On The Homefront: Entertainment & The Arts

Children listened to the radio, enjoying comedy shows such as "Greenbottle" and serials such as "The Air Adventures of Biggles". Saturday afternoon matinees at the picture shows were popular. The local radio station 4IP had a live children's program. School children went to the studio on Friday afternoon to take part in competitions and enjoy a sing-along of the pop songs of the day. Many schools had an annual school ball, usually held at the Showgrounds Pavilion. Students wore fancy dress and learned folk dances. Sunday schools still held picnic excursions by train to Wynnum.

Irma Deas recollections of growing up in the country in the 1940s and 1950s, and entertainment appeared in Bremer Echoes in July 2020 (Ipswich Genealogical Society publication).

If a family had a gramophone, they were very lucky, and these were wound up with a handle, and the arm with the needle placed on the record once it was spinning. It had to be rewound frequently, and each record was only one song, or piece of music. A piano was found in a number of homes, and usually at least one of the children, if not all could play. A sing song with all generations joining in was enjoyed by many families.

Our main entertainment was the dance on Saturday night, and this is where the children learnt to dance. All members of the family went, from the oldest to the youngest. The babies went to sleep on the floor, and were so used to it, they slept through all the noise of the band, which was usually a piano, saxophone, violin (if you were lucky) and drums, and maybe a piano accordion.

The girls sat together along the sides of the hall, and the men congregated at the end near the door. We all knew they would have a few bottles of beer in the cars outside, and would go out between dances for a drink. It was just accepted, and the girls, stayed inside. If you had to go outside to go to the toilet which was an earth closet, (thunderbox / dunny) you never went alone, always at least two or three together. It was not that we were frightened, it was the thing to do, and ‘nice girls’ did not stay outside. I did not know one girl who ever tried a beer, or smoked.

Supper was a popular part of the night, the sandwiches being made by the ladies, in the kitchen of the hall, and the homemade cakes and biscuits were brought along each time, by all the families. The cups were carried around in a large wash tub, and each person took one. To carry the cups was a job for the men, and they also carried the large pots of tea - black or white, with sugar, or black or white without. When supper was over, the men went around with the tubs and collected the cups, and they were taken back to the kitchen and washed up with the help of some of the men. They were dried and packed away ready for the next Saturday night. We always felt important if you could carry trays of sandwiches, or cakes, and you had a chance to speak to everyone in the hall.

Of course we knew everyone, and if there were strangers, there was usually someone who knew who they were. Or it did not take long to find out. In later years when the hall was extended, the tables were set up, and the food placed on them. It just did not seem the same anymore.

Many families did not own a car even in the 1940s and 50’s and walked to where they had to go or went with a neighbour who was able to afford to run an automobile. The farm truck was used for everything – farm work and shopping as well. (Many homes did not have telephones either). Children walked to school, rode bikes or if you lived on a farm usually rode a horse. The school had a “horse paddock” where the ponies spent the day and then they were saddled up for the ride home. I can remember some children rode four or five miles to school, and that was after they helped with the farm work before leaving home. It seems strange now, but many of us did not wear shoes to school, unless it was sports day, or very cold. Even when it rained, we walked through the paddocks to school, and many times used a sugar bag turned in to make cover for our head and shoulders.

Saturday night the local picture show was held in the centre of the town, in a hall next to the garage - it was the for-runner of today’s service station, selling petrol and oil, tyres and anything else needed by the car owner or farmer, and repairing vehicles. I feel the pictures were not on every Saturday of the month. All the children who lived near us on the top of the hill, walked down together, and it was always impressed upon us, that once you went in, you stayed inside until the movies were over, and we all came home to together again.

There were few cars in those days, and we all walked up the middle of the road, as you could hear them approaching from a distance. It was a great time to be growing up, as we knew nothing of drugs, or house break-ins, and no one even had to lock their doors. I do not think we owned a key for any door in our house, and if you went away for a few days, things were just the same when you came back.

We all looked forward to the Miner’s Picnic. This was held each year just before Christmas, and was organised by the miners, and I guess they all paid so much each pay to cover the cost of the train, and I suppose it cost non miners and their families, but being a child I did not give it a thought. We climbed aboard the special steam train which came over from Rosewood, and picked up at all the little sidings and off we went to Shorncliffe or Wynnum. The smell of the smoke, the cinders we got in our eyes from putting our head out the windows, the bites we seemed to get from lice or jelly fish in the water, and the sunburn - no one had heard of sunscreen - did not stop us enjoying every minute of the long day out. When we arrived home late in the day, exhausted but happy, we had lots of great memories - maybe enough to last until next year. For many of us, it was the only trip to the beach each year. Some of the children, whose fathers worked in the mine, did go to Redcliffe or Shorncliffe or Southport for a holiday at Christmas time when the mines closed for three weeks, but those on farms did not have the opportunity, as theirs was a year round job, and very rarely were they away from home.

Climbing trees was a favourite pastime, and we had lots of big trees, and I can remember the mango trees with lots of strong limbs, where we spent many happy hours. In most yards could be found fruit trees of some description, a guava or a plum or peach tree which would have the smallest fruit, but we still looked forward to it each year. Our school teacher was Miss Cara Cooper, and she lived at home with her parents, and each year we were able to go to pick mulberries from the tree in their chook pen. October was always Mulberry month. They are still a favourite of mine, and I always think of the billy cans of fruit I carried home - after eating as many as possible- for Grandma to make mulberry pie.

Gooseberry or football jam - and gooseberry pie were special treats, and hours were spent shelling gooseberries bought from Kickbusch’s each year. Norm Boughen at Minden grew rough leaf pineapples, and we would cut them in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. It was only after I had grown up that I found smooth leaf pineapples. The rough leafs are still my favourite and bring back childhood memories.