It's rare that the simple task of flicking a switch ends up as the most defining moment of one's life.
But it was for Ed von Renouard.
On July 21, 1969, as the first pictures of Neil Armstrong lumbering down the ladder of the lunar module Eagle towards the surface of the moon flickered onto a monitor at von Renouard's video console at Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, he knew exactly what to do.
Von Renouard, affectionately known as "Video Von", calmly reached up to the toggle switch just above his head and flicked it on.
The small switch had been installed only a couple of weeks earlier, after it was realised the camera installed in the Eagle's stowage bay to record the moonwalk had been mounted upside down. Turning on the switch flipped the vision received from that camera, ensuring it would be viewed the right way up.
Given the enormity of the moment, and all the other controls he was managing, you could probably forgive von Renouard if he forgot all about the switch. In fact, that's exactly what happened to his counterpart at NASA's Goldstone Tracking Station in California, from where the global TV feed was being beamed around the world.
"Not only did the Goldstone video tech initially forget to flick his switch but he also started fiddling with the brightness controls, making it very difficult to see what was happening," explains Colin Mackellar, creator of the encyclopaedic honeysucklecreek.net website.
As a result of the Goldstone video tech's untimely dose of stage fright, and with Armstrong just seconds away from making his "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", Mission Control in Houston were scrambling. They had no choice but to switch the global TV feed beaming out to an audience of 600 million (a record for the time) from Goldstone to that coming from Video Von's console at Honeysuckle Creek.
"The world saw Armstrong's first steps on the moon the right way up due to the diligence of Video Von," says Bryan Sullivan of Araluen, who worked for eight years with Video Von as a technician at Honeysuckle Creek.
"It was so exciting waiting for the pictures to appear," recalls Bryan, who confesses to stretching the cord on his headphones as far as it would go so he "could get a good view of Video Von's screen as Armstrong walked down the ladder of Eagle".
"At one stage, I turned around to see many of the support staff, including admin, office, stores, and the carpenter, standing quietly behind us," he recalls. "They were like the Terracotta Warriors in China, all standing stone-faced, their eyes fixed on the television monitor. Nobody spoke a word ... even the gardener was there. I didn't hunt them out as protocol demanded, we just let them stand there and watch.
"It went smoothly thanks to all the staff at Honeysuckle that day, including, of course, Video Von who was a consummate professional," says Bryan.
Not that the day started as planned. First John Gorton, then prime minister, arrived for a tour at 8.30am. Given it was such a big day, having the PM in the house was more of an annoyance than a privilege, so Bryan and his colleagues were "very glad when he left less than an hour later".
Around the same time, Honeysuckle received news that the moonwalk was scheduled to occur several hours earlier than previously planned, so it was all hands on deck to ensure all was in order.
In a 2009 interview with Colin, Video Von revealed that "after shaking the hand of the PM ... we knuckled down and were immersed in our tasks ... the rest of the world faded away".
Earlier this week, I drove out through Namadgi National Park to the site of the former Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, which closed in 1981. The antenna was dismantled and moved to Tidbinbilla, and the station's buildings eventually demolished in 1989. Apart from the concrete foundation and a handful of interpretation signs, there's very little tangible evidence to remind us of the site's significant link to such a momentous moment in history, a moment which through a dedicated and pioneering group of Canberrans, including Video Von, put this remote valley and our city on the global map.
Bryan, who has made the pilgrimage to the far-flung site several times in the last few decades, including in 2006 to a Honeysuckle reunion, says "it's not only eerie but sad that everything was demolished".
Celebrated author and fellow Canberra Times columnist Jackie French, who penned the award-winning children's book To the Moon and Back: The Amazing Australians at the Forefront of Space Travel Plus Fantastic Moon Facts (Harper Collins, 2004), with husband and former Honeysuckle Creek technician Bryan Sullivan, remembers Video Von fondly. "The world would have lost a lot if it hadn't been for Video Von. He was a lovely man - quiet, unassuming, a totally focused genius who found the adventure of his life in the hills around Canberra."
In a message to his Honeysuckle colleagues, Video Von's widow, Joan, wrote of her late husband: "He enjoyed a very interesting life and one of the highlights, of course, was his time at Honeysuckle Creek and the Apollo 11 mission and the famous flicking of the switch."
Talk about a moment in time.
- Ed von Renouard died in London on December 7.
Video Von to the rescue ... again!
Dishing up the truth: Following Neil Armstrong's famous step, the TV signal continued going to air globally via Video Von's console at Honeysuckle Creek for a further six minutes until the bigger dish at Parkes came online. According to Colin Mackellar of honeysucklecreek.net: "Generally speaking, the bigger the dish, the better the picture, and so the signal from Parkes was chosen for the remainder of the moon walk." The signal from Parkes was unable to be broadcast prior to this due to the angle of the dish being unable to pick up a signal 30 degrees below the horizon. Film buffs will know the directors of the 2000 Australian film The Dish used creative licence to suggest the signal beamed around the world came from Parkes for the entire moonwalk, including those famous first steps. In fact, it was this misrepresentation of facts that primarily inspired Colin to create his website "as a tribute to the men and women of Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station".
Second coming: In 2005, Video Von found some old video tapes among other items in storage of vision he'd unofficially filmed on his personal Super 8 video camera of the screens at his video console on the day of the moon landing. Incredibly, all the official telemetry recordings had been wiped by NASA (they apparently needed the tapes for other missions), meaning the vision on the Super 8 tapes is of significant historical value. According to Colin, "The vision he captured was before it was relayed around the world via satellite so is of better quality than recordings kept by TV stations."
Did You Know? Video Von emigrated from Germany to Australia in 1953 at the age of 21, leaving the devastation of post-war Europe and looking for opportunities and adventure. He said that "in Australia, all opportunities were wide open".
WHERE ON THE COAST?
Rating: Medium
Clue: 1953 again, and surely all the huts give it away?
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday December 23 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
Last week: Congratulations to Roger Shelton of Spence who was the first reader to identify last week's photo as Kiama, taken from the south side of the lighthouse with Saddleback Mountain in the background. "My first thought was Tuross Head, but the Norfolk pines and angle didn't seem right, so I settled on Kiama," reveals Roger. The photo was taken in 1953 by the late Bill Tomsett and sent in by his daughter Janette. Regular entrant Roger just beat Geoff Wardrobe of Gordon and James Freeman of Kambah to the prize. "Most Canberrans flock to the coast south of Jervis Bay, but with its beaches and famous blowhole, Kiama is also a great spot for a summer holiday," says James.
CHRISTMAS CORNER
Wow, it was hard to pick my favourite Christmas haybale scenes in paddocks around the ACT this season.
Taking out top gong is the surfing Santa and reindeer lifesaver on the corner of Briars Sharrow and Plains Road near Hoskinstown. "Every year, 'Claystone Beef' create a Christmas display with a new theme and this year it is the beach," reports Christina Steele of Captains Flat who drives past it daily. What a ripper.
Meanwhile, in second place was this colourful stack on the Monaro Highway near Michelago.
Finally, check out 'Frosty the Snowman' on the Snowy Mountains Highway near Adelong. Frosty is clearly leaning towards the shade. I don't blame him; Adelong is a long way from the chill of the northern hemisphere.
Stay cool and Merry Christmas!
CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
