Home Life - Making do
Re-use and recycling of all manner of things was a way of life for families living in the Tweed Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Farming families in particular, often struggling to make ends meet, could not afford to let anything go to waste and used ingenuity and imagination to make do with what they had at hand. Empty flour bags were washed and boiled and then made into tea towels or children’s bloomers, or underwear. Sugar bags were used to make milking aprons for the family, as everyone, including children, helped with the milking. Occasionally empty sugar bags were decorated and made into doormats.
Men often had to camp out where they were working as travelling long distances to and from their homes to their work sites wasn’t practical. Cane cutters, road workers, even tick inspectors (whose job it was to make sure cattle were treated for ticks) lived in tents for days and weeks at a time. The humble 4-gallon kerosene tin was recycled into a portable sink, which was very practical at these campsites. The tin was cleaned and cut in half lengthwise, and then the sharp edges were smoothed down. The dishes were washed in one side and drained in the other. They were also used as makeshift wood fire stoves. There was no shortage of empty kerosene tins because before electricity became widely available in the Tweed Valley kerosene lamps and lanterns were used for lighting.
Other items such as the practical and well-constructed iron baby’s cot pictured below, were taken care of and passed down and re-used within families. This much-loved cot was used by several generations of the Priest/Milsom family from Uki or South Arm, providing a comfortable first bed for approximately fifteen babies from that family.
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Mena's Story
“A neighbour had no nightgowns so her husband asked Kate to make her two. Kate made them, both of unbleached calico but one she trimmed with a small frill of white calico, it is surely a measure of now deprived they were when the recipient of the night gowns felt that the decorated one was too good to wear - she would put it away for best.”
Mena Stewart describes her great-grandmother’s experiences in the late 19th century.
Tweed River Regional Museum Research Collection
Did you know?
The first electric light in Australia was put on public display in 1863. In 1888 Tamworth became the first Australian town to have electric street lighting, followed quickly by Penrith, Moss Vale, Broken Hill and Redfern. By the turn of the century, all Australian states had some form of electricity, except the Northern Territory, which was supplied with power in 1923.
To find out interesting facts about electricity go to the Energy Networks Association website: http://www.ena.asn.au
Portable Sink made from a kerosene tin.
Tweed River Regional Museum Collection
Try This
Dot Lange remembers 4-gallon kerosene tins being cleaned and recycled into portable kitchen sinks. A gallon is a unit of measurement from the old imperial system of weights and measures, which originated in Britain. Australia changed from the imperial to the metric system in 1970.
Use the converter below to find out how many millilitres and litres there are in 4 gallons.
Download Activity - PDF 81 KB
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