ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Just thinking about some of those things that were common in the 1950's but are now either extinct or almost:

sand shoes; especially the kind with black rubber toes;
78rpm records and especially the ten inch version;
running boards;
milk bottles;
cream jars;
oyster bottles (the long narrow ones)
ice chests;
chip heaters;
castor oil;
kerosene heaters (fyresides)
shorts and cartoons at the pictures;
picture shows (now they are the movies)
dances held in ball rooms;
patent leather shoes for men;
crew cuts;
radio dramas
radio serials;
cellophane;
nylon business shirts;
English cars on our roads;(Austin, Wolsely, Standard, Singer, Humber;etc.)
telegrams;
telegram delivery boys on bikes;
press button A press button B public telephones;
trunk calls;
Salvation Army marches on Sunday nights;
ditto Boy Scouts marches;
Man, Pix, People and Post magazines;
stamp machines;
Standing for God Save The Queen before the picture started on Saturday afternoon.

Must be many more.

Drive in movies - although a few around still.

The ode to the flag at school assembly in the morning - wish they would reintroduce this one - might instil some pride and unity

brown paper sacks for groceries rather than plastic bags

waxed greaseproof paper rather than plastic wrap - you can still buy it, but most of the young ones have never heard of it

the 5c return on soft drink bottles - might reduce land fill and littering

opening doors for other people to pass through

giving up a seat to an elderly or pregnant or disabled person - comes down to respect and there's not a lot of that around either

I'm stopping here as I can hear my Dad's voice in my ear and I used to think as a kid he was a whinging Pom always going on about the good old days.

Does anyone else remember coin in the slot petrol bowsers? As I remember, a couple of dollars' worth of 20c coins damn near filled the tank. Probably 30-odd years ago now. (Maybe even 40)

Actually Maureen the bottle deposit still is in in SA and now here in the NT but it is ten cents, I did a couple of trips to Santa Teresa this week, the deposit isn't stopping some sections of the community from littering anyway, there was a trail of green cans from the airport all the way to the community!

what about:

whitewall tyres;
venetian blinds on the back windows of cars;
the starter button on the dash board or even older, the starter pedal on the floors of cars;
those silver swans with the coloured plastic wings on the bonnets of cars;
rubber straps hanging down to prevent car sickness;
sun shades above car windscreens;
crystal set radios;
blue jeans worn with the cuffs turned up;
Skol suntan oil (it didn't work!)
milk bars;
radiograms;
alligator clips women used to set their hair;
Tony's
pinafores;
taffeta;
feltex;
rouge and powder;
cummerbunds;
water bottles and glasses in trains;
halt signs;
speck fruit;
portable radios so big they were hard to carry;
extended play records;
6 oçlock closing;
drinking beer in pint glasses;
Tarax;
Canadian Dry;
GI soft drink.......................

going off down the creek to play at the weekend and only coming home to eat
walking to school - rain, hail or shine
wearing galoshes over your shoes and a plastic cover to protect your school hat from the rain
gloves and hats when going to town
men wearing business hats on the train
I also remember my father having detachable collars so the whole shirt didn't have to be washed each day

Yes Marion I remember as a kid we had to be home when the street lights came on, we lived in Sydney's suburbia. Remember my sister having a plastic cover to protect her school hat from rain and when men didn't leave home without a hat.
I had to wear detachable collars and the studs that held them on were always disappearing at the last minute!

The cane , nearly every week for seven years - then I got into grade three and things improved.
Jaffas down the theatre floor.
Fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.
Slates.
Nibs.
Pencils.
When $5.00 got me a packet of B&H, more beer than I sould drink AND a cab home.
1967.

Oh dear, I'm feeling a little melancholy!

cripes with a Quid you could buy 2oz pk of rollies and get drunk on the change mind you wages were only 6 quid a week\
no tele wind up gramaphone hand milking and hand cranked milk seperator hand cranked cars and klacksone horns carbide lampskero fridge if you were lucky yes folks those were the good old days

Bill the old battler

Mal, don't tell me 'the cat sat on the mat' for seven years?