In Episode 1, Gary Ella talks about growing up in the Randwick City Council suburb of La Perouse in the 1960s and 70s. This was a time of large families, woodfire stoves and earning pocket money the hard way. Equally tough were the games played with friends who lived in the neighbourhood. A game of touch on the dirt or bitumen roads could cause a lot of injuries, but it also fine-tuned those quick hand skills that the Ella brothers were known for.

Gary’s personal recollections of diving for coins off the wharf, fishing for mullet and lobster in Botany Bay, collecting rats for the Snakeman, and later, his recruitment for the Wallabies, the overseas trips and visiting the Queen, are colourful to say the least.