Growing up During the late Forties and Fifties Part 1.

Me at around 4 years old.

I lived in Launceston which was at that time a well developed city, still fairly small with a population of around 50,000 people and it had several large and important industries. Paton and Baldwins had their massive wool spinning factory and it supplied a lot of the world markets with knitting wool and other woollen products and there were several other woollen mills making blankets. Other important products from here was timber, apples though that mainly was shipped from Beauty Point and local foodstuffs. The Kraft dehydrated vegetables factory was at Scottsdale and the produce railed into Launceston. However jobs for girls were hard to get at this time, most would work at Paton and Baldwin’s mill or get married when they left school.

My two sisters and their darling little brother!!

My Grandmother and me probably at the house where she was living in Launceston.

My earliest memories were off looking out our lounge room in the hose we were renting in Newstead and looking across the paddocks to see in the distance a steam train heading out to Western Junction. This would have been before I was 4 years old as in 1948 we finally moved into our new house in West Launceston.

At our Como Crescent address in Newstead.

Where we first lived in Newstead.

The house was on a steep hill side and there was a steep climb from the road up to the house and it continued up as steep to the back. Behind us was all bush though two house blocks down from us was the house belonging to the Woods family. They originally owned all this land and as it was steep they used some of it for grazing and further up there was a flattish area which had been cleared and crops, probably wheat or rye had been sowed years earlier. Occasionally some grain crops would emerge and the birds would lovingly eat the seeds.

My only impression of the Woods family was seeing one of the old sisters riding a horse once in a heavy storm completely dressed in black. She looked very ghostly in the rain. Originally, there had been several brothers and sisters who worked the farm but by the time the area was opened up, only one sister remained who was very very old to us children. Perhaps they had married but no one really knew. She passed away around 1953 and the house still was there when we went back in 1996. While it was derelict for many years people were now living there.

View from neighbours place cir 1946 our house was to be built where the stand of trees start, the other road leaves just to the right.


Our main playground was all this bush behind our place as there were trees to climb, paths to follow, a small cave which was really an overhang next to a pond but to us it was a big cave. There was a flat area outside our back door where games could be played. There was not much wildlife around, originally rabbits lived here in plague proportions but around 1954 it seemed that myxomatous was introduced and this reduced the rabbit population to zero. In the early days the occasional hare was sighted but they were off like a flash as soon as they sighted you. Snakes were around and twice I can remember seeing them sunning them selves on the concrete path in our place. As our place was so steep and rocky there were some gaps in the rocks were they had been used to build up a section, and these were used as hides by the Blue Tongue lizards. These rocks made a comfortable seat and I can remember my Grandmother sitting on it when a Blue Tongue lizard came out of the rocks between her feet. They only time there was a competition was when one would be picking strawberries and the lizard would be there also feasting so it was generally one for you, one for me.

On a visit to Melbourne around 1948, photo taken at relations place in Melbourne.

Ring tail possums were common but they came out only at night and did not bother us. One had its nest next to the chook house and by climbing the fence I could peer into the nest at the sleeping possums.

Our house during the late 50's.

Probably takem at Newstead.

Starting the garden 1950, the plum tree had lovely display of blossoms during spring.

The road outside was originally quite narrow but the amount of traffic was very light in the early days, so much so that when a vehicle went past I would rush to the window to watch it. As this was just after World War 2 luxuries such as cars were not available. Because of this the sellers came to you and you just left the necessary amount of money out . The milkman would come early morning with his horse and cart and fill up our billy with fresh milk and leave it in the little hutch. In those days while the milk was pastured it didn’t receive all of the treatment that milk now goes through. On the top was always a thick layer of cream. Next came the baker, originally it was a horse hauled van then he had a motor van. The grocer came weekly with the order which was phoned through though before we had the phone connected it required a trip into the city where the order would be given to the grocer or his assistant in their white starched aprons. In those days, the shop bought items in bulk and would measure out your requirements and pack them in brown paper bags while you waited. Even butter came in 50 (I think) pound slabs and it would be cut to meet your requirements.The grocers shop was packed from floor to ceiling with shelves holding tins and boxes full of all sorts of interesting items. We would be given a broken biscuit from one of the large biscuit tins while Mother gave her order to the grocer. In those days items were not laid out in such a way so as to tempt impulse buying.

The greengrocer worked in a similar manner, delivering your goods as required or you could buy from his shop. As we grew a lot of our own vegetables sometimes there would be a surplus, so Mother would sell some items to the greengrocer. The newspaper was delivered by a boy who, as he rode his bicycle past, would throw the twisted (so it would not start leaving pages all over the place) paper into the yard. Sometimes he missed and the paper would have to be retrieved from a tree. Of course when it rained it would have to be painstakingly dried in front of the fire.

Launceston probably taken 1945. The large building left middle is Launceston High School. Our place in West Launceston was a further kilometre or two to the right and higher up the hill.

One salesman who only came once a year was the Watkins Essence man. He would bring his box with all his essences, vanilla, coconut, raspberry etc which was essential for the cooks. The woodman was another visitor as when the cooler season started a load of cut timber would be ordered for the fires. It was a hard job carrying it all up to the garage area where it then had to be cut and split into smaller sizes so it would fit into the fireplace. It was one of my jobs to keep the woodbox upstairs full of wood. Some woodmen also sold block ice for your iceboxes which came before refrigerators but we had a refrigerator after about 2 years there, a Silent Knight and it was a good fridge, never gave us any problem in the years we had it. I don’t think that we had any form of refrigeration in the first years in the new house as I can remember Mum setting jelly is a dish and putting it in the bath with water to help it to set.

For heating, as Tasmania can get cold, we had two fireplaces, one in the lounge which was only used when we had visitors and this was the standard open fireplace, and one in the kitchen which was a Wonderheat. A Wonderheat fireplace was enclosed with a glass door which would be open to add wood and it had air controls to control the air flow. As it took in the incoming from under the house it had a good air intake and would warm up to three rooms when necessary. Toast was regularly made in front of the fire using the red embers to toast the bread. Sometimes the fire would be hotter than expected and the toast would be black in parts. Toast made this way always taste better than that produced in a toaster, even the black crunchy parts.

This is where my parents lived before moving to Newatead. The lane was steep but it is further down the hill from our house in West Launceston.