Growing Up in Australia

by Wayne Wetherall

I'm talking about hide and seek in the park.

The corner milk bar, Hopscotch, Billy carts, cricket in front of the garbage bin and inviting everyone on your street to join in, Skipping, handball, handstands, elastics, bullrush, catch & kiss, footy on the best lawn in the street, slip'n'slide, the trampoline with water on it, hula hoops, stepping in puddles, mud pies and building dams in the gutter.

The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.

'Big bubbles no troubles' with Hubba Bubba bubble gum. A choc-top. Mr Whippy cone on a warm summer night after you've chased him round the block.

20 cents worth of mixed lollies lasted a week and pretending to smoke "fags" (the lollies) was really cool!.. A dollars' worth of chips from the corner take-away fed two people (AND the sauce was free!!).

Being upset when you botched putting on the temporary tattoo from the bubblegum packet, but still wearing it proudly. Watching Saturday morning cartoons: 'The Smurfs', 'AstroBoy', 'He-Man', 'Captain Caveman', 'Archie', 'Jem' (truly outrageous!!), 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Banana Man' and 'Heeeey heeeeey heeeeeeey it's faaaaaaat Albert'.

Or staying up late and sneaking a look at the "AO" on the second telly. When Monkey Magic' with fish face & pigsy had a cult following. Miraculous Mellops. & who could ever forget Degrassi Junior High?

When around the corner seemed a long way, and going into town seemed like going somewhere. Where running away meant you did laps of the block because you weren't allowed to cross the road?? A million mozzie bites, wasp and bee stings. Sticky fingers, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, riding bikes and catching tadpoles.

Marco polo in the neighbours' pool ("fish outta water?!""NOOOO"), drawing all over the road and driveway with chalk. Climbing trees and building cubbies out of every sheet your mum had in the cupboard. Walking to school, no matter what the weather. When writing 'I love....?..'on your pencil case, really did mean it was true love.

"he loves me? he loves me not?"

Running till you were out of breath.

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.

Pitching the tent in the back/front yard. Jumping on the bed. Ghosts stories with the next
door neighbours. Pillowfights, spinning round, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for the giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. Cricket cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle. Eating raw jelly, making homemade lemonade and sucking on a Funny Face, Paddle Pop or red Icy Pole.

Remember when there were only two types of sneakers - girls and boys. Dunlop volleys with the green 'n' gold or blue and the only time you wore them at school was for "sports day." Bloomers in primary school & Scungies under netball skirts.

You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents! It wasn't odd to have two or three "best friends" & you would ask them by sending a note asking them to be your best friend. You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve and pretended to sleep for the tooth fairy.

When nobody owned a pure-bred dog. When 50c was decent pocket money. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for 10c. When nearly everyone's mum Was there when the kids got home from school. It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb. When it was considered a great
privilege to be taken out to dinner at the local Chinese restaurant with your family.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed her or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! Some of us are still afraid of them!!!

Remember when decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" or dib dib's-scissors, paper, rock. "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest. Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly". Terrorism was when the older kids were at the end of your street with pea-shooters waiting to ambush you.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was boy/girl germs, and the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one. Where bluelight disco's were the equivalent to a Rave, and asking a boy out meant writing a 'polite' note getting them to tick 'yes' or 'no'.

When there was always that one 'HOT' guy/girl.

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. Your biggest danger at school was accidentally walking through the middle of a heated game of "brandies".

Nobody was prettier than your Mum. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. Taking drugs meant scoffing orange-flavoured chewable vitamin C's, or swallowing half a Panadol.

Ice cream was considered a basic food group. Going to the beach and catching a wave was a dream come true. If you actually lived there boogie boarding in the white wash made you the next Kelly Slater. Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dare". Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

Now, didn't that bring back some fond memories?? If you can remember most of these, you're an Aussie legend!!! Pass this on to another Aussie legend that may need a break from their "grown up" life...

I DOUBLE-DARE YA!!!!!

Brought back wonderful memories. May I add one? Walking to girl scouts or cub scouts and not being afraid some prevert was going to grab you and hurt you. And hearing your mom say... wait till your father get home. Shaking in your shoes cause you knew he meant business. Ah, those were the days. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

So many of those memories applied to me aswell and I live in england.
I feel sad for a lot of the children today because things will never be like that again.
Things wern't always wonderful. I spent a lot of my time at school standing in the corner for talking or being sent to the headmaster and having to right one hundred times , I must not talk in class.
But you didn't dare tell your parents because you would have got into trouble all over again.

Me too, I seemed to receive the cane daily-mainly as they said "Your not like your brother are you"..haha...

I do feel for my friends kids who have to play in the backyard, on the computer or playing video games on tv, as its too dangerous to let them go by themselves down to the local parks.

They wont know what it is like to let off fire crackers/fireworks...

Or to come home from school and then go out playing till dinner or tea time..

There are hardly any places to play and no trees..we used to go to the local creeks and bring home tortoises, frogs, turtles...near my place was all bush even though I live in a city now, back then it was just another town now its the 6th bigest city in Australia and one major road only back then.

We had Kangaroos not far from our house, wombats which we sued to crawl into the massive underground tunnels, one time one almost took my head off fighting me. Echidna's and many many types of goannas, blue tounged lizards. geckos (smal lizards) all types of birds, from Kookaburras to galahs and eagles even...

Thinking of what we had in our own places we went to, that are not here at all anymore or at least not easy to find or see these days with polluted creeks, roads everywhere etc...

As my mum said when I told her of this "growing up in Australia", she said that money was very tight..living on a few pounds to feed and clothe her, us two boys and my father. But was had fun which is the main thing.

Nowdays 4 yr olds seem to know everything or think they do and many are very rude thesedays...I remember back when it started to unwind-approx 1982...I blame some of it on what they did to the water and then preservatives which we never had. We didnt have tomatoes, bananas or food growing all year round it was seasonal...Now its snap frozen and stored and then pumped with gasses...etc...

What you're talking about here reminds me of the spirit of things growing up in the states... those days are long gone, sad to say.

Hi Noone

I guess the entire planet was like this once right?

I look at my home and see what I own and have inside it...Do we really need al lthis?? And then have to continually update things because money making business forces us to?

I have optus cable right...10 years ago when it first came out it was 19.99 a month...now its 60 amonth and I dont even get to have in that package movies or sport, yet have 90 channels of fashion and buy a product stations etc...which I have not watched once yet still pay for it...Another major rip off.

In Sydney we used to have chanells 2-7-9 and 10 that was it, then they added SBS a sort of multicultural station. But this was free...We used to go to the movies alot. Now I have 16 news stations

I still have a 1965 super8 video that I still use and develops great. I bought a top of the range sony handcam less than 19 months a go and the part for it to be fixed is 700 dollars, what is that!!! I cant afford that right now so I have no video camera, what a rort that was...

And not only that but it's a 2005 model which Sony doesnt even make anymore, its a tape not a dvd. So I have 200 tapes I have recorded of 90 minutes each, which I have to fix the camera or all that will be gone..

Technology just brings out a new version or a new model in less than two years which makes the previous versions obsoluete.

Knowing every single neighbour, actually talking to your neighbours not locking the doors; and going away on holidays for a month at christmas with the door just closed....

It's as if oneday the entire planet woke up and just wanted things...A car used to be under a $5000 brand new, now a car you only bought ten years ago new is worth that now as a trade-in on a $30,000 car..

Wages might have risen 3-4-5 times since the 70's but the equivelant prices haven't.they have risen over 10 times.

I remember having pocket money of 20 cents a week, my brother who was older received 50cents. We used to play the pinball machine for 5cents, buy20 lollies for 5 cents and a drink and a iceblock for 10 cents for both.

Now a drink here is like 1.20 a can-pinball machine is one game for 2-3 dollars...20 lollies are at least 70cents-$1.00 and an iceblock is 1.20 plus.

So instead of 20 cents its over 5 dollars where is the logic in those price hikes??

No wonder two thirds of the western world is living under poverty and the other half of the third world countries are just starving to death. And we just let it happen..

On a brighter note *S*