Mother's Little Helper...and various chores

Talk about starting early!

Dad has written on the back of this print " She must have thought I was a hawker." My guess is that he took me by surprise as the hallway looks rather dark and he was possibly standing against the light. I certainly look geared for action! This was at Dutton Park.



Cleaning shoes at Dutton Park.

I dont know if that is Mum or one of the cousins who stayed with us while attending College.

Chores and helping in the house were taken for granted in my generation. There was no talk of payment ; it was part of family life. I cant actually remember receiving pocket money at any age but cant be sure of that.
After finishing school and starting work in 1949 it was my job to do the family wash each weekend. No automatic washing machine or a hot water system. The water was boiled in a copper and then bucketed into the machine.Ours was a single washer with rollers on top...I still used a similar machine when we came to Toowoomba in 1966.



Wash day at Bald Hills

Many of our tasks were similar to those of children today...washing and drying dishes, making one's own bed, cleaning your school shoes...and sometimes Dad's also, cutting one's own lunch...and sometimes Dad's also. We had some fun doing the dishes at Annerley ; Alan would wash, I would dry then pass the item to young Lois who walked along a row of chairs so she could reach the "dresser" to put the things away. Not sure whose idea that was but I expect Alan thought of it.

But others will probably be very different. For example I dont expect many children today would have to empty the chamber pots! These were a standard nightly feature before indoor flush toilets . We took turns to empty them into a bucket which was then filled with water and put outside to be used as liquid fertiliser on the garden. True!

I've already mentioned emptying the water from under the ice chest. The kitchen table was plain wood and had to be scrubbed regularly. I actually didn't mind doing that and have always found satisfaction in giving something a good scrub. Mum would never use a mop to wash a floor; she thought that was not hygienic so Alan and I both learned to wash a floor on our hands and knees. I remember Mum visiting me years later in Cloncurry after Kathy was born and being horrifed to see me using a floor mop. I told her that they had used mops in the maternity hospital so a mop would do me!

The silverware had to polished and that usually fell to me. The cutlery was all silver then . The good silverware was not done so often but included a teapot and sugar bowl.

The wood stove had to be "blacked" regularly. I dont remember having to do that but I think the stove at Petrie had a silver finish and I had to apply that on occasion.

Mum was always a great jam and marmalade maker. She would buy in bulk at the markets so we would come home from school ...and in later years from work ... and there would be a case of rosellas or something to be prepared for the next day. If you wanted to eat it you expected to have to help with the preparations.

One last memory of chores is that I always wore an apron. My earliest memory of an apron is of one I embroidered in sewing class at Yeronga.

More memories from Annerley days

Grandfather Tarbit, Ida and Auntie Agnes used to visit us. I'm not sure how often. Agnes kept in touch with various relatives in England and Scotland. I'm not sure where she borrowed these outfits from but Alan and I had to put them on and be photographed.

You will notice that our hair is very short. A stray cat had adopted the family but it had some disease and we developed sores on our heads. I remember the treatment took a long time and involved visits to the Mater Childrens outpatients. It left me with a strong dislike of cats.

We had a great childhood at Annerley; the house being on high stumps allowed us to play all sorts of games under it no matter what the weather. I recall marking out rooms in the dirt ( it was not concreted) to play "house" with the neighbour girls and our dolls.
There were several ( 5 I think) mango trees in the yard ; Dad made a platform up the biggest one and we could climb up there and let our imaginations make it what ever we wished. It was also a great spot when the mangoes were ripe. I wasn't very good at climbing but with help loved to be up there.
Under the strawberry mango tree there was a little pond which was a favourite spot in the hot weather.

I cant remember if I was recovering from chicken pox or measles when I went with the Minogues for a couple of weeks to their beach house at Maroochydore. I was over the illness but there used to be quite a long quarantine period and it was decided as it was close to holiday time I need not return to school. I expect the Minogue children had finished ( at the catholic schools) a little before the state schools.  Anyhow I had a wonderful time with them. I especially remember the white bread and jam! we didn't have white bread at our home so that seemed a "treat" to me. I remember the girls and I having 6 slices each one day and being amazed that nobody seemed to find that "naughty."
Our family holidays were usually spent at Maroochydore or Caloundra. One day we went with the Minogues to pick strawberries at a farm at nearby Bli Bli. It was a case of picking for free all you could fit in the provided pails. You could also eat as you picked! The farmer must have had a bigger crop than he could market.

Mum's sister Emmy lived at Montville which is on the range behind Maroochydore. The Harper family had a sugar cane farm and on at least one occasion we had a day with them. There were young boys about Alan's age who must have been Aunty Emmy's grandchldren. They introduced us to fishing for eels in the dam, chasing the young calves around the paddock and pulling them along by the tails...and all the other things that larrikin boys get up to on a farm! It was a great day!  I wasn't too keen when the eels were cooked for a meal  however. I preferred the sticks of sugar cane we chewed. The sugar cane trains on the narrow gauge were a common sight in the area. I'm not sure how old I was at the time.
Aunty Emmy was a lovely person and I was very sad years later when she died of cancer.

a short digression...a bit of trivia

A memory popped up this morning while I was putting on my shoes to go out. These shoes have a strap across the instep . It is fastened by velcro. I suddenly had a clear vision of Mum doing up some new shoes of mine. When I was very young my shoes  had a strap with a buttton hole which did up on a button at the side of the shoe. When the shoes were new it was hard to get the button through the slot on the strap. Mum had a button hook which went through the hole, hooked around the button and thus made it easier to be pulled through.

I expect I am wearing such shoes in this photo.

Back to the city

By 1943 the threat of invasion on Australia had diminished though the war was still being fought out in the Pacific regions. Alan had gone back to Brisbane and was attending Brisbane Grammar school so there was only Mum, Lois and I at the Amiens house. I cant remember anything about the actual return to Brisbane. I can recall that in preparation Mum and I were busy sun-drying apples . Someone, probably Uncle Ernie, had made a stand covered with chicken wire and we peeled and sliced the apples and spread them out on the wire to dry.

Mum had heard or read that accomodation was scarce in Brisbane especially for American service officers and their wives . As we had a fairly large house at Annerley she decided we could offer accomodation. I expect the decision to leave Amiens and  return to Annerley was based on several reasons but I recall her explaining the accomodation situtation ; probably preparing me for the fact that we would be sharing the house.

Records show that Lois and I returned to Yeronga State School in May 1943. Here we were in the reverse situation to our arrival at the school in Amiens. I was behind in the syllabus and had some catching up to do. I cant be sure but I have a feeling that Geography may have  been the subject I  missed  because I had been going to rural school in Stanthorpe.  Yeronga didn't do Domestic science and I have always struggled with Geography so I am guessing that  my problems with the subject started from this time.. It probably also had a lot to do with the way the syllabus was organised and the subject taught. We had to draw maps! The exercise book was similar to a botany/science book , that is with one side ruled and the opposite side blank. We ruled a grid on the blank side as a guide for drawing a map. Drawing of any kind  was not one of my better skills!  The other thing I remember about Geography was having to remember and being able to draw from memory on a map  all the rivers ( in the correct order) around the Australian coastline.
Apart from the feeling of being "behind" the others in class I was very happy to be back with all my firends.

I think I am correct in saying that an American officer and his wife ( dont know if she was American or Australian) came to board with us. There was an occasion when Mum went back to Amiens , something to do with the farm...may even have been when she sold it... and while Dad and Alan had to cope with the laundry  I was the cook. I was 12 years old! One evening the boarder came out to the kitchen and asked if everything was OK . I was cooking chops and she thought they were burning. Mum always cooked chops very thoroughly so I expect I was doing likewise!

Unfortunately my pleasure at being back home and seeing my friends was to be short-lived as by the beginning of the next school year we had left Annerley for ever.

Again I know nothing about the actual sale of the house or of the shift. I have a strong memory of an incident which is more likely to belong to this time rather than the earlier preparation for the move to Amiens. I walked into one of the bedrooms where Dad was packing boxes and found him flat out on the floor. I was very upset and went to Mum. I thought he was dead...but whether I actually said that I dont recall. She came and checked and said he was sound asleep.