When the Peninsula relied on bore water

Growing up in the 60s and 70s in Umina, I have vivid memories of the importance our bore water played in our everyday lives.

Most houses had vegetable gardens and a chook pen, no town water.

We all had tanks for drinking water and washing. Thunder box dunnies were the go.

If you had the septic on, you were classed as rich.

How many sprinklers you ran off your billabong pump was a measure of a man's masculinity.

Many a time I would hear the men joke over a long neck that Jack Stokes down the road ran five sprinklers at once.

He was our local spear pump guru. No wonder Jack had five children. The man was a legend, they all would laugh.

On Saturday mornings in autumn, the local men would gather in the morning to pull up a neighbour's gal spear point, to clean and sink it again.

A very demanding job, everybody took it very seriously.

As a young fella, it was a rite of passage to be included and learn the ropes,

Not politically correct now, men were men back then.

The men would then all have just a couple of beers, until mum sent my sister to tell us, tea was ready.

During drought times (yes, we did have droughts then), mum would fill the tank with bore water.

It would rain for the next couple of days and the old man would say: "Told ya".

There were clay roads and lots of bush, and only one high school.

Picture shows were held at Ettalong, Umina and Patonga.

Woy Woy was the biggest one.

A shilling would get you the bus fare each way, entry, a chocy and a drink.

Just a thought of how it was.

Three storey units do not foster a great future for the next generation.

I suppose I am just lucky to have these golden memories of old Umina.

Email, 20 Mar 2020

Brian Lewis, Umina