We wouldn’t have missed it for quids
AS kids back in the 1950s and 1960s, we thought the Hobart Regatta was great.
There were three big occasions we looked forward to during the year: Cracker night, the Royal Hobart Show and the Regatta.
We probably had no idea what a regatta really was all about but we wouldn’t have missed it for quids. And therein lay a good reason. It didn’t cost quids to get in. Admission was free.
Also, despite the huge crowds which attended in those years, it was easy to get to. The train line went right through the middle of the Regatta grounds. Um, it still does!
We were transfixed by the activities that were provided. Let’s face it. For kids there were no computer games, television was just about to appear on the scene and so the Regatta for families provided unsophisticated entertainment.
Highlights of course were on the water especially watching characters battle it out on the greasy pole.
There were all the usual smells of food, where doughnuts being made in front of your eyes and fairy floss were special treats.
But my strongest memories were the spruikers.
These front-of-house, larger than life individuals had the task of drawing Hobart’s population into their particular sideshow or attraction and thereby get your money out of your pocket into theirs. They would have been quite at home on Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London with their wit and repartee.
As Harry Paulsen, touring boxing entrepreneur, once said, “It’s the outside of the show that gets the dough.” My memory here is hazy but I guess it was Harry Paulsen at the Regatta in Hobart back then, beating a drum to get patrons’ attention, who tried to woo ambitious young men into his tent to fight a few rounds against any of his boxing troupe.
“Go a round or two for a pound or two!”
I seem to remember a visiting sailor or two disappearing inside to try their luck but our parents forbade us ever to go in and watch.
I seem to remember a visiting sailor or two disappearing inside to try their luck but our parents forbade us ever to go in and watch.
Today it has to be a tough gig for the Regatta to attract patrons compared to past years.
It now has to compete for patronage on the same weekend with the Wooden Boat Festival, the Hobart Cup and of course now being on a long weekend, families might take advantage of the summer weather as the last chance for a holiday break before the school year begins in earnest.
However, as I said, back then it was big deal for families to attend and in 1962, it was important enough for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to make an appearance.