# Oldies and Fossils



## Tisme (18 December 2014)

Thought this site might be interesting to some of the members who remember old school Australia.

http://oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/education/2014/12/education-through-the-ages/


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## SirRumpole (18 December 2014)

Tisme said:


> Thought this site might be interesting to some of the members who remember old school Australia.
> 
> http://oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/education/2014/12/education-through-the-ages/




Warm milk at school. Yuk.

I remember the old syrup in a spoon for polio too.

Does that still happen in school ?


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## Tink (19 December 2014)

Great thread, Tisme, a lot to learn from the oldies.
I remember the warm milk too, though I think it ended at the end of my primary years.
Yes, hopscotch, elastics, rounders.
The beautiful cursive writing on the blackboards.

Memories.


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## Bill M (19 December 2014)

When I was in primary school we use to get that fee milk everyday, most times some would be left over so I took it home and Mum gave it to the dog for breakfast. We also had a yearly Doctor visit, each student had a free check up. Also remember getting hearing check ups. But step out of line and you would get a bashing from the teacher with that yard stick they used on the black boards, ouch! Got the cane once or twice too


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## Tink (20 December 2014)

Yes, a lot more discipline in the public schools then than now. 
That is probably why so many opt for private school education.

I only ever saw one student smacked with the ruler.

I pretty much grew up with nuns going to an all girls school, and have a lot of admiration for them.


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## Tink (20 December 2014)

Also looking back, how simple it was then, drinking taps, your books in your desk in front of you.
How things have changed.


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## Calliope (20 December 2014)

Tink said:


> The beautiful cursive writing on the blackboards.




As well as numeracy and literacy, we were taught how to hold our pens properly.Cursive writing went out the window when teachers decided to let the kids hold rheir pens in a fist.




	

		
			
		

		
	
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## SirRumpole (20 December 2014)

Calliope said:


> As well as numeracy and literacy, we were taught how to hold our pens properly.Cursive writing went out the window when teachers decided to let the kids hold rheir pens in a fist.
> 
> View attachment 60827
> 
> ...




What's a pen ?


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## ghotib (20 December 2014)

SirRumpole said:


> What's a pen ?



It's an old word for feather.

As in, "The pen is mightier than the sod."


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## Calliope (20 December 2014)

ghotib said:


> It's an old word for feather.
> 
> As in, "The pen is mightier than the sod."




For those dumb enough not to know what a pen is.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...DRA_en&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source


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## Tink (20 December 2014)

Well said, Calliope.

Not quite sure what you meant by that comment, ghotib, but isn't that what they are at school for, to learn?


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## sydboy007 (20 December 2014)

It's  just a generational thing me thinks.

You know you're old when the music you grew up with is now playing again, remixed and "brand new" for the masses

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/16/how_old_you_feel_might_predict_how_long_youll_live/



> The researchers analyzed data from a study in England on aging that included information on deaths during a follow-up period that ended in February 2013; deaths totaled 1,030. About 14 percent of the young-feeling adults died during the follow-up, versus 19 percent of those who felt their actual age and 25 percent of those who felt older.
> 
> Feeling older was a predictor of death even when the researchers accounted for things that could affect death rates, including illnesses, wealth, education, smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity. Older-feeling adults were about 40 percent more likely to die than younger-feeling adults.




But lest people view the past through rose tinted glasses, do people have a good memory of a world before mass immunisation, especially smallpox and polio, or antibiotics that save people dying from what we now consider a simple wound.  The past was a world where the colour of your skin limited your ability to vote or even the public transport or water fountain you could use (in the case of the USA or Apartheid South Africa).  Then there was the belittling attitudes towards woman, and overt racism to Asians and Southern Europeans.  There's plenty about the past I'm happy is no longer in the present

The only constant is change.


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## Logique (20 December 2014)

Thanks for the thread Tisme.

I'll have you know, I was Third Grade class milk monitor. As you would expect, I was superb in this role.

Such nostalgia, little bottles of banana and lime milk, served at room temperature. Sabin polio vaccine on a little plastic spoon, hopscotch, elastics, yo-yos, and marbles, and _The Monkeys_ bubble gum cards.

And Carlton won the Premiership every year.

Nuns were certifiable. Christian Brothers not far behind, and they loved to use The Strap.

Does anyone remember the old knuckle-bones game. They were little bones that you tossed up and down on your hand, a little before my time, and only vaguely remembered.


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## Julia (20 December 2014)

sydboy007 said:


> But lest people view the past through rose tinted glasses, do people have a good memory of a world before mass immunisation, especially smallpox and polio, or antibiotics that save people dying from what we now consider a simple wound.



Yes, medical advances have been so positive.  I'm presently reading "The Golden Age", about the children populating that polio hospital, where many died in their iron lung, and the more healthy were dependent on calipers and crutches to support their useless legs.  



> The past was a world where the colour of your skin limited your ability to vote or even the public transport or water fountain you could use (in the case of the USA or Apartheid South Africa).  Then there was the belittling attitudes towards woman, and overt racism to Asians and Southern Europeans.  There's plenty about the past I'm happy is no longer in the present



Certainly the overt presentation of the sort of racism you describe has gone, but I'm not convinced it doesn't still exist in some places in covert form.

What I most notice is what seems, at least in retrospect, to be life's simplicity of a few decades ago, perhaps because of fewer choices (think technology in particular), but most especially the obedience young people overall displayed toward their parents, teachers, authority figures in general.

This doesn't exist now, or if it does it's in a very limited form.  Rather pre-pubescent kids will state "I have just as many rights as you do".  That might be fine in principle, but given the immature brain and lack of life experience the theory is rarely supported by the evidential behaviour.



Logique said:


> I'll have you know, I was Third Grade class milk monitor. As you would expect, I was superb in this role.



Of course you would be, Logique.  It was undoubtedly that experience that set you on the road to leadership and fame, viz in particular your wisdom being quoted in (I think?) "Strewth" in "The Australian".



> Such nostalgia, little bottles of banana and lime milk, served at room temperature.



You must have been privileged.   No flavourings at all in ours.  Just warmed by the sun to nausea-inducing temperature. 
However, the idea was sensible enough if only someone had thought about the need for refrigeration.


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## SirRumpole (20 December 2014)

We had the old nib pens with inkwells and fountain pens with plungers were treasured because they made great water (ink) pistols.


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## macca (20 December 2014)

Logique said:


> Thanks for the thread Tisme.
> 
> I'll have you know, I was Third Grade class milk monitor. As you would expect, I was superb in this role.
> 
> ...




Yes, my sister had knuckle bones she used to play with, I remember Mum bought some new plastic ones and we were very impressed.

Our milk was delivered in a billie can left under the gum tree about 6.00 am, we used to drink it at 9.00 am, it was revolting, I used to serve it up and make sure there was none left for me.

Used to take me 1.5 hours each way to school with 1 hour of chores when I got home, on bus at 7.00 am to 6.00 pm was my typical day, quite normal for all the kids I went to school with. 

Rather difficult to do higher years without access to a library or Google to help with any research, just get a job and leave, I did get my Intermediate Certificate, would be end of year 9 now, left when 15 years and 1 week old.

My polio vaccine was still a needle which I hated, half my class threw up or fainted, maybe why they brought in the oral vaccine


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## Tink (20 December 2014)

Yes, we had knuckle bones, we also called them, Jacks.


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## Garpal Gumnut (20 December 2014)

A great thread


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## Tink (20 December 2014)

Agree with your post, Julia, regarding respect for teachers and authority. 

I also feel we may have gone forward in one way, but backwards in another. 
We seem to have to think of every little thing now before we do or say something, even if it's just hugging a child.

It all seemed very simple then.
Now there seems to be too many layers.


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## Tink (21 December 2014)

I should have also added, I think we are disconnecting more than connecting as a society from what I mentioned above.

I remember as children if we were doing something wrong, the neighbours would say something.
I don't think people are as confident now to come forward.

We have seen the elderly being bashed, has anyone jumped in to help.

Even the police feel they have their hands tied.


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## SirRumpole (21 December 2014)

Tink said:


> I should have also added, I think we are disconnecting more than connecting as a society from what I mentioned above.
> 
> I remember as children if we were doing something wrong, the neighbours would say something.
> I don't think people are as confident now to come forward.
> ...




That' s what you get with increasing population density.

No one has the time to get to know all their neighbors so there is much less care about who they are or their welfare. 

If governments promoted natural population growth instead of growth by high immigration, the increasing burden of social problems would be eased.


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## Tink (21 December 2014)

I think it is a bit of everything, Rumpole.
Peoples rights, quick to sue, there is probably more.

Things not even thought of then.


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## sydboy007 (21 December 2014)

While not as old as some posting in this thred, I do think it was easier to be poor back when I was in school.

Certainly it was still easy to pick the kids from poorer families because they were wearing the no name clothes, but it wasn't as overt as it is today.

Now with the technology bling, and ability for teenagers to be increasingly cruel online, I don't think I'd have liked to grow up in the pressure cooker of today's schools.

The lack of community sense these days I think boils down to over priced housing.  It's no longer an option to have a stay at home parent, even when renting, unless one parent is earning over 6 figures.

We seem to have been tricked by Government into thinking the tax cuts they gave us means we have more money in our pockets, but then the user pays principle is rife.  Before our taxes would pay for roads and other public infrastructure, but these days it's all about PPPs and full cost recovery, with monopoly style rents going to the connected corporates.

It wont surprise me if the youth of today are having a similar online conversation in 30 or so years.


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## Tink (21 December 2014)

So what does that have to do with helping and respecting others, teachers and authority.

I disagree with you that it would have been easier being poor back then compared to all the help available now.


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## Julia (21 December 2014)

sydboy007 said:


> Certainly it was still easy to pick the kids from poorer families because they were wearing the no name clothes, but it wasn't as overt as it is today.



Well, I'm not exactly poor but I wear no name clothes happily and always have.   Just never thought of it as an issue at all.  If that's the sort of thing you base a life on, there will always be something to make you envious or unhappy.



> ... ability for teenagers to be increasingly cruel online, I don't think I'd have liked to grow up in the pressure cooker of today's schools.



That will depend on the school, but yes in some instances and definitely online the outright cruelty is shocking in the true sense of the word.  I read some of the vituperative, hate filled comments from these kids and can't believe they can be so vicious.  Adults also.   It's quite horrible.



> The lack of community sense these days I think boils down to over priced housing.  It's no longer an option to have a stay at home parent, even when renting, unless one parent is earning over 6 figures.
> 
> We seem to have been tricked by Government into thinking the tax cuts they gave us means we have more money in our pockets, but then the user pays principle is rife.  Before our taxes would pay for roads and other public infrastructure, but these days it's all about PPPs and full cost recovery, with monopoly style rents going to the connected corporates.



Syd, could you consider not turning Tisme's interesting thread into yet another anti-government rant?

So called loss of community spirit may be a characteristic of where one lives.  It's alive and well where I live.  Perhaps there's a different atmosphere in cities though I found living in a city in NZ even more community focused than suburbia here, and we all worked full time.   Sometimes as individuals we need to make the first move - go and talk to your neighbours.  Usually there will be a positive response.  So what if both parents are working?  Ask your neighbours in for a Saturday afternoon drink.


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## SirRumpole (21 December 2014)

Julia said:


> Ask your neighbours in for a Saturday afternoon drink.




There used to be some tradition of street parties, but I don't know how that goes down these days with a greater tendency to high density housing and reluctance of police to close down highly used public roads.


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## basilio (21 December 2014)

Probably the most significant change is the amount of contact and relationships we developed with Uncles /Aunts cousins.

As a kid we visited our grandparents house most Saturday nights and there would always be a fair number of uncles/aunts and their kids.  Oldies played  cards we watched TV.

Sunday was often seeing other relatives. We certainly  grew up as an extended family.  (Yes we are European..)

The fact that shops were closed on Saturday afternoon and Sunday also helped these family outings.
There was also a lot more innocence in the sense that children/adolescents/adults were far less exposed to completely open community on the internet. Very, very big difference.


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## noco (21 December 2014)

I don't hear of any of you oldies talk about slates, slate pencils and stinking wet sponges to wipe you slate clean...maybe that was before your time.

The head master used the cane if you were sent there by your teacher for bad behavior...6 cuts to the hand of your choice....I only went once....Our 7th grade teacher was a Russian Jew named Kajewski...he made a special strap made of two pieces of leather stitched together about 1" wide by about 18" long...(25 mm x 450 mm )...if you homework was not up to scratch, one would receive the strap down the full length of the hand......if any kid misbehaved, it was across the bare back side.....it was a boys school but nevertheless embarrassing to have it done in front of other kids because that kid would be ribbed about it for days after....I was fortunate enough to avoid that punishment....Those teachers had the fear of God in us kids......today they can abuse a teacher and get away with it......

I was in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and decided to visit my old school of Buranda and much to my astonishment, all the old class rooms were not being used.....new class rooms had been built...when asked the question why, I was told by one of the teachers who gave me a tour of the school, the old class rooms were too hot.....phew!!!!!!the new ones are all conditioned......We had no air conditioning, no fans only open windows and hoped to hell the breeze would give some relief from the heat. 

Many kids went to school bare footed because their parents could not afford shoes.....we never had free milk.....On Mondays when the bread was a bit stale we were given threepence to buy a pie with Holbrooks sauce at the school gate....I used to love Mondays for that reason.

Each morning at 9am we would assemble on the parade ground and sing the national anthem...kids then marched to their class rooms by the kettle drum played by yours truly.

A State Government nurse would arrive at the school at least once per year and would inspect the kids from head to toe......I could never work out why she would open the front of our shorts and look down the inside and still don't know to this day.

Yes....the good old days...can you imagine that sort of caper happening today?


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## SirRumpole (21 December 2014)

They were also the days when milk was delivered in bottles to your door, and Mr Whippy came around at 3pm every afternoon.


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## explod (21 December 2014)

Logique said:


> Does anyone remember the old knuckle-bones game. They were little bones that you tossed up and down on your hand, a little before my time, and only vaguely remembered.




The knuckles came from legs of lamb,  I think.   Mother would save them.  One would ballance numbers of them on the back of the hand,  toss them and catch in the palm.  The winner was who could toss and catch the highest number,  I had difficulty after four.   The game was generally called knuckles.


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## explod (21 December 2014)

noco said:


> I don't hear of any of you oldies talk about slates, slate pencils and stinking wet sponges to wipe you slate clean...maybe that was before your time
> 
> Many kids went to school bare footed because their parents could not afford shoes.....we never had free milk.....On Mondays when the bread was a bit stale we were given threepence to buy a pie with Holbrooks sauce at the school gate....I used to love Mondays for that reason.
> 
> Yes....the good old days...can you imagine that sort of caper happening today?




Yes I used a slate from prep-grade but the big memory was the cracks on the back of the hand from a black hooded Nun.  

Fortunately Dad was granted a farm in another area and found the State School a much nicer place. 

And the hoisting of the flag and acknowledging the King was far better than having the fear of God rammed home.


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## noco (21 December 2014)

SirRumpole said:


> They were also the days when milk was delivered in bottles to your door, and Mr Whippy came around at 3pm every afternoon.




No bottles in my early days......milk was delivered to your door and the milkman emptied his gal steel jug into our billy can left on the back steps.....I would say milk bottles came after ww11.


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## noco (21 December 2014)

explod said:


> Yes I used a slate from prep-grade but the big memory was the cracks on the back of the hand from a black hooded Nun.
> 
> Fortunately Dad was granted a farm in another area and found the State School a much nicer place.
> 
> And the hoisting of the flag and acknowledging the King was far better than having the fear of God rammed home.




Yes I forgot about the flag raising before the singing of the National anthem which was "God save the king".


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## SirRumpole (21 December 2014)

explod said:


> The knuckles came from legs of lamb,  I think.   Mother would save them.  One would ballance numbers of them on the back of the hand,  toss them and catch in the palm.  The winner was who could toss and catch the highest number,  I had difficulty after four.   The game was generally called knuckles.




Pig's knuckles perhaps ?

Don't remember those, but the cycle of fads in my day were pogo sticks, yo-yos, hula hoops, spinning tops, then back to pogo sticks.


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## SirRumpole (21 December 2014)

noco said:


> Yes I forgot about the flag raising before the singing of the National anthem which was "God save the king".




The King ? You must be 90 ?


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## noco (21 December 2014)

SirRumpole said:


> The King ? You must be 90 ?




Not quite 90 yet...I did get my OBE some years ago though.......I think King George vi died around 1951 or 1952....I know the present Queen Elizabeth11 was crowned on the 2nd June 1953...4 days before I married my first wife on the 6th June 1953....So I was well and truly still at school at school during the King George vi reign. 

The 6th of June 1953 was the night the Noosa heads picture threatre was burnt down.


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## johenmo (21 December 2014)

I find that parts of my early years make me nostalgic.  Less traffic, a seemingly safer city (though it was possibly just ignorance), less complicated, less expectation re material possessions, we knew our neighbours.  I do think extended shopping has helped to eat into family time.  The best sense of community came when we lived in a small country town (<1000) but everyone knew what you were doing before you'd even thought about it the first time.

We're heading back in time... I mean, back to Perth for Xmas.  When we go back each year I notice the more limited shopping on Sundays.  And notice it's slowly changing as people/companies/governments think they need it.  
I think life was less complicated and enjoyed my childhood despite a few challenges.
Great thread.  Made me think/reflect.
Merry Christmas everyone.


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## burglar (21 December 2014)

SirRumpole said:


> Pig's knuckles perhaps ?
> 
> Don't remember those, but the cycle of fads in my day were pogo sticks, yo-yos, hula hoops, spinning tops, then back to pogo sticks.




You forgot stilts and 'milo tins with sting'


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## SirRumpole (21 December 2014)

burglar said:


> You forgot stilts and 'milo tins with sting'
> 
> 
> View attachment 60842




Yes , milo tins with string. A hole in the end, string goes through the hole, two cans joined together to form a "tin can telephone" to the next room.

Also remember little crystal radio sets with no batteries that picked up nearby stations.


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## Ruby (21 December 2014)

ghotib said:


> It's an old word for feather.
> 
> As in, "The pen is mightier than the sod."




It's "_The pen is mightier than the sword_"


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## Bill M (21 December 2014)

Lets not forget cracker night and the lead up to it. About 2 weeks before cracker night all the fireworks were up for sale in the local newsagency, this was the best time of the year for me.

We could buy anything we wanted, as kids too! We saved up for it and bought whatever we could afford. Parents helped out with a couple of $$ too. On cracker night we let off as many as we had. Roman candles, skyrockets (fired out of those 1 pint milk bottles), frisbees, double bangers and the biggie was the 4 penny bunger. We took turns lighting the fuses. Some kids had their parents set up a bonfire in an empty paddock, everybody went and had a good time. Next morning we went looking for the duds........ahhhh the smell of gunpowder.

Then it all got canned and all we ever did was talk about it for years to come.... and I'm still talking about it.


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## Ruby (21 December 2014)

I remember slates - and sharpening slate pencils each morning on a slab of concrete (perhaps a septic tank?) in the school ground.    Also Salk vaccine for polio (needle in the arm).  Black stockings at high school all year round - no air con or fans!!  My bus fare each way to school was twopence (or tuppence) and when at high school, threepence on the tram.


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## Smurf1976 (21 December 2014)

Bill M said:


> Lets not forget cracker night and the lead up to it.



Another thing ruined by a few idiots doing silly things and eventually banned as a result.

It's a shame, one of my earliest childhood memories is of the display my grandmother set up in her backyard. Still remember that quite well today. Had all the fireworks in position, and there were lots of them, and went around lighting them one after the other. Had a bonfire going too.

Times have changed though. A few people did very bad things with fireworks so I can understand the ban. And where my grandmother's house once stood is now, due to general expansion of the town, part of the commercial zone with a shopping center where that and a few other houses once stood.


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## explod (21 December 2014)

SirRumpole said:


> The King ? You must be 90 ?




The Queen took over about 1954 because all us kids were packed into the shool bus and we saw her at Hamilton Victoria  during  her Coronation Visit. 

I was about 7 then and still a fair bit younger than 90 now,      .Lol


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## Julia (21 December 2014)

SirRumpole said:


> Don't remember those, but the cycle of fads in my day were pogo sticks, yo-yos, hula hoops, spinning tops, then back to pogo sticks.



You omitted the limbo stick, though that may have come a bit later.  Where we bent over backwards to see who could pass under the ever-lower limbo stick.

Funnily enough, I think of the music to that every time I see someone championing an averaging down stock strategy.


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## sydboy007 (21 December 2014)

Bill M said:


> Lets not forget cracker night and the lead up to it. About 2 weeks before cracker night all the fireworks were up for sale in the local newsagency, this was the best time of the year for me.




Gosh yes.  My parent slive on the princess highway and we used to set them off out back of the house.  The traffic would be bumper to bumper so we'd put on a real good show for them.

I loved the ones with the parachutes.

Gosh, those were the days, when a bag of lollies cost 10c at the local news agent.

Everyone at school had throw downs just waiting to scare someone not paying attention during recess.

We seem to be trying to outlaw stoopidity and it doesn't work.


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## burglar (21 December 2014)

sydboy007 said:


> ... We seem to be trying to outlaw stoopidity and it doesn't work.





Stoopidity will always be fun!





Till sum wan gets hurt


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## Tink (22 December 2014)

Great posts, I have enjoyed reading them.

Agree with your post, basilio.
Also extended shopping times made a difference.
Everything was home cooked, no fast food outlets.

Items were held on to and repaired, not so many do that now.

I remember Mr Whippy too. 
We had one driving around not long ago, it wasn't the same reaction for the children.


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## noco (22 December 2014)

explod said:


> The Queen took over about 1954 because all us kids were packed into the shool bus and we saw her at Hamilton Victoria  during  her Coronation Visit.
> 
> I was about 7 then and still a fair bit younger than 90 now,      .Lol




As per my previous post Queen Elizabeth11 was crowned on the 2nd June 1953....She actually took over the reign in 1951 or 1952.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6/newsid_2711000/2711265.stm

King George vi died in his sleep 06/02/1952


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## sydboy007 (22 December 2014)

Tink said:


> I remember Mr Whippy too.
> We had one driving around not long ago, it wasn't the same reaction for the children.




Ah Mr Whipy.  Proving that Pavlov's dog wasn't the only animal able to be trained by sound 

I remember racing out with pocket money once a month to get my choc top with crushed peanuts.

Just heard greensleves yesterday.  Assumed it was an ice cream van of some sort.  I've always wondered why they chose a lovers lament to entice the kids.

Then we had the bottle milk delivery with a cow moo horn.  We used to get the non homogenised milk because it was cheaper.  Oh how I hated that layer of cream on the top of the bottle.  Reminded me too much of drinking the milk at my dad's family farm.  There's warm milk, then there's warm milk because it just came out of a cow


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## robusta (22 December 2014)

Great thread, while I'm only in my mid 40's I grew up in Tassie so a bit like 20 years behind  and not a bad thing at all.

I remember our big occasional trips to Hobart, we would eat at this exotic place called The Coles Cafeteria. You would grab a tray and slide it along picking out whatever you wanted (Mum limited us to 1 savory, 1 salad, 1 bread roll and 1 desert). All the food was in small bowls and you would pay when you got to the end of the line.

I used to eat very slowly savoring every mouthful. My family would be finished and often a lady would come around and wipe the table, asking me to pick up my jelly while I was still eating...

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...v&sa=X&ei=0F-XVP2hBOPGmAXz2YGYAw&ved=0CCwQ7Ak

We had some Italian friends from Triploi, it was only years later that I thought hang on!! Tripoli is in Libya. We only knew Greeks and Italians.


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## robusta (22 December 2014)

sydboy007 said:


> Ah Mr Whipy.  Proving that Pavlov's dog wasn't the only animal able to be trained by sound
> 
> I remember racing out with pocket money once a month to get my choc top with crushed peanuts.
> 
> ...




Yep I remember that warm milk just out of a cow, thought I hated milk for years because of that. We just has a few cows but it was always fun to feed the poddy calves and round up...

Our Christmas tree was a eucalyptus sapling cut down and stick in a bucket of sand.


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## sptrawler (22 December 2014)

I remember when I was a kid in Bunbury, about 200k's South of Perth.
They built the new Regional hospital, it was the first building with a lift, we spent hours going up and down in it. Then we realised the extra fun to be had by rocking your head back and tapping the emergency stop button. The look of terror on the other passengers faces was highly amusing, not so funny now in hindsight, hey kids will be kids.
The next source of amusement, was the automatic opening doors on the new R&I bank building, didn't take us kids long to give those a good workout.:
Life was so much simpler then, you made your own fun and a lot of it included excercise.

It was a while ago, the Regional hospital has since been demolished.lol


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## Calliope (22 December 2014)

The age of innocence. Those lazy hazy crazy days of summer.

It was a hot day so my younger brother and I rode our ponies down to visit my schoolmate Angus who lived near the banks of the Condamine. There was a sheltered pool nearby completely enclosed with weeping willows, so the three of us stripped off and went in. Angus's two older sisters Mavis and Doris heard the racket we were making so they came down from their house, stripped off to their pants and dived in with us. We boys were pre-pubescent and the girls were about 14 or 15. 

Their father heard the racket and came down and chased the girls home with a few smacks on their bottoms.

We boys had no idea what the problem was. It  left us feely guilty that we had done something wrong., but we didn't know what.


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## Julia (22 December 2014)

Tink said:


> Everything was home cooked, no fast food outlets.



That might have something to do with the very few people who were fat back then.  Most people grew and ate their own vegetables and ate simply.



> Items were held on to and repaired, not so many do that now.



I don't even think it's possible to find people who can repair items now, Tink.   You've just reminded me of the frequent replacing of the element in the electric jug (we didn't say kettle then) because with no automatic switch-off, the element often burned out.
Probably a new kettle these days can be had for less than we'd have paid for replacement element.

Syd, interesting note on Greensleeves being a lovers' lament.  I hadn't thought of it before, but you're right.
Perhaps some advertising agency advised that such a well known tune, regardless of the actual lyrics, would be particularly memorable.

Comparing the time when we were kids to now, I'd say the simplicity of our lives and the lack of self-consciousness is the greatest difference.  I'm blown away by the narcissistic absorption of people now, with their selfies and sharing of their every thought on social media.
And the insistence that all kids are 'special', everyone at a birthday party gets a present, not just the kid having the birthday, no one actually wins any game because they are 'all winners'.

It seems like a woeful preparation for the real world where they will discover not everyone is really a precious little snowflake.


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## burglar (22 December 2014)

sptrawler said:


> ... it was the first building with a lift, we spent hours going up and down in it ...




Up the down escalator!!!


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## trainspotter (22 December 2014)

Cyclone Tracy 74. I was 7 years old. Lego was just starting to be marketed so EVERY kid got Lego for Christmas. Pity it was scattered up the street with the rest of Darwin. I rode around on my Malvern Star pushy with a pillow case and ended up with a couple of sack fulls. Merry Christmas everybody !


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## sptrawler (22 December 2014)

burglar said:


> Up the down escalator!!!




Yes I'd forgotten that one, when we went to the city, I used to race my brother.

Giving your mate a dink on your bike, nowadays the kids get driven everywhere.


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## sptrawler (22 December 2014)

trainspotter said:


> Cyclone Tracy 74. I was 7 years old. Lego was just starting to be marketed so EVERY kid got Lego for Christmas. Pity it was scattered up the street with the rest of Darwin. I rode around on my Malvern Star pushy with a pillow case and ended up with a couple of sack fulls. Merry Christmas everybody !




Yes and your old man ,screaming out in the middle of the night, when he steps on the leggo on the way to the dunny.


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## noco (22 December 2014)

Who remembers the mechano sets where every thing was steel and you used real mini bolts and nuts...no plastics in those days.?


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## SirRumpole (22 December 2014)

noco said:


> Who remembers the mechano sets where every thing was steel and you used real mini bolts and nuts...no plastics in those days.?




Very hard to find them these days. I may have one of the last ones in captivity.


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## sptrawler (22 December 2014)

Funnily enough, they have mechano clubs these days, a mate of mine who is a 50+ father of 6 year olds is a member.


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## burglar (23 December 2014)

sptrawler said:


> ... Giving your mate a dink ...




Yeah. We would dink on the bar (or slightly worse).


Nowadays, standing on shoulders ... and no brakes!?





1d10t5


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## robusta (23 December 2014)

burglar said:


> Yeah. We would dink on the bar (or slightly worse).
> 
> 
> Nowadays, standing on shoulders ... and no brakes!?
> ...




I was dinking in the bar at 14 but got busted for underage.


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## macca (23 December 2014)

noco said:


> Who remembers the mechano sets where every thing was steel and you used real mini bolts and nuts...no plastics in those days.?




My brother and I had a bucketful


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## robusta (23 December 2014)

Summer time, grabbing a plank of wood and a bucket. We would lay the plank on a massive blackberry bush, walk up it to the middle and gorge ourselves on blackberries eventually filling the bucket as well so there would be enough for Nana to make a pie and some left over for our Wheetbix in the morning.


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## noco (23 December 2014)

My first vehicle was a 1929 Whippet which bought in 1950...I drove out 4 times and got towed home three.

I paid 125 quid for it, I had to put a new battery in it and a universal replacement on the tail shaft.

I decided to sell it after all the trouble I had with it and put 125 quid on it.

A bloke came out, drove it around the block and said OK I'll take it but I'm going to take 5 quid off for that tyre because the tube was exposed through the worn tyre.


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## pixel (23 December 2014)

noco said:


> Who remembers the mechano sets where every thing was steel and you used real mini bolts and nuts...no plastics in those days.?




I still have three original boxes of those in storage: Christmas gifts from between 1948 and 50.
Also a Marklin train set with a locomotive that had to be wound up and pulled two carriages around a track loop. That I have since donated to a toy museum.
I wonder how long today's Christmas presents will last? And coming to think of it, how big a storage hall today's families would need if they kept all their gifts for 60-70 years?


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## Craton (23 December 2014)

WARNING...a long read.

Growing up it was just me, Mom and Dad. My only sibling came along when I was nearly eight.

I wished for no name clothes, most of mine were hand sewn by Mom on the pedal Singer or hand knitted or from the 2nd hand shop. I remember that everything we owned was 2nd hand and reused. That and being a 1st gen. Aussie made me realise that name calling and bullying were to be a daily occurrence and part of the norm.

I had to walk to school, begged and begged for a pushbike.

School milk every day at Recess time, three flavours to choose from, vanilla, strawberry or chocolate. 1/3 pint sized bottles is how I remember them. That and the foil that sealed the bottles, I remember we used to slowly push down and run our finger in a circle to form a dip in the lid until it would come away in one piece. Yummy cream on top too. In summer the milk smelled like vomit.

Bread was delivered by the baker in his horse drawn cart. One square and one roll loaf. Extra on the w/end.

We had a veggie garden, fig, almond, lemon, mandarin and orange trees. Tons of grape vines of course. Chooks and pigeons. The dunny cart came via our lane.

I remember we had an ice chest then the kero fridge. After the sewer was laid the electric fridge appeared.

I also remember using ink from the ink wells in the school desk but ink was phased out before I headed to high school.

How I dreamed of owning a "spud gun".

I was never given any pocket money but I soon learnt what "tapping" bottles meant and finally had a spud gun. Spud guns and playing 'alleys', usually 'knuckles down' for 'keepsies'.

Finally Dad bought me a 2nd hand, boys pushbike for me, a 24 incher, it was too big. He painted it red and black like my school colours, just a plain bike with only an internal back brake and no mud guards. From somewhere an old rusty bell was found for it.

I was usually in the top three in the test results of the yearly exams and two of the prizes I received, I still have, books called Tom Sawyer and The Skyscapper. Despite being "smart" I was made to repeat 6th class as I was deemed too young for high school. I wasn't the only one thankfully. Is there still a stigma around those whom repeated?

The 24" bike was beyond repair so he bought me another 2nd hand bike that was too big for me. We spent three months worth of w/ends stripping that bike down, sanding and painting. It had a back mud guard. Replacing the seat with a better 2nd hand one, the rusty chrome bits were painted silver, replacing cones and cotter pins, replacing broken spokes and the blown light globe. The bike had three internal gears in the back hub operated by a thumb lever and cable/chain gear changer. It had a dynamo in the front hub, it was a 26 incher. I had to use the front fence to help me mount the bike least it was a boys bike. The old bell went to the "new" bike.

That bike allowed me to expand my reach and I soon learnt how to use prickle proof tubes with two tyres to keep the three corner jacks out.

As I grew up Dad built two new houses in his spare time as in after work, w/ends and my school holidays. Guess what I did most of the time after school, w/ends and school holidays?

My fav time of year was the Xmas party at the Italian club. Brand new cheap presents, fabulous food and lots of care free fun.

Never did get a mechano, lego, slot car or train set nor was I allowed to play sport. "No money in sport." my Dad would say. I was quick to point out when Steve Waugh became the captain of the Aussie cricket team, Steve became a 'million dollar man'.

High school, yeay! Didn't get the 'royal flush'. Handball and all those new, different and exciting subjects. 2,000 plus students, talk about hormones. I felt a freedom for the very first time. I could soak up so much stuff and constantly fed my burning thirst for knowledge. I relished the thought of heading to university.

My first paid job was delivering the evening paper via the pushbike, I was 14 and it paid $20 a week. I smoked a lot of that away.

Unbeknown to me, when I left school on the last day of my Leaving Certificate year, Dad told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't allowed to go on to 6th form/Yr12. I was told that I had to pay board and lodgings of $20 per week, starting the very next week.

I gave the paper run away and scored a job within a week or so labouring, building evaporative air coolers and off siding the plumber on installs. I worked Boxing Day and New Years day and in that new year, scored an apprenticeship as a plumber.

I moved out before I turned 18...


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## johenmo (25 December 2014)

Summer - no aircon in the car so the window down to cool off, burning hot vinyl seats, sometimes 4 or 5 in the back seat, bench seats in the front & being allowed to change gears as Dad drove.  Metal slides on playgrounds with the accompanying scream in summer.  Going down head first.  Gravel rash from doing stupid fun things on the bike.  Cardboard on the spokes to make your bike cool.  Lollies 3, 4 or 5 for a cent like licorice squares.  Drumsticks 20 cents. Bread wrapped in wax paper.  Bing 6 and going down to the shop on my own to buy my Dads ciggies - I'd be removed from the parents nowadays.  Burning feet on hot roads in summer because we walked everywhere.

Wouldn't swap it.... because we felt free.


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## burglar (25 December 2014)

robusta said:


> I was dinking in the bar at 14 but got busted for underage.




Did the Police Sergeant kick your ass?


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## Tink (26 December 2014)

We had photos in the Herald Sun which I was enjoying, spanning through the years in Melbourne, which I posted in this thread.

Why do you want to live in Australia?

[https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27902&page=2&p=828745#post828745


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## noco (26 December 2014)

My first job as an apprentice plumber rewarded me at the end of the week, after working 40 hours, with one pound one shilling and nine pence  ($2.19).

I gave my Mum 10 shillings ($1.00) per week for board.....It cost me 3 shillings (30 cents) per week on the old Brisbane tram to get to work which left me 8 shillings and 9 pence (89 cents) pocket money...I thought I was made after being given 2 shillings (20 cents) per week from Mum to chop the wood for the copper, weed the garden and mow the grass.

The old Brisbane trams were called toast racks with the seat running from one side to the other and the conductor would swing along the side calling "fares please"....So it was 3 pence a trip each way from Coorparoo to the city and if you were under 14 years the fare was one penny....On Sunday we would get a concession ticket for one shilling (10 cents) and and you could travel all day from one terminal to the other.


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## noirua (22 May 2022)

Not the fossils meant by the thread but anyway:





Photo taken on May 12, 2022 shows a view of the Lufeng Dinosaur Fossil Quarry in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province.


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