Here’s Mr Squiggle With Lots of Fun for Everyone

Like so many Aussies, we grew up watching Mr Squiggle on TV in the afternoon.  Let’s face it, having aired for 40 years, starting in 1959, not many of us missed it.

Who is Mr Squiggle?  He is a puppet that has a pencil for a nose. 

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, last year the National Gallery in Canberra acquired the entire collection of memorabilia of Norman Hetherington, the creator of Mr Squiggle.  They had a mini exhibition at that time and we popped in to have a look, as part of a few days away.  

Now they have a full exhibition of Mr Squiggle and Friends, so of course we had to go again.  We found it fascinating, as it was so much more than Mr Squiggle.  

It was the life of Norman Hetherington, who contributed much more than Mr Squiggle.

He dropped out of school as a teenager and attended East Sydney Tech to learn about art and cartooning.  While still studying, he worked as a graphic artist on ads for various papers and magazines.

World War Two came along and he enlisted in the army.  His talents were quickly identified and he joined the entertainment unit, where he was involved in all sorts of things.  

One was doing “Lightning Sketches”, which were the precursors to the Squiggles that made him famous.  It is a bit hard to see, but if you zoom in you can get the gist. While on service, he also made watercolour paintings of what was going on around him.

After the war, he worked as a cartoonist, a job he continued until a few years after the creation of Mr Squiggle.  

He made his first puppet in 1949, using instructions in a magazine that his father gave him.  He added several more puppets, created often from recycled materials and did shows at shopping centres and various other places.

His puppets were even featured in the first TV show in 1956.

It was shortly after that Mr Squiggle came into being.

Mr Squiggle lives at 93 Crater Crescent, The Moon.  

There was only ever the one Mr Squiggle puppet, with a few touch ups over the years, which is rather amazing.

Each afternoon he travels to our TV screen in “Rocket”.  This is the original version.

In 1975 it was upgraded to a more durable version.  Mr Squiggle fits inside, with his nose sticking out the hole at the front and his hat sticking out the top.  The front folds down for him to step in and out.

The host waits for his arrival each day with his friend “Bill Steam Shovel”, who likes riddles.

Once he has arrived and climbed out of Rocket, the host produces a “Squiggle” that has been submitted by a viewer and is placed on “Blackboard”.  Now Blackboard is an impatient fellow who inevitably says “Hurry up, hurry up” in a very deep voice.  One of his eyes opens and closes. Apparently, Norman ran out of time to make the second one work, but that has added to his character.  

Mr Squiggle then, using his pencil nose, adds to the squiggle to create a drawing of something identifiable and often quirky, and also often upside down.  

This is an actual squiggle and they had the video running of when he created it.  The reason that many of the squiggles were upside down was that Norman was working from above.

The host changed over the lifetime of the show, with Miss Pat and Miss Jane being the ones we remember.  In the later years it was Rebecca, who was the creator’s daughter.  Norman’s wife Margaret was also involved by writing the scripts.  A real family affair.

In later years another character was added, “Gus the Snail”, but we aren’t familiar with him as his arrival was after we grew out of watching.

Norman worked all the puppets and voiced all the characters, from Mr Squiggle’s quiet gentle voice, to the deep voices of the other characters.

There was an interactive section of the display where you could do a drawing from a squiggle on a screen and it would display of a wall.  

Of course we had to have a go and I chose a very simple one to start with.

Then I had another go, also simple.  I forgot to take a photo of the starting point, but I’m sure you can work it out.

There were some really clever artworks showing on the screen that some people had made from the squiggles.  Not this little black duck.

I’ll now just give you an overview of some of the other very clever puppets that were on display.

Apparently, there were about 100.  He created about 500, which are all still in existence.

It was a fantastic exhibition to visit and was so much more than we had expected.

Of course Mick had to have his photo with Blackboard, as he is known to quite regularly utter “Hurry up, hurry up” in a blackboard voice, when he is becoming inpatient.

We are really pleased we made the effort to go down to have a look.

If you are interested, here are a couple of links to see what all the fuss is about.  The black and white version is closer to what we remember.

https://youtu.be/qXxrsVQzDpo?si=2oBqgqQIgyoWrxGN

https://youtu.be/Jr0zGj-Xwhw?si=jmkR1ta4vt6fkYfl

https://youtu.be/y4TMCl5yolM?si=zkRvxyLrEdo63vRl

A Quick Trip to Canberra

Last Thursday Mick and I hopped in the car nice and early and headed off to Canberra.

The previous two days had been very wet, but Thursday was forecast to be dryer, but still quite chilly.  We did encounter several showers on our way down, but that didn't worry us.

As we neared Cowra we saw some canola crops looking stunning.  I think the colour pops even more against the gloomy sky and wet road.

The main street of Cowra was looking a picture with the trees in blossom and the banners for the Cherry Blossom Festival to be held at the Japanese Gardens.

Our next brief stop was in Boorowa for some morning tea and the blossom trees there were also looking rather beautiful.  We saw so many blossom trees, growing randomly beside the road as we travelled along.

You know you are getting close to Canberra when you can see the Tower on Black Mountain.

We were somewhat surprised as we looked towards the mountains to the south.  There was definitely a section that was white.  Yes, definitely snow on the Australian Alps.

The reason we were in the area was to visit the National Museum of Australia.  The best thing was that we discovered that you can get there without having to drive through the actual city.  Great news.

It is a stunning modern building.

The atrium has a gorgeous version of a bogong moth.

The reason for our visit was to see the Mr Squiggle and Friends exhibition. It was so worth the visit and I will have separate post about it.

After a lovely lunch in the museum cafe, it was straight back out onto the road home.

The weather was fining up and we enjoyed the scenery on the way home.  There continued to be lots of wattles in bloom.

There were still some showers in the area, creating lovely light.

We were wondering if the low level bridge would be open when we returned to Bathurst, as the river had been rising over the previous couple of days.  Apparently, it had recently peaked as it was lapping the underside of the decking and they didn’t have to close it.

It was a long day, but one we very much enjoyed.

Holy Trinity Church Pioneer Cemetery Wander

The Bicentenary celebrations for Holy Trinity Church Kelso continue and on Saturday there was another wander around the pioneer sections of the cemetery surrounding the church. 

The weather was a perfect spring afternoon, so very enjoyable for all who attended.  This time, I was asked to give a talk about one of the graves.  The local family history group, together with the church historian have compiled incredible information about the early graves.  

I found the story behind my allotted grave to be really interesting, so thought I might share it here.  

MARY TINDALE – NEE WHYBROW

Mary’s story goes to show that complicated relationships aren’t a new thing.

Mary Whybrow was born in Sydney in 1815, the daughter of two convicts.

Parents

Her father, William Whybrow, arrived in 1796, having had his death sentence commuted to transportation for life. His crime was the theft of several silver items, silk gowns and petticoats and 300 pounds.  That was quite a significant theft.

Her mother, Elizabeth Clarke, arrived in 1808, having been transported for 7 years for stealing 14 yards of printed cotton, which would not be something to conceal easily.

William and Elizabeth married in 1809.

Mary was one of 7 children and when she was 5, in 1820, her parents separated and her mother, along with the children, moved in with John Poad Tindale, who later became Mary’s father in law.

Tindale Family

John Poad

John Poad Tindale married Susannah in England and they had one son, John Richard Tindale.  About a year later, John Poad was convicted of having forged bank notes in his possession and was sentence to 14 years transportation.

John was assigned to William Cox and worked on the construction of the first road over the Blue Mountains.  He was pardoned in 1816 and started to farm and acquire land, becoming very prosperous, owning land near Penrith, in Bathurst and Bylong.

Susannah

About a year after John’s transportation, his wife Susannah followed her husband to NSW as a free settler.  She left their son behind in the care of family.

Susannah also did well, establishing several businesses in Sydney. 

By 1819 she was in a good financial position, so sailed back to England to collect their son, now aged 11.

However, upon her return, she found that her husband was now in a relationship with Mary's mother Elizabeth.

John Richard

John Richard shared his time between his parents and attended Kings College at Parramatta for his schooling.

He started to acquire land from a young age.

Marriage

In 1830, when John Richard was 20, he married his step sister Mary, who was 15 at the time, here at Holy Trinity.  That was prior to the church being built, so they would have been married at the Parsonage.

They went on to have 8 children.  Records show that 4 of those children were also baptised at Holy Trinity.

After their marriage, they lived at “Victoria Farm” at Kelso, one of John Paod Tindale's properties.  This was also known as “Springdale” and established in about 1826.  The house still stands at Raglan, next to the airport, being one of the oldest homes in the district.  

Over John’s lifetime he built up an extensive property portfolio in NSW and farmed at Bathurst, ensuring a wealthy lifestyle for the family, even having their portraits painted in 1841 by the artist Maurice Felton.  These portraits currently hang in the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Mary is aged 26 at this time.

John is 31 at this time.

Separation

However, wealth does not always bring happiness, and John and Mary separated in 1849.  Mary made her permanent home at their property “Hornseywood”, near Penrith.

Meanwhile, John entered a new relationship with Caroline Sollis and went on to have a further 7 children.  They eventually moved to Tasmania, where he died in 1872.

Death

Mary died in 1882 from chronic bronchitis and heart disease.

Her death was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 30 May 1882:

"May 27, at Hornsey Wood, Penrith, Mary Tindale, widow of the late John Richard Tindale, Victoria Cottage, Kelso, aged 66 years and 6 months."

So, if she died at Penrith, why was she buried at Holy Trinity Kelso?

My guess is because her children were still here.  Her daughter Frances, known as “Fanny”, married into the pioneering Lee family and is buried in the adjoining grave, as are several of Fanny’s children.

I hope you found this as interesting as I did.  

After the wander around, we all enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea.  A rather lovely way to spend some time.