A Woman's Lot -

“Everything was ironed in those days. The workload for women was immense, without electricity or washing machines. The only way to get through the workload was to have a strict routine. Tuesday was for ironing, for example, and Friday was polishing day. Sunday was the day we changed all pillowcases and sheets from the beds. We’d soak them all overnight. Then on Monday morning we’d scrub them and give them a good wash, and boil them in the copper with Persil soap flakes. Then they’d be rinsed in clear water, wrung out again and rinsed in water with a knob of Reckett’s Blue to make them white. They’d be starched and hung out on the line to dry. On Tuesday when the sheets were dry, we’d bring them in and damp them down to iron.

There was such a lot of work but you never heard Mum complain. I can still see her scrubbing the floors on her hands and knees singing Moonlight and Roses...

...Mum’s name was Alice Brookes. She married a man named Gibson who had worked in the mines, and they had three children before he died at the age of 29. Alice was five, Elizabeth was two and Joe was a baby when mum was widowed. One day mum was nursing Joe when she suddenly wondered where Elizabeth was – she found her drowned in a bucket of water in the back yard.

There was no counselling or welfare in those days and mum had to just keep going.”

From the book Wharf Rats and Other Stories 2004 as told by Lillian Mabel Hitchen. Lamb Print East Perth.

(Note: This is a wonderful book and is highly recommended to anyone interested in our social history.)

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