1961: Salty Cycles

September 7, 2020

By AHNZ

By the summer of 1961 up in Opua, Bay of Islands, the Boomer kids had found a new sport.

The previous generation, Silent Generation, had a certain propensity for writing pastoral poetry. They made simple rhyming poems about events, people, and places in their home locality. My grandfather was one of these ‘cowshed poets’ and so was Opua’s Bruce Ripley who tells us about the Boomer kids and what they were doing with their bicycles at the beach…

The result is that down at our beautiful port, The Opua urchins have found a new sport. To the back of their cycles they tie a long rope, And pedal flat out down the steep tar-sealed slope.

Down to the wharf in a wild, frenzied ride,
Across the embankment and into the tide.
How gleeful their shouts, these adventurous tykes,
As they haul on the ropes and rescue their bikes.- B. Ripley, Northland a Regional Magazine (14 April, 1961)

These Boomer kids were setting a new standard for the disposable consumer goods they preferred over caring for and owning durable products. For them, a time of wealth when they could afford to destroy something as valuable as a bicycle. The Silent Generation poet never knew such luxury having grown up through war and depression. These kids were something else. As we know, Boomers would grow up to continue this disposable society. Their demand was for cheap goods that didn’t last and ended up in the landfill rather than for durable products that lasted and were worthwhile to repair if they broke.

The Opua urchins also pre-signals the Boomer nonchalance toward the inflation that results from this form of consumption. They were just getting started and not to be rivalled until Generation Millennial.

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Ref. “Yes you can share its from my collection out of a long out of print 1961 mag called ” Northand a Regional Magazine ” # 14 April 1961 there is no known copyright and it is quite poss i have the only copy left so go ahead”; Lew Redwood; Old North Auckland/Northland; Facebook group

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