And people were being maimed in unsafe workplaces and there was no Medicare, no ndis, no chance for young people to ever dream of University, where being gay was essentially illegal etc etc.
@@jamieparker6402 As long as most in the job reach retirement age, they are well payed & confident that their families will be looked after if something goes wrong; People accept the risks of dangerous jobs. Life isn’t meant to be safe.
@@jamieparker64021977 anyone could go to university for FREE. There were no university fees for almost 15 years from 1974. Research in Australia in the 80s and 90s benefitted from all of those people that wouldn't normally get to go to university, eg wifi might not have been developed. Medibank came in in 1975 as universal healthcare and was changed a bit and renamed to Medicare a few years later and the private health insurance branch kept the name Medibank. Welfare support was so readily available an NDIS system wasn't as needed as today. Plus seatbelts weren't mandatory so lots more fatalities rather than ongoing care required for motor vehicles.
Ha ! There goes my youth. I was at Darling Harbour in 1977 but not a shunter. Those guys sure did work hard and the injury rate was high. What you see here is them doing the easy stuff because 3/4 of their work was done at night. At my end of the yard the shunters were done and gone by 9 am not to be seen again until 3 pm. Depending on how busy the day was, I either unloaded wool or loaded kegs of beer. The shunters would come in around 3.30 - 4 pm to haul the empty carriages away. My last job of the day was to close the wooden doors on the empty S trucks and those things were mighty heavy. On a bad day there might be 30 or so to close.
Good to read these stories. My dad used to work at Caltex House and I looked down from his office at that yard in 1985 while waiting to start school work experience in the Westpac ( or was it Wales ) bank downstairs... Come 1986 I'd left school and being a rail buff me and mates in our teens would creep around those rail yards exploring, not causing any riff raff or graffiti... Just walk the yards. I still at 54 love railways and camp out at grain silos out west or car camp next to rail lines. Cheers for your story there working the goods line 👍
Brendan Crothers, the best 'Senior Shunter class 2' that there ever was. had the pleasure of working with him at the 'old' Blacktown station. "Fookin hell"...
@@patricktongs9766 Ahh yes, the bloke with the high voice......wouldn't have picked him as the star though, interesting stuff. Certainly different times back then, even where I worked in Pt. Adelaide, no OHS, tuff hard drinking blokes and certainly a baptism by fire for me as a young working guy.
When Australia was a place of hope, employment and little or no corporate or government interference I know I was there, an amazing time to be alive and grow up in compared to the mess it is now. New sub here .
And people drove drunk and without seatbelts and cigarette smoke and car exhaust was everywhere, and no one cared about domestic violence, and priests/teacher were pedophiles without a care, and immigrants and gays were treated like jokes.
I was a shunter from 1978 to 1986. Best bloody job on the railways. I shunted at Cooks River Yard St Peters, Flemington Markets, Enfield ,Homebush sales yard and various other yards in the metropolitan area.
@@01DOGG01 you wouldn’t belief it but virtually everyone who did that job reached retirement age. People today have such a distorted view on what’s a dangerous job rather that what’s a potentially dangerous job.
@@mickvonbornemann3824 can't shunt like this any more mate. Rules, network control, points and frames - a lot has changed. Can't even get onto the mainline without permission from control
I was a troubled sleeper as a toddler then young child. I grew up in a creaky old mansion on a hill in Strathfield, where the sounds of Homebush and Flemington shunting became my best friend at night, relaxing me like a lullaby. I’m still in night-hearing-range of a goods line and the sound still has the same calming effect on me.
You would have loved the QVB... it was a library back then and hardly a soul went into it. Downstairs there were a load of cheap rent shops facing out onto the street. Abbey's Books started in the QVB facing out onto George Street.
I remember finishing junior school and starting yr 5 in another school in 1980 and looking at the older kids with sideburns and beards and thinking they ain't kids they are men
Clive Livingston was the Yard Master there once, he became SM at Town Hall after Darling Harbour was closed down and retired whilst at Town Hall. The wharfies canteen on the one of docks nearby was the place to go for smoko. Good to have a run to the meatworks chillers siding and the navy victualling wharf. Some colourful characters on the job back then, great video and thanks for the memories!
Yeah, the riff-raff were being progressively moved to the Green Valley housing zone (now known as the suburbs of Miller, Cartright, Busby and Heckenberg) as well as Campbeltown and Mt. Druitt and their surrounding suburbs.
I remember paying 20 cents to cross the harbour bridge and all weekends spent at the Cross, had a one bedroom unit in Kirribilli near Govt house and it was 60 bucks a week ❤
A few years after this was shot, as a kid, I visited Sydney from the country on a family trip. Due to Mum's dodgy map reading, we wound up at the helipad at Pyrmont Pt, where Pirrama Park is now. My sister and I begged and pleaded and my parents paid the grand sum of $25 each for us to have a scenic flight over the CBD (a very large sum for us in those days). It must have been after 1981 as we hovered in amazement next to Centerpoint Tower. I can still remember that event and now after living in Sydney for almost 40 years, have witnessed some immense change. Thank you for the great footage! Much appreciated. Cheers - Dave
We used to go and play around there in the 60's. The workers always gave us a penny for lollies. It was a great time to grow up. I should mention we were usually shooed off after we got our penny. Lol.
Rose-tinted glasses obscure the fact that Australia then was NOT progressive AT ALL. Australia threw a fit in the 80s when Keating wanted to 'float the dollar' on the Stock Market, that's how progressive and knowledgeable we were. Opportunities weren't as abundant as you seem to remember them to be and the only ones who 'gave it a go' were as many as there are today. You're definitely showing your (blinkered) age, cause I grew up then, too and it was hardly a 'workers paradise' (unless you were of British origin, that is)
The wonderful industry at Darling Harbour was replaced by “luxury” apartments, casinos and gambling… great to see this glimpse of Sydney’s recent past.
Ohhh yeah it looks so “wonderful”! Gee I wish it was still a massive, depressing, wet ass dank mud pit.. soooo much better than a nice waterfront harbour that hosts millions of people each year with art festivals such as vivd.. would be sooo much better if it was still a really dangerous low paying exploitation zone for immigrants hey?!
@@Michael.Chapmanohh man where do I start? The fact that you have reduced an iconic land mark that serves millions of people each year (me included) to a “casino”, or the boomer nostalgia for a deadly, exploitative, low paying, inefficient hellscape. My comment is not meant to be helpful, it’s calling out misguided sentimental rubbish that is completely out of touch. Not to mention the xenophobia that flows from the comment right after yours.. I HATE gambling, but your ignorance is on display if that’s how you describe the transformation of an industrial ghetto into one of the worlds nicest harbour spaces..
Worked there from seventy eight to eighty one and remember Brendan as a great lad,left and was a shunter at Enfield for a bit but it was a gravity yard and had a couple of close shaves so ended up a guard for a few years they were good times.
I was born in 1978 and never knew this part of Sydney. I still remember fondly the simpler times in Australia though. Hard days work and a cold beer at the pub afterwards. Sometimes I’d go with Dad…..knee high socks and short sleeve business shirts everywhere, stinking of Brut and Winnie Reds 😂.
68, used to play around there, lived in redfern for about a years, mostly lived around the beaches, Manly, Bondi, curl curl, dee why, went the the Flemmington markets(Paddy's) all the time, Grandpa worked there (He fought at Tobruk with the 9th.
Did my aircraft engineering apprenticeship at ultimo college, we used to explore the Darling harbour area in our lunch break viewing the early 1980s transformation construction, when it was first converted to an entertainment area in the mid 1980s all us boy's used to come in from the suburbs on a Friday/Saturday night, those thunderbolt beers at the pump house were potent!! still it was a safe area with good times to be had. Australia/Sydney has changed in so many ways from this video, wish I could say for all the better.
"Look frank!" lol, what a miserable looking old day in darling harbour, youd expect the sun to be blazing, for a minute there i thought there was a darling harbour in england. great vid though.
Back then you'd get about 2 weeks solid of rain, sometimes three (with a few sunny days thrown in); we'd still go to manly or dee why, cronulla for a swim and chips on the weekend, or paddy's market etc.
I was a sprag for three month's at Cook's River Absolutly hated it. 99% of the shunter's were diamond's but there was alway's one fool that could get you killed.
Schoolmates went to work for Sydney Rail ,also Chullora Workshop's ,many mates that worked on Sydney Rail formed Bands in the 70s ,seeing this Vid bought back a heap of great memories from that Era was a joy to watch .thanks for sharing
I frequently went to this rail yard in 1977 - 79 loading up the rail wagons with produce to be sent to parts of NSW. I probably bumped into some of these guys! The area has certainly changed!
I would love to see if anyone can do a then and now for some of these areas. You can also see why it was dangerous work. Running alongside rolling carriages with no control of stopping them.
Up until 9 minutes when the sun comes out it looks like this could be somewhere dreary and depressing in the UK. The tiny shorts do give away it’s not too cold though.
This is great. First thing I knew about darling harbour was when they renewed it and then I was curious about what was there before. I've seen pictures but this gives an idea what it was really like.
lived through it mate, maybe nostalgia, but the memories are burnt in deep, catching the ferries in the rain, used to get big swells, the sight the smells, our people everywhere, good people, nice people, happy people (most of the time), polite, kind, it was fvcking magic...
I was working nearby at Peter's Milk in 77 when some milk tankers were shunted into the yard collecting a contractor's HQ station wagon and crushing it against a stanchion .
Blue collar heros! Amazing how manual tasks have now been automated. Thought that Sheila with the blond hear hair had some nice legs… 🙈😂 Work, health and safety bureaucrats must be having a heart attack watching this! 😂😂
Wow, I’d forgotten it was like that around Darling Harbour. What a massive redevelopment project that was. Good to see people just working in normal gear…nowadays mechanics wear nitrile gloves to protect their skin 😂
That is because OH&S woke up to the fact that petrol and diesel and other products used in the industry such as degreasers and brake cleaners and the like are CARCINOGENIC...so that'll be enough out of you bud!
@@michaelearthling Very good. Glad I wasn't the only one! Was a bit concerned when the shirt came off (thinking is was a woman). I knew things were different in the workplace back then, but still...
@@TheSilmarillian It was the same over here across the ditch in NZ too mate...and after this in the 80's the era of the great pub bands and great music was coming and the car everyone wanted ...the Torana and the GT Falcon...both of them made by you blokes over there. Good times!
It's 2024 now. I could go back to 1988 and recognise it. That's 36 years. But if I go back another 11 years to 1977 and -it's a totally different world
All the comments saying how hard working and awesome we were back then. And how scum and lazy we are now. But i don't see anyone working hard in this video!
Yeah nowadays they have five micro managers to make sure every second of your work day is insufferable..the problem is neo liberalism..the Governments completely sold us out to corporations and the elite ..the workers in this video could probably pay off a house on their income now they would two more jobs plus a spouse and children bringing in some money
Theses r real aussie not like we see today sadly. only if we could hav been stuck right heir or even the 80s as they were the grouse. once the 2000s came everything went to the s house.
I remember, as a kid at around this time, the son of one of my dad's mates got a job doing just this work. My dad said that it was a really bad idea, as it's such a dangerous job. Seeing this, I now I understand exactly why dad was concerned... (And BTW, the kid stuck at the job and made it through to retirement intact - but I am guessing he was one of the luckier ones)
@@stuartmarshall7099🐂💩 Have you hired a tradie or removalist lately? I will assume you're a 'working man'. Removalists rush through because they get paid for completing the job, not per hour, so they just want to wrap up and knock off as early and quickly as possible. Tradies cut corners and overcharge. A Current Affair wouldn't have any content without 'hard working' Aussies. 😆😆😆
@@Her.Serene.Feline.Cuteness. ACA, real stories. Your off with the fairy's. They do stories of some soft cock arsehole fighting with another busy body arsehole.
What a joy for this video to be tossed up. Spent hours sketching the locomotives & industrial landscapes in the late 60 ‘s & 70’s in Darling Harbour & Pyrmont.Sydney was much smaller infused with character & filled with Aussies not afraid to celebrate Australia Day.
It's not that I don't want to celebrate Australia. But I want aboriginal Australians to be able to celebrate as well. And the date is associated with devastation for them. You have to recognise that. So changing the date is really very trivial and acknowledging of the genocide that Aboriginals suffered and are continuing to struggle with. I wanted to reply directly so you can at least hear from one person what the mindset is.
What da fk, I remember living in Pyrmont in the late 70's watching these crazy buggers💪 Hornsby depot/shunt yard was more crazy they say. Where on earth did you get the film from?? Addon...Balmain bloody power station wow!
Well, times change and we have become very "multicultural". In many ways it's a good thing but there are certainly numerous ugly sides (that noone is allowed to mention). Personally, I find it sad to see parts of our "Aussie" culture being eroded.
@@deldridg Being of the same period as you, I'm really not sure what parts of the 'Aussie' culture you're talking about. You must mean the stuff that was handed and altered from Britain, because the only 'culture' Australia ever had, was being lethargic, laidback, uncultured, smokers, sexist, racist and being extremely reactive towards anything untraditional. Egalitarianism could be said, but that's only if you were a traditional, white and male. Australia is far more accepting and knowledgeable than it used to be and I for one am glad of it
I couldn't agree more..It's become a sad, very disturbing place indeed..Filled with too many dangerous, vile criminals, that have evil ideologies - not religion..These nasty imports don't contribute anything, except lawlessness, welfare theft, laziness, social problems and chaos..That's exactly where Australia is in 2024..Our wonderful country has now been bled dry..Political traitors, who hate our beautiful, peaceful way of life, have allowed this destruction to happen..
Yes, Australia was once a beautiful, peaceful country..Sadly, we've been bled dry by millions of evil imports..Their only contributions to society are lawlessness, welfare fraud, laziness, social problems and dangerous ideologies that promote chaos..That's exactly where we are in 2024..All because of vile politicians, who allowed this destruction to happen..
Yes, Australia once was a beautiful, thriving, peaceful country..Before it was bled dry over decades, by millions of welfare recipients//imports..Their 'rich' contributions to society are social problems, archaic beliefs, laziness and lawlessness..That's exactly where we are in 2024.. Sadly, vile politicians allowed this importation of chaos and destruction to happen..
I lived in Sydney in 1977, my dad got a posting there, just for the year. I was 15. Never went near Darling Island or Harbour though. As far as I can remember.
Aberdeen Grain fed beef on the side of the containers, I live only a few hundred metres from the old Aberdeen Meat works, it was the main employer back then.
Sydney is so unrecognisable now compared to 1977. I was only 12 then and never ventured down to Darling Harbour until the new retail development opened up in the late eighties.
and back when you could afford a beer and a steak and mash counter meal and could smoke in the pub and you could take a phone call at the bar...look where we are now
Im 62 - I was stopped by the road picking up some already dead fire wood for me heater yesterday- no chain saw just small bits of wood. Some “ranger” Pulls up,tells me it’s illegal and he won’t give me a ticket or call the cops this time if I put it back and leave now! This is not the country my father fought for in ww2! We’ve completely fucked this place!
Yeah, people can't afford to buy a house and can't find a place to rent and you can't camp or sleep anywhere. People sleeping in their cars are continually told to move on. Haha, WHERE??????
Yeah. Unbelievable. While you’re gathering wood some developer with a government contract has bulldozed Badgery’s Creek and surrounding bush land, the best farm land near Sydney for an Airport nobody really needs
Yes you have completely fucked this place by complacency, you didn’t fight for this country and now it’s being usurped, firewood is the last of our problems you’ll leave us with
Extraordinary! Whoever had the vision to redevelop the site made a huge change for the better for Sydney. Same with Barrangaroo. Now, time to get rid of the Cahill Expressway...!!
![แขกคนแรกร้านแจ๊ส [ซี - เอมมี่] | iJazzKhunJang](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XP6C9kulFfc/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TH] VCT Pacific Stage 2 - Playoffs Day 1 // GEN vs RRQ | TLN vs TS](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JhkzKOhvOps/mqdefault.jpg)
They were the days when Australia was a working class paradise & small businesses weren’t going bust due to outrageous rents.
Its more than rents.
And people were being maimed in unsafe workplaces and there was no Medicare, no ndis, no chance for young people to ever dream of University, where being gay was essentially illegal etc etc.
@@jamieparker6402 As long as most in the job reach retirement age, they are well payed & confident that their families will be looked after if something goes wrong; People accept the risks of dangerous jobs. Life isn’t meant to be safe.
Fool. Life was shit then. I know. I was there.
@@jamieparker64021977 anyone could go to university for FREE. There were no university fees for almost 15 years from 1974.
Research in Australia in the 80s and 90s benefitted from all of those people that wouldn't normally get to go to university, eg wifi might not have been developed.
Medibank came in in 1975 as universal healthcare and was changed a bit and renamed to Medicare a few years later and the private health insurance branch kept the name Medibank.
Welfare support was so readily available an NDIS system wasn't as needed as today. Plus seatbelts weren't mandatory so lots more fatalities rather than ongoing care required for motor vehicles.
Beautiful. Not a single fucking tourist in sight!
And not a beautiful tourist sight to see...hahaha.
I WAS WATCHING THIS AND CONVINCED MYSELF BON SCOTT WAS GOING TO COME INTO FRAME 🤣
Ha ! There goes my youth. I was at Darling Harbour in 1977 but not a shunter. Those guys sure did work hard and the injury rate was high. What you see here is them doing the easy stuff because 3/4 of their work was done at night. At my end of the yard the shunters were done and gone by 9 am not to be seen again until 3 pm. Depending on how busy the day was, I either unloaded wool or loaded kegs of beer. The shunters would come in around 3.30 - 4 pm to haul the empty carriages away. My last job of the day was to close the wooden doors on the empty S trucks and those things were mighty heavy. On a bad day there might be 30 or so to close.
Good to read these stories. My dad used to work at Caltex House and I looked down from his office at that yard in 1985 while waiting to start school work experience in the Westpac ( or was it Wales ) bank downstairs... Come 1986 I'd left school and being a rail buff me and mates in our teens would creep around those rail yards exploring, not causing any riff raff or graffiti... Just walk the yards. I still at 54 love railways and camp out at grain silos out west or car camp next to rail lines. Cheers for your story there working the goods line 👍
Thanks for sharing guys
i can just imagine, first thing that came into my head was "how many squished feet or broken arms per day"
@@keef78 Some of them died. The big killer was rolling rail cars at night. You can't hear them.
@@keef78 exactly !
I shunted at darling harbour, 1980-1982, day & night,in the rain. Damn dangerous. dangerour
Shunters were the band of the brave.
We are fortunate this was archived.
why
We are the builders. Everyone else here is a freeloader.
@@forgottenknowledge8917
Who exactly are you to claim that (and don't say 'a builder')
No idea how this ends up in my feed, but great clip.
You must have spoke Aussie near your phone. I mean it was just coincidence.
😂
Brendan Crothers, the best 'Senior Shunter class 2' that there ever was. had the pleasure of working with him at the 'old' Blacktown station. "Fookin hell"...
Fair dinkum that cool. I grew up Blacktown born 76. Bit younger but I bet you got some good stories.
Was he the bloke in the patterned brown shirt and cool hat, that fella looked like he knew what he was doing....
@@MarkRaker He was the lad in the blue vest with the Irish accent although he doesn’t say a lot..
@@patricktongs9766 Ahh yes, the bloke with the high voice......wouldn't have picked him as the star though, interesting stuff. Certainly different times back then, even where I worked in Pt. Adelaide, no OHS, tuff hard drinking blokes and certainly a baptism by fire for me as a young working guy.
When Australia was a place of hope, employment and little or no corporate or government interference I know I was there, an amazing time to be alive and grow up in compared to the mess it is now. New sub here .
Absolutely ❤
Those where the days for sure :)
@@petethescalemodeller6130 True that indeed.
And racist
And people drove drunk and without seatbelts and cigarette smoke and car exhaust was everywhere, and no one cared about domestic violence, and priests/teacher were pedophiles without a care, and immigrants and gays were treated like jokes.
10:00 I remember driving over the bridge back when it was actually a working Swing bridge. It was sad when they turned that area into a tourist trap.
I was a shunter from 1978 to 1986. Best bloody job on the railways. I shunted at Cooks River Yard St Peters, Flemington Markets, Enfield ,Homebush sales yard and various other yards in the metropolitan area.
It's amazing that you're still with us today. Looks like a really dangerous job!
@@01DOGG01 you wouldn’t belief it but virtually everyone who did that job reached retirement age. People today have such a distorted view on what’s a dangerous job rather that what’s a potentially dangerous job.
@@mickvonbornemann3824 can't shunt like this any more mate.
Rules, network control, points and frames - a lot has changed.
Can't even get onto the mainline without permission from control
@@goingforadds did I say anything contrary to your 3 statements?
I was a troubled sleeper as a toddler then young child. I grew up in a creaky old mansion on a hill in Strathfield, where the sounds of Homebush and Flemington shunting became my best friend at night, relaxing me like a lullaby. I’m still in night-hearing-range of a goods line and the sound still has the same calming effect on me.
I'd love to go back to Sydney in the 1970s and 80s and live there forever.
You would have loved the QVB... it was a library back then and hardly a soul went into it. Downstairs there were a load of cheap rent shops facing out onto the street. Abbey's Books started in the QVB facing out onto George Street.
It was awesome back then,and into the early 90's.
Can I come with you ?
That would be amazing, I grew up in Sydney in the 80s/90s, it was awesome.
I remember finishing junior school and starting yr 5 in another school in 1980 and looking at the older kids with sideburns and beards and thinking they ain't kids they are men
Worked there in 1983, quite an experience
Clive Livingston was the Yard Master there once, he became SM at Town Hall after Darling Harbour was closed down and retired whilst at Town Hall. The wharfies canteen on the one of docks nearby was the place to go for smoko. Good to have a run to the meatworks chillers siding and the navy victualling wharf. Some colourful characters on the job back then, great video and thanks for the memories!
As a kid back then I'm sure that I've been told off by him for sliding down the stair handrails, more than once.😂
Knew Clive Livingston when he was station master at Town Hall in the early 1990’s ,really nice guy.Great History.
Wow cant believe what I’m watching, i was shunting at the same time at Enfield. What a life back then.
Glad you're still with us cobber.
Not casino either and back in the day when housing near the city was cheap before gentrification started.
Yeah, the riff-raff were being progressively moved to the Green Valley housing zone (now known as the suburbs of Miller, Cartright, Busby and Heckenberg) as well as Campbeltown and Mt. Druitt and their surrounding suburbs.
Love this little vignette into Sydney's history. Looks like such a dangerous job!
It was!!
When men were hard, not like the generations now.
you like hard men
was a shunter Enfield yard , then went out to signal boxes , brings back memories , worked Balmain box once or twice
I was an overhead electrical line worker for the SRA from 1983 to 1990
I remember paying 20 cents to cross the harbour bridge and all weekends spent at the Cross, had a one bedroom unit in Kirribilli near Govt house and it was 60 bucks a week ❤
NSW Railways where a world of their own , lots of characters, surprised someone filmed this😊
I remember that place. It was called Australia.
True that indeed just look at the mess it is now .
Agree but we suffer from “progress” like other parts of the world have. Gotta keep those bankers well fed.
Think it’s still called Australia big guy……
The name hasn’t changed 🤡
@@pantherz9103 That's right, in the same way the British sportscar brand MG is now chinese trash by the same name
This is one of the best videos I’ve ever watched on TH-cam. You can barely recognise Sydney. Thanks for sharing.
Good to see some nostalgia. I like the OH&S back then lol
A few years after this was shot, as a kid, I visited Sydney from the country on a family trip. Due to Mum's dodgy map reading, we wound up at the helipad at Pyrmont Pt, where Pirrama Park is now. My sister and I begged and pleaded and my parents paid the grand sum of $25 each for us to have a scenic flight over the CBD (a very large sum for us in those days). It must have been after 1981 as we hovered in amazement next to Centerpoint Tower. I can still remember that event and now after living in Sydney for almost 40 years, have witnessed some immense change. Thank you for the great footage! Much appreciated. Cheers - Dave
We used to go and play around there in the 60's. The workers always gave us a penny for lollies. It was a great time to grow up. I should mention we were usually shooed off after we got our penny. Lol.
The old Pyrmont power station , good times.
Just THE BEST YEARS...Progressive, honest and hard working WITH opportunities for those who had the guts to GIVE IT A GO...!!! THE REAL AUSTRALIANS
Shit conditions tho...
“Progressive” is the reason why we are in the mess we are today.
Rose-tinted glasses obscure the fact that Australia then was NOT progressive AT ALL. Australia threw a fit in the 80s when Keating wanted to 'float the dollar' on the Stock Market, that's how progressive and knowledgeable we were. Opportunities weren't as abundant as you seem to remember them to be and the only ones who 'gave it a go' were as many as there are today. You're definitely showing your (blinkered) age, cause I grew up then, too and it was hardly a 'workers paradise' (unless you were of British origin, that is)
The wonderful industry at Darling Harbour was replaced by “luxury” apartments, casinos and gambling… great to see this glimpse of Sydney’s recent past.
And Chinese millionaires.
Ohhh yeah it looks so “wonderful”! Gee I wish it was still a massive, depressing, wet ass dank mud pit.. soooo much better than a nice waterfront harbour that hosts millions of people each year with art festivals such as vivd.. would be sooo much better if it was still a really dangerous low paying exploitation zone for immigrants hey?!
@@PolycultureArt Some of what you say is true. However, the tone in which it was delivered is unnecessary and unhelpful.
@@Michael.Chapmanohh man where do I start? The fact that you have reduced an iconic land mark that serves millions of people each year (me included) to a “casino”, or the boomer nostalgia for a deadly, exploitative, low paying, inefficient hellscape. My comment is not meant to be helpful, it’s calling out misguided sentimental rubbish that is completely out of touch. Not to mention the xenophobia that flows from the comment right after yours.. I HATE gambling, but your ignorance is on display if that’s how you describe the transformation of an industrial ghetto into one of the worlds nicest harbour spaces..
I worked at Haymarket at this time and parked my car near where the entertainment centre is now just past Paddy’s markets. Thems were the days.
In the 70's We went to paddy's all the time went i was a kid, grandapa worked there.
They all went on to be AC/DC roadies in 1979...
Worked there from seventy eight to eighty one and remember Brendan as a great lad,left and was a shunter at Enfield for a bit but it was a gravity yard and had a couple of close shaves so ended up a guard for a few years they were good times.
I was born in 1978 and never knew this part of Sydney. I still remember fondly the simpler times in Australia though. Hard days work and a cold beer at the pub afterwards. Sometimes I’d go with Dad…..knee high socks and short sleeve business shirts everywhere, stinking of Brut and Winnie Reds 😂.
What a brilliant video. Only thing missing is high vis stubbys😁
Darling Harbour was renovated in about 1985? There about
@@princephilip-v5t lived in Brisbane only visited Sydney first time in 1987.
68, used to play around there, lived in redfern for about a years, mostly lived around the beaches, Manly, Bondi, curl curl, dee why, went the the Flemmington markets(Paddy's) all the time, Grandpa worked there (He fought at Tobruk with the 9th.
@@R0d_1984 your grandfather sounded like a great man 👍
Worked around the wharves in D H during those times,remember the shunts of flour wagons to alongside of the ship…22 Pyrmont I think.
Glad you're still with us cobber.
Wish i was back there !
Did my aircraft engineering apprenticeship at ultimo college, we used to explore the Darling harbour area in our lunch break viewing the early 1980s transformation construction, when it was first converted to an entertainment area in the mid 1980s all us boy's used to come in from the suburbs on a Friday/Saturday night, those thunderbolt beers at the pump house were potent!! still it was a safe area with good times to be had.
Australia/Sydney has changed in so many ways from this video, wish I could say for all the better.
Very rare for bad shit to happen, you'd really have to fvck someone off to get smashed.
"Look frank!" lol, what a miserable looking old day in darling harbour, youd expect the sun to be blazing, for a minute there i thought there was a darling harbour in england.
great vid though.
Back then you'd get about 2 weeks solid of rain, sometimes three (with a few sunny days thrown in); we'd still go to manly or dee why, cronulla for a swim and chips on the weekend, or paddy's market etc.
The first five minutes talking about sickies - how Australian lol
2:15 I swear I recognise that bloke in blue, think he used to work at Thornleigh or Hornsby station in the mid 80s.
I'd see him on the way to school.
Haven't been to Hornsby in 40 years.
I was a sprag for three month's at Cook's River Absolutly hated it. 99% of the shunter's were diamond's but there was alway's one fool that could get you killed.
Schoolmates went to work for Sydney Rail ,also Chullora Workshop's ,many mates that worked on Sydney Rail formed Bands in the 70s ,seeing this Vid bought back a heap of great memories from that Era was a joy to watch .thanks for sharing
I frequently went to this rail yard in 1977 - 79 loading up the rail wagons with produce to be sent to parts of NSW.
I probably bumped into some of these guys! The area has certainly changed!
Before sydney became a tourist resort.
What is there to do in Sydney as a tourist? Very little if you ask me
If they were only tourists...
I would love to see if anyone can do a then and now for some of these areas. You can also see why it was dangerous work. Running alongside rolling carriages with no control of stopping them.
Up until 9 minutes when the sun comes out it looks like this could be somewhere dreary and depressing in the UK. The tiny shorts do give away it’s not too cold though.
Used to rain nearly non-stop for 2-3 weeks in autumn back then.
This is great. First thing I knew about darling harbour was when they renewed it and then I was curious about what was there before. I've seen pictures but this gives an idea what it was really like.
lived through it mate, maybe nostalgia, but the memories are burnt in deep, catching the ferries in the rain, used to get big swells, the sight the smells, our people everywhere, good people, nice people, happy people (most of the time), polite, kind, it was fvcking magic...
I was on the rail back then Fairfield station, good times.
I was working nearby at Peter's Milk in 77 when some milk tankers were shunted into the yard collecting a contractor's HQ station wagon and crushing it against a stanchion .
Wow some awesome shots in this vid. Thank you for sharing.
The Golden Eagle ! The Best Day of the Week.. Great Clip.
Love the blues track. Reminds me of AC/DC, who were nearby at the time.
Terry Wilson from The Magnetics great Sydney blues band from the 80's
I worked around Darling Harbor about 1984 they were developing then entertainment centre fantastic times great memories ❤❤😂
WOW! Thank you for sharing this absolute gem! But seriously, IS NO ONE GOING TALK ABOUT ALL OF THOSE SHORT SHORTS….. I MEAN REALLY GUYS 😂
Your comment is hilarious.. Yess, those naughty men wore stubbies that were 'mardi gras' short..😆☮️
I was shunting in Sydney around that time, maybe a bit later. Brings back memories.
Great video, a real insight into how shunters worked in city goods yards.
As a young guy living in Sydney at this time, I was not an Aussie, but really enjoyed the place, this is gold.
Love the hi vis
Blue collar heros!
Amazing how manual tasks have now been automated.
Thought that Sheila with the blond hear hair had some nice legs… 🙈😂
Work, health and safety bureaucrats must be having a heart attack watching this! 😂😂
Wow, I’d forgotten it was like that around Darling Harbour. What a massive redevelopment project that was. Good to see people just working in normal gear…nowadays mechanics wear nitrile gloves to protect their skin 😂
That is because OH&S woke up to the fact that petrol and diesel and other products used in the industry such as degreasers and brake cleaners and the like are CARCINOGENIC...so that'll be enough out of you bud!
I've never forgotten those years, burnt into my brain, they are getting cloudy though.
Life seemed more tougher physically but carefree
Amazing
Didn't know Martin Bryant was a shunter !
I thought it was woman for the first 5 minutes
I was thinking the same thing to both these comments.
LMAO my thoughts exactly.
@@michaelearthling Very good. Glad I wasn't the only one! Was a bit concerned when the shirt came off (thinking is was a woman). I knew things were different in the workplace back then, but still...
OMGawd.! I thought he was a Martin Bryant lookalike, then I saw your hilarious comment..😆☮️
Very great footage!
I have to say I have heard such thick Aussie accents like that in the wild in years.
A little bit of Sydney history. I’d just finished high school the year before. Thanks for the upload Scott😺
Same here but finished in 1974 times where so much better then than now.
@@TheSilmarillian It was the same over here across the ditch in NZ too mate...and after this in the 80's the era of the great pub bands and great music was coming and the car everyone wanted ...the Torana and the GT Falcon...both of them made by you blokes over there. Good times!
@@russellking9762 Yep those where some great times indeed.
I think this was shown occasionally on ABCTV as a "filler"...a long time ago.
I remember when ABC was pretty good; remember Matlock police? lol
Arrr yeah nah you bloody beauty...😆
Went there as a guard several times in '83.
Bloody marvellous
It's 2024 now. I could go back to 1988 and recognise it. That's 36 years. But if I go back another 11 years to 1977 and -it's a totally different world
Its what I grew up in .
@@TheSilmarillian Me too mate, happy your still here; Man i miss those days, By 81 i was going to HS in Liverpool.
These guys look and sound like the guys from ACDC
All the comments saying how hard working and awesome we were back then. And how scum and lazy we are now. But i don't see anyone working hard in this video!
Yeah nowadays they have five micro managers to make sure every second of your work day is insufferable..the problem is neo liberalism..the Governments completely sold us out to corporations and the elite ..the workers in this video could probably pay off a house on their income now they would two more jobs plus a spouse and children bringing in some money
Theses r real aussie not like we see today sadly. only if we could hav been stuck right heir or even the 80s as they were the grouse. once the 2000s came everything went to the s house.
They're Boomer's now and own everything 😂
Well before immigration from the Middle East started
@@stuartmarshall7099not this boomer but they were better times
I remember, as a kid at around this time, the son of one of my dad's mates got a job doing just this work.
My dad said that it was a really bad idea, as it's such a dangerous job.
Seeing this, I now I understand exactly why dad was concerned...
(And BTW, the kid stuck at the job and made it through to retirement intact - but I am guessing he was one of the luckier ones)
How have I missed this video ? Darling Harbour goods line is where my railway trespassing originated in 1986 with other rail buff mates.
The algorithm never stops amazing me. Australia was once a very hard working country. Now look at us.
Still is. We're some of the hardest worker's in the world.
@@stuartmarshall7099 Pity they are near retirement age now....
Most are on workers compensation
@@stuartmarshall7099🐂💩 Have you hired a tradie or removalist lately? I will assume you're a 'working man'. Removalists rush through because they get paid for completing the job, not per hour, so they just want to wrap up and knock off as early and quickly as possible. Tradies cut corners and overcharge. A Current Affair wouldn't have any content without 'hard working' Aussies. 😆😆😆
@@Her.Serene.Feline.Cuteness. ACA, real stories. Your off with the fairy's. They do stories of some soft cock arsehole fighting with another busy body arsehole.
What? No Hi Viz? Where’s you belt clip to hold your rigging gloves to approved safety specification. Simpler and more honest times.
When the yards were closed in the early 80s, many hundreds of city workers could park their cars there for free until the redevelopment circa '86.
same in nearly in every job, or was just lazy or an A-hole...
The young girls today think they invented the short short look. Ha😂😂😂😂
Top little video. Thanks for sharing.
My cousin worked at Darling Harbour in the 70's as well.
Cheers
Not a uniform or high Vis in sight! Love it!
awesome clip
No wonder half the stuff was knocked off.
Wow working in shorts...As a American railroader I can't begin to tally all the safety violations here...
Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi OI OI !!!!
She'll be right Cobber !!!!
Back in those days the shunters would often be shirtless too. These days everyone is in long pants, long sleeves, hi vis uniform.
That’s 70’s Australia for you.
What could go wrong?
What a joy for this video to be tossed up. Spent hours sketching the locomotives & industrial landscapes in the late 60 ‘s & 70’s in Darling Harbour & Pyrmont.Sydney was much smaller infused with character & filled with Aussies not afraid to celebrate Australia Day.
Australia was indescribably awesome back then; then one day you wake up and it's fucked.
@@R0d_1984 So true!
It's not that I don't want to celebrate Australia. But I want aboriginal Australians to be able to celebrate as well. And the date is associated with devastation for them. You have to recognise that. So changing the date is really very trivial and acknowledging of the genocide that Aboriginals suffered and are continuing to struggle with. I wanted to reply directly so you can at least hear from one person what the mindset is.
@@mrdavidurquhart I don't care.
What da fk, I remember living in Pyrmont in the late 70's watching these crazy buggers💪 Hornsby depot/shunt yard was more crazy they say. Where on earth did you get the film from?? Addon...Balmain bloody power station wow!
Cool job
nice to see actual Australians again.
Do you mean aboriginals? I didn't see many in this documentary.
Well, times change and we have become very "multicultural". In many ways it's a good thing but there are certainly numerous ugly sides (that noone is allowed to mention). Personally, I find it sad to see parts of our "Aussie" culture being eroded.
@@deldridg
Being of the same period as you, I'm really not sure what parts of the 'Aussie' culture you're talking about. You must mean the stuff that was handed and altered from Britain, because the only 'culture' Australia ever had, was being lethargic, laidback, uncultured, smokers, sexist, racist and being extremely reactive towards anything untraditional. Egalitarianism could be said, but that's only if you were a traditional, white and male. Australia is far more accepting and knowledgeable than it used to be and I for one am glad of it
we'd see Australian aboriginals if they were working there
@@freeman10000 Hahahaha, BOOM!!!
It used to be such an organic world we all lived in. Now it's all refined sugar
Ironically , the nearby Colonial Sugar Refinery at Pyrmont , is long gone !
When Australia was still a great country. What a sad place it is now
Good old insular, boring, conservative, boozy, racist old Australia. Give my 2024 Australia anytime.
I couldn't agree more..It's become a sad, very disturbing place indeed..Filled with too many dangerous, vile criminals, that have evil ideologies - not religion..These nasty imports don't contribute anything, except lawlessness, welfare theft, laziness, social problems and chaos..That's exactly where Australia is in 2024..Our wonderful country has now been bled dry..Political traitors, who hate our beautiful, peaceful way of life, have allowed this destruction to happen..
Yes, Australia was once a beautiful, peaceful country..Sadly, we've been bled dry by millions of evil imports..Their only contributions to society are lawlessness, welfare fraud, laziness, social problems and dangerous ideologies that promote chaos..That's exactly where we are in 2024..All because of vile politicians, who allowed this destruction to happen..
Yes, Australia once was a beautiful, thriving, peaceful country..Before it was bled dry over decades, by millions of welfare recipients//imports..Their 'rich' contributions to society are social problems, archaic beliefs, laziness and lawlessness..That's exactly where we are in 2024.. Sadly, vile politicians allowed this importation of chaos and destruction to happen..
@freeman10000 not racist.
Nice clean air....
I lived in Sydney in 1977, my dad got a posting there, just for the year. I was 15. Never went near Darling Island or Harbour though. As far as I can remember.
Your loss mate, anyway have a fantastic year.
I remember Sydney in those days well.
I can see why this country once drank beer, because a hard earned thirst deserves a big cold beer
I still drink beer...
Aberdeen Grain fed beef on the side of the containers, I live only a few hundred metres from the old Aberdeen Meat works, it was the main employer back then.
Glad your still with us cobber, you have a fantastic year.
I was three or maybe 4, I remember my pram.
yeah I remember you, bit of a busybody as I recall, always looking over the side of your pram at passersby.
@@michaelearthling You again, trolling me since 77 😂
@@zwarst 😁
still spitting yer dummy i see ;D
Sydney is so unrecognisable now compared to 1977. I was only 12 then and never ventured down to Darling Harbour until the new retail development opened up in the late eighties.
lol not a hi vis in sight. Good times.
and back when you could afford a beer and a steak and mash counter meal and could smoke in the pub and you could take a phone call at the bar...look where we are now
@@russellking9762 to true, well said.
Im 62 - I was stopped by the road picking up some already dead fire wood for me heater yesterday- no chain saw just small bits of wood. Some “ranger”
Pulls up,tells me it’s illegal and he won’t give me a ticket or call the cops this time if I put it back and leave now! This is not the country my father fought for in ww2! We’ve completely fucked this place!
It's all getting a bit ridiculous. Where was this?
Yeah, people can't afford to buy a house and can't find a place to rent and you can't camp or sleep anywhere. People sleeping in their cars are continually told to move on. Haha, WHERE??????
Yeah. Unbelievable. While you’re gathering wood some developer with a government contract has bulldozed Badgery’s Creek and surrounding bush land, the best farm land near Sydney for an Airport nobody really needs
Its happening everywhere cobber. They want a non questioning compliant populous.
Yes you have completely fucked this place by complacency, you didn’t fight for this country and now it’s being usurped, firewood is the last of our problems you’ll leave us with
Extraordinary! Whoever had the vision to redevelop the site made a huge change for the better for Sydney. Same with Barrangaroo. Now, time to get rid of the Cahill Expressway...!!