Country Style

MY COUNTRY CHILDHOOD

AUTHOR AND SCREENWRIT­ER BENJAMIN LAW — BEST KNOWN FOR HIS MEMOIR-TURNED-TELEVISION SERIES THE FAMILY LAW — SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD ON QUEENSLAND’S SUNSHINE COAST AVOIDING THE BEACH.

- WORDS BENJAMIN LAW

Author and screenwrit­er Benjamin Law shares his memories of growing up in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with an aversion to the beach.

LOOKING plot of whom of 1970s. gamble, Australia. by clarity At shock. sleepy newly Queensland’s the the developmen­t natural same could coastal Mum Her of given married the BACK, Immediatel­y, introducti­on time, swim especially sun town she’d beauty IT Sunshine and Hong that it — WAS of never was moved the of Caloundra my was migrants, a the a she to happy pristine massive parents travelled Coast Australia taking region to was the but struck in and coastlines. neither — beaches culture a — to the strange big a was the the pair the of words town’ people because I created The — that Family compared everyone partly and Mum co-write Law because often to there — Hong the used — there was is SBS Kong; were white. inspired were TV partly ‘ghost comedy so few by my family’s in the 1990s. the Sunshine present After story the Coast and day. suffocatio­n has However, were been actually adapted my of raising years in the to growing their be 1980s set first and up two on kids in had between an me apartment and Caloundra moved above to and Kawana a Maroochydo­re, Chinese Waters, restaurant, a punctuated district my nestled parents by a road. series It was of canals most and famous best as known a place for you its drove large past. connecting home, Our house unceremoni­ously was a classic plonked Australian across AV the Jennings road from display the big local shopping centre. Made of bog-ordinary orange brick, the house had a large external garage that doubled as a storage shed, a yard so big we called it ‘the forest’ and enough rooms that you could either plan for a huge family or, human bedrooms relaxed contracept­ion. kids brother Tammy Needless struggled Maybe I don’t — my traffickin­g and Andrew; and it to know, to that eldest was say, laissez-faire our contain made They the youngest engage the me; sister sheer operation. enormous ended all my my Candy; of in parents about younger number sister us an up by illegal having house my using the Michelle. overly of sister older 1990s. five in is physical As When keeping such a result, close you’re conflict them Mum quarters, raising occupied or faithfully visible that the to main bloodshed. many shuttled avoid priority kids any us — karate between lessons, extracurri­cular tenpin bowling, activities netball, photograph­y club, debating — like some On cushions, weekends play we’d Asian video build games version elaborate and of The hold cubby Royal guerilla houses Tenenbaums. fashion out of parades sofa where Summer the girls holidays wore were men’s the clothes best. Mum and the implemente­d boys wore dresses. an ‘all-you-can-sleep’ rule, which meant we kids often stayed up until 1am playing Nintendo or board games, before losing consciousn­ess in random rooms, falling into 12-hour coma-like sleeps and waking up in the afternoon. To cool off and escape the heat of our sauna-like house during the day, we avoided the beaches — they seemed murderous to an Asian family like ours — and headed to the local pool or waterslide­s. Otherwise, we’d yow-cheh-hor — the Cantonese term for cruising around in a car with no particular destinatio­n. At the local fruit farm, Dad would do something I now realise >

 ??  ?? Benjamin Law, aged five, with his mother Jenny. FACING PAGE Benjamin now lives in Sydney.
Benjamin Law, aged five, with his mother Jenny. FACING PAGE Benjamin now lives in Sydney.

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