Sydney Fennell grew up in Alexandria, a once heavily industrialised inner city suburb. In this interview he talks about his childhood, family, friends and employment in local industry. In the excerpt below Sydney recalls the work he did as a child to earn pocket money to save for Christmas.
I worked on a milk run Saturday mornings; we sold eucalyptus soap and disinfectant soap on a Saturday morning, from our wheelbarrow. We had a billy cart, and we’d go up to the factory and buy a can of this and a can of that for about one and sixpence, we’d come home and we’d water it down and we’d go around selling it door to door, me and a little mate of mine. And we sold old wood and that as firewood to people, pay so much a bag. I think it was three shillings a bag, from memory. Different factories in the area, you’d get the offcuts. We’d bag it up and push it around on our billy carts, sell it.
