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At times I think, this country is on the brink, of goin’ right down the gurgler,
if you’re strollin’ at night, high as a kite, you’re accused of being a burglar.
If you follow a sheila, a real appealer, and admiring her stunning long pegs,
next thing ya know, into the slammer ya go, with drunks and all of the dregs.
It’s no use using slang, with our Ozzie twang, youngsters now haven’t a clue,
a dispute with you and me, if it came to be, aint never more called a blue.
Into ya ear, no more ya hear, ‘ah stuff ya mate’ or ‘shove it right up ya arse’
Yuppies sip at red wine, for 'plonk' isn’t fine and only drink beer from a glass.
Kids wear shoes to school and never can fool, like we did on our way back home,
for they’re picked up in a car and driven not far and never allowed to roam.
Gone is the day, how we used to play, havin’ a puff behind the dunny or shed.
as doctors an’ nurses, mum’s loud curses, 'bout wot we were doin’ under the bed.
Dad’s dismayed looks, at his drunken chooks, after we put rum into their water,
still on heat, chased up the street, for what we did to a neighbour’s daughter.
They have new ways, to our old days, when a kid could have some real good fun,
it’s go home at three, you must be, and a wide hat to shade the heat of the sun.
Bungers an offence, but sure made sense, in blowing up all letter boxes and mail,
a baker’s cart horse, with full force, bolting with a stick stuck under his tail.
It’s a pity to see, kids watching TV, not running around barefooted and free,
freedom is earned, not learned, and by contact with earth like it has done for me.
For youse who aint Aussies.
Gurgler Flushing toilet.
Sheila Female
Pegs Legs
Slammer Watch house cell or detention cell.
Chooks Chickens and hens raised in the back yard for eggs.
Yuppies Young modern middle class
Bungers Now illegal explosive fire cracker of considerable power.
Baker’s cart In my youth the baker delivered unsliced loaves of fresh bread with a horse drawn cart. The horse knew the run and walked without prompting, from customer to customer and waited for the baker. Anything like a piece of wood placed under a horse’s tail causes it to clamp down on it and it generally (always without fail, we found) causes it to bolt. Being frightened it held it’s tail down so generally stopped when exhausted or the cart turned over. The Baker was never happy, especially when the rear door came open and he had to follow a trail of bread loaves to find his horse and cart.
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Author notes
The old days ... in Oz.
In a list
A contest entry
- TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE THROUGH THE GENERATIONS by freebutsafe.
600 points, ended July 29, 2007, 11 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Mega-Rhymer! by albymyheart.
1600 points, ended July 17, 2008, 15 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - High School: Rules, Fools & Tools by Sorath.
600 points, ended August 22, 2008, 15 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 13 of 13
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Thanks for the entry. This was awesome to read! Go Aussie lingo!! Your rhyming is so unique & flowing that I read it out loud again because it sounded so cool! It was a very different take on the prompt given but was an interesting one at that.
Thanks for the entry & good luck!
Sorath -
Being an Aussie myself I didn't need the translations but I see your other viewers did. Nice of you to add them in. I personally haven't written any "Aussie" stuff but you have inspired me to do so.
This is a fantastic poem relating what most of us think today. We all miss those "good old days" and wish our kids could live the (somewhat deviant) life we did as kids. We had it good when hats were only for Sunday school and TV was a brief amusement before dinner getting "Lost in space" before we ate.
Plenty of heaped on rhyme here. Your words, thoughts and ideas are great. The form is debatable, not sure if I'd prefer it better in a different format, but this is your work and I respect your layout.
Thank you so much for entering my contest...alby
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They truly were the good ol days weren't they...how I miss being a kid and going to the pub with Dad on a Satdy arvo for a few, I'd sit on the Bar and Jack the publican would feed me chewys, chips and Raspberry, we'd be there all arvo and Mum would turn up....at that point our arvo together would end! lol
Thank you
Cathy
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lol...those were the days! Yes .... life was so much more fun then...I don't see these kids doing anything like what we did, cowboys and indians was a fun game back then too...how we tied the indian to the tree and left him there, while we went in for lunch.. aah ..the joys of young...marbles etc...well done!
Good luck in the contest! -
There's a lot of expressions here that this Canuck has never heard before, but still this was an enjoyable read. Sounds like you were a real handful when you were young. As they say over here, "Just a good ol'boy".
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So that's what it was like? Very well penned! The flow in these couplets is wonderful in your own unique style with rhyming end lines.
Love,
Amera ♥
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It seems the older we get, the more strange a place the world seems, eh brudder? I like this poem alot, and I must say, thanks for including the sland dictionary...me being the Yank I am, I had no idea what most of it meant! :-) A great poem though....Bravo!!
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This is brilliant poem about the "good old days". It was cleverly written with such great humor and great you put all those translations in. This made my night. Thank you.
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Most definitely relating to this one Bazza...especially the bungers
The half-penny one went well down the handlebars
of your enemies pushie...count the pedal strokes before it went off and scared the clappers out of 'em.
"I watched other kids do it"
Wonderful write and thanks for the memories.
Linda
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The good old days
An Aussie since 1973 I can relate well to some of your lament my dear friend. My son born in '75 was an 'Aussie' kid, only wore shoes if he was threatened, didn't think much to TV except his Saturday morning cartoons, you get the picture don't you? I understand the sorrow you feel for the lost days and those intrinsic lessons learned about the basics of life that just don't seem that important anymore. Time marches on and todays kids will reminisce one day about their kids missing out on the 'joys' of an Aussie childhood, and so it perpetuates.
It's lovely to read about the old days though, puts me in mind of the old Chips Rafferty movies.
Von
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i enjoyed it very much. the humour. the meanings. i wish that i would have lived in the good ol' days. if everyone is taught everything, where is the fun of learning anything? especially about the world. good work.
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you have such a different way of writing its really cool old man and i feel you on most everything you said.
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hi my dear daddy
Time always changes and with it everything changes as well. That's how the life is.
Wish you wonderful days.
Shahrzad
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