The Royal Adelaide Show is here again. Always a good sign that the warmer weather is on it’s way. I don’t go to the show much anymore. But when I was a kid, it was a different story. My father always had to man his companies stand in the Motor Pavilion. Due to the Royal Show being held in school holidays I got to go whenever he was working. It didn’t take long for my father to get sick of me moaning how bored I was, so he’d dive his hand into his pocket, pull out some cash and tell me to go find something to do.
Not many kids would be allowed to roam the showgrounds on their own – I was a lucky one. I think I spent most of my time in the Show bag Pavilion. I was never one for the rides. They were for the older kids. I’d walk around seeing how much things cost – trying not to impulse buy – and then return to get what I wanted. If I was tired I wander to sit and watch the fashion parades or back to my fathers stand only to unload my purchases before heading out again on another shopping spree.
When my father wasn’t working he’d have his Standard 8 movie camera with him, he filmed some things at the show, (these screen captures from the mid 1970’s) without his films I doubt I’d remember The Wombles helping the Kesab (Keep South Australia Beautiful) campaign.
The showground’s have seen many changes over the years. Who remembers the Rothman’s Theatre, Hamilton Hall, The Alpine Chair Lift, the original Motor Pavilion (demolished to make way for the Jubilee Pavilion), Centennial Hall, The Savings Bank of South Australia with the giant Humphrey Bear sign?
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