ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

One Hundred Percent
(c) 2003 - Manfred Vijars
My parents migrated out here from Europe when I was two years old. For good or ill, the choices parents make and the things that they do have impact on their kids. I’d like to share a couple of ‘impactful anecdotes’ in the following ….

Wonderful Manfred.

As Bobby Miller said

Be you black or white or brindle
we are all Aussie's we're the same
Stand up if you're Australian
and be proud to wear that name.


I would post my family history but it is a little shaded.

Patrick Pacey

A simple but honest man Transported for perjury.

Thanks again mate.

Loved it Manfred, yep he sounds like he was a REAL aussie, Good ON Ya Mate.
SUE

Fascinating Manfred. Love that he bought a book to build his house.

Heather

Thanks Bob, Sue ...

I also remember Dad shaving with Gillette Blue (non-stainless steel) razor blades. They were called 'safety' razors but dangerous as hell. He had a curved brown sharpening stone that he would re-sharpen the blades on.

Even though we had a wood fired stove Mum would use a kero 'choofer' as well as a meths spirit burner for cooking. I'd bring the milk home in a billy and mum would make butter. she gave up making the butter when Combens started a grocery delivery service from town in a crappy green Morris panelvan.

Blackberrys were a weed all along Diggers Road but we'd pick them in season and Mum would make her blackberry jam. Mum also found work picking apricots before working in the kitchen of Corpus Cristi College - now Werribee Park (Chirnside Estate). The grounds and buildings were my playground.

Thanks Heather ... His favorite saying whenever we asked him a question was, "It's in the book!"
We had an extensive library at home and when Dad bought our first set of encyclopedias, we both sat all weekend turning EVERY single page of EVERY single volume ... He knew more about Australian history than any of his peers ...

... like, 'Flash' Johnny Gilbert ran away from home at 12 years old and ended up in Kilmore town ...

We all get a bit caught up in the dailey grind and it is great to just take the time and remember the good and not so good things from our childhood. Your Dad made the effort and had the national pride that only a true blue Aussie can have.


Thanks for giving us an insight into your history Manfred and reviving some of our own.


Cheers Bob

Seems our little group is made up of a sprinkling of Pommy bastards, wogs, Eities etc even perhaps those with 'convict' connections - actually that would be great to hear about Bob if your family history goes back to then. A lot of us have walked similar paths and can't see that doing the hard yards has harmed any of us.

Just goes to prove that Australia has always been the melting pot of other nationalities and that is what makes us Australians a force to be reckoned with and a unique race.

So happy you put this section in Mannie - I think that we are going to read some fabulous stories in it and it will be a great source of inspiration I suspect.

Loved reading about your upbringing and your family Mannie - these are memories worth preserving. This segment could become a little time capsule of memories and how good is that

Cheers

Maureen

You've got a remarkable heritage Manfred, and you've recorded it which I think is very significant.

I remember the days when many working men rode bicycles, carrying children and groceries etc.

Thanks for your kind comments Nev, Marty, Mauzie & Bob ...

There was also a down side amongst the 'reffos' and 'wogs'. Many of them had their own demons to battle, ghosts of the War, homelands in rubble, relocation to the other end of the Earth, struggle for acceptance and sociatal norms alien to their own. Coping mechanisms were sometimes found in the 'bottle' and more often than not wives and children bore the brunt of simmering frustrations.