[Vella Gonzaga]

School days​

​

​

Credits: Facebook/Australia Remember When

Who remembers these old desks with inkwells? The way the wooden desk was worn and weathered, bearing the marks of countless students who had sat there, brought a sense of charm to the ‘70s and ‘80s school days. Kids these days will never understand the struggle of refilling those inkwells and ensuring everyone had enough ink to write with. What's your favourite memory from your school days? Tell us here.

 

[Suzanne rose]

Having fun, being carefree , school disco's and meeting my future husband .

I was in 3rd form ( year 9) he was in 4th form and that's where history began .

 

[Wandiwa]

I was talking to my brother in law the other day, and he said he didnt like the girl sitting in front of him. So he used to dunk her ponytail in his inkpot.

 

[Littleboy8]

I was talking to my brother in law the other day, and he said he didnt like the girl sitting in front of him. So he used to dunk her ponytail in his inkpot.

 

[Bianca]

Oh no, imagine going back to the old classroom some 70 years ago & seeing how many times I gouged the desk top with who I was in love with - eek.

 

[Oaklegs]

School days

​

View attachment 31517​

Credits: Facebook/Australia Remember When

Who remembers these old desks with inkwells? The way the wooden desk was worn and weathered, bearing the marks of countless students who had sat there, brought a sense of charm to the ‘70s and ‘80s school days. Kids these days will never understand the struggle of refilling those inkwells and ensuring everyone had enough ink to write with. What's your favourite memory from your school days? Tell us here.

One small piece of carbide in the ink well would cause it to froth up and over flow.

 

[Littleboy8]

One small piece of carbide in the ink well would cause it to froth up and over flow.

 

[starrysnan]

Yes I got to be the monitor with the "fun" job of refilling the inkwells. Not easy to do without spilling it and the pens we had to use always ended with blots on the paper. Also the desks and seats were very uncomfortable. Finally getting biros to use was great!

 

[Gsr]

Memories, had these desks in every school I attended until I started high school. Was fun drawing on them, kids were always carving names and pictures into them. They had a school smell of pencils, ink, rubbers and wood. The inkwells were a bit tricky to fill, I remember some of the boys would fill the knibs of their pens with ink and flick the ink about the classroom, sometimes at the teacher who usually wore a white shirt back then, especially when they were in trouble. The teacher would make them clean the ink spots off the floor and furniture. It was hard to get the ink spots out of clothes after it dried, the teacher would bring his shirt back to school and make the boys try to scrub the ink out of them. We used to use blotting paper to sop up any ink spots if they were still wet, this got most of the ink off most things. The cane was still very much in use then and most of the boys had more than one taste of it. Most of the teachers at my primary schools were not over the top caning anyone which was good. I remember at high school the principal and a couple of male teachers caned the boys so hard some of them collapsed and needed medical treatment. This was uncalled for, and a lot of the parents took a stand demanding it stop or they would pursue charges against the school, headmaster and teachers responsible. After this happened caning was stopped, long before it was officially banned. I really loved school.

 

[Mikev]

Yes, I remember the old school desks with the ink wells in them.
My primary school still had these well into the 1970s.

 

[Dazza1956]

My favourite school memory is ( Leaving School )

 

[Oaklegs]

I am 87 and I used to be an inkwell monitor. One trick some boys did was to drop a piece of Carbide in a well and it would froth and bubble over the desk. Carbide was used in Bicycle lights back in the day.

 

[shortlegs 4]

Leaveing

 

[Helen Jeffery]

My favourite school memory is ( Leaving School )

Me too.

 

[Reet]

I was talking to my brother in law the other day, and he said he didnt like the girl sitting in front of him. So he used to dunk her ponytail in his inkpot.

I went to an all-girls school and we had to have our long hair plaited out of the way. I had hair down to my knees and so my plaits were extremely long. I remember one day someone alerting me to the fact that I had my plait dipped in the inkwell behind me by the girl sitting at that desk and when she let go she pushed my plait back behind me. At the time we didn't have to wear uniform because we were rationed for clothing amongst everything else because of the war. I was wearing a pale blue dress at the time and the wet with ink end of my plait had made a smeared all down my back. I was not happy but could do nothing about it so had to let it go. I then started to wear my plaits wound around my head so it wouldn't happen again.

 

[grarob@internode]

I was talking to my brother in law the other day, and he said he didnt like the girl sitting in front of him. So he used to dunk her ponytail in his inkpot.

I had long plaits in primary school & the boys sitting behind me used to dip my plaits in the ink wells, your brother-in-law didn’t go to the Grange Primary School in South Australia in the 60s did he?

 

[Catherines]

Meeting my husband whilst in boarding school. His sister was in my class as a day-schooler as their parents lived in that city, while mine lived much, much further away so I was a boarder.

One day his sister invited me to their home to meet the family, husband was there & ‘doubled’ me back to school on his bike. I probably would have got the cane if the nuns had caught me getting off the bike outside the school gates. Phew!!!! Was I lucky then.

We’ve now been married just 4 weeks short of 57 years now. The best part of my life in school!

 

[Viellarde]

Born overseas, I started with a slate and slate pencil for 2 or 3 years. Then we were deemed responsible enough to treat pen and ink with respect. There was none of the hijinks you talk about here. We didn't have free ink. We brought our own ink bottle to school. Waterman's was a popular brand, but not the only one. I still have a lump on the side of my middle finger, courtesy of the joint of the metal nib and the wood. And then came the fountain pen, still providing plenty of blobs, leaks, and stained fingers. Was the 1st ballpoint pen the Bic?

 

[Oaklegs]

Memories, had these desks in every school I attended until I started high school. Was fun drawing on them, kids were always carving names and pictures into them. They had a school smell of pencils, ink, rubbers and wood. The inkwells were a bit tricky to fill, I remember some of the boys would fill the knibs of their pens with ink and flick the ink about the classroom, sometimes at the teacher who usually wore a white shirt back then, especially when they were in trouble. The teacher would make them clean the ink spots off the floor and furniture. It was hard to get the ink spots out of clothes after it dried, the teacher would bring his shirt back to school and make the boys try to scrub the ink out of them. We used to use blotting paper to sop up any ink spots if they were still wet, this got most of the ink off most things. The cane was still very much in use then and most of the boys had more than one taste of it. Most of the teachers at my primary schools were not over the top caning anyone which was good. I remember at high school the principal and a couple of male teachers caned the boys so hard some of them collapsed and needed medical treatment. This was uncalled for, and a lot of the parents took a stand demanding it stop or they would pursue charges against the school, headmaster and teachers responsible. After this happened caning was stopped, long before it was officially banned. I really loved school.

I once got caned for throwing a pen up to the wooden ceiling of the classroom, in hindsight it was deserved and it was a stupid thing to do and many others got away with it.

 

[Littleboy8]

Born overseas, I started with a slate and slate pencil for 2 or 3 years. Then we were deemed responsible enough to treat pen and ink with respect. There was none of the hijinks you talk about here. We didn't have free ink. We brought our own ink bottle to school. Waterman's was a popular brand, but not the only one. I still have a lump on the side of my middle finger, courtesy of the joint of the metal nib and the wood. And then came the fountain pen, still providing plenty of blobs, leaks, and stained fingers. Was the 1st ballpoint pen the Bic?

I was going to give you the story of the ballpoint pen but it’s too long to type, but it wasn’t bic.