On the front page this day in 1982 was a story about a cat, Puma, stuck at the top of an electricity pole.
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It was not her first day on top of the pole, as she had been there already for two days, having not been tempted by any amount of milk to come down to the ground.
The ACT Fire Brigade had ruled not long before that retrieving cats from heights did not fall within the scope of the job.
In the case of Puma, they had stuck by this ruling. Pat Sager, the owner, had been told by the ACT Electricity Authority that it might be an electrician's job, but the rescue would need to be made during working hours.
A spokesman for the authority said the saving of the cat was not worth the cost of penalty rates if a worker was called to duty after hours.
"It is not part of our normal duties, but occasionally a linesman that either likes cats, or one that has not been scratched trying to get them down in the past, will do it," he said.
"We know of this particular cat in Kaleen and we will send a linesman out tomorrow to see what can be done."
Puma would need to wait until the linesman arrived the following day and spend another cold night above ground, unless she changed her mind and decided to come down.
