Professor Paul Rodan was a Year 12 student in Perth. He remembers his English teacher was "the personification of CP Snow's 'two cultures' divide and was unimpressed with the moon landing and all that went with it".

"He proclaimed his refusal to be 'overcome by the hysteria which is sweeping earth', and we would be studying English."

"As a classicist whose historical view focused on events which were millennia in the past, he had apparently little sympathy for the idea that in 2009, what was about to happen in 1969 would be right up there with the assassination of Caesar, Hannibal crossing the Alps etc.  English was routinely repeated for those with a timetable clash.

"So I became an honorary Chemistry student (they were allowed to watch it - it was science after all)."

Professor Brenda Happell was in her first year of high school and "came to school that day with the worst crop top hair cut you could imagine (courtesy of my sister), and for once I didn't want to take my school hat off".

"We watched the moon landing at school which at least took some focus away from my bad haircut," she said.

Professor Phillip Clift was celebrating his 23rd birthday with some mates and a few drinks in his home at Milton, Brisbane, where he was a lecturer at Queensland Institute of Technology.

Professor David Midmore was "working as a labourer on a potato digger in the UK at the actual time, and had to wait for the evening to watch a repeat of the landing on the TV in the pub".

Associate Professor Peter Reaburn vividly remembers: "sitting in a dark and dingy boarding school common room at The Southport School on the Gold Coast with 100 or so other boys watching a black and white fuzzy screen".

 "It was one of those moments in your life that you never forget."

Dr Jim Douglas was at primary school and remembers "several classes cramming around a single black and white TV, placed up on a shelf, waiting and watching live those amazing images of Armstrong stepping off the steps of the Lunar Module onto the moon's surface".

"I kept newspapers and clippings of the entire event, which I still have!"

Commercial Operations GM Paul Lancaster was "standing with hundreds of other students in the Union building at Monash spellbound, watching Armstrong take that first step".

Lecturer Peter Cherry remembers "watching on a Black and White TV while having a beer after doing a night shift at Mount Morgan mine. Many at work listened on the radio".

Lecturer Dr Bob Newby remembers "I was living in Wright College at UNE that had banned TV in student rooms (too much of a distraction to study), however we watched on a ‘illicit' TV owned by one of the senior students (and got to our afternoon science practical session late)".

Lecturer Dr David Druskovich said he was "watching the B&W Television at my parent's house in Perth at about 8am".

"A fellow student came to pick me up about 8:20am as we had a 9am Chemistry III class at UWA. The moon landing was delayed, my friend and I stayed to watch the landing occur at about 10:30am Perth time. We missed the chemistry lecture but it was OK as the lecturer had stayed home to watch the landing as well!"