To the Editor of Penshurst News

I would like to share with your readers a few memories from my childhood years in Penshurst, which may stir up memories for your older readers and may be of interest to the younger readers on how times were - and not so long ago either:

Yvonne Spence, 19/5/2005

When I was a child, doing the family washing was an all-day job. To start with, there was the copper to light. This in itself as a time consuming job - gathering sticks for kindling and getting the wood to burn under the large copper container, which had to be filled with buckets of water from our outside garden tap. The buckets were usually kerosene tins with the "top" end cut off and a crude wire handle added. The copper was outside and had a chimney type "flue" for the smoke to escape and the fire to "draw" properly. Next there was some soap to be cut up or grated from the bar of velvet soap or even the home made soap made from collected "dripping" and caustic soda, boiled up together.

This was added to the water with a handful of washing soda to help clean the clothes. All the white linen, the tea towels, and other towels were put in the copper, and as the water came to the boil, my mother would keep pushing the rising garments back under the suds with a "copper stick" - a much boiled round stick of wood - probably part of an old broom handle. After about 5 to 10 mins of boiling, the copper stick was again brought into operation, this time to lift each article out of the copper, allowing it to drain of excess water with a dish, and lowering it into a tub of clean water, to be rinsed and wrung out by hand (we did not have a mangle or rollers), then into a smaller rinse to which some Recket's "Blue" had been added "to make the whites whiter" - more hand wringing, then finally into a laundry basket, to be carried out into the house paddock, where a long clothes line was stretched across between two sturdy posts and a couple of "props" positioned to hold the line of clothes up from the ground. A prop was usually a straight piece of timber with a V cut in the top end, but more often, a long limb with a forked end from a tree was used to do the job.

When all the sheets, towels, etc were flapping madly in the breeze - back to the wash tub, where all the "coloureds" were gathered and placed in the soapiest tub, and more hot water from the copper was added. Out cme a washboard - a ready help in scrubbing the extra soiled articles. It was made of wood with the main part made of "rippled" glass - more rinsing and hanging. In those days starch was used to stiffen shirt collars, "d'oyelys, pillow slips, petticoats, table cloths etc (no "drip dry" or non irons then). This was an extra chore - dissolving the starch in a small amount of cold water, then adding boiling water to the required consistency. Later in the day, the washing was folded from the line, and sorted; the things that needed ironing received a sprinkling of water (dampened down). And were rolled up, ready for ironing later, or the next day.

Before electricity came, we did our ironing using heavy irons heated on the wood fire stove, and many times ash or black would mark the whites. Pleats in skirts and creases in trouser legs had to be pressed in using a damp cloth under the iron.

So washing and ironing were much harder and time consuming in those days, and the coming of electricity lightened the load considerably .considerably ---which leads on to my next subject, i.e. The coming of Electricity of to Penshurst.

by Yvonne Spence

It was around 1937-38 and there was great excitement in the town - Penshurst was "to get the power on!!" What changes this would bring - electric lights in the street - no longer would Mr Edlich have to go around at dusk, lighting the lamps on the street corners. And for the housewives, there would be instant heat at the "flick of a switch" to elecric stoves, jugs, irons, mixers, and any other luxury which the bank balance would allow - strictly cash sales - no credit cards then.

Theere would be no need to slave over hot stoves any more during the peak of summer heat. Gone would be the every day chore of "lighting the fire" every morning - and to be able to switch on the electric light - so much brighter than those smelly kerosene lamps that needed the wicks trimmed regularly in order to burn properly, and they could be easily knocked over, to cause a fire. But there was much to be done in order for these things to take place. Telephone lines had to be put underground, to be replaced by electric wires, and the telegraph poles replaced by electric light poles. Houses all required wiring, and a team of electricians was sent to Penshurst to carry this out over a period.

At last on 16th Sept. 1938 came the important night. There was a special function in the Mechnics Hall (since replaced by the Memorial Hall) and our then oldest resident, Miss Mary Chesswas was invited to "cut the ribbon" at the lighting up ceremony. The ribbon was stretched across the stage, connected to a switch which turned all the lights on when it was cut. The late Mr Jack Chesswas was her nephew, and the proud possessor of the gold engraved scissors used for this event. There were a few "blackouts", and loss of power in the early years, but in general the change was certainly for the better, and night turned into day for a while after tea, when the older children would enjoy running and playing under the street lights before bed time.

Yvonne Spence, 1/6/2005

3. Laying of the Foundation Stone of the Penshurst Memorial Hall

by Yvonne Spence

Out with the old, in with the new! It was during the early 1960's that a decision was made to replace the bluestone & weather board Mechanics Hall with a new, modern brick building. For many years "the Hall" had been "home" to "Western District Touring Talkies", old time balls, our library, billiard room, concerts, flower shows, and many other events. The last one was a state school concert, which was rather sentimental, as the Hall was soon to be demolished. The photo taken in October 1963, shows the beginning of the end, as on the left hand side, it can be seen that some of the demolishing had already started to take place.

Work went ahead as planned until finally the day came for the laying of the foundation stone of the new Memorial Hall. The Governor-General, lord de Lisle was to visit Penshurst to participate in the ceremony. Lord de Lisle came from "Penshurst Place", a large property in Kent, England. There was great excitement among the school children, who were to be involved with the Penshurst Youth Club, the Marching Girls, Pony Club etc. The photos show lord de Lisle and other officials, including Cr Roy Schramm and Mrs Shramm, Shire Secretary Commons seen inspecting and talking with the Pony Club members on their horses. Lord de Lisle "turned the Sod" for the laying of the stone, and a Time Capsule was buried with it, containing coins and other things relevant to the 1960's.

At the completion of the building some time later, there was a similar day of celebrations when the Governor of Victoria, sir Rohan Delacombe, was invited to Penshurst for the opening of the new Hall.

Yvonne Spence, 1/6/2005

Ed.: Thank you Yvonne. Your trilogy is so important to the history of Penshurst that it will be uploaded to our on line archive, where it can be read by anyone, anywhere. Sadly, we do not have yet have enough website capacity to include any more photographs.