Adelaide: remember when

 Adelaide: remember when

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       December 23, 2014

 

Author  Bob Byrne

Distributor:     
ISBN:                 9781742232201
Publisher:         New South Publishers
Release Date:    

Website:    http://www.newsouthbooks.com.au 

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If your family and friends are part of the Baby Boomer generation, then share this book with them.  It generates more stories, laughter and “remember when’s” than you could imagine.  My family spent an evening looking at the photos and reading the facts and reminiscing.  Remember the City Baths? They were so crowded that you always hit someone when you jumped or dived in.  Open this book at any page and memories come flooding back.

The book is written by well-known author and broadcaster, Bob Byrne.  It is a splendid reconstruction of Adelaide’s history from the 1950’s and was inspired from his “Adelaide Remember When” Facebook page.  It is thoroughly researched and has many photographs to support the text. 

It is easy to pick the physical changes to the area around Adelaide.  Rundle Street was not a Mall, but a busy roadway with pedestrians and cars intermingled.  Views from the Glenelg jetty and the Patawalonga show an entirely different area to the one we know today.  The changes evident in entertainment are also striking.  There were the Redex Car Trials and Rowley Park Speedway, as well as Drive-In Movie theatres.

Life was so different then.   One of the photos shows a group of boys jumping into the Torrens for a swim.  It was taken in the sixties, and every boy shows a clear set of his ribs.  No fast foods then!  Children had so much freedom and were often told to be home for tea -after riding off on their bikes for the day’s fun.  Mum would use the old Singer sewing machine to make or patch clothes.

Sport was certainly a major part of most children’s lives.  There was back-yard cricket or football in the street, and most children enjoyed playing netball or tennis.  Marbles or home-gathered knuckle bones were also played at quieter times.

Younger people, or those newly-arrived in Adelaide, will marvel at the changes they see from these photographs and stories.  Those of  us who grew up in these times, cannot help but pause for a moment and reflect on what we were doing at that time. This book is as important to your home as your photo albums, and will be picked up and referred to often.

Lifestyle, Non Fiction