THE DAY JOHN SATTLER BROKE HIS
JAW
John Sattler
John Sattler was a Rugby League football player for
the South Sydney Rabbitohs - the team actor Russell Crowe now owns. He
played in the 1970 Grand Final. His jaw was broken in several places in
the 7th minute. He played on for the entire game; refusing his teammates
repeated requests to leave the field. He was the team's captain and he
led them to a famous victory. His effort is often cited as one of the
most courageous in the annals of Australian sport. When I was old enough
to start drinking in pubs, it seemed that every hotel in the inner-city
had the famous photo of John Sattler being carried off the field on his
team mates shoulders. Jaw broken in a couple of places, blood on his
torn jumper but unbowed and defiant. It was like this photo had replaced
the portrait of the Queen that some pubs used to have hanging over the
bar.
Redfern Railway Station
Gateway
to the suburbs and the first major railway station built in Sydney. It
has twelve platforms and the occasional riot. As kids we would torment
the alcoholic guys that would sell hot dogs at the front of the station.
These old guys would turn up at the football on the weekend sellin'
programs and 'doubles' tickets (see 'Double On The Main game') as well
as their hot dogs. They used to scare the shit out of me….
Railway View Hotel
(no longer standing - cnr Eveleigh & Lawson)
The RVH was situated
directly across from Redfern Railway Station. In those days it seemed
there was a pub on every corner throughout the inner-city of Sydney. The
RVH was in a prime position for pulling in the workers just before they
had to jump on a train on their way home from the railway yards and
factories. It was usually teeming between 5-6 pm with men spilling out
onto the footpath, cloaked in thick cigarette smoke and talking loudly.
Kids would hang around and score soft drinks and chips. The pub shut
down in the eighties as the area fell into a steep economic decline and
the railway yards and factories were being shut down.
Cleveland St.
The main
artery that would lead to the Sydney Showgrounds. It was - and still is
- populated with huge gothic terraced houses, Lebanese restaurants with
belly dancers, illicit gambling parlours, brothels and my high
school.
Map
Robert 'Pig Iron Bob' Menzies
Australian Prime Minister 1949-1966. Cold War warrior, anti-union and a
communist scare-monger that sent Australian troops to Vietnam. Tory
Prime Minister for 16 years. Nobody liked this guy, at least not in our
home.
wikipedia
menzies
virtual museum
Eveleigh Railway Yards (now
Technology Park)
A source of employment in the community for over a
hundred years. A lot of my family worked there. It now hosts art
galleries and computer software companies.
Black-It
A type of glossy enamel paint that was used on brick and cement. When I
was a kid, women would often be out the front of houses polishing the
step and the window sill. Every so often they would paint them with this
stuff. On those days it could really stink up the joint.
Reschs
Often the beer of
choice in our household when I was growing up, although others were
constantly under consideration.
Botany Rd, Redfern
The main
road that runs from where I grew up all the way out to Botany Bay with
its oil refineries and tanneries where a lot my family also worked.
Rabbit killers in old Ford
Falcons
A man used to come around sellin' dead rabbits from the back
of an old Ford station wagon. Folks would cook 'em and eat 'em. He would
skin and gut them on the tail gate right there in front of you! I guess
he was one of the last in a long line of men that were known as 'Rabbitohs'
throughout the old working class areas of Sydney
T.A.B.
T.A.B. stands for
Totalisator Agency Board. They're government betting shops. There's
nearly one on every street in Sydney!! A lot of guys loved this place,
and still do - but not as much as they loved the bookie down the
pub.
Ladies Lounge
An area of
the hotel that was set aside exclusively for women to do their drinking.
The one part of the pub that had the ash trays freshened hourly!!
Flag Ale
More beer.
Dave Sands
Dave Sands was
the British Empire and Australian middle-weight, light-heavy weight and
heavy-weight boxing champion in the late forties-early fifties Not just
a source of pride for the large Black community of the area at the time,
but for everybody that loved the fight game, which was a huge part of
the working class culture that existed in Sydney. Dave
grew up in
Stockton, near Newcastle in N.S.W. but spent a lot of time in the
inner-city of Sydney. He was killed driving a truck. He was 26. His
record speaks for itself. I had an Uncle who was a fighter and he was
lucky enough to have sparred with Dave Sands..
Tribute to Dave Sands
National
Library of Australia ref.
Campbelltown,
Mount Druitt,
St.Marys
Outer western suburbs of Sydney. Ousted from the inner-city
by rising rents and the promise of an indoor toilet, people were left to
the government houses and cul-de-sacs of the outer western suburbs. Most
of my family and old neighbours live there now.
Campbelltown City Council
Sydney Swans
An Australian
Rules football team that was re-located from Melbourne to Sydney in the
early 80's. They're famous for selling cappuccinos and boutique finger
food at their games. At last, a football team for people that don't like
sport. Only joking - sort of.
Official
Sydney Swans website
KIDS DAY
Kids Day
At the
annual Royal Agricultural Show - more commonly known as
'The Easter
Show' - that was held at the Sydney Show Grounds every Easter, a day
would be set aside for children to get in free of charge. Often this
meant that the more socially disadvantaged families would be able to
have a day at 'The Show'. It was also a day when some of the kids that
slept 'rough' - homeless children- would be able to escape from the
inner-city streets and lose themselves for awhile in Sideshow Alley..
Show Bags
Bags sold to
children at The Royal Agricultural Show. They were full of crap like
mini-jars of peanut butter and rubber geeks on sticks and plastic cowboy
pants. They were/are amazingly over-priced. They're pretty cool if
you're a kid, though. My Mum and Aunties worked in the stalls every year
and would bring me back show bags. My favourite was the World
Championship Wrestling bag with the Brute Bernard mask!
The Wild Cat
A roller
-coaster. They would give you a badge that said 'I rode the Wild Cat!' I
was a bit of a pussy as a kid and, therefore, can't claim to own such a
badge of honour…
Brute Bernard
Famous
Canadian wrestler. The
Brute. Incomparable. Favourite move was the
'Brain Buster',
The
Brute in action
Morton Bay Fig Tree
There
was a huge tree near one of the entrances to the Sydney Showgrounds.
Vagrant men would congregate there and drink and sleep. People would
walk by them on their way to the Easter Show.
DOUBLE ON THE MAIN GAME
Double On The Main Game Tickets
Betting tickets sold at football
grounds. If you got the first scorer for each team then you'd win money.
They were often sold by guys who would wander around the football ground
who were, kinda, borderline homeless alcoholics. Collecting your money
was half the fun..
Captain Cook Hotel in
Paddington cnr Flinders St. and Moore Park Rd
A famous Sydney hotel
situated next to the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the winter, football
would be played at the S.C.G. every weekend and the hotels in the
surrounding area would overflow with people on their way to and from the
matches.
The Sydney Cricket Ground (S.C.G.)
Before the old stands were replaced with the more generic modern
grandstands it was a place of real majesty. Better than any church!!
Official
website
Jimmy Sharman
Jimmy Sharman
ran a travelling boxing troupe. Before the government banned it, he
would set up at the Easter Show and put on exhibition bouts. Outside the
boxing tent a man would beat a giant bass drum while the barker would
shout 'Who'll take a glove?' Men in the audience could win money by
taking on one of the Jimmy's fighters and lasting a round or so. Around
this time you would see a lot of men walking the streets where I lived
with black and blue faces. The answer to the Barking Man's question.
The
Rainbow Chaser:Diary tribute
Lyrics -
Midnight Oil's Jimmy Sharman's Boxers
Moore Park Showground Area
The name of the area that contains the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney
Show Grounds. Often a place for the homeless to congregate and sleep in
the summertime.
The
Moore Park Precinct
Centennial Parklands
Champion Ruby Tobacco
Folks
often roll tobacco to make their own cigarettes. If they use Champion
Ruby Tobacco it's sometimes called 'rolling a Ruby'..
Luna Park
An amusement park
adjacent to the north pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was never
real good at working out a place to take a girl out on a date. Luna Park
always seemed like a safe bet and even though it was pretty much shut
down when I'd go there, at least we got to ride across the harbour on
the ferry… One night, the Ghost Train at Luna Park caught fire and six
kids were killed…
History
of Luna Park
Google
map
Red Rattler Trains
Old
trains that were a distinctive red colour. I used to love riding red
rattlers on the city circle when I'd go into the city to buy records and
guitar strings - they shook just like Sense-A-Round!!!
Big Dipper
The famous
roller coaster at Luna Park. Some time in the 80's, apartments were
built near the park and were soon filled with 'young professionals'.
They complained about the noise - which had been a part of the area for
fifty years -and the Big Dipper was closed down.
SIDESHOW ALLEY
Sideshow Alley
This was the main thoroughfare that ran down the
middle of the carnival section of the Easter Show. It had all the usual
stuff - Ghost Train, House of Mirrors, Fortune Tellers, Headless Lady, a
half boy-half chicken and the Boxing Tent. Tom Waits would've loved it!!
Sydney
Morning Herald freakshow story
Driver Avenue
The main road
that runs along side the S.C.G. and the Show Grounds. Tens of thousands
of people would fill this road whenever there was something on. When I
was a kid, this stretch had a number of old wooden bus stops and they
were often filled with men & women who would sleep and drink in them
until the cops moved them on.
Ronald Ryan
He was the last
man hung in Australia. His impending and subsequent execution caused a
great outcry and still resonates today. I thought using his name for the
main character in this song was kind of apt.
Simply
Australia story on Ronald Ryan
Online
biography
The
Hanging of Ronald Ryan
Sand Shoes
These were cheap
white canvas tennis shoes that were popular up until around the late
seventies…They were good for wearing to the beach.
Sunnyboys ( The Ice Block
& The Band
)
The former was one of the great Australian ice blocks
(orange flavour) of my childhood. The latter was one of the great Sydney
bands of my teenage years.
Richard
Burgman interview
Sunnyboys Videos - Stefcui
Channel
PETER COTTONBALL
Prince Alfred Park Municipal Swimming Pool (Central Station,
Surry Hills)
This is a council swimming pool that's situated inside a huge park that
runs alongside Cleveland Street and down to Central Railway Station. The
back area of the pool would slope down towards the train tracks that run
along the back of the park. Once a week, council workers would clean out
the needles and broken bottles that littered the area. When I was 17 I
had a girlfriend and we would lay on this slope and watch the trains
rushing by while we drank beer…the songs 'N.Y.E.' and 'Bonfires of
June' - from 'Meter' - are about her and that time. My high school had
this whole area as its playground - it was somethin' else!
Cleveland St. High School
(Now Intensive Language Center. Cnr Cleveland & Chalmers St.)
Where
I went to high school. It was close to the city and the second-hand
record shops that I'd piss off to during 'sport'.
Muscle Cars Every year
there was a motor show at the Show Grounds. It was where you could go
and see all the latest car stuff and get your photo taken in the
Batmobile!!
Australian
muscle car sales
Aussie
muscle car museum
Holden Torana XU1
Iconic
Australian muscle car of the 1970's..
Ford GTO
Iconic American
muscle car of the 1970's..
ANZAC DAY
A holiday in
which Australians celebrate those that have given their lives in war. It
was always a big day for football at the S.C.G. Everybody would stand as
they played the Last Post directly before kick-off. It was pretty
dramatic stuff. If you were a soldier you could get in for free...
Culture.gov.au
ANZAC Day Gallipoli
The Bomber Man (Footy
player John Peard) &
The Galloping Ghost (Footy player Brian
Bevan)
Sportsmen with nicknames always seemed a helluva lot more interesting
than other players to me when I was a kid. Maybe now, too..
Top
10 Innovators
The
Great John 'Bomber' Peard
Brian
Byrl Bevan
Era
of the biff
Virtual League Hall of Fame 1
2
Central Railway
Station, Sydney
Sydney's largest railway station. Built on a cemetery, it has 27
platforms.
City
Rail
Photos
on Central Station
Central Station
Tunnel,
Chalmers St, Surry Hills
An underground thoroughfare that enabled
you to walk from one side of Sydney's largest Railway Station - Central
Station - to the other. There's always a lot of busking going on down
there. I've never busked, though Joe Strummer seemed to be into it quite
a bit..
AT THE SPEEDWAY
Sydney Showground Speedway (no longer there)
Sidecars, midget
racers, hot rods and smash up derbys!!! As the area around the Show
Grounds became gentrified, less people appreciated the value of a place
like the Speedway. It was quite a thing, though. The floodlights, the
track announcer's frantic exaltations and the noise of the bikes &
cars would spill across the adjacent streets. Just like the people that
once flocked to it, The Speedway was shifted out west..
'Down By The Banks of the Ohio'
- Olivia Newton-John song
My Dad would take me and my brother on drives on Saturday nights
when we were kids and this is the sort of stuff they would play on the
radio in between the greyhound races.
TAB Tickets
Betting slips.
If my Dad had a good day on the 'punt' (gambling on horse racing) he
would take my Mum, my two brothers and myself out, invariably, to a
Chinese restaurant. If he didn't do so well, we'd stay home and watch
Hawaii-Five-O
Sawn Down Shotty
(Shotgun)
Scary shit done by scary people, of which, there was plenty - back in
the day..
Ute
(Holden
Utility)
It's an Australian version of a pick-up truck. A little less bulky.
http://www.uteman.com.au/
Django
Rheinhardt
Video
Bio
on Red Hot Jazz site
Gibson Flying V guitar
A guitar that came to prominence when Jimi Hendrix, among others,
started using one. The first guy that I ever started a band with stole
one from a guitar shop on Cleveland Street. He was a drummer…but he
loved playing Van Halen riffs on his Flying V.
Gibson
Guitars website
Gibson
Flying V website
'Space Truckin' - Deep Purple
song off 'Machine Head' album
When I was 8 years old I had a cousin that was about 15 at the time. He
told me that Deep Purple's 'Machine Head' was the 'loudest' record ever
made!! His Mother was deaf and mute so he would crank his stereo up to
the max and never get into any shit for it!! He was also into Neil
Young's 'Harvest' which, when he would play it at full volume, would
sound just as loud as 'Machine Head' in parts - funnily enough.
Video
Video
Video
Video
Canton Café - Chinese
restaurant on Botany Rd, Redfern. No longer there.
The pre-eminent Chinese Restaurant where I grew up. Situated next to
the local T.A.B., winners and losers alike would seat themselves behind
a formica top table in a cramped booth and enjoy everything from the
more up-market Prawn and Pork Combination Omelette to the Losers Special
- chips & gravy with a small fried rice. When I inevitably die of
heart disease this establishment will have been primarily responsible
for my (and many others) early death. Dim Sims Kinda like Chinese
meatballs. Hard to tell if they're made out of meat or not but they're
pretty good with sweet & sour sauce and beer.
Aussie
Dim Sim
Dim
Sim recipe
P.C.
A Cop. Or a Police Constable - if you prefer.
MATTHEW TALBOT'S BLANKET
The Matthew Talbot Hostel
Since just before the last world war this has been a shelter for
homeless men in Sydney. It provides over a quarter of a million meals a
year and it's beds are used almost 37,000 times a year. One night, after
finishing a taxi shift - I sometimes drive a cab -, a couple of drivers
were talking about a homeless man that was found outside the major
cinema complex on Sydney's main street. He'd lain there, dead, for
almost 12 hours before anyone noticed..
Catholic
Archdiocese of Sydney
Community
Groups - Matthew Talbot Hostel
Sydney
Morning Herald article
R.S.L Taxi Cab
Sydney's oldest Taxi Company. The letters stand for Returned
Servicemen's League. It primarily serves the inner-city of Sydney. Every
year, during the ANZAC DAY march on April 25th, R.S.L. cabs are used to
transport old soldiers to and from the march, which begins at the Martin
Place Cenotaph and then moves down the main street of Sydney.
Martin Place Cenotaph
The
major war memorial in the centre of the city.
http://www.rslnsw.com.au/index.cfm?page=374
Tupac Shakur
On a Saturday
night in the city, young guys from the suburbs in their muscle cars will
do laps of the main section of town, hip hop and heavy metal blasting
through the sub-woofers..
http://www.2paclegacy.com/
http://www.tupacfans.com/home.php
Hoyts Cinema, George Street,
City
The major cinema complex in the city. A lot of guys from my
high school would get jobs as ushers here. Between the age of 15 and 18
I never paid to see a movie once!
IN ANCIENT ROME
1963 Ford Fairlane My girlfriend once hired an old vintage car for
me on my birthday and we got driven around in it with the top down - I
felt a bit like Lucy Jordan.
The 'WALL' - Darlinghurst Rd
between Oxford St. & Burton St.
I first started driving taxi cabs just before the 2000 Sydney
Olympics. One of the things that struck me hardest during those initial
night shifts was the amount of kids that were sleeping rough in and
around the central parts of the city. In the lead up to the Olympics the
government installed new park benches and bus stops that would make it
harder for somebody to sleep on. The Wall is an infamous stretch of road
on the fringe of the red light district. Young men lean against the old
Sydney sand stone with their heads bowed, covered in hoods, waiting for
work from the passing cars.
Article - theage.com
'History echoed in walls sad trade'
ABC documentary - George
Negus Tonight
Lost
Youth: A Story of Hope
DALE BUGGINS DREAM
Dale Buggins
Dale Buggins was a dare-devil stunt motorcyclist. He'd perform all
around the country, a lot of times in rural areas where not a lot of
entertainers of note would go. I remember when I was about 15 seeing a
guy on the news. He was about 40-50 years of age and he was crying. I
asked who it was and my older brother said it was Dale Buggins' Dad. It
turned out that Dale had just shot himself in a motel room in Melbourne.
He was 20 years old. Dale was like Australia's Evel Knievel. Evel was a
big deal when I was a kid. Heaps of broken collar-bones on my street…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb5JP3aV_BU
http://www.geocities.com/cyclejumper_2000/dalebuggin.html
Holden Precision Driving Team
This was a bunch of guys who would do stunts in their cars…they were
pretty wild!!
Video
Ride
with the Stormriders precision driving team
Media - Sydney
Morning Herald
Eli Wallach
The western was
a big deal in our house. From 'Bonanza' to 'Once Upon A Time in The
West'. I always loved that scene in 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'
where Eli Wallach says 'We don't need no stinkin' badges!'. Where I grew
up there were a lot of guys who lived that sort of attitude.. I tried to
get Warren Oates into the song but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe next
time.
Video
Article
- imagesjournal.com
Bio
- nnd.com
Darren
Hanlon lyrics - Eli Wallach
Mini Bikes
When I was a kid
it was every boys dream to own a mini-bike. Most of us had to settle for
a skate board. My little brother 'scored' one when he was about 14. I
think it came from one of the carnivals down on the beach…he gave it
back, later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9agnTIREYnk
http://www.minibikecentral.net/
Dragstar Bicycle High
handle-bars and a long sloping seat. This was the shit in 1975..
JOE STRUMMER
Joe Strummer
Joe wrote the best rock'n'roll lyrics, ever. He had
the biggest rock'n'roll heart, ever. An absolute Inspiration!!
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1397180.htm
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gKYG0DzKjdc
Red River - Howard
Hawks' classic western.
One of my all time favourite movie scenes is the one in Red River when
John Wayne hits Montgomery Clift. I saw a lot of father and son stuff
that was just like that during the local kids junior football every
Saturday at Waterloo Oval.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iPOQL547go
City of The Dead
A Clash song title from the 'Black Market Clash' EP.
Arthur Scargill
Leader of the British Miner's Union during 1985 miners strike When the
British miners went on strike in the mid-eighties the nightly news would
be full of images of the picketing workers facing off long lines of
English Bobbies… Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Rupert Murdoch.
The Forces of Darkness had taken hold of the reins with only Ken Loach
standing in their way! In those days I looked at the world through a
naďve kind of rock'n'roll filter and I remember watching the TV. and
thinking - the world needs The Clash to get back together…real
quick.
Video
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3499611.stm
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/arthur_scargill.
Montgomery Clift
American actor and inspiration for The Clash song 'The Right Profile'.
Video
http://www.cmgworldwide.com/stars/clift/index.php
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001050/
http://www.montyclift.com/shrine/intro.html
San Souci Suzy This was the
title of a song I wrote when I was 17 about a girl I liked. It's a kinda
naďve teenager Beach Boys-esque love song!
The New Deal
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt initiative during 1930's depression
era
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/newdeal.html
THE LAST GHOST TRAIN HOME
Every weekday during the evening rush hour around Sydney's Central
Station, thousands of commuters on their way home make their way towards
the various terminal entrances. Later in the evening, after most people
have left the city, the homeless congregate in the various parks and
thoroughfares that, just hours earlier, were teeming with commuters.
Later in the evening, after most people have left the city, the homeless
congregate in the various parks and thoroughfares that, just hours
earlier, were teeming with commuters. The title comes from the question
- What kind of train do you catch to get home when you no longer have a
home to go to?
The Clock Tower - Redfern Post
Office on Redfern St
Every second Thursday on Redfern Street a long line forms outside the
Post Office doors as people wait to collect their welfare..
The Sky Bar - opposite
Redfern P.O.
Once paid up, a lot of folks then cross the road to play the poker
machines that, nowadays, fill up large sections of every pub in
Sydney.
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