Heritage Centre Education Kit Sheet 11 Issue 2 April 2006 Today laundry is made easier with electric washers and driers. But it was not always like that! In larger houses such as ‘Currajong’, Washing day now… where families were more affluent, servants were employed. To do the To begin, think about the way we do weekly wash, maids stripped beds of the washing today. We have an electric sheets and pillowslips and collected washing machine and perhaps an towels, table linen and clothes. In less electric drier. By touching a few buttons on the machine we can wash our household linen and clothes in under an hour. All we have to do is take them from the machine and hang them either on clotheslines or on hangers. If the weather is wet, we can dry them simply by transferring them to a drier. Drip dry clothes, paper serviettes and plastic or non-iron tablecloths make ironing unnecessary in many cases. When clothes need ironing, NATIONAL TRUST electric steam irons make the work OF QUEENSLAND simple and easy. Townsville/NQ Branch Heritage Centre 5 Castling St, West End …and washing day then Townsville Q4810 Ph (07) 4771 5873 We are looking back to a time when there was no electricity, when gas was Text: Dr Dorothy M. Gibson-Wilde used only for lighting or for powering and Don MacDonald heavy engines. All clothes and Layout: Bruce C. Gibson-Wilde household linen, curtains, etc. were of Photos: wool, linen, cotton or silk. Everything Dr Dorothy M. Gibson-Wilde and John Oxley Library required ironing. The happy washerwoman 1999-2006 National Trust of Queensland This sheet may be copied only for educational purposes 11: LAUNDRY page 2 of 4 affluent households the housewife did of smooth thick dowelling about 120 cm this task. Blankets, mosquito nets, long, was used to lift the clothes from curtains and heavy baize or woollen the copper into the tub. Then they tablecloths were not washed so were transferred to a hand wringer or frequently —only once or twice a year. mangle to remove the last of the suds. The wringer consisted of two rollers Sorting that were rotated in opposite Once all the clothes and linen were directions by turning a handle. When collected, white items were sorted wrung out, the articles were placed in a from coloured items from which dye tub of clean cold water. Once rinsed might run. Heavily soiled items were and put through the wringer again, also separated and any stains removed. they were immersed in another tub of water into which a ‘blue bag’ was Boiling immersed to give the clothes a whiter In the meantime a fire was lit under appearance. Then they were put the ‘copper’, a large copper bowl set through the wringer or mangle again. either in a brick enclosure or, for later Starching and drying the wash versions, a metal stand. Water was placed in the copper with some soft Most items were then hung on a soap, which was often home made, and clothesline made of wire or rope strung the white washing was placed in to boil. between two posts, and propped up Coloured items were seldom boiled, with a long bush pole. Some items but set to soak separately in a tin tub required starching to make them stiff. with some soft soap. Woollen items Starch granules were dissolved in a were soaked carefully in warm water large bowl of hot water. The items with a little soft soap. Soiled items were soaked for a few minutes in the were often boiled separately. If starch water before being wrung out heavily soiled they were rubbed with a by hand and placed on the clothesline. scrubbing brush over a scrubbing Sheets, pillowslips and towels were board made of rippled wood or glass, made of huckaback (a coarse linen or before being boiled. cotton fabric), not terry towelling as they are today. Sometimes they were Rinsing and wringing put back on beds and on wash stands All items, whether boiled or soaked, without being ironed. However, they required rinsing to remove the soap were usually ironed. suds. The coloured and woollen items In poorer households, Mum did the were usually rinsed first in separate washing, sometimes helped by the tubs of clean cold water. This left all children if washing was done at the of the tubs ready for the white weekend when they were not at school. washing when removed from the The same procedure was followed in copper. A ‘copper stick’, usually a piece larger households, where several 1999-2006 National Trust of Queensland This sheet may be copied only for educational purposes 11: LAUNDRY page 3 of 4 copper loads of washing were needed and washing day took a whole day. Laundry soap Ironing was hard work, especially in Take 6½ lb of clean fat, 1 the hot summer weather. Of course lb of caustic soda, ½ lb of maids did the ironing in the wealthier borax, ½ lbof resin, 2 gallons of water and a homes, but it was Mum who did the small cup of kerosene. ironing in most homes. On page 3 an old Boil all ingredients, except Townsville resident describes the the kerosene, steadily for ironing days he remembers as a child. two hours. Remove from the fire and stir in the kero- sene. Pour into a kerosene Homemade soap tin cut lengthwise to set. Soap for both bathing and laundry was Caution: Be sure to use a often home made. Here is one of the large vessel and exercise care when the mixture is many recipes for laundry soap. boiling hot. Ironing As a small child, this did not make sense — the dry clothes were sprinkled by Don MacDonald with water, rolled up tightly, and It has been a good drying day, the packed in a basket. I realise now that clothes have all been brought in off this ensured that the moisture was the line, some have been folded and put distributed evenly through the away in drawers and cupboards, and material to facilitate ironing. some have been damped down ready for Next day, breakfast is over; Dad has tomorrow’s ironing. Mrs Potts irons. gone to work, and the kids to school. Note the detachable Instead of letting the fire die down in handle. stove as usual, Mum adds more wood, for today the irons must be kept hot. Soon three flat irons are sitting on the hottest part of the stove while the ironing blanket is set up on the kitchen table. This consisted of two or three thicknesses of an old blanket covered by an old white cotton or linen sheet. (The ironing board so common today appeared much later.) The flat iron had a heavy iron base, and the handle was part of the iron. By the time the iron was hot enough to use, the handle was 1999-2006 National Trust of Queensland This sheet may be copied only for educational purposes 11: LAUNDRY page 4 of 4 also quite hot and needed to be was used. This was called either white wrapped in a couple of thicknesses of spirit or ‘Shellite’. A measure was material. supplied so that the correct amount of As the iron became cold with use, it fuel could be poured into the tank. A was put back on the stove to reheat, space was left for air to be pumped in and one of the hot irons taken up, and under pressure, using a small handheld so on until the ironing was done. pump. Methylated spirits was then burned in the base of the iron to heat It did not make sense to a mere male, the fuel pipe and the burner. A needle but very often sheets, pillowslips, tea valve on the base of the tank was then towels, and other household linen were opened and the fuel was forced also ironed! through the hot pipes round the burner It was a primitive, uncomfortable and where it vaporised and burned with a possibly dangerous system. Eventually clean blue flame, directed to the base it was a little improved by the of the iron. A full tank would give 1 to introduction of irons with detachable 1½ hours ironing, with perhaps a bit of handles, called Mrs Potts irons. With additional pumping to maintain these irons only the bases heated, and pressure. If all the fuel was not used, the handle stayed cool. it was recommended that the Ironing was done in this way for many remainder is discarded or at least the years. The next great improvement was tank emptied before refilling. It was the self-heating iron. Now at last Mum important that the tank not be could do the ironing away from the hot overfilled. stove in a hot kitchen. On all three types of iron, after the Basically the self-heating iron ironing was finished and while the iron comprised a heavy base supporting a was still hot, the base was rubbed over fuel tank. The first irons used hot with a piece of beeswax wrapped in charcoals that heated the iron from cloth to prevent rust and to keep the the inside. Later the tank was fitted ironing surface clean. with a burner, and high-grade petrol 1999-2006 National Trust of Queensland This sheet may be copied only for educational purposes.