‘I remember the unusual way we used to earn pocket money’

It was during the 1950s and pocket money was mighty hard to get. My brother and I came up with a great idea to make a bit of cash. We would trap rabbits. There were hundreds of them about the farm. They were a pest, so Dad was pretty keen on our idea as well.

First we had to tee up a buyer, which turned out to be easier than we thought. Our bus driver was keen to take any rabbits we caught. He said he’d pay 5 shillings a pair. I remember how that was a fortune to two young kids (it equates to roughly $15 by today’s value).

Dad provided a heap of rabbit traps for us and on the following day, after school, we set out on my trusty horse and found a spot. Setting the traps was a bit harder than anticipated. There were lots of fingers and toes almost trapped, but after a while we got the hang of it and soon had the traps set.

The next morning, at sunrise, we set off out over the hills to check our booty. What a shock! Absolutely nothing. We couldn’t believe it. Not one single rabbit in our traps. With heads hung low, we returned home, had a quick breakfast and changed ready for school.

When we arrived for the bus empty handed, the bus driver teased us. “How hard is it to catch a rabbit?” he boasted.

Dad was a little more sympathetic and volunteered to come out and check on how we had set the traps. I suspect he knew we had done it all wrong. Sure enough, we had put the traps in the wrong spot, and forgotten to cover them so the rabbits would be unaware of the lurking danger. Once he’d shown us the right way there was nothing to it.

We went out again the next morning and to our amazement there were eight rabbits caught in the traps. My brother, who was only six at the time, swiftly killed the bunnies and gutted them. My stomach did not like seeing this procedure so I duly reset the traps.

My poor brother then had the task of holding the dead rabbits, while balancing on the back of the horse. I took off at lightening speed only to have him fall off, rabbits and all. Quickly turning the horse around I had him back mounted again and this time as we raced away I held my arm around him so that he wouldn’t fall off.

We came up with a better way of transporting the rabbits after that mishap. My brother would stuff them all into two of Mum’s stockings, and then hang the stockings around his neck. That way he could hold onto me and not ever fall off again.

For weeks we did the same thing every morning, and we’d come home with three or four pairs of rabbits. It worked out to be a lot of money for us. My brother bought a new push bike and I bought some gear for my horse. Earning pocket money made it great being a kid on a farm way back then. These days though, I could never kill an animal no matter what.

Did you get pocket money growing up? How did you earn it?

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