This is the theme photo for this week's Sepia Saturday. Lots of choices - bicycles, boys wearing caps, bare feet, advertising signs. I think my photo from a family album fits the bill nicely.
It's maybe 1930, you live in or near a small country town in Victoria, you need to get to school every day. So, does mum get the 4-wheel drive out of the garage? Do you join a 'walking bus' group? Do you use public transport? None of the above. You walk, or ride your bike or saddle up your pony. The children look pretty happy. And look at that show-off in the very front!
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| School kids and their means of transport, 1943. Bayunga, Victoria. |
That's young master Johnston in front with his big bike, with a bag wrapped around the crossbar for him to sit on because he couldn't reach the seat. After school the teacher, Lena Alford, would sit him on the bike and give him a push to start him off and there would be someone waiting at home to help him stop and get off!
A delightful picture and I'm thinking perhaps they were out on an expedition. They looked a little too cheerful here to just be going to school...
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HUGZ
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ReplyDeleteSorry! Deleted this comment about how to avoid spam by mistake :)
DeleteI love that photo! They look like they probably had fun together.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what a walking bus is? Lucky for them it was flat. Great photo.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen.
DeleteA walking bus is an arrangement whereby parents in a street or neighbourhood organise a roster so that an adult picks up other kids as they walk to school - effectively it's like a bus picking up passengers along a route but on foot. It provides peace of mind, and it means a parent doesn't have to walk or drive to school every day. It's growing in popularity.
What a cute photo. But what is a "walking bus" group? I've never heard of this term before.
ReplyDeleteNancy
A great picture of life in the country. I love the image of the boy on the horse at the back of the photo.
ReplyDeleteI too wrote about riding to school but because of the distance, only my very fit brother did it. Great memories.
ReplyDeleteInteresting photo. The show-off in front looks too small for that big bike.
ReplyDeleteBefore we could bike to school you had to be at the Senior School, over 12 and live a mile away. I seem to recall that kids would dawdle to school and run home.
ReplyDeleteA group of kids and their bicycles is always a picture of happiness --- just like these kids.
ReplyDeleteSuper picture! And the bicycle in front has a very peculiar handlebar. The boy must have been trying to impress someone :)
ReplyDeleteTo get to school after the age of 11 I had a mile walk to the train station and a longer walk after getting of the train to my school in the nearest town, It was nearly 6 miles to cycle to school and we only did this at exam time for exams that started early before the train arrived. These days it seems that the majority of children get driven to school by car or school bus - even where the walk would do them good.
ReplyDeleteI with postcardy about the size of the lad's bike.
The walking bus group and the show-off made me smile. What a happy picture you shared! Love it. I walked to school too. Home was a few meters away.
ReplyDeleteLooks like winter too. Great photo.
ReplyDeleteThey Look A Happy crew! But isnt that Bike A bit big for the Lad?
ReplyDeleteGreat photo! I really like your title too, because I lived in the city, but for two years my neighborhood had to take a bus out to the country to a new school, and then they let us return to the our original school which was in walking distance.
ReplyDeletelove the pose of the little lad in front, so pleased with himself.
ReplyDeletethanks for visiting and leaving me a lovely comment
Gill x
Like Tony. I was intrigued by the relative size of the young lad and the bike at the front of the group. Perhaps he had borrowed someone else's bike to show off. Great photograph.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo! They all do look so happy. Look at that little girl sitting directly on the tire, lol.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
I can imagine them swooping down the road! What fun!
ReplyDeleteA pertinent reminder that in days of old it was often shank's pony, the real thing or a bicycle.
ReplyDeleteThanks all. We think that a lot of kids at that time had to ride the only bike available because there was no money to spare. My husband and I both remember riding adult bikes with one leg through beneath the crossbar to reach the other pedal (it meant that the bike had to lean at an angle). And that type of handlebars are quite normal for that era. Interesting discussion. Thankyou.
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