Lockhart - tourist town of the Riverina NSW

DO YOU REMEMBER THESE?

Being a long weekend, celebrating the Queen's Birthday in NSW, some of our family visited for a few days; we travelled to the town of LOCKHART, not far from our home, as we live in the Shire of Lockhart in the Riverina of NSW.  We stepped back into mid last century at the BLUE BIRD CAFE in the Main Street of Lockhart. I LOVED those Musk Sticks and who else experienced a CHOO CHOO BAR with that licorice chewey taste? The next image is from a local editorial, the remainder are ones I took, with the owner's permission.

The Blue Bird Cafe has an incredible history which you may read here.

Previous Greek proprietor, Peter Veneris, is remembered on the pavement out the front of the cafe.

In 2012 Roger & Louise, the present owners, spotted the cafe and decided to purchase it and return it to her heyday of milk shakes, banana splits, ice-cream sundaes and a hearty good meal.

The restoration is an amazing story in itself, including recent floods in 2010 & 2012- read it here.

The Milk Shake Bar from the front and behind the counter.

We decided to have a meal so thought you may be interested to see the table setting, laminex top table, authentic tomato sauce bottle and plastic condiments containers. Do you still have any of these?

We chuckled at the Menu, framed upon the wall, from a past era.

I was intrigued with a contraption on the Milk Bar bench and Roger told me it was equivalent to today's 'Slushie' machine upon which a block of ice was placed and then squish squashed down. Hmmm.

So, if you are travelling from Sydney to Adelaide, detour and visit Lockhart. 

More photos of The Blue Bird Cafe may be seen on the blog which Louise writes.

 http://bluebirdlockhart.blogspot.com.au/

There are entries from past years' Spirit of the Land Festival adorning the streets and parks of Lockhart, which I blog about each October after the Festival.  Amazing sculptures from whatever is laying around the farm. Hope you've seen those in previous blogs, but they are in my Archives.

I have also blogged before about the GREEN'S GUNYAH MUSEUM featuring the most amazing 'Wool Art' by local artist DORIS GOLDER. It is well worth a journey to Lockhart to view her collection of notable Australians, as well as local landscapes and animals. Truly, they are the most amazing framed portraits you will ever see. All natural wool used, NO dyeing at all. A unique and fascinating layered wool art form. Doris glues white wool fleece to a firm board, then creates a grid over a real photograph, duplicating the grid on the white background, using natural wool of all colours and textures. Eyelashes, eyes, wrinkles, mouths - everything, small fragments of wool, piece by piece. These are not glued, but put in place perfectly by the grid, then a sheet of persplex is placed over the top and framed; this being held firm enough to be sufficient without gluing it altogether. Amazing technique.

 Keep in mind, ALL natural wool. 

Fine strand by strand, placed into position. AMAZING!

The front window of the Museum.

Some of the amazing blasts from the past that you will see inside, 

plus some amazing displays from past World Wars focusing on locals who served.

My dear Aunty Silv from Grong Grong, where we lived when our children were born, had a 'party line' phone like this.

Is the next image a wringer from the laundry?

Did you ever weigh yourself on scales like this?




 

Hunter (6) asked if the typewriters were old computers?

Some of the old machinery from the past on display outside.

The Museum is only open from Wednesday to Sunday 9.30am to 4.30pm 

so make sure you visit on one of those days of the week.

Thank you to everyone who emailed me re my last blog triggering some nostalgic memoirs, many of which were relayed to me. It was completely unplanned to have these trips down memory lane, just happened. 
By coincidence, my next blog is also along the same lines.