ORAL HISTORY (AUDIO): HANCOCK, SAMUEL

Samuel John Hancock was born in King Edwards Memorial Hospital on the 25th of October 1946. He lived the first ten years of his life in Subiaco at various rental houses, including Cochlan St, York St and Barker Road. His earliest memories include the various deliveries to the house that occurred. Sam recalls playing cowboys and indians in the back lane and how long the walk seemed to be from the house to the outdoor loo at the rear of the property, along with his dad’s words to always check for spiders before sitting down. He would often raid the drums the banks used to discard to look for stamps to add to his collection, and remembers being sent to the fish and chip shop whilst also picking up ice cream, most of which would be frozen by the time desert came around while it was sitting in the Coolgardie safe. Sam would often play with the Subiaco hotel proprietor’s boys along the top story and stairs of the hotel, along with the son of the pastor at St Andrews church in the church. He remembers the bare floors, fireplaces and bolted down desks of primary school along the black sand oval, often referred to as “blackie”. Sam recalls the early days of self service at Woolworths and Coles, where attendants were still close at hand. He also remembers wondering where the G J in G J Coles came from. He remembers the entire school making its way to Kings Park for the Queens visit in 1954. Standing on the side of the road waving flags as the queen drove past. He also remembers splashing around the outskirts of Lake Jualbup and the various wildlife that could be seen around the lake.

Interviewee: Samuel Hancock

Date of Interview: 11 November 2009

Interviewer: Elizabeth Hoff

Transcriber: Elizabeth Hoff

Indexer: Marvin Wallin