Frank Turney

As most of you who knew/know both my parents know, my mother has always been the fiery one. There were three brothers who were notorious bullies that lived up the hill from us on Manchester Rd (now I look back they were probably a bit feral, their parents probably unemployed alcoholic bogans). Once, when Mum got it out of me that the middle brother had told me one day he could push me into the traffic but he wasn't going to because I was his friend, she marched up to the crossing of The Boulevarde in front of Gymea North primary school, accosted him with her finger in his face and threatened some kind of violence. These days you'd go to jail for it, but by God it worked. I stood off to the side, mortified but secretly in awe of her bravery... and he never even so much as spoke to me again. The point is, Dad didn't get involved in confrontations on our behalf very much. It wasn't because he was confrontation-averse (although he was such a placid personality I suspect tha