Working the merry-go-round in the centre of Canberra was my favourite job.

I had two shifts a week. The job was to collect the tickets, then start and stop the carousel. As well as keep everyone safe.

It was an old thing. It was originally running on the St Kilda Esplanade, then bought by the Canberra Civic Council in 1974.

1975 was when I started working on it.

I was first nervous about jumping on and off the moving carousel, but I soon couldn't get enough.

Each turn went for four minutes.

The horses, the two elephants all had names. (I often wondered how 'Morse Code' got his name?)

It felt like being part of the circus.

Things got a bit rowdy on Thursday nights (late night shopping) and plenty of teenagers tried to get a free ride.

Didn't worry me, so long as there was no damage to the horse's mane.

It's all relevant, isn't it?

Other merry-go-round supervisors would chase the teenagers off the carousel. It would often escalate.

So long as they weren't too disruptive, I ignored their harmless rule-breaking.

Better than driving 130 kmh along country backroads as a dare.