Our item about larrikinism involving street signs (we showed a graphic 1960s picture of the Red Hill street sign for Charlotte St wittily changed to Harlot St) reminded reader Graham Yapp of another such adventure.

He recalls how in 1962 he and his group of friends ''removed the signposts from Constitution Avenue and took them back to the old Forestry School at Yarralumla for amendment''.

They toyed with the idea of changing the ''con'' of Constitution to ''pro'', but decided against that because it might give offence to residents of Mulwala House, a Commonwealth hostel. It would have given them a blush-making street address. Instead the larrikins changed the ''tu'' of the signs to ''pa'' and then reinstalled them.

A few days later The Canberra Times (as fun-loving then as it is today) published this photograph of one of the Constipation Avenue signs with the witty caption: ''Constitution Avenue is not normally a congested thoroughfare although this sign may indicate otherwise.''

A little extra probing by us reveals that the prank was discussed, humourlessly (and without pranksterism being suspected) in the parliament of the nation.

''Spelling To Be Examined'' The Canberra Times reported on February 21, 1962.

''Misspelling on a Constitution Avenue signpost would be examined, the Minister for the Interior, Mr. Freeth, promised last night. Member for the A.C.T., Mr. J. R. Fraser, had drawn his attention in the House of Representatives to the misspelling. 'The signpost mistakenly spelt it Constipation Avenue,' he said. Mr. Fraser asked the Minister to have the signpost removed and replaced with a correctly spelt sign. The Canberra Times had drawn attention to the error by publishing a photograph of the signpost last week, Mr. Fraser said.''

An item last week about university students and their scavenger hunts has reminded John Howard of the day he was politely scavenged.

''Many years ago, when John Howard was treasurer [1977-83], ANU scavenger hunters could receive 2000 points for the capture of John Howard and have him present his budget from the steps of the University Union. One clever team realised that other John Howards were about and the hunt did not state that only the John Howard was required.

''One day, while quietly pursuing my duties as principal of Kaleen Primary School, I received a polite phone call from a team member in the ANU scavenger hunt. My presence was required … I agreed to co-operate at a time that suited my lunch break. I arrived at ANU and met the team, identified myself with my driver's licence, presented a 'budget speech' from the steps, witnessed the receipt of 2000 points by the team and returned to work.''

We got on to this larrikinism theme with, last Tuesday, a 1980 photograph of students of the CCAE (now the University of Canberra) carrying their newly crowned Mr Bewdy (winner of a beauty contest) around the campus. He was being borne aloft on the platform of the door ''borrowed'' from the principal's office.

One of the loyal subjects bearing him aloft in 1980 was Tom Orsag who, reading our story, took a little umbrage at something in it. We'd reported how in its annual Stone Day scavenger hunts of the 1970s-early 1980s, the young brigands of the CCAE had shied away from major feats of scavenging. We had reported, accurately, that in the late 1970s some had dreamt of the burglary of Adaminaby's mammoth Leaping Trout (a fibreglass behemoth 10 metres tall), but had felt the task was too great.

But in 1981 Orsag reminds us, CCAE students were strongly suspected of/credited with (depending on your point of view) the sensational scavenging of Gundagai's well-known Dog on the Tuckerbox statue. The bronze kelpie, springing from its plinth, bounded into the news (it even received some international coverage) when on 1981's Stone Day it showed up on the CCAE concourse dressed in a Stone Day T-shirt.

Gundagai authorities were not amused and demanded CCAE compensation for the retrieval of the dog, a big job that required two strong men and a ute.

The sin of its removal seems never to have been pinned on anyone, although Orsag thinks he remembers a team of CCAE scavengers getting bumper points for this nationally famous monument.

He has seen the dog in recent times and reports it is now ''firmly bolted to the tuckerbox''.

Meanwhile, reader Geoff Wade submits that ''histories of larrikinism in Canberra would not be complete without reference to the Queen's visit in 1973 and the Narrabundah Royalist Society's performance at the airport just prior to her arrival''.

''After the airport event, the Narrabundah Royalist Society [bearing some resemblance, behind their costumes, to sixth form students of Narrabundah High] drove their own 'Queen' [that must be her, the waving white-gloved figure in the centre of our picture] around the streets of Canberra in an open-topped Morris in convoy, accompanied by her macho security guys, with her giving appropriate waves to the Canberra crowds.''