Allan Gibson of Cherrybrook’s first visit to Luna Park (C8) came a little bit later than 1935. His earliest memory of the Milsons Point icon “was an end-of-year trip with classmates from 2D at Gosford High in 1961 and coming away with a caricature created by S. John Ross the Silhouette Man”.
“Desserts of flummery and homemade ice-cream, both from whipped Carnation milk [C8], were staples of my childhood years,” writes Meri Will of Baulkham Hills. “From one tin came enough to feed our family of seven. Likewise, as the basis of a curry or mornay, one tin provided many a main course.”
Back in ’69, Josephine Piper of Miranda noticed the following sign on the door of the Intensive Care Unit at Prince of Wales hospital: “All babies in this unit are on EBM [expressed breast milk] or Carnation.”
“Reading of the raised platform for butchers [C8] reminded me of Wicks’ Jewellers in Broken Hill, a fine art deco store of black marble and chromed metal, where a woman, dressed in the shop’s smart scarlet uniform, was perched high near the entrance, whence she would direct customers to the right department,” recalls Donald Hawes of Peel. “Jack Wicks reportedly had a pool on the roof for staff usage and sent buyers to the cities to find the best jewellery. They also produced small sterling silver miner’s shovels (as spoons). Now that was a shop.”
Remaining with the Silver City, Reg Richardson of Mosman remembers “as a kid going to the Broken Hill butcher shop over 75 years ago, where I used to wonder if the Vienna schnitzel was made with a slice of meat and the sawdust on the floor. I never did find out.” At least you got your fill of fibre, Reg.
“So, the loser of the AFL Feline final [C8] could suffer a catastrophe if in Geelong, but may be lionised in Brisbane, or vice versa?” muses Ross Smith of Waverton.
“On the subject of manual telephone exchanges [C8], many years ago I needed to telephone my sister Robyn, who resided on Norfolk Island,” says Richard Gulley of Woollahra. “I was connected to the operator, and on asking to be put through, I was informed she was playing tennis at the time and was not available. However, the operator would be joining her for a hit later and would tell her I had called.”
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