Annerley house

I dont know when the alterations to the exterior of the Annerley house were made. I cant even remember the actual work being done.
I do have memories regarding the interior . The long boards of the veranda were sanded ;  these had to be waxed and polished by hand. Alan soon discovered that it was more fun to tie the bundles of  polishing cloths under our feet and "skate" along the veranda rather than having to get down on hands and knees. Lois always wanted to join in anything that looked like fun so one day Alan put her on a cushion and while he pulled her by the legs I pushed from her back. This was great fun for a while but unfortunately the boards must not have been as well sanded as they should have been and Lois collected a large splinter in her bottom. Mum could not get it all out so Alan and I had to take her up to Lady Cilento's surgery which was at the front of their home on Ipswich Road.

One afternoon I rushed home from school very excited ...because a new sink was installed that day!!! I wonder if that would excite a young child today?! It was the very latest in sinks...stainless steel! It replaced the old enamel one. Many homes did not even have a sink and washing up was done in a bowl on the kitchen table. We had to do this at Amiens but that is for later in this story.

I am fairly certain that the original stove was a wood(burning) one in a recess. This may have been replaced later by an electric one but I cant be sure about that. In the corner of the kitchen and near the stove recess was a single gas ring. I remember Mum warming oil in a spoon over the flame ; she then put the warm oil in my ear to try to float out an insect, probably a moth. On the rare occasions that we were given castor oil it also was warmed in this way and then added to orange juice the latter doing nothing to disguise the taste unfortunately.

In another corner of the room was the ice chest. The iceman used to deliver a slab of ice each morning to the bottom front step. Dad wrapped it in newspaper and it was then placed in a compartment at the top of the ice-chest. As the ice melted during the day, the water dripped down through a metal tubing into a bowl which was placed under the chest. This had to be emptied regularly, usually each morning I think. This was my job for a long time until a frog decided to make the bowl his home . I was a bit of a scaredy-cat and wasn't going near the bowl if the frog was there so Alan got the job.  Lois treated the frog as her pet ...pity she wasn't old enough to take over the chore for me!
She was always the "gamer" of us ; another of her delights at this time was catching  the bees around Mum's garden  poppies; she had  botttle and used to creep up on a bee, and quickly put the lid on the bottle.  Mum was always expecting she would get stung and lose interest but I dont recall that ever happening.

Alan and I used to take her for "walks" when she was little. This may have been in the pram ...I dont remember anyone having a "stroller" in those days...or it may have been in Alan's billy cart. This was the forerunner to a go-cart. It was home-made and basically a wooden box on a simple frame with wheels. There was also a front wheel ...often old pram wheels were used...and the driver used rope to steer. As our footpath had a gentle slope we used to take our hands off the "vehicle - whichever" and run along beside it as Lois screamed ; she wasn't scared just loved every minute of it. Mum told us many years later that a neighbour had said when Lois started school that she " never thought that child would live to start school." I'd be fairly sure Mum knew what ever we did  ( dont Mum's usually!)and would not have stopped anything she assumed to be safe fun. She grew up with boys older and younger than herself and only one sister close in age so knew very well what youngsters would try.
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The bathroom was at the back end of the veranda section and at some stage the floor was covered with terrazzo...again the latest thing for bathrooms. There was no hot water system ( in fact I dont think we ever had onein our home) ; there was some sort of a heater at one end; it may have been a chip heater or even gas. I know I found it a bit scarey.

The toilet as I have mentioned was down the back yard.

There was no laundry as we know it today but under the house were concrete tubs and a copper for boiling the water. I think Mum may have bought her first washing machine while at Annerley, the old wringer type but I cant be certain about that. Clothes were pegged on long line strung across the back yard ;the lines were lifted up with clothes props. These were tree saplings which had been smoothed down. They had been cut where there was a fork  thus making the V which held up the lines. Men used to come to the door selling clothes props. This was one of the ways many men had to earn some money to support their families at that time.

We had the occasional "swaggie"  call at the back asking for work or a feed and I remember taking sandwiches down to one sitting on the bottom step. We were always told to speak respectfully to and about anyone who came looking for food or a "job."
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All children had their chores and I'll tell you more about that another day.