People commonly travel the world over to see rivers and mountains new stars garish birds freak fish grotesque breeds of human they fall into an animal stupor that gapes at existence and they think they have seen something.

Sydney in the 1960s wasn't the exuberant multicultural metropolis it is today. Out in the city's western reaches days passed in a sun-struck stupor. In the evenings families gathered on their verandas waiting for the 'southerly buster' - the thunderstorm that would break the heat and leave the air cool enough to allow sleep.