Luggage

Before a large carry-on bag became the way to travel, suitcases were the go. 

Looking at this tan coloured 1970s suitcase, its hard to believe it survived the baggage handlers of the time but it did!  I even seem to recall sitting on suitcases on more than one occasion just to fit one more thing in.  (There wasn't nearly as much weighing of baggage thirty years ago).  They are surprisingly sturdy, although a luggage strap was usually added "just in case."

The much-older hat box is another story.  It probably dates to the 1940s, and era when hats were a necessary article of clothing, and were treated with suitable respect!

VINTAGE VINYL

ORGAN AND ACCORDIAN MUSIC

It was my intention to show off this little selection of vintage vinyl and make the comment that musical tastes have changed...

HOWEVER...when I did a little research I found that lovers of organ music can still access the magic of Barry Hall on a number of on-line streaming services.  (As a St Kilda fan I'm still struggling with the name). 
"Happy Organ" was released in 1974.

 Leon Berry's album featuring bells, chimes and glockenspiels (pay close attention to the intensity of his gaze).  He was evidently a renowned organist at skating rinks, who released several albums, this one dating back to 1961.

Last, but not least "Love is a Piano AccordiOn" by the AccordiOnettes was released in 1977.  I donated this one to folks who are sometimes involved in quiz nights thinking along the lines of  "Complete this question - Love is a............." (with the instrument and relevant words covered.  Have to say, "a piano accordian" wouldn't be the most obvious answer for me!)

TELEPHONE TABLE

TELEPHONE TABLE

Speaking of things we don't really use in the 21st century......

A phone table used to be an integral part of many homes - somewhere you could sit comfortably (this one usually had cushions) and chat for hours on the fixed line telephone to your friends and family.

Now, of course, even non-mobile phones tend to be cordless so its normal to be chatting whilst walking around the house, an unheard of luxury until relatively recently. ( I say luxury because E.g. often only one room was heated in winter and that room didn't always have the phone connection).  The change in the way we communicate has been even more profound than that and is continuing to develop quickly.  Many people today choose not to have landlines at all, and there are a number of online options that by-pass the telephone network altogether. 

Having said that, the push-button phone in the photo was still in use this year, and the owners can remember when the only way to make a call was via an operator on a party line (a limited number of lines shared by several callers), and when the phone was only ever used to make important calls.  Calling anyone outside of one's immediate area needed some thought as it was quite an expensive undertaking, and phoning overseas was almost unheard of!

ENCYCLOPAEDIAS

ENCYCLOPAEDIAS ON THE SHELF

Before the internet, we had to look things up in books, and if we were lucky we had access to encyclopaedias, an alphabetically organized treasure trove of information about....well..just about everything really.

In the 1950s and 60s most homes at least aspired to have a set, be it the Funk and Wagnells, purchased in weekly volumes from the local newsagency or the weighty Encyclopaedia Britannica.  There was a real pride in the ownership of such desirable things.

It is sad that in 2019, I literally couldn't give the volumes in the photograph away - even the charity I contacted said that they did not accept donations of encyclopaedias.  Despite the little voice in my head saying "you really don't have the room to take these home" I did just that - (well the Britannicas and the Popular Mechanics anyway - I thought the medical volumes might just lead to hypochondria).  Wikipedia is amazing, as are many other internet sources but books operate in a different way, and I know I'll end up finding out all sorts of things I didn't even know I didn't know by randomly dipping into the volumes.  Besides they are things of beauty with gorgeous maroon binding and gold foiled spines, and very tactile - far too fine for the skip1

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