I was born in Melbourne in 1947 and for the first 18 months lived at Brunswick. Our Family, Mum, Dad and my brother Trevor, who was 2 years older than me, then moved to Noble Park. My Dad worked for the PMG and would ride his bicycle to Dandenong each day to work.

Our home was off a dirt track and across from the railway line and surrounded by paddocks. The long grass in the paddocks was a great breeding ground for snakes, mainly copperheads, but they were generally kept from our yard by our intrepid little fox terrier , "Foxy" who generally won any battles with them. Unfortunately the time did eventually come when he lost a confrontation and died as a result of the bite. My Mum has always held a great fear of snakes and their potential to cause her grief - something which almost became prophetic 2 years ago when I was lucky to survive being seriously bitten by a very large brown snake (but that's another story!).

My memories from that time include visits from the "ice man" who brought the ice for our ice chest. He would come in his horse and cart and when the weather was hot would use his ice pick to break off chunks of ice for us to eat. He had large hooks which he used to grip the ice to carry it to the ice chest. The ice blocks in his cart were covered with hessian bags.

Although we had a vegetable garden we would still get a visit, again the horse and cart, from the fruit and vegie man. Our milk was delivered by the dairy farmer and left in billy cans hung on the front fence - no pasteurised milk then.

We had a wood stove in the kitchen and I remember the warmth from it and sense of comfort that it provided. On cold days when Trevor and I had walked the 2 miles home from school we would be greeted by Mum with a mug of hot vegemite broth with bits of bread floating in it. I think that would now be termed "comfort food".

The stove was kept burning with brickettes and I remember each Suday morning our family, and one or two others from nearby, would take buckets and walk along the railway tracks to pick up the brickettes that had fallen from the railcars. I am not sure if we only went on Sundays because the coal train went through on Saturday night or if that was the only safe day to walk along the tracks because no trains ran on Sundays. Whatever the reason, we generally managed to get enough supplies for the week.

Each November all the local kids would build a huge bonfire in the paddock next to our house and we would make a Guy Fawkes to put on top. Guy Fawkes day with the "crackers" was alive and well back then.

The bad memory is of the constant severe ear aches which I suffered from. As with Jean Thompson, the standard cure all removal of my tonsils and adenoids was employed but, unfortunately, without much success. After I had started school I was still suffering and I remember sitting on a stool next to the big open fire that was blazing in the open fireplace that was common in the classrooms then, crying with the pain and waiting for Trevor to be fetched to walk me home. Mum got me to the doctor's (I'm not sure how as we certainly did not have a car - walked no doubt) where he sdministered ether and lanced the abcess that was in my ear - not for the first time. Sulphur tables tasted horrible enough to suggest they should work but unfortunatly they had little effect.

Eventually my parents were told to move me to somewhere with a warmer climate or they feared for my health and well being. As soon as the opportunity arose my Dad took a position with the PMG in Mildura. I was then 8 years old and from the time we settled in Mildura the ear aches ceased and I suffered no more.