Explore: Expo at 50
They arrived in Spokane in April 1974. Clad in yellow and gray, the men sporting large bow ties, the women in yellow hats.
Richard Goodwin, Kerry Thomas and Barbara Wright joined 15 other Aussies to staff the Australian Pavilion at Expo ‘74.
Though they were strangers before accepting the gig, the group quickly became friends, and last month they held a reunion in the Barossa Valley, in Australia, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair.
It wasn’t their first gathering.
“We’ve stayed in touch over the years, even though we live mostly widely apart,” Goodwin said. “In 2004, we held our first reunion and our old Expo bosses joined us. That was followed by reunions for the 40th, 45th and now 50th anniversaries of Expo.”
The 12 girls and six guys got their jobs the old-fashioned way via a newspaper advertisement that offered $225 per fortnight, including allowances, from April 16-Nov. 8.
Goodwin only applied because his best friend showed him the ad and said he hoped to get the job.
“I was in my third year as a young journalist for the Age newspaper in Melbourne, a career I’d long treasured. The chance to go to America representing Australia appealed as a growth measure personally and professionally,” he said. “My editor agreed and gave me a leave of absence for six months, later extended to a year.”
His friend didn’t get the job, which made Goodwin feel a bit bad.
Kerry Thomas was 21, working as a programmer/analyst, and a few nights a week he played drums in a rock band.
“I had shoulder-length hair and volunteered during the interview to get a ‘short back and sides’ if I got the job,” he recalled. “The only problem was that the very next day after I got confirmation, the press wanted to interview me and take photos, which, naturally, I obliged.”
He hadn’t had time for that haircut.
“The phone call I received next morning from recruitment was not pleasant, so that afternoon I had my locks cut!”
Barbara Wright loved traveling and had already visited the U.K., and the South Pacific before landing the Expo job.
“I was teaching English and French in a secondary school in Perth (Australia), and the Education Department gave me leave without pay, so I didn’t have to resign,” she said. “I’d never been to North America and working in a world’s fair sounded pretty exciting!”
The crew stayed at the Chateaux apartments on North Washington Street.
“You could see our place from inside the pavilion. We could walk to and from work each day,” Goodwin said. “Spokane impressed us. The Expo site’s location next to the river and falls was beautiful.”
They discovered plenty of novelty in American life with unfamiliar items like color TVs, massive milk cartons and big cars.
Wright enjoyed the surrounding forests, lakes and mountains.
“Western Australia is rather dry and has very few of these features,” she said. “We soon adjusted to traffic on the wrong side of the road, and the different names and pronunciations of words, compared to what we’d grown up with in Oz.”
Two million visitors passed through the Australian exhibit during Expo ‘74.
In June, 17 pieces of exquisite handmade opal jewelry were displayed at the pavilion. The star of the show was the Pride of Queensland necklace which featured a 34-carat opal set in 4½ ounces of 18-carat gold.
The Australian crew proved to be a big draw, as well.
“People just wanted to listen to you talk,” Thomas said. “They were interested in kangaroos and koalas. Each day working in the pavilion was different and I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the public.”
Thomas had a side gig during Expo. He donned a kangaroo suit and greeted visiting Aussie dignitaries or performers at the airport.
Their primary job was greeting guests at the pavilion, guiding them through the exhibits and answering their questions.
“We were frequently asked what dialect of English we spoke,” recalled Goodwin. “One man pointed at our Perspex (Plexiglas) model of the Sydney Opera House and asked, ‘Is that a grocery store?’ Another queried whether our animal exhibits were freeze-dried!”
Their pride knew no bounds when the New Yorker magazine wrote, “The ground floor of the Australian pavilion happens to be the most tasteful and well-designed exhibit offered by any nation at Expo ‘74.”
It wasn’t all work for the Aussie crew. Their schedules allowed regular four-day breaks, and they took every opportunity to explore.
Wright said she has lasting memories of rafting down the river, a donated plane ride to see the autumn colors, and trips to Coeur d’Alene, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, Lake Louise, San Francisco, Reno and Glacier National Park.
“The people in Spokane were incredibly friendly and generous,” she said.
Another perk was the lineup of celebrity guests.
“One big hit was the entertainment program at the Opera House,” Goodwin said. “We devoured shows featuring world-class artists like Harry Belafonte, Gordon Lightfoot and Henry Fonda.”
He, too, appreciated the warmth of the locals.
“Many of our young crew were befriended by families who hosted us at home or took us places,” he said.
Thomas even found romance.
“During Expo, I met a beautiful local girl, and this made it more difficult for me to leave. I spent Christmas with her family in Spokane – my very first white Christmas,” he recalled. “Not long afterward I sadly said goodbye and did a road trip down Highway 101, then into Mexico and Central America.”
He returned to Spokane in 1975 and more recently in 2007.
“That later visit was with my wife, and we visited the Expo site out of curiosity,” Thomas said. “We stayed with my (ex) girlfriend and her husband which may seem strange to some, but that’s what good friends do.”
Wright also spent time traveling after the World’s Fair concluded.
“I spent two months traveling throughout the U.S. and Canada with a couple of others,” she said. “We bought a Greyhound Pass – $90 for 90 days’ travel. It was great! We finished our travels in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve.”
The bonds built while living and working at Expo ‘74 have proved lasting.
“Because of our ages when we went to Spokane, the entire experience proved life-changing, and mind-broadening – an era which molded memories,” Goodwin said.
One of their crew has passed away, but at their recent reunion, they had just two absentees – one recovering from illness and another welcoming a new grandchild in New York City.
Thomas said they refer to each other as their “Expo family.”
“When we get together we all feel like we are putting on a comfortable pair of cozy slippers,” he said. “There’s a familiarity, an at-homeness, that’s hard to qualify.”
The group is already talking about their next reunion.
“We were known as a friendly bunch by the pavilion visitors,” said Goodwin. “And half a century later it seems something in our chemistry has kept us affectionately connected.”
Contact Cindy Hval at dchval@juno.com.