AN EGG SLICER...PERHAPS

WHAT COULD THESE BE?

I'd love to tell you more about these but other than the fact that we found them in the kitchen, I have no idea what they are, although they function much as tongs, springing open from the pivot on the end.

The best suggestion I've had is that one grips an egg between the two spoon shapes and by cutting into the slots, slice it into even pieces.  I think that would work so maybe it is, in fact an egg slicer??

I love kitchen drawers - they are a treasure trove of UPUOs (unidentified potentially useful objects)

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

These vintage Christmas lights are so cute, albeit really weird.  They were made in Japan and date, I think to the early 1960s.

PRE-SCHOOL TRAY

Pre-school Artwork

I'm not sure whether its still a thing, but even when my own children were young, pre-school teachers were supposed to come up with gifts for mothers day, fathers day, Christmas, Easter and other sundry occasions, that cropped up during the year, that could be constructed by a large group of 4 and 5 year olds with minimal supervision.  As if the poor teachers weren't stressed enough!!

Anyway, my pre-school teacher rose to the challenge way back in 1966, and had us all paint a piece of hardboard, and then (under supervision) nail on pre-cut edges.  She took them all home and varnished the surface.  End result - an actually usable tray that had (until with a degree of sadness I consigned it to the skip) lasted for over 50 years!  The funny thing was that when I found this at my parents' house, I remembered being really upset because I'd almost finished when I accidentally dropped a big white blob of paint when I was trying to add another white flower.  I also remember that the teacher advised me to just turn it into something else - hence the creepy white figure lying under the apple tree!  (Just goes to show that psychologists should show caution when interpreting childrens' drawings).  It was good advice though.......disguising one's mistakes is an essential skill for any craftsperson.

BUTTER PATS

BUTTER PATS

We always called these wooden utensils "butter pats" although I note that they are not only still being made, but are generally known as "butter paddles."
I can remember these from my childhood and they were not new then so I am guessing they probably date from at least the 1950s.

For those who don't know what they are.......the idea is to more or less beat a small piece of butter flat between the wooden paddles and then roll it into a little corrugated curl to be served with toast etc.

When I was (very) little, my mother would keep me occupied with shaking a jar with cream in it until it solidified into butter, pouring the liquid out, adding a little salt, and then patting the resulting tiny piece of butter into shape - and activity which took about half an hour or so without the need of adult intervention. (School holidays??????)

(A bit of a note though, this was a very long time ago and cream nowadays doesn't come basically "as is" in glass bottles so I don't know if it will work with the modern stuff.......mind you it would still take about half an hour to experiment and find out!). 

MELBOURNE folding postcard from 1911

Front of Postcard

This is a wonderful folding souvenir card of Melbourne which is likely to date to the early 1900s. Flinders Street station which features on one of the pictures was not completed until 1905, and although most of the dresses are long there is one lady in a shorter dress so the card was probably produced a few years after this. Most of the major streets in Central Melbourne are pictured with horse-drawn carriages outnumbering cars. Electric trams, which began their service in 1906 can also be seen. 1927, the same year that federal parliament (another picture) moved to Canberra, so it must have been produced before this date. My great grandmother, to whom the card was given died in 1933.

 Its reassuring that many of grand buildings are still to be seen today, including the Grand Hotel (now known as the Windsor) in Spring Street. There are pictures of wool being loaded on the Murray River and a stack of wheat ready to go. In both cased the transport was provided by bullock carts – a team of 14 awaited the cargo of wool.

Amongst the other pictures is one of Port Melbourne Pier, crowded with mail steamers. Printing on the front of the card, informs the purchaser that Postage Rates were: Commonwealth 1/2d, British Empire 1d. If used for correspondence, letter rates. There doesn't seem to be an option if one wanted, for instance to send the card to America or other more exotic parts.

Back of Postcard

1960s Toys from Breakfast Cereal Packs

Breakfast Cereal "Critters"

At the moment the two supermarkets that dominate the grocery trade where I live are competing for customers by offering giveaways of small plastic objects – lion king oshis in one case (who knew there was even such a thing as an “ooshi”) or mini groceries. Encouring adults to buy things by targeting their children is not a new thing, although in the past it was usually a particular product rather than the shop from which it came that offered the goodies Back in the late 60s, and into the 70s, children collected, swapped and nagged their parents to buy whatever contained the latest giveaways.

Kellogs were particularly good at targeting the 8 year olds of the day with such treasures as little plastic space creatures and sea monsters. I seem to remember that they were separate series but sufficiently abstract in design so that I can't actually tell you from which these come. Back in the day there was no putting our creatures away for the future in special collector's cases – we used them as toys in the sandpit, made them “swim” in jars of water, or took them wherever our imagination led. In short we enjoyed playing with them rather than looking at them, and we couldn't even spell “collectible/collectable” so its a bit of a miracle that any survived. It appears from a couple that have (or rather, “had” survived because they are now in the bin) that we even bit the top off them from time to time (or allowed our pets to do so). I seem to recall that even when nothing rattled inside the box, most cereal packets at the very least featured puzzles or pictures to colour on the back.

LIFE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST - a Sunday school prize from 1884

Life in the Eagle's Nest - Front Cover

Life in the Eagle's Nest - Back Cover

According to the inscription inside the front cover, Life in the Eagle's Nest – A Tale of Afghanistan by A.L.O.E. was awarded to my great grandfather “for good attendance and diligence by Waratah Wesleyan Sabbath School 16/3/84.”

As it seemed to be a rather obscure little title, I was surprised to find further details on-line – evidently A.L.O.E. stands for “A Lady of England., and the author's real name was Charlotte Maria Tucker. She was born in 1821 and so was over sixty when this book came out. A.L.O.E. Is a woman of her times – convinced of her innate superiority as a white woman and a Christian in a way that is truly cringe-worthy to most modern readers.

Referring to herself in the third person she writes in the preface: “A.L.O.E. Wants money for her “Mission Plough,” a School for Mohammedan and heathen boys in Batala, and it occurred to her that hours, not taken from her city work, might be given to earning something by literary effort”

The text is, in turn, hilariously and embarrassingly bad – e.g. in case you can't read the caption to the picture is says “I have him now! Dog of a renegade die!” exclaimed Mustapha, aiming the pistol at the head of Ali Khan.”

The cover of the book, however, is gorgeous and a photograph doesn't really convey the beauty of the deeply embossed the dark blue cover – with black debossed sections on the front and embossed plain blue on the back. The picture on the front is etched in a bright gold, which has retained its vibrancy after all these years, as has the spine which is also embossed, and has gold engraved detail. Independent of its contents, this book is a really is a lovely object to look at and to touch.

NOVELTY STORYBOOKS with Records from the 1960s

Novelty Records for Children  - 1960s

As far as I can work out, these little book records were made by a Dutch company, Mulder and Zoon. One website found that mentions them http://www.minigroove.nl/mulder4.html suggests that they may date to the early sixties and I can confirm that they are at least this old. I really don't quite know what to do with them – any suggestions appreciated.

I listened to them quite a bit as a child, but its hard to imagine that they would captivate the current crop of under fives who are quite capable of independently accessing streaming services. I thought they were pretty impressive at the time, though. One has to remember that there was once a world without Wiggles, You Tube and Netflix. Never the less, these are still cute, and as far as I know still work, the only major design flaw being that you can't exactly read along whilst playing the record!!

BURNIE - Sesquicentenary Medallions 1977

Burnie Sesquicentenary Medallions 1977

According to Wikipedia two hundred silver and 4,000 anodised aluminium medallions were created to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the town/city of Burnie in 1977. The 1827 settlement on the site of Burnie was established by the Van Diemens Land Company and was known as “Emu Bay” until it was renamed after a director of the VDL company in 1842, when the town was formally surveyed and blocks made available for sale to free settlers.

There were no known existing portraits of Henry Hellyer who is featured on the medallion, so one was created by Casey McGrath, from contemporary descriptions. Henry Hellyer, who is buried at Stanley was the first European to climb Cradle Mountain, but is best known for his exploration of North-Western Tasmania, as an employee of the VDL company. He had a fascinating life and if you are interested it is well worth checking out the Wikipedia entry. If you're a local you might be especially interested in following the links to some of his early maps.

NEW IDEA - 101 Ways to be a Happy Housewife 1963

New Idea 13 November 1963

New Idea Magazine came into being in 1928, although it was published under other titles as early as 1902. It has always been a reflection of the times.

The “101 ways to be a Happy Housewife” promised on the cover of this edition are wide-ranging. Some are strictly practical (E.g. No 88 “Cut down on the washing up while the children are home on holidays by using paper plates.”) Many more are dedicated to working on one's outer gorgeousness whilst still completing the housework. E.g. No 82 “....Do a beauty chore when you're doing something else – such as straightening up your posture when you're on the phone.” Another tip involved developing “hand grace” through clenching the fists....I wonder why the happy housewife would be doing that?!

The attention to detail was, by today's standards, truly awesome (E.g. No. 55 “It is quite a timesaver in the long run if you put in a few quick stitches of white thread to mark the extra-soiled spots before washing.”)

If anyone is in doubt as to how far Australia's cuisine has come since the sixties I refer you to the instructions for “A Quick Dinner Dish” (No 80) “Heat a 12oz can corned beef, remove from can, put into a baking dish. Spoon over top a mixture of juice of ½ orange, ¼ cup brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon dry mustard. Stud top with a few cloves, cook in moderately hot oven about 10 minutes.” You'll have to take my word for it that this was not the worst recipe in the list!!

Amongst the ads found elsewhere in the magazine, the reader might be tempted by a parcel of Apron length fabrics “gay boil-fast prints” for 17/6, the “Slimassor” from Paris which guaranteed to trim off an inch of fat in three days for a mere 99/6, or Golden Circle tinned fruit salad which promised to be “as exciting as a tropical holiday.”

Oh and there is just so much more!!!!!!

KODAK BOX BROWNIE

Kodak Box Brownie

Kodak manufactured a variety of cameras under the “Brownie” label between 1900 and 1980. They were originally designed to be both as cheap and as reliable as possible in order to appeal to beginners, including children, and they succeeded! Up until forty years or so ago, just about everyone who had an interest in photography, began with a box brownie as their first camera, and that includes me! This particular camera though, the six-20 Brownie model E belonged to my grandmother. Thanks to the useful website https://www.brownie-camera.com/73.shtml I can tell you that this model was manufactured between 1947 and 1957, and that this particular camera dates to the period between 1953 and 1957, as it has horizontal rather than vertical stripes on its faceplate. (Ah I love the internet....instant expert).

At risk of being hit by a lightening bolt generated by outraged “real photographers” I must confess that the end photograph rather than the means by which it was produced has always been of most interest to me so all the loading of film into the camera, knob twiddling, checking of meters and complicated developing skills needed in past timeswere always just necessary evils as far as I was concerned.....HOWEVER......I still love cameras as objects and I am particularly fond of the stylish little box brownie which has inspired so many people to record their world in creative ways.