December 1957 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

December, 1957

December , 1957

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Maga:z:ine

THOUGHTS INVOKED BY THE SATELLITE I stood in the cool fresh air of the night and gazed into the sky. Night is proverbia ll y black , but this night gleamed with the dazzling electricity of the city and the soft, silvery radiance of the moon and stars . Of all my surroundings, on ly the sky was peaceful and ca lm . for liqhts flicked on and off and the no ise of the ceaseless traffic jarred my ears as the grating , harsh sounds of machinery reverberated through the air. How great is m ;: n to construct these tall buildings and lofty bridges , to plan this city through which human beings swarm like ants and to harness the fo rces of nature for his own advancement. Century by century man has gained more knowledge. yet as time goes on he realises there is stil l more knowledge to be gained . Every branc h of life and thought is today studied and discussed-t hings once beyond the scope of peoples ' wi ldest dreams-and men probe deeper every day into the unknown problems and secrets of ex istence , inventing o r discovering life saving drugs , labour and time saving machines, synthet ic materials, faster aero- p lanes-and weapons capable of annihilating humanity. Suddenly my musings were broken by the sight for which I had been waiting-a round o range ball smooth ly gliding across the sk.y. It was the satellite-that metal sphere projected by Russian scientists into the outer layers o f the Earth's atmosphere. there to spin its orbit around the Earth. How infin ite ly greater than man is the Universe , of which we are one smal l part-one sma ll globe suspended in space among so many other p lanets and heavenly bodies abou t which we know so little. This satellite is the first s~ep towa rds soace travel. Countless conjectures have been made .3bout fut~re journeys to the moon , men from Mars , and fl y ing saucers. We ma y perhaps know something of conditions on the p lanets in our own solar system. but little is our know ledge of •]alaxies outside this. Perhaps there are civilisations like ours on those stars so inconceivabl y far away, perhaps there are phenomena undreamt of by even the most penetrating modern thinkers . Now, the sate llite has vanished, van ished into the space wh ich surrounds our orb of pulsing life, our orb of w inds and foaming waters of rugged mountains, jagged city spires , coo l green fo rests and harsh deserts, high passions and simple joys. 37

"WELL?"

Dolores Frees, IV E.

"OLD BRISBANE" Lyn Hardy. V.B.

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