Flowers at the front of the garden.
View up the back. On the right was the close line and the bushes were black currants and gooseberries, passionfruit vine on the left on the fence.Obviously the more fragile clothes that could not take the hot water were washed in one of the troughs then rinsed in cold water in the other trough. This was done while the copper was boiling the heavy items such as sheets, trousers, etc.
The washing had to wrung out by hand though we later got a hand wringer. In those days they were known as mangles and that is what they could do often to the clothes. For the second rinse, Recketts Bluo was added to the water to make the whites whiter then the clothes were wrung out by hand again. Many items such as tablecloths, the sheets and cotton clothes shirts were starched so as to give them body and a crispness when they were ironed. This was done during the last rinse when they would be dunked into the starch mixture. Then it was put into a cane basket and carried outside, up the stairs to the clothes line. On a windy day it would dry reasonably quickly but when it rained then the washing was hung on the clothes horses, which were just drying racks and placed in front of the roaring fire to dry out. As washing was then nearly am all day job, the meal that night was generally made from leftovers from the Sunday roast, something like Shepherds Pie.
Me on the cubby house we had, forget what the pose was for though!
Monday night was also I went to the boys group, CEBS which was held at the church meeting hall. During the summer months I walked there, it was a 2 mile walk but due to the long hours of summer, it would still be light at seven . For the return the bus home was caught which meant a ten minute walk through part of the city to the bus stop. Once it was too dark to walk there, then the bus was caught in both directions.
Norman and me with our camp fire.
Tuesday would have been house cleaning day though after the beds were stripped on Monday for the sheets, the rooms were often dusted afterwards. If the clothes were all dry then they would be ironed though the starched items were better if they were ironed still slightly damp then hung again on the clothes hangers. This was before the days of spray on starch.
Wednesday was bath night. As the climate was not humid we did not need to bathe then every day though we did have a shower also for use in the summer time or when we were grubby after playing outside. During the cold winter nights then we would dry ourselves in front of the fire.
Thursday was when the greengrocer and ordinary grocer delivered or Mum would go into the city shopping. It would have been hard work carrying a few string bags with all the groceries in all the way back from the bus stop.
Friday, cannot remember anything special for this day. Back then there was no late night shopping. Perhaps the second lot of shopping was done, clothes were darned, or the ladies gossip session.
Saturday the shops were opened until noon though there were some small suburban general stores which would remain open until Saturday night. We would disappear and only be needed to turn up for meals, reasonably clean. On one occasion when I was very young, Glenn and I went on a long walk over to a park a few kilometres away, had a play there, then came home. Our parents were worried as we had been absent for quite a few hours, but we knew where we were! Funny but I have never been back to that park since. When I was very young my favourite show was on Saturday afternoon, Western music (as is what is now called country and western). Saturday was also bath night.
Princess Park foreground and St Johns Church where we went to church, behind it.
Sunday meant we went to Sunday School in the morning, again it was the same walk that I would have done on Monday night but this time I had to walk back as there were no buses. It was a tiring walk as the last section was all uphill in the hot sun yet I can never remember walking back in the rain! Sometime detours were made to other places on the way back, there was an interesting hobby shop in Charles Street, away from the main shops but I cannot remember its name now. Sunday lunch time was normally a roast – beef or lamb, as back then there were no chicken farms so chicken was rarely used for meals. On special occasions one of our fowls from our coop would go under the axe and when it was hung under the house to drain for a few hours my two sisters would disappear! Sunday night tended to be a quiet night, listening to the radio and getting items ready for school before going off to bed.
All of us a bit older, probably around 1954.
The kitchen was large and it contained the kitchen table where the meals were eaten. It had the fireplace so it was warm and all the kitchen cupboards. Next room was called the sunroom as it faced north and west so it got a lot of sun due to windows on two sides. In the warmer months this room was used more as it was pleasant in here and it was also the sewing room and where the ironing was done. There was of course an old Singer sewing machine which was used often, the machine was 1930 vintage and its sales receipt is still in my collection. My Grandma liked it in here when the sun was out and she would often spend her spare time knitting items. I still had some of her long knitted socks many many years after she stopped knitting. Actually I still have a jumper knitted by her some 40 years ago now. Up here it does not get used at all but it is still around for when ever we go south and need some warm clothing. (Gee Jacss it is older than you). My father when he was young had made a ¾ size billiard table out of Blackwood and it had a wooden top to cover the billiard cloth so it could be used as a dining table. It was higher than a normal table and very heavy as Blackwood is a solid timber and it had a slate base for the billiard cloth and so to make the base very smooth. It had a set of eight chairs to go with it. When there were visitors we dined in here.
The path up the side of the house. This would be to the right of the previous photo.
The next room was my bedroom and next to me was the parents bedroom which was at the front of the house. Also at the front was my sister’s room and the lounge room which was only used whenever we had visitors. It also had a fireplace to keep us warm during the colder months and often on a Sunday afternoon when it was raining we would all relax in there. The hallway was quite wide and at one end there was the linen cupboard and another cupboard where all the preserves were kept. Back then, many homes had a Fowlers Vacola unit which enabled you to preserve your fruits in sterile, pressurised glass jars with the metal caps. The fruit was cleaned, cut, added to the jar then a syrup added. The bottles were placed in the sterilizer which was filled with water and heated. The rise in the temperature would sterilize the food and expand the liquid so when it cooled, a vacuum was formed. Some small vegetables could also be kept this way and as we grew many of our own it was used often to keep the fruit or vegetables for later on in the year.
Life here was very peaceful, there was very little crime and the houses were safe. Our local policeman was known to us all PC Spinks and I can remember seeing him on his bicycle going around the streets. There is no reason why I should remember his name!, perhaps he came to the school to give us talks but he was there for a long time.
Over the years there were changes, after the war years there was more money available and the road outside was widened, it was rather narrow with a drop on one side. After a few years we got a telephone. At first it was the type that you had to pick up and wait for the telephonist to ask you what number you wanted and then she would connect you and disconnect you when the light went out. By around 1954 then we got the telephone with a dial so you dialled the number you wanted. Where my grandmother stayed, the phone she had was the old type with the voice piece on the phone proper while the ear piece was on a lead. To active the phone you had to crank a small handle which would generate a small burst of electricity to turn on the light in the exchange.
Later the street from the bus stop was widened into 2 levels due to the hill and although there was talk then of extending it across to connect to other main road but 50 years later it still had not been done. By then more houses were constructed near us and further up the hill. This area became popular as it was higher so when the valley and the city centre were covered in fog, these higher areas would often be fog free. With these changes also the people changed as at this time Australia was taking in many immigrants from Europe, originally from England then other European countries. While most went to the big mainland cities where the main work was, we had several new children at school, from England, Scotland and Holland. One of the advantages that this immigration caused was the change in eating habits. More restaurants were opened and a wider variety of food was to be found in the stores and. Ethnic stores atarted to appear.
While we were there we never got snow falling though it did happen the year after we left. However we would get several days below freezing so on the walk to school all the water in the puddles on the road were frozen over. One year it was so cold that even our hot water pipes were frozen solid, so for a few hours we could not get water. At the other extreme we had bush fires come very close on several occasions. They were slow moving grass fires and after some work, they could be controlled though one nearly burnt our back fence down. The big winter storms often knocked some trees down, some fell close to or into the back yard but the house was far enough away.
The End
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