You don't need me to tell you it's the festive season. A time of celebration for many.
In the lead-up to Christmas 40 years ago things were especially festive in Canberra, and not just in anticipation of the imminent arrival of the jolly man in the red suit.
Canberry Fair had just opened its turnstiles, luring thrill-seekers to its nine-hectare site in North Watson with the promise of fun for all. It was Canberra's very own theme park, albeit on a small and unsophisticated scale.
Although the fair - part of a model "historical" village and part zoo - was popular with entertainment-starved Canberrans, within two years it had gone bust. In December 1984, it reopened as "new" Canberry Fair, but that didn't last long either and by 1987 it was rebranded Australia Park (and later Canberry Village) until it finally closed its doors in 1991.
In the lead-up to much-anticipated re-opening in December 1984, four young men had their photos splashed all over The Canberra Times. They were snapped posing bravely in the Gravitron - the fair's state-of-the-art ride where daredevils experienced centrifugal force equivalent to three times the force of gravity.
The fearless foursome wasn't, as many have long thought, the first visitors to ride the Gravitron, rather a hotch-potch collection of employees plucked from obscurity for a promotional photograph.
"They paid cash for people to help with landscaping in a rush to get it done before opening day," recalls Chris Mee, second from left in the photo and rocking the high-waisted jeans.
But not all the rides were as adrenalin pumping as the Gravitron, arguably the most well-known were the much more gentile mechanical swans. Indeed, if the head honchos at the Canberra Museum and Gallery ever want to add an object to their collection that screams "1980s Canberra", it should be one of those plastic swans which did a circuit of a man-made lagoon on underwater tracks. Think of all the birthdays, first dates and who knows what else took place on them.
That's why about a decade ago when Michelle Ayers noticed the "Melbourne swan perched high and dry in a friend's yard, she grabbed her partner and jumped in it for a must-have selfie. However, I fear the Melbourne-branded swan may be the last one, the others likely buried six feet under at Mugga Lane tip.
Thankfully the salvaged swan isn't the only memorabilia from the failed fair. Taking pride of place in his coin album, alongside treasured coins dating as far back as 350 BCE, Shane Townsend of Kambah has a ride token from Canberry Fair.
Meanwhile, Darren Bailey of Banks has a 1984 token in mint condition. "Their face value was about $1 but would sell for at least $50 now," he says.
Then there are the souvenir spoons. Remember when they were all the rage? Now they only seem to turn up in retro cafes. One of the most sought-after Canberry Fair spoons features, of all things, a camel, a nod to the days when you could take a camel ride around the park.
One Canberra man who remembers the camels, the souvenir spoons, the swans and just about everything else at Canberry Fair is Richard Everson of Higgins.
At the start of his gap year, in December 1984 Richard landed a job at Canberry Fair and with "no experience whatsoever" was promptly promoted to superviser at the Country Kitchen, a fast-food café dishing up fried chicken, burgers and other delights.
"Talk about being thrown in the deep end ... from opening to close there was always a long line of people out the door," he recalls.
Unfortunately for Richard, perched on the wall opposite the serving counter in the Country Kitchen was an elevated stage where three large animatronic singing crows would emerge from behind a velvet curtain to perform.
"They 'sang' the same set of songs over and over," he says. "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog is engrained in my brain forever."
Richard also remembers the time a mouse plague wreaked havoc. "We had to keep bread rolls locked up in large metal cages to stop the mice from getting at them," he says. "One morning the dishwasher wouldn't work and when the electrician opened up the front panel, we found an electrocuted mouse with its fur all sticking bolt upright, like in a cartoon."
However, it wasn't all work and no play. At the end of his shift on Fridays, Richard and his fellow burger flippers would often have the run of the park.
"As an eighteen-year-old, a couple of beers at Clancys [the pub at Canberry Fair] followed by a few rides on the Gravitron was an awesome way to end the week," he recalls.
Gee, I'm sure it was great Richard, but I think I would have waited to quench my thirst until after those rides. The Gravitron wasn't nick-named the Vomitron for no reason.
While frying chicken and wrangling rodents wasn't the way he planned to start his working life, Canberry Fair set Richard on a lifetime career path in hospitality and small business. After working at iconic locations such as The May Fair Intercontinental London and on the QEII cruise line, Richard and his wife Evelyn established the Country Guesthouse Schonegg at Murrumbateman, selling it in 2014. He now works for the Department of Industry mentoring business innovators in the Australian Government Entrepreneurs' Programme.
A long way from plucking mice carcasses out of the dishwasher at Canberry Fair.
When your nine lives are up...
Eeek! Beware of what's lurking under your floorboards.
It seems that a single shoe (to ward off evil spirits) and coins (to bring wealth) weren't the only items traditionally hidden in the walls and under the floorboards of some of our region's oldest properties.
A few years back, while renovating Old Graham, an 1877 home-cum-coaching stop at Hovells Creek between Boorowa and Cowra, John and Liz Baker of Griffith got the shock of their lives when they lifted the floorboards.
"We were digging out dirt accumulated over a hundred years to allow for better underfloor ventilation and in the process found two mummified cats staring back at us," reveals Liz.
"Whereas placing a dead cat in the roof was a widespread ritual in the United Kingdom, placing one in the foundations to keep away bad spirits seems to be a more Australian practice."
The couple, who recently sold the historic staging post, did find something in the rafters but it wasn't a concealed cat, rather a child's shoe. "At first, we kept the shoe thinking some child would have been in trouble for losing a precious shoe, but then we also came across stories about why shoes were often left hidden in voids and realised what we had found," says Liz.
The couple also uncovered a single lady's boot squirreled under the floor of another room, and an 1877 shilling in the roof. Given Old Graham was built in 1878, and the coin was in near-mint condition, the Bakers believe "it was placed there to guarantee wealth for the Irish family who first lived in the home".
However, not all the items the couple uncovered were purposefully placed. A treasure trove of dozens of other artefacts was found that tells the story about the home's previous occupants. These included mundane items such as nit combs that were found beneath the fireplace "where the children would have sat so the light from the fire could aid in nit removal", as well as more valuable items including a rosary and a silver ring.
Heck, the Bakers could almost open a museum with items found during the renovation, but I still can't get past those cats.
WHERE ON THE SOUTH COAST?
Rating: Medium
Cryptic Clue: Having a whale of a time, but probably not where you think
Last week: James Smith's weathervane-esque photo of a four-way street signs located in the Black Mountain car park on the northbound side of Caswell Drive, stumped everyone. "There was no photoshop trickery involved, just careful management of the geometry and a smallish aperture to get the depth of field", explains James. The clue 'Charles Henry would like this' referred to Charles Henry Caswell, the engineer after whom the road is named. Caswell teamed up with Robert Charles Coulter to submit an entry in the Federal Capital City Design Competition in 1911. Although their entry came fourth the duo didn't completely miss out, with the government adopting their plan for drainage and sewerage, which apparently required less excavation and infill than Walter Burley Griffin's plan.
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday, December 18, 2021, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
Gushing wonder
I've been visiting Fitzroy Falls for over 40 years and never seen them flow with such vigour as earlier this week. However, their beauty paled into insignificance when compared to the dozen or so ephemeral falls cascading off other cliff-tops into Kangaroo Valley - a rare sight to behold, and on a grand scale impossible to capture in a photo.
Merry Christmas!
Season's greetings to all readers of this column. My Christmas photo this year is this wonderful snow gum near Kiandra photographed by high country adventurer Klaus Hueneke. Just look at the twists and turns in that trunk - a bit like the year we've all just endured. A dozen of Klaus's photos feature in Capital Chemist's 2022 Australian Alps calendar. They're available for a gold coin donation. Last year more than $20,000 went to the Bushfire Appeal, this year proceeds go to Lifeline.
