Elwood History
Growing up in Elwood had so many tangents. My earliest memories are a cold frosty August morning sliding up and down a deck chair in the back yard at Wave St. I realise now it was on my 3rd birthday in 1960 hence the occasion for the camera. Mum and I shared our birthday on the 10th of August each year.
Cracker Night
Cracker night on Elwood Canal. Guy Fawkes is the name most associated with the 1605 gunpowder plot being the attempt by Guy Fawkes and others to blow up the king, James 1 and members of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was caught on the spot and a ‘guy’ is still burned on bonfires and lit to celebrate the ‘miraculous’ survival of James I. We didn’t know the details then but there was always that sense of something mysterious which invovled creating a ghoulish effigy of the guy!
Early November each year the excitement would build. The neighbourhood kids from Foam, Wave and Tide St go together and began to build the fire for the big night. Our houses were all connected though holes in the back fences so that we could run in and out of backyards with ease and our mums would even use these shortcuts after 5pm to partake in social gatherings..
One year we all helped to build a scarecrow styled ‘Guy” and wheeled him along Wave St and tentatively knocked at the front door of each houses in our street and asked if we could have a little ‘money for the Guy’ something we had heard about which gave meaning to this special night.
With the proceeds we excitedly went up to the newsagent in Ormond Rd and bought our selection of crackers, rockets, jumping jacks, catherine wheels and Chinese lanterns.
We were all bursting with pride this particular year as the pyre was huge ready for the night! Just before dinner one of the neighbourhood boys Donald came running into our house shouting someone has lit the fire already !The guy is burnt. With disbelief we all ran down to the corner of Foam and Tide St only to see a charred mess. We had all worked so hard and day had been built on the anticipation of the dark and Guy Fawkes night beginning.
A couple of parents and older brothers rallied and we managed to reconstruct the pyre just as darkness fell. That year we all made sure a wonderful night was had for all the neighbourhood. In the adrenaline filled excitement one of the neighbors' dad’s rushed towards me in the darkness. I was proudly holding up a large sparkler which melted away the days disappointments. John then cheerfully asked if he could light his cracker. Living for the moment of course I said yes! Then “booomm!!!” went the penny bunger in front of my face and in John’s hand. I screamed and cried not really understanding what had happened and John was yelling and jumping around like a cartoon character... Somehow we escaped serious injuries although the memory is seared into my brain..
Later that evening my dad and brother rigged up a catherine wheel on the old wooden laundry out the back. They hammered a nail into the wall and attached the catherine wheel. Everyone was instructed to stand back while the blokes fiddled about with matches. Suddenly the wheel came to life with sparks shooting in all directions as the wheel spun and exerted a scream noise in its wake. I found it a little frightening and was certain some of the sparks landed on my arm but there was lots of cheering when the wheel came to a stop all was silent but for the acrid smoke and charred remains.
