Kangaroo Connection

Kenneth Bunn

Description

Teenage Australia in the fabulous fifties and early sixties.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Memoir

Informations

• Publié par: eBookPartnership.com
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783013616
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

The Kangaroo Connection
Reflections by an unknown famous person
KENNETH BUNN
2014 Kenneth Bunn
Kenneth Bunn has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
First published in eBook format in 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78301-361-6
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
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CONTENTS
1955
FINSBURY
RON
1956
PORT ADELAIDE
CATAPULT
GLENELG TO SEMAPHORE
LETTERS FROM ENGLAND
DRAGONS AND STUMPYS
ADELAIDE CITY
THE WHEATBAGS
LOCUST
THE PORT SWAMPS
THE RAFT
ROY
FISHING AND CRABBING
BOWS AND ARROWS
ST. CHRISTOPHER
OLYMPICS
1957
THE RIFLE RANGE
A PEEPING TALE
SECRET SHIPS
ROCK AND ROLL REFLECTIONS
AT THE WATERHOLE
PAT
DRY CREEK
HENLEY BEACH
KNIVES
THE ABORIGINE SPELL
DUTCH DARTS
TWO UP
GEPPS CROSS
MARGARET
THE LEATHER DUMP
THE SALTPANS
NUNS
RADIO DATE
PENNINGTON SCHOOL
THE COB CORN CHASE
1958
THE SWIMMING CLUB
ST. KILDA
COCKATOO
THE OUTER HARBOUR
SHARK BAIT
ELIZABETH
ELVIS AND ARNIE
HELLO JOSEPHINE
THE PARA RIVER POOL
HITCH HIKE RIDES
THE SKID KIDS
MELONS
EGG COLLECTING
DEAD TREE COUNTRY
HUMBUG SCRUB
CLOTHES
HIT PARADE HEROES
1959
LINDA
MAGPIE COUNTRY
BIKES
PETER
BLANCHETOWN
THE AVIARY
THE WOOD CARVER
AT THE WATERFALL
TUNNEL TIME
HAIR SCARE
THE BERRY TREE
RABBITS
1960
METEORITE
ON THE MURRAY RIVER
CAROL
IN THE ORANGE GROVES
TEA TREE GULLY
1961
MOTORBIKES
SWIMMING AND SKATING
ROB
THE ROLLING WHEEL ROADHOUSE
CRUISIN
DRIVE IN MOVIES
ANNASTASIA
SALISBURY HIGH
THE DIARY
SANDIE
SATURDAY NIGHT SOCIAL
KANGAROO
THE END OF AN ERA
1955
FINSBURY
IN THE LAND OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS
It was December nineteen fifty five, and with mam and dad, and brothers Bill and Ron, we were in South Australia and Finsbury Hostel, a large emigrant centre a few miles from Port Adelaide. The place was hot with absolutely nothing to commend it, though I had no idea then of the many incidents and adventures that were to unfold there.
Every building without exception was constructed from corrugated galvanized iron sheets, and all painted silver to reflect the heat. Some were half circular design, others sectioned parallel blocks. We moved into Block E Section One. At each end of our block was an adjacent block of toilets, showers, a bath, and laundries, and a hot water boiler tended by a maintenance man. With no limit on the hot water usage I recall many nights of an hour or more under the shower.
There were no facilities for cooking and all meals had to be taken in a large canteen run on a self service basis. Finsbury had four canteens and the food was quite good.
There s very little else to be said for the actual hostel. Thousands of people experienced Australia first hand from Finsbury and went on to a new life. Many others used it only as a base until they had saved enough money to return to their old life.
RON
TEN POUNDS TEN
School was not due to begin until after an eight week holiday in January fifty six and I spent my first Australian days just walking around and exploring the neighbourhood, which included Pennington and it s impressively laid out gardens, and the corrugated iron houses and shops of Rosewater.
Mam had brought over brother Ron s pram, which at the time was quite a luxury baby carriage compared to a typical Australian rush basket on wheels, and it certainly attracted attention with its black coachwork and chrome fittings, (never mind the baby, but look at the pram).
Frequently I took Ron (and his pram) on my short walks, and one morning decided on a route through Pennington to include another look at my new school. Wheeling our way home Ron started to cry. I was always prepared for this with a feeding bottle of orange juice, and stopped, and there, pinned on an overhanging red garden rose practically at my nose end was a ten pound note, (we d found a fortune). The immediate thought was to keep it though for what I wasn t sure. In the end the excitement proved too much. Mam got it.
Less than a week later Ron and I again struck lucky, with a ten shilling note and I was able to buy a fishing rod.
1956
PORT ADELAIDE
ON THE WATERFRONT AND ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK
The port was always a hive of activity though the actual centre had only two rather short shopping streets and was some considerable distance from Adelaide City. Close to one of the coast road bridges everything gave way to the mangrove swamps as it did again towards the Outer Harbour when the concrete quays abruptly ended.
My earliest visits were fishing trips with dad which proved popular if not totally successful. We never caught enough fish. By then however I was starting to make new friends and we often ended up at the port, sometimes just to mess around, other times in troublesome pursuits. There was a period when the thing to do was to single out an old tramp and call him unrepeatable names. Most of these men would have thought nothing of inflicting permanent injury on us, so it was just as well we never got caught. Then one sunny morning all that came to an end. Two of us were throwing empty bottles into the water from a sandy cove and sinking them with pebbles. An old tramp came by and told us to stop because the broken glass was dangerous in the shallows. My friend waited until he had walked away and then called him the usual names. He turned back towards us and we started to run. But we weren t wearing our shoes and seconds later the boy I was with stood on a piece of glass and slashed his foot. This stopped us dead as the blood flowed, and the tramp was by then standing beside us not quite knowing how to react. Fortunately for us he realized the cut was deep and needed immediate attention. He hailed down a small boat and across the river in what I think was a Sailors Mission or First Aid Post the wound was stitched. We resolved never to call old port tramps names again.
Most of the large ships in the port river were loaded and unloaded by gangs, with each gang comprising a different nationality. They all carried knives, and the vicious billhooks needed to handle wool bales and crates. These waterfront gangs were to be avoided at all times, as frequently work schedules brought together the different nationalities and verbal abuse and double-talk inevitably led to violent fighting.
Other days were more peaceful, watching the fishing boats or pleasure cruisers and yachts. There was also another sight to be seen on the port river and even then I knew I was viewing the end of an era as slow sailing schooners toted their cargoes.
Then in fifty six something happened that no one had ever previously experienced, and for me it started in Port Adelaide. Every Saturday afternoon we went to the pictures to see the usual matinee of cartoons, serials, and a feature film. This never aroused much excitement until the showing of a new kind of musical. Bill Haley with his Comets and ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK had arrived. The movie also featured the fabulous Platters, and the disc jockey Alan Freed who coined the phrase Rock and Roll . Compared to all that had gone before the music had a devastating effect, and the excitement it generated gave birth to a whole new culture of teenage awareness.
CATAPULT
PELLET POWER
Believe it or not you can have fun with a potentially dangerous weapon, provided of course the weapon is properly used and in safe hands. That s how I felt about my catapult.
My earliest effort was no more than a piece of shaped wire and a few rubber bands, limited to projecting folded paper pellets, and it s quite likely I would have remained at that stage but for an isolated incident near Finsbury hostel canteen in Section One on a quiet afternoon. The only person in sight other than myself was a boy who lived a few blocks away in this same section. His father must have worked in a factory because he had a welded steel frame catapult capable of doing serious damage, and he didn t seem to care how he used it. He fired a pebble at me from about twenty yards and missed. Before he could find another pebble to load again I rushed at him and hit hard. He dropped his catapult as he cried out, and in a flash I picked it up and did an instant disappearing trick (ran away at top leg speed).
I was now the owner of a proper catapult to which I added square model aircraft rubber, and from a local factory dump acquired a supply of rounded metal pellets. Soon friends started to copy my example with wood frame catapults and we spent many happy times after school shooting at tin cans and bottles (bottles if we could get them since they created a more spectacular effect when hit).
GLENELG TO SEMAPHORE
SEA SHELLS AND DINGHIES
Having discovered these two beaches a short distance from Port Adelaide I returned infrequently. Both were very clean places and resembled English seaside resorts with palm trees added.
Sometimes on Sunday afternoons the whole family would catch the bus to Glenelg and stroll along the shore collecting shells. Most of these were quite small but all were covered with intricate multi-patterned effects that really did have to be seen to be believed. Dad always took large quantities home to make attractive necklaces and decorative boxes.
It was at Semaphore that I first noticed rubber dinghies and surf boards, and although I later made a plywo