School excursions; these days Tasmanian schoolchildren might visit Parliament House in Hobart, or perhaps even venture further afield to the cultural institutions of Canberra. Here in Sydney there are always school groups at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Australian Museum. It’s all part of enriching the lives of pupils beyond the confines of the classroom
Things were a little different when I was growing up in Ulverstone in the late 1950s.
I attended the Central State School until grade three, and it was from here a teacher took us on the only two school excursions I can remember.
The first was to Ray’s Bakery in Victoria Street. I was already familiar with this shop and its heavenly aroma, as my grandmother lived further down the street at No. 44. I had never seen bread being made on a large scale, so I was fascinated to watch the kneading of the dough and the big ovens etc. My grandmother was a regular customer, especially for fancy pipe loaves, which I adored, and something called Procera bread. I wasn’t so keen on that.
I thought I might have made up Procera bread, but no…..look what I found on the newspaper archive Trove. Apparently it was gluten enriched and low in carbs. Mr Ray was a trend setter.
I couldn’t resist leaving in the bit about Mother’s Day and Buttons’ dress shop. 😎
The second school excursion was to, of all places, the Bacon Factory in Henslowes Road. What would possess a teacher to take us there I wonder?
The Bacon Factory was owned by Mr E. Davies. Arthur Hodgson, pictured below in 1954, was perhaps the town’s most illustrious football captain/coach. He was married to Mr Davies’ daughter Joan. The photo was taken by the Advocate in the lead up to the 1954 NWFU Premiership. I don’t think Arthur did ‘bring home the bacon‘ that year, but he did lead The Robins to a famous State Premiership the following season.
But I digress. The thing I remember most vividly about the factory is the smokey smell, some rather slippery, rickety stairs, and the sight of carcasses like the one Arthur is holding. As a farmer’s daughter I took it all in my stride. Some of those baconers may even have come from our farm.
Now that I think about it there was a third outing, to a sort of expo held at the Ulverstone High School. Does that count?
Please don’t think I’m complaining about the nature of my school excursions, but I’m pretty sure Ulverstone had an icecream factory and a cordial factory. They might have handed out free samples. Oh what might have been. 😥
I’m sure it’s no co-incidence that to this day two of my favourite foods are freshly baked bread and smokey bacon.
FOOTNOTE – Four decades later. I can’t say I envy these kids, or their teachers for that matter. 86 km is a damned long way on a bike! 🚲
When I posted this to a couple of history sites the response was overwhelming. The most popular excursion seems to have been to the Port Kembla steelworks. However, there were some really bizarre ones, such as to a cigarette factory, a sewage works, and an abattoir. 😨
AS TO THAT ULVERSTONE HIGH SCHOOL BICYCLING TRIP – IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORTH A SORE BACKSIDE TO SEE MOLE CREEK CAVES.
HOWEVER, LOYALTY FORCES ME TO ADD THAT A MUCH CLOSER MARVEL OF NATURE IS GUNNS PLAINS CAVES
