You must of been unlucky not to see any activity from a dark sky location in Victoria Ken!
I have been resisting annoying the hell out of the younger members of IiS with another groanworthy "remember the good old days" from me - but i have to say the obvious - I remember when the streetlights went off 11PM and then 1 am later on - even if I was only a kid - and they werent very bright anyway when they were on, those gas lamps - hehee no i mean early versions of streetlights
apparently you use to be able to discover comets visually from your backyard!!
I have posted a map of the comparison of the position geomagnetic pole as compared to the earths spinning axis pole. I had a hell of a time finding a good geomagnetic grid map overlayed with the normal latt long, so i am using one that Ian sent to me a while ago. There used to be a few more around on the net but they have dissappeared? they used to be one that you entered your normal co-ordinates in and you got your geomagnetic co-ordinates, but i cant find it now. the magnetic pole of course moves around very slowly over time - this present era sees Oz and NZ in prime position (for populated areas) for the southern lights. This map is for 1995 - but i dont think it has moved a lot since then? As you can see Melboune is at 50º south!! in regards to magnetic pole. So we arent as far north as we think! The solar max in the 60's was apparently a big active one - this last one was the mildest one for a while i think?.
Cheers
Fringey