EASTER EGGS AND BABY BOOMERS.

I was  inspired to write this piece when Lorraine Tongs Clifford posted the photo below. We both grew up in Ulverstone, Tasmania and amazingly she had saved all her Easter egg foil wrappers from the 1950s. Oh my goodness, I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. I swear I could remember several of the designs on my own chocolate eggs.

What treasure. Photo by Lorraine Tongs Clifford.

My siblings and I carefully unwrapped ours and smoothed out the foil just as Lorraine did. However, we gave ours to  our paternal Grandma. She used the foil to wrap the stems of birthday posies, for the Methodist Ladies Guild in Ulverstone.

Someone told me that in the old days the foil was used on iconic Tassie Devil fishing lures. He said he had spotted the Cadbury brand on them. I so hope that’s true!

Every year there would be newspaper photos of wide eyed children gazing into shop windows. No doubt the ‘Easter Bunny’ bought ours at the old G. & J. Coles store in Reiby Street.

Window shopping

There were no  Easter egg hunts with buckets of  goodies for us. Most kids I knew received the same sort of egg we did. They were about one third the size of an Australian Rules  football, and came with a dear little fluffy chick on top.

This advertisement really caught my eye. Doll’s house furniture in a chocolate egg……Oh my word, this would have been my heart’s desire. 💛

The following photo makes me wonder whether it was from a year when Easter encompassed April Fools Day. Mind you, a friend of mine received a package very similar in shape during the 1970s. Like many young Tasmanians we had headed off to England and her parents sent her an Easter egg. It arrived so flat that the postman was able to slip it though the letter slot in the front door of our basement flat. 😋.

I adore the photo of this little girl chomping into her egg.  We broke ours into pieces, which we kept in a glass  for as long as we could manage. My sister Robbie was far better at saving hers, much to my annoyance.

My most vivid memory of a non-chocolate egg is from my kindergarten year at the Ulverstone State School, in 1956.  We painted empty eggshells and handed them to our teacher, Mrs Harris.  A few days later we followed strings and discovered the eggs in a basket, each filled with jellybeans and covered with Cellophane. Oh the simple joy!

The only religious person in our family was the grandmother I mentioned previously. She was a very strict Methodist.

For the rest of us, Easter was more about family traditions, even though we were dutifully sent off to Sunday School. My mother always served fish on Good Friday and bought hot cross buns. I have wonderful memories of family  dinners on our farm with lots of relatives, wearing white chrysanthemums on our lapels, and  of course that magical visit from the  Easter Bunny on Sunday morning.

Ulverstone, sporting capital of the world in 1951!

Happy Easter to all, especially to those who do celebrate its religious significance.

A light-hearted story from my young associate, Editor Des on EASTER BONNETS.