Living History

A photo history

I think this is George Street, Sydney about 1950. Sydney streets seemed much wider and more open in those days as there weren’t the tall buildings to turn them into the wind-swept canyons of today. Trams rattled and squealed along many of the main thoroughfares but didn’t cause the traffic difficulties experienced today – but, then, there weren’t as many cars in the city, either!

Relaxing in the pool was just as much a favourite past-time in summer in my early years as it is now. Not many places had in-ground pools – as you can see, ours was a circular canvas pool only about 60cms deep, but it had the advantage that in the cooler months we rolled it up and stored it under the house.

We didn’t get TV in my family until about 1960, and even then it was black and white, had limited broadcasting times and was forever experiencing technical difficulties that put it off the air, often for hours on end. But we didn’t mind these problems – it was fantastic! Before TV, we used to make our own entertainment dressing up, playing outdoor games like chasings, “Simon says”, ball games and hide-and-seek. Yes, life was much more fun!

The Calga Expressway between Sydney and Newcastle, which opened in 1966 (which is this picture) introduced us to a way of motoring long distances which we now take for granted. Back then, of course, cars had neither heaters nor air conditioners and most didn’t have radios, nor did we have Walkmans, in-car TV or Game Boys, so on longer trips we just had to talk to each other and play games like “I spy”.

After leaving school in 1961, I jackeroo’d for several years in Queensland and southern and north-western NSW. After 6 years as a jackeroo, I was earning 14 pounds a week (equivalent to $28) but it cost less than $1 to go to the pictures (movies in today’s parlance) in an open-roofed theatre with canvas seats, and it would make people today green with envy to think how little we paid for petrol! Much of our food, especially fruit and vegetables, was seasonal which meant that we could have certain fruits and vegetables only at particular times of the year, but even in the cities people used to grow their own fruits and veggies in their gardens.

Garth, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Look at more contributions:

previous | next