Extract from an interview with Peter Zajicek

In 1962 Lubomir and Joan Zajicek moved from England to Australia, with their children Joan (aged 15) and one year old Peter, to take up a job with the newly formed Weapons Research Establishment. The family settled in Elizabeth, however Lubomir took up his appointment in Woomera a few weeks after arriving. It wasn’t until a year later when housing became available that the family moved permanently to Woomera, where they lived until 1969.

Lubomir worked as an Electrical Technical Officer at the Woomera Rocket Range and was very proud when he was joined on the Range by daughter Joan, who started work as a camera operator on the Kinetheodolite. Wife Joan looked after the family home and volunteered at the Woomera Library, while Peter attended kindergarten and primary school. To this day the Zajicek family recall fond memories of living in Woomera and the enduring love of the Australian bush landscape.

We used to lie on the old lounges out the back and look up at the stars…you realise there are a lot of satellites up there, and we’d be lying there counting satellites. - Peter Zajicek

The helicopter arrived on the oval, which was a big thing, and out stepped Father Christmas. One year I noticed that he was my neighbour next door. He gave me a wink and a present, and I never said a word to anybody.  - Peter Zajicek

This is an excerpt from a longer interview recorded as part of the Living in Woomera oral history project undertaken by Dr Sally Stephenson

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