Prospective middle school pre-service teachers' knowledge and affect in Australia has had little empirical research. In this study, 108 graduate entry pre-service teachers were surveyed for their knowledge of middle years' mathematics, confidence, and self efficacy at the commencement of a mathematics curriculum course. It was found that their memory of middle years' mathematics was very poor and this was accompanied by low levels of confidence and self efficacy. An intervention was undertaken to address these issues. The findings are discussed in the context of the "genericism" of pre-service teacher preparation. In particular, the findings call into question the justification for pre-service entry to such a mathematics curriculum course on the basis of proxy measures of mathematics knowledge, without which the teaching of the discipline becomes challenging.