PLEASE NOTE
MY BOOK IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING RE-ORGANISED AND RE-FORMATTED ... THE ORIGINAL BOOK CHAPTERS AND SUBJECT WILL NOT BE ALTERED BUT PICS ARE BEING INCLUDED AND IT IS BEING FULLY EDITED ... SO, IF YOU COME ACROSS THIS POST THEN PLEASE UNDERSTAND IT IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND IS BEING CHANGED OVER TIME ... THIS IS NOT A COMPLETED WORK
The first 50 years
Published in November 2004 by John Andrew Green.
This book is published subject to the condition that it shall not,
by way of trade or otherwise be lent, re-sold, hired out or other
wise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form
of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and
without a similar condition including this condition being imposed
on the subsequent publisher.
Hey Shorty - Chapters
01 - In the beginning
02 - You can pick your friends but not your rellies
03 - Childhood memories that last a lifetime
04 - Catholic dogs sitting on logs
05 - A school of thought
06 - Get out and get a job – look when I was your age
07 - Moving on
08 - Party, Party, Party – 21 today
09 - Who is Elvis Presley?
10 - Way out West where the sun don’t shine
11 - On the road again
12 - The Top End
13 - A decade of waste
14 - Bradley James and Mitchell Thomas
15 - Fourth generation Aussie
16 - Remembrance Day
17 - The one that got away
18 - Girls, Girls, Girls
19 - Set ‘em up again bartender
20 - Working for the man
21 - Cooking with gas
22 - The Big C
23 - Recipe for a fruitcake
24 - If you don’t mind umpire
25 - The light is on – ready – racing now
26 - How’s that
27 - Cars and things
28 - Cock a doodle doo
29 - Where was I when?
30 - Music, music, music
31 - Lights, Camera, action
32 - These are a few of my favorite things
33 - Who, what and why?
34 - James Edwin and Joan Winifred
35 - Hey Shorty
36 - Houston, we have a problem
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1 - IN THE BEGINNING
November 26th, 1954, is the day it all began. In a delivery room of the Lady Weigall Hospital at Barmera in the Upper Murray region of country South Australia at 10-30am on a Friday morning. Doctor Geoffrey Hasenour delivered an eight-pound full term baby, and my life was off and running.
I was here; I was ready for the journey. This would be my life.
The next 50-years was to be some adventure. Highs, lows, down time, sad times, happy times, drama, success and failure, they have all been a constant.
Today as I reflect on that time, I can only think that I have had a fortunate life. To say I have been blessed would never seem inadequate, so much has happened since that 1954 November morning in Barmera.
Life and the world today barely resemble how it all was on that day 50-years ago. So much change, enormous change in fact and I feel honored to have been a part of how it all unfolded. Thankfully I have a great memory and can instantly recall events, times, dates, people and places that have shaped this past half decade.
History is important to me and I embrace with all my might how mankind has navigated its way thrugh these wonderful years. My life has been shaped in part by history and my life has also been shaped by my own ability to navigate and live these wonderful years.
Contentment comes from within, and I must acknowledge that while I have many misgivings as to how I have handled the years, the reality is that I have made it through to be here today, And that is some achievement.
Am I content, yes and no. I have covered so much ground in that time and have experienced decades of personal change and world change. Disappointments are mixed with achievements for me and really, I guess I have done ok knowing my own shortcomings have contributed to my awkward society standing.
That said, would I change anything, do things different? Here I can say with great clarity that I would not change a thing. I would not change a single day or single act or single event. To do so would not have me at this day with the wisdom, brokenness, knowledge, understanding, hurt, sadness and memories that make me this 50-year-old Aussie bloke.
Sure, I could have done things better in parts and who knows how that may have played out but the person I am as I reflect over a half a century is the person I created through that 50-year adventure. Life is about making choices and sadly I have made some real howlers, those around me will testify to that, they know I have messed up often. But through all of that I have made it to this point.
God has given me a personality and brain in extreme measures in many areas and that is not something everyone could handle. Many times, my extraordinary talents have been poorly used bust just as that is true at other times those same talents have allowed me to take on and take in so much of what the world offered.
Thankfully I have so many memories of so many life events, of times when that very life has been so darn good and rewarding.
Do I thank God for giving me this brain, this gift of remarkable academic talent, this ability to navigate situations with cutting edge precision, this ability to battle and then to battle some more to regain my self-worth at such times when I should really have called it quits.
Yes, I do thank God. He has set me apart from others, that is a given and in His infinite wisdom and love He gave me the necessary tools allowing me to navigate the minefield of life and then somehow, I was able to make it all work.
I am blessed, I am thankful, and I am very fortunate. And best of all, I am me.
Dad and Mum had married on Saturday December 9th, 1950, at Barmera and I was the second born child. My older brother Rodney had been born at Woomera on May 2nd, 1952, while Dad was serving there in the RAN.
Mum had a daughter before she married Dad, Veronica Joan was born on December 24th, 1944, in Adelaide. Veronica was our sister; she did not sadly grow up in our household but that is a story told later.
Once Dad and Mum were married in 1950, it would be a few months before Mum was able to move to Woomera to be with dad who had moved to the north of South Australia with his naval posting. So, from early 1951 Woomera would be their home for just on two years.
Dad was posted back to the Flinders Naval Base in Melbourne in early 1953 as his next move. As Dad was married, he was allowed to live off base, so with Mum and Rod they stayed with the Johnson Family at Ferntree Gully in the Dandenong's on the outskirts of Melbourne. Aunty Alice Johnson and her boys ran a vegetable and pig farm in the area at the time.
But it would be somewhat of a scratchy start for me joining the Green clan in November 1954. When Mum became pregnant with me, she moved back to live in Barmera with her parents while my dad Jimmy remained in the Royal Australian Navy. He was now away serving on the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne at the time of my birth.
I would be three weeks old before my father was able to obtain leave from his Naval posting and returned to be with us in Barmera for a month. When Dad returned to Sydney to join his ship, I spent my early days with mum and Rodney staying at my Grandparents, Henry and Winifred Danvers, house on their fruit property just out of the Barmera township.
It would be October 1955 before dad was able to secure a discharge from the Navy, once that happened, he came back to Barmera, and our family has been a massive part of the local community to this day.
Dad took a job at the Barmera Co-op Packing Shed in November 1955 starting on the weigh bridge in a laboring capacity, that position did include having some clerical knowledge.
From that first laboring job his academic smarts were clearly recognised by management, and he was moved into a front office role as a clerk. Dad would work his way through the ranks being the company accountant by 1964 and was appointed General Manager in 1969. He held the top job until his retirement in October 1987.
With Dad quickly become entrenched in his working life in Barmera, as a family we moved from staying at my grandparents' home into a house belonging to Jack and Madge Richards on their fruit property off the Sturt Highway just out of the township on the road headed towards Berri. Madge is my mother's older sister. The fruit property came into the family when Mum's uncle, Frank McBride purchased the land some years earlier, when Frank passed away in September 1953 the property was given to Jack and madge.
Mum would always tell me it was a 'pretty ordinary house' but it was our first family home. Naturally I have no memory of living here but I do remember as a kid going to the Richard's property and playing, and I would see the concrete slab that was foundation for this house.
From here we moved to live on a property that belong to Les Saint, a Danvers family friend and neighbor to my grandparents. Les had moved into the Barmera township and offered the house to mum and dad and we would stay at this property for just on a year.
The South Australian Housing Trust had a trust home available in the township at number 15 Hague Street, so this was the next move for the Green family.
My younger sister Janice Mary was born August 1st, 1958, during the time the family spent at Hague Street.
I am told a story that is entrenched into family folklore that on the day dad went to collect Mum and Jan from the hospital that I said to Dad, "Don't forget to bring the baby home". Now, I can neither confirm or deny having said that because I have no recollection of the event. I am simply taking the word of others at this point. Look, I know I have said all the thoughts here in this story will be my own but, on this comment, I will have to make an exception because if this is true or not, if I said that or not, it is too good a story not to be included.
Memories from this time are not great but as vague as my recollections are, I do clearly recall living at Hague Street. The house was a duplex just like other trust houses at that end of this long street.
While I don't have a lot of specific memories from my infant years, I remember the lounge room had an open fire and long before the days of TV, a highlight for us kids would be that on Saturday night, we would lie on the lounge floor and watch the coals drop out of the fire grill and onto the bricks below.
But this odd entertainment came with some perks. Dad would bring home a bottle of Pikes Lemonade in a brown paper bag from the pub bottlo' and a bag of mixed lollies from Gertie Bishops Cafe that was on the street corner near the pub. We would cut the lollies in pieces with a knife and that made them last longer. I know I loved Saturday nights; it was a special time for a kid with his family; I always looked forward to it.
The yard fences were standard SA Housing Trust, (as shown in the pics on the left) they were made of wooden slats that extended all the way around the back yard with a small gate that led into the back lane while the front fence was timber and mesh with an iron gate on the driveway side.
One vivid memory I have was on a Friday evening, as kids we were playing in the front yard inside a kids tent with the front flaps tied together with a strip of ribbon. Jan was just starting to walk and ran out of the tent only to get tangled in the tie; it caught around her neck. I screamed for mum, and she ran out to see what was happening and yelled for me to race inside and grab a knife. Thankfully, for some reason I grabbed a carving knife and mum was able to free Jan and everything was now ok. I know mum said at the time it was a miracle I grabbed the carving knife and not just a kitchen knife because that would not have cut through the tie, time was running out mum said as Jan was choking.
The Hague Street neighborhood was constant in the time we lived there. A family name McDonald lived next door, Ron and Helen but I do not recall if there were kids. Ron was a car mechanic at Rosenthal Motors and later would go on to be the first full-time St Johns Ambulance employee in Barmera.
Perce and Millie Millington lived two doors down and I recall as a youngster tagging along with mum on visits to their house. As a couple Perce and Millie would take Rod and I to the Murrayline Drive-in on the Old Sturt Highway in Berri, not sure how that connection came about but it was something we did often. There was no drive-in at Barmera at this time, so it was always Berri for movie nights.
I can only assume that Perce was a 'tight arse' because he would always get Rod and I to get down on the back floor of his little blue and white Morris and he would cover us with a blanket. It seems we would get in for free that way as the gate attendant had no idea we were in the car. Strange what odd memories we can carry in life, and this is one such memory. But, in favor of Perce, this antic seemed to work, I don't ever remember being sprung. For the record, the Berri drive-in closed in September 1983.
So, who else lived in Hague Street in the late 50's. On our side the Shabrel family lived in the end house, on the other side the family names were Hartwell, Law, Butterworth, Cocksedge, Smith and Harrison.
The Butterworth family kids Gary, Peter and David (Rocky) were similar in age to my siblings so we played together. Corky Butterworth was a gun footballer at this time for Barmera Monash and his wife Betty still lives in that house to this day.
In the vicinity of our home some of the family names I remember are Mudge, Goodfellow, Jenke, Morgan, Rowe, Tonkin, Milich and also the Barnden family were in our street but closer to the old Barmera Primary School. Paul Barnden was a mate, we both attended St Joseph's Convent School being Catholics, other kids from the family were Neil and Carmel that I can recall.
The old Catholic Church was close, it stood on a dusty block of land across the lane from our back fence, the area now contains houses as well as the church building. Two houses were built on the Hague Street end and allocated to Aboriginal families and on the Eyre Street side two units were built but at a much later date.
My very special memory from living at the Hague Street house is that I started school from there in February 1960. I do remember the day well, at that point in life I actually loved the fact that I was school age, but gee did that feeling soon change.
Now the final move for the Green Family would be on April 29th, 1960; the Housing Trust of South Australia was able to offer a home to purchase on Nookamka Terrace and mum and dad still live at number 132 Nookamka Terrace to the day. The Green Family home is where we were raised so naturally it holds some very dear and precious memories. Our family was shaped here; we just embraced the place and made it the best home we could.
So yeah, what a great place to grow up in, we were blessed as a family to have this place. When we first moved here in 1960 it was the last home on the newly constructed street. Four houses had been built here and initially we were number 7, that somehow later became 4 Nookamka Terrace Extension before it finally became number 132. At this time nothing existed between Nookamka Terrace and Lake Bonney except for a massive bushland area.
The four new homes were each built on quarter acre blocks and backed onto the houses on Bice Street, the yards separated by a generous sized laneway that ran between the back fences. That was the way the yards and housing blocks were in that section of the Barmera township.
The scrub area at the front of our block was a great area to play in, dad and our neighbor Art Farrow petitioned the Barmera Council to come and clear an area at the front of the scrub and this little park became play home for us kids. We spent copious amounts of hours playing here with footy and being cricket played in season and the park was naturally a magnet for the neighbor kids. So simple yet so much fun, it was nothing but a dust pile or a mud heap, but it really added to some of the great and lasting early memories of living here. We would have been lost without it.
This was a time in life when most activities around play and leisure activities were outdoors, so this little park certainly added to our options to just go out and play and have fun with the other kids. And sports, we always had a footy to kick around or had a cricket bat in our hand and we were able to hone our skills over in the park. So good, so lucky.
When we moved to Nookamka Terrace the road in the front of our house was dirt. During the winter months or after rain the road would turn into a slippery mess. Dad would drive the car to get to our gate and the car would slide and wheels spin as it negotiated its way along the road. I do have childhood memories of laughing at the sight of the car struggling to get along to the front gate.
As time went on the road was sealed. But we always had a streetlight right at our gate, originally it was just a single bulb type that naturally became a Fluro when the ETSA infrastructure changed in the later sixties..
Something that became a nightly ritual was to be out on the road under the light finding a menagerie of bugs and crawlies. Some just fun to watch and some really creepy. The Green Beatles scurried everywhere, hundreds of them at a time, they were interesting but with centipedes and scorpions ever present then it could be a testing time. It was not unusual to have the creepy crawlies number in the dozens, truly an amazing yet scary sight.
So, after dark we would head and see what was around as there was always plenty of bug action. I loved this part of being a kid and despite a scorpion sting and a centipede bite over these years my memories are very special. Such simple family fun.
Dad did suggest to us that the area around where the house was built was probably some sort of insect colony that existed in the bushlands and that was then disturbed by the earth works as preparations went on to make this a building site. The area was certainly infested with these bugs but oddly I recall they were only ever found at night and under the streetlight, they never invaded the house.
And I am not sure how long after we moved to Nookamka Terrace that this nightly bug fest ceased, my memory is that it went for ages. It was a fun time and something very different.
Originally the porch was open at the back heading outside, but it was later built in to provide an extra storage room. A door was added so the enclosed porch was now a lock-up area, and it was used as a secure place to store items. It really changed the back of the house for the better. This enclosed area was small but serviceable and gave a feel of safety.
The sleepout was really very small, and I mean very small. A door led from the back porch area into the sleepout, and that door opened into the porch. A solid wood door closed from inside the room, and it could be locked. But despite the room being so small and compact, it was the bedroom for both Rod and I. This room was far enough out from the house that it gave us privacy from the other people in the house. I am not sure how we got to pick this room as ours, maybe it was allocated, and we just accepted the offer.
But with two single beds and a wardrobe there was very little space to do anything other than sleep there. However, at this point when we were kids' things in life were so much slower, so much simpler and uncomplicated, so we made do. We had to really but at the time it was all ok and we felt good about having our own room.
Floor coverings were lino throughout the house, eventually feltex was laid in the main rooms of the house and much later carpet replaced the feltex. Floors were wooden in the main house, in the back section the laundry, toilet, back porch and sleepout were concrete.
The lounge room had a large mat in the centre of the room, this made a great play area especially for me and my toys of the day. It was my favourite area to be in.
As was the case with most houses of the era the lounge had a fancy China cabinet with lots of glass shelving and doors, two lounge chairs and some small pieces of furniture. In the late 60's we eventually added a TV and Radiogram as a three-in-one set and in mid-1970 the furniture was totally updated with a lounge and new chairs the feature.
Oh, and back at the beginning, three ceramic ducks hung on the lounge wall, it seemed every house in the country had a similar set of ducks, naturally we could not be the odd one out. Mum had a shadow box on the wall with an assortment of ceramic figures on the shelves. For some reason she treasured that shadow box.
A collection of ornaments was dotted around the room including a ceramic elephant and a crocodile. I swear these ornaments were a part of the family, it seems like they were there from day one and still have a spot in the lounge all these years later.
A fancy wooden and glass display cabinet with a drop-down shelf now stood on the kitchen side wall and a chrome phone table made up the bulk of the lounge room furniture.
The front door led out onto a small front verandah that was a step up from ground level. The wooden door led straight outside, and a screen door was not added until years later. Two windows in the lounge, one on the back wall and one on the side wall were both single frame structures which slid up from the bottom. The window screen was secured outside, wood frame with fly wire. I don't remember that there was ever much change to the windows.
The curtains were changed at about the time the new furniture was added, but the pull-down blinds were long term additions. They had a spring roller at the top and the blinds could be adjusted up or down. They were very basic and rather bland yet always serviceable. Some curtain pelmets were also added at one point.
When we moved into the house, a four-leg bathtub sat over against the side of the bathroom wall and an overhead shower was a part of the plumbing. There was no hot water at all, instead to have a shower a chip/paper heater was used but it only gave limited warmish water, so showers were all rather quick.
The bathroom had a small window with louvers on the back wall and this opened out into the back porch. That window is still a part of the bathroom.
A wash basin with a cold-water tap was under the window. A shaving cabinet was attached to the side wall, it had a door that doubled as a mirror so it played a significant role.
Like a number of other areas and fittings in the house, a makeover to the bathroom came with significant change. The bath was removed, the chip heater went, and a shower alcove was added. Hot water was now available so this meant we could at least have a long hot shower. The plumbing for the hot shower was messy and is yet another relic that is still in place.
The laundry is another room that has been through a number of different renos throughout the years. A stone wash trough and a wood copper to boil water for washing were there at the beginning, the wash trough remained for many years, but the wooden copper was replaced with a kerosine model. At the time we moved here in 1960 there was no running hot water in the laundry.
All washing was boiled in the hot copper water; mum had a wooden washing pole that she used to first mix the clothing around and then to get it out of the hot water and onto the rinse stage. A thing called 'Blue' was added to the water to help the whites stay, well, white. I think! And no washing powder was used in this era; Velvet Soap was the go. And I remember starch was another laundry product that had plenty of use. And ironing was done in the laundry.
Eventually an electric washing machine was added, a Simpson Pope brand, it had a lever on the outside to change the water spin direction and doubled as an on/off switch. The machine was on wheels and had a ringer that could be swiveled to go over the wash tubs. (The pics on the right of the wash tub and machine are for illustration purpose only}.
So Mum was now able to use the machine to wash the cloths then run them through the ringer straight into the wash tubs. The washing cycle was really a work of art. She did have a wooden wash basket for many years to get the washed clothing out to the back line. And a washing trolly became a part of the wash day process and I am sure that helped Mum considerably in getting the load of wet clothing out across the lawn to the line.
The washing machine was further upgraded in more recent years to a top load twin tub. And the stone wash trough made way for a laundry unit that was placed under the back wall window, and by now running hot water had also been added to the laundry. There was always a rainwater tap in the laundry. It was copper/brass and first sat over the wash trough and later the new cabinet. So, we always had good drinking water from the water tank in the back yard.
At the time of moving to the house a small cupboard sat in the laundry corner, it had a multitude of uses but it was the shoeshine hub for the Green family. Our shoes all required shoe polish, and this is where the deed was done. A small brush dipped in the shoeshine stuff was used to spread on the shoes then we polished off with a bigger brush to make the perfect shoeshine. It was a work of art.
The laundry led off from the kitchen and was separated by a wooden door that could be locked. A small step led down into the room. The toilet then led off the laundry at the side and a back door led out into the enclosed back veranda area. A widow again with louvers was on the laundry back wall and was opened to the outside. The toilet had a small fixed window in the side wall.
I remember a curtain rod was added in the laundry to divide the room. It was a plastic shower curtain type thing that was attached to the rod with round plastic shower curtain hooks. This thing was a monstrosity, a Green family original and every time someone tugged on the curtain, it and the rod would come crashing down. It happed literally thousands of times, and I mean thousands.
Every poor unsuspecting kid who came to visit pulled it all down at least once. I never understood what the attraction was to tug on it but inevitably every kid did. Crash, the sound it made when it hit the concrete floor was unmistakable and over the years we would just say, "There goes the darn curtain again."
The kitchen was small but functional. There were no built-in cupboards other than at the kitchen sink so standalone pieces of furniture were added. A kitchen dresser that was dated to the time took up one wall; it was a multipurpose unit and held much of the kitchen necessities. Another small unit stood at the side of the sink.
A fridge was placed, a work bench next to it, the sink was under the side kitchen window, it was built in and provided some storage space. The kitchen table and chairs again were indicative of the time, chrome and the chairs did have padding on the seat and back rest area.
A wood stove was under a mantle on the lounge room wall, the mantle doubled as a chimney. The wood stove was in use for many years and was then replaced by a gas appliance.
In the lounge room a combustion type wood heater was against the kitchen wall, but the chimney ran through the wall into the kitchen, then went up the wall and through the ceiling. A fine mesh grill protected the chimney; boy, it was an ugly set up, typical of a trust home that were really poorly designed, and the finishing touches always looked like they were tacked on as an afterthought. But it was what we had in the house, and we made do.
We spent many hours as a family in the kitchen, mornings were always in this room, breakfast, ABC radio with news and some music. Tea as we called the evening meal was always in the kitchen, as a family we sat together and ate. That fitted that era of life.
The lounge heater was always in good use, naturally it was the only warmth the house had. A wood box sat by the heater and was kept topped up right through winter. Mallee stumps were the main source of wood with smaller stumps were used when possible, but larger stumps would be split in half or sections and always provided good warmth..
This heater had glass louvers in the swing door, they would regularly shatter and needed replacing. Not sure if it was a poor design or was damaged if a lump of wood fell against it and the heat shattered the glass. Either way we replaced many of the louvers over the years. The heater top opened upwards, a hot plate could then able to be used and across the years was put to good use.
Once electric bar heaters became the go then the lounge heater was removed altogether. that freed up some space in the room and as an added bonus it meant that hideous chimney and mesh guard in the kitchen were also removed.
The contents and structure of the yard have changed significantly across the years. I still think the original completed layout was best, the yard was full, it was busy, and it was productive. And while dad was anything but a typical gardener or DYI bloke he really excelled with how the yard developed. In it's simplicity it was a credit to him.
How long the yard took to be at that completed look I am not sure; I would think it took a fair time. Lawns and trees and gardens and pathways, it was many hours of hard work.
And naturally mum played her part, she was the green thumb, her trees and shrubs were always a delight to look at, she had a real gift as a gardener. And she grew flowers, real flowers and my early memory of the colorful flower beds are a really happy and strong recollection. Mum made the yard a bright and happy place for the family.
Mum did not have a lot to work with, she made do, most of what she planted were cuttings from other gardens she came across, mum nurtured the cuttings protecting them during the cold winter times and frosty mornings and then in summer she spent many hours out watering in the yard as the day cooled. I think the yard was a favorite and happy place for mum.
The very first area of the yard planted out was a square patch of lawn hand planted with runners under the cloths line at the back. This original patch of lawn was then extended and then made even bigger. But the odd thing was each new addition was a slightly different level and for many years the back yard area that had lawn was a real mix and match. But gee it was a great place to play in and hang out.
Lawn was planted at the front in a rectangle shape and another planting of lawn was on the side of the house between the wall that was Jans bedroom and the side fence. Once the lawn had grown both these areas were important especially to us kids as we spent many hours in play in these two places. As said a few times, this turned into a great yard.
Once the back lawn patch extended it was bordered by a thin concrete edging. I do not remember it being made but for that said I always remember it being there. It did finish the lawn off very well. And in the back yard from the lawn up towards the back fence dad did lay a number of flat stones to create a pathway. It was around in the early years but like many things in the yard they made way for more lawn.
At the front there was a fence with iron gates, again typical of trust homes of the era. All four houses built at this end on Nookamka Terrace had matching fences, the green timber frame with wire meshing. The pics below show the front driveway area, the iron gates and the wood and mesh housing trust fencing. In the pics are Jan Green and Sue Starks.
Shrubs were planted inside the front fence; the original plan was that they would grow to be fashioned into a hedge. But they never really played the game and were eventually removed and replace with rose bushes that mum purchased from Tony Spronk a local nursery grower. For whatever reason they never really took either so didn't grow and blossom as I'm sure mum planned. They lasted for some years before being removed.
Two trees, Jacaranda I am thinking, were planted in the front yard in the lawn patch, these trees were symbolic for so many years at the front of the green home. They provided plenty of shade and cover Eventually the trees were replaced with bottle brush bushes, but this was way down the track.
And trees were planted on the footpath in front of the house once the road was sealed and the guttering installed, I am not sure if the district council planted the trees out there or mum did. The footpath was just covered in crusher dust for many years but in later times it was sealed.
The front gates were later removed and some years on the front fence also came down meaning the front of the house was now open to the footpath. I had loved the enclosed fence look but once the front opened up then that too was a good look, took me a while to warm to it and the appearance of front was now changed forever.
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With all the cosmetic changes mentioned at the front, the back yard also had its share of plantings and change over time. Fruit trees were planted basically from day one. A peach tree was in the back corner, then an apricot tree and in front of that a nectarine tree. Two orange trees and a mandarin tree were also planted and later a second peach tree was planted.
As a family we were treated to bucket loads of free stone fruit over many years, the peaches were divine I remember, big and juicy, straight off the tree. And the apricots were in abundance most years although every few seasons there would be a light crop, this was common with some stone fruit.
We were blessed with mandarins each year, the tree always seemed loaded and as a kid I loved eating the mandies and while the orange trees did produce fruit, my memory is that they were never a real success. I do think they were a touch finicky to grow in a yard without all the proper attention and sprays etc they would get in a citrus orchid.
I am thinking the shed came as a kit, timber, steel frames and corrugated iron that had to be assembled and again my memory is that it went up over a weekend. Dad would say it cost him a few longnecks as that is all Jim would take for his work.
The two front doors on the shed opened out and really it played an important role as a fixture in the back yard. A side door was important, and a window be is small was on the back wall. The shed only had a dirt floor, and it was used as a car shed initially. It has been extended in length a couple of times over the years to be the structure that it is today. It would become home for dad's boat and the additions allowed for the rear section to be used for storage.
There was no concrete at the side of the house leading up to the shed, that was added at a later date and a carport was then erected. It ran the length of the house on the Farrow house side and extended to fit onto the original shed. The back area between the house and the tank stand was also covered making an area that mum used for her pots and hanging baskets.
With all the concrete and building additions it really did transform that area of the yard. It became well used and when the Jayco caravan was around it would always parked under cover. Before the laying of concrete at the back of the house poor mum had her work cut out stopping dirt and mud from being tracked inside. That part of the yard would get very messy in winter. Wheat sacks were used as mats at the back door, but I am sure mum still had lots of cleaning to do from what was tracked inside.
One major thing that did change was the sewerage at the house. Originally a pit collected the wastewater and toilet flush, the pit was alongside the car shed near where the tank stood. The Barmera Council eventually introduced a town sewerage system that meant all waste was now directed to this system.
My memory is the council sewerage pipes ran down the side lane by our fence and it was the landowner's job to then connect the sewerage pit to the council pipes. The pipes were earthenware when first put in but I seem to recall they were much later replaced with PVC. Although I seem to recall that there was at times issues with the sewerage in the pit not flowing as it should, and a Pump Truck would come in to drain the pit. The thought was that over time tree and shrub roots had grown and broke the earth ware pipes meaning they would get blocked with the damage.
Lots of native trees were planted around the yard. I am sure some were to be forever trees but like life itself forever can change, and it did for the trees. Most of them however served their purpose, the yard always had plenty of shade and over the years it entertained many times for family get together and later for the famous Joan and Jim squid days. It was the best yard you could have possibly hoped for, first as a play area when we were kids growing up but later as that entertainment mecca. Mum and Dad did a great job. Thank-you both.
As a part of the Jimmy way, a section of the back fence was removed, and the caravan pushed in. That section of fence then sort of hung in place, it never went back properly and over many years it was iconic, and it just sat as a reminder of the Jimmy skills at DIY repairs. The caravan belonged to Veronica and Joff Linger, they had lived in it out on the Danvers fruit block when they first married.
My memory is that dad purchased the van from them when they left to live in Tasmania at the end of 1963. Then Reg Albrecht and his wife rented the van from dad for some time before it took its final resting spot in the back yard at 132 Nookamka Terrace.
And the worms, yeah, the worms. Dad or grandpop as we now called him was always the fishing tragic, so he cultivated his own earthworms. An area down near the back fence become worm town, these worms had a great life, well cared for and very well fed and nurtured. We reckoned dad had names for each of his worms and if anyone was visiting the house then a trip to worm town was generally part of that visit.
We always had a telephone connected at Nookamka Terrace and our original home number was 172. Phones were very basic back in 1960, to make an outgoing call you would simply lift the handset on the phone, wind the handle, that would connect you to the local PMG exchange and the operator would ask what number you wanted and then she would connect you.
For an incoming call the phone in the house would ring and you just picked up the receiver, and your call was waiting. It was all pretty simple, and it worked very well. But change was happening and like all things in life just when we got used to an idea, yep, it changed. But I am thinking in terms of the telephone, change was for the better. The Post Master General Department (PMG) was originally responsible for phone lines and connections; Telecom was the next government entity to take control of this area and that later became Telstra.
So, once the local exchange was automated then the phone numbers changed, 882 was the Barmera prefix so our number became 882 172. And there was an Area Code system at this time, for Barmera (Upper Murray/Riverland) it was 085. A few years back all Australian phone numbers were changed to 8 digits and Barmera had 85 added meaning our original 172 number was now 85 882 172 and the area code was shortened to 08 for South Australia.
Phone books were a big thing at this time in history. The phone book was originally for the state of South Australia. Then we had a metro and a country edition before that too changed and the Riverland and Murray Mallee had its own phone book.
Handsets for phones are another item to be constantly changed over the years; we went from that heavy black ring type handset from 1960 to a dial phone and now we have this push button handset that is very sleek and very modern. And mobile phones are the latest trend in communication, everyone has a mobile it seems, although the oldies at 132 Nookamka Terrace are likely to be challenged by this new fandangle electronic technology and will likely opt out. Our telephone at the house has always been in the lounge on a table near the front door.
So, life was now moving forward, my childhood days were right there with me, I was settled at 132 Nookamka Terrace in Barmera and the Green family had made this place their home. My journey was just beginning and if I had known then what I know now, nah, nothing would change. I would still be reckless, I would still be daring and I would give life a decent real shot. As they say in the classics, life is for living.
The Green family residence for 57 years, 132 Nookamka Terrace in Barmera ... it was built by the Housing Trust of SA contactor and offered for sale to Jimmy and Joan Green who purchased the property then known as Block 150 Nookamka ... it was a typical housing trust building, rough and ready but it was our home, and we loved it, we all grew up here ... the top pics show the property in later life, note the Jimmy mobile parked in the drive way, that car became a symbol of the place, the long driveway shot shows how this area looked as described in this chapter ... and the bottom pic shows Jimmy and Joan with grandkids Mitchell and Jacob out the front with the number 132 proudly displayed on the house
Below is some family iconic pics, Joan and Jim preparing a famouse fish meal in the kitchen of their home and dad with his boat at the side of the house, this was before any of the side extension were added but the car shed is in the backgound ...
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