At 04:10 AM 13/04/2010, Jean Nathan wrote:
Boiling up the copper isn't an Aussie phrase - my mum and my gran both did that. In my case, a large copper tub with a gas ring underneath. Filled with water by bucket from the top, but emptied through a small tap at the base a bucket-full at a time. Detergent was added and the gas provided the heat to boil the clothes in the water - before the days of washing machines. They had a pair of wooden tongs to lift the washing out of the water.
Gosh Jean - England's coppers must have been more sophisticated than Australia's. Ours had a wood fire underneath (Mum was far better at chopping wood than Dad was), and detergent hadn't been invented here in the late 40s - early 50s. Mum used a large long block of Velvet soap, then later Lux flakes came on the market.
Not sure when we got our first washing machine, but I think it was about 1953. By around 1960 when it had "worn in" I recall Mum having to take a flying leap and sit on it (when it got to spin dry) in order to stop it "walking" across the laundry.
Our house never did have a mangle. I suppose we just used to hand wring the clothes in the days of the copper.
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