The Tingle Factor Box

Roaming Roy Finds A Singularly Large Sundial - Singleton Sundial

Last year, on one of Roy's many trips to the Upper Hunter Valley, Roy came across a place which surprised him with its sheer size. Roy visits many places and items, ranging from small to large, but the sundial he discovered in Singleton amazed him. He has never seen such a large sundial, and was interested to find out more about the sundial, and about why it was so big.

If you would like to visit the Singleton Sundial, it is located in Rose Point Park on Ryan Avenue. The park is a large area with plenty of space for a picnic or to kick a ball. Singleton itself has plenty of restaurants, shops and heritage sites to explore so there is plenty in the area to keep the whole family entertained.

The sundial in Singleton was developed as part of Australias bicentennial celebrations in 1988 and according to some it is the largest sundial in the southern hemisphere. Certainly, it is one of the largest sundials in the world and the time is was completed, in 1987 it was recognized in the Guinness Book of records as the largest sundial in the world. As well as being very large the Singleton sundial is a working sundial and does accuracy tell the time by using the position of the sun.

Sundial's have an amazingly long history. In the earliest times, humans probably told the time by looking at shadows and the way the sun moved across the sky. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, and also probably the ancient Chinese, took this a step further though, using constructed sundials to accurately tell the time of day. Others learned to tell the time by measuring the length of their own shadow, and today 'human sundials' are not uncommon in gardens and parks (Roy visited one in Orange - to learn about it click here). Although today watches and clocks are more popular ways of telling the time, sundials remain popular garden features, and also remain accurate representers if time.

Roy Creates Crazy Crayon Scratch Paper

This week, it was rather wet and rainy outside and Roy wanted a fun, indoor activity to keep him entertained. Some of the children he knows have been enjoying using commercially made scratch paper, where you scratch the black coating off to reveal the colourful surface underneath and Roy remembered seeing a homemade version of it in one of his old craft books. With a little trial and error, he was able to make a great picture and wanted to share the activity. So this week, Roy Creates Crazy Crayon Scratch Paper.

It's An Awful Lot Of Work! Semco Embroidery Transfers

Imagine you are a woman living in the 1940s. You are soon to be a mother for the first time, and you are so excited about the baby. You have been knitting lovely little clothes for the baby, and of course sewing clothing too. Now, you are almost ready to decorate the little cotton and linen outfits you have made. Your husband is just as excited about the baby, and yesterday he gave you a lovely gift – a book of embroidery transfers which you can use to decorate the clothes.

When I showed the children these hot-iron embroidery transfers, their reaction was very interesting. Of course, the children had no trouble at all working out what the item was, as there was plenty of writing on the book explaining exactly what the transfers were. The children did have trouble visualising the finished product though. Embroidery is not a skill which many of the children have, nor their parents, and for those not versed in the art, the embroidery seemed very complex, though it would have been extremely simple for experienced embroiderers.

Embroidery transfers have a surprisingly long history, dating from at the least the 1800s. The first were perforated, using tiny holes in the paper through which a black powder could fall to transfer the pattern. The black powder was a problem though, as any excess could cause marks on the fabric. Soon though, new methods were created, like patterns which could be transferred by rubbing them, or wiping them over with a wet cloth. These also had drawbacks though as the pattern could be distorted if it moved during the transfer.

The real innovation came in the mid to late 1800s when hot iron transfers became available. One of the first to offer these types of transfers were the Deighton Needleworks. The needleworks were established in the mid 1800s by William James Deighton and in 1870 Deighton were producing embroidery transfers in England. His father, also a William, was a surgeon and apothecary and with his help the pair were able to develop a heat activated ink. Using this they could print designs which could be placed on fabric and ironed into place with the ink being activated by the heat of the iron and transferring the pattern from the paper to the fabric. They were not the only company to create hot-iron transfers though. The ones I showed the children were created by Semco, but Vogart and Aunt Martha were also popular brands. Even today, these vintage transfers remain popular.

Roaming Roy Has A Merry Outing - Merriville Rise Reserve

For quite some time, Roy has been overwhelmingly curious about a house and park he discovered over a year ago, not far from Windsor. One of his friends had suggested he visit Merriville Park and have a look at the glorious old house, and he was not disappointed by what he found. He was however very surprised to realise that there was almost no information available about the area - not even enough to easily write a post! He kept his eyes and ears peeled for information though and thinks it is finally time to share this marvelous place.

If you would like to visit Merriville House and the park, Merriville Rise Reserve, which is just next door, they are located in Kellyville Rise, not far from the relatively new suburb 'The Ponds' outside Windsor. The park when Roy visited was a lovely open space with play equipment as well as sculptures commemorating the history of the property. It would be a lovely place to have a picnic. You can walk around the exterior of the house, but it is private property now, so look from a distance!

The original owners of the area around Merriville House where the Darug Aborigines, who were custodians of not only the immediate area, but the whole of the Kellyville area. The first European settler to take control of the Merriville Farm area was Jonas Bradley, who took up a grant of 250 acres here in 1818. He was an excellent farmer and he and his family built Bradley House on the land where Merriville House stands today. The thing which made Bradley famous though was what he grew. He raised conventional things, like sheep and cattle, but his property was also the first place in the colony where Tobacco was successfully grown. Not only did he grow tobacco, he also made a successful sheep dip from it to treat scabies in sheep, another thing which made him well known amongst the colonists.

In 1853, only one of Bradley's sons was surviving, and he lived in Goulburn. He chose to sell the farm to Elias Pearson Laycock,who had leased the farm for the previous 10 years. We don't know a lot about Laycock, but the name Merriville appears to date from this period, and the house we see today was probably also built at this time. In 1866 though, the property changed hands again, being purchased by Robert Pearce. The Pearce family were one of the most important in the district, and they retained ownership of the property until 1955. They were renowned as orchardists, and it is likely some of the property was given over to orchards, but they also had animals. One of the things which appears to have been a constant for the property was sheep grazing, and the sculpture pictured above, and located in the adjoining Merriville Rise Reserve commemorates this.

Roy Creates Aunty Jills Fabulous Fruit Scones

Recently, Roy was visiting with one of his friends, Aunty Jill. She had made a delicious morning tea, including some absolutely scrumptious fruit scones. Roy loves scones, and asked if she would mind sharing the recipe with him. She was happy to do so, and what's more, she was happy to allow him to share the recipe on the blog. So this week, Roy Creates Aunty Jill's Fabulous Fruit Scones.

You Will Need:

• 1 and 3/4 cups of white self raising flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
• 250 grams of sultanas soaked for at least an hour or overnight (Roy soaked them in tea but you could use orange juice or plain water)
• 250 grams of pitted dates, chopped. If you warm them for 30 seconds in the microwave they are easier to chop.
• 300 milliliters of cream
• 300 milliliters of sour cream. If your container is only 250 grams you will probably need to add a little milk.
• Milk for glazing

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius and line 2 biscuit/scone trays with baking paper.

• Mix together the two types of flour in a large bowl.

• Combine the cream and sour cream in a separate bowl.

• Drain the sultanas and add them and the dates to the flour. Mix
• Add the cream mix and stir until a stiff dough forms.

• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until everything is well combined.
• Cut the mix into two big pieces and squash the dough out flat, one piece to a tray. You want to make the dough a rough rectangular shape, about 1 inch thick.

• Cut the dough into pieces (Roy cut each into 16 pieces)

• Brush with milk and bake for 25 to 30 minutes (it will depend on how long the sultanas soaked, and your oven, as to how long they take to cook.)
• Put the scones onto a cooling rack and cover with a clean tea towel to keep them moist
• Serve with butter and enjoy!
• These scones keep well for a few days and can be reheated in the microwave. They also freeze well.

I Want One - Mechanical Pencil

Imagine you are a gentleman living in the 1800s. You are an important man, and it is always necessary to have the means to take a note, or write a note to a colleague or friend. Yet carrying a pen is difficult, as the nib tends to poke holes in your pocket, and pencils leave stains. Luckily, your wife solved the problem on your last birthday, presenting you with a small, but very elegant mechanical pencil which fits neatly in your waistcoat pocket, and does not cause any staining. Best of all, there is a ring attached to the top to ensure the pencil is easily found, hanging from your watch chain. You are lucky to have such a thoughtful wife!

When I showed the children this small, silver pencil, they thought it was ‘cute, but useless’. They are used to large pencils, with long, sharp ‘leads’ to write with and this pencil seemed far too small to ever be of use as it was too small to even sit comfortably in the hands of young children. They were also confused about how to make the lead protrude, and therefore wrote the pencil off. When I showed them that not only did the pencil have a thick lead which poked out of the end when needed, but also extended to a more comfortable size, the children were very impressed by the thoughtfulness of the design, and several decreed that ‘on second thoughts, I want one!’

Pencils have a remarkably long history, with humans using some sort of ‘writing’ implement as far back as ancient times to leave marks on the walls of caves. The pencil as we know it though traces its roots back to the Roman empire and the Roman stylus. The stylus was a thin, metal rod used to leave a light mark on papyrus or other material. Some styluses were actually made of lead, and this is what we still call the core of a pencil, though it is not what is actually inside! Pencils actually have a core of graphite, which came into popular use in about 1564, when a large deposit of graphite was found in Borrowdale in England. Graphite left a darker mark than lead, but it was fragile and broke easily. It needed some sort of case to keep it safe and prevent it being broken.

At first, pencils using graphite were made by wrapping the graphite stick in string, but soon hollowed out wooden sticks were used to hold the graphite core – thus the wooden cased pencil which we still use today was born. Wood was not the only substance which could be used to keep the graphite safe in a pencil though. By the late 19^th century mechanical pencils had become popular. At this time, pencils were used everyday by people, and messages were often received by a person in the same town within hours of the message being sent. Having a pencil and paper on your person was, of course, useful. Mechanical pencils were perfect for this, as they used metal bodies to keep the core of graphite safe. They couldn’t be sharpened in the usual way though, and so systems were devised where the core would be raised and lowered with a twist of the shaft or a press of a spring. Many of these pencils were very small and had a loop on the end, like the one I showed the children. These pencils were very popular, fitting on a watch chain, or for a lady on a chatelaine, and being easily found and used.

Roaming Roy Irons Out History - Hexham Bridge

This week, Roy was going through some of the photographs he took last year when he noticed a series of photos of a bridge. Roy loves bridges, and he remembers the first time he saw this amazing bridge thinking he wanted to know more about it. In the excitement of visiting other places though he forgot all about this bridge, until now. So this week seemed the perfect time to find out more about the Hexham Bridge.

If you would like to visit Hexham, it is a small town in the Hunter Valley area, not too far from Newcastle, or indeed from the Sydney to Newcastle Freeway (the F3). The town is on the junction of the Pacific Highway and the New England Highway. The bridge itself, as you would imagine, crosses the River but there are now two bridges, one for each traffic direction.

Hexham is a sleepy little town situated just upstream from the Hunter River Delta. The Delta is full of small islands and so was never suitable for a permanent river crossing. Hexham however was and the first river crossing, a punt ferry was in operation in the 1800s. It was not the only ferry crossing in the Hunter area, but it was the busiest. As technology changed, so too did the punt, with a steam operated punt and later one to carry cars put in place. After World War One though, road traffic was increasing in numbers and people wanted to move between places as quickly as possible. The Hexham punt was becoming a bottleneck and holding the traffic up.

In the late 1930s, it was decided that a bridge needed to be built, but with the coming of the Second World War, the bridge was not actually built and opened until 1952. One of the major problems with building a bridge at Hexham was the need to allow room for coal carrying boats to pass underneath. In fact, wandering around downstream of the bridge Roy thought he found evidence of an old wharf which might have been used by just these sorts of ships! The ideal bridge would have enough clearance for them to pass even at high tide, but just the approaches to such a bridge would cost as much as the bridge itself! The bridge constructed was a steel truss bridge and had a centre span which could be opened to let boats pass underneath, and two lanes for traffic. By the 1970s though traffic had increased and Hexham was again a bottleneck. In 1987 another bridge was opened, a concrete bridge just downstream from the original bridge, which could carry two lanes of traffic in one direction while the steel bridge continued to carry cars in the opposite direction.

Roy Creates Marvellous Magic Drawings

Recently, Roy was given a big container of old wrapping paper to play with. His Grandma was cleaning up, and she asked if he was interested in using any of the paper. Roy decided it was worth putting aside, but when he noticed that there was some bright green tissue paper in the box, he had an idea for it immediately. He decided it was the perfect time to try out an activity he had found in one of his old books – magic drawings. He was very pleased with the results, and thought it might even make great wrapping paper. So this week, Roy Creates Marvellous Magic Drawings.

You Will Need:

• Coloured tissue paper
• Newspaper and a layer of plain white paper to cover it
• Liquid bleach and an adult to supervise
• Old clothes or a painting smock or apron
• A small bowl or cup. Roy decided to use the bottom part of a milk bottle, cut off, so he could just throw the container away at the end.
• Cotton buds
• White paper

WARNING: An adult must supervise this activity, it should be done in a well ventilated area (outside is perfect) and you should wear old clothes, an apron and disposable rubber gloves while handling the bleach. Make sure you do not touch your face or eyes with bleach on your hands!

Method:

• Spread out the newspaper over the table and cover with a layer of white paper. Lay the tissue paper out on top of the white paper
• Put on old clothes, an apron or painting smock as you don’t want to risk getting bleach on your clothes and ruining them!
• Put on the disposable gloves

• Ask an adult to put about a tablespoon of bleach into the bowl or cup

• Dip the cotton bud in the bleach (just a little – you don’t want the cotton bud soaked with it) and then use it to draw a picture on the tissue paper.
• The bleach will take the colour away from the tissue paper where it touches – bleaching the paper. This will leave colourful paper around your white drawings. Be patient - it doesn't happen immediately!
• Redip the cotton bud in the bleach when you need to.

• You can also use corks, bottle tops and other household items to make interesting shapes
• Ask an adult to dispose of the bleach responsibly and carefully wash anything which is not to be thrown away.

• If you want to use your paper for wrapping paper, make sure the tissue paper is dry and that there is normal paper between the tissue paper and any gift, just in case the bleach does any damage!

It's A Musical Instrument? - Washboard

Imagine you are a housewife living in the early 1900s. You cook, look after the children, clean, look after your husband, look after the household, do the washing - the list never seems to end! You sometimes think that you work much harder than your husband, but it is generally work you love to do. The only thing you really don't enjoy is wash day. Scrubbing the clothes on the washboard in the hot soapy water is terrible for your hands.

When I showed the children this washboard (which has been beautifully restored) their reaction was very interesting. Many had not seen a washboard like this before and were amazed to realize that it was something which every household would once have owned. Some of the children recognized it as a washing implement but had not seen a glass washboard before, only those with a metal scrubbing surfaces. Most intriguingly, some of the children recognized the washboard not as a washboard but as a musical instrument having seen bush bands use them in the past.

So what exactly is a washboard? A washboard is a washing tool used for hand washing clothes. It is most commonly made of a wooden frame with a corrugated piece of iron or other metal as the washing surface. The one I showed the children is unusual as it has a glass washing surface. Washing boards have a long history though and were probably originally made completely of wood. We cannot know for certain when people first started to cut notches in wooden boards to wash their clothes with (an improvement to banging wet clothes on the rocks), but it seems likely that this first happened in the Scandinavian countries, as this seems to be where the earliest examples come from. However for centuries women in Italy and in England had used boards without grooves to help in washing clothes and there were also washing bats (for stirring and beating clothes) which had grooved patterns on the paddle piece. We do know though that by the 19th century wooden washing boards were being used in Europe and America, though they were not an item every household would have owned.

The invention of metal and wood washing boards is easier to pin down and these were certainly an American invention. On February 9, 1833, Stephen Rust of New York patented a washboard with a fluted piece of tin, sheet iron, copper or zinc as the washing surface, which is thought by many to be the first patent granted for a metal washboard. The metal surface was an improvement on the original wood as the wood grooves were worn down by repeated washing, while the metal, if cared for, would be more resilient. Later in the 19th century, glass washboards started to be produced, certainly before 1877 when a gentleman called Hermann Liebmann patented an improvement for glass washboards. His patent also shows that, at this time, there were washboards with porcelain and terracotta inserts available! These, and the glass washboards would be resistant to rust which was a problem with the metal boards, but would have been easier to break, which might explain why they were less common. They were probably also more expensive than a metal one, especially a cheap tin version! Washboards were, by the 20th century an item which would have been present in virtually every household and continued to be used until washing machines became common. Today, they can still be purchased and some still prefer to wash using them, but their chief use today is as a popular percussion instrument.

Roaming Roy Goes Gardening Part 2 - Edogawa/Gosford Japanese Garden Cafe

Last week, Roy spent some time visiting the Edogawa Japanese Gardens in Gosford (to find out about his visit click here). He loved the tranquil gardens, the beautiful Koi fish and the art gallery next door and decided it was a perfect place to enjoy a meal. The restaurant was lovely and he really enjoyed sitting out in the garden enjoying the winter sun. So this week, Roy takes you eating out!

If you would like to visit the restaurant, gallery and gardens, they are in East Gosford, on the shore of Caroline Bay. The street address is 36 Webb Street, and there is plenty of parking available in Webb Street and George Street. The restaurant is the Caroline Bay Brasserie and is open from 9am until 4pm. There is also a cafe for light snacks.

The Caroline Bay Brasserie is part of the Edogawa Japanese garden complex. The garden, set out in the Shoyu (wandering) style is a lovely place to have a stroll before, and/or after a delicious meal. There are good paths meandering through the garden, and the whole area is quite level, so it is the perfect place to take elderly people for a special day out. If you are taking young children though, make sure to supervise them near the lake and pond as the water features are not fenced. If you feel like a bit more culture, the complex also contains the Gosford Regional Gallery, which has wonderful, changing exhibitions.

After building up an appetite in the gardens and galleries, the Caroline Bay Brasserie is the perfect place to enjoy breakfast or lunch. They are open seven days a week and offer full meals, but also morning or afternoon tea snacks. Being close to the coast, there is plenty of seafood to choose from on the menu, and Roy enjoyed salt and pepper squid and prawns while his Grandma enjoyed coconut prawns. There are also lovely salads available, delicious soups and meals featuring chicken and beef, including the ever popular burgers.