Tag Archives: nostalgia

Now I feel old

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A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had renewed my motivation to go back to Taronga Park Zoo soon to attempt to recapture some views of the exhibits originally from my childhood photo album of b/w photos from 1968 and 1971. The result is here:

The original slideshow, of b/w material alone, is here:

I hope other educators find a use for this material! We tend to revisit “Old and New” in numerous HSIE topics.

This is cute: the Google Street View trike visits Taronga Park Zoo! (below)


Google Street View trike at Taronga Zoo

Entering the literary garden of delights!

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Frog Prince & golden ball
Student comment: “I saw the Frog Prince and his golden ball in a bowl, but I think that is the same bowl Chook used last year when he was being an astronaut!”

Today, the students at my school had their first experiences in our newly built school library. I’ve spent three weeks unpacking the book stock (from long-term storage) and decorating with new and nostalgic elements. The students were full of questions, but I used Circle Time to maximise and equalise all the the talking and listening. It was a great day. The looks on their faces, as they explored (hands free) all the new nooks and crannies made all the planning and hard work worth while.

Archeological dig
Our historic school milk bottles are now enshrined in a shadow box.

The quote from a framing store, to have the bottles placed into a customised shadow box was $200 but I did it for about $40, thanks to parts bought from Spotlight. The inside text reads: Penrith Public School’s library stands on the site of a portable library building, and before that a previous portable building. In 2010, workmen excavating the foundations found these “school milk” bottles buried deep in the rubble. One is embossed “1/3 PINT PASTEURISED MILK”. See the original blog entry of our archeological find HERE.

48 more photos of display elements ready for today’s opening are HERE.

Memories of the Bookmobile

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Bookmobile, circa 1950s

A friend just found this wonderful contemporary postcard last week, promoting the City of Sydney Library Network, an area which includes the public libraries at Customs House (Circular Quay), Glebe, Haymarket, Kings Cross, Newtown, Surry Hills, Ultimo and Waterloo.

The postcard depicts the iconic 1950s Mobile Library, more commonly known as “the Bookmobile”. (There are no copyright details on the image, although it’s #SRC124, City of Sydney Archives).

We had a Bookmobile in the Rockdale Municipal Council area, when I was in primary school in the 1960s. I recall distinctly our beloved teacher-librarian, Mrs Janette McKenny, telling us that there was such a thing – and, for months, I envisaged a colourful, open-to-the-elements Mardi Gras-like float, festooned with feathers, streamers, book posters, balloons and glitter. And loud, zany people selecting books.

I was more than a little deflated the day I actually saw its rather bland, neutral tones rumble past our school sportsfield one Friday afternoon. (I think I was supposed to be fielding. Or something.)

But this card made my friend smile with nostalgia. Ditto for me.