Talkabout February / March 2

Edition Number 108 February / March 2013 INNISFAIL & DISTRICT Community Information Newsletter Produced by the COMMUNITY SUPPORT CENTRE 13-17 Donald Street, P O Box 886, Innisfail 4860 WEB PAGE Phone: 40438400 Fax: 4061 7312 Freecall: 1800 616 001 www.csci.org.au Email: [email protected] The Community Support Centre is funded primarily by the Department of Communities Bush Stone Curlew with Young (photographed by Barbi) Contents DISCLAIMER Page 2 Editorial ALL ARTICLES IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE PRINTED IN GOOD FAITH FOR THE COMMUNITY Pages 3 February AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT Page 4 & 5 Joice Nankivell Loch THE VIEWS OF THE INNISFAIL COMMUNITY Page 6 World Inner Wheel Day SUPPORT CENTRE INC Page 7 Woodworkers Guild & Swap Meet THE CENTRE ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY Page 8 Recipes FOR THESE ARTICLES Page 9 & 10 Community Survey Talkabout February / March 2 EditorialEditorial A Valentine’s Day No-No! Well here we are at the beginning of another year. Here’s wishing everyone the happiest of new years. I well remember, in those pre-washing machine years, I used to stand by the hour and wash my good frocks and, of course, to protect them I wore my apron. Aprons were so handy for lifting hot dishes and drying the tears of the little ones when they fell over and are so well described in the article you will find in this issue. I would also like to thank the people who send me verses or articles to print in the magazine. It’s so good to share things. I decided, as another lot of little ones will be starting school, the biscuit recipes would be handy for lunches. Here’s hoping you enjoy our magazine. Sincerely, Gwen Remember making an apron in Home Economics? THE HISTORY OF ‘APRONS’‘APRONS’ I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came those aprons were ideal places for shy kids… And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled it carried out the hulls. In the fall the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields for dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes. REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her Granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron… but love. Talkabout February / March 3 Facts about February — did you know (and do you really care)? February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the shortest month and the only month with fewer than 30 days. The month has 28 days in common years and 29 days in leap years. February starts on the same day of the week as March and November in common years, and on the same day of the week as August in leap years. It ends on the same day of the week as October every year and January in common years only. In leap years, it is the only month that ends on the same weekday it begins. February was named after the Latin term februum, meaning purification, via the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 (full moon) in the old lunar Roman calendar. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a month-less period. They were added by Numa Pompilius about 713 BC. February remained the last month of the calendar year until the time of the decemvirs (c. 450 BC), when it became the second month. At certain intervals February was truncated to 23 or 24 days; and a 27 day intercalary month, Intercalaris, was inserted immediately after February to realign the year with the seasons. Under the reforms that instituted the Julian calendar, Intercalaris was abolished, leap years occurred regularly every fourth year, and in leap years February gained a 29th day. Thereafter, it remained the second month of the calendar year, meaning the order that months are displayed (January, February, March, ..., December) within a year-at-a-glance calendar. Even during the Middle Ages when the numbered Anno Domini year began on March 25 or December 25, the second month was February whenever all twelve months were displayed in order. The Gregorian calendar reforms made slight changes to the system for determining which years were leap years and thus contained a 29 day February. Historical names for February include the Old English terms Solmonath (mud month) and Kale- monath (named for cabbage) . In Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning ‘month of the pearl’; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice. For your chance to win, complete the CSCI survey printed on the last page of this newsletter and return it by 1March 2013. We want your feedback! Talkabout February / March 4 Joice Nankivell Loch Australia’s unknown heroine. Ask anyone ‘who is Australia’s most decorated woman’ and they are sure to say Nancy Wake, also known as The White Mouse. Nancy was awarded nine medals for her efforts during WWII. However, Joice Nankivell, who was born in Ingham, was awarded 11 medals. Although she was known as an author, her medals were mainly awarded for her humanitarian and heroic efforts. Joice was born in Ingham in 1887 during a cyclone. Her grandfather was, at the time, Australia’s richest man. However, his sons including Joice’s father were not given any monetary assistance and after some disastrous farming attempts Joice, with her parents and brother, ended up living in abject poverty in the bush for several years. Joice loved writing and successfully had some of her children’s books and poems published. When WWI broke out Joice landed a job as secretary for the head of the classics department at Melbourne University. Her work included reviewing books, which was how she met her husband, author Sydney Loch, a Scotsman living in Melbourne. They married and travelled to England, which they did not like, so moved to Dublin where they rented a furnished room in a boarding house. Their plan was to write a book about Ireland showing both sides of the Irish ‘troubles’. Unbeknown to the Lochs, one of the boarders was the wife of Michael Collins. This resulted in the boarding house being raided on several occasions. An English friend of Sydney’s had also moved to Dublin and he turned out to be a British spy. Then Sydney was arrested and thrown into jail for several weeks. Needless to say, the Lochs had plenty to write about. However, they were viewed with suspicion by both sides and had to leave Dublin in a hurry. Their book “Ireland in Travail” was republished only a few years ago. Back in London, the Lochs decided they would like to write about Russia, however getting there was something of a problem in those days. A relative suggested they approach the Quakers (The Religious Society of Friends) who required volunteers to assist the Russians. The couple were not religious and after an interview were considered to be too frivolous for the work. However, the interviewer realised that as writers the Lochs could promote the efforts of the Quakers to raise funds and they were asked if they would consider going to Poland. Poland had been at war on and off for years and thousands of Ukrainian and Polish farmers and peasants who had been deported to Russia were now returning to their homeland. However, there was nowhere for them to go. The Quakers sent trainloads of food to Poland (and other countries) but thousands died of malnutrition. The Lochs assisted the locals to commence farming, with the Quakers providing ploughs and horses. Joice studied medicine (in the barefoot doctor fashion) and helped deliver hundreds of babies and save thousands of lives. While Sydney completed his work in Poland, Joice went to Greece which had been at war with Turkey for years and was suffering an influx of 1,500,000 refugees. The refugees were of Greek origin but had lived in Turkey for several generations. Joice went to work in a refugee camp in Thessaloniki where she helped with vaccinations and a program to reduce eye disease.

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