The Tingle Factor Box

They Don't Look Too Tasty - Wartime Recipes

Imagine you are housewife living during the Second World War. Your eldest son is off fighting and you dread the mailman arriving in case he brings bad news. Feeding your husband and other children is also very difficult. Food is rationed, and everything has to be made to last. Thank goodness for the Wartime Recipes booklet you have received. The recipes are very frugal and easy to make, but they still taste good. Hopefully there might even be something which you can make for your daughters coming birthday!

When I showed the children this ‘Wartime Recipes’ booklet, prepared by the Australian Dried Fruits Association and the Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy, their reactions were very funny. Several of the children enjoy cooking, but they had never seen recipes like those in this booklet. The recipes use very little sugar and often dripping (fat) is used in place of butter. They weren’t at all sure the food prepared according to these recipes would be at all nice, but I can assure them that the recipes not only work (though we use butter instead of dripping), but they are quite tasty! Come back on Friday and Roy will show you how to cook one of his favourites from this book.

During the Second World War, there was a huge shortage of people to do essential jobs for the war effort. Accompanying this shortage of workers, was a shortage in essential supplies like clothing, petrol and food. All of these things were rationed by the government meaning that each person was allowed a specific quantity of each thing. Rationing certainly made life tougher than it had been in peace time, but most Australians supported the rationing as it helped the war effort, but also meant that everybody had a fair access to essential supplies. However, there were runs on certain items before rationing was officially introduced. For example, there were rumours of match shortages or rationing, so people purchased thousands of them to ensure they would not go without.

One of the most important things which was rationed was food. Every person received a set number of ration coupons for the year which were used in shops instead of money and different things cost different numbers of coupons. Once the coupons were spent, people had to wait until the next year before getting new coupons. For men, living on the coupons was not too hard, but for women with large families things could be very difficult. Classes were established and books were released to help women cope with the rationing. These showed women how to substitute cheap or even free items for more expensive ingredients. One of the most common substitutions was dripping (which was the fat from cooked meat and was therefore ‘free’) for butter. The books, like the Wartime Recipes booklet I showed the children, also provided women with recipes which used less in the way of expensive, rationed ingredients like sugar yet still produced something tasty.

So It's Not Really The Easter Show? Royal Agricultural Show Ephemera

Imagine, it is the 1960s and it is Easter Time. You are so excited, because this year, your parents are giving you a special treat. They are taking you to the Royal Agricultural Show, the Easter Show. This will be the first time you get to see the show, but you have heard so much about it. You aren’t sure if you are most looking forward to seeing the animals, or the exhibitions of produce, but it will be grand! You are also looking forward to getting your free samples in the showbags.

When I showed this Map of Sydney Showgrounds and Agricultural Show Guide to the children they were a little confused. They didn’t have any idea what the Agricultural Show was! Today the children have almost all been to the Royal Easter Show, but they don’t realise that it was originally called the Agricultural Show, or that it has a very long history. Indeed, some don’t even realise that the show is an agricultural show at all, just thinking about the famous showbags and rides.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show has an exceedingly long and important history, dating right back to the convict era in Australia. In 1822 some of Sydney’s leading residents joined together to create the Agricultural Society of NSW. They wanted to improve the quality of Australia’s agricultural production by holding contests and competitions. Within a year the Agricultural Society (which still run the show today, though they are now known as the Royal Agricultural Society!) held their first show in Parramatta which was then the agricultural centre of the colony. When this show was held it was very important that Australia’s primary production was improved as there were now about 30000 people living in NSW (half of them convicts), and the colony was struggling to provide for them. The original shows were a huge success but from 1836 the annual show was not held because of drought and depression

In 1857 the Agricultural Society began holding shows (then known as exhibitions) again, still at Parramatta. In 1868 the exhibitions were moved to Price Alfred Park and in 1881 the Royal Agricultural Society started to look for a new location to hold the shows. The city council offered 40 acres of sandy scrub land at Moore Park for the low rent of £10. The Royal Agricultural Society agreed to this and with the help of the NSW Government and of public subscriptions, they built the Sydney Showgrounds. The showgrounds remained the home of the show for another 115 years, other than during the Influenza epidemic of 1919 when the showgrounds were used as a hospital and morgue, and during World War II when they were requisitioned for military use. By the late 1980s though, the Sydney Royal Easter Show as it had become known had become so big that the old showgrounds were no longer sufficient. In 1994 the NSW Government agreed to allow the show to be held at what was to be the Sydney Olympic Park site and the first show was held there in 1998.

Didn't They Have Anything Better? Pegmen Tales

Imagine, you are a little girl and it is a hot Summers day. You can’t go outside in such hot sun, and Mummy won’t take you swimming until later in the day – she says it is unsightly and dangerous to swim during the day. It is the perfect time to curl up with a book instead. You are lucky to have lots of beautiful books to choose from, but one of your favourites is the Pegmen Tales. It is such a wonderful story, and you can imagine the little figures. Indeed, you have even created your own version of some of the characters in the book using a few of the dolly pegs Mummy allowed you to have.

When I took this book by Ella McFadyen to show the children they were intrigued. As far as they are concerned, today peg dolls are old fashioned and boring. They happily make the dolls, as that part is fun, but they are quickly put aside in favour of more interactive toys. To see that there was a time when the dolls were so popular that they were even written about in a children’s book was surprising. The books made them rethink the dolls which they put aside and some actually asked if we had any pegs they could use to make a dolly!

Although Dolly Peg Dolls are still made today in schools and preschools all over the place, they have a long history. We know them as dolly peg dolls, but they are sometimes also called peg woodens and Dutch dolls. Today, we also tend to think of dolly peg dolls as made out of a simple dolly peg. These are a single piece, wooden peg with a rounded top (for a head) and split ends (for legs). Of course, these pegs were functional, being used to hang up washing but for almost as long as there have been Dolly Pegs there have been children who were happy to paint faces on them and dress them in simple clothes.

Dolly peg dolls were particularly popular with poorer families who did not have the money to purchase more elaborate toys. Dolly Peg dolls were cheap and easy to make, requiring only a peg and a few scraps of material, and they were small enough to fit in a pocket. Peg dolls did not remain the toys of poor families though. During the 1800s they became very popular even with rich families whose children could invent their own playmate. Although the earliest dolly peg dolls were created from actual pegs, as they became more popular, dolls started to be created complete with faces and jointed arms and legs. These dolls were sold without clothing so that children could still dress them, but they were much more elaborate than the earliest dolls. These simple dolly peg dolls became so popular that they started to appear in other childrens toys, like the book I showed the children. This book uses peg dolls as its characters, telling of their adventures. If you would like to find out about making Dolly Peg Dolls from Roy, click here.

They Look So Different - Souvenir Album Of Sydney

Imagine, it is the early 1900s and you are from England. You have been visiting relatives all the way on the other side of the world, in Sydney Australia and you have loved the experience. If only you could afford a camera to take photographs with, but they are so expensive. Luckily, the people in Sydney seem to realise that many visitors just don’t have a camera, and there are plenty of beautiful souvenir books available, full of pictures of the places you have visited. You’ve even seen long ones full of panoramas of the beaches, city and mountains!

When I showed this Sydney Souvenir book to the children, they were really intrigued. Many of the places in the book are familiar to them, yet they often looked very different to what the children see today. They were intrigued by the clothing the people were wearing, and the transport which was being used – horse and cart, trams and old cars were quite a topic of discussion. They thought it would be lovely if such books were still available, but supposed that cameras were so easily available today that they probably wouldn’t sell very well.

We tend to think of souvenirs as ‘holiday tat’ and often as disposable items, but throughout history they have been important to remembering travel. The word souvenir comes from the French and means memento or memory, but even before the term souvenir was coined, souvenirs were collected. In fact, souvenirs have a remarkably long history and for as long as people have been travelling they have collected things to remind them of where they have been. Indeed in 330 BC, 3000 camels and mules were needed to pull the 'souvenirs' (or spoils of war depending on your perspective) collected by Alexander the Great in Persepolis (Persia) back to his homeland! More recently, we think of souvenirs as toys, knickknacks, photos, books and functional items, like spoons and sugarbowls. In the ancient world though, they could be anything from a looted (stolen) statue to a slave!

Some of the most popular souvenirs in recent times have been photographs and pictures. Even before the invention of the camera, images of a place were a popular way to ensure you remembered your trip, and paintings or lithographs were common. After the camera was invented though, souvenir albums containing commercial photos of places became both common and popular. Today, many people take their own photographs to remember their experiences, but in the early part of the 20^th century cameras were expensive and most people preferred to buy pictorial postcards and souvenir albums instead of spending the money on a camera. The one I showed the children was created by the Kodak company and would have been a wonderful way to remember a trip to the Sydney region. It also came in various editions, with some only showing Sydney, while others also displayed surrounding areas like the Blue Mountains. Today, the photos are not only beautiful, they give us an insight into popular holiday areas, fashion, transport and even photographic techniques. A valuable souvenir indeed!

It's Very Grand, But Too Much! - 1919 Christmas Dinner Menu

Imagine, it is 1919 and Christmas has just passed. Today is Boxing Day, and you will need the peace of the day to recover from the magnificent meal you enjoyed yesterday! After years of rationing and being careful with foodstuffs, this Christmas just past was truly splendid. You enjoyed a meal at the beautiful restaurant in The Royal, in Katoomba. The cool mountain air was a lovely change from the hot summer days you have been having in Sydney and the food was sumptuous and plentiful – very reminiscent of Christmas in England you suppose!

When I took this Christmas Dinner Menu to show the children they were gobsmacked. They are, of course, used to big meals and wonderful food being presented at Christmas, but the sheer quantity of food advertised in the menu was surprising, especially when I pointed out to them that this meal took place only 1 year after World War One ended. The other thing which surprised them was the different types of food served. Most of the children are used to a cold meal at Christmas as the Australian Summer is so hot, but the meal served at The Royal in Katoomba followed a very traditional English style menu and much of it would have been served hot. The children thought it sounded ‘very grand, but it’d be way too much in Summer!’

Today, Christmas menu’s tend to be very generous and full of good food, but compared to Christmas meals of days gone by, many of our modern menus are actually quite small and simple! Christmas has always been an important festive season and, as is so often the case with celebrations, food has always played an important role.  Even before Christianity was established, the season was celebrated as, in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year is around what we know as Christmas. Pre-Christians encouraged the light to return and lengthen by lighting fires and, on December 25^th, they would have evidence that their efforts had worked. They would celebrate with great feasts, a tradition which carried on into the Christian era as Christmas became the festivity celebrated.

Most of our Christmas traditions originate in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is where the idea of feasting on many meats and side dishes came from. During the Winter months old and extra animals were often slaughtered as they were more difficult to keep alive and this meant that there was plenty of fresh meat for the Christmas feasts. An excess of meat became a tradition early in the history of Christmas! Many menus in the middle ages would have featured multiple roasted birds (sometimes including Swan!) and joints of meat. This tradition carried on through the ages and Queen Victoria ate meats including beef, boar’s (pig) head, gamebird pie, woodcock (a type of bird) pie, roasted fowls and even tongue as part of her Christmas buffet in 1899. Yet other luxury foods were also saved up for Christmas, like sugar, spices and dried fruits. These were special foods which were expensive and so they were very important to a sumptuous celebration! Although the menu I showed the children was from 1919 and was an Australian menu, it reflects many of these traditions, with 6 types of bird, three roasted joints, 5 types of vegetables and seven ‘sweets’ available.

That's Just Rude - Educational Aboriginal Stereoscope Card

Imagine, you are a child living in the early 1900s. For Christmas the year before last your family bought a stereoviewer and ever since, you have been fascinated by the pictures you see. They look like they are going to pop out at you when you see them through the stereoviewer. You have a new stereoscope card which was given to you by your Aunt when she came to stay. It shows Aborigines hunting, and even gives a little story about Aborigines.

That's Kinda Weird - Midget Submarine Souvenir Cards

Imagine, it is the night of May 31, 1942. You live a little house by the harbour. All is quiet in Sydney, and you are settling down to sleep when at about 10:30, an alarm sounds. It is a frightening sound, and you know it can’t mean anything good. You hurry out of bed and take shelter in the area set up for such occasions. Just a little shelter, protected by sandbags. It is a frightening night, but you don’t really know what is going on. It isn’t until later that you hear what has happened, that Sydney has come under attack by the Japanese!

I Can't Believe They Are Still Around - Animal Cut Outs

Imagine, you are a child living in the late 1800s. It is coming up to Easter, and your father tells you he has purchased a present for you, and you must now be good while your Grandparents visit. If you behave well, he will give you the present he bought. You think it might be the sheet of ducks you saw for sale. You have quite a collection of little cut out animals which you have carefully cut out and stood up in little scenes, and you just loved the ducks you saw.

So It Was A Bit Like Photos? Sketchbook

Imagine, you are a young man living in 1914. The Great War has begun and Kitchener has called for men to join the war effort. You have decided to answer his call and are now preparing to go on this great adventure. You have packed all the essentials into your kitbag, as well as a couple of personal items. You have also packed the little sketchbook your sister gave you to take - such a thoughtful gift. You have always loved to sketch and will enjoy making drawings of all the amazing things you see. Little do you realise what lies ahead.

That's Insane! 1923 German Banknotes

 

Imagine, it is 1923 and you are living in Germany. The war is over and you have been hoping things will get better for your country, but they only seem to get worse. Each week the mark is worth less, and it takes more to buy eggs, milk and a loaf of bread. You remember early last year you could by an egg for just 3.60 marks, but now, in May 1923 a single egg costs 2400. Milk was just 7 marks, now it costs 3800. When will it end?