For those of you who didn’t grow up with money or privilege…..

Well to be honest we didn’t know others lived better than us ~ ,cause we only visited our grandparents / aunts and uncles …and they all had out door toilets , in fact is we used grans , we’d have to take a broom handle with us ,as her cook yard was built around the toilet miles down the huge back yard , and they had a vicious rooster.

They all,only had black floors which were about mtr wide old conniver belts from the mines , most interior walls were sugar bags whitewashed …gran had fancy tin walls half way up ….most homes were only wood and iron.
Our blankets were what we called woggas .,which were made with an old woollen blanket sewed to an old hessian wool bale , our sheets were washed flour bags sewed together …

Our bathroom was just like a tin shed attached to the back of the house with a chip heater or we boil,water in the old copper and bucket it into the bath ….As far as cooking went we lit the old wood stove summer and winter to cook meals .
Grans and my aunts had a type of galvanised iron bath tub ..no showers …out bath was sorta greenish like army colours

Many lived in poverty as there was no such thing as Centerlink ( welfare)

We got most of our toys like old cars ( tin pedal cars / bikes both 3 wheel and 2 from local dump ) and built our own out of scraps .

I’d like to know where my parents got the money to spend at the pubs / clubs every day …and not feed us ….
bur I’m not bitter, about my parents in fact they taught me lessons….. in life at a very young age

I always had a determined streak and learned if I wanted something I’d have to work for it ….
I was in competition with a very well known ( at the time ) bottle collector called Tapper Torney ….didn't ever know his real name …bought my first brand new bike by collecting bottles , and I went to Saturday morning pictures for 6 pence ….that was 6 bottles worth …then got a job I had for about 6 years in a deli / fruit and veg shop.

Copied this about Tapper Torney
I mentioned up,here ^^^
Potato sack in one hand, a roll-your-own hanging on a lip and a leather flying hat jammed down over his ears, Albert "Tapper" Torney is on his bottle run.
And so it was for the town of Broken Hill for over fifty years.

He scoured the streets and rubbish bins for refundable bottles and cans. Locals called him "Tapper" for his bottle-tapping skills and reckoned he had a small fortune stacked away somewhere, yet the gentle, quite man showed no signs of wealth in his simple unit at the Aruma Senior Citizens Home.
Everyone knew Tapper, as he mumbled a hello to passerbys as he shuffled down main street.
He was a part of Broken Hill.

They say he always had kept pretty much to himself. He never married and during his working years was employed by a New South Wales gas company. And, although a man of few words, his memory of dates and names was razor sharp.

Tapper was born in Silver City ( a nickname for Broken Hill.)
 

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My brother, sister and I have nothing to complain about. Life was good. I often think back about how very fortunate all of us were. My dad was an attorney and invested in oil and steel. Back then steel was a great investment, unlike today.

I should also add, our family donated a lot to different organizations that helped the community. The Lions and Rotary Club were the area’s clubs that donated to the less fortunate in our community.
 
I remember the outhouse, pumping and carrying water from the well, heating the water on the wood cook stove for baths. But toilet paper......., that must surely have been a luxury.
 
Our house was nice but a lot of it was unfinished. We had bare wood floors and unpainted plaster walls. It was sturdy and kept out the weather. Wallpaper was added when I was a teenager. We had land but little money. My closest friend and neighbor lived in a palace. She had a maid and a gardener. The rooms all had lake views and were decorated in Louis XIV in one room and Louis XVi in another. There were stables and paddocks with horses.

What did I know? We played at each others homes. Each had certain advantages. We competed in school. She switched to a private school her junior year in high school so she could get into a good college which she did.
 
Rakaia said:
Having a Dad.
Click to expand...
Despite this, and on reflection we had little money but I was privileged by being sent to a prestigious private school. I didn't appreciate it and still don't.
In my teenage years Mum married a farmer, he became 'my old man'.
I consider myself privileged but I've lived in struggle street too.
 
I'm sure my parents were not considered middle class, but they both worked which afforded us a nice apartment, nice furniture, plenty of food and decent clothing. My father had a Studebaker with a rumble seat (remember those?) and my mother even had a washing machine. If they struggled financially, I was never aware of it. Mama was a great cook and cooked all the time, so there was no eating out, except at church functions and on the boardwalk when we took day trips to amusement areas.

Speaking of which, there were plenty of church sponsored breakfasts, dinners, teas, as well as bus rides to Rye Beach and Coney Island in N.Y. Also, it was easy to take public transportation to Palisades Park, a popular amusement park in N.J., not far from where we lived. We went on those outings in lieu of taking vacations. As a child I found them exciting and fun. That being said, I never thought about luxuries we may have been missing out on.
 
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We fed the dogs first. Anything left over was our supper. One time I found out that the dogs did not like apricot jam. So I spread the jam all over the the bread, and they didn't’ eat much at all. I had a good breakfast that day.
 

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