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Author Archive | Bob Byrne

Photo from the City of Playford. The Octagon was designed to cater for any type of entertainment from stage shows, balls and cabarets to indoor sports.

Great Pop Groups, Blue Light Discos and More!

One of the most popular posts featured on the Adelaide Remember When Facebook page early last year concerned the Octagon and Shedley Theatres at Elizabeth. It attracted thousands of views and likes and almost 500 comments, as people recalled their past experiences and reminisced about the early days of Elizabeth and the good times had […]

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Photo from The Curiosity Show.  The programme  introduced  children to science, using do-it-yourself experiments with household items like matchsticks, rubber bands and cardboard.

“Well, I’m Glad You Asked”

Remember coming home from school to watch The Curiosity Show on Channel 9? Well, I’m glad you asked! The Curiosity Show was an educational children’s TV programme made here in Adelaide and produced from 1972 to 1990. It was hosted by zoologist Rob Morrison and scientist Deane Hutton and the formula was simple; introduce children to science, […]

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The Adelaide concert was made even more memorable by the fact that it was Bowie's first ever show in the Southern Hemisphere, the first open air gig of the tour and first large scale outdoor concert Bowie had ever played.

Adelaide Oval and the David Bowie Concert, 1978

With the Rolling Stones due to hit the stage tomorrow night for what is sure to be a massive concert at the Adelaide Oval, who can recall one of the other most memorable concerts ever held there, in 1978? David Bowie’s concert on November 11th that year was made more even memorable by the fact […]

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Photo from a recent eBay advertisement. After the brick came the tins and then the plastic containers of our favourite ice cream Amscol

“It’s a Food, Not a Fad”

Whenever the word ‘Amscol’ is mentioned to an Adelaide raised baby boomer, their eyes glaze over and they seem to drift off with sweet memories of hot summers and an ice cream cone at the beach, an Eskimo Pie at the pictures or the special ‘once-a-week’ luxury of a slice of Amscol ice cream from […]

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The decade of peace, love and rock'n'roll.

The 60s, The Decade That Rocked.

If ever a decade could be described as one of change, it was the 1960s. It was the era of the Cold and Vietnam wars, and Australia was changing economically and culturally. As the excitement of the rock’n’roll music of the ’50s began to dim, the world discovered the sounds of four lads from Liverpool, […]

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Don Dunstan waves from the Pier Hotel balcony to the big crowd waiting on Glenelg beach for the predicted tidal wave

Adelaide’s Tidal Wave. The One That Never Happened

Adelaide made world headlines briefly back in 1976 when Melbourne house painter and amateur clairvoyant John Nash, reported he’d had a vision in which Adelaide and its 800,000 inhabitants were obliterated by an earthquake and tidal wave. Mr Nash claimed that doomsday would be between 10.30 a.m. and noon on 19th January. He was so […]

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Photo from the Holdfast Bay History Centre. Magic  Mountain was likened to a 'giant dog dropping'.

Magic Mountain, Memories From the 80s and 90s.

Remember Magic Mountain the theme park at Glenelg that opened in 1982? Strangely, it was never a major tourist attraction to the area but was very popular with locals who loved the rides, especially the giant water slides, said to be the largest in the southern hemisphere at the time. One of the main criticisms was […]

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The panel vans would back into the parking bay at the drive-in and everybody knew that “when the wagons a-rockin’ don’t come knockin’”!

The Shaggin’ Wagon – Cars From Our Youth

The ‘Urban Dictionary’ defines the shaggin’ wagon as “A pimped out 60’s – 80’s van usually comes with a couch, waterbed, strobe lights, lava lamps. Used for the specific purpose of getting laid and/or high.” Shaggin’ wagons were basically panel vans, painted in bright colours, fully decked out with a carpeted cargo bay (some had […]

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John Niarhos shared this photo; "Remember these in the local deli"?

The Coca Cola Yo-yo Craze… Remember?

Do you remember the yo-yo craze that swept Adelaide (and indeed Australia) back in the 60s and 70s? There would be very few baby boomers who, as teenagers in those years, didn’t own at least one Coca Cola yo-yo. Not surprisingly, I’ve found that many have kept them as tokens and souvenirs of their childhood. […]

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