Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 71
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 71]
35
sixpence a head. For the entertainment of the older men there was the show-famous Jimmy Sharman and his troupe of boxers, standing high on a platform outside their tent, and challenging amateurs in the audience to "take a glove" to fight one of the team for a modest purse, and then getting a crowded tent to see the bout, the price of admission being one shilling. At their small tables out in the open, were the manipulators of the "thimble and the pea" and the "three-card trick".
Then of course there were "Aunt Sally" shies, "Hooplas", shooting galleries, gaudy merry-go-rounds revolving to barrel-organ music and driven by highly polished little steam engines, swing boats, etc.
Some of the Sydney retail firms had attractive displays of their wares in tents and marquees, and representatives who canvassed diligently for orders to be delivered late ; more particularly the wine producing firms. Dad used to often give Penfolds or Lindemans an order for a dozen cases (one gross) of mixed wines.
Local manufacturers of waggons, carts, and buggies exhibited their vehicles, and usually sold them on the spot, though the Waggons built at St Marys near Penrith invariably took the first prize and fetched the highest price. Harness and saddlery made at Wagga Wagga were generally considered to be the best, but the local saddlers displayed some faultless handmade leather goods.
Importers and manufacturers of agricultural machinery had big open-air stands, with windmills, pumps, and oil engines in action; also displays of harvesters, ploughs and scoops. Tractors and headers were still in the future. No motor cars or trucks were on show. Though there were a few steam traction engines in the district with travelling chaff-cutting plants, all waggons and farming machines were horse drawn. Some well-matched teams of magnificent big draught horses were to be seen ploughing, drawing harvesters, or carting bagged wheat through the town to the railway station. Bullock teams of up to twenty animals were to be seen occasionally, slowly dragging big heavy