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Hostels were used to accommodate new Australians. 1950's-1970's
 
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East Hills Memories
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Phyl Phyl has been starred
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:12 am    Post subject: East Hills Memories Reply with quote

Hi Len,
I wonder how many children have ever wagged school Question Guess from Hostels was no exception. Here is a short memory from East Hills.

My late husband was manager-in-charge at East Hills Hostel 1968-1971.
One day he set off in the car to do the banking in Liverpool.As he turned into Heathcote Road and across the first little bridge, he happened to look down at the stream and guess what he saw : Exclamation
Our children floating down the stream on a raft.They had made it themselves and then wagged school for the big launching Shocked Oh dear were they in strife. The stream ran round the back of the hostel. Tony stopped the car,made them turn around and was waiting for them when they sailed into port. What a memory Exclamation They had made the raft well, when I thought they were at the youth centre. :roll:Sorry I don't have a photo. It was a while before I knew.
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Len
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ahh but Phyl, at that age you have to get your priorities right. Which is more important, going to boring school or sailing your home made raft?
laugh
Good on them.

I only ever wagged school once and that was when I was at Berkeley high. It was a sports afternoon and I and my mate decided to give it a miss. The day after, the sports teacher dragged us up to his office and insisted on an explanation. I can�t remember what bull we told him but at the end it was decided that we have to bring a letter from our parents explaining our absence otherwise we were facing the cane. So that day I went home and told my parents the story and begged for a letter because I didn�t really fancy the cane, having got a yellow streak down my back. Anyway I got my letter and the looming punishment was removed. Having said that, it didn�t go down very well when I told my parents, perhaps I should have opted for the cane. Mr. Green
I don�t believe I ever wagged school again.

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phil phil has been starred
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:15 pm    Post subject: wagging school/ rafts Reply with quote

might even have been me on that raft with your sons,
i remember wagging school to launch a rather special raft

anyone remember the big white wooden screens that used to go acrooss the entrance to the male/female toilets ?
well somehow we got hold of one of these,(i think some demolition/refurbishment work was going on) and lugged it to off to the creek and tied loads of old barrels to it , this was the mother of all rafts , there must have been a dozen of us on it ! dunno what happened to it bet it definitly didnt sink !
p.s remember getting an old timber water tower and using it to build a big bonfire on the desert (heathcote) ready for guy fawkes night and the kids came acrooss from the nearby naval camp and prematurly set it on fire about a week early !
kids... a, i was about ten at the time , what a life !
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Steve Mc
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't recall ever wagging school...but I do remember thinking up every excuse i could to not have to get on the bus to Hammondville.
As i recall...if you missed the bus then you didn't go to school...so my brother and i were always angling to get out of going to the bus, and ultimately to school.

I remember I was in class 4A in 1970. i can't remember the name of the teacher...but he was the deputy head i think. When he was in a good mood he was an excellent bloke...but when he was cranky he used to scare the crap out of us all.

As i recall, there were no air conditioners back in 1970...so it got pretty warm in the classrooms by summertime.

Good days to be sure........
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i remember the brown cases we all had, we used to put them on the floor in a line while waiting for the school bus , we used to play a game i think was known as "handball" with a tennis ball and a grid marked out on the floor while waiting for the bus,

in reference to another topic on this site - the lids from coca cola bottles had characters from charlie brown under the lid , ifyou found charlie brown you won bundles of $$$$ !!!
we used to play bottle tops up against the wall and if you won you had to put them on your upturned elbow , flick your arm and catch them in the palm of your hand !!
childhood memories
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Len
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had to laugh, we all had school cases aswell down at Unanderra, Warrawong and like you say, they were great for minding your place in the school bus queue. If your case was near the front of the queue, boy was you proud. I remember the odd scuffle breaking out because someone tried sneaking there case into the middle of the queue when it should have been placed at the end and that was a no no. Mr. Green

I believe the game �handball� is still played today at most schools. We were still playing it while at high school.

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Olly Olly has been starred
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I didn't settle well when we migrated and got up to all sorts of mischief. I wagged school. My friend & I used to go to our Aussie friend Sue Christies house at East Hills. We each had 20 cents for our lunch. Normally that would have bought me a peanut butter roll and a buttered finger bun, but on the days we wagged our 20 cents's bought potatos, dripping and 20 Craven A cigarettes. We used to cook chips for lunch and dress up in her Mums clothes and play fashion models with her feather boas and wide brim hats and practice doing Twiggy style makeup with the drawn on eyelashes etc.

Thinking back - it's a wonder we never burnt her parents house down. Three 12 year old cooking chips and smoking! Yikes!

Olly
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Something that came to mind today was that there was a Jumble Sale on the hostel in the big hall. Don't know how often they came but I do remember going to one.
No name brand clothes for us in those days and we were too far away from shopping centres to go looking in shops so the Jumble Sale was a huge success for us kids who bought jeans in particular then hounded our Mums to take them in so we had the stovepipe leg look.

Olly
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Ann Ainsworth
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

laugh I also wagged school! I was at East Hills girls high school in 66 and sometimes had whole weeks off!! Parents never found out.
We used to get the train to Narwee and then walk to Roselands shopping centre where our lunch consisted of a sausage roll and a doughnut!
I was also allowed to have a day off to see Normie Rowe at Roselands before he went to England. Needless to say I hated school.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remember the bull ants? Huge things about 1 inch long with pincers. They used to stand their ground and even rear up at you if you advanced towards them.

I don't think I've ever seen ants like them since leaving the hostel, but then like a lot of other creatures maybe they are dying off too with climate change and loss of habitat etc.

Olly
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Olly ,I remember the bull ants and also those wee ants that were an irridecsent ( hope the spelling is correct Embarassed ) green and they stung like billyo if they pinched you. One stung me twice on the ear and boy did it sting. Exclamation But certainly some of the ants were big .Interesting to watch
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two big differences that struck me when I started school at East Hills Boys High:
1. They didn't call the roll every morning, so it was easy to wag school without your parents finding out.
2. You got the cane as punishment

Oh, and the small suitcases that Aussie kids took to school: "Samsonite" was the brand name. I brought my leather satchel from England with me, which of course set me apart from the locals.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 1:50 pm    Post subject: Swimming Holes Reply with quote

I remember riding a pushbike with no brakes to Dead Mans Creek once. Dead Mans Creek was at the bottom of a steep hill and I was using my rubber thongs to try and slow down before doing a big turn into the opening into the area. It's closed off now and overgrown.

Anyone remember the dam on Heathcote Road we used to go swimming in?

Looking back I'm surprised there wasn't more accidents or deaths there as the water was level with the top of the dam wall on one side but on the other side was quite a drop to rocks below, and people used to stand on the wall to dive in. They blew up the dam wall some years ago to discourage people from going there and the river is not much more than a trickle now.

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Swimming Holes Reply with quote

Olly wrote:
I remember riding a pushbike with no brakes to Dead Mans Creek once. Dead Mans Creek was at the bottom of a steep hill and I was using my rubber thongs to try and slow down before doing a big turn into the opening into the area. It's closed off now and overgrown.

Anyone remember the dam on Heathcote Road we used to go swimming in?

Looking back I'm surprised there wasn't more accidents or deaths there as the water was level with the top of the dam wall on one side but on the other side was quite a drop to rocks below, and people used to stand on the wall to dive in. They blew up the dam wall some years ago to discourage people from going there and the river is not much more than a trickle now.


Hi Olly
Yes, it was the Woronora Dam if I remember correctly. A very refreshing dip on a hot day (and boy did it get hot in the nissen huts)
Chris
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember a bridge and you went down by the bridge for a swim.It was along Heathcote Road. The reason I remember was that when we were at Berkeley Hostel we had an old Austin we called Nelly Belle and she was getting to the stage where she needed to retire ,so we had a day in Sydney and bought a Ford we called Freddie. You guessed it,on the way home via Heathcote Road ,at the bridge, Feddie stopped. The kids were in the back chanting" Nelly Belle wouldn't have done this" ,much to Tony's irritation. Suddenly along came some boys in their car,our Knights in shining armour. They gathered around looking at Freddie and said "We gotta help a man with a Henry" They pulled down the carbarator and in it was a hair. They removed the hair ,put the thing together ,we thanked them and drove off and they went down to the stream/river for their swim.I wonder if they were from Heathcote or East Hills Hostels .It was about 1962. Very Happy
Three months later dear old Nellie Belle gave up the ghost completely so we heard. cry
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