MY HOMETOWN
Definition:
Your hometown is the place where you grew up or lived for a long time.
QUESTIONS
ABOUT YOUR HOMETOWN
(1)
Where is your hometown?
(2)
What is the population of your hometown?
(3)
What does your hometown produce?
(4)
Does anyone famous come from your hometown?
(5)
Has your hometown changed a lot since you were
a kid? If so, how? Have the changes
been for
the better or worse?
Read the
article about the authors’ hometown and then answer the questions.
A Kiwi Comes Back Home by Gerard O’Neil
When I was a child Whataroa was a thriving village with a pioneering
feel to it. It had a police station, courthouse, bank, maternity hospital
(where I was born), post office, primary school, two stores, a fish and chip
shop, two churches, a hotel, community hall, garage, and RSA (Returned
Servicemen’s Association) clubrooms.
Before the arrival of television in the
late 1960s, Friday night was the busiest night of the week in the village. The
whole community would turn out to watch a film shown in the community hall.
There was a ritual to this event. Families would arrive about 6.30pm and while
the men headed off to the pub or RSA for a quick drink (men only bars in those
days), the women would herd their numerous offspring into the general store to
buy two or five cent mixture of sweets. They
would then make their way to the hall a short distance away where the children
would be released. While the women prepared halftime tea and biscuits in the
kitchen to be sold to raise money for some community project, the children
would link up with their friends and play hide and seek or war games. When the men began to drift in, the
heavy wooden seats were set out and with much shouting and shushing; the
night's entertainment would begin.
First up were cartoons such as Mr. Magoo or
Woody Woodpecker. This was followed by the principle attraction, generally some
American Western or British comedy. If it was a British film, it usually began
with a military band playing “God Save The Queen”. During the band's rendition
everybody would stand to attention.
The community hall was used a lot in those
days. Most clubs (Lion's, Young Farmers, Country Women's Institute,
Toastmasters, Weight Watchers, etc.) held their meetings there. The once-a-year
formal dance, end-of-year primary school show and community Christmas party
were held there too. It was also where special visiting dignitaries and
government bureaucrats met the community.
While the governor general and his wife were left standing completely
alone in the middle of the hall, the navy officer was bombarded with questions
such as; how many people had he killed with his gun and how sharp was his
sword?
Speaking of visiting dignitaries and
government bureaucrats, I think after almost fifty years I can reveal a secret:
the photo of the first crossing of the new Whataroa river bridge by some
important official is not historically accurate. About 10 days before the
bridge's official opening, the construction workers liberated our school van to
cross the new bridge each morning and afternoon.
During the year, there were events in the
community calendar which nobody missed, including the annual cattle sale at the
stockyards. I remember the sale not because of the hundreds of Hereford cattle
on offer, but by the number of frogs my friend and I always managed to catch in
the canteens water tanks.
The Whataroa A and P show was also another major event, as well as the
school's lamb and calf day, and swimming sports. In fact, any event seemed to
be an excuse for a community gathering.
Most of the community would turn out when the mail bus arrived from
Hokitika, the BNZ bank opened once per month, someone was sick or died, the
local policeman needed help finding a lost tramper, there was some type of
accident, the forecast was wrong and a farmer needed help to gather his hay
before it rained, the fish and chip shop opened, or the milk tanker had ran
over some child's cat.
If the locals were not fighting against the elements (it rains torrents
in Whataroa), they spent their time trying to change things. It was common to
see trucks rumbling through the village with one massive rock on board to be
used for river protection work, timber trucks bringing huge native trees to the
sawmill for processing or low loaders transporting large bulldozers to the next
patch of native forest to be transformed into pasture for dairy cows.
The Whataroa of today is different from that I knew fifty years ago, (as
it should be). The personalities which made up the community of that time have
died, retired to Hokitika or Nelson or simply grown older.
Even though many of the buildings remain, a number have been converted
for other purposes. The post office is now a tourist center, the bank is a
house, Robbie's shop a souvenir center, the hospital a motel, the sawmill no
longer exists, the fish and chip shop is gone, and the RSA club rooms are
ghostly silent.
Originally published by Fairfax Media :
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/share-your-news-and-views/10219565/A-Kiwi-comes-back-home
|
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
(1) How many churches were there Whataroa when the
author was a child?
(2)
What
was the busiest night in the village and why?
(3)
Where
did the men initially go when they brought their families to the village on
Friday night
and why could their wives not accompany them?
and why could their wives not accompany them?
(4)
Why
did everyone stand to attention when “God Save The Queen” was played?
(5)
What
is a Governor General?
(6)
What
was the fifty year old secrete the author revealed?
(7)
What
does; “it rains torrents in Whataroa”, mean?
(8)
Why
do you think the RSA club rooms are ghostly silent?
(9)
Do you think the author misses his hometown?
If your answer is“yes”, why?
(10) If you live away from your hometown would you
like to live there again one day?
Some Stuff
reader comments in response to the published article:
David
Williams:
|
That
brought back memories for me. That’s how life was back in the 1960's.
|
KiwiAussie Mum:
|
This
story brought a smile to my face being a Coaster at heart and with relatives
still living happily in Whataroa. My Dad and his family were raised in South
Westland and my Grandad, my Dad and Uncles were all involved in the
sawmilling era at that time.
I
love Whataroa and even in my lifetime Whataroa has changed considerably, but
when you visit, you can still find some of the long-term locals.
I
now live in a large city in Australia and at times I still yearn for the
solitude of the likes of the Okarito Lagoon or heading to the Waitangitoana
to perch on the banks for some of the best whitebait - to me, some of the
most beautiful places you could ever find. Yay Whataroa; Yay Coasters!
|
Jigsaw:
|
That
was a blast from the past! I taught at the primary school there a few years
before this but there are some things here that I don't recall. The 'new'
Whataroa bridge wasn't even a glean in anyone's eye at that time and the old
bridge was a marvel-when it flooded if you stopped in the middle of the
bridge and switched off you engine you could hear the huge boulders rumbling
along the bottom of the river. I always stop when I go down that way which
isn't often and observe the new and the things that are still the same.
|
Enz:
|
Thanks
for the history lesson. I reminds me how times have changed and a lot of
community spirit has died out over the generations where many people have
never met their neighbors. Despite being a small town, you could say that
modern day large towns are more isolating in the attitude of people’s hearts.
I was sitting on the bus the other day and just thinking, here we are all on
a bus and no one is talking to those sitting next to them. I think if it were
a 1960's bus there would be much chatter.
|
Ummm:
|
Unfortunately,
"You can't go home again...."
|
EXERCISE:
Match the phrases
with their meanings:
(A)
|
Yay
Whataroa; Coasters!
|
___
|
Had
not even been thought about.
|
(B)
|
A
blast from the past!
|
___
|
Doing
something that hasn’t been done before.
|
(C)
|
Wasn't
even a glean in anyone's eye.
|
___
|
Internet
slang: “Exclamation of approval”.
|
(D)
|
A
pioneering feel to it.
|
___
|
No
one was really interested in him.
|
(F)
|
His
captive audience evaporated.
|
___
|
A
reemergence of a strong memory.
|
DISCUSSION POINT:
What do you
think the following commentators where trying to say when they wrote:
(1)
Kiwi Aussie Mum: “….. at times I still yearn for the solitude …..”
(2)
Enz: Despite
being a small town, you could say that modern day large towns are more
isolating in the attitude of people’s hearts.
(3)
Umm: Unfortunately,
"You can't go home again...."
ANSWERS
COMPREHENSION CHECK
(1)
How
many churches were there Whataroa when the author was a child? Two
(2)
What
was the busiest night in the village and why? Friday night. This was the night the community came together to
watch a film as television did not exist at that time.
(3)
Where
did the men initially go when they brought their families to the village on
Friday night and why could their wives not accompany them? They went to have a beer at the pub or RSA. These were men only establishments.
Women were not allowed in.
(4)
Why
did everyone stand to attention when “God Save The Queen” was played?
New Zealand is a member of the British Commonwealth and so the Queen of
England is also the Queen of New Zealand. People stood to sing “God Save The
Queen” as a sign of respect for the Queen.
(5) What is a Governor General? The official representative of the Queen
of England in each commonwealth country.
(6) What was the fifty year old secrete
the author revealed? His school van had
been crossing the bridge some days before the official “first” crossing.
(7) What does; “it rains torrents in
Whataroa”, mean? It rains a lot and heavily!
(8) Why do you think the RSA club rooms
are ghostly silent? The old soldiers grown
older or died and so do not frequent the club rooms anymore.
(9) Do you think the author misses his hometown?
If your answer “yes”, why? Yes. He appears
to have good memories of growing up there.
(10) If you live away from your hometown
would you like to live there again one day?
EXERCISE:
Match the phrases with their meanings:
(A)
|
Yay
Whataroa;
|
(c)
|
Had
not even been thought about.
|
(B)
|
A
blast from the past!
|
(d)
|
Doing
something that hasn’t been done before.
|
(C)
|
Wasn't
even a glean in anyone's eye.
|
(a)
|
Internet
slang: “Exclamation of approval”.
|
(D)
|
A
pioneering feel to it.
|
(f)
|
No
one was really interested in him.
|
(F)
|
His
captive audience evaporated.
|
(b)
|
A
reemergence of a strong memory.
|
What do you think the following commentators
where trying to say when they wrote: (Possible answers).
(1)
Kiwi Aussie Mum: “….. at times I still yearn for
the solitude …..”
The writer lives in a noisy bustling
city and is probably a very busy person (she is a mother) with little time to
relax and think. Small villages have a different
pace of life. One has space to be alone and think.
(2)
Enz: Despite
being a small town, you could say that modern day large towns are more
isolating in the attitude of people’s hearts.
The writer thinks people (perhaps
including himself) feel lonely in large cities. People
who live in such place only think of themselves.
(3) Umm: Unfortunately, "You can't go home
again...."
You cannot return to the past.
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