And so it was, that Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson, watched with his wife, Delma, an Australian program called 'Paper Giants' which was about the 'birth' of a 1970s (then) radical and progressive women's magazine called 'Cleo'.
The main characters were two young and up-and-coming players in the newspaper industry who are still known as 'giants' today – Kerry Packer and Ita Buttrose. These were brilliantly played by up-and-coming actors Rob Carlton and Asher Keddie.
These actors were particularly brave to take on these parts, as many of the 1.2 million viewers, like ourselves, remember the real people in their flesh and blood. Asher, in particular, should be commended for being able to mimic the particular manner of speech that is characteristic of Ita Buttrose even today.
Mark Tronson says that he and Delma were in our twenties at that time, and this program had us looking back at our own golden era from the perspective of distant years. It brought back to us so many memories. Those were momentous years for us.
The first thing that hit us were the clothes and the motor vehicles. Many of the younger men were wearing longer hair. The younger women were sporting mini-skirts. And suddenly we were again seeing cars like the one we owned when we were first married!
The social mores of the time were different from those of today; expectations are not the same. "I had two competing emotions: I wish I was back there when life was more straight forward, and the opposite view, "I'm glad we've moved on from that."
At that time, he said, Delma had her first job as a stenographer in the small rural north coast coast town of Maclean. Her cousins from Taree had moved to Sydney to get work and experience a different life style and Delma too joined them, and found work in a law firm.
However, after 18 months she decided to return to her former job in Maclean as there were a number of incentives. One was developing a shared investment property with her father in a nearby housing development, another was her former job was available with a pay recognising her broadened experience in a Sydney law firm, and her father was not at all well.
For me, Mark Tronson noted, the seventies was a very special era. In sport I did well in representative hockey and wrote the hockey column for the Illawarra Mercury newspaper (Wollongong). I also did well in Track and Field and in my sporting journeys won the triple jump in Brisbane. The Sunday Courier Mail sported a photograph of me in mid air with a caption "Triumph for NSW" as a kind of a State of Origin situation. For recreation, I learnt saxophone (Alto and Tenor) and played in the youth band.
"My work with the NSW Government Railways had gone from strength to strength. Academically, I topped the Acting Driver's School, qualified on all the main line huge diesel locomotives; professionally I drove them hauling both heavy freighters and express passenger trains into Central Station, Sydney, and financially I purchased a Unit in Fairy Meadow (suburb of Wollongong) as my first property investment."
More importantly, Mark Tronson explained, that his walk with the Lord developed. There was a great youth group at Port Kembla Baptist Church (where he worshipped), there were plenty of social occasions, the mid week bible study was fantastic, and it all culminated in his call to Christian Ministry. The seventies were critical years in his life and he loved it.
He went further: "Delma and I first met in 1971 when I had returned from my triple jump triumph and was visiting my parents who were, in their retirement, running the post office in a little town near Maclean. I first saw Delma at the Friday night Baptist youth group, discovered where she lived and drove to her place the following morning. Our long distance relationship developed from there as I was in Port Kembla. We were married in February 1977 and we went from our honeymoon directly to Morling College (NSW Baptist Seminary)."
He noted that the seventies for Delma and himself, were vital years of personal development. Watching 'Paper Giants' bought all this back to them and they enjoyed the discussion about their lives since then.
At that time he said: "We set our lives on a course of Mission. We were later able to sell both our investment properties and start afresh with a tiny house loan for our first home together in Sydney. It was paid off in a very short time, allowing us the opportunity to serve the Lord through faith finance since 1982."
In the Lord's providence, Mark Tronson explained, that their lives were set on a pattern during the 1970s; a pattern which they did not realise at the time, but which on reflection and with the hindsight prompted by watching this TV program, was all part of His plan for them.
By trusting in Christ, they have had a rich and fulfilling life in His service and they plan on continuing this in by sharing our own respite with others at the Well-Being Australia latest "Basil Sellers Respite" facility, at Laguna Quays, Queensland.