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.