Kids will be Kids

Kids will be kids

Mischevious, adventurous and fun!

"Snowdens Beach had a small wharf where we used to swim. Some of the kids would look to swim across the other side of the river, they would stay long enough to catch their breath and then make the swim back. Sometimes there would be big ships coming down the river and the kids would swim in the wake, this made the kids swim harder and faster."
Margaret and Kathy Brodie

"When we were children how we would go down to the river where CSR was. We would quickly run through the car park and jump straight in the river as there was a ladder right there. When we would come up the workers at the sugar refinery would start screaming at us kids to get out of there. Just up the road was a small Deli (shop) where we would take an empty milk bottle and exchange it for an ice block,  We never knew how much the bottle was really worth. So if we wanted something we'd find ways to get it by being clever."
Margaret and Kathy Brodie

"When we were kids, we just wandered around the area. One day we'd had taken off to Mack's pool (on Victoria Rd at Largs Bay) with the neighbours' daughter. We didn't get home until late that night and Mum was waiting for us with the police, we knew that we were in trouble and mum went and grabbed the strap and belted us across the legs for not telling her where we were going and for coming home so late. It's so different now - our children don't go anywhere unless they get a lift. When we were children, after all the chores were done we would go outside and the adventures would begin."
Margaret and Kathy Brodie

"In those little houses in Yongala St, my grandmother had 12 surviving children, and the majority of her children and grandchildren were there.  It wasn't just the young children, it was her grown up children and their children as well. The house was always packed - bed time and tea time, phew. But we never fought over TV channels because we spent the majority of our time outside, in the yard and in the streets."
Mary Williams

"There were the illegal car drags on Victoria Road, with all the hotted up cars. We'd have people at the beginning and end of the section of Victoria road looking out for cops. People would bring old Toranas and Monaros, and we'd all be lined up watching. We'd catch the last train down there about midnight and the drags would be on all night until daylight. We'd have a spotter at each end and they'd call "The cops are coming" and we'd all split out into the paddocks or we'd all jump into the cars and take off. Some would get caught and the cops were very aggressive, they'd slap us around, but we were just kids out having fun."
Sharon Chester

"Even though it was sad times with the racism and the alcohol it was happy times for the kids. We never realised we had nothing until we grew up. We look back and laugh as it never entered our minds to dwell on the things we didn't have. Today the kids just want more, more and more - there seems that there is never enough for them."
Margaret and Kathy Brodie