I grew up in Maryborough, Victoria, in the 1960s, and the surrounding bushland and farmland was a young man’s paradise waiting to be explored. I can recall many times just getting Mum to make me a few ‘sangas’ (sandwiches) to eat while spending the day ferreting for rabbits or building a hut in the bush. As a family, we would often go mushrooming or getting firewood together, and Mum would pack a picnic basket of sangas, biscuits, a thermos of tea for her and Dad, and cordial for us kids.
When I was manager at the Shepparton Heritage Centre, I would often do photo slideshows for groups of children who would visit. This black and white photo of the Akers’ bush picnic was my favourite. The children would be fascinated by the clothing the people were wearing and how unusual it was to wear their best clothes to go on a picnic. I would also describe this outing as “takeaway food in the old days”. They would prepare the food at home and take it to a special location. We would talk about the type of food and drinks on the blanket, and I would ask the younger kids if Macca’s, KFC, Hungry Jack’s and pizza were around in these olden days.
I would then tell them there were at least two cameras there that day, and the photographer had most people looking at him or her to take the photo. I would ask, “Who can see the second camera?” When they found it, I would show them a Kodak Brownie box camera from the collection. I would finish off by talking about old cameras compared to digital cameras and mobile phone cameras of today.
I really enjoyed those sessions.
PS. The Akers family had an orchard in Orrvale. I was fortunate to get access to their photo albums, which included many great early photos of the orchard, family events and trips around the district.
Geoff Allemand is an amateur photographer and Lost Shepparton Facebook page admin. Please share your pics of the past at pastpics@mmg.com.au