Protection Racket -

Two Up is a well known Aussie gambling game involving a flat piece of wood and two pennies that are tossed into the air.

A ‘two up school’ was held next to the old winder shed at Kamballie just a short walk from the Boulder train station.

It was a popular game and attracted up to a hundred men each Sunday. As a result there was a lot of money floating around and some wins were very substantial.

The game also attracted a number of school children who took to terrorising the players by throwing rocks at them.

It got to the point where the game’s organiser, Frank Moroni, would offer the kids a few shillings to leave his customers alone.

Not being silly, the kids realised they were on to a good thing and turned up every Sunday to harass the punters until Frank paid them off.

It got to a point where Frank would just hand over the money as soon as the kids turned up, they didn’t even need to bend down to pick up rocks.

They might just have been the youngest people ever to run a protection racket.

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