Local Legends

Date: 18/05/2021

• 
  The original Post Office was near the service station, the current hairdresser was the Deli.
• 
  The Peace Hall had movies, library books and dances. We would cross the road to get treats.
• 
  The Great Eastern Hotel has stayed the same but with different owners now
• 
  Spring park farm was a big farm owned by the Nitschke family.  The farms stayed but businesses around have gone. OTR was once a service station, garage, bus depot,
• 
  The restaurant was a home originally. Once there was a Post office here.
• 
  Railway station was there and lots of trains took goods back and forth to Adelaide.  People travelled by train to town. 
• 
  Transport in the olden days was by foot. Around 1840 bullocks and horses followed the trails left by the Peramangk People.  1883 railways. Trains could transport food and materials to Adelaide,
• 
  Cleggett Brothers had a daily truck which would  visit homes with fruit and veg There was a truck depot, then nursery, then fruit n ve.
• 
  The freeway made it safer - lots of accidents and 1 hour to Adelaide.  Now 35 minutes. The freeway stopped Littlehampton joining up with the sprawl of Mt Barker. We were able to keep our identity.
• 
  More people built modern houses and more cars on the road now. Train used to be quicker than car now other way around
• 
  Police used to sit inside Heather’s Father’s garage and catch people speeding!
• 
  For entertainment there was No TV, video games. We had dances, films in the Hall, a motocross up on the Hill, played cards at friends’ houses and we would play and talk and go on lots and lots of walks. People would know everyone and speak to everyone in the town, especially the Post Office. People don’t talk to each other so much now as they are glued to screens.
• 
  Special Xmas pageant, Littlehampton Football team won the Grand Final one year. Football club Heather’s husband played in the Grand Final 1968. Sky blue and red tops. Played at Langhorne Creek Oval  was in Mt Barker.  When playing you could smell the tannery ( yuk!). Tennis very popular.
• 
  Had good numbers for  tennis and netball, softball but football had few people for a team. 350 people in town so trying to get a team was hard and some went to Mt Barker.
• 
  Bob would get up early and shoot a rabbit, drop it back home to his mother and then go to school. His Mother would the cook it and they would eat rabbit pie for dinner!
• 
  Fireworks 5th November - Such exciting fun. You could buy fireworks from the shops and set them off at night. (Banned now because of bushfire risk in Summer and number of accidents)
• 
  Inside the house we had a radio and record player, no TV, later black and white TV on a big TV set then finally colour. We watched man land on the moon on a black and white television.
• 
  Glenn lived in his family’s 1885 house no power - kero lamps, now electricity
• 
  Nitschkes on the next farm long way away. Same family still lives here.
• 
  Glenn and Bob lived on farms.
• 
  Beautiful farmland everywhere and now houses. Heather had a neighbour, Mr Garwood who sold tractors.
• 
  Xmas cards made of tin given by businesses
• 
  School only the main building. Peter Miels teamed up with Wistow and LH won the footy.
• 
  1 teacher Mr Brokate  lived in the house with his family (Helen Raison daughter).
• 
  Heaps of fun - go down the creek to look for tadpoles, went off for the whole day, rode bikes, would wander through people’s property, collect mushrooms, shoot rabbits, play table tennis, walked miles. Heather as an adult walked everywhere with her baby in pram,  no driver’s licence
• 
  Foodland didn’t exist - Bell’s Store paid by counter in cage put money in a pod that was spring loaded and went to the back of the shop where it would be counted. It was called Serve Well with Mr Anderson. Pounds, shillings and pence. Credit only if well known. Shopping baskets, no plastic bags.
• 
  Playgrounds only at Mt Barker. Miels Park house was where the bakery is today, they donated land for a playground. First playground. School had iron caged monkey bars, hurdy gurdy. The “real” playground was a tree!
• 
  Littlehampton Primary one stone building 2 rooms. Music Room and office now.
• 
  Grades 1-2 345 stone 6-7 Mrs Praeter musical,  Riding down to Bungoor. Building
• 
  Bert Hill would empty toilet long drop toilet at the back of the school. Now proper toilets.
• 
  Classrooms very bare and stark. Sat in rows. Children had to sit up straight, prepare ink wells and nib, slate boards and chalk. Teacher very strict, never smiling and you would get the cane if naughty.  
• 
  Senior Girls would prepare  morning tea for teachers. Some people would smoke cigarettes back then. Teacher wrote on a Blackboard with chalk. Yard stick 3 foot (90 cm) if naughty you would put your hands out for a “big whack” on the hands. 
• 
  Walked to school - Glenn’s father and Heather rode a horse to school. We walked a long way to school about 1 hour  - creeks were found on the way to play in . Teachers were strict, some horrible, definitely not friendly like today. One new Headmaster made an example of his discipline and used a cane on a boy in front of everyone. 
• 
  Heather had a mother who was a teacher and very hard on her. Tests on Friday - spelling, maths, no NAPLAN. We could do Maths in our heads with a calculator. If we didn’t get a spelling word right we would write it out on paper 50 and sometimes 100 times! Some teachers really made us try hard and that made a difference. We still can do Maths in our heads.
• 
  Every morning we would meet at the flagpole near the school bell for a short Assembly and say, “I am an Australian... I honour her Queen….” Every single morning for 5 minutes then we raised the Australian flag, and to the sound of the kettle drum, we marched to the classroom.  
• 
  Guetsetner to copy material. No photocopying. No computers. No iPads. No whiteboards.
• 
  Farms everywhere. Just main street. 5 schools in the town Shady Grove, St James, LH, private schools.  Locals really valued education and fought hard to get the school and keep it open when numbers dropped. Families respected the teachers and wanted their children to get a good education for their future.
• 
  The pool was shut after the War WWII. The ruins are still there. Glenn’s Grandma said she got in at the end of the pool one day. It was freezing creek water and a mix of artesian water. She slipped and landed on the slimy bottom and gnarly drowned. The walls were later dug out and they removed the willows when Mt Barker opened the new Mountain Pool.
• 
  Photos were black and white. No colour in film. Had to make a negative, use a developer chemical the a fixing chemical to prevent fading, Black and white
• 
  Littlehampton offered lots of jobs at the Brickworks, Foggart and Jones meatworks - sausage, fritz, ham, Milk factory, hotel and shops. Train meant men would work for the railways.
• 
  Special occasions. A big Fibre glass cow and pull out tray of roast beef was a special feature of the Swagman Restaurant. Now a school
• 
  Everything today is rush rush rush - we had lots of time to explore and talk to people after jobs were done.
• 
  Wish we could change all the houses back into farmland….
• 
  Heather cleaned the school for 25 years. Liked smaller schools. We knew everyone and they knew who you belonged to. Family and community important Didn’t get away with things as someone would know something and tell your parents. Simple life but better in a way.
• 
  Yes, sad about changes in some ways.  Everyone looked out for each other. But now it is easy to shop.  Sleepers town we call Littlehampton where people work in town, shop out of the area and just sleep here.  The Hills are beautiful,  Built houses on rich farming land which makes us sad.  The freeway has helped keep LH identity.  Otherwise we would be a just a suburb of Mt Barker.
• 
  We hope the students love Littlehampton like we do.

Dean Bolto, Franck Jacob, Don Byrne, Adrian Raison and Helen Pearce