When I was a youngster, we 5 children would go picking Blackberries for our Grandmother to make Blackberry Pies.
The Blackberries grew wild all over the place. In a way, in that instant, we were a little like The Waltons, doing stuff as a family.
Eventually, the Council decided it was time to get rid of the invasive Blackberries and they started a spraying program, making them too poisonous to eat.
They were delicious with fresh Whipped Cream.
A pastime for mainly boys was playing with our Marbles.
Great store was put into a game of Alleys(another name for Marbles). It was a pretty serious game.
Cats Eyes were the most common, The bigger ones were called Trombolas. There were White Marbles with a splash of red, called Blood Trackers if I remember rightly.
Then there were the shiny Ball Bearings, known as Steelies.
Games could be “Keeps”, which meant the winner got to Keep the losers Marbles, or “Not Keeps” which was simply a friendly game.
I remember when we got our first Black and White Television Set in 1967
TV never got to Tasmania until 1960.
I don’t really remember much about those early years of Television.
There were two channels, TVT6, a Commercial channel out of Hobart and ABT2, funded by the Federal Government
We would still rather be outside climbing the hills and playing Cowboys and Itchybums(Indians)
A food item we always had were Golliwog Chocolate Biscuits.
In later years the name was changed to Scalliwags.
These days I am sure the name Golliwog would not be used anywhere because it would be deemed offensive.
The Hills Hoist rotating Clothes Line was an Australian invention which was in the backyard of every Australian House from the 1950’s onwards.
The Hills Hoist was multi purposed. Sure it was predominately for the purpose of hanging the washing on the line.
But one of the most popular uses was as a Carousel for the children to play on. Around and around we would swing. Eventually after years of Playful abuse, the Hills Hoist would begin to list to one side and eventually topple over or the Spokes would break off, sending a child crashing to the ground.
The Hills Hoist also was used as a Giant Umbrella/Sun Shade so we could always have a Barbeque out of the elements.
Back in the day, many houses had an outdoor Lavatory, including ours.
Before sewage pipes were laid down, men would collect the tins of Human Waste at night.
They would empty the waste into a larger tin and place the empty tin back into the
“Thunderbox”
The men who done this job were called the Nightmen, or Dunnymen.
In some places, the waste, known as nightsoil, was used as fertiliser on Market Gardens.
Years later I spoke to one of these “Nightmen” and he told me it was a common occurrence for the bottom of the Waste Tin to give way because of rust, the result? The contents showering the Nightman in Nightsoil.
The 40’s, 50’s and 60’s were a time of thrift and one item that was in almost every household was a Shoe Last.
When shoes started to wear out and become holey, the Father of the household, mine as well, would glue on some new Dunlop soles and heels.
Sometimes even shape a piece of Thin Steel Plate to be tacked on the heels to make them last longer.
Not.
