10 Things Every Australian Dad Did

If you grew up in Australia a few decades ago, there’s a good chance your dad wasn’t a man of many words.

He didn’t always tell you how he felt and he simply got on with the job. He fixed things, mowed lawns, read the newspaper from front to back and somehow knew someone who could help with just about anything.

Looking back, Aussie dads had their own habits, routines and little quirks that seemed perfectly normal at the time.

Today, they feel like a snapshot of another era.

Here are 10 things many Australian dads did that still make us smile.

Tested the television with a tap

When the picture became fuzzy, Dad didn’t panic.

He simply walked over and gave the side of the television a confident tap. Sometimes another one for good measure. Even fiddled a little with the aerial.

Remarkably, it often worked.

Whether it was good engineering or blind optimism remains one of Australia’s great unsolved mysteries.

Never threw away a good screw

Every old screw, bolt, washer and bracket had potential.

To everyone else it looked like junk, but to Dad it was an investment in future repairs.

Years later, countless Australian sheds are still home to coffee tins and jars full of hardware that “might come in handy one day”. Check the shed! There’ll be at least one there, I promise.

Read the newspaper from cover to cover

Dad didn’t skim the paper, he studied it.

News. Sport. Classifieds. The cartoons for a giggle. Weather. Even the advertisements.

If someone removed a section before he’d finished, they were taking a very brave gamble.

So protective and guarded of the morning newspaper were some Dads that they were known to read it back to front while sitting on the loo!

Started every DIY job by saying, “This won’t take long.”

It was a phrase spoken with complete confidence.

Two trips to the hardware store, three cups of tea and half a Saturday later, the “quick little job” was still going, and some projects seemed to become permanent fixtures of the family calendar.

Kept bits of timber “just in case”

No piece of timber was ever truly useless, you know.

Offcuts, old fence palings and leftover shelving all found a home somewhere in the shed because, according to Dad, they would definitely be needed one day.

Did that day ever really arrive? God forbid if you threw one away in the trash. “Bloody hell, mate, I needed that!”

Switched off every light in the house

Long before electricity prices became headline news, Australian dads were already on patrol.

Leave a bedroom light on for more than a minute and chances were you’d hear about it. Apparently, power stations around the country were relying entirely on your bedroom switch, and I’ll back it in it’s probably still the case with any Dads over the age of 80.

Refused to ask for directions

It didn’t matter how lost the family was. Dad was never lost.

He was “just taking a different way.”

Mum might quietly work her way through the Melway or a local map, but Dad was determined to find the destination on principle — even if it added another hour to the trip.

Fixed almost anything with tape, wire or determination

Australian dads had remarkable confidence.

Whether it involved insulation tape, fencing wire, cable ties or a strategically placed piece of timber, there always seemed to be a solution.

It might not have been pretty, but it usually held together.

Fell asleep in the recliner

Back in the day, you weren’t a real dad unless you did this one.

The television was on, the newspaper was still open, and all of a sudden Dad was “just resting his eyes”.

Next came the unmistakable thunderous soundtrack of an afternoon nap that everyone in the house pretended not to notice as he sucked those curtains up his nose and sounded like a chainsaw.

Knew “a bloke”

Ahhh, the old ‘I know a bloke’ trick.

Need a mechanic? Dad knew a bloke.

Need a plumber? Dad knew a bloke.

Need almost anything?

Somewhere, Dad knew exactly the right person and was convinced they could sort it out for a reasonable price.

At 85, mine still does.

Of course, no two Australian dads were exactly alike…

Some readers will remember dads who sharpened the mower blades every spring, washed the car every Sunday, insisted the barbecue was their domain or refused to ask for directions no matter how lost the family became.

The funny thing is that many of us laughed at those little habits growing up.

Then one day, we men found ourselves saving old screws or nails, telling everyone to turn the lights off and saying, “I know a bloke.”