FRIDAY'S HISTORY POST: A Few Things I know...

This is an image of the White City Dog Track that my nan and pop were caretakers of back in their day. I cannot safely say what years they were caretakers there, or if it was pre or post WW2. I do know my mum was little and she has happy memories of living in a house right next to the dog track. It was weatherboard and had a big verandah right around it which was great on hot dry days of Summer. Nan was a wizz with picking dogs for a win..well, that was her story and she was sticking to it right!

UDL - The Original Aussie Mix

Variants:Can: Vodka Lemon, Lime and Soda, Vodka Lime and Soda, Vodka and Raspberry, Vodka and Orange, Vodka and Passionfruit, Gin and Tonic, Gin and Bitter Lemon, Scotch and Cola, Ouzo and Cola( That's my favourite right there!), Sambuca and Cola.
Did you know?UDL was invented by two Aussie mates playing golf together. One would bring a bottle of spirits – the other would bring the mixer and they would mix their drinks on the course. However, one day they had a brainwave – why not sell it pre-mixed in a can? Anyway, it is a nice way to have a drink at a BBQ or down at the beach after a hot Summers Day... consuming responsibly of course!

Lithium was revolutionised here in Melbourne Australia post WW2 by Doctor John Cade. He was living in the grounds of Royal Park Hospital where many a war neurotic patient was being treated....well, treated as best they could be with what was known at the time. At the time, electroconvulsive therapy and the radical lobotomy were all that was known to try to stem the manic episodes patients were experiencing. Dr Cade dug into his own pocket and got some guinea pigs and rabbits and had the nurses obtain urine samples from patients...one was a control patient, one was a schizophrenic patient, one bi-polar or manic depressive as it was known then and the other was from a patient with complete mania. Dr Cade then injected the animals with the urine and recorded some remarkable findings. The animal that had the urine of the bipolar patient died alot earlier. It was found that the urine had concentrated amounts of the compound Urea in it. Through his own findings, it was devised that Lithium Carbonate was the only way to decrease the amount of Urea in the blood of a patient/animal and therefore decrease the amount of psychotic behaviour. Side effects of vomiting and diarrhea and resultant deaths of some patients made this treatment difficult for some medical fraternities to adopt. With careful monitoring of blood levels of patients on this medicine, the patients soon turned from mania or depression to convalescence and out to the real world with family and working. So was born the age of psycho generic medication. A wing of the royal Melbourne Hospital is named after Doctor John Cade...a wonderful attribute to a man that tried to do his best to relive such malaise in those afflicted with psychological problems.

"I believe the brain, like any other organ, can get sick and it can also heal." Dr John Cade.

Cobbledicks Ford was the place I most loved to ride my horse Mabel to. It took about 2 hours to ride there from home and I would take my lunch and a drink of cordial or water with me. There was a steep hill to go down to get to the waters edge there and Mabel would gallop all the way down it to get to the water. She may have been an old mare but she had alot of go in her that's for sure! Once we got to the water she would have a guzzle of it but then she would not set foot in the water. I would go for a swim and have a swing off of the fallen tree you can see there in the image. There was a big old rope to swing off of...like in the movie Bridge to Terabithia..have you seen that movie yet? If not you should, it was great.

I remember as a kid there were a few years in a row that the motorbike gangs would get together and have some sort of major meet over the weekend. Thousands of bikes would take the backroads past our place to get to the Ford and bands were set up and the noise from their loud speakers could be heard all week end. Mum thought it was a bad thing..we thought it was awesome!! They had signs at the front gate "Onions FREE ENTRY"...that meant girls, haha.

The Ford is one of the historic crossing sites along the River built during the 1850's of bluestone. The name Cobbledicks is from the family name of the tenant farmers of the area. Anyway, now I believe the place has "gone to the dogs". People have taken cars there and burnt them out and made a right old mess of it..sad...I hope someone one day could restore it as a great picnic place to go to.