Monday, February 24, 2014

Kalangadoo SA - #openslather

My place in time #50 - Somewhere I used to live

This is where I grew up.

All of my childhood memories stem from this little town, up until we moved, the summer before I started high school.

It was a time of innocence. Life was so carefree, no responsibilities and not old enough to have made any of life's big fuck ups. 

It lives in my heart this place, plays with my emotions and reminds me of a time when life was simple.


The church we used to go to, across the road from our house.
My two sisters, twin brother and I were baptised here when I was eight.

We used to roller skate here on weekends. There was a picture of the
queen hanging on the wall, probably still is.

The old post office and looking down John Street.



The veranda on the right used to be a shop, I think it was Humphries store. I stole an eraser, can't remember how old I was, Mum made me go and hand it back. 

Log trucks still hurtle through town. There is a timber mill in town still, not as
busy as it was back when I was a kid.

The laneway I walked up and down a lot as a kid. The fences were not there then. There was a deli and fuel pumps on the right. I remember Dad giving me $5 to buy him a packet of Marlboro smokes, there was enough left for a can of coke, a pie and a huge bag of lollies. There was also an area where Dad and others drank plonk and played bowls(or bocce) under a pergola covered with grapevines.

The house I grew up in, on Ann Street, a little lot old now. Dad built the bit at the left, onto the old workers cottage. This brings happy memories of fresh cut grass and playing with my sisters and brothers. Happy times. I knocked on the door, no one answered, with the intention of asking for a cutting off the rose. I took one anyway.

Mum seems to think it is 'Sutters Gold'. It's special to me and I can't think of anything better than to have a cutting off the actual plant, I hope it takes.


18 comments:

  1. How wonderful to look back at your little town and remember the memories! Life certainly was so much simpler back then by the sounds of it..

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  2. I love little towns like this. What a beautiful place to grow up in :-)

    Sorry it's been a while since I linked up here. Real life has been crazy which has left little time for blogging and no time for linking. Hope you have a great day.

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    1. Thanks for joining in. I know how it is when life gets in the way xx

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  3. What a special post Alicia, such a rural town huh and looks like a ghost town almost now. Bet you have some memories. And yes I hear you about visiting the place we lived in before we made some pretty bad decisions.... Glad you took a cutting anyhow! Can't how cheap ciggies used to be, xx

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    1. Yep, it's not the same as I remember it. Still a lot of people living there but hasn't got the bustle that it use to have. Ha, Dad reckons about $1.75 for a packet of fags, back when a 5 year old could buy them in the 70s.

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  4. lol I used to live in Kalangadoo too. Were your parent there when the murder happened ?

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    1. Small world :)
      Murder? I vaguely remember hearing something about it. We left at the end of 1983.

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    2. I think it happened in late 1960. I was too young to know anything at the time. I only know what Mum has told me as we (I think) lived next door

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  5. A gorgeous post Alicia! So glad your home town brings happy memories. Life was much more simple then...and we loved it! I so hope your rose cutting takes :)

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  6. A great post! Had to laugh about your dad drinking plonk (I wonder how it ever got its name?) and the cost of ciggies back then.
    I am sure the owners wouldn't mind you taking a cutting, I hope it strikes for you too!

    Cheers - Joolz xx

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    1. Dad used to make plonk(red wine) and grappa(a white spirit) in the back shed. Us kids helped pick and stomp the grapes. There were many Italians that lived there who played bowls and helped drink it. I hope the rose takes too, I can give Mum one.
      Strange to think that it was nothing to sell a five year old a packet of fags!!

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  7. There's nothing like the place of our childhood. Places like this always hold some sort of magic! How lovely is this little church!

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    1. It was such a cute little church, I haven't been inside for years!
      Yes it's magic for me, only in the memories it brings. It's different than I remember it back when. The shops have closed down, the kindy, they are peoples homes now, even the post office! The primary school is still there though.

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  8. It is amazing how childhood memories make you feel about a place.

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  9. I grew up in this town to i belong to the Italian family lavias i was born in 1984 but am very curious about a couple of the older houses out the rd as there has bn unexplainable things and the older folks say 1 house mainly is haunted so i would love to know more about the history b4 i was born and the murder that was mentioned

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  10. my grandfather charlie gray use to live in kalangadoo trying to remember name of street but cant
    uncle lawrie gray use to hve a grocery shop not far from hotel...

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    1. My grandfather was Charles Gray too my dad was lawrie Gray and yes had the shop for 30years. There was an original one across the road before the new one was built. Spent many an hour working in the shop dad used to pay me 1 shilling an hour and a bottle of Coke. There were 2 banks in that street along with Dalgetys post office Chemist basheers hotel and Humphrey' haberdashery store. Many many memories of my old home town

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    2. Would love to know where Charlie lived, I live in the house diagonally across from pub. Think it used to be a shop ? There is a spirit here called Charlie or Charles, I had a premonition his last name was like green but different. I was thinking brown, but gray makes sense too

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