miss!
Trying to link up. But who actually did the first baton pass – the book would be accurate. The book was primarily written in London with about 18 other parachutists living in the one house in Hampstead and Col King was there, Allen Jay was there – they wouldn't have let me get away with anything that wasn't correct – they would have proof read it. Jock Moir too.
So it might say, I don't know. Andy Keech would be another good source. You must interview Andy – he was an absolute pioneer.
NH: He wouldn't have started jumping much before you though.
CB: No, chronologically they were all about the same as I remember and from memory I would have thought that the Victorians were slightly ahead, chronologically, and then maybe the South Australians and then these young keen – I don't know exactly the chronology, one would have to look at log books, the memory really is so fallible, but a log book doesn't lie, so you've got the accurate dates etc.
NH: What do you recall about those early jumps – the gear, the instructors and the aircraft used? The gear would have been interesting because in the beginning you had no parachutes – when they came, what were they?
CB: I guess they were unmodified. I remember we jumped out of the old De Havilland, with a great pilot, Sid ...... and the gear was pretty primitive.
I think we had old military type boots and great, gross helmets – I remember one woman I was flatting with said "why does everybody write their name across the helmet?"
I didn't realise at the time – was it because they might get stolen or was it because we were all so egotistical?
NH: How many jumps did you do altogether?
CB: I did just 662. Looking back there are certain milestones, and I wished I'd reached 1,000. I did 662 and had switched to aviation. I would have done my last jump in the States at Elsinore, just a fun jump really, in 1977.
But I was more or less pretty inactive since 1974 because I was flying and I didn't feel like going out to the DZ when I was flying five days a week, instructing at that stage.
NH: How long did you jump in SA before you moved? I know you used to travel a lot.
CB: 1961 to 1965. Well really the global travelling only just started in 1964 when we all went over to jump for Australia.
We had a male and a female team in Germany at Leutkirch, but again everyone was pretty impecunious because they'd spent all their money on parachuting.
People were working then. They weren't students. I was working as a teacher/psychologist in South Australia, and then we were overseas for eight months! Came back and Keith and I were married in 1965.
We went up to New Guinea after a few months for 1966 and 1967. There was no parachuting in New Guinea then, but in 1966 I did actually go solo flying.
This was during the period of the Vietnam war so there were some interesting stories about parachutists like Joe Larkin at that time – of course, we were all overseas together in London.
Again I don't know the full details, but I received a letter at the teachers’ college which Joe wrote to me from jail in the old Belgian Congo.
He had joined the mercenaries, and the story went that he and a Belgian guy stole a DC3. Ted Harrison would know the details because he followed it up as a journalist.
Joe was massacred as a reprisal thing. They were pretty violent times. So a lot of that group spread out throughout the world and there were some sad stories.
Don (West) was killed, then Joe died, then of course Bill Molloy who was one of the pioneers from Victoria – he was a leading Victorian jumper and like Andy Keech shared his information with people at that time.
He was killed in a car accident, having survived the Vietnam war. Then of course Brian Brown, very much alive still, who did a couple of tours (of Vietnam) as a helicopter pilot.
NH: You went to Victoria very early in the piece – you didn't have a lot of jumps when you first went there. How did you find Victoria when you went there – taking into account my comment they wouldn't train women.
CB: It used to be a regular event – travelling across. I have no memories of any overt sexism with the people that we jumped with.
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| After the first 5-man baton pass in the British Commonwealth, at Cessnock, NSW in 1962. From left: Cathy, Don McKern, Andy Keech, Col King and Allen Jay. |
Later, I only really became aware of the gender thing as I really got better. As long as I was in a learning process (and the men were doing the teaching) then that was a good relationship – I hadn't really thought of that before.
Certainly I wasn't conscious of any discrimination against women early in the piece, but later on I can think of instances in New Guinea even in competitions where the rules would be changed – they became fluid.
I can certainly recall that. I won't mention any names. That was a gender thing. And really it was quite silly. It didn't mean I was the best jumper inherently, it just meant that at that time I was the most experienced.
So it would have been a little bit odd if I wasn't winning some of the events. But some of the men weren't so comfortable with that as they were in the teaching role.
And in SA, we were all fairly much at the same level and I can't remember that Victoria was that different really. Although the men that we related to were more experienced – like Andy Keech and Bill Molloy. I remember them as being happy to share their knowledge.
NH: Do you remember anything about the early days of the APF? When that started and the rules etc.
CB: Well, we all had the requisite licences and I've still got them:
APF Licences: A#22 15/8/62; B#23, 15/8/62; C#23, 15/8/62; Packer #4: 005; Instructor #124, 119/68; 0#15, 6110/62; E#75, 116/68; F#32, 1110/69.
NH: So tell me what led up to the Australian team going away to the 1964 World Meet – your training, how you felt about that.
CB: The motivator probably for the women (for Susie and myself) and for the women jumpers in 1964 was Kathy Henderson. She was the first person to represent Australia but not in a team.
Kathy jumped in the 1962 World Championships in America and we were all green with envy, because Kathy's parents could afford to pay, and she had the latest gear. I think Annie bought her white backpack. So Kathy was the envy of everyone. Again I'd have to check my logbook and the book, but it was exciting. I was personally, as I remember it, still under bond (to the Education Department).
Don West had been trying to talk me into going, and I had been resisting because I felt responsible because my parents were guarantors and they couldn't afford to repay if I abjugated my responsibility – it was a financial bond.
In the event the Education Department gave me leave without pay, and I came back and finished it off. So I had some qualms because of this commitment to the Education Dept. But it was great. We had Beryl Blakemore and Barbara Lewis and Suzie and myself.
NH: From Col King's tape he said you took a boat to the UK and you were doing exercises on the deck etc.
CB: Yes, Col was terrific. He would look into the girls cabins and not believe the mess! He was fastidious even then. He was the youngest. I turned 23 on the boat and from memory Col was 21. He was the baby. But he was a really good jumper, very confident, and of course he went on to win Australia's first medal. But a really great guy.
NH: So, it was the next world meet that the won the medal?
CB: I'm not sure. None of us had the experience. But it was good fun though. We all paid our own way, so we didn't really feel that we had to do everything that we were supposed to have done. Who pays the fiddler calls the tune.
NH: So, how did you feel at the World Meet – four women plus a men's team there with all the other people who you had not met, nor seen the type of jumping they did. How did you feel and what did you learn?
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| The 1964 Australian Parachute Team. From left:Susie Wright (SA), Andy Keech (NSW), Bill Molloy (Vic), Cathy Williamson (SA), Brian Brown (SA), Bill Kenny (Vic), Col King (NSW), ??, ?? and Beryl Blakemore (NSW). |
And, of course, they were all sponsored. So we felt like the cinderellas. We were the cinderellas. But the camaraderie was great – Australia had a great reception and it wasn't so highly competitive that you couldn't enjoy it.
There was still, as there are in the Olympics today, a great range of abilities and experience. There were fully sponsored Europeans and Americans and then the Australians paying for themselves!
This made Col King's later achievement so remarkable because it was like comparing amateurs with professionals. It wasn't a level playing field at all, but I mean the whole experience was just wonderful. And the venue at Leutkirch and the organisation and the whole international aspect of it was lovely.
NH: Did you come straight back from there?
CB: No, again the Australians did their usual bit – trekking across the globe. Well, no I followed my ovaries ... and then disaster – then we all met back up in London. In West Hampstead where Col and Allen Jay and Brian had managed to secure a house. I think about 16 of us were living in a rather luxurious flat.
NH: And is that when you started to write your book? (Falling Free)
CB: I had already written 40,000 words, and had sent it off to a publisher who had recently published a book on parachuting. They sent it back saying it wasn't book length – that I had to write another 20,000 words, and if I did they would give me 100 pounds – which was a lot of money. I mean, I didn't even have the fare back.
Susie's parents had given her the fare back, whereas I was really insecure, like a lot of the other people. You are in a country where you can't get work and it is expensive and you don't know where you are going to get the fare.
Jock Moir was very supportive, making cups of coffee, and I typed away on some basic machine. In two weeks I wrote a third of it, and they gave me the 100 pounds.
I think when it came out some of the parachutists stole their copies – well, I don't know how true that is!
NH: So, who were the most important influences on your jumping?
CB: My brother – I wouldn't have been able to do it without my brother. Ted Harrison was for all of South Australia, and Andy Keech. In those early days. In New Guinea, we were the leaders really.
We actually trained and instructed and put out on their first jump, people like Graeme Windsor and Bruce Towers. They were our students.
NH: This is not a very positive question – but what have been your most negative experiences in jumping?
CB: Well, losing friends. I never really had any big scares – in aviation. Early in the piece there were worrying times when we were all learning together and one would have the inevitable dream where you were spinning.
But in 662 jumps (which is not many compared to what they have today), I only ever had one malfunction. That was in a jumpathon, on my 13th jump, with the Olympic which you couldn't jettison.
It was a French canopy, and that was a packing thing.
Losing friends – that was pretty hard. People like Don West. I was on that jump. And the same in aviation. It makes you aware of your own mortality, but it is really sad to see a young life terminated when there is so much ahead. Such a talented young life.
NH: So in your jumping time, what would you say were the great tragedies?
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| Cathy talking with Alf White at the Goolwa Nationals half an hour before his death. Photo from "Falling Free." |
But that would be untruthful to deny things.
Don West, of course, that was personal for all of us. And it had its impact on everyone in a different way, as death does, especially when you are closely associated with it.
NH: So what do you consider to be your personal achievements in parachuting?
CB: Gosh I don't know. It was a way of life. We used to collect jumps and count them and move with things, but it was also a means of travel. It was an existential way of life.
It was freedom. And it meant you weren't tied in the suburbs. It meant you were free and unencumbered. It was an illusion really, but it was a nice illusion.
In terms of achievement, I sort of went out on that good note, winning the British Women's championships. But I can't recall being particularly competitive. I enjoyed jumping in New Guinea, and instructing in New Guinea.
NH: I remember when I started jumping it was the most exciting thing. I couldn't believe it ... so could you explain how you felt about your first jump, your early jumps – how the day would progress – you'd go to the airfield, the wind, how you would feel going in the plane, how you would feel jumping. Just explain a typical day.
CB: Yes it was exhilarating. All of those things. Adrenalin pumping, and the camaraderie – it was wonderful. But I do remember – I always thought for me it was the challenge.
I have instructed students since who seemed to take to it far more quickly than I did, although they had the wealth of our experience and they could look and say "oh well if a girl can do that!" or a woman can do that it mustn't be that hard.
Whereas, we were still in the early days and we weren't quite sure of what we were doing. But I do remember it was a challenge.
There was always a goal slightly ahead until you reached the stage where you were actually felt comfortable with jumping.
NH: So what do you think have been the most important influences on the development of sport parachuting in Australia?
CB: Well early in the piece, there was the military influence. I think America was a big influence in the early days too. Now of course I couldn't comment.
But in the early days it was a global thing that spread slowly. It was a minority sport. I mean nowadays it is not even that. You meet many people constantly who have done a tandem.
So it is not that 'elite' thing that it was in those days. Now you can experience it in a sort of vicarious way, with someone else doing the actual jumping for you.
NH: So when you say parachutists are a particular type of people – what do you mean?
CB: Well to me I preferred parachutists because they were more laid back, more natural about things. It seemed – I am just now comparing them with pilots, who by comparison are a stuffy lot – they are a different type of person.
I'm sure if you could do personality profiles – if Donna could get one of her multi-facet things – then you'd probably notice. Then having said that you've probably always got exceptions.
I don't think I would fit the perfect pilot and yet I've got over 9,000 hours and I made a living of it for 20 years.
And the same for parachutists – you've still got parachutists who are quite introverted, but generally they are more extrovert
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1 comments:
I had the pleasure to read the book that Cathy sent to my father -the man in the plane behind the 1964 team- and enjoyed it.
I jumped myself quite a long time ago but still in contact with the world of parachutists.
Michel Prik Junior
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