Adrienne Leith wrote "There are no trams in Sydney????". Just to clarify
matters, there used to be an extensive network of tramways in Sydney
with the first electric tram being used in 1879 to carry passengers to
the International Exhibition at the Garden Palace which used to stand in
what is now the Royal Botanic Gardens, just across the road from the
present State Library of NSW.
The expression "off like a Bondi tram" or "shoot through like a Bondi
tram" refers, if I remember correctly, to the fact that that tram was
notorious for not stopping if it were full (which it invariably was as
there was no train line to Bondi then). The other explanation which I
have heard is that it refers to the fact that the Bondi tram was the
last tram to run in Sydney before they stopped them altogether in the
early 1960s. The sayings are quite commonly used, although perhaps more
so in Sydney. Adrienne, being in Melbourne where trams do still run, may
not have been aware that other cities in Australia used to have them
once too.
I realise that this is not exactly Museum-L material but since Harry
keeps on referring to Oz sayings, some others might be interested in
what they mean.
Margaret Perkins
Conservator
Museum of Victoria
Melbourne
Australia