Peter Goers: Growing up Boomer was incredibly beige

Holden Kingswoods, unlocked doors – remembering these things is a sure-fire way to reveal a person’s age. But nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, Peter Goers writes.

Holden was once the national car, Peter Goers writes.

Nostalgia isn’t always what it used to be. As a Boomer I recall my childhood and adolescence in the late 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s – the good, the bad and the ugly. Sometimes it was all three together.

We were frugal. We had no choice. We had enough but not too much. Our lives were governed by “what the neighbours might think”. Sunday was the Sabbath and you had to be quiet and respectful. Everything closed on Good Friday. We took Sunday drives in a champagne-coloured Holden Kingswood – and that was the only champagne we ever had. Holden was the national car.

Society was religious. We went to Sunday school where Jesus wanted us for a sunbeam and endured, often boring, church services. There was an enormous social divide between Catholics and Protestants and great distrust. There were no Catholics in the Liberal Party or in the Public Service and state governors (following the Queen’s example) did not receive Catholics or divorced persons.

There was no recycling of rubbish. There was almost no “foreign” food – there were only three Chinese restaurants in all of Adelaide. Chicken was eaten only at Christmas if you were lucky. Fast food was toast.

Fast food was toast in the late 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s.

The cultural cringe ruled Australia. Anything Australian was second-rate compared with anything from Britain. Most Australian actors had never played an Australian. There were no Australian films, only occasional British films made in Australia – including Bitter Springs, where settlers murdered Aboriginal people. We almost never saw Aboriginal people in the metro area.

They were removed and we were told they were a “dying race”. In my 12 years of otherwise excellent public education no aspect of Australian history was taught as we sat in primary school classrooms looking at a picture of the Queen and a map of the British Empire. We were taught to aspire to be second-class Britons.

Primary school classrooms had a picture of the Queen. Picture: Apic/Getty Images

There was lack of ambition. One had to be happy with one’s lot. The only minority we knew was the Democratic Labor Party and it was mainly Catholic. Homosexuality was either comically flamboyant and sniggered about or tragic. No-one had ever really heard of lesbians and they were assumed to be similar to Bulgarians.

Migrants lived in hostels and were distrusted and it confounded us that Italian and Greek women wore black and “jabbered” in shops. I was in my late teens when I first saw an Asian in Adelaide. In the 1950s there were exactly two Muslims worshipping at the Little Gilbert Street Mosque.

Divorce (apart from movie stars) was rare and scandalous. Domestic violence was, tragically, unpunished. Mental health was never mentioned except for people having “nervous breakdowns”. There was no dementia only “senility” and lives were shorter – 80 was ancient and rare.

There was less crime. You didn’t lock your back door. Shops closed at noon on Saturdays. Men never swore in front of women. Women never swore. We never went to the eastern suburbs as we knew no-one there. Very few people travelled overseas.

A woman’s place was in the home. Men didn’t cook or clean. Everyone had hobbies. Fathers never hugged their sons. Going to town to shop was very special and you dressed up.

No-one was allergic to anything. We had enormous respect for doctors and ministers of religion. Your parents slept in twin beds. Sex was never discussed. My parents did not have siblings and it was assumed their parents had sex once and didn’t like it. Households had one family car. We were teetotal. A man and woman who lived together without benefit of clergy were scandalous.

You booked tickets for the cinema. There were no books in the house apart from library books, the Bible and Pears’ Cyclopaedia. Lawns were sacred. The biggest problem we had as a family was kikuyu in the lawns. In the middle of a baby boom the most popular shrub was the oleander, which could kill children. Almost every child had their tonsils removed. At the supermarket – Tom The Cheap – a lad carried your groceries to the car and your car was filled with petrol and the oil and water checked while you sat in the car. Drunk driving was normal and rarely prosecuted. Entertainers often worked in blackface. Almost everyone smoked almost everywhere. Everyone got shockingly sunburnt.

Food was meat and three veg – overcooked. Generally, we were safe, modest, content and boring. But raised with love.

Originally published as Peter Goers: Growing up Boomer was incredibly beige