The Tingle Factor Box

How Amazing - Chemist Bottles

Imagine you are living in the 1930s and you are a pharmacist. You love your job, and of course you love being able to give people just what they need to feel better. Your favourite part of the job though is making up the medicines. It is like magic, the way you add ingredients together to make something new. Mix things one way and you create something to heal or reduce pain, but if you mix something wrong you might create a poison. It is a truly amazing thing!

When I showed the children these chemists bottles, they were very curious about them. To the children, when you go to a chemist there are boxes and bottles, but they all contain preprepared remedies. Although compounding chemists do still exist, they are not common and the idea that a chemist once would have mixed your medicine to your exact needs was amazing. They thought it would be an amazing job, but very difficult because they soon realised that if the chemicals were mixed incorrectly they could do a lot of harm!

Although we may think of chemists and their medicines as modern luxuries, the history of pharmacy actually dates back thousands of years. Whereever civilisations grew up, pharmacy was practiced and all of the great ancient civilisations had their own versions of chemists, including experts in the use of medicinal plants. Sometimes the pharmacist was also the doctor, but many civilisations like the Sumerians and the Egyptians kept doctors and chemists separate and so important was the role of the medicine maker that they were often priests. Today we also tend to keep the role of doctor and chemist separate but throughout history there have been people who have performed both roles. In Europe and particularly England, Apothecaries were common from the Middle Ages right through until the 1800s. They examined and treated ill or injured people as well as creating and dispensing cures. Some of the earliest apothecaries were monks who collected or even grew medicinal plants and prepared them to help the sick and injured.

As time went by though the trade of doctors and chemists again became more separate. Dedicated pharmacists (also called chemists or druggists) began to practise and apothecaries, who did not have the training or knowledge of either doctors or pharmacists now had competition. Although they did not disappear entirely, apothecaries gradually became uncommon. By the 20^th century the pattern of diagnosis and medication had become well established. People went to a doctor and if they were diagnosed with an illness or injury which required medicine, the doctor would write a note for the pharmacist. This note was called was a script (and doctors still write them today!) The patient would then take this note to the pharmacist. Some common medicines were pre-prepared, like they are today but many would be created especially to suit the needs of a specific patient. The pharmacist would compound the medicine (make it up) from a variety of chemicals which were stored in bottles and jars, like the ones I showed the children. The chemical ingredients would be carefully measured and mixed and presented to the customer. Medicines came in a variety of forms, including liquids, pills and powders.

Roaming Roy Asks When Is Graffiti Not Graffiti?

This week, Roy was discussing graffiti with some of his friends. They had heard about places with old graffiti which was very historic, and wondered what made some graffiti historic and where the line was drawn. Roy thought this was a great question, and one which he really wanted to answer, so he set about finding a place to visit which had lots of historic graffiti to explore. When I suggested the Quarantine Station in Sydney, he was thrilled – not only was there plenty of historic graffiti to see, it was somewhere he had wanted to visit for years!

The old Sydney Quarantine Station is located at North Head in Manly, Sydney. To get there you will need to go to Manly. At the Ferry Wharf, turn left and then take the second left (which has a signpost directing you to North Head). Next, turn into Darley Road and drive up the hill. Pass through the stone arch and follow the road until you reach the carpark for the Quarantine Station. Park your car and catch one of the shuttle buses (which are free) to the wharf precinct of the Quarantine Station. There is plenty to see and do when you arrive with a cafe, a retaurant, historic buildings, a beach, museum, places to walk and of course the historic graffiti to see!

The Quarantine Station at Manly was opened in 1832. It was chosen as a place where ill migrants arriving in Sydney, and also infectious Sydney residents could be sent when disease threatened the colony. People suffering terrible diseases were sent to the quarantine station, but so too were the other passengers on ships arriving in Sydney. If one member of the crew or passengers was infected, the risk of releasing others who might become ill and spread the disease into the colony was too high. Many of the people who spent time at the Quarantine Station left their mark quite literally on the cliffs. The images here are from the cliff overlooking the wharf precinct but historic graffiti can be found in other areas of the quarantine station grounds.

So where is the line between graffiti and vandalism? Having researched it extensively, Roy is still not really sure (and nobody else seems completely sure either), but he knows a lot more about the history of graffiti itself! Graffiti has been around for thousands of years with examples to be found on the monuments of ancient cultures like the Romans. In fact the word graffiti was first used to refer to ancient inscriptions and drawings found on monuments and ruins, such as graffiti which is found in Pompeii. Being so old, this graffiti is of course historic, but it can also tell us a lot about the culture, events and people of the time. Roy thinks this might be ‘the line’, though he isn’t sure. All of the historic graffiti Roy has ever seen tells us something about the people who did it, the cultures they lived in and often, what they were going through at the time. At the Quarantine Station the graffiti tells us who spent time there, with the graffiti revealing the names of ships, dates when they arrived, and even sometimes what the ship was quarantined for. Some inscriptions have beautiful artworks accompanying them while others are simple and others still are even in other languages. This graffiti is a historic document which reveals the history of the people who spent time at the Quarantine Station.  

Roy wonders what do you think?

Roy Creates A Tasty 'Eyeball Potion' Drink For Halloween

This week, Roy wanted to try creating a crazy potion drink for Halloween. Some of his friends had been interested in making their own edible, tasty potions for the occasion, but weren't sure where to start, so asked Roy for inspiration. Roy thought that the drink 'spider' might be the perfect basis, but wanted to make it a bit more gruesome to fit the Halloween tradition. He hit upon the idea of making icecream eyeballs to float in the drink and was really happy with the results. So this week, Roy Creates A Tasty 'Eyeball Potion' Drink For Halloween.

You Will Need:

• Vanilla icecream
• Sultanas or currants
• Raspberry coulis or strawberry icecream topping (a few crushed raspberries work just fine)
• A fizzy drink. Roy used a reddy, orange coloured, low joule mineral water to try to make his drink a little bit healthier, but you can use whatever you like. Roy suggests using a red, green or orange coloured drink.

Method:

• Put a tray or plate in the freezer for an hour or two so that it is really cold.

• Use a teaspoon to make icecream eyeballs. Line them up on the cold plate. Don't worry if they're irregular shapes - they are supposed to be gruesome!

• Put a spot of raspberry coulis onto the icecream eyeball and press a sultana or currant into it as a pupil

• Use the raspberry coulis to make wiggly lines on the eyeball so that it looks bloodshot
• Put the icecream balls into the freezer for an hour or two (or until you are ready to use them)

• Half fill a glass with fizzy drink and drop at least 2 eyeballs in. Top up with fizzy drink if needed

• Watch your potion fizz and froth
• Enjoy your gruesome but tasty potion!

Why Would You Need That? Foldable Clothes Hanger

Imagine you are a businessman living in the 1940s. You do a lot of travelling, and although your wife is a wonderful housewife, keeping your shirts and trousers beautifully ironed at home, you have to ensure you look just as neat when you are away. Luckily, you have a series of foldable clothes hangers which were given to you by your wife when you accepted this job. It means that, when you arrive at your destination you can easily hang your clothes and, hopefully, minimise the creasing which occurs.

When I showed the children this foldable clothes hanger, they immediately recognised what it was, but were perplexed by it - ‘why would anybody need a foldable hanger?’ Many clothes today are ‘drip dry’ and do not need to be carefully hung to avoid creasing, but can instead be folded up in a drawer. When I explained that the clothes hanger would have been used by people travelling, they thought this was odd, as ‘most places have hangers already’.

A clothes hanger is, essentially, a tool created in the vague shape of human shoulders from which clothes can be hung to keep them from creasing. They seem to appear in the 1850s when the skirts and bustles of women and coats and shirts of men needed to be carefully looked after to avoid creasing and damage. There were, until the 20^th century when plastic was invented, only two types of clothes hangers, twisted wire or wooden ones.  In the 20^th century many new designs for hangers were created. Some were made of plastic, some had rails suspended below them for pants, some were covered in padding or luxury fabric to protect delicate dresses. Others were simple collapsible or folding hangers, which were particularly popular with people who travelled extensively, allowing them to look after their clothes when moving around.

Although there are some wonderful stories about who invented the early clothes hangers, and how they came to be, nobody really knows for sure. One of the most common stories concerns the invention of the twisted wire hanger, said to have been invented at The Timberlake Wire And Novelty Company. Albert Parkhouse worked for the company and, when he discovered there were no coat hooks left to hang his coat on, created the first wire clothes hanger by twisting a length of wire into two oval loops with a hook at the top. He hung his coat and continued about his work, while his employers noticed his invention and patented it. Others suggest the wire hanger had previously been invented by O. A. North of New Connecticut in 1869. The other type of hanger, the wooden clothes hanger has a much more famous inventor with many historians believing President Thomas Jefferson invented the first ever wooden examples!

Rover Get Loaded - The Coal Loader

This week, Roy decided that it was time for Rover to go out and about. Rover wanted to take his online friends somewhere fascinating, with plenty to see and do, but which wasn't too far away from Sydney. When I suggested the Coal Loader at Balls Head he thought this was a great idea. Not only is it in the city itself, it has plenty of history and even tunnels to explore.

If you would like to visit the Coal Loader, it is located at Balls Head in Waverton, North Sydney. To get to the coal loader, turn off the Pacific Highway into Bay Road. Follow Bay Road into Balls head Road and on to Balls Head itself. There is plenty to see and do at Balls Head, with not just the coal loader to explore, but historic walks, Aboriginal heritage, a centre for sustainability and more. There is also plenty of room for kids to run around or kick a ball.

The history of Balls Head itself dates back well before Europeans arrived in Australia, with the area being of great significance to the Cammeraygal Aborigines. More recently, it has been a hub of industrial activity. The coal loader itself dates to the 1920s when the area became a coal transfer depot. With a deep water frontage large bulk carriers full of coal could have their load transferred to the coal loader and, from there, to the smaller ships which ran on coal.

So how did the amazing structure, with its vast flat roof and tunnels underneath actually work? The huge 'roof' area acted as a massive stockpile, where the coal was unloaded to and kept. From there though the coal needed to be transferred to other ships which relied on coal. This is where the tunnels came in. Coal skips (wagons), like the one pictured above would be positioned in the tunnels, under large openings in the roof, called coal chutes. These would then be used to drop coal into the wagons. The skips operated on a cable hauled railway which pulled them into position, through the tunnels and then out to the wharf where they were unloaded onto the ships. In the 1970s the cable railway was replaced with conveyor belts. The coal loader shut in 1992 and the site was redeveloped for public use, opening in 1997. Today, you can walk through one of the amazing tunnels (which are also lovely and cool). The other tunnels are closed to the public, but they are used - by eastern bent-wing bats, a threatened species of microbat who periodically live in the cool darkness. 

Roy Creates A Lemon And Ginger Log

A few weeks ago, Roy made a delicious chocolate ripple log for dessert and shared the recipe with his online friends. The recipe was a huge success, and so he decided to experiment with what else he could make in the same way. Roy loves lemon and ginger together, so thought there might be possibilities in that area. With a little experimentation, he created this delicious lemon and ginger log, a summery alternative to the chocolate version. So this week, Roy Creates A Lemon and Ginger Log.

Note: This recipe makes a very big cake. You can easily halve the recipe if you want a smaller quantity.

You Will Need:

• 2 or 3 packets of ginger nut biscuits. How many you use will depend on how big you want your log to be – Roy used about 2 and a half packets.
• 600ml of whipping cream
• A jar of lemon butter. Roy made his own – you can find the recipe here.
• A tablespoon of castor sugar
• Moist coconut flakes or toasted almonds to decorate

Optional: If you are making this cake for adults, you could use some ginger wine, slowly poured over the cake before you cover it with cream. Roys Grandma thinks 1/3 -1/2 of a cup would be about right. Otherwise use ginger cordial, or leave it out altogether, however, the ginger nut biscuits do require extra moisture if you wish them to soften and have no “bite” left.

Method:

• Pour the cream into a large bowl and add the sugar and a ¼ of a cup of lemon butter. Beat the cream (with electric beaters to make it faster) until it is thick and holds stiff peaks (when the beaters are lifted out, they leave little mountains of cream behind)

• Spread a thin layer of cream onto the plate you plan to serve the cake on. You want the layer of cream to help the biscuits stand up.
• Spread a little lemon butter onto a biscuit, then add a little cream. Sandwich the biscuit with another biscuit and repeat.

• When you have a couple of biscuits, sandwiched together with lemon butter and cream, stand them upright in the cream on the plate.
• Continue until you have used all (or as many as you want) of the biscuits. If you are making a double sized cake like Roy, spread some cream down the side of the biscuits, so the other row of biscuits has some cream to stick to. Make sure you have about half of the cream left to cover the cake!

• Spread all of the remaining cream over the biscuits, so that they are completely covered.
• Allow the cake to set in the fridge overnight. This also allows the biscuits time to go soggy.
• Sprinkle coconut or toasted flaked almonds over the cake to decorate (Roy likes coconut).

• Cut on an angle so you can see the layers of biscuits, jam and cream.
• Enjoy

They're Cool - Shell Trading Cards

Imagine you are a child living in the 1960s. You are coming back from holidays today, and you can't wait to show your friends all the wonderful trading cards you picked up along the way. Every time your family had to stop for petrol you insisted it was at a Shell station, where you were given new cards to add to your collection. You have some duplicates, but you're sure one of your friends will be able to swap with you. 

When I showed these old Shell Petrol Station Trading Cards to the children, they were intrigued. With the craze for Woolworths Australian Animal Swap Cards at the moment, I thought the children would be interested to see some of the older types. They were curious about the types of cards available, and amazed to think that trading cards had such a long history.

Although they remain very popular today, trade cards have a remarkably long history. They first appear in 17th century London, at a time when people used calling cards to let people known they had visited. Businesses soon started using similarly sized cards and distributing them to their clients and customers. Often the cards had a map on one side directing people to the business and essentially, they were an early type of business card. In the 19th century though, as the designs became more elaborate and attractive, people began to collect them as a hobby.

As the collecting of trade cards took off, people began to release specific series, often focussing on a theme, like trains, animals, transport, geology or even famous people. They were often included in product packaging, to encourage people to buy one brand over another. Many were given out as prizes in cereal packets, or in cigarette cartons. As competition between Australian petrol stations began to arise, they too turned to trading cards to encourage customers to choose one brand over another. The series I showed the children was one of 9 series of 60 cards which were issued by Shell Petrol Stations for a period from 1961. Trading cards remain popular today, as the current craze for Woolworths Collecting Cards shows!

Roaming Roy Finds A Place Where Boats Can Fly

This week, Roy has been really interested in flying boats. He was at the International Fleet Review last week in Sydney and saw one of the beautiful old Catalina’s fly overhead, and when he saw the postcard of the Empire Class Flying Boats which we wrote up earlier this week, he was sold – he had to learn more about these amazing planes. Then, he remembered that I had taken him to Rose Bay to see the site where the flying boat airport once was. He thought this would be the perfect place to take his online friends.

If you would like to visit the old Rose Bay Flying Boat Base, it is located in Lyne Park in Rose Bay. To get there, follow New South Head Road along the waterfront of Rose Bay until you see a park on a piece of land jutting out into the water. This is Lyne Park. Drive in and find somewhere to park and have a wander around. This is also where the Rose Bay Ferry Wharf is, so if you like you could visit by ferry! There is plenty of room for a picnic, to fly a kite or kick a ball.

Rose Bay was not just the home of the flying boats, but was actually Sydney’s first International Airport, serviced by these extraordinary aircraft. The airport opened in 1938 when the first of the Empire Class Flying Boats arrived. The flying boats landed not on the water like a modern seaplane, but in the water, like a boat and although they were slow by today’s standards, they were at the time far faster than travelling by sea, or even by other planes. They were also amazingly luxurious, with a ticket price to match – a single ticket cost more than the average yearly wage! When war broke out, only a year after the International airport opened, the flying boats went into war service, being used for a variety of purposes. This was also the time when the most famous of the flying boats, the Catalina’s arrived in Sydney. Many of the flying boats which served during the war were based in Rathmines (to find out about Roys visit to Rathmines, click here), but others remained in Rose Bay at the flying boat base.

After the war, there were other planes which could make international journeys more quickly than the flying boats, but the luxury of travelling by flying boat meant that they continued to be used. The flying boats were not only a way to travel though. They were part of Sydney culture. In 1957 a popular restaurant was built in Rose Bay near the Flying Boat Base by Jim Bendroit. It was called Caprice and was very popular, not only providing good food, but allowing diners to watch the flying boats come and go. Today the restaurant remains in Lyne Park, though it is now called Catalina in deference to the history of the area. The flying boats were also featured in local radio program with Sammy Sparrow (a sparrow) and Garry O’Callaghan of 2UE not only entertaining young listeners on their way to school, but noting when the flying boats were coming in to land. Apparently this was the signal for many to head out the door and off to school! The flying planes even carried Sammy Sparrow off on his honeymoon when he married another sparrow, Eleanor. Today, they are but a memory with the flying boat base closing in 1977.

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Rose Bay Flying Boat Base

Roy Creates Great Great Grandma's Jam Drops

This week, Roy was lucky enough to be given a copy of his Great, Great Grandma’s cookbook. He was very excited by this, as I have always told him what a great cook she was. He immediately decided that he had to try out one of her recipes. Eventually, he settled on making jam drops, a biscuit he has always been meaning to try out. Her recipe was fantastic, creating tasty crisp cookies with caramelised jam centres. So this week, Roy Creates Great, Great Grandma’s Jam Drop Cookies.

Rose Bay Flying Boat Base

Imagine you are living in the late 1930s and coming from England to Australia. It is a long trip, but one you are looking forward to as you have been lucky enough to secure a ticket on one of the Flying Boats. Many who go to Australia are forced to book passage on a boat, but if you have the money you can choose to come on a flying boat – more expensive but much more luxurious, quicker and so exciting!

When I showed this postcard of the Rose Bay Flying Boat Base to the children some of them were quite underwhelmed. They could see that the planes were just that, so saw no mystery to discover. When they realised that they were resting in the water though, not on concrete they were more impressed. Some had also been at the recent International Fleet Review in Sydney and seen one of the last flying catalinas fly overhead, so discovering more about the history of the amazing planes made the card far more interesting.

Flying Boats, like those in the picture above, were designed mainly to carry first class air mail, but they were soon playing an important role not just in air transport, but even in war. In the 1930s international air travel was very new and there were few airfields which could cater to the enormous planes which were able to fly the long distances. These large planes also had trouble navigating over large, open expanses of water and most problematic of all, frequently needed to stop to refuel – in the 1930s a trip between Australia and England could include 31 stops! In 1938 though the first of the Empire Class Flying Boats arrived in Sydney, aeroplanes which could land on water, were big enough to allow international travel and which didn’t need a huge airfield. Soon they were flying between England and Australia, via Singapore, India, The Middle East and Egypt. The flying boats were based in Rose Bay, and were extremely luxurious. Carrying only 15 passengers and 5 crew, everybody travelled first class and a single ticket cost more than the average yearly wage!

The golden age of the flying boat was short lived though. Only one year after the first flying boats arrived in Sydney, the Second World War broke out and all luxuries were stripped out of the flying boats and replaced with guns and bombs. Their size and ability to land on water made the flying boats perfect for war service. At first, international travel was still allowed, with the mail cargo simply replaced by ammunition and the return journey carrying refugees instead of luxury passengers, but in 1942, one of the flying boats was attacked by the Japanese, with only 5 of the 18 passengers and crew surviving. Within two weeks, Singapore fell and the route to England was cut off. Many more of the Empire Class Flying Boats were lost, but it was also in wartime that the most successful of the flying boats arrived in Australia – The Catalina’s. Designed as patrol bombers for the US Navy, they were versatile, virtually indestructible and able to fly much further without refuelling. At the end of the war though, the flying boats were somewhat obsolete as other aircraft could now make the long journeys more quickly, though in less comfort. It was this which heralded in the second golden age of the flying boat though, as passengers could choose to travel more slowly but in great comfort. The last flying boat services in Australia were in the 1970s, with Rose Bay Flying Boat Base closed in 1977.