A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.

WHAT IT WAS LIKE GOING TO MAYFIELD WEST PUBLIC SCHOOL & REMEMBERING THE HAPPY TIMES GROWING UP.

The School Years. The Teachers, Our Friends.

The Days of being able to go anywhere without fear. The shops, The Radio, The introduction of TV into our lives.

Organizing Committee 5th June 2010.

This is a story about what it may have been like for you attending Mayfield West Public School back in the 60s and what it was like for our teachers, when they taught us at Mayfield West Public School. The second part is about the growing years, and about how you may have adventured out into the big world with or without your parents.

THE SCHOOL YEARS.

Remember this?

Our days at Mayfield West Public School, would have had to have been some of the most memorable days of our lives. Yes, the teachers were strict, but at least we knew what was right and what was wrong, back then. All the teachers of that time at school 1956-57 to 1963-64, had their own personalities. Some of them were strict (Army like) and others had a lovely nature about them and were very friendly. The male teachers; Mr Davies, Mr Davis, Mr Peart and Mr Benson were all very keen sports people. Mr Unicomb being the older teacher, and also the Deputy Head Master at the time, was not seen in the playground as much. Our Head Master Mr Doherty, was a kind soul. He had a wonderful nature. If you had a problem you could go to him without fear and he would try his best to sort it out, but if you did the wrong thing, heaven help you. The female teachers, Miss Winney, Mrs Clark, Mrs Turner and Miss Laffey were quite strict, but they had to be, because they had to show the girls Head Mistress Miss Kelly, that they could handle their jobs as teachers. Miss Kelly was indeed a tyrant. You may have been one of the girls who would hang out near the top gate waiting to see what colour hair or to see what mood that she would be in on a Monday morning. Miss Kellys hair colours would vary from week to week. Namely grey, sometimes blue or even pink or purple whatever took her fancy. One of the 6th classes was positioned down at the bottom of the Infants school playground. Known as Siberia , I wonder why? Was this a class of misfits? Dont know but that class had one advantage. If you needed to go to the toilet in a hurry the Infants toilets were only about 20 feet away. The rest of the primary classes were up in the main brick building at the top of the school yard. Remember the days when the playground, was divided by a fence down the middle to separate the boys from the girls? Same in the weather sheds where you had your lunch and play- lunch. The girls toilet block that was also used as the pasty wall. In the toilet blocks, the solid soap was put into the new fangled dispensers, and you were only allowed to turn the handle one full turn to get the grated soap that it produced. As well the teacher that was on washroom duty to make sure you didnt turn that blessed handle more than once. That duty was later handed to senior students to

patrol. Who wasnt tempted to turn the handle more than once and who had to pick up papers in the playground at lunchtime on more than one occasion for getting caught turning that dam handle more than once? Does anyone remember? Also the ink boys or girls whose job it was to make sure that the ink wells were filled up each day before start of class in the mornings. Also there were the Incinerator boys, who volunteered to do the burning off instead of playing sport on a Friday afternoon. Were you one of the girls hiding under the back of the weather shed just to watch the boys play cricket or even football at lunchtime, hoping not to get caught by a teacher on playground duty? Were you one of the boys down near the back fence, smoking the weaving cane? Oh! The outside bubblers became the focus on hot days, where you may have been one of those who used to squirt water from them to cool each other down?

Our lessons were about the 3 Rs, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, plus Social Studies, Nature Study, PE, Scripture and Sport. At the beginning of each, New Year, the teachers would hand out your new books. On each book, you were asked to write the name of the subject e.g. : Spelling, Composition etc. You were then asked to take your books home to cover them in your mums best brown paper that she usually lined the cake tins with. You had to put your name and the subject name on the covered book in your best handwriting and maybe even add a picture to brighten it up from the left over Christmas cards that our mums usually kept just for that purpose. You may have been asked to also do a title page on the first page of your book. You may have been given a mark for a good effort. It was common practice to rule each page with a left hand margin; the margin about the width of a standard ruler. I think for memory, it was ruled with a red biro.

You were made to use a slope card behind the page of your writing books etc. I never did get the hang of it.! It was all right for those of us that were right handed, but for those of us that were a left hander, it was indeed a struggle to use the slope card. Back in the earlier days at school left handed children were slapped over the knuckles to make them use their right hand. It wasnt until about our time of reaching 2nd class that the practice was halted. Scripture was held on a Friday morning, when the local minister or lay preacher from the church, would come to the school to teach religion. Some of the students Fathers were actually ministers of religion who came to the school. e.g.: John Peffers father was the Presbyterian Minister at Mayfield. If you had a problem seeing the writing on the blackboard, your parents would send a note to your teacher, explaining the reason why you needed to sit up the front of the class. You also took notes to school from your parents if you were late or had to leave early to go to a dental appointment or if you had been sick. A permission note was always sent home for your parents to sign if you were going on an excursion or to represent the school somewhere.

There was free milk in glass bottles of 1/3 pint capacity that was handed out to each child in both the Infants and Primary school playgrounds at recess that you begrudgingly drank !Yuk!!! But you

did like to save the silver bottle caps as they would make great Christmas decorations for your classroom. The silver milk tops at Christmas time even had a picture of holly on them. Further there were times when the silver tops were saved in some form of competitions... Rules in the playground and classroom were very strict indeed. No chewing gum , no eating lollies in class, no talking in class unless spoken to by your teacher, no fighting, or pushing, or even no running in the playground. In class your teacher would have you stand up to answer the questions asked so that the rest of the class could see you.

If you were lucky enough to be selected, you may have been a road safety monitor (your job was to hold the Stop flag on the school crossing, so that the school kids could cross the road safely when cars were around). This was done on a roster system, set by the teachers. Then there was the library monitor whose job it was to help the librarian (namely your teacher) to clean up and put the books back that had been left out after your class had finished with them. There were even milk monitors, their job was to stack the ice chest with milk for us to drink, but it was still always hot when we got it. Then there was the selecting of the class captains, house captains and also the school captains. When we look back, we were introduced to politics at a very early age and didnt even realise it. Movies were shown on an old fashioned projector in the bottom classroom, or library. You never knew what movie to expect, as the teachers or maybe the Headmaster selected it. Watching movies always took place at the end of each school term and when sport was called off, but not all of us may have had the privilege of watching the movies probably due to the class behaviour. It was great when we did get to watch them. Do you remember the School Insurance Policy that our parents were offered by the school back then? There were two levels. There was one that covered everything from going to and coming home from school, plus being covered for sport and excursions. The second one was just a basic type for going to and from school. It was around 1 pound for the top cover and about 12/6- for the lower cover. Fancy that we had an insurance policy on us to stay out of trouble, in a way at school. The school insurance policies were phased out over the years after we left Primary school. School Assembly was always held once a week in the boys playground near the top door. Here we would assemble and March in our house teams. We often marched to the tune of Blaze away around the quadrangle several times, until we were directed into position by teachers. At these assemblies we were told of the upcoming events that were to take place. Also at these assemblies it was the custom to sing the National Anthem, which was God Save the Queen, and also say the School Pledge. Both of these were truly of a British nature. They would be later be replaced with the Australian National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair and possibly a school song or prayer, reflecting on the schools own strengths. The School Pledge as we knew it went like this. I Honour my God.

I Serve my Queen, I Salute the Flag. The flag: being both the Australian and British fl ags at the time in the 60s We were addressed either by the Headmaster or Deputy Headmaster about our behaviour and the usual announcements would be made and the kids name were read out who had succumbed to good old detention for the next week. Oh! The embarrassment of it all! The annual Anzac day service was always held in the assembly area, where representatives of the local RSL would attend the school to present books to the school library. Some students were lucky enough to be picked to attend the official Anzac Schools Service which was held in Civic Park Newcastle. Teachers would often pull a uniform inspection on us when you least expected it. Finger nails had to be clean, uniforms had to be the right length (the girls had to kneel on the floor while hems were measured by their teacher) or if you were a boy, your shorts or long trousers had to have the pleats in the right spot and that had to be ironed. If not a note was sent home to your parents asking why your uniform was not correct. Your shoes had to be polished and you had to wear a tie at all times. The school ties were made of woven silk type material, if I can remember? No dresses or normal clothing was permitted. If you were a girl your white socks had to be turned down correctly and if you were a boy your long grey socks with the blue and red bands had to be pulled up to the knee and the top turned down. The boys hated their long socks in summer, but they were the lucky ones in winter. They could keep their legs warm. The girls had to endure the horrible thick black liquorice stockings (itchy scratchy), that would ride down during the day and you had to keep pulling them up. What a pain. We did have a sports uniform, which consisted of a blue pair of shorts with a red pin stripe down each side and a white buttoned shirt or blouse and white socks and sandshoes. Just loved sports day didnt you? If your sandshoes werent clean and white, that was the end of your sports day. You werent allowed to do any sport, and instead you spent it in the classroom doing your homework. Well, how many of you managed to get out of sport once in a while? Sport was always held on a Friday afternoon after lunch. Here depending on the season, the boys would play cricket in the summer and baseball or even league or soccer in the winter. The girls had their own form of cricket in the game of Vigoro. Many a time some girl slugged a vigoro ball over the weather shed. In winter it was basketball, netball or softball for the girls. Summer brought swimming and swimming carnivals. Of course there were also learn to swim classes for those of us that had a tendency to sink. These classes were conducted by a teacher in charge of a class, and took place at Newcastle baths each Friday. At the end of the lessons you were tested to see how far you could swim unaided. There were also team sports where boys and girls would represent our school in league (weight divisions -4 stone 7lbs, 5stone 7lbs and 6 stone 7lbs) and in netball. These games were held against other local schools such as Mayfield East and Waratah West to name a few.

The Schools Representative pocket of the 1960s which was made from felt. ....Courtesy of Vivienne Falconer.

At first the girls and boys had separate house teams. The girls teams were: GUM-BLOSSOM (GREEN),WARATAH (RED), BORONIA (BLUE), WATTLE (YELLOW) . The boys teams were MILLAR(GREEN) , GRIFFITHS (RED), PURDUE (BLUE) and WEBB (YELLOW). By the time we entered 3rd of 4th class, a vote was taken to combine both the Boys and Girls sport houses into one . So that meant for example if you were in Gum Blossom then you were transferred to Millar. Definitely a guys world back then. So now we had only four teams instead of eight. Our house teams would compete against each other each week in different sports. Our annual sports carnival was always held at Mayfield Park in Crebert St Mayfield. We would march in our teams from our school to Mayfield Park. Then again, after lunch we would march again so that our marching points could be added up. At the annual sports carnival not only would we compete against each others team, but we also tried our hardest to win and to be selected to represent the school in Athletics, i.e., running, jumping and throwing. By the end of the day the best house, with the most points won the carnival. For memory the boys actually wore white shorts with house colour on a strip down each side of the shorts. We made rosettes to wear in our house colours as well. The swimming carnival was held at the end of February each year, and the athletic carnival was held in August. The best competitors then went on to represent the school at zone level and regional level.

This is a picture of some of our mothers who helped out in Athletic Carnival Canteen. From :Left to Right. Mrs Wells, Mrs Griffiths, Mrs Wright, Mrs Paul, Mrs Valentine, Mrs Williams, Mrs Nichols, Mrs Farnant and Mrs Hunt. School sport and P.E. was an essential ingredient back then, because it was believed that exercise produced happy and healthy children, so it would be plenty of healthy exercise for us children, it was deemed necessary by the authorities of the day. So we also did callisthenics, walking on a balancing beam, with a bean bag on your head and not looking down at the ground not once. There were plenty of hula hoop workouts, running races, up and down the playground, throwing bean bags at a target, tunnel ball and bob ball etc. What a great time some of us had. It would be fair to say that if we put as much effort into our class work as we did to our sporting endeavours, more would have achieved academically. We celebrated Education week and Book Week each year. Education week was held to showcase what went on in the classroom. I believe it was the only time we actually behaved ourselves as our parents were invited to open day to observe what we did in and outside class. Book week at school meant you were encouraged to read more books and learn. Does anyone still find a good book and curl up on the lounge or sit in a favourite chair and read? Health Week was a big part of our school life. Which, we celebrated every year, with a march down Hunter St Newcastle as main attraction for the week. You may have been subjected to the annual medical check-ups by the visiting doctor and nurse each year or two. Yes they checked your hearing, and your eyesight, watched the way you walked in your school shoes, and without your school shoes on and checked your teeth for any holes that may have needed filling. We lined up for your polio shots, diphtheria and TB skin test. If the nurse or doctor thought that there was a problem, you parents would receive a letter advising then to take you to the appropriate institutions to be seen to. Oh! The indignity of it all! We were encouraged to learn to save our money, by opening a school bank account through the Commonwealth Bank. We would take our bank books to school on Monday mornings and line up to

deposit the money that our parents had given us. One of the teachers was in charge of banking duties. We were told that by saving our money we would be indeed rich by the time we left school. Yeah! Right!! We were encouraged to join the Junior Red Cross, a special group set up by the Red Cross Association that looked after people in far off nations who had nothing to eat and no clothes to put on their backs. Here we would have fund raising events, selling tickets in a raffle to help raise money for the poor people of the world. We would have a meeting once a month in the school library with a teacher, who was in charge of everything we did. Another group that we were encouraged to become members of was the Gould League of Bird Lovers. This group was originally set up by John Gould to encourage children to protect the native birds of Australia. When you became a member your teacher would present you with a Certificate and a Badge depicting a Gould Finch on it. Of course the subject of native birds came in handy with our nature study subject back then. Some parents werent happy with the expense back then. In every classroom was a Black Sambo that sat on the teachers desk each morning. It was a charity box. You may have brought your spare coins (money) to school and every morning your teacher may have asked you if anyone had any spare coins money to put in Black Sambo. Up you would go to your teachers desk, put your money on the palm of Sambos hand pull the lever and watch as your money would disappear into his mouth, never to be seen again. We never ever knew exactly what that charity was? Does anyone remember? Could it have been for Dr Barnardos Boys home? Life at school was much slower then, not like it is today with electronic blackboards (smart boards) hooked up to a laptop computer and a computer room for the students to learn and create. There were blackboards and squeaky chalk, the cane for those poor souls who repeatedly flouted the school rules. From time to time if a kid played up in class, you first would see a piece of chalk go flying across the room, or maybe a ruler or even the chalk duster. Mind you most teachers had a deadly accurate aim rarely missing their targets. There were ink wells that the boys made use of, to get some poor unsuspecting girl back. Predominately the girls who had pigtails or plaits. If you had a female teacher you may have taken a bunch of flowers from home for your teacher on a Monday morning to brighten up your class. If you had a male teacher, you may have left a piece of fruit on his desk as a good will gesture. There were the usual excursions to places of interest round Newcastle and if you were lucky there may have been the odd trip to Sydney via the old highway. Each week we would tune into the radio, so that we could receive broadcasts in Singing, Health and Hygiene and Behind the News. This was great, as we used to receive an ABC book that had all the different lessons in it, plus parts of it were dedicated to singing and poetry. A program called Good Listening entailed us listening to the person on the radio read a story. After the program was over our teachers would test our listening skills by giving us questions from a handbook, which by the way, held the answers in it. Then there was the best magazine of all. It was the monthly, School Magazine, which you placed in a folder. In this Magazine was a reading section, and a monthly quiz,

so that you had to wait until the next one was given out to find out the answers. There was some poetry too. Oh! The memories just keep coming!!! Playground games at recess and lunch were: Pasties against the girls toilet block wall, Hopscotch, Handball, Red Rover, Rounders, Cricket down the back on the grassed area, and maybe a footy match (with the teachers verses the boys), Hula Hoops or just sitting and talking or reading, netball practice. Good old Marbles who could forget that. In later years the boys had a new fandangle thing called a cricket net installed down the back on the cricket pitch.

Hula Hoops. Sometimes if the teachers were in a real sports mood there would be a 7 a side footy match held down the back playground even before school started at 9.20 am. Teachers were on playground duty to make sure we behaved ourselves and did not sneak into the boys/girls playgrounds without permission. Some kids would even bring their Coca Cola yo-yos to school to see who could do the most tricks with them. Coca Cola yo-yos were the best balanced ones out of all the different ones that were available, or you could make your own out of your mums spare wooden cotton reels. Some kids even brought their pogo sticks to school and the girls their Hula Hoops.

Do you remember this? The girls did sewing with Mrs Whitelaw, making everything from a mat and pin wheel to a beach coat (all by hand mind you). What a fashion statement back then!! The boys were treated to the best thing of all basket weaving. Lucky them! All the girls wanted to have ago at basket weaving, not just the boys. Some of the girls actually did get to have a go. What a joy it was to sit next with the boys. Yes, the boys! And learn to basket weave. If you had an elder brother you had a head start over the others as they would probably have brought home their unfinished baskets and let you finish them, so that they could go off to the local scout troop, etc.

The annual school fete! The cakes and biscuits your mum used to make, and of course a fete would not be a fete unless there was stickjaw toffee, Yummy!!!!!!!! The pot plants that your dad would have potted just to be sold at the fete. There were lucky dips for both, the boys, and the girls for Threepence. Soaps, fairy dolls on sticks, crocheted tea towels, washers. Some mums would cross stitch on tablecloths while other mums would make all sorts of aprons, those little knick knacks that we carted home to our parents disgust. The mothers and fathers day stalls were also held each year so that you could buy your mum and dad a gift for sixpence back then and oh the variety. Where has it all gone? There was also the Easter hat parade, which was a scream. Your parents would have helped you create a masterpiece, which you would wear in the parade, and yes there was a prize for the best hat at the end of the day. We celebrated Empire Day at school. Empire Day meant maypole dancing for the girls. We would have to wear a white dress for the occasion. Once the maypole dance was over, we then moved on to dance with a boy. Yes a boy. In lower primary classes it did not matter, but as we progressed into the senior primary it was a different matter; we all had our favourite boy or girl. You may have gone home with sore feet after one of the boys/girls had stepped on your toes. Empire day was to represent the Commonwealth of Nations, which was governed by the motherland England. Back then the Commonwealth of Nations were marked on the Atlas in red or pink, whatever atlas it was that you had. It meant we only went to school for a half of the day. It also meant that, that night was Cracker night. If you were invited to school friends, birthday parties, the whole class would be there. It was more fun going to a girls party if you were a boy and vice versa. You could order your lunch from the top and bottom shops on your way to school every morning. Your orders would then be picked up by a pupil nominated by your teacher each day. Mainly lunches consisted of a Pie or Sausage Roll or even maybe just a sandwich. When you had paid for you lunch there was always change to buy lollies with. Musk sticks, Cobbers, Choo-Choo bars, White Knights, Red Skins, and Freckles and Miners Friends when you had a cold. You would sneak them into class and suck on them, hoping not to get caught by your teacher. The bottom shop had a limited variety of what you could trade your coke bottle in for; usually cobbers. The top shop had a much better selection of lollies to tickle your fancy. Party day was held the last Tuesday of the school year. This was the only day of the year that you didnt have to wear your school uniform. You may have brought your lunch to school that day, and something to share with your class. Each class made their own decorations, from coloured paper to form chains and the silver milk bottle tops now came into play as decorations. The Christmas paintings that you may have painted also adorned the classroom walls adding to the atmosphere. After you had eaten your lunch the teacher came along with selected kids in your class and would bring out the goodies that you had brought to school to share with your class mates. Later your class was escorted up to the all weather shed to receive a bag of lollies and an icy pole, compliments of the P&C association. At the end of the year you would cart home all your worldly possessions and your books from school, so that your family could see what you had done all year. Oh! The memories of this! Oh, the memories of this era of our lives; sadly never to be repeated!

As our days at primary school became numbered, we started to think about going to high school, we knew we would miss the heady days at the only school that we had ever known or been to, the friends that we had made over the 7 years that we had been there, from Kindergarten to 6 th class. That part of our growing and learning years from the age of 5, to 11-12years was quickly coming to an end, in that safe environment. Oh how we wished that it had gone on forever! Oh yes! Our first crushes on boys and boys on girls. Maybe, your first ever crush is here tonight? Dont be afraid to look around the room and see if he or she is here. Go tell them that you had a crush on them when you were at school. It wont hurt. Do you remember the poem that we all used to say as we would scurry out the gate for the final time for the year to start yet another school holiday? No more pencils, no more books. No more teachers dirty looks. We all remember the words very well, and think our teachers may have also too. Our teachers finally wouldnt have to put up with our tantrums and outbursts in class for another year. Do you remember the ditty that your mum or dad may have taught you. School days, school days, Dear old golden rule days. Reading and Writing and Arithmetic, Taught to the tune of a hickory stick And so on. Walking back into the school after all these years, from where we all started, all those many, many years ago has been like a real trip down memory lane. What still remains there today and what has gone? To remember the good times, that were had by all, who attended Mayfield West Public School all those many, many years ago, will live on in our memories forever. We thank our teachers sincerely, who we saw as kids, for being very stern back then. If it wasnt for their dedication to teaching us and giving us all the very best start in our education for our lives ahead, where would we be , all those years later? We salute you all.

. Mr. Loch Unicomb.: Teacher / Deputy Head Master. 6ABoys. 1963 Miss Kathleen Kelly: Headmistress of girls and teacher of 6A girls 1963. Mr David Davies, 5B/6B. 1963

Mr Tony Davis: Teacher. 5A Boys. 1963. Miss Barbara Winney

CLASS PHOTOS.

5B/6B.

Teacher: Mr David Davies.

Students: Left to Right Back Row. Ray Richards, Stephen Ison, David Worth, Dennis Ison, Robert McAlpine, John Sevester, Ian McKinnon

Third row: Howard Edwards, Herbert Wolf, Robert Lightfoot, Paul Podmore, Steven Hardy, Raymond Smith, Neville Cooper. Second Row: Cheryl Fitness, Kay Squires, Margaret Wright, Lilly Jurgeilan, Diane Nowland, Faye Curry, Gail Neaves.

Front Row: Wayne Pritchard, Gary Newman, Phillip Millar, Joan Rogers, Vivienne Falconer, Gail Musson.

Absent: Jayne King and Gregory Hardy. 6A Boys.

Teacher: Mr Loch Unicomb.

Back row left to right.: John Peady, Malcolm Duckworth, Clayden Campbell, Phil Screen, Gary Simm, Robert Magar, John Groom, Barry Elsley, Ian Callaghan, Jeffrey Millar,. 2nd Back Row: Phil Wratten, Milan Josic, Neil Thrift, Harry Kolatchew, Ray Wills, William McAlpine, John Peffer, Mark Fitzsimmons, Robert Nowland. 2nd Front Row: John Pugh, Paul Colditz, Russell Williams, Robert Hunt, Robert Campbell, Mark Harrison, Greg Swarf, Michael Schmidt, Iain Wells. Front Row: Gordon Aitken, Robert Faulkner, Jeffrey Davidson, Desmond Donnelly, Edmund Bartlett, David Yarrow, Darrell Evans, Robert Murrell.

6A Girls.

Teacher: Miss Kathleen Kelly.

Back Row left Right. Jan Metcalf, Gwenda Hentzschel, Susan Giles, Susan McDonald, Senija Suljic, Helen Bint, Beverley Allen, Lucina Wieczorek, Gail Rae, Lauren Schofield.

3rd Row L-R: Diane Smith, Janice Van-Der Werken, Robyn Spence, Jennifer Bates, Kristine Peirpoint, Vicki Blunden, Kay Cornish, Vasiliky Anthony, Maxine Griffiths.

2nd Row L-R: Mavis Shearman, Wendy Ling, Susan Callender, Mary-Ann Paul, Laraine Hands, Pamela Millar, Michelle Fuller.

Front Row. L-R: Sue-Ellen Willis, Marilyn Hutchison, Jennifer Davis, Heather Jacobs, Irene Underwood, Noelene Dalby, Jean Barlow, Debra Watt. 5A Girls.

Teacher : Miss Barbara Winney. Students: Back Row Left to Right: Denise Wise, Christine Wilson, Blaga Damcevski, Linda Jahnssen, Carol Wills, Jennifer Jones, Denise Walker, Carolyn White. 2nd Row Back: L-R. Christine Owens, Glenda Phillips, Susan Bryan, Lyn Maxwell, Vicki Lewis, Robyn Duke, Meryl Bramble, Heather Farnant, Gail Thrift. 2nd Row Front L-R: Catherine Cunningham, Sally Goodshaw, Lauren Monkley, Janelle Dodds, Cheryl Considine, Judy Eckert, Lorraine Holmes, Leigh Fishpool. Front Row L-R: Joan Harrison, Karen Watts, Lynette Thompson, Ruth Westwood, Dianne K. Smith, Sharyn Flannery, Lesley Holdstock, Hazel Hughes.

5A Boys.

Teacher Mr Tony Davis.

Back Row L-R: Gary Hogbin, Ian Hodgson, Leslie Smith, George Sperling, John Hill, Bill Rarity, Graeme Thorne, John Morris, Steve Allen, Greg Andrews. 2nd Back Row L-R: Greg Curry, Mark Mason, ? , ?, ?, John Sara ,Stephen Callaghan . Martin Charlton, ?, Wayne Cornish,

2nd Front Row L-R: Grant Arthur, Rigby, ?, Warren Cocking,?,?, Malcolm Savage,?, Greg Duggan,? Chris Bartimote. Front Row L-R: Rodney Price, Gary Goodman, Michael Humbles, Ken Parker, Donald Shearman, James Ross,? John Tibulac., Steven Bell, Jeffrey Latham.

What it was like to live around Mayfield, Mayfield West and the Newcastle District in the 1960 s

Maitland Rd Mayfield in the 60s.

Our experiences of growing up in the 60s at Mayfield West were you might say some of the happiest times we ever enjoyed. Our innocence of the friends we played with could have been a single girl in amongst a bunch of boys playing cowboys and Indians, or maybe a boy in amongst a group of girls playing doctors and nurses. The freedom of going to friends houses after school was great. Yes there were the usual chores at home first that had to be done before you could go off and play with your friends from school. Remember when you arrived home from school each afternoon, the first thing was to change out of your uniform. Your mum may have had waiting for you, either a vegemite sandwich or a piece of freshly baked cake and a glass of milk. Next came doing your homework at breakneck speed, as you had made a promise to your friends that you would meet them at the park to play on the swings or go up to the abattoir paddocks and search for the latest batch of tadpoles in the puddles. The little dam in the Abattoir paddocks was the focus for the homemade boats, made out of dads old tin that was left lying around. You could have been one of the group chasing the sheep and cattle, around. You may have been one those who let some poor souls cattle out, of a yard that some farmer had purchased and was waiting to collect? We walked to and from school in the rain and on hot sunny days, jumping in every puddle you could find along the way, after the rain had stopped. How proud you were to wear your coloured plastic raincoat and rain boots, so that your feet would not get wet and you would stay dry. We felt sorry for the poor boys from the Murray Dwyer Orphanage as they were herded like sheep, by black clad nuns on their way to the Catholic school down near Dr Fergusons house on Maitland Road Mayfield West.

Those were the days when you knew that the rules your parents made, scared the living daylights out of you. You knew to be home before dark or when the street lights came on for tea. You were always told to stay out of the mud and not to go near the blackberry bushes up in the abattoir paddocks. As if your mother had enough to do and no time to be mending your torn pants of shorts that you may have somehow caught on the barbed wire as you shinnied over some old fence up in the abattoir paddocks. You could leave your pushy up against the abattoir fence, run around with your friends all day in the paddocks, and when it came time to go back home, your pushy would still be where you left it. Your parents knew where you were all the time as you were too scared to go anywhere else. If for any reason you did not come home on time, out came the stick and the lecture for being disobedient, even down to the sunlight soap trick if you lied back then Yuk!!!!!!!! Our parents certainly kept us under very strict control. Life in Mayfield West was simple as in the earlier years of our growing. Everyone pretty well knew each other in one way or another. Our fathers may have worked at the same industry, and they probably even travelled to work together on the buses that took the workers to the BHP, Rylands, Stewart and Lloyds, Newbolds , Australian Wire Rope Works and even Commsteel. Our mothers may have belonged to church groups or maybe played a round of tennis each week. A lot of kids back then had parents who attended one church or another. We would once again see each other at Sunday school or Church. Our dads would have probably had their Friday afternoon beers at the local pub, or maybe Stewart and Lloyds Rec. Club after they had finished work for the week. Most of us kids were members of local organisations such as Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade, Scouts, Cubs, Brownies, and Guides and Church Fellowships. We played sport away from school on weekends too. We played Cricket, Soccer, League and Hockey, Softball and Netball and even swimming club. These sports would take up our Saturday morning or afternoon. Our lives were indeed full. We had no time to get up to any mischief; our parents saw to that. If you belonged to the Boy Scouts there was the annual bottle drive and car wash to raise money for charity. If you in the Brownies or Girl Guides it was Bob-a-Job week, where you would go and help some poor soul, wash a window, mow a lawn, maybe help fold some clothes off a clothes line. All of this was to help raise funds for charity.

Do you remember buying your Coca Cola in Glass bottles? You could buy lollies at your local shop; Freckles 4 for a penny, cobbers 3 for a penny. Milk came in a glass bottle with a silver or gold cap, for about 1/6d a pint. There was also to a half pint bottle. If

your parents brought a bottle of soft drink for the local shop, you could return the empty bottle and get your deposit back. Your parents may have bought; Coca Cola, YY, NSW or they could have their soft drink delivered by Crystals cordials. You could buy an ice-cream in a cone over the counter at the local shop. If your parents had an account with the Co-Op Store, your bread was also delivered by horse and cart, and you paid for your bread by bread tokens, which the Co-Op Store provided, when you paid for you bread in advance. Good old Cracker night. Bon fires in the abattoir paddocks, fireworks purchased by your parents at Ells book store in Newcastle. There were sky rockets with plastic tips, tuppeny bungers to blow up the neighbours letterbox with, plus there were many other sorts of fireworks to light u p the sky. The big lecture that also came with the safety of using the fireworks, but you took no notice of what you were told by your parents, you just wanted to have some fun. Yes! Our parents supervised the whole night. It was a real party atmosphere with the usual party fare of the time. Frankfurts, fairy bread and good old vegemite, cheese and egg sandwiches cut into triangles, homemade pies. Radio was the big thing back then in the early sixties. There were programmes for just us kids to listen to. Twink Storey on 2HD would read the Sunday comics out of the actual papers. There were serials like Yes What, Jason and the Argonauts, School Quiz etc. The radio stations in Newcastle were 2HD, 2KO, 2NX, 2NA, 2NC and 2HR. Each radio station had its own type of music it played. The stations of 2NA and 2NC belonged to the government, so their content was mainly based on classical music, news and current affairs and also for the farmers, as this was their only means of finding out besides the weekly newspaper about the local cattle prices. The other stations were commercial radio and played the music of the day and were supported by companies advertising on that station. Our mothers may have tuned in every morning after we had left for school to listen to their morning serials. Portia, Faces Life. When a Girl Marries. Blue Hills ,and many more. Radio was changing to keep their listeners involved with catchy quizzes to win prizes, as TV had arrived in Australia, in the late 50s. Sydney and Melbourne were the first cities that had TV stations, TCN 9, ATN7, ABC and later Channel 10. Melbourne followed Sydney in opening TV stations there. Television would bring change, to the way we saw things. For the first time in our lives the world would come a whole lot closer to us. Things that we never knew existed were now in front of our very eyes. Newcastle didnt have a TV station until 1962, when Channel 3 came online on the 4 th of March. Before this we here in Newcastle, had been taking our programs from the Sydney channels, via micro-wave transmission. The fascination of TV sent the masses to Mt Sugarloaf to look at the giant steel signal tower that had been built up there to receive radio microwave signals from Sydney. It was a massive built steel structure that stood majestically overlooking Newcastle and surrounding countryside, with rather large aerials and dishes placed on it to receive the microwave signals beamed out over many towers along the way from Sydney. These days technology has come a very long way indeed. Not everyone could afford a TV set at first, so we as kids would gather a t a neighbours house to watch the childrens programs such as the Mickey Mouse Club, Roy Rogers, Swallows Juniors, Leave it to Beaver and the Lone Ranger just to name but a few. Here we sat with our beady eyes glued to the little screen of the neighbours Baird or Astor set. Remember the blue cellophane paper that hung over the front of the screen to take away the glare? Other shows that were shown on early TV

were; Bob Dwyers Pick-a-Box, Surfside 6, 77 Sunset Strip, Route 66, The Phil Silvers Show, I love Lucy, The Red Skelton Show, Reg Lindseys Country and Western Hour, Bobby Limbs Sound of Music, Brain Hendersons Bandstand and Saturday Date on Channel 3. Of course there was the nightly news and 6.30pm with Murray Finlay, and on ABHN 5, 6o Clock Rock with Johnny OKeefe.

Early Television set.

The early days of Television were quite overwhelming to some people, as they, had been used to receiving news of the outside world via the radio and at the local picture theatres via the Movietone news reels.

Hoyts : Mayfield Picture Theatre. The picture theatres also did a roaring trade back then, matinee shows for us kids and the main feature held in the night sessions for the adults and sometimes for the families. Mayfield had a picture theatre back then. Some of the movies that spring to mind that were shown there were; Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The day the Earth Stood Still, G.I. Blues, and Blue Hawaii. The Movietone News brought the news of the Korean War and hostilities overseas. There would be a cartoon feature before the main movie started. But you really cant leave out the best bit, and that was rolling the Jaffas down the aisles and throwing Minties and Fantales at the boy/girl, that you had a crush on at school, you were always hoping, against the odds, not to get caught by the usherettes on duty. They were certainly great days back then. Newcastle had its own Power Station right at the top end of town back then in the 60s. It was known as Zaara St Power Station. This Power Station supplied Newcastle with power until it was taken out of commission in the early 70s.

The trains ended at Newcastle Station, and there were rail sheds to the east of the station, so that the locos and carriages could be cleaned and serviced ready for their next trip either to Maitland or to Sydney.

Newcastle was a very industrial city back in the 60s. Industries like; BHP, Commsteel , Rylands, Newbolds, Australian Wire Rope Works, Stewart and Lloyds and Koppers were situated in around Mayfield East to Mayfield West. There were Railway Workshops at Cardiff and Newcastle respectively. At one stage at the back of Mayfield West now known as Stevenson Park, was a quarry. Of course this was a curious place for us kids back then, we had to check i t out didnt we? Mayfield West also sported a Saw Mill on the top of the hill, next door to where the Migrant Hostel stood. At the Migrant Hostel, immigrants from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were housed when they first arrived from their country of birth. Before, they found private housing. The Abattoir paddocks were not only for playing in as we did as kids. The Abattoirs also meant that was where the cattle sheep and pigs came to , be slaughtered. Also attached to the Abattoirs were the sale yards where many cattle, lambs and pigs exchanged hands in other words they were bought and sold there. We kids did have fun playing up there and letting the cattle out of the yards. Week in, week out, holidays too. You may have been one of those silly kids that dared each other to run through the substation that was situated up at the top of the abattoir paddocks to retrieve a tennis ball. We didnt know back then that 11,000 volts could actually kill you. Yes we were only kids being daring and free.

Tourle St Bridge opened in 1964. In 1964 the Tourle St bridge was officially open to all and sundry. This bridge was built so that development could be commenced on Kooragang Island. Today it is a very busy industrial area. Newcastle was a much busier place back in the 60s. Hunter St Newcastle was a very busy place. Back then every shop was open along Hunter St, and some were even full to capacity with people looking for bargains of the day. Here are some of the shops that sold goods and services. Do you remember them? Johns Fabrics, The Co-Op Store , David Jones, Winns, Simpsons fabrics Coles, Woolworths, Reg. A. Baker, S&W Millar, Goldsmiths Shoes , Rundles, Bebarfalds Furniture, Goulds

Furniture, Nock & Kirbys and Keiths Kitchen, who by the way made the best hamburgers in town back then. Good old Shipmates was up the top of Hunter St, near Tyrrell House. Shipmates were the place you and your family or even friends stopped at before heading home from the beach. While on the beach subject, remember going to the beach with your friends or maybe your family? Going to the beach meant, catching the bus from where you lived to the top end of Newcastle near the baths, if your parents didnt have a car. Maybe our families also made a day of it as well, going to the beach on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The sandwiches were probably wrapped up in greaseproof or waxed paper. You may have sat on your towel, dripping wet, under a umbrella, eating your sandwich that tasted like grit, from the occasional puffs of wind that would whip up the sand every now and again. Your drink may have been a bought one or orange juice that had been freshly squeezed by your mum or dad at home before the family had left to go to the beach. Do you remember the rule? You were not allowed to go back into the water for an hour after you had eaten your lunch, as you would get stomach cramps. Boy! Those were the days. Do you remember the map of the world in the canoe pool? Here you could jump from continent to continent, plus it was coloured in the Commonwealth of Nations colours too. Unfortunately this map was sadly removed from the Canoe pool in the early Seventies. You may have gone to the beach either by yourself or with your friends. Your parents would have given you strict instructions to be on the bus home no later than 3.30pm to stay out of the hot sun, and not to put that baby oil on you as it encouraged your skin to burn. If you wanted to buy something to eat at Shipmates, you had to keep enough money for your bus fare home, which would cost you sixpence from the end of Newcastle to your home at Mayfield West. But did you take any notice of your parents warning about getting sun burnt? No! Not really! You were that Aussie kid who just had to have a suntan, didnt you, not realising the after effects of being out in the hot sun all day. Yes! I am talking being sun burnt! Ouch!!!!!! If you did happen to get sun burnt, your mum probably attacked you with brown vinegar and baby powder, plus a warm bath or shower. If it was a warm bath, your mum may have thrown some baby soap that had been grated up into the bath, then back with the brown vinegar and baby powder. Oh, yes! Then the lecture about being irresponsible and being grounded for not obeying orders from an adult. Of course there was the usual Saturday afternoon sport that was held at No 1 Sportsground each weekend. In summer it was Cricket and in winter the Rugby league. Mayfield sported shops like Giles Chemist, Soul Pattinsons Chemist , Bremmels Shoes, Hunter Valley Butchery, The Co-Op Store, Dick Herberts Fruit Shop, Abercrombies Haberdashery, Coopers Shop that sold everything from a ball of wool to toys, Woolworths, a record shop next door to The Stag and Hunter Hotel and Cornalleys newsagents, plus several banks. Mayfield had its own Bowling Alley as well, and of course there was Jims Dairy Delite Bar, where they served the best Nut Sundae and Thick Shakes. Jims and the bowling alley were where we young people would hang out at. The bowling alley was only new to us, but we all soon caught on how to ten pin bowl back then. There was also a pinny parlour near the bus stop at Handbury St. It was a good place to hang out waiting to catch a bus back to Mayfield West after going to the pictures on a Saturday afternoon. You may have been lucky enough to have made the trip with either your mum or dad to the local newsagents to buy your favourite comic book e.g. The Phantom, Star man, Superman, Prince Valiant,

Blondie or maybe Dagwood as well. If you were lucky enough, you could even get a Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck comic book too. Your mum may have brought the Australian Womans Weekly or the Womans Day magazine. Your dad probably brought Popular Mechanics and the daily papers, The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate in the morning, and in the afternoon The Newcastle Sun on his way home from work. In 1962, a Sabre Jet from the Williamtown Air Base, crashed into a house in Sunderland St Mayfield. It was lucky that no lives were lost when this happened. The pilot ejected to safety and was picked up on Walsh Island not far from Mayfield West. The fire that occurred when the plane hit the house destroyed what was left standing. Some of us may even recall that eventful afternoon unfolding as we sat in our class rooms watching, as all the helicopters were flying around our school. Mayfield held a Spring Festival each year in September at Dangar Park. It was always a great event. There was the procession of floats, on the Saturday Afternoon at the end of the duration of the festival. Some floats carried the Princess entries on them. There were the local marching bands. The Youth groups, Scouts, Cubs, Guides and Brownies also marched. At a ball held in conjunction with the Festival, one of the Princess entrants, would be crowned the Miss Mayfield Festival Princess for the year. There was the usual side show alley, where you could try your luck at winning a prize. Featured artists would take the stage and perform. There was a talent quest, for all the budding musicians, singers and dancers alike. Even the ethnic groups would get involved. There were Hot food stands that sold the usual fare, Chips, hot Dagwood Dogs, Fairy Floss on a stick and snow cones with different coloured ices. The big raffle prize that everyone was encouraged to buy a ticket in, at one the Mayfield shops for the previous six months was drawn on the final day. It was always a grand prize to win back then. Newcastle had the Annual Show that would be held every February at the Newcastle showground. Here there was plenty happening, sideshow alley, show bags that we begged and begged our parents for, rides e.g. the merry-go-round, roll-a-coaster, haunted house and many, many more. There was Fairy floss on a stick, hot Dagwood dogs, chips, snow cones, just to name a few. There were Cake and bread competitions, and Fruit and Vegetable displays by the Young Farmers Association of the Hunter Valley, and The model trains that we would drag our parents to see each year to see if there were any different trains on display. Of course there was the Grand Parade of cattle, horses and alike. Farmers would bring their prize cow, dog, cat, horse, chicken, duck and pig to be judged to see who just had the best. The wood choppers showed what they could do with a log of wood. That is only a small part of it. Yes, and there was the annual Show Girl competition where about 20 girls would enter a contest to see who would go on to represent Newcastle at the annual Royal Easter Show held in Sydney over the Easter period. Newcastle was introduced to a new spring festival in the early 60s as well. This would be known as the Mattara Festival (meaning the Hand of Friendship). This festival was held over the last week of September and the first week of October running for ten days. The Mattara would eventually replace the Mayfield Spring Festival. The Mattara Festival still runs today. The 60s would see the group cultures of the Hippies (John Lennon inspired), love, peace and harmony and smoking dope. There were the surfies, and westies. The surfies were the kids who

hung out at the beach every chance they got and listened soulfully to surf music. The Adventurers, The Beach Boys,, Eddy Nelson, Dwayne Eddy, the Safaris ,etc. We Aussie kids were slowly becoming Americanized by all the bands out of the USA. The Beatles inspired the hippy generation with their style of music, with them came the hippy and psychedelic era of bright colours, and love ins, and introduction of the drug LSD and Dope (pot). The westies were just a bunch of teenagers who loved to wear black leather pants and jackets, and ride a motor bike then.

60s style of a turntable. The music of the 60s was great, there were love songs, protest songs, surf music and of course hippy music. Out of England came the Beatles, the Rolling Stones. These groups toured Australia in the 60s the Beatles actually caused chaos when they landed in Australia in 1964. Tom Jones from Wales also became a hit while touring in Australia in the 1960s Maybe we had records in the form of 45s, 78s and LPs or EPs. They were vinyl records. Some of the labels were, HMV, Victor, AWA, Little Green Apple, RCA , Columbia and DECCA, just to name a few. These records were sold in the music shops of Palings and Tyrells music or even at The Store at the bottom end of Hunter St Newcastle. They started at a mere price of 4 shillings for a 45 rpm to 1 pound 10/- for an LP. The records were played on the familys gramophone player as it was known back then. Under the brand names of HMV, AWA or Astor. America had its answer to the pop music scene as well with, Chubby Checker, The Safaris, The Beach Boys to name but a few. Australias answer to the music world came in the groups of The Easy Beats, Normie Rowe, Johnny Farnham, Little Pattie, Judy Stone, Col Joye and the Joy Boys just to name a few. In Newcastle the band scene was also producing some great bands. The Hi-Fis, Crazy Otto, Snoopy and the Red Baron, Rabbit, Purple Haze and the Hurricanes. The older kids were able go to the Palais or even the Town hall on a Saturday night for a dance. The dances mainly back then at the Palais were, The Swim, The Stomp or whatever took your fancy. If you didnt feel like dancing to the surf music you could go to the Town Hall and dance to the sounds of Jack Speering and his Old Time Dance band. Here you could do Old Time Dancing and ballroom, such as, the fox trot, and barn dance. If your parents could afford a car back then, they either drove around in a Holden or Ford. But still a lot of us still may have commuted by public transport, bus or by steam train to get us where we needed to go. Holden was the biggest selling car in Australia in the 60s. In 1962 GMH produced its 1 millionth Holden an EJ model. Ford in the 60s started to concentrate on the larger family car, the Falcon.

At the 1962 Armstrong 500, Ford took out first place, beating Holden, with drivers Harry Firth and Bob Jane at the wheel of a Ford Cortina XL. They would go on to win the annual event for the three years.

Early model Vauxhall car. It wasnt until 1966 that a new entrant entered the race up on Mt Panorama. Yes ! A little car, under the name of Morris Mini Cooper S. The Mini Minor was first imported into Australia from England in 1962 under the badge of BMC. Two years later BMC produced the first of many Cooper Ss that would see our police force getting into these zippy little devils and catching drivers who were speeding. This little wiz, the Cooper S took on the big guns of the Mt Panorama circuit, knocking them off to win 1966 Gallaher 500. It wasnt until 1968, that Holden actually won its first race at the circuit in and Australian produced HK Monaro. Since then it has been on for young and old between Holden and Ford as to who had the best car of that year. Whatever car won, their sales figures for that model car would go through the roof for the next couple of months following the race. Some of the great race drivers of the sixties have gone on to win a huge amount of money in these race events. Some of their names are: Bob Jane, Barry Seton, Harry Firth, Bruce McPhee, Colin Bond and Allan Moffatt. In 1969 the legend Peter Brock took his first tentative steps into the motor racing world.

A one penny. Our money currency changed too. In 1966 went from using Pounds, Shillings and Pence, to using Dollars and Cents on the 14th of February. The jingle to introduce the changeover was quite catchy. It went something like this. In come the dollars In come the cents, To replace the pounds,

The shillings and the pence. And so on. The changeover was quite confusing for our parents and grandparents to grasp back then. As the 60s went on most of us were leaving school either in year 3 or year 4. Some of us went on the complete year 6 to do our leaving Certificate, but most of us left by the time we had completed our Intermediate Certificate or School Certificate, as it would become in later years. Our home life was changing. Some of us had started working, while some of us went on to University, or Technical College to study for a trade, while some of us went onto Teachers College to be school teachers themselves. By the time we reached the end of the sixties, we either had or we were about to turn 18yrs of age. Yes we may have been too young, to vote, but old enough, to go off to fight for our country. Maybe some of us were already in the armed forces or contemplating joining up to avoid conscription due to the Vietnam War. Maybe a small majority of us were even thinking of getting engaged or even married. As we adventured out on lifes journey, we can look back at those growing years of ours as kids and teenagers of the 60s. As we look back today and see and remember all the things and changes that have affected our lives we wonder where the time has gone. The new wave of technology that is now before us, Computers, Mobile Phones, Communication Satellites, advanced radar, new technologies in the Operating theatres around the world. The discovery of human genes that could potentially end all suffering connected with hideous diseases such as cancer , Heart ailments, stroke, and Dementia As we approach the age of 60 we look at each day as a bonus, and should grab the moment and live it as if there is no tomorrow. Try to spend more time with our friends from the past who helped shape our lives and helped us understand the meaning of a great friendship over the years. Please dont let that moment go. Give a friend, husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter and grandchild a hug tell them that you love them .Yes! My dears and wonderful school friends we were the product of the post Second World War. Yes! We are the BABY BOOMERS.!!!!!!!!

Here is a list of the people who are no longer with us. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE. Teachers. Mr Eric Doherty ...................Headmaster. Miss Kathleen Kelly..............Headmistress. Mr Brian Benson............Teacher. Mrs Mona Turner...........Teacher. Students: Barry Elsley.................6A Steven Hardy..............5B/6B Dennis Ison.................5B/6B Stephen Ison...............5B/6B Gayle Musson..............5B/6B Gary Goodman............5A Cheryl Considine.........5A Denise Walker.............5A Cheryl Burns................5A Edmund Bartlett...........6A John Sara.....................5A Jeffrey Miller ...............6A.

We of the reunion organizing committee, would like to take this opportunity to expressing our thanks to all the people whos tired and weary brains we picked, to put this story together. To the teachers, who have helped us by? Correcting our grammatical mistakes and suggesting different angles. Most of all we would like to thank- you for giving up your time to be here with us, at Charlestown Bowling Club tonight to share in this wonderful evening together.

We truly hope that you enjoy yourselves and take away with you long and lasting friendships from this occasion.

WE THANK YOU.

Until we meet again.

Drive safely; keep safe and most of all please dont lose contact with your friends any more. Life is too short.

The Organizing Committee: Lesley Afflick..........................Administration. Committee member Tony Davis.............................. Teacher, in a advisory capacity and Committee Head. David Davies............................Teacher, Advisory and Chief Editor of the Mayfield West Story. Phil Wratten.............................Associate. Committee member Margaret Gayler......................Researcher. committee member. Russell Williams.................... Associate committee member. Clayden Campbell............................. .Associate committee member. Mavis Godber................................... .Associate committee member. Glenda Andrews............................... .Associate Committee Member.

Names and addresses so that you can now keep in contact with each other.