Perth’s Past #12 (Conclusion)

Around the 1940’s or 1950’s we used to have the “Candid Cameraman” who would take your photo while you walked down the street. Having given you his card, you visited the studio to see if you liked the print. If you did, you could buy it. Some of the [...]

A New Page on My Blog

A little over a year ago I posted a limerick novel in four parts.
The Ballad of Daffyd and Sir Ffrank.
I have been looking at putting all the “Perth’s Past” postings onto a page in this blog and I suddenly realised I had neglected to do this with the Tale of Daffyd.
So now I have. At [...]

Perth’s Past#11

One of the great celebrations of the year, as far as children were concerned, was Guy Fawkes Night. This disappeared many years later when the sale of crackers was banned. I don’t think the crackers we had could have been as powerful as those produced later for I never heard of [...]

Perth’s Past #10

One thing that has changed vastly during the last seventy years, is clothing. Our fashion and way of dressing came originally from England with the early settlers, but it is strange that it took so long for men and women to adjust to the different climate.
Men, for instance, were not properly dressed unless [...]

Perth’s Past #9

Then there was public transport. The open drays and buggies had long gone and in their place were Buses. There were many different bus companies and each had their own area to service: the maroon and brown Beam to Midland and the hills, the green Metro to Fremantle and Claremont, the [...]

Perth’s Past #8

When I first started school, we used slates, but these were shortly done away with as unhygenic…..They were a piece of slate with a wooden frame around it, about 9 inches (23cm) by 8 inches (20cm). We wrote with a slate pencil, a pencil made out of slate, slightly sharpened at one end. [...]

Perth’s Past #7

Then in 1960, TELEVISION arrived.   In the early years only a few people had this new and expensive form of entertainment.   These houses became the most popular in the district and on Friday and Saturday nights a big group would gather to watch the “Cinema in your Home”.   Eventually most households had their own TV [...]

Perth’s Past #6

……. Grandma needed to go shopping and we visited some of the wonderful shops around Perth.   Moores, Bairds, Woolworths, Coles, Selfridges, Foy and Gibson, Aherns and Bon Marche were the most memorable.   Bon Marche assistants were very superior ladies dressed in black with diamonds dripping off their fingers who always enquired if they could help [...]

Perth’s Past #5

Bread was delivered daily from a horse drawn cart with iron rimmed wooden wheels and the carter had a three foot jump down to negotiate while carrying a basket of bread. John (b 1920)
The horse in both the Baker’s and Milko’s case was an important part of the equipment. Unlike a [...]

Perth’s Past #4

“In those days there was no sewerage or septic tanks.   The lavatory was always placed well away from the house for obvious reasons.   A pan system operated to remove night soil.     John (b 1920)
A bottle of Phenyle was kept there to reduce odours.     Shirley (b 1932)
“One always tried to be away from the “Dunny” when [...]

Perth’s Past #3

“Washing was a weekly affair. On Monday morning Mum would wake herself really early (5.00 am) and either light the copper herself or get one of the kids to do so. The worst dirt was washed out by hand and then the chips of soap were added to the [...]

Perth’s Past #2

Second in a series about life in Perth during the 20th century.
Kitchens were so very different from our small compact rooms. They were always big and served as a living room. Everything was done in the kitchen, pine furniture, unpainted, which had to be scrubbed, even the tabletops, although a few [...]

Perth’s Past

Some years ago I assisted in the writing of a part of my family history. After all the genealogical details and the specific individual histories were included we had a mass of information left over. This was the general social history as told in anecdotes written by two aged family members. It seemed a shame [...]

Queens Gardens, Perth

Wandering down to the WACA yesterday, I walked through one of the original claypits of Perth. This was an area where the bricks for many of Perth’s late 19th century buildings were made. One of my ancestors worked here as a brickmaker. Several others used the bricks to build, not just houses but business premises [...]

Perth’s Hay Street above the shops

Today I thought I would look at Perth, above the verandahs. Every time I walk through the streets of Perth, my eyes are drawn to the glass and glitter of the shop fronts. Above me are the verandahs which are so necessary on hot summer days and on the two rainy days Perth has been [...]