[Vella Gonzaga]

Cracker Night​

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Credits: Darren Blenkinsop/Facebook

Who still remembers the excitement of Cracker Night? The annual event that involved a massive bonfire and kids running around with sparklers and fireworks. Do you remember buying penny bangers, jumping jacks, and throw-downs for this event? Share your memories in the comments below.

 

[NotNats]

Have so many wonderful memories of Cracker Night in our back yard. But like anything we had as children the newer generations destroyed because of a few bogan idiots who though they were better and would never get hurt.

 

[Mars]

Cracker nights or Bonfire nights were great fun. us kids used to go everywhere to get stuff for our Bonfire. My Brother and I lived across the road of the block . whoever bought that block of land had potholes everywhere from cooking our spuds. Wonderful memories.

 

[Ebby]

Cracker nights or Bonfire nights were great fun. us kids used to go everywhere to get stuff for our Bonfire. My Brother and I lived across the road of the block . whoever bought that block of land had potholes everywhere from cooking our spuds. Wonderful memories.

Stayed in with the poor trembling dog she was so scared but my sister enjoyed it all. When my children were growing up they had a bonfire and fireworks

 

[marni]

Are we forgetting why it was cancelled. So many, especially children, maimed or injured by the incorrect use

 

[CMH]

We used to throw the little red ones in the backyard incinerator with the help of Mum and Dad standing near us.

 

[Jay Jay]

We had wonderful Bonfire Nights in the 1950s. We lived on 6 acres in the hills about 3 miles from nearest little town. We'd have a huge bonfire at the top of our block, nowhere near the house, which Dad would light before dark. Sometimes neighbours from the farms closest to us would join us, and our family friends who lived a couple of towns away. We'd chuck potatoes in the fire around the edges, then fish them out with sticks to eat after they'd cooled and we'd peeled off the thick burnt skin - no alfoil then. The highlight was of course, the crackers. We'd light strings of tom thumbs and watch as they bounced and blew. We'd have penny bangers which we'd hold while we lit them in the fire then throw as quickly as we could before they blew up. We would have 'pretty' ones like (tame) sparklers, flower bursts, and catherine wheels Dad would nail to posts, but the highlights, which we saved for last when it was, to us kids, the 'middle of the night', were always the rockets. Each rocket would be 'planted' in a tin or hole and the fuse lit. We would all stand and look up as it flew high then burst. After all the crackers had been oohed and aahed at, Dad would stay to make the bonfire remains safe, while we'd troop home with Mum, get cleaned up, then go to bed after a hot cocoa.

Fantastic memories, and sadly ones that recent Australian generations have missed out on. Fireworks displays are beautuful, but not a patch on being an active participant at a 'real' cracker night.